# [[027_20211123 Stopping the ritual]] ## Session Summary > [!abstract] [[027_20211123 Stopping the ritual]] > We easily finished off the cultist with the serpentine dagger, but not before he told us that it was too late to stop the ritual. Wally found a dismembered body in the room behind the altar. Feeling the urgency of the situation, we headed to the observatory. We went down the stairs underneