Aderyn's Journal

temple possibly dedicated to the trickster
dates to the time of lys the dragon slayer keystone granted entry through red magical barrier, also opened portal
near what was probably the altar to what appears to be the past based on
 the fact that the view is very clearly the temple but at a time before it was ruined

\*insert sketches of ruined statues\*\*insert sketches of not ruined version of statues\*

entering the portal led to a hallway with a locked door and only one way forward. walking down the hallway led to a chapel with worshipers. they had the same corruption dripping from their eyes as the bears we encountered as we exited the city of masks after defeating the cultists in the chapel we discovered panels depicting a blasphemous version of the creation myth: Eldione casting out a Dark God from herself whose name seems to be undecipherable, locking them a way for all time - and creating the other Gods to rule over her domain so she could focus on subduing this one for all time. This telling of the creation is blasphemous, as even implying Eldione is incapable of doing both at the same time is heresy.

\*insert sketches of panels\*

in a bedchamber we discovered tailored armor bearing the crest of house Arralis which only came into power 30 years before present time. how is it possible that armor bearing the crest of the lord and lady of the masquerade is in this temple at a time closer to the period of the dragon slayer. one member of the party donned their armor with no apparent ill affects. after resting and sleeping we came upon a talking cat who said she was sent to guide us. according to lucky she was changed into a cat by a god.

Tapestry covering the door shows a mask with a stiletto dagger behind it. mask represents house arallis, but unsure of the significance of the dagger. hanging opposite is a tapestry with the inverse imagery (mask behind dagger) dagger may be related to a god. rose bushes are related to vivna but this is the only place any reference to vivna has appeared in the temple.

first door shows rosebushes climbing over a woman second door shows a lion third door shows roses. first room red shows possibly lys praying in a garden surrounded by rosebushes second room purple shows hand reaching out to lys. eldione reaching out to lys after she finished praying for deliverance from inaintet's destruction.

third door dark blue, horrible monster dripping with black blood. breathing with difficulty. lucky says it is a chimera magically created with necromancy. initially wasn't behaving like the other creatures we encountered infected with the black miasma but it eventually seemed to be being driven insane. it stated that his was the star elves fault, but it wasn't clear about what was their fault

tapestry in the room is lys standing over a slain dragon with her sword held high. most likely inaintet. we left the chimera behind hoping to find a possible cure. after we left the chimera we went forward where we found a minion who informed us that Cat was working with the font and the font was the source of the taint. everyone had gone crazy from the taint. cat said they had no choice.

\*insert sketches of doors and tapestries\*

found a fire being fed by magic, there was something in the ashes that couldn't be retrieved. moving forward again we found a room with a fountain of a coatl and blood smeared on the walls spelling the words "trickster's blood" and "Arralis" fountain is mechanical. no known significance of a coatl. when hezdal looked into the fountain, he saw an unknown reflection with black eyes and black tears streaming down its face. it does everything backward/opposite of him. the words arralis and trickster prompted a maniacal response from the fountain and caused the reflection to reach out for me. i jumped back causing the reflection to disappear.

when lucky dropped some of the miasma into the reflection, the reflection appeared to ingest it. hezdal found a mask on a corpse, and decided to
wear it while looking in the fountain. it showed his true reflection. when he took the mask off it went back to the unknown face. asking the
fountain questions while wearing the mask revealed that the corpse was once alive and cut their own finger off and threw it into the fire.

hezdal reunited the body with his finger. it was worthless. the fire went out. hezdal tried to eat it apparently, and it disintegrated into ash over his beard and face. when i ask about house arralis while wearing the mask my beak sprouted teeth and i began laughing uncontrollably. when i removed the mask it ended abruptly. i have a suspicion that if i were to drop corruption/miasma into the water while wearing the mask i would poison myself so i will resist the urge to do so despite wanting to do it for research purposes.

