A Good Day to Bard Hard - Myths of the Sacred Temple

The band leave Talos and trek onwards

2nd shared dream

Young girl with curly hair, a pan-pipe, and a pleated coat

She introduces herself as Inuaria a minor goddess of music, then recites:

To the Storied Bastion

The hourglass hums with a silver sigh,

shadows lean long where the road runs high;

each step a whisper the stones recall,

each breath a thread in the fortress wall.

The gates are carved with the weight of years,

inked in the salt of a thousand tears;

yet onward you go, through dusk’s slow flame—

the Bastion waits, and it knows your name.

The band pushes on as the barren desert lands give way to dense forests with a track carved into it from wear.

Werner Village

The band head towards Werner where the village square is bustling during the annual Spring Flutter Festival.

However, something is off — the birds are behaving erratically, swooping low, stealing shiny objects, and even dive-bombing the mayor’s hat. 

The villagers and mayor beg the adventurers to restore order before the festival descends into chaos.

Every year, we celebrate the return of migratory “Suncrest Birds” with music, dancing, and a strange ritual: a synchronised “wing-flap” dance, but this year they are behaving oddly.

Mayor Pufflewick,  A rotund, overly dramatic leader who insists the dance must go on.

Lemmog agrees to if the village falls under his rule.

Ekham and Lemmog try to scatter the birds with thunder waves, killing a few

Gribble polymorphs or something into a scarecrow, and gets dive bombed by the birds for his trouble, with them trying to steal his glasses.

The three kill a chunk of birds before they spot a Magpie smirking at the chaos.

As the three turn their attention to the Magpie

Lira Featherfoot from the village casts Clam Beasts and settles the birds.

The Mischief Magpie, with its fun dampened, flies off into the thicket of the woods.

Villagers then insist the band join the dance

“The Dance of the Feathered Fools”

With a little bit of this

and a little bit of that

and shake your bum

Yes, that's right, the band just performed The Birdy Song

Call to the Twins

Lemmog called the twins from Richmond to give an update on what's occurring back in his city.

They replied:

"We raised taxes and found new things we could tax.
But all that taxing, meant we needed

• People to work out those taxes
• People to collect those taxes
• People to work out payment plans for those taxes
• People tracking the paper trails

But then we needed to pay for those people, so we taxed more stuff
But then people were getting sick, and if they are sick, they cannot farm or earn money, which lead to lower tax income.

• So, we made Healing zones to help people.

But again, we needed to employ healers, herbologists and witches (funny thing, they know a lot and can also do the midwifery stuff!)
We then saw trade dip due to some roads becoming unusable for carts, and people not liking to walk in mud all the time.

• So, we rebuilt the roads.

But this ended up being a nonstop job, as not soon as you finished the last road, the first road needed redoing!

• So, we employed Road workers and builders.

With all of this, we attracted more people into the city, that we had to expand the city, so we kind of moved the city walls....
But we build more houses and districts, which lead to more taxes
But lead to more employment.
But also, meant our postal service was stretched thin, so we needed more postal workers and sort houses.
We then had to funnel the crap out, as porting it to another plane was not going to work in the long term.

• So, we built some tunnels out to sea for the waist to flush away too
• Also built up our extraction and use of fresh water.

Which again lead to more Employment.
Which again lead to more people wanting to visit the city, and then more wanting to stay, which lead to more building expansion.
With this many buildings the Bucket alarm was seen as no good if there was a fire, so a new department was created
More cities meant more city guards
Our prison was overflowing, but we just reused the portal and removed the over population problem, funny thing is crime went dramatically down after that.

• So, we have a few expanded departments, a few new departments and of course oversight of those departments

