Stories of my brain

They set off flying, and have a few breaks. Adaly does love the scenery, they start fleeing up the base of the mountain, and search for a good clearing to spend the evening before they get to high. They find a nice spot and make camp.

It is cold, so they surround around the camp fire when Adaly starts casting devil’s eyes again, this time connecting with Josenno. Josenno is saying “We are sitting ducks here without Es-Grenalieth. We have limited resources to protect ourselves. What if the paladins show up.” Lucan is also in the room and thinks for a second “I could ask my family…” Josenno reacts “Yes, that would work, you do that and find an exit strategy.” Josenno dismisses Lucan who leaves. He stares a bit at the wall before Adaly’s connection ends.

Adaly grabs her sending stone and immediately sends to Jeremy ‘Hey Jeremy, do you want to piss of your kidnappers? Auntie vacated the place so they’re vulnerable. Rally some Paladins to mansion? Or others?’ and gets back ‘Will set things in motion, might not be easy to convince the relevant people, but will try. Meanwhile, send messages to Guillemina and Witterheim.’

Adaly looks at Sam “I need your sending stone” Sam rolls his eyes but gives it. She sends another Jeremy ‘Use kidnap note, don’t worry about my name. Also, might be an interesting portal in the basement.’ And she gets back ‘Acknowledged, note will help. If portal is infernal in origin, that might be a way to convince people.’

They go to bed, but during Adaly’s watch she senses heartbeats coming from the fire. She rushes forward, yelling “Something is coming” to hopefully wake the others while kicking out the fire. It is too late though two of Es-Vahelieth’s hounds and strange eyeless imps appear.

Everybody rushes in weapons drawn, the imps target Adaly with their arrows, the arrows Adaly saw Es-Vahelieth creating in an earlier vision. Adaly quickly takes the imps out with her spells, Amara following her lead, while the paladins focus on the hounds. When the hound goes down orange lines first appear on Livia’s arm, and when the second dies the same happens to Sam.

Adaly sits down, exhausted “Maybe we shouldn’t create a fire anymore…” feeling nervous Amara nods but looks at the paladins “Do those hurt?” Livia and Sam shake their heads, and Sam replies “No, but I do not like this. After the truths unquestioned we should get it fixed.” Adaly nods and Sam takes over for the next watch, allowing her to get some sleep.

In the morning they search the corpses of the imps and around the camp and find 7 of the magic arrows. “What do you think they do?” Amara asks, and Adaly just lifts her shoulders to indicate she has no clue.

“We should test it out…” Amara says and grabs one of the arrows and pushes it into one of the corpses. The body teleports away and Adaly looks terrified at the empty space “Fuck” rubbing her head. “We should take the arrows with us, it might be a way to face the threat as a party. But too be honest, I have faced Es-Vahelieth before… he is too powerful, we shouldn’t fight him, but I can run…” Amara looks doubtful but with the 3 arrows given to Livia is comfortable they could follow “Lets decide when it happens, not right now” Adaly nods in agreement and they continue their travels.

They arrive at the monastery in the evening, the entrance is not accessible, it is covered under a thick layer of snow. Digging together with their wyverns, it takes some time but they manage to make way and find the opening of the monastery ransacked. Adaly turns herself invisible and says “I will scout ahead, be right back” and sneaks in. At the back end of the large open space Adaly finds a note addressed to Amara. She checks if it is trapped before taking it and walking back to the party.

“There is nothing here, except a note, clearly indicating they are expecting us. It is addressed to you Amara so I haven’t opened it yet” Adaly says while handing the note to Amara. Amara reads the note while Adaly and paladins get the wyverns inside, giving them some shelter from the cold. Amara gives Adaly the note, and it reads.

This is the place novices would go to be tested before they were let into my order. I have something for you if you can make it through the first three trials (and some minor complications along the way). -Heralan

Amara lays her hand on the stone “The rooms after this point are weird to see, it is not normal stone, it is very disorienting.” Adaly looks at her friend “Well then you have to experience this building just as the rest of us, just taking one step at a time.”

They go into a hallway with three doors and a pedestal which has three slots for keys. They enter the first room called the trial of Sights. There is an erratically moving target on the far side of the room. On their side a bow and three golden arrows are present. Between them and the darkness the floor disappears into a black void.

Livia grabs one of the arrows and shoots it, it misses “First shot is always a try” and grabs the second arrow which also misses “This thing is impossible, I cannot predict where it is going.” Adaly grabs the last arrow “Well then we do it with cheating” and she cast spiderclimb, walks over to the target, holds it, and puts the arrow deathcenter. A door slides open next to the party presenting a golden key.

Adaly walks back but Amara asks “What would happen if you go into the void?” Adaly rolls her eyes, “I rather not find out…” and Amara jumps in, Adaly palms her head, and shakes no, before they see Amara appearing at the hallway. “Good that we now know it is not lethal I guess” Adaly says while rolling her eyes and they go into the next room.

The next room is the trial of Courage. There is a large circle on the floor, and this time the ceiling looks like a void. Amara steps into the circle and is immediately hit by a glass sphere coming from the void. Adaly wants to intervene but Amara just stands there calmly while a second hit comes in. Adaly stays at the edge but it is rough to watch. After 5 hits another door opens, revealing the second key.

They enter the final room which is the trial of Faith. This time they see a staircase descending down and some small pieces of fabric laying next to the entrance. Amara just starts walking down the stairs, but having not achieved anything after half an hour of walking she walks back up.

Meanwhile Adaly looks at the strips of fabric “They are blindfolds” Adaly realizes and blindfolds herself before descending the stairs. After one round she feels that there are no more stairs and remove the blindfold to find the last key.