Regarding the murder labyrinth we vote to not do that, even though Kon states that whilst Drax did lie, he was telling us the truth when he said he was going to kill someone in 45 minutes.
We discuss the disguise situation and that the guards will have to be split, if Fester, Kon, Remerand and one guard go to the church, the other two guardsmen have to come with us and check out the murder labyrinth.
We swap around the robes we took from Drax and get things ready to head out, Anatole, two guards and I return to the other church to check out the tunnels.
Kon and Fester’s team arrive first as their church is closer. Kon arrives shortly followed by Fester, Remerand and the spearman. They see Misha as they enter, as well as the other Cultists. Fester proceeds to introduce himself as Lester M. Ouse, and he is immediately picked up by the Cultists as “Moe Lester”.
They have a brief exchange about his name and deeds and / or misdeeds. He introduces himself to Misha.
“I’m excited for the night’s events!”
“Yes, aren’t we, praise be the Lambent King.”
Note: Atreia is the Lambent King.
-- - - - - - - -
At the other Church, Anatole and I arrive with our spearmen in tow. We are greeted by Drax,
“I see you have chosen to return.”
“Yes, we were umm…” Anatole begins, as Drax finds his voice.
“Welcome brothers. I see you have returned, seeking, hopefully, additional knowledge.”
“Actually, yes we want to go down into the chamber of joyfully alive.”
“Yes, that is the knowledge,” he gestures to the other people who are still milling about.
“We brought some friends, and we’d like to partake of knowledge.” I then wink.
We briefly discuss how knowledge is power and how power is also power and how knowledge is also sometimes murder, as Drax leads us to the murder labyrinth.
Anatole questions whether we will make it to our desired location in time, and Drax says he’ll do his best. As per the user agreement I am unsure if he is lying. We venture into the basement and the stones are similar to the bricks above, down here is the primary training facilities where Priests are allowed to do their own private studies.
I whisper into my emerald, “Time of entry into Murder Labyrinth, now… soon. Shortly?”
Drax tells us we must offer prayer before the labyrinth opens, “Come seek knowledge with me, brothers.”
He goes to the obelisk of Shax and draw a small kris from his belt and drags it across his palm briefly. The dagger doesn’t just cut, it digs in deep to his skin, blade shimmering green briefly. He plants his hand on the altar after a brief moment of pain wracks his body. His hand then flashes in golden light and the altar and his hand glow in golden light, then there is no trace of the wound, and a door opens behind the statue.
“One must be ready to wield one’s weapon against oneself… never draw a knife you are unwilling to have used against you. That is the first law of combat.”
As we travel down the hallways we notice that if we remove our eyes from Drax, the labyrinthine tunnels become hallways based on his will.
“If there was another follower of Shax, would they be able to do what you do?”
“Yes, any can step through the tunnels so long as they are guided by Shax. You are all about two-thirds of the way there, would you like to continue?”
I pause to think about how long we have in terms of time available to us and Anatole realizes that Drax is inviting us to become followers of Shax.
After I think about it for a while, I say I probably won’t partake, but I won’t actively stop either of them. I just can’t think of anything I would do to that man on the rack.
Anatole begins, “Well, what I want to do-”
But Drax cuts him off, “Do not tell us. Show us. What you imagine will take the place of that chair. We will see if you are worthy to walk these halls.”
Anatole wants to give the man a Quicksilver mutagen to make his body more fragile, then break all the bones of his left side over the course of the minute duration, then do bones on the right side. Because it is scientific, Anatole’s torture slowly breaks all the man’s bones, a clamp appears and a machine with weights begins to add more weight until the fingers break, then the arm, the leg, the ribs. Whatever wonderance or whim Anatole has, the room acquiesces. He doesn’t want it, it immediately takes form and then occurs based on his thoughts, it is intrusive and impulsive.
We learn that if we would ‘will’ him to die the room would let him, but if we will him to live so that Anatole can continue his science, the room will simply keep him alive. Anatole chooses to inflict the same issues to the other side.
As soon as the experiment ends, Anatole loses interest in the man being alive, and so the room lets him die.
“You are but one step away from completing your service. You need only replicate the same ritual I did to become welcome here in these halls.”
He gestures and the chair and man vanish, and an altar the same as the one he used to get us in. Drax clearly wants Anatole to use a weapon that Anatole would use against an enemy. As he realizes this, his face drops.
“Hey, worst case, I can heal you.”