The Royal Mint
Tax Office
Department of Income Tax
Department of Import Tax
Department of Housing Tax
Department of Sales Tax
Department of Life Tax (May need to rebrand this as) The Department of Health
The Water Department
The Waist Department
The Fire Department
The Office of External Security - oh yer we are at war with several kingdoms
The Office of Internal Security
The Office of City Guard
The Prison Department
The Department of Dimensional Doorways
The Housing Department
The Roads Department
The Department of Education
oh yer, because we needed all these jobs, and apparently we cannot fill all the jobs with the denizens from hell, something about proportional; representation - we thought having a sprite n a giant covered that, but alas no, well they needed to read n write, so we sent em to school, set their kids to school, so need teachers, and apparently learning is a whole thing so needed different styles of teachers, so yer ended up with more buildings, and a department
The Department of Transport
well as the city was getting bigger n bigger, it took longer and longer to walk from one side to the other, so big carriages were made and sent on set routes so people could use em for a small fee, we also had to do specific routes for the schools, shops, work districts, it was very hard work to make it work)
With all this gold moving about the city and being collected, we needed a way to securely carry it, so we also ended up with
The Department of Gold in Transit
Due to Crime and people trying to fake our coins
Crown Prosecution Service
Serious Fraud Office
To attract new traders and businesses, both import and export
Department for Business & Trade
We also needed a
Department for Environment
as apparently cutting down trees for more city needs thought and respect! which lead to also:
National Park Authority
HM Treasury
to look after and distribute the loot
With all these new employees, we needed
The Department of Employment"

When quizzed on the wars, the twins replied

We have it in hand, no worries.

To the North - Kingdom of Veythar

To the South West - Kingdom of Veyndral

To the South - City of Glimmerbay 

Why, well its cause we showed em all up on how a city should be run, and their people wanted to move here.

The City of Glimmerbay - this was easy, we negotiated better faired for all trade deals and use of their port, so it was more of a trade ware, than a bloody war.

General Warner is fighting the Kingdom of Veyndral with the pistols we made and his own cannons, and he seems to be having jolly good fun with it wot wot.

We put down the Kingdom of Veythar attack very quickly, as apparently firing a thousand live lemours from hell out of hell cannons towards the enemy tends to make them question, well everything, wondering if we could do that to our own people, what would we do to them.

Lemmog asks them to create an armada and conquer the waves and islands offshore.

Lemmog replays a sanatised version of this back to Ekham.

The town of Gwenthas

As the band leave the village and heads on they start feeling the ground shake.

The closer they get, the bigger the shakes.

The band encounter the some of the riders who were sent out seeking the aid of anyone who is willing to help save their city with the promise of wealth as a reward for their aid. 

The town of Gwenthas has been experiencing strange seismic activity for a few months now, but recently things have escalated to levels of extreme destruction. 

The city houses over a thousand people - or at least it used to before the quakes. Almost half of the buildings have crumbled to debris, and the ones that still stand are reinforced with additional wood and stone to keep them upright. Huge fissures tear through the streets, and some homes and businesses have fallen into the depths. Makeshift bridges made of wooden scraps cover these fissures, but the town is on its last leg. 

The notice said to seek out a woman named Rachael at the library in the centre of town for additional details - that is if the library still stands.

The band agree and head to Gwenthas. 

The band came across many fissures on their way to the library, making their way across the long boards that span the abysses - some of which are nearly ten feet wide. The library is fortunately still standing and seems to be in great shape all things considered. In fact, all of the buildings in the centre of town seem to be holding up just fine. This is due to the fact that they were built to withstand such forces almost a thousand years ago.

The library is filled with refugees from the town. Adults huddle in small groups, chatting while children run around, blissfully unaware of the catastrophe around them. When the band asks for Rachael, someone will go to fetch her.

Rachael Rellastrum

A human woman in her mid-sixties approaches the band. She has a bit of a limp and uses a cane to help get around, but her appearance is tidy and regal for such a small town. She wears a dark green dress, has her grey hair pulled into a tight bun on the back of her head. She carries a wrapped piece of cloth under her right arm. She introduces herself as Rachael Rellastrum.

In Gwenthas, Rachael's position of head librarian is second only to the Mayor. It is a role admired by all in the town and the wisdom of those that watch over the history of the town is respected. She is a woman of great intelligence and integrity.

She knows more about this town than anyone else alive and will do whatever is needed to protect it.

Heroes of Old 

Rachael tells the band the story of a group of heroes from a millennia ago that defeated the Primordial Earth Elemental that threatened to destroy the entire continent. 

Rachael is a wonderful story-teller and goes into detail about the power and energy that flowed through the land itself and the circle of wizards that created the prison for the titan beneath this very town. She tells the band that the reason the library and surrounding buildings still stand is because they were built to resist the tremors that might strike if the elemental were to stir in its imprisonment. 

