Session 31: Temple purification

After having defeated the shambling mound in the courtyard, the Littleton Legends venture forwards into the long abandoned temple of Elune and Gozreh. What they find there is a horrific sight to behold: the decayed skeletons of countless elves lay strewn across the temple floor. More disturbing still is the fact that these elves seem to have fallen fighting against their own brethren. Jerky walks forward to one of two pedestals that stand in the center of the circular temple. He reaches out to touch an ancient tome that lies closed upon the pedestal, and as he does the pages flip violently as if blown by an unseen wind, opening the book to a page containing an elvish poem. At the same moment, the howling intensifies and two banshees float into sight from behind closed wooden doors at opposite ends of the temple. Their facial features are vaguely elvish but twisted with anger and pain... one of them lets out a screech so fierce the very air around it seems to explode outward, sending Shed and Aaler to the ground unconscious. Isaya immediately blasts one of the banshees with a gust of wind from her staff, sending the foul creature back through the wooden door and out of sight, and pinning it there. Jerky makes battle with the second banshee at the foot of the pedestal for a few moments, but realizing his friends have fallen he quickly rushes to their aid, ignoring the banshee’s spectral claws. Jerky hovers over Shed first, and comes to the realization that Shed is dead. He hurriedly pours a throbbing red potion down the monk’s throat but to no avail, Shed remains motionless and cannot even swallow the thick liquid. Meanwhile, Isaya is barely managing to hold back both banshees at once, keeping the first at bay with her staff of the elements while blasting spells at the other with her free hand.

In a moment of panic and frustration, Jerky begins to sip the throbbing red liquid back from the lips of Shed’s corpse, lapping up the substance from within his mouth and throat in a ghoulish display. A disgusted glance from Isaya brings him back to his senses and he pulls out a second potion to aid his friend Aaler who is still breathing. Aaler comes to, and Jerky focuses his attention back on the banshee, quickly destroying it with a few swings from his Khav-Sin Blade Master sword, although a strange ectoplasm remains behind once the creature has dissipated. Aaler in turn rushes to Shed’s aid, producing a small handful of diamonds from a hidden pouch inside his mithral plate. He holds them in both hands above his head calling upon ancient and powerful divine magic. A beam of moonlight flashes down from the sky through the temple’s open ceiling, passing through the upheld diamonds and straight into Shed’s chest. A moment passes, the diamonds fall into a fine dusty powder between Aaler’s fingers and suddenly, Shed’s chest heaves. He coughs up what looks like blood but is actually a mixture of potion and Jerky’s saliva and stumbles when he tries to rise to his feet. A shout from Isaya calls the attention of the group “I can’t hold this one here forever, prepare yourselves!”. The Littleton Legends muster what strength they have left and prepare to face the second banshee. Isaya drops the gust of wind and the spectre comes hurling through the wooden door in a rage, only to meet Jerky’s sword, Aaler’s mace and Shed’s boomerangs. The banshee teeters on the brink of dissipating, but before it goes it belches one final screech at the group, this time felling Isaya. Aaler promptly brings her back with a spell of healing and looks around to make sure everyone else is okay… only to find Shed scowling while struggling to maintain balance on one leg, the other hanging limply to his side.

The monk hobbles to the edge of the temple, props himself against a tall wooden pillar and begins strapping one of his boomerangs to the side of his leg, his expression sour. The other three think it best to leave him alone for the time being, and examine the two poems written on the books atop the pedestals. Isaya attempts to read the first, but the words seem to scream out at her causing her to fall back and impale herself on the rusty weapon of a dead elf on the ground. Aaler heals her once again, but the wound will leave a nasty scar. The cleric then determines that the tomes are cursed and calls upon Elune’s grace to lift the dark magics that surround them, allowing the party to safely read the full text of the poems which turn out to be riddles. After a moment of thinking and a few tries, the party manages to solve the first riddle and to their surprise, the ectoplasm left behind by the first banshee stirs and reforms into a humanoid shape… that of a peaceful elven priestess who smiles at them, silent and grateful. She assists the group with the second riddle, and the second ectoplasm forms into the shape of a second ghost. The ghosts float to either door and open them with a wave of their arms, beaconing for Isaya and Aaler to follow. One stairway leads up to the tower of Elune, the other to the tower of Gozreh and Isaya and Aaler proceed to the entrance of their respective faiths. They climb long stairways up to twin chambers and are each given a relic of their deity. Aaler receives a plain circular white piece of cloth that glows faintly, Isaya receives a very large intricately carved fan.

The elves return to the main chamber, and the ghosts face them, still smiling. They float closer and closer to Isaya and Aaler until finally they pass into them, taking control over their bodies. Shed and Jerky watch in awe as the two elves begin some sort of ceremonial dance. Aaler stands in the center of the room, and performs a series of powerful deliberate poses depicting the phases of the moon with the white cloth, while Isaya swirls around him in a broad circle, her feet pounding the wooden temple floor in a spirited and feral dance, sweeping the fan in sharp strokes to create a whirlwind. The dance lasts for only about three minutes but it seems like an eternity has gone by, and as is finally comes to an end a flash of pale moonlight and a gust of wind erupt into the temple, purging the darkened grounds of evil and blowing the remains of the fallen elves to dust. Isaya and Aaler stumble as the ghosts exit their bodies, panting with exhaustion. The Littleton Legends hunker down for a well deserved rest in the newly purified temple, under the faithful watch of the two ghosts.

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