Coming down from the mountaintop observatory, Nict, Yiris and Bratrizik are faced with a dilemma. With a rapidly falling night, they can either fight Panelliar the undead monk guarding the Temple of the Twelve and hope to gain access to the structure, or continue down the staircase back to the Forsaken City and retire to their shelter from the previous night to regain their strength and stamina. After a heated discussion, they follow the trail back to the ruined city, arriving back in their lodging just as night darkens.
After building a small fire, Nict prepares a delicious meal of local grubs, while Bratrizik spends his last spells and casts mystic cure on himself, healing fully. Yiris places herself in sleep mode, while the vesk takes the first watch.
After the Gap - March 16, 317 @ 7:38
The night is uneventful. Feeling refreshed and ready for action, the three of them depart their shelter of fortune, hoping not to have to return for yet one more night, and they head on the path climbing back to the Temple of the Twelve. Once on the plateau, they are once again confronted by Panelliar.
Nict is the first one to engage as he shoots and hits Panelliar. Bratrizik follows the shirren's attack with his favorite spell, mind trust, while Yiris adds an arcing surge. Panelliar closes the distance and releases his supernova solarian power, hitting the vesk and the shirren. Nict is able to dodge out of the way, but in a rerun of his previous encounter with the undead monk, Bratrizik enjoys the full blast of the undead's attack. The assault continues, and though a worthy foe, the ancient elf monk is eventually defeated.
As he dies, Panelliar thanks them for releasing his soul from bondage but warns them of a trap. His body disappears in a pile of ashes, leaving only his equipment behind. Bratrizik carefully packs the armor so that he can either sell it or offer it to historians for its archeological value.
Now standing at the front door of the Temple of the Twelve, the party discusses how they should proceed. Bratrizik suggests looking through the stainglass windows. Yiris tells him they've already done that, and that they are at least 10 feet off the ground. Bratrizik says he will use his jump jets. Yiris and Nict agree to wait for the vesk. Flying around the Temple, he finds Dr. Solstarni in a room that appears to be the sanctuary. Dr. Solstarni is evidently reading something on a column. Bratrizik knocks softly on the window, but she can't hear him.
Meanwhile, back at the front door of the Temple, Nict notices that a trap has been laid. Explosives have been disguised and were nearly invisible to the casual observer. Designed to collapse the entire doorway, the trap would most likely have taken their lives. Taking a closer look, Nict realizes that this trap hides an even deadlier one. Any attempt to disarm the charges on the outside would set off explosives inside the doorway. The sheer quantity would have demolished the front half of the Temple.
Returning to the front of the building, Bratrizik proposes they look at the windows to see if they are trapped. A thorough evaluation reveals that they have not been trapped. Climbing the ledge to the window, they carefully break one of the stain glass pane, and they enter a study room once used by scholar priests and astronomers of the Temple but now in ruins.
The adjacent rooms are also old study rooms. Opening another door, the android stumble upon five cultists piling explosives against two columns inside a large room. Everyone is surprised, but Yiris is the first to react. She casts caustic conversation, hitting one of the cultists square in the chest. Bratrizik fires at another, while Nict is also able to land a few blows as well. The cultists fire back, using automatic weapons, spraying bullets everywhere. Bratrizik and Yiris are both hit.
One of the cultists takes this ocasion to run towards the explosive to trigger it, but is killed off by Yiris' desperate attack. One by one, the cultists die. Nict disarms the explosives.
In the next room, they locate Dr. Solstarni, who had taken refuge behind a large piece of furniture. After identifying themselves, she greets them and they escort her to one of the study rooms where she takes shelter. Returning to the sanctuary, the party proceeds carefully. They are attacked by lore guardians, but manage to eliminate both of them without too much difficulty.
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| Lore Guardian |
In the inner sanctuary, they discover a library containing books that are thousands of years old. A large staircase leads to a platform atop the Temple, providing an excellent observation post. Bratrizik climbs the stairs but is shot. He uses his jumpjets, and rockets to the top as Tahomen, leader of this particular group of cultists and the lashunta the vest encountered at the observatory, throws a grenade. Bratrizik returns it to sender, but Tahomen had some magical protection on him and the impact of the attack is redirected straight at the vesk. Thrown off, the vesk grasps Tahomen and manages to hold on to him as he plummets back down to the floor, crashing down with the cult leader landing on top of him.
An epic battle ensues, and in the end the three of them are victorious.
After the Gap - March 18, 317 @ 10:11
After two days of conducting research in the library with Dr. Solstarni's help, the party discovers several interesting pieces of information. The ancient elven monks that built this temple were astronomers who sought a quiet environment to study the stars. Through their stargazing activities, they discovered a strange constellation of 12 stars that formed a perfect circle. As they pursued their examinations over the decades, the monks began having strange dreams, including visions of a language unknown to them. Eventually the monks, in their mind travels of the galaxy, encountered Ibra, and with her help discovered that the constellation they now called the Gate of the Twelve Suns was in fact the construction of an impossibly advanced race, and what it was in fact a gateway.
Strange and powerful energy pulsated from the other side, and though several theories were presented, the most widely accepted one was that behind the gate was a weapon of such incredible power that it could destroy entire star systems. Dubbed the Stellar Degenerator, it was posited that this weapon drained the energy of a system's star and used it to eliminate planets or other gigantic solar bodies. Unfortunately, the ancient elves never recorded the location of the Gate of the Twelve Suns, but, based on the records found in the Observatory, Yiris thinks that she can pinpoint the location with some accuracy.
Unfortunately, so could Tahomen, and they recall the large communications array atop the Observatory. Nict heads up there, and is able to retrieve the communications the cult leader sent. In these communications, Tahomen stated that the Gate of Twelve Suns is in fact the access point to a demiplane that shelters a superweapon, and that the Drift Rock is a small section of it which was pulled in the Drift. He also recommended that the Cult of the Devourer should hasten to locate and retrieve this weapon to bring about the end of the galaxy. Nict retrieves the coordinates to where the communication was sent, and discovers that it was in a stretch of several hundred asteroids in the Diaspora. The mechanic also notices that the equipment belongs to DT43.
Using the communications' array, Nict contacts Professor Muhali back in Qabarat and reports that Dr. Solstarni is safe and informs her about what has happened to them in the last few weeks. She contacts the authorities on Turhalu Point and they send a shuttle to pick the party and Dr. Solstarni up. After hot showers and a short period of rest, they return to Qabarat where Muhali thanks them personally for their rescue of Dr. Solstarni.
Armed with the knowledge that the Cult of the Devourer is actively seeking to get their hands on the Stellar Degenerator, they now face a stark choice. Go after the Cult, or walk away and possibly leaving the galaxy at the mercy of a superweapon ...
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