Her theory is that a recent natural earthquake weakened the imprisonment spell and now the Primordial Earth Elemental seeks to break free once again. Something must be done soon or the entire town will sink into the earth and something terrifying will rise up from the depths. 

Fortunately, the legends of the city tell of a Primordial Seal that was created and locked away for this very reason! In a temple not far from the town, this Seal waits for a group that is worthy to retrieve this ancient artifact and save Gwenthas! 

In the basement of the library, hidden behind some of the bookshelves, is a slot that will fit this rune perfectly. 

If the ancient texts are correct, the Primordial Seal will be drained of its power and the titan will be put to rest for at least another five hundred years. 

It may not solve the problem forever, but it gives them time to find a more permanent solution!

Lemmog and Ekham negotiate for some of the books on there list if they exist in the library.

Rachael says if they save the city they can have three of the following, but have the option to buy the rest so that the funds can help rebuild the city.

1. Manual of Bodily Health
2. Manual of Gainful Exercise
3. Manual of Quickness of Action
4. Tome of Clear Thought
5. Tome of Understanding

Also the library has, which the gold for them would help with rebuilding the city:

1. Codicil of White
2. Psalms of Ephrael

Once a deal has been made Rachael offers the band the bundle of cloth that she has been holding under her arm. 

It is a piece of strangely cut stone roughly a foot across and one inch thick. The edges have very specific engravings and indentations that must have taken hours upon hours to carve. 

On this tablet is a map from the Gwenthas Library to the sacred temple that holds the Primordial Seal. It is perhaps an hour away and Rachael explains that it requires this tablet to be placed in a slot on the side of a cliff to be opened.

The Quake

The band make their way out of the town and towards the temple, passing a few beggars and other refugees out in the streets as they go. When the band nears the edge of town, the ground begins to shake as another powerful earthquake strikes.

The ground tears open and a huge crash rings through the area as half a dozen businesses and homes collapse into a newly formed fissure a few hundred feet away. Additional buildings along the outskirts of town crumble as citizens go running into the streets to get out of the unstable structures. 

The tremors last only thirty seconds or so, but it is enough to cause major destruction. Smoke rises up in the distance and the screams of citizens echo through the air. 

A house no more than fifty feet away was among those that collapsed and a woman covered in dust runs out into the streets. She turns to the house and falls to the ground as she lets out a wail of agony, “Marcia! Marcia, where are you? No!”

The band ask who Marcia is (her fourteen-year old daughter) and who she is (Tessa)

When the quake hit, she screamed for her daughter to get out of the house and ran around looking for her. When the building started to crumble, Tessa jumped out a window.

Lemmog jumped, or rather flew into action on his griffon, searching for Marcia, as the others called over for volunteers.

Saving Marcia

Lemmog finds her trapped under the debris of the house. She is hurt, but still alive. Her cries are barely louder than a whisper as they are dampened by all of the rubble on top of her, but it is enough to know Marcia is ok.

Lemmog tries to flip the debris away, but needs his griffons help, quickly scooping her up and "laying on Hands" to heal her, and fly back returning her to her mother.

Tessa wraps Marcia in her arms and thanks Lemmog over and over for their help and offers him all the blessings that the gods have to offer.

Other rescue groups are moving to the far side of town to help where the fissure erupted. 

The band head out to the temple  as the townsfolk have it under control and there will be no town left at all if they don't act soon!

The Journey

Getting to the temple is a fairly straightforward trek through the forest outside of town.

They navigate using the old key. It leads to a river and then follows that for a while before reaching a waterfall. Embedded in the cliff about a hundred feet to the left of the waterfall is the bit of stone that the tablet fits into to open the way to the temple!

When the tablet is placed into the slot, a quick snap of light illuminates its edges, and the stone seems to meld together.

Welcome to the Temple

Moments later, there is a grinding sound as the stone of the cliff begins to slide apart and reveals a narrow stairwell that descends into the ground and into complete darkness.

The band reach the bottom of the stairs and step into a large square chamber. Blue torches go ablaze on the wall and cast the room in a beautiful azure light.

The ground begins to tremble and the deafening sound of grinding stone echoes through the small space. 

Chunks of rubble fall from the ceiling and explode against the floor as a figure appears on the far wall. 

It is a massive face with square features and eyes formed from lowing rubies. “I am Melco, the Guardian. What brings you to this sacred temple?”

