(GM note- Evan couldn't make it, I ran Thorn. Stolen from the end of Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber, part of his excellent War God's Own series)
Summary
Eleasis 16-17
The party is travelling north after defeating the red wizard. Kiri gets over her concerns about Orac and begins asking it questions. She asks about destroying Mirag's demon stone, and he replies that while it is very resistant to most physical attacks and many magics, it is not invulnarable and attempting to destroy it will get the demon's attention. She asks for more details on the Unravelling, the fey item that can undo magic. He explains it is a piece of woven cloth made by three arch hags, they make one a year. the exact recipe is unknown, even to him, but he conjectures that is is made of rare and magical items, such has unicorn hair. The three hags are unaligned, independent of both the Winter and Summer courts. Kiri explains about her quest for Sune's missing harp, and the message "Far, further, furthest, oldest, newest lies" and he replies testily that he does not do riddles. What about "the darkness has taken them"? That suggests they have been corrupted or turned to evil. Finally, she turns to the question of why no one remembers Nyvana but her, what kind of magic could do that. He replies it would be a power of a lesser deity, demi-god or fey lord. She gives more details and Orac theorizes Nyvana was a fey changeling, placed in the Mecek's household to be raised until she was old enough to be reclaimed and then memory of her was removed. Orac has no explanation for Kiri holding the memory, unless it was an affect of her close connection to Nyvana. Revelation of Nyvana's probable fey ancestry makes Kiri wonder about the odd death of her youngest "brother". Finally, Kiri questions Orac about the plague. Orac replies it would not be impossible to artificially create and spread a disease, either by mundane or magical means.
As they approach Furthinghome, Kiri thinks about visiting the Sune temple there, which is the oldest on the eastern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars. And it hits her: "Far, further, furthest" is Furthinghome. And she remembers when mara gave her the mission to search for the harp and examine the other temples, that Furthinghome has a new, very young high priestess, after the old high priestess died suddenly. Does the message mean "lie" as in lie down? The old priestess should be buried here, is that a reference? Or does it mean the new priestess is lying? Kiri and the party decide to investigate. They arrive in the early evening, find an inn and rest up. In the morning, Kiri leads the party to the temple, which has a large monastery attached and is surrounded by a wall. When Kiri presents herself to the gate guard, he warmly welcomes her and tells her that the Voice (the high priests of Sune are called "Voices" after their god's focus on songs and poetry) let them know Kiri was coming and to escort her to the Voice immediately. One of the guards leads them through the gatehouse and across the courtyard to the monastery. they are met by a tall muscular woman in the guard's uniform, wearing fine chainmail and bearing a battered shield. She introduces herself as Captain Kharlan, leader of the Voice's guard. She leads them through a storage hall and into the garden in the center of the monastery and up stairs to the second floor. They emerge into a common room with six female acolytes in the temple's colors, working on household tasks and prayers. The room's windows are slits high in the wall and covered by curtains, the room is entirely lit by candles and lanterns. Caeli casts Detect Thoughts and reads that the captain is leading them into a fatal ambush. She shares it with Kiri by Message and Kiri replies to follow along. The captain leads them through a pair of massive doors into a large audience chamber where the Voice, a beautiful young blonde woman in red, sits on a throne, flanked by three more handmaidens on each side. The six acolytes from the other room follow them in and close the doors behind them. She greets them and welcomes them. Kiri begins to cast Calm Emotions and the captain draws and stabs at Kiri with her rapier. Caeli throws a Chromatic Orb at her. Handmaidens draw poisoned daggers and charge, two on Mirag and two on Thorn. Risa lays into them with her staff and fists. Andre attacks the captain, pulling her away from Kiri. As they meet, a black veil appears around Kharlan clashing with a silver sphere around Andre. She is an Oathbreaker! Thorn kills one of the acolytes with two thrusts from his rapier. Kiri completes her prayer and and the Calm Emotion slows the acolytes for a beat. The Voice's handmaidens join the fray as well. Mirag goes into rage and the demon voice rings in his head again, promising to take his soul. He strikes the Voice and the glyphs on the demon stone light up. She recognizes the stone. The Voice tries to charm Mirag and fails.
Risa turns on the captain and batters her, but she shakes off the stun. Thorn kills another acolyte. Mirag presses his attack. Acolytes are dropping but there's still more and the captain smites Andre. Caeli drops a Lightning Bolt through the melee, hitting the captain in the back and killing an acolyte. Andre hits the captain with multiple smites and kills her. The Voice charms Mirag and kisses him, draining half of his life away.
