Episode 106

This is **Episode 106** of *Dice, Camera, Action*.

(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue

(Scott Kurtz) Binwin Bronzebottom - Dwarf Fighter/Barbarian

#### Investigating the Scene

The heroes had just killed a rakshasa. The town guard is cleaning up the mess. Strix and Diath take the kids inside. Diath removes the scroll from a scroll tube. It's magical. It contains the spell *speak with dead* on it.

Evelyn greets the neighbors and tries to smooth things over. Anna rolls a natural one.

The guards search the rakshasa, and find business cards. His name is Vincent Trench. He ran a private detective agency called the Tiger's Eye, which is just 7 buildings down. Binwin and Evelyn go and scope it out. Binwin "trips" and forces open the door. It's nice inside.

There are busts, a smoking pipe. Binwin thinks that Vincent Trench might have been paid in trinkets. A member of the city watch tells Evelyn that they'll handle this. Binwin steps in and drops Omin's name. It does not go over well. A guard is posted outside the Tiger's Eye and is instructed not to let anyone in.

Binwin tries to intimidate the guard. The guard is nervous, and lets Binwin go back in for 2 minutes, no more.

Strix tells the guards she's a member of the Lawful Order of the Chicken Foot coven. They just moved here from... Chult, she says. The guard is impressed and watches Strix casts *speak with dead* on Naska's severed head. Evelyn joins them. In the coffin is a petrified human hand and a petrified symbol of Lathander.

Binwin finds a secret door behind a cabinet. He slides the cabinet aside and scopes out the concealed door. It has no knob. He prays for no traps and opens it. Inside is an unfurnished stone room with a pentagram made of entrails on the floor. On the points of it are 5 small steel braziers with burning, flickering coals. There is blood smeared on the walls in the form of glyphs, and there is a stone lectern carved to look like a devil grasping a book with blood script on its pages.

Binwin grabs the book. The devil animates and comes to life.

Strix finishes the spell and Naska's head comes to life. Strix can ask up to five questions. An eyestalk bursts out from his forehead. It looks around.

"This isn't Naska, this is Xanathar. My spores have infected Naska. You made a mistake messing with me. Where's your joyboy, Paultin?"

Strix asks what Xanathar wants from them. Xanathar says he doesn't want anything. The group are the villains. He says that Naska was a traitor.

He apologizes for killing the priest. "I have one more. I'll keep him until you come and get him."

He tells Evelyn, "There are strange things happening at your temple. I read Perkins' notes. I have a CR of 13, what do you expect? It's higher in my lair. I have more hit points than all of you."

He says he's going to blow up the church. He says that Evelyn belongs with him. Strix asks him if he's in love with Evelyn. He admits he is sort of taken with her.

Evelyn wants to know where he is. The Xanathar says he'll let them know in time.

Back in the secret room, Binwin is fighting the stone devil. He defeats it easily and rejoins the group outside.

The Xanathar says that soon, Strix and Paultin will be out of the picture. He also threatens a guard named Todd, who has been comforting Evelyn. He says that Naska said bad things about Paultin.

Evelyn studies the stone hand. It is of an old person. The symbol of Lathander is an old one. The Xanathar says his name was Father K'Thrissmas, or something. Evelyn draws the Heart of Spinelli and slices the tentacle eye clean off of Naska's severed head. The head explodes with spores. Diath and Strix take a lot of poison damage. The guards nearby are hurt, but none of them die.

Strix was down to just 2 hit points, but Evelyn heals her for 15.

#### The Spires of Morning

Worried that the Xanathar is about to blow up, the group runs toward the Spires of Morning, temple of Lathander/Amaunator.

The clergy is spilling out of the temple. Evelyn recognizes Sister Incensia. She is standing with kitchen staffers and other people who work at the temple. She is a fairly high-ranking member of the clergy, though Evelyn outranks her. Evelyn asks what is going on. A member of the Lord's Alliance showed up and told them that the building needed to be evacuated. Someone has acquired a lot of smoke powder and is setting it up in the sewers below.

Members of the Harpers or the Lord's Alliance are headed down to take care of it. Evelyn asks Incensia how she feels about the "rebrand" of the temple. Evelyn was taught that Lathander is the reincarnation of Amaunator. Amaunator, in ancient days, was worshiped by humans as the god of the sun and the god of bureaucracy. Amaunator died and the empire of Netheril fell. It wasn't until Lathander was reborn that there was a god of dawn.

The Heresy of the Three-Faced Sun says that Amaunator is going to rise from the dead and reclaim his former position, and he will choose two other gods - one for dusk, one for dawn.

Father Sunbright believes that the Heresy is true, and so he is moving the church in that direction.

Strix is pretty sure that Amaunator died because people stopped worshiping him. His corpse floats in the Astral Plane as a dead god.

Evelyn further learns that someone named Tarastin Aderagon is coming from the Dalelands to replace Zaress, who died and was almost drawn into the Soulmonger.

Binwin shows Diath the evil book he looted from the secret room. The book seems like something that can be used to contact lower planar creatures.

Jalaster Silvermane is helping to get the church evacuated while agents scour the sewers. He says they have a spy who he trusts in the ranks of the enemy. Evelyn and Strix go into the church and try to get everyone out.

Evelyn flies inside and it seems totally empty. She says a quick prayer to Lathander. To her surprise, she gets a response. A voice whispers, "Look to yourself. With you, there is great danger."

The light in the temple seems to be trying to lead her in a direction. She follows it. She hears the voice of The Xanathar. Xanathar says, "Here we are, alone..." and he orders his goblins to leave.

#### The Xanathar

She sees the Xanathar. He is using his telekinesis eye ray to hold the statue of Evelyn aloft.

Binwin is swarmed by fans. Diath asks Strix where Evelyn is. He's worried that the place is going to blow up.

The Xanathar says he is adding the statue to his collection. He threatened to blow up the temple so he could steal it. Evelyn is a bit conflicted. She tries to persuade him, saying they should get to know each other better, The Xanathar shoots a beam at her. she dodges. Another beam comes at her... she's charmed. The Xanathar chucks the statue and it shatters.

The rest of the group runs in to the temple and sees Evelyn with the Xanathar. Xanathar tells the group to go away. Diath can tell that Evelyn is brainwashed.

Strix's Staff of the Horned Crescent stops glowing, due to the anti-magic zone coming from the beholder's central eye.

Binwin heaves a javelin into Xanathar's central eye, causing it to explode inward and expel inner gore. It lets out a deafening scream. It fires a bunch of beams at him. He is turned to stone, and then he is disintegrated.

The third ray goes at Diath. He dodges it. The beam hits a column, which turns brittle and starts to crack.

Strix casts *polymorph* on the Xanathar, but he makes his save. Then she casts *darkness* and tells the group to run. Diath dodges another ray, rolling a natural 20 on his save.

Xanathar flees through the tunnel he had made in the floor. Strix polymorphs Evelyn into a little snail. Strix scoops her up.

End of session.

There's an animated image of Binwin's death on Scott's twitter.