Ander pushes mummies back with his force ballista, Watc wears them down with fireballs, Ten gets mostly dead Barika vertical again, and Sqyylarr and Barika finish off mummies while avoiding the trappy looking center of the room. Ash, feeling more himself, enters the temple and follows the party’s path of destruction until they are reunited in a room of dead mummies.
The party takes some time to dress wounds while exploring the vacated sarcophagi and a couple of promising treasure chests. Watc gives the all-clear on the east chest but is hurtfully double checked by dubious Barika before she loots out gold and jewels [65 gp]. The west chest, on the other hand, does not look quite right to anyone. Ander reckons that one is a mimic yet is unable to persuade still dubious Barika into opening it. Ten carefully opens it which pulls a trip wire revealing the trap pit in the center of the room. Other than the delightful engineering, no treasure is found in the west chest.
Ash notices a misaligned tile on the north wall that swings open to a room containing a glowing blue door, a hand pump dripping into a pool, a player piano, an intermittent ringing bell, a plaque contrarily warning that silence is golden, and a sandstorm that blows in and transforms into a powerful mummy lord. Mummy lords are exclusive enough that this almost certainly is the cult leader formally known as Brenin Analun. Brenin completely shuts Sqyylarr down with a paralyzing fear. Ten drops his twilight sanctuary to reverse Brenin’s effects and bolster the party’s good health. Knowing a boss fight when they wander into one, Ander empties a wand of magic missiles with a side of force ballista on the outside while Watc immolates her on the inside. Barika chops in for the kill exposing insides and outsides.
Mindful of the plaque’s value on silence, Ash and Sqyylarr free up the pump handle to stop the water dripping. Ander liberates a blue crystal power source from the ringing bell’s red and black wires. Watc and Ten deactivate the player piano with a single-throw switch of indeterminate number of poles located just under the keyboard. As the room gets quieter, the door gets less blue. Once Ander pipes down about the amazing blue crystal power source he studies with his arcane goggles, the door’s blue glow fades entirely and swings open.
The next room features a prominent urn upon a pedestal upon a dais. Around the back of the dais is a pile of treasure [135 gp] which no one believes to be benign despite Ash’s repeated assurances to the contrary. Ander eventually scoops every last bit into the handy haversack and strangely survives.
Ten, floating above the urn in search of helpful markings, becomes convinced the adventure cannot proceed until the urn is opened. There is no disagreement that the lid is securely fastened in place by magic, but the urn, pedestal, and dais appear to feature no operator, obvious or secret, until Ash notices the lid can be turned by hand more or less in the conventional sense. Patterns on the lid display to indicate progress as the lid is toggled left and right. Eventually twisting the pattern right-left-left-right releases the lid revealing a pulsating mass of flesh. Ten reckons this is Brenin the mummy lord’s phylacterized heart and bids Barika to destroy it quickly. Barika buries her axe in the center and a cloud of dust envelopes the party.
Once the dust clears, Ash scoops out a glowing orange talisman from the urn. Because that orange glow matches the entry door as well as the mummy room door, Ash figures good things will happen when they come together. With a slight detour to explore the sloping hallway from which Brenin emerged, the party returns to the unopenable entry door which easily opens in the presence of the talisman.
Watc conjures up a floating disk to transport the elfgate pieces into the temple and the party returns to the orange door in the mummy room. This orange door opens easily as well revealing the love of Ander’s life: three Eberron airships parked in an enormous hanger. He flips a lever on the wall which fortunately opens the roof instead of something inconvenient or painful. Clearly this is the correct location for the elfgate as the party realizes this hanger is the enormous block significantly rising from the lake that no one has talked about. Sqyylarr and Barika unload the pieces and stack them per Ander’s arcane directions. Ten chains deific guidance wherever bad luck threatens mission success. Once complete, the gate powers up blue on one half and green on the other. Ten lobs a potato at the green side and it bounces off the wooden surface. Watc hypothesizes that potatoes are not people and bounces off the green side as well confirming to her that she is not people. Ten patiently suggests the blue side might work better so Watc lobs the potato into the blue side. Moments later, the potato emerges from the green side followed by Portent Order.
If the party will set aside its potatoes for a moment, Portent has something to show them through the blue side. Everyone follows through to Quietreach, a generally secret, possibly cloud-based, substitute for destroyed Quastarte for conducting Opeth research pursuant to the defeat of Pohet. Portent points out the landmarks while leading the party to the Inn Decision to meet the local leaders.
Arcane Regent & Leader of Quietreach
Name: Marpunith Quentin
Race & Class: Tiefling Mage
Marpunith is the leader of Quietreach. Easygoing and lighthearted most of the time, she runs this place with ease & efficiency. Almost as if by magic!
Divine Regent
Name: Thurdram Ingotshaper
Race & Class: Dwarf Cleric
Taciturn and serious-minded, Thurdam is regent over all things Divine. Despite his standoffish demeanor, he is always ready to talk shop, and his knowledge is apparently limitless.
Shadow Regent
Name: Ferin Blackleaf
Race & Class: Gnome Rogue
If you don’t know to look for Ferin, you won’t see her. The head of the Shadow host is as quick as a cat, and as silent as a winter’s night. Keep a tight hold on your purse!
Primal Regent
Name: Falenas Norfaren
Race & Class: Elf Ranger
Falenas is most often found outdoors, if he is to be found at all. Quiet and focused, this Ranger is far more comfortable in the woods surrounding Quietreach than in a classroom. Skilled in tracking, hunting, and scouting, he always finds what he is looking for.
Technomancy Regent
Name: Solana Fistspark
Race & Class: Human Artificer
Solana hails from Eberron, and you can always find her tinkering with some kind of gadget. Jovial, if somewhat distracted, she’s always ready to show you what she’s working on. Given the amount of soot she’s usually covered in, you might stand back!
Martial Regent
Name: Hidhall Aacis
Race & Class: Dragonborn Fighter
Gregarious and loud, Hidhall is always hailing someone from across the room. Even when that someone is standing right in front of him. Short-tempered, and quick to show off his fighting prowess in the tavern, Hidhall is nonetheless an exemplary leader when training or leading troops.
Psionic Regent
Name: Oreborn
Race & Class: Warforged Monk
Dry as old parchment and sharp as a tack, Oreborn leads the psionic host. She has forgotten more about psychic powers than most people will ever know. Her acerbic wit can sting like a whip, but she means well. Plus, since she probably knows what you are thinking, you better watch it!
Innkeeper
Name: Rodolf Khussom
Race & Class: Human Fighter & Bard
Rodolf runs the Inn Decision, and is always ready with a tall tale about his lifetime of adventure and mayhem. Considering the magic and mystery that lives in this Inn, let’s hope he can live up to all his stories! Rodolf has been in charge of the inn as long as anyone can remember. Rumor has it he was here and running this inn when the first Quastarte transplants arrived.
Chief Archivist
Name: Professor Xalver Bafflestitch
Race & Class: Gnome Cleric
This notable Gnome archivist has ostensibly been with the Caravan since the beginning of its journey. A book enthusiast and lore aficionado, there is little Xalver can’t locate in a book. If he’s read it, he can find it!