we decide to move on, and cat leads us back through the door we came through. it is a different room. a beautiful room with a mirror that shows a beautiful woman with deep dark skin freckled with light that looks like stars and beautiful silvery hair. she can only be a star elf. \*insert sketch of star elf\*

she is talking to someone else about a ritual. they are afraid it is too much power. "-Taruva says that the final preparations for the ritual are well under way, the
 Gods will be more than pleased to be given to our world. "I don't know, I was looking over the sigils and it's... it's too much. Too much raw magic for the Pathways to contain. It'll destroy everything." "I'm sure that the Gods would never-" as they are speaking a bright flash of light blasts through the mirror with a whirring mechanical sound. a voice shouted "this is not for you" the mirror shattered and 5 demons appeared.

The room once held a purpose but it is now just a room. There are sigils that no longer hold magic surrounding the mirror. Lucky attempted to counterspell the magic that was interfering with the mirror. he stopped the spell, but it will take the mirror time to recharge. one of the demons moved through my body and appeared to take damage when it stopped partially inside of my body. I flew over to investigate the mirror. the surface of it feels gooey. it didn't go anywhere yet, but it does feel very magical and one of my spell slots was restored from touching it.

lucky touched it as well with a similar effect. he casted a lightning spell that seemed to recharge the mirror. a beautiful but battered star elf appeared and then a pathway opened in the mirror. i followed lucky into the mirror and was overwhelmed by the cold.

we all escaped through the mirror and we came into a room with pillars carved with ornate rose vines and with torches that broadcast dim colored light (see colors present) in the center of the room there is a lever and on the other side of the room a door, it has no handle and it seems to be closed when the lever was pulled a timer started. as it turns out there was no solution to the puzzle, just had to wait.

on the other side of the door, we found a place to sleep and regain our health. in the morning we discovered the walls were covered with pulsating veins of black miasma. hezdal tasted it. it was a bad idea. he became very ill but recovered.

we decided to move forward and as we did so the arches collapsed behind us

we came upon a magical image of the lord and lady of the masque in clearly evunasi clothing. they are clearly older than they claim to be.

the magic here is very ancient and unable to be fixed. no way to get the story out of it. veins on the wall haven't touched this room

i put on the mask and could hear the lord and lady arguing about something having gone wrong. it seems they are connected to the star elves catastrophe.

the next area is filled with small swaying platforms. each step seems to suck the strength out of us flying is possible, but it still tires my wings

fell into a sleep and was carried in a pod by the team

awoke and encountered another member of chelone's race named mac. mac is a wandering necromancer studying under the court necromancer of norley Hezdal unwisely attacked him and i had to talk the party out of killing him

we discovered a shrine that was clearly ancient. it would seem that we have re-entered our own time period

Mac said he was prompted to come here to the trickster's temple because he dreamed about a star elf.

white hair with crystal diadem, kneeling on a rug an praying. no sound just a feeling that he had to find out about it. wanted to find out what the ester know about necromancy blonde dude and lady with silvery hair. he didn't know who it was. informed him it was lord and lady of masquerade. he informed us that it was not time travel but a pocket dimension.

lucky wears the mask and sees a projection near the pond a projection of white haired woman prays to eldione while a dark skinned eshte stands guard. a man arises from the water with a sword

"Lys of Clan Bloodsong, I am Kholin - an emissary of Eldione, I have come to deliver her answer to you."

"And what is her answer?" Lys replied.

"You have proven yourself worthy to slay Inaintet, she presents to you this blade to complete the task. Your Eshte associate-"

"Katsi." The eshte cuts in dryly.

"Katsi," Kholin sounded amused, "is not to be trusted in this mission of yours. She must stay behind."

"I need her!"

"You question Eldione's judgement?"

"No- but..."

"Then go forth with the sword and slay the Destroyer, time wastes. Katsi will remain here."

"It's fine, Lys. Esterwyn is burning - all of Karnath is burning. Go do what must be done."

