Session 33

* Ancient Dwarven Water-Temple

### NPCs:

* Amnir Stormborn (Dwarven Relic Wizard and Scholar, member of the Heirs of Timmoran)
* Dondras Stormborn (Dwarven Warrior, husband of Amnir)
* 'The Prophet' (Gnomish Prophet. One of Kellios' Seraphic Mantle.)

**Previously...**

## And Now...

### The Guardian

   After their swim, the group makes it to the outside of the temple, but the windows are too small for most of them to climb through. They share that there is a hole in the roof and that’s how they got in last time. The party takes a few moments to take a breather and discuss how they're going to climb the walls and get to the ceiling entrance. The Dwarves overhear the party talking about the dragons (Plural!) they have encountered. They are flabbergasted and make it abundantly clear that they would very much like to talk about these adventures in depth later.

Because the basic bricks of the building are of solid, dwarven make, there are few handholds in the stone walls -(not even where the bricks connect - and the walls are slippery with algae and general damp. Goldie uses ice mage (some were surprised she even knew non-fire magic) to blast the algae away, by freezing it and shattering the frost. Instead, the algae freezes in place making convenient handholds.

Dandy makes the climb first with some ease, but no sooner has she secured the rope to the top than she overbalances, slipping and sliding back down to the same level where she started. Arik and Dandy starts climbing up the rope with Goldie shortly after, but just as Goldie reaches the halfway point, the water outside the temple seems to boil as a gigantic, dragon-sized snake monster rears up out of the water. It looks like nothing so much as a much, MUCH larger version of the smaller snake-eel creatures with no visible limbs or wings, so it's definitely not a dragon. However, that's of small comfort to the party.

Spells and ranged attacks are launched at it, causing little-to-no damage and serving to do nothing so much as disorient it briefly. Dondras announces that he and Amnir will ‘keep it busy’ while the party moves on and then leaps at the snake, driving it back into the water. Amnir desperately scrambles for protective runes which he casts to try and prevent the beast from making a meal of his husband.

Both Gar and Dandy are unwilling to let Dondras sacrifice himself, so they dive in. By the time they locate them in the murky water, both dwarves are sinking in the water, and the snake seems dazed. Rather than make their way to the surface, the dwarves enter a submerged tunnel, leading to the the watery lower levels of the temple.  Gar is attacked by the snake and gets trapped in its jaws (not bitten or swallowed, but jammed as Gar resists being swallowed). Frustrated that he can’t see what’s going on, Arik plunges in after them, before noticing something reflecting the light on the opposite side of the waterway. He swims over and discovers what looks to be an abandoned bracer of some unknown metal.

Desperately, Dandy spies a potential weakness in the creature and swims up alongside it while it trashes about, trying to dislodge Gar. She fishes out great handfuls of vines from the Tanglewoods and shoves them into the monster's gills, behind its head-frills.. The snake rears back in pain, releasing Gar and retreating into the watery depths. The trio then make it back to safety and reconvene on the temple rooftop where they can finally catch their breath.

### Inside the Temple

After seeing no immediate visible threats, Goldie drops an activated rune into the room below, giving a soft red glow to illuminate the space. The others follow. Inside, they find what looks like some form of ritual room, with runes and magic iconography everywhere. Kellios symbolism has clearly been applied more recently (though still hundreds of years ago), while some signs of an evil snake cult can still be glimpsed beneath it. Looking at the basic architecture, Goldie suspects that, before the cult began using it, it had most likely been some sort of communal dwarven dining room.

A large rune dominates the floor, stained brown from years or decades of ancient blood sacrifices, though its has had Kelliosian magic laid down over the top of it to suppress its older, dark power. Magical auras are still present in the room, and those sensitive to magical energy can feel a dark magic lingering, though it is suppressed by light magic binding it in place. The nature of the rune seems to imply this area is a node - a connection in magic ley lines where magicians can teleport long distances.

From downstairs, they hear a rhythmic noise and make their way down. They find a corridor with doors leading to several other chambers, but follow the noise to an immense set of double doors. Inside the room, they find the two Dwarves, up to their chest in water (About waist-deep for the taller races, and chin-deep for Dandy).

Besides the dwarves, the room is empty, just an ante-chamber with an even grander set of double doors leading into the next room. These doors are covered in old runes and pulsing with protective magic. The Dwarves point to runes and Amnir offers his interpretation that the door will open for magic of a Runic fire shard. It is this which led them to see out the party. Goldie checks the translation and realises Amnir’s translation is off. Runic Shards would not have yet existed at the time of Kellos, but stars of Timmoran did and this is what Goldie believes they need.

Amnir seems visibly distraught to have come all this way for nothing, until Arik recalls the stone they had prised out of the Dragon-hybrids' machine back at The Fracture. Amnir and Dondras are shocked into silence at the sight of it, and Amnir finally manages to mutter out that, if they didn't already need to talk to them about the dragons, they'd most *definitely* need to talk to them about *this*! That, however, will have to wait for later, as Goldie casts a fire spell into it, amplifying it’s magic and opening the door.

### Inside the Chamber

Inside the opening chamber (which had, up until then, been sealed and was now flooding with water) they see a mummified gnome corpse on a dais. He’s curled up into a foetal position and has stripped off his armour (which sits on the floor nearby). Several shelves of very dusty books adorn the room. On the walls are 3 crude hand-painted symbols, painted in blood and ash.

**Continued in Session 34....**

- 10xp (430)