3-2 The Forgotten Abbey

Moving softly after the Lord Mayor's Men, Morik smells an unexpected petrichor aroma. Looking at the red carpet, he sees the mark of much foot traffic darkening the rug...except in one spot, which seems to have been studiously avoided by everyone walking through here. Undoubtedly, there is some kind of trap or hazard in that location (I've marked this in YELLOW on the map). Stepping a little further, Morik can see the back of one of the Lord Mayor's Men following the others more slowly.Everyone can hear their shouts.
"Where are they?"
"There's Lhari. I knew it! Dammit, Lhari!"
"They're gonna PAY."
"Where are they?"
"Looks like some of them got in the pool."
"Spread out; they've got to be here somewhere."
Judging by what they're saying, none of them noticed the secret door or the light shining through it before it was closed.

What do you all want to do in round nine, while the robbers' attention is on the wrong room (the Library)?

ROUND NINE
(this was preceded by round eight, followed by round ten)

The party prepares for the return of the robbers, waiting...waiting...
As they wait, they listen to the voices down the hall in the Library.
"How many were there?"
"I saw at least four..."
"Can the beast eat that many?"
"I think it can."
"Well, that's where they went, then."
"Then who killed Lhari? And how did I see them, if the Beast had them already? You know what it does."
"Well, then they've got to be around here somewhere!"
"We've got to find them before the Lord Mayor does!"
This is all jumbled, several excited voices practically yelling over each other, echoing down the hall and through the wide southern archway. They seem pretty determined to find you. But first Elowin, then Morik, then the others each become aware of noises coming from the north archway. A door slams, and a high, nasal, very cultured voice approaches.
"What is all this commotion?
What's a little noise between friends?
Oh, I wouldn't say that noise seemed entirely friendly, would you?
Whoever it is making all that noise, you've disturbed my communion.
You know what happens when my communion is disturbed, don't you? I can't talk to the Dweller.
And the Dweller doesn't like it when I don't talk to Him!"

A figure appears at the end of the short passage through the northern archway. Tall, aristocratic, dressed in soiled and somewhat gaudy finery and bearing a lightly glowing staff festooned with many baubles, charms, a pair of gently ringing chimes, and a dead rat, the half-elf pauses his movement and looks with mild surprise at a bunch of strangers in the room where his men usually congregate. This is surely the Lord Mayor himself.

Those of you who prepared attacks - Ishi, Elowin - can choose to use them now, or wait to see what happens (Ishi can just see him around the pillar, and Elowin can't see him where she is but knows about where he is by the sound). Eozindra has clear line of sight on him without moving, but she takes her turn after his.Forgoing their prepared attacks, Ishi and Elowin merely shift their focus to the new threat.

After the barest of pauses, the Lord Mayor continues his monologue with himself:
"My Darling Dear Dweller of the Deep, these have disturbed our communion - manifest your hunger!"
"Certainly, Mayor Man!"

The entire room goes black as your view of the room, the other party members, the lanterns, even your own bodies, everything is occluded by an impenetrable darkness. For a split second, you each struggle with vertigo as you perceive faint pinpricks of light like the most distant stars at the limit of your vision. You shiver as all the heat seems to be sucked out of the room, as if you suddenly had been transported off of the planet to a void between the stars so vast that the closest objects are galaxies at the limit of vision. But then you can feel that the floor is still beneath you, and you can hear the shivering gasps of the other party members in the blind darkness throughout the room. It is just a spell that has transformed the Great Room, not an actual transportation. In the midst of the existential horror of the moment, you each realize that if you don't get back into heat and light soon, your bodies will start to suffer. Every character that starts its turn in the area of the spell's effect will take 2d6 cold damage, and everything in the area of the spell's effect is difficult terrain. As you move through the blackness, you hear the faint shrieks of things that have long since succumbed to madness, and soft, rubbery tentacles burn as they brush against you as you move. Anyone who ends their turn in the area must roll a DEX saving throw to avoid taking 2d6 acid damage.

At the start of her turn, chilled Eozindra takes 8 cold damage.Eozindra feels the cold of the void between stars, and takes 8 damage. She rushes forward, straining against unseen, acidic tentacles that batter at her face and body, trying to bar her way. But she is insistent and perseveres. "Wait! Sir! Please, this is a misunderstanding. We did not mean to intrude!" Suddenly she emerges into light and warmth again, standing right in front of the Lord Mayor. Seen up close, he is a fellow noble half-elf who has clearly fallen far from his heyday. His once-fine clothing is rumpled and soiled, the glowing staff he bears flickers fitfully as if the magic that causes the glow is failing, his skin is splotchy with strange growths, and he gives off a reek, not just of the sewer and body odor, but also mold.



He looks at her imperiously, moved to pity despite himself. "My policy has always been to execute on sight anyone who has not been baptized into my service, but it is true that mistakes can be made. Will you rectify your error by swearing allegiance to your Lord Mayor, the rightful ruler of Grayhaven, and be bathed in the cleansing deeps? Kneel, and live!" His voice echoes strangely in this enclosed space, with faintly-heard words he didn't speak like whispers from another world. Behind him, illuminated by the flickering light of his staff, Eozindra can see rows of wooden pews with the room narrowing to a dais and altar at one end and a mildewed bed at the other end of the room.

---

20 - Ishi (24/35, 5 temp HP)
18 - Lord Mayor's Men Five and Eight
15 - Elowin (12/24, 5 temp HP) Twilight Sanctuary
13 - Lord Mayor's Men Three, Six, and Nine
10 - Morik (Bear 34/34, Dwarf 13/33, 5 temp HP)
10 - Lord Mayor's Men Two, Four, and Seven
8 - Elysia (18/24 5 temp HP)
7 - Adran (26/26, 5 temp HP)
7 - Mara (20/20, 5 temp HP)
3 - Lord Mayor
1 - Eozindra (12/15)

End of Round Nine

Forgoing their prepared attacks, Ishi and Elowin merely shift their focus to the new threat.

After the barest of pauses, the Lord Mayor continues his monologue with himself:
"My Darling Dear Dweller of the Deep, these have disturbed our communion - manifest your hunger!"
"Certainly, Mayor Man!"

The entire room goes black as your view of the room, the other party members, the lanterns, even your own bodies, everything is occluded by an impenetrable darkness. For a split second, you each struggle with vertigo as you perceive faint pinpricks of light like the most distant stars at the limit of your vision. You shiver as all the heat seems to be sucked out of the room, as if you suddenly had been transported off of the planet to a void between the stars so vast that the closest objects are galaxies at the limit of vision. But then you can feel that the floor is still beneath you, and you can hear the shivering gasps of the other party members in the blind darkness throughout the room. It is just a spell that has transformed the Great Room, not an actual transportation. In the midst of the existential horror of the moment, you each realize that if you don't get back into heat and light soon, your bodies will start to suffer. Every character that starts its turn in the area of the spell's effect will take 2d6 cold damage, and everything in the area of the spell's effect is difficult terrain. As you move through the blackness, you hear the faint shrieks of things that have long since succumbed to madness, and soft, rubbery tentacles burn as they brush against you as you move. Anyone who ends their turn in the area must roll a DEX saving throw to avoid taking 2d6 acid damage.

At the start of her turn, chilled Eozindra takes 8 cold damage.