The Temple of An'Zhu

## Approaching the Temple

The party had elected not to tell any of the fellow defenders about their mission to the *Temple of An'Zhu.* The reaction that most of the people of Haazen'Ra had towards even the name *An'Zhu* was extreme. Who knows what their reaction would be if given the information that this group was going to try and suppress some of the power of *She Unspoken* from some lost, arcane jungle temple.

As the party ventured east, the strength of the visions and the powers of *She Unspoken* were becoming stronger and stronger. When the party rested on their travels, they now would tie themselves together in groups, in order to make sure no member of the party would be overwhelmed by a vision and stray away, perhaps ending their life somewhere deep in the jungle.

In addition to the strong visions that *She Unspoken* could muster, there were two new entities that were affecting the party. One of the creatures was little more than a figure of light, moving at extreme speed through the jungle. When the figure was noticed, it had an uncanny ability to pull the observer along with them at ferocious speed. This caused the victim to bounce along the ground as they moved at speeds beyond their ability to travel without exhausting themselves. Whenever these *Lights of An'Zhu* traveled by the party, the others attempted to bind and defend the victims as best they could; drawing the victims as best they could away from the terrible lights. Fortunately, these strange *Lights of An'Zhu* were not truly engaging the party, rather they were just drawing them further to the east as far as they could until the victim either was freed or would succumb to their wounds.

The other creature the party encountered was the *Sound of An'Zhu*. These creatures would also draw observers near them, but these creatures used thunder and sound to propel their victims along. A cacophony of timbres accompanied the victims as they shot through the jungle, being dragged by the *Sound of An'Zhu*. Again the party did their best to defend themselves against these creatures, with Freya, at one point, streaking forward to hold the ears of Aterean who had been dragged by the creature through the wood. Fortunately, none of the party were grievously injured, so neither the *Light* or *Sound of An'Zhu* were able to claim victims for *She Unspoken*.

As the party approached where they thought the temple would be, Kazin brought out the magical *Spyglass* they had acquired long ago and peered through the dense jungle to see a glimpse of the temple in the miles ahead. A river served as a boundary from the west, with an old stone bridge crossing it. A large temple and statue sat on a plateau a little ways back, while a circle of statues and colored magical orbs welcomed any adventurer who dared step off the bridge.

## Orbs, Statues and Guardians

The bridge leading to the temple plateau spanned a small river and gorge, but it appeared to be stable enough for the party to cross. Once beyond the apex of the bridge, it became clearer to the party as to what was present before the temple. There was a circle formed by several strange statues of bird men, the iconic minion of *She Unspoken,* each shaded into different colors: red, magenta, teal and yellow. There was a large, mystical red orb, with visible streaks of arcane energy covering its surface, while it floated without support above a pool in the center of the circle of statues. At the north end of the circle, a statue of a larger bird man held another arcane orb, although this orb was smaller and the color of azure. At the south end of the circle, a corresponding statue and orb was present, this time the orb presented emerald green. There was also a set of stairs to the east, leading up from the circle to another plateau, passing through a stone archway towards a large dais topped with an immense statue of *She Unspoken*.

Slowly and carefully, the party crossed the the bridge and started to walk around the perimeter of the circle of statues and orbs. Freya moved to the Green Orb at the south, preparing to unleash mad fury from Hrongmar upon the arcane force. While Hrongmar and Freya were able to apparently damage the Green Orb, it also had the effect that all of the orbs would send out bolts of power at the attacker. The **Green** orb sent out waves of *Thunder*, the **Blue** orb shot out bolts of *Lightning*, and the **Red** orb direct beams of *Force***.** Although damage was being done for a moment, it also appeared that the orbs could quickly heal themselves, apparently at a rate in relation to the amount of damage which was taken.

Meanwhile, Zak avoided the circle and then began climbing the cliff to the main temple. When he reached the rim of the temple's plateau, a blast of force damage sent Zak flying off of the plateau, causing a bit of damage, but also knocking him back, falling down the cliffside. Cooper also attempted to fly to the plateau, but the force damage caused the poor pigeon's demise.

Now the party decided to focus their attention on the statues in the circle. Brock started attacking a statue in the north of the circle while Zak, Freya and Wubba attacked statues at the south. The statues definitely could be damaged as well, but each instance of damage caused some of the orbs to send out bolts to blast the attacker. In addition, upon the first attack of the statue, the red orb expanded and a creature began to form inside the orb. A round or so later, and one of the creatures that Zak and Tindora had seen previously was now manifest...the **Beacon of An'Zhu**. The Beacon was a mysterious, near-construct-like, metallic humanoid, with a fleshy humanoid arm paired with a metallic slicing arm.  Bolts of electrical energy wreathed the Beacon's body as it moved.

Besides formidable resistances to many different forms of attack, the Beacon had great power of *Lightning*. It could jump quickly through crowds of people causing lightning damage, and it did so, leaving the circle and moving through the party half-way across the bridge where it now stood by the casters. In addition, whenever it was attacked by anything, the Beacon would send bolts of lightning as retribution against their assailants, potentially hitting people in between the Beacon and the target. The party quickly downed potions of lightning resistance to mitigate the damage, although the *slicing* ability of the Beacon's appendages were also quite deadly.

The Beacon could not be pulled by Brocktharian's ring, so several of the more armored melee folks drew back to engage the Beacon and keep it from assaulting the less armored folk of the party. Meanwhile, Zak, Hormish and Freya continued their pounding of the statues. When Zak was able to finally destroy a yellow statue at the southwestern corner of the circle, the statue produced a small *yellow* solid orb. Correspondingly, when Hormish destroyed a teal statue to the northeast, the statue produced a small *teal* orb. Damage continued to rain down upon the Beacon from the others, and although it was ruthless with its defensive rebukes, the summoned creature finally succumbed. Alas, however, as soon as the Beacon fell, the red orb started to expand again, and another creature began to form inside it.

Before the creature emerged, however, more of the statues were destroyed, producing orbs with corresponding colors. To assist in the defense of those attacking the statues, Kazin put up a great stone wall so that the arcane orbs that had been sending out attacks would now smash into the stone wall instead of those who were attacking the statues. The stone wall could hold for a bit, but eventually the blasts from the orbs would break through. Still, however, the wall gave the party more time to assault the statues.

The red orb did finally release another creature, although it was different from the previously summoned Beacon. Now the **Collector of An'Zhu** appeared. The Collector was a near-construct humanoid as well, apparently made of mixtures of metallic or mineral substances. The Collector had a spear for one arm and a metallic arm for the other. A glow surrounded the creature, although the glow's color changed from bronze to black to purple at no sensible intervals.

The Collector was immune to several types of damage, but it also had the ability to rise up, out of melee range, and create a *Rain of Despair* in a large radius around it. Those affected by the rain were wracked with psychic damage and became uncertain of their ability to withstand damage or determine accuracy. When attacked, the Collector sent out waves of thunder damage towards their assailant. And if the Collector's dangerous spearing arm wasn't enough, the Collector was also capable of causing vermin to rise from the ground to cause paralysis at any unfortunate enough to withstand the gnawing of the vermin. It was clear that the party needed to destroy the statues more quickly.

As the last statues were being attacked, Wubba called upon his deepest arcane magic and **Banished** the Collector for the present. The party probably still needed to move fast, but fortunately, the last statues were just to fall, releasing the final solid, colored orbs. The party then raced up the stairs to the temple plateau to the base of the great statue to She Unspoken which stood on top. At the base of the statue was a corridor leading down into the ground, but venturing into it was barred by some sort of force field. As the force field touched the walls of the corridor, it changed color. To the left the force field was *RED* in color, while the top and bottom were *BLUE*, and the right was *GREEN*. When the force field was touched, it blasted *Force* damage against the intruder and sent them back several feet.

Now just before the force field on the left and right sides of the corridor, sat panels with 3 indentations in them, each of the indentations being about the size of the solid colored orbs that had been taken from the statues. The party had orbs of the following colors: *Yellow, Magenta, Teal* and *Red.* After a few moments, the party considered the colors. Red was obviously going to be needed if they were to create something Red, Blue and Green in each panel. But then they thought about color composition. Yellow is made from Red and Green, Magenta from Red and Blue, and Teal from Green and Blue. The party then placed orbs so that each of the panels had orbs that could fulfill components for red, blue and green, and then the force field dropped, allowing the party to descend into the depths.

