Session 32

* Kelliosian Monastery
* 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)
* Al Beorn & His Trained Owlbear (Owlbear trainer encountered in Redbridge)
* Giana Darakin (Priestess of Kellios)
* *(Pair of Unidentified Monks)* (The attendants of an otherwise abandoned monastery in the Shadow Peaks which contains a miraculous healing statue)

**Previously...**

## And Now...

### Travelling

The group, including the two dwarves, Amnir and Dodras, and Al Beorne and his Owlbear travel north along the road from Tamalir to Greyhaven. Shortly before Nornholt, bid farewell to Al Beorn and his friend who continue North, while the rest head East, into the foothills of the Shadow Peaks. On the second evening, the party stops at a Monastery to Kellios, only to find it near-deserted save for an older pair of monks serving as attendants. From the monks, they learn that a light glowed from the statue and healed the sick here, and that sometime after that, their friend the Priestess Giana arrived and led them away as they sung an old Kellios Hymn. The monks are quite happy to offer the party hospitality for the night.

In the morning, after an extraordinarily restful night's sleep *(PCs get a free upgrade they can use at any time during the rest of the day)* they follow an old, worn-out road into the hills. The trip is uneventful and they camp in the open that night and set out into the mountains the next morning.

### At the Mountain

Signs of the road continue up into the mountain, including some very worn steps. As the party draw closer, they begin to pool their information and try and anticipate what they might encounter. Based on its location and bits and pieces of information pieced together, they suspect it may be a notorious temple, originally occupied by a Snake-Cult and the end of the 2nd Darkness. According to legend, Kellios dispatched a number of his closest allies to clear out the evil. This might explain the monastery, which may initially have been placed there as a kind of guardpost.

With that out of the way, Dondras proceeds to inform the party of the sort of threats they might encounter as they approach the Temple - Snakes, Bloodwyrms and Trolls. He tells them what he knows about the various creatures:

Trolls have low intelligence (no spoken language) and are incredible hostile and territorial. They heal tremendously fast from almost any injury. What would take hours or days for a dwarf would be a matter of minutes for a troll. They do, however, show an aversion to fire. The party gets the impression from the way he speaks that he considers Trolls an exceptionally dangerous form of vermin.

As he describes Bloodwyrms, several members of the party begin to find the information familiar, and begin to believe that he's talking about something quite similar to the centipede-like creatures they encountered in the tunnels beneath the Broken Beacon.

He explains that both will be found in caves and tunnels close to the temple entrance, but as both are very territorial, you should only encounter one or the other. Arik suggests that this territoriality could be used against them, and that they might be induced to fight one another, leaving the path relatively clear for the party in the ensuing chaos. They hunt for something they could use as bait, and find a bear carcass. Goldie preserves the hide using an alchemical solution and Dondras speculates that it should be good for about two weeks. Meanwhile, the rest of the bear should serve well as bait.

With that done, the party splits into two groups to scout out the creatures' respective territories.

* Team Troll, consisting of Dandy, Arik and Dodras. find wyrms eating a Carcass (could be Troll?). No live Trolls found. Dandy sneaks past them finding an unused corridor which could be used to bypass the monsters.
* Team Wyrm, consisting of Goldie, Gar and Amnir encounter young wyrms at first, but get ignored. Eventually they get acid spat at them damaging some gear. They fall back, before running into Dandy who shows them in the hidden tunnel.

The entire group then explores the ‘Troll’ entrance, finding troll tools (cutting tools and bowl) and a chest (with human skulls. 2 snakes skulls and a dwarf skull with a gold tooth). A discussion is had about the morality of keeping the gold tooth. Someone claimed it, Only they know who they are. .

### Into the Cave

Eventually, they decide to try and get through the wyrms' cave, avoiding dense groups. At one point, they reach a nest which is too densely-populated to avoid, so they decide to skirt around, climbing the walls and scaling past horizontally. Dandy heads across first, securing a line to help the others, but Gar slips on a damp patch of rock and tumbles into a mass of wyrms. He manages to extricate himself and flee past, but is hit by acid. His armour is badly damaged and his shoes are ruined. Arik casts a smokey sanctuary/barrier spell which creates a path through the wyrms, and they pass unaccosted.

From there, they reach a constructed feature, a Dwarf-made arch. It is easily as old as any Dwarven architecture Goldie has ever seen. There are some inscriptions on it, but they've been obliterated. Due to the age, unfortunately, it's impossible to tell whether this was intentional or just a result of the vast age of the structure. A small path splits off to the side, but the Dwarves say they've already explored it and it’s nothing but water and snakes. Probably some kind of well or cistern structure.

Further down the main path, after passing more Dwarf Columns and structures, they reach a huge pair of Dwarven gates. Physical pushing doesn't shift them at all, but there's a series of runes carved into the door representing the 7 Dwarven ranks of nobility. Amnir suggests, and Goldie agrees that the runes somehow magically open the doors. After making several failed attempts, they give up. The Dwarves seem amused by this, because it seems the heroes had no more luck than they did. The Dwarves then reveal a side-entrance, somewhat concealed from view. The party uses it to bypass the door.

### The Central Chamber

The Chamber inside is huge. It is flooded by a pool of water, fed by an internal waterfall. Dwarven buildings litter the chamber, mostly underwater. A huge building looms above the water, two-thirds submerged. There's a walkway/bridge leads to it, but it is several inches underwater. The Dwarves say the water has risen since they were here. Water-Snakes can bee seen about the place, an unusual breed with eel-like fins. Even from a distance, the party can see that the building's original dwarvish architecture has been modified in places over the centuries, presumably by non-dwarves. The main new features would seem to be the addition of snake-holes and statues of 8 figures.

These figures are identified as members of The Seraphic Mantle, an inner circle of magic-wielding allies who aided Kellios. Most of them seem to be human (though that's not 100% certain), but at least one is definitely an elf, and one is a gnome. The gnome is identified as 'The Prophet', who wrote the original prophecies the heroes have found themselves caught up in. He is depicted as blind, with bandages wrapped over his eyes.

Arik once again summons a tunnel of smoke from his censer which allows everyone to get across the bridge, unmolested by the snakes. As they reach the far end, however, they can see that the last thirty feet or so has broken off and they're going to have to swim for it. Several characters are forced to leave gear and items behind at the walkway.

As they're nearing the Temple, a huge shadow pass underneath, 30 yards long or longer. It doesn’t attack... yet.