Anatole pulls a blight bomb from his pockets and claps whilst holding it. He holds it in his hand, closes his eyes and claps – he takes 1d6 poison from the explosion, as well as the persistent and splash damage all at once, 1d6+1d4+1 and takes 7 damage as the flesh of his hands rots, it begins to slough off and it seems being in direct contact. He hates this, he hates that he had to be in pain and that it feels awful, but he touches the altar and repeats the prayer. The rotting flesh sticks to the altar and detaches from his hands, then they glow golden, and he is fully healed. The remains of his hands are also still on the altar, but then the altar shimmers and sinks into the floor. We were in a small room, and small corridor and apparently Drax wasted a shit ton of time for us. He sees that the actual space of the two churches is much smaller than we thought, I still see the normal labyrinth, but Anatole will be “Welcomed here in the labyrinth.”
We briefly discuss the plan to kill the Reclusiarch. Anatole knows that the labyrinth doesn’t actually exist, the room is a single room that crosses much space in a smaller space, but he knows that should someone come down here, their mind is what gets lost, not their bodies. Anatole is aware that the man who is dead was thinking he was running away from Some Thing that was breaking his bones, he had no idea he was down here in a single room.
“Let us go, we must prepare.” Drax opens a side door, Anatole sees this, but I see the labyrinth tunnel open up before me, before it opens into a hallway I can follow, but only if I watch Drax or Anatole.
Anatole and Drax find themselves on the steps of the other Church’s basement, it takes me several more minutes to realize we have traveled and arrived.
“I assure you this is normal.” Drax tells Anatole.
“I wasn’t particularly worried.”
“You were the same moments ago.”
“I meant it out of care, not out of superiority.”
-- -- - - - - -
Back with Kon, Lester and Remerand. As Kon and company wait, eventually the Inquisitors appear and start filing in.
The woman walks in and Misha bows to her, “My Lady Reclusiarch, it is so good to have you.”
The lady steps up to the altar and Misha steps up to her.
We arrive to the back of the Church at roughly the same time as this happens.
“I believe our quarry is here.” Drax says.
“I think so… should we wait here or get closer?” I ask, and we decide to sneak closer in to the adjacent hall so that we can be prepared to cut off the retreat.
In the church proper, the lady speaks, “It is time I address the new flock. It is so good to have you all with us. I hope each of you will take a copy of my book. Read all about the prayers of the Lambent King and how I learned about his Goodness.”
She continues, “We are gathered here to spread the message of the Lambent King who yet lives in the annals of the abyss. We must free our king by burning the unworthy and reinstate him to the world. Brothers and sisters in the Moss Cults (?) have promised to aid how they can, as both he and Desna, their goddess, were once entwined. And so, we should all welcome the help of the brothers and sisters of the Moss. They will aid our burnings. Does anyone amongst ye have questions for myself? For those who don’t know me, I am the one who originally found Atreia in the Abyss… without his holy light and beautiful salamander I would not be here today.”
Kon follows Desna, and the Moss Cult would be the people like Kon who follow the light of the moss.
Fester asks her a question when invited, “What exactly does the Lambent King tell you? I am, as you can see, not in favor with any Gods… I just wish to understand.”
“Ah… a good question from a prospective child of the Lambent King, he is a man of radiance. He seeks to burn away the corruption of the mortal world. He will bring balance to the unholiness that has spread… He has told me he is unable to do this as he has been trapped since the Fall, when we first migrated down to Kirin’Tor.”
“I just wish to stand close and observe intently what you may do upon the altar, as I am a very curious little mouse and I also do not have a copy of the book on me.”
She says the Church knows where she is if they wish to stop her, but they have not stopped her Fester comments. He turns to Remerand upon hearing that, then continues to watch and listen and question.
“What is it that you will do here?” he asks, and she tells him that she is just here to place her books in the Altars of the Church of the Host so that those who want them may read them. But as Misha places the books upon the altar, Fester feels the desire to feed and satisfy his every urge, to achieve glory for the name of serpent kind, to deliver every package in the world, to be the greatest courier.
“What is this feeling that washes over me? This urge?”
“You feel it my child? You wish to fulfil your desires, to destroy those who would fight us. You wish to free him, to bring him back to life… Take up the book, leave here and await instructions.”
“But I am not a violent person… must I commit acts of violence?”
“Do you not feel it my child? Do you not feel his will?”
Fester turns to Remy again, and to Kon and the guard, searching their faces for the feelings of the urge. Everyone is feeling it but dealing with it in different ways. Drax tells us he thinks it has begun and that we must act now or not at all, at the same time, Fester tells us that the books are making him want to murder things.
I nod affirmatives to Anatole and Drax, and Drax sweeps his robes aside to reveal he is decked out in daggers and fighting gear and leathers, he also has a large sword on his back. As he whips the robes away, he draws the sword, which is shaped like a lethe, and the same kris from before, then he moves and kicks down the door.