The two girls embrace quickly and Lys leaves the scene.

When Lys is gone Kholin's form shifts and melds into something more resembling Rhazien and Katsi's eyes widen, she draws her weapon and charges with a yell only to be impaled on a shadowy tendril, "so loyal. Oh so very loyal, more like a dog than a cat wouldn't you say?"

The scene abruptly ends as Katsi calls out for Lys, but can't be heard over the sound of battle.

Cat states that the vision is incorrect and it's not how it really happened. she says it's her fault and she should have stopped lys and listened to eldione. she says we got into this mess by trusting the gods.

lucky and hezdal pressure cat into drinking gods' blood. she begins writhing and screaming in agony and transforms into Katsi from the vision

she was an emissary of eldione during the last saga they were tricked by Kholin lys died when she struck the final blow to inaintet kholin was incredibly angry when she returned with the sword and that's when she was turned into a cat

bronze chandelier a piece of parchment shows a man cutting his own hand script says to paint me red. hezdal slapped his hand that had been cut by lucky onto the parchment. he is bound by magical chains and a phantom copy of him appeared by the exit. lucky cleaned the paper and the evil hezdal disappeared but the door was still locked. lucky took blood from one of the cats and used it to make an evil cat but no one would fight it so he cleaned the blood away. the ichor summons an eldritch abomination. polly's blood summons an ancient pink dragon. after trying multiple combinations, the door unlocked as if in frustration.

the next room is a series of pressure plates surrounding a pile of rubble a sign across from us said "It's all a matter of perspective" when stepped on the plates all show a different form of water. when i spoke that fact aloud the door opened

we entered a room that was uncomfortably dark with a font in the center flanked by two coatls

as we ascended the stairs a genderless disembodied voice welcomed us. they said they are the font of the trickster and made katsi who they are hezdal said he recognized it as the place katsi was turned into a cat. wants to bring back lys. has been corrupting the blood of the trickster to bring lys back. demands the sacrifice of the last star elf to fuel the ritual. says they are alive in the temple of starlight. says we would be blessed beyond our wildest dreams if we play along. katsi says lys wouldn't want to be brought back. we tell the font we will agree to do its bidding to get the information of where the star elves are, then lucky bestows a curse on the font to begin its destruction

Mac joined the font and Coatls to fight against us and nearly killed faustus and myself but was quickly dispatched by Hezdal. During the fight one of the Coatls polymorphed into Revek and tried to play on my emotions and blame me for his death. since i was still finishing my druid training at the time i of course couldn't hae gone so it was complete nonsense. i was instead angered by the display.

as the font took damage it became angry and the world around us began to writhe and the temple seemed to begin breaking apart. the more damage the font took, the worse the effect became. As it began to crack apart it began oozing and screaming in a language we did and could not comprehend.

katsi disappeared after the font attacked her and i feared the worst

as the font was destroyed by hezdal we heard a voice that told us it didn't have to be this way i thought i was dead as everything faded to black

when i awoke i wanted to vomit and had a splitting headache. i quickly realized we had been ripped out of the realm of the gods. we were all lying on a dock in a humid swamp. i saw a sign welcoming us to oothek. we went to the inn to regroup.

the innkeeper Stella was a halfling touched by star elf magic. lucky and Stella have a lot in common and spent some time talking to each other about their magic troubles

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

shortly after heading out for the temple of inaintet to help arasinya, we encountered a man named Eoin who was a Horizon Walker. he explained that horizon walkers are people who know how to close rifts between planes. we helped him close a rift by protecting him from a wyvern. His face and lips were scarred. his long black hair and beard were greying. he was a man of few words, but when he did speak, his voice is very deep and rumbling. He had quite a remarkable bow that shoots magnificent arrows. i quite liked him.

partway through the path to the temple we encountered a vampire hunter named rufus who was looking for people to help him defeat vampires that had taken up residence at the temple. we saw no reason not to help him since we were on our way there and vampires feeding off of the negative energy stored there is definitely not ideal. he had somewhat unsettling eyes, and was very stern. there was a short battle with some vampires before we reached the temple proper.

we arrived at the temple of inaintet after weeks of travel and fighting wyverns. there is a post carved with holy draconic runes. this cult is brazenly blasphemous. there was an alarm rigged at the entrance, so we are probably in for trouble. the darkness is practically suffocating. the air smells of dank stone and rotting flesh. as we travel downward, we find a room covered in viscera.