The band explains the situation back in town that things have begun to fall into chaos, and the only way to save it is for the townsfolk to use the Primordial Seal. 

Melco asks if the creature has emerged from its prison yet, how long it has been sealed away, and finally, if the band is willing to risk their lives to retrieve the seal? 

"I am the guardian created to protect this place against any intruder. The temple was made with strict orders that I cannot disobey, and anyone who enters the temple to retrieve the Seal, no matter their intentions, must face the trials within."

“If you think you are truly ready, then let the trials begin. This lesser guardian shall aid you along the way.” 

Another chunk falls from the ceiling and crashes to the ground, but this time it is with a wet thud. It appears to be a ball of clay . . . but it begins moving. 

The amorphous ball shifts and folds on itself a few times before taking on the shape of a lizard with two jade eyes. It regards you and nods to the wall as Melco’s face melds into the stone and a set of handles appear. “Hello! I Kirfog. You go,” speaks the little clay lizard as it scurries to the door.

The First Trial: The Crossing

The band pull open the doors and reveal a massive chamber sprawling before them - forty feet wide and a hundred feet long. 

The floor transforms into a platform extending ten feet beyond the door, then ends in a sheer drop off to water twenty feet below. 

This water spans the entirety of the room, and the band can see fish swimming down in the darkness. 

Hanging at the centre of the room is a massive web of ropes that forms a net twenty feet above the water. 

This rope net is rectangular in shape and spans the centre thirty feet of the room. 

Hanging from the ceiling above the centre of the net is a metal cage with chains that dangle down to a pulley system that is attached to the wall just off the side of the net. 

On the far wall of the room is a stone door near the ceiling, but the band don’t see any way to get over to the door as the stone of the wall is flat and slick, and there are no stairs or ladders.

The band can also see the top of a ladder on the nearby platform that descends down into the waters below. 

Hanging between the platform and the net at the centre of the room is a twenty-foot-long rope. 

This rope is a ten-foot leap from the edge of the platform and fifteen feet from the net. 

The only other item of note is a single stone box that is sitting on a pedestal located at the centre of the platform on which you stand. 

The band can see a keyhole on this box, but does not see a handle to open it.

Kirfog runs into the room and points to the far side with a single lizard toe and says, “Reach door! Exciting!”

The band spot that although there are loads of different coloured fish, there is only one golden one.

Gribble like a flying greyson, leaped onto the rope and then onto the net, and then wondered why he done that.

Ekham posed by the box looking glam.

Lemmog climbed down into the water, and jumped every step in the water to both move and breath, all the while the nice colourful fish, turned out to be nice colourful piranhas which tried to chomp on Lemmog every turn.

Lemmog did spot a key in the water the other side of the net.

Ekham was giving helping heals to Lemmog, till Lemmog moved out of range, and Ekham had to have his flying greyson turn.

Lemmog then found the key is sticking out of the stone at the bottom of the room.

It looks as if it is inserted into a lock on the floor with only the looped end of the key exposed. The key could not be budged from its spot no matter the strength of Lemmog.

Lemmog spots in glowing white text just above the key is the following text: A key is only useful if it has teeth to match the lock.

Lemmog immdeiatly has a flash of insperation and realises he must use the teeth of the golden piranha to pry to key from its slot.

But how to catch the little fishy, trying to quickly snatch a fish in the water was not working, nor was chanting I'm going to get you little fishy, but using animal handling and using his fingers as bait for the golden fish worked.

Key then taken, Lemmog returns up the ladder to the box and opens it.

Revealing a button inside.

Lemmog presses the button:

• While the button is pressed, a stone stairwell extends from the far door to the net at the center of the room. 
• At the same time, the walls of the room close rapidly.
• It takes about twenty seconds for the walls to close in far enough to crush the party, but Lemmog lets go of the button before this

When the button is released, the walls slide back into place and the stairwell immediately retracts.

After much mulling and also twigging that the door at the other end has a key hole.

Gribble cast mage hand to get the key from Lemmog.

As the stairway opened, Ekham and Gribble rushed over and unlocked to door and dived through it.

Then lowered a rope for Lemmog to climb up, after descending again into the water, bobbing along again being bitten by piranhas, again, then climbing the rope.

Through the door the band find themselves in a narrow hallway. Torches ignite on the walls....