Episode 78: All Smiles

## Plot

Continuing their
battle Aya finishes off another Necrophage with one of her two Eldritch blasts
and hits another, while Sarrek continues to be affected by the gasses in the
room. He takes aim again, and fires at the last Necrophage. Almost dead the
Ooze lobs a ball of acid but misses, leaving it to be bludgeoned by the tentacles
of Hadar and finished off by Enkara. Their battle over the rhythmic thuds
reverberate within the chamber and the group toy with the idea of investigating,
but decide are still unsure it’s source. They continue up the spear after a
short rest and Aya gives Sarrek a Shard of Healing, though Enkara slips close
to one of the runes and gets shocked, they make it to the roof of the cavern,
where the spear meets the 30-ffot long, strange spatial distorting, portal
leading up into the cathedral room Enkara saw earlier.

In the room they emerge from only a
five foot gap on this side of the portal, and quickly take it all in before
spotting the two cultist atop the scaffolding. Aya puts together that the spear
and the ground at the portal were prepared similarly as Quinn Tara’s rituals
and that the spear and the holder are holding the ritual in place. Aya tells
the others her findings and goes into the spear holders mind and discovers at
the front of his thoughts is the question “Why has he forsaken us?” Curious she
delves deeper and discovers his anxity over why Azi Dahaka has forsaken the
cultists, his steadfast loyalty to his high Preist Julian Tivirnius, and questioning
where Gloic has gone. Aya returns to her own mind and informs the others of
what she found out and her suspicions of the cultists are doing something with
the remains of Nzune somehow. As they prepare to leave the group finaly notice
the Sunfire Brazier in the reliquary cabinet, while Aya picks up that though
the cultists notice them they are too fixated on their mission to intervene and
Sarrek barges his wa through the goods in the room and reaches the brazier. Sarrek
whispers his secret to the brazier, of his mission by his queen to discover
what is going on in the city and that he is also to discover how the dome and
its magics can be used in aid of his home city.

As the sunfire brazier goes to
ignite Enkara and Aya notice that its magic swirls about the room but fails to coalesce,
while the cultist’s ritual continues. Aya immediately fires Eldritch blasts,
killing the two priests, and blasting them into the wall. The spear returns to
its own size and the portal in the ground seals up leaving an intact stone
floor. Aya grabs the spear, noticing the spear head is broken and the brazier
is allowed to ignite. They loot the room, picking up 2900 Gold, Potions of Fire
Breath and Growth and assorted valuables before splitting up; Sarrek prepares
to sneak through the large doors while the others climb the ladder to the hatch
on the ceiling. The chanting reaches them as they stand atop the rafters,
seeing dozens of worshipers praying below them, led by a man before an alter
and Aya calls out for High Priest Julian Tivernius to identify him at the same
time Sarrek peeks through the door. The hall goes quiet silent before  everyone erupts in outroar at the interuption