Kiri casts Mass Healing Word to help the party. Risa attacks the Voice to draw her away from Mirag and kills her. One of the handmaids attacks Caeli and she kills her attacker with Shatter. Thorn is dueling with an acolyte, but doesn't finish her. Mirag turns on the handmaids. Kiri can feel the presence of the harp nearby, in the the Voice's throne!
With the captain, the Voice and most of the servants down, the battle has turned in the party's favor. Thorn and Mirag kill acolytes, Risa drops two. But the doors to the chamber open, showing the two missing paladins who were escorting the harp and a dark figure with a skull topped mace; they are vampires!! The paladins are vampire spawn, they move to attack. The vampire is a priest, he casts Flame Strike on Kiri! Caeli hits the vampire and a spawn with Lightning Bolt. Andre fights one of the spawn.
Risa attacks a spawn and stuns it. Thorn attacks the spawn as well. Kiri pulls the Harp from the remains of the throne, it is daubed with unholy lettering in blood, she washes it with Holy Water and a voice says in her head "Play my daughter" Mirag is hit and goes down. Andre calls upon Tyr and turns one of the spawn, driving it back. The vampire deals damage with its mace and claws. Caeli casts Vitriolic Sphere behind the battle, hitting the vampire and turned spawn. The dead body of the Voice has changed into a winged demon, she was a succubus!
Thorn is fighting a spawn with his rapier. Kiri takes up the Harp and begins to play. The vampires are marked with black auras, the party glows gold with Sune's blessing. She casts Healing Word to wake Mirag and the power of the Harp increases her spell (all Kiri's spells are automatically upcast one level while she plays). The vampire bites Risa and she goes down. Andre smites and drops one of the spawn. Caeli runs to Risa and feeds her a healing potion.
The vampire knocks out Mirag with his mace. Risa uses her Inferno Staff to cast Fireball above and behind the vampires. Thorn drops a spawn and Andre chops the head off. Kiri heals Mirag. Caeli picks up the first spawn's dropped sword and beheads the undead paladin.
Mirag swings at the vampire and misses. Risa runs up, hits the vampire four times and ducks back. Andre picks up the spawn's severed head and throws it at the vampire, smiting him, and it smites him back, knocking him out. Kiri hits the vampire with Guiding Bolt, Caeli hits with Chromatic Orb, and Thorn shoots the vampire twice.
Caeli gives Andre her last potion of healing, he and Risa finish the vampire, she gets in the last blow. They behead the vampire before it can regenerate.
The battle is over, the evil has been driven from the temple. The voice in Kiri's head tells her to take the Harp to the altar. She walks to the temple, the rest of the abbey's staff are gathering, drawn by Sune's presence. Kiri places the harp on the altar and she feels the last of the evil pervading the temple washed away. The temple staff raises their voices in hymns of thanks. Kiri brings Risa before the altar and plays the Harp while she casts Remove Curse to clear the effects of the vampire's bite. Kiri realizes she is the senior Sune priest in town…
Kiri organizes the staff and takes charge. in the Voice's former quarters are two torture victims still chained on a wall and several dead bodies. Kiri heals the victims and the bodies are removed. The bodies of the villains are burned. She finds the temple's head scribe and sends out letters to the nearby temples requesting help. The party relaxes while Kiri sets the temple to rights. Five days after her letters went out, the larger temple in Velprintallar sends a priest to take over Furthinghome until a permanent replacement can be nominated.
Kiri has recovered the Harp and needs to return it to Mulsantir. Thorn needs to travel into the Hordelands beyond Rashemen to find the kaiju and destroy the Obsidian Fang. Risa needs to head towards Narfell to find the Nagpa holding the monk's soul. And Kiri needs to decide what to do about Nyvana…
Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
Brittany is tired from her overnight job
Brittany "I just need more sleep"
Katya "You've needed more sleep for the last three years"
Coming up with names for the three powerful hags
Brittany "Hagatha, Hagmantha…"
Talking about Orac
Brittany "He's like Clippy"
Jim "No, not Clippy"
Kiri finally realizes Nyvana may be fey
Jack "Sometimes it's important to punch children"
Jim "Is a fey duck a feyck?"
Brittany "It's a fuck. A flying fuck"
Nick "I want to flirt with Jack, but I don't have Animal Handling"
Fighting the false priestess' handmaids, dressed as nuns
Nick "I'm tired of this nunsense"
Someone says something about the battle with the Voice and her servants being pretty severe
Jim "You haven't even met the boss yet…"
