Chapter 2: The First Seal

Seeing the aberration give up persuaded Laurent to hit back. Eschewing his defensive veil, the young scholar pointed a finger at the receding form, and intoned a swift sequence of meaningless syllables. A line formed between the spell-weaver and the brain creature, as Laurent concentrated on his aim. Around this thin dark line, mist and even the suggestion of snow crystals formed briefly, as an ozone-laden smell crept into his nostrils.

Laurent's line of frost intersects the grell, causing a crippling cold snap within its veins. It curls its shivering tentacles inward, slowing it's movement. It's laboured breath becomes a visible, icy cloud.

INITIATIVE (ROUND 3)


TERRAIN FEATURES: Feel free to interact with and find creative uses for the stone cavern walls, the petrified statues, the glowing purple crystal, the damaged green crystal, or the gateway. If you do something cinematic with these features, you might gain an advantage or bonus of some kind. But no pressure, feel free to focus on the basics of combat.

"Good job, Laurent !" Tilma shouts out as she rushes forward. The moment she finds a clear line (K8) she shoots.

Tilma's bolt drives home right in the brain and penetrates clear through to the other side. The creature spasms uncontrollably, tentacles flailing and twitching. It crashes into a wall and goes still.

All is silent for a moment, and then another, stronger tremor reverberates through the cavern. This one lasts longer, and you see a forked crack form in the ground, spreading out from the gate and heading away from it. These cracks are mirror in the ceiling as well. As the crack spreads, it is accompanied by loud pops and cracks, filling the air with dust.

Pale and shaking, the young man leaned on his staff and caught his breath, only to be shaken by a further tremor.

"Good. Job... with... that... Thing," he spread his legs wider as he tried to keep his balance. He looked at the fissures appearing on the ground and the ceiling, and at the gate, trying to assess whether it was nw opening. He eyed the green crystal on the floor, wondering if it risked rolling into the growing crevice.

"What do we do?" he asked rather obviously, while concentrating on his mage hand to try to roll the crystal further to the northwest. He then took a few steps towards the purple stone, which had stayed remarkably unperturbed by the shaking ground.

Tilma slams down her elbow in a gesture of victory. And then the quake starts. Trying to keep her balance and evade the fissures she dashes forward towards the creature, determined to get a trophy to show back at guild.

When Laurent asks what to do she simply shouts back "Don't know! You, figure it out. Throw the crystal at the gate if nothing else."

As she reaches Grell she tries to determine in as short time as possible what part of his she could easily salvage for a trophy.

"Try taking the other gem out with your hand. I'm guessing they were put in place to close it, so removing them might open it? I think it's now or never! "

"Right. Let me do that. Must take care of something first, though" and saying this, Laurent approached his old comrade, and knelt by him. Humming a strange tone under his breath, he touched Timber's wounded hands softly. An invisible warmth washed over the gnome, followed shortly by a relieving itching sensation under the skin, as blistered skin, concussed muscle and aching bones all mended delicately through divine intervention.

Once that was taken care of, Laurent moved towards the purple stone, and —though visibly flinching —, attempted to lift it out of its place on the pedestal.

Nodding his thanks, Berry watched as Laurent weaved his magic.

LAURENT

---

As Laurent lifts the purple crystal from the podium, he immediately feels its warmth, which begins to seep into his arms. Looking down, he sees a purple field speckled with starlight with infusing him and spreading through his whole body. It doesn't stop there - the purple field fills the whole cavern, then fades, leaving only the stars.

Then Niveral, the God of Secrets appears before Laurent. His aura is palpable.


He speaks to you in Celestial, and his voice is slow and whispery. It is like an echo but in reverse, coming from all directions.

"My disciple, you are unravelling a very old and very dangerous string. But make no mistake, pull on it long enough and it will reveal the oldest secret, the first secret, from which all secrets are descended."

BERRY AND TILMA

---

The two of you watch as Laurent hoists the purple crystal. He straightens and holds it, is still for a moment, and then collapses in a heap. His eyelids are closed but his eyes are darting about rapidly. His hands are clenched tightly around the purple crystal, unable or unwilling to let go.

You observe that the glowing seal is rapidly fading from the closed gateway. As it dies out, there are suddenly extreme tremors that rock the whole city. The forked cracks begin to grow and rock and dust rains down on you.

Tilma rushes to Laurent, straddles him and with a wide swing slaps him in the face. "Stop daydreaming and get up!"

If this doesn't work she'll grab the sphere from his arms.

Twitching and spasming on the ground, Laurent's grip on the stone seems to intensify.

The God of Secrets hears your words and responds with its echoes out of time:

"The price you pay for a secret will always be commensurate with its magnitude. And the greater the magnitude, the less control you have over who will pay the price. But ask yourself this, neophyte: what is the price of secrets staying hidden? How much suffering does ignorance cost Iskandar and its people?"

Laurent does not stir, even though you slap him hard enough to leave a red handprint on his cheek. And, his grip on the crystal is supernaturally strong, or perhaps his skin has become glued to its surface.

Looking behind you to the gateway, you see it crumble into dust and the quake continues raining debris on the three of you. Both Berry and and Tilma narrowly avoid being crushed by falling stalactites!

As the flow of blood slowly normalizes around the area Tilma had just slapped, Laurent's feverish, spasmodic state pursued, with the added appearance of steady flow of drool from the corners of his rigidly shut jaws. His closed eyes continued to turn wildly, as more dust and debris continued to fall from the collapsing ceiling.

Laurent's eyes open. He sees he is lying on the ground, the purple crystal still in his hands. He feels like he has a death grip on the crystal, but his muscles loosen and he is able to pry his hands from it. Sitting up, you see the Gateway is no more.

All around the cavern is collapsing. Another stalactite falls, destroying the last of the stone statues.

You hastily make your way up the rope and back to the surface. There, you see the quake is not confined to the underground; the whole city is shaking. You are now back in the warehouse, you see that you are no longer alone. Peeking out from the small side room that contained the trap door to the now-destroyed Seal of Astaroth, you see that six men dressed as stevedores have flung open the back door of the warehouse. They are charging in, armed with a variety of weapons. You strongly suspect these are Lord Bartoz's men, and although they are heading your way you don't think they have seen you in the shadows yet.

Berry points toward the stairs to the left to indicate the escape route and makes a quiet dash towards them.

For a moment Tilma thinks that they'll have to abandon Laurent. There is no way that they can carry him out. Luckily he finally wakes up. They get out of the underground through the shaft, before it all brakes down. Slightly battered from the debris falling on them she peeks outside and notices the men running at them. She looks down at berry who is also peeking. Their eyes meet for a second and then her points towards the stairs to the side.
As he makes a dash for them Tilma gestures Laurent to stay quiet and follow and heads in Berry's footsteps.