Xsayathiya is here. she is gravely injured and neither Anthony nor arasinya are anywhere to be seen. after being pumped full of magic by Rufus she improves vastly, though she is incredibly tired. it's hard to say how long she has been fighting. She doesn't remember what happened or know what happened to Anthony or Arasinya.

An incredibly large creature with a humanoid skull and snakelike body appeared out of the shadows, seeming to be made of countless amount of bones. it said its name was omar and spoke about a time that it played music in the court of a king and how when it was ugly and broken it turned to a god and found their priests to be corrupt, then was rejected by emjir and turned to inaintet. as hezdal took out the creature, a soul-rending scream sounded around us. the creatures it summoned fell into ash around us, and its body faded away.

rufus pointed out there was a celestial nearby and thought it might be arasinya. we moved down the path into a deep dark cave. the darkness was opressive and even i could barely see. the silence was buzzingly loud, so much so that even the slightest whisper hurt my ears. kaervek felt a droplet hit his neck. he thought it was water but it was in fact blood. after he realized this, bodies began falling from the ceiing.
another creature appeared saying she was Winifred of Prim, ans that when she was brutalized by her husband Vivna's priests did nothing but offer me condolences, when she went to Miora and found nothing but infighting and more platitudes. she decided to turn to Inaintet, who would offer her "and all those scorned the chance to use our breath for more than crying for help. But for bellows of rage. I am the Vessel of Her breath and what you have done here has already been written."

a vampire appeared and attacked rufus

as the vessel of breath died a shriek sounded that knocked back kaervek and hezdal. the vampire was apparently a supplicant, because it disappeared at the same time the other supplicant. the shriek from the previous room sounded again, closer but still disembodied.

the next chamber was painfully bright and filled with obsidian clawed demons. a batlike fiery demon appeared saying it was gideon of paleah eldione and chelone let it be turned to inaintet. he was there when paleah burned. when i challenged him, he insisted that the only cure for the world was to burn it down

as the creature died we felt suddenly as if we've done the wrong thing

anthony was dead. i thought we were in time at first, but we didn't make it. he was just lying there...

arasynia was being tortured her skin was covered in cracked veins of fire

the priestess metanoia wasn't who she said she was she tricked us into coming here to help her despite our best efforts to help arasinya and anthony

i remembered the phoenix feather that fell when i prayed to eldione. she sent us here, not this monster.

after chorus cast silence, out of desperation i attempted to heal arasinya with the phoenix feather but nothing happened. i moved to anthony instead and watched as fire filled his veins and his body was healed. then a bright light filled him as his soul returned. he gasped and breathed again, lusus underwater for a long time.

as the servants were killed, i realized that we were hurting arasinya by doing it

rufus knelt beside arasinya, aparently trying to help her somehow. instead he placed her on the altar and cut her heart out. chorus clearly didn't want this to happen and as arasinya's heart blood fell onto the altar and rufus screamed ascend, the candles turned from black to gold, and her heart morphed into an exquisite silver chain whip. when i saw that arasinya was gone and there is nothing left to do, i attacked chorus. the party all turned on her as well and killed her. rufus struck the last blow with the chain whip made of arasinya's heart. inaintet appeared and the whip wrapped around her neck like a leash. inaintet asked rufus for orders and he ordered her to ascend. both the phoenix and inaintet ascended back to their places at eldione's side