## Inside the Temple of She Unspoken

The party descended into the temple for a while, finally coming upon an opening to a partially lit room. The room had four standing candelabras which surrounded a 40' statue of She Unspoken. There were several corridors leading away from the statue's room, and now the party decided what to do. After a brief discussion, the party determined that they should move as a whole and take the left most corridor in the room. When they came to an intersection, they would again take the leftmost choice. Freya and Brocktharian were given the benefit of *Light* spells, but Zak would lead the group as he was quickest and could see the furthest in the dark.

The party traveled on and on without encountering anything save the occasional intersection. At each intersection, the party would turn left and on they continued. Wubba was starting to fall behind, so Freya decided to pick the mage up and carry him along so that he would not be left behind. Finally, Zak noticed a lever in the wall and quickly pushed it down. There was some resistance, but it moved rather freely with minimal noise or effect. The lever was pulled up again by Brocktharian, rendering similar results.

The party continued onward, turning this way and that, but generally marking their way to make sure they knew where they had been. Hopefully the marks would not be removed before they returned to them. At one point in the travels, however, Zak decided to take a right turn instead of a left, and he was confronted with something new. The short passage led to a room with a stone, circular dais rising 1' from the floor. Zak could see nothing out of the ordinary about the dais, so he stepped on to it. Immediately, Zak was engulfed with some sort of blue energy. It wasn't preventing his movement or affecting him in any discernable way, but the energy was now present, floating just above the floor in a 10' sphere.

Kazin caught a glimpse of Zak turning right instead of left, so Brocktharian, Hormish and Kazin followed after him. There Zak lay in a provocative pose amidst the blue sphere, but Brocktharian was not impressed, and quickly upbraided the Drow for turning right instead of left. Regardless, the party had now found something strange. Freya, Wubba and Brynda headed back to the lever to see if when they threw it, something would change. Zak stepped out of the blue orb, and Kazin went in to see if he could determine anything about its composition, but alas nothing seemed to resonate. Everyone stepped outside the orb and waited for Freya to flip the lever again. Alas, when the lever was flipped, nothing seemed to happen to the blue orb. It just continued to float motionlessly above the dais.

The party continued onward, passing move intersections, turning to the left for the most part. As the party's movement was definitely decided to be westerly, Zak made the decision to take a right at an intersection. Here, however, there was no dais found, but an empty room. Zak told the rest of the party to head back and then continue back towards the intersection. However, when he rounded the corner where he had just been, he looked at the intersection where he had taken a right, and standing there was a **Beacon of An'Zhu**. Zak let loose a few arrows and the party swarmed in to help out against the creature. As Freya now moved up behind the Beacon, however, she heard something coming up from behind in the dark corridors under the temple.

The party focused all of their power on stopping the *Beacon* in front of them for the moment, letting whatever was approaching come when it may. Swing and stab, chaos bolt and magic missile, all manner of attack lay into the *Beacon* while it was surrounded in front of the party. The *Beacon* manifested their **Lightning Cage** as they had in the past, causing lightning to rain down on the party, but it would not last long for the party's damage was severe and unyielding.

Quickly afterwards, Brynda, Zak and Freya headed down the corridor to see what was approaching. As they turned the corner, they were confronted with yet another **Beacon** and a **Collector of An'Zhu** right behind. Now Kazin had throw a damaging *Chaos Bolt* earlier, but now his *Wild Magic* had immobilized him for a minute back along a different corridor. Fortunately, Zak and Freya had retreated a bit so that they were in range of his *Haste* spell, but Brynda had remained below to be confronted by the *Beacon* and *Collector*. Both servants of An'Zhu were devastating in melee combat, which Brynda soon discovered. Fortunately for her, Freya, Brocktharian and Zak quickly moved back into position to help her out. They knew the *Collector* had a horrible *Rain of Despair* which gravely affected the party's morale, so it was paramount to dispose of the *Collector* as soon as possible.

The one feature that had been briefly forgotten was that the *Beacon* also could alter themselves into a mobile *Lightning Streak.* This form allowed the *Beacon* to blast like a lightning bolt for some distance without being blocked by the party. After doing so, the *Beacon* was now assaulting the rear of the party while the *Collector* was still at the front. As the party was more resistant to the lightning damage that the *Beacon* could invoke, the party sought to destroy the second *Beacon* en masse. Meanwhile, Wubba moved forward to assist Brynda and to *Banish* the *Collector* before it could affect the party with its control of ethereal vermin or the *Rain of Despair*. The lightning raged all around the *Beacon*, but the party's fervor and focus broke down the creature, causing it to fade into nothingness.

The party regrouped and healed their wounds, planning to move quickly for it was unknown if and when the *Collector* would return from its banishment. To alleviate the problem, Wubba ended the *Banishment* and the entire party awaited with weapon and spell to deal with the *Collector* as it appeared, before it could do anything too severe. Their plan worked and the *Collector* was eliminated leaving the party free from at least one foe's dangerous designs.

The party continued on their way and now took the first right turn they came to. This passage opened into a larger room with yet another dais present on it. Two of the party walked on to the dais and now a *Green* sphere of arcane color rose just above it. Again the orb appeared to have no effect, but there must be some purpose for the manifestations that rose from the daises, even if it was not initially obvious.

As a test, Zak remained inside the orb of the dais with Hormish and Freya standing by. Another group consistent of Wubba, Brynda, Tindora and Aterian headed to another of the daises. Lastly, Brocktharian and Kazin headed to the lever. The party had two messaging horns to permit distant communication which lay in the hands of Freya and Wubba. Brocktharian was linked with Freya in terms of being damaged so that if anything physical befell either party, both would know.

However, the plan was not yet going to be enacted. Prior to Wubba reaching the other dais or Brocktharian reaching the lever, a *Beacon of An'Zhu* moved into the room with Zak, Freya and Hormish. Freya at once communicated to Wubba that they were under attack and so that party headed back. As Freya attacked the *Beacon*, the lightning rebuke blasted into Freya, and at once, Brocktharian knew that Freya was under attack. Now those two groups moved swiftly to regroup and rejoin the trio under attack.

As the other groups headed back, they were confronted with another *Beacon of An'Zhu* in their way. The groups attempting to relieve the trio descended on this new *Beacon*. They did not want this foe to join the other in damaging the trio. Fortunately, the party was heavily resistant to the brutal lightning rebukes that the *Beacon* could manifest, so that they were able to attack the foe with everything they could muster. Meanwhile, the trio continued to take down their *Beacon* with whatever assaults they could muster. As soon as the larger group had defeated their *Beacon*, they closed to assist the trio and make sure they were also defeated, then maybe they could return to discovering what was going on with the lever. The *Beacons* were ruthless, using their *Lightning Streak* to attempt to get at the members of the party who were not committing to melee, thereby forcing the party to spread out a bit more to the northwest. However, this would not be enough for the *Beacons* to gain advantage. Both would fall to the strength of the party, yet now something else rounded the corner of the corridors to the north. Another *Collector* descended on the party, forcing Freya to quickly engage before it could brutalize Wubba.

The party could handle the servants of An'Zhu, no matter which ones they faced. Yet, it did take a toll as time went on with each fight they faced. A *Beacon* here, a *Collector* there, a *Harvester* or two. They could be matched, but the drain on the party's resources was getting severe. The party now elected to leave the temple for a time so that they could rest and recover before they were over-taxed by these minions of *She Unspoken.*

As they were heading out towards the main chamber, the party was again accosted by a pair of these constructs. Unfortunately, the constructs were attacking from either side of the party. There were few resources of magic left in the party, so they needed to flee as soon as possible. To assist in their flight, Kazin put up a *Wall of Stone* between the party and the *Harvester* attacking the rear of the party, while the rest of the party focused on vanquishing the *Collector* that blocked their way to the antechamber and the way out. There were few spells remaining and everyone was exhausted, being worn down again and again from these minions of An'Zhu. Fortunately, however, the wall held and the *Collector* was vanquished so the path to the outside was finally cleared.

When the party reached the outside, they found that the statues in the magic circle below the temple were slowly being rebuilt. The statues could easily be destroyed again, but it was obvious to the party that they could not dally for long outside as the power of *She Unspoken* was still strong and present. The only good thing about the temple area was that any of the jungle wildlife would not venture towards it, so that any rest that the party had would be uninterrupted. The party rested as well as they could, shared items and potions to prepare themselves for another delving into the temple, and were off into the depths once more.

On their previous venture in the temple maze, the party had found 7 orbs of power in total. Three green, two blue and two red glowing orbs had been uncovered. There were still parts of the maze that were undiscovered, so the party sought to flush out the unknown and see if there were any other orbs to be found. They discovered another red orb quickly and without encounter, but soon after they were met by two *Harvesters,* again attacking from the front and rear of the party. Fortunately, they were able to kill one *Harvester* quickly, although the damage that any of these minions of An'Zhu could put out was severe by any standard. Then Brocktharian, Zak, Freya and Hormish rushed to protect the rear of the party and protect the non-melee members from certain death. Again, the party was victorious, but many heals were required to return the party to full strength. After a few more minutes, the party was able to find a blue orb. Now 3 red, 3 green and 3 blue orbs had been uncovered. The decision was made to now seek out the lever to see if it had any effect now.

## The Manifestation Emerges

After a brief discussion, the party made their way back to the lever in the northeastern corner of the maze. Prior to pulling the lever, the party exchanged items, prepared spells and kept their eyes out for whatever might happen. In addition, the party watched one of the daises that had a *blue* orb floating about it to see if it changed when the lever was thrown. When everyone was set, the lever was thrown yet again. This time the entire shaft of the lever glimmered with the 3 different colored orbs they had found. The shaft of the lever was faceted with 9 faces, each of which was now showing red, blue or green. The most startling aspect of throwing the lever, however, was that all of the interior walls of the maze now disappeared from sight. They did not fall asunder, rather they faded from existence as if they had been an illusion or if they had just been visitors from another plane of existence. The other bizarre change that occurred was that the orbs that sat upon the daises no longer gave out light. When projected light intersected the orb, the color was still present, but the orbs themselves were no longer supplying luminance.

Slowly, the party began to make their way to the west, back towards the entrance from the stairs. A *Beacon of An'Zhu* came into view and lashed out against the party. Fortunately, the strong alchemical draughts that Aterian had made were still in effect, so the thunder and lightning that the *Beacon* readily produced was not nearly as deadly as it could have been. After the *Beacon* was defeated, the party continued to make their way west.

Now, there was some audible indication of something going on further to the west. Perhaps something collapsing, or breaking apart. The sound of rubble dropping to the floor was clearly noticeable, although still a ways away. Zak moved up quickly, and at the very end of his range of vision, he could see that the 40' high statue of An'Zhu was breaking apart...or perhaps something was breaking out of it. The party hastened its pace west, although some of the party arrived more quickly as they had been magically hasted. A few seconds later, and some bizarre Manifestation of An'Zhu emerged from the rubble.

    Freya, Zak, Brocktharian and Hormish all closed on the Manifestation, surrounding it quickly to gain whatever advantage they might have by early attacks. The Manifestation was resistant to almost everything they threw at it, although it was immune to *radiant, necrotic* and *psychic* damage. As the party members lashed out at the horror, the Manifestation sent out a *Chain Lightning* spell to welcome the party to the violence that would be awaiting. Again, the fortunate resistance that the party could muster greatly mitigated the damage that the Manifestation could bear. Although the Manifestation was surrounded, there was no sense of desperation on its part, as it created a *Thunderdome*, blasting sonic waves to those who surrounded it on its eastern flank. The party was now fully concentrating their abilities en masse to take down the Manifestation as quickly as they could. Little by little, it was weakening, but who knew what the Manifestation would deliver next?

The party knew that the conclusion of this fight could mean their lives, but a potential victory could mean the end of considerable suffering to the greater peoples of Haazen'Ra, let alone themselves. No longer would the visions of *She Unspoken* violate people far and wide, a flooding of chaos and uncertainty to all who were touched by them. The party remained focused and strove to end this threat to all.

The Manifestation's next attack was to put up a *Force Wall*, damaging many members of the party as blocks of force magic emerged from nothingness to encompass, devastate and weaken the group. The healing forces of Aterian and Brynda continued to keep the party from succumbing to the grave damage that this creature was unleashing, while the rest sought only to slash, bash, pierce and burn the creature as quickly as possible.

While the intense melee battle continued, a moment came where the Manifestation did not unleash an attack, rather it seemed to look far to the east in the giant hall and beckon something, ever so subtly. Although the focus of all was on the manifestation, the rest of the great hall remained in blackness and hid whatever unknown creation their foe was bringing to bear. A few moments later, Kazin and Zack heard and saw what was approaching from the void to the east. A pair of creatures that the party had encountered in the jungle when they approached the temple were now perceivable to those under the temple. The *Light of An'Zhu* and the *Sound of An'Zhu* were streaking across the hall towards the Manifestation. The *Light* raced to the west, creating an array of lights which coaxed any who perceived it to be drawn into its journey, while the *Sound's* cacophony compelled listeners to bound along its path towards the Manifestation. Kazin and Zack unleashed what they could upon the creatures, but they were unfortunately able to reach the Manifestation and were immediately absorbed by their target, healing it from many of the wounds it had already taken. Worse still was that the rebukes that the Manifestation had previously presented were now replaced by the rebukes of constructs they had fought before. Each swing, each spell which landed on the Manifestation caused lightning, thunder and force damage on one or more of the party, increasing the healing duties measurably to keep the party alive.

Nonetheless, the party was still determined in their aim, and the damage they unleashed was tremendous. The Manifestation was able to put anyone into grave harm, but the party's power and expertise was greater. Just as the party was poised for victory and the Manifestation was fading, the creature burst and was born again into a smaller 20' tall version of itself. Gone were the lightning and force spells, the rebukes of all nature, but this Manifestation exuded an area suppressing all magic. No weapon, no spell, no armor with enchantment would have any effect. All of the spells of *Haste* and *Healing* were gone from those directly engaging the Manifestation were gone, making the melee capability of the creature that much more grave. Worse still, the new Manifestation beckoned again something from the void to the east, potentially bringing the *Sound* and *Light* forth to disturb the party and heal their master once more.

Zack, Kazin, Tindora and Wubba went out to engage these minions before they could reach the manifestation, while the rest began a pattern of attack and disengage, to attempt to be able to regain some of the life lost in the perilous fight against this foe. Again the focus of the party was great, and the damage to the Manifestation severe, but the *Sound* and *Light* were rapidly approaching. Damage was done to them, but then it was ascertained that all efforts from each member of the party should be on destroying the Manifestation rather than worrying about the creatures who were compelled by it. As the stamina and health declined on the party, they had but a few more moments to unleash whatever they could before the Manifestation was healed again. With the last few swings and piercings of arrows, the Manifestation fell, but yet was renewed again.

The third Manifestation was a simple humanoid sized, yet gray and opaque version of the previous versions, yet with scintillating, prismatic eyes. It was present and yet not present as it was not able to be engaged in any way. This Shadow of An'Zhu waved its hand towards those party members who were distant, and brought them close at hand in a manner similar to the *Sound* and *Light*, but no longer would it attack the party in any way. Rather, it spoke to the party briefly...

*You are worthy agents of chaos. Even in suppressing my power over this land for a time, you are changing courses in fate. I welcome challenge, victory and defeat and in all those who bring change. I shall follow you and watch you, but I also give you a gift of my eyes. For now, I shall slumber for a time, but I will return again when complacency is renewed.*

With those words, the shadow took out her eyes and set them floating in the space before the party. They were powerful boons of a sort of a creature who respected their vanquishers.

As the Shadow faded, the temple was slowly fading from existence. At once the party left, before the temple dissolved completely and they were buried in the ground below. Outside, the statues and orbs that had been present were all gone, faded from existence. It wouldn't be long before the jungle retook the space where the temple stood, but at least for now, the party could rest for a time knowing they had defeated a sadistic and chaotic god.

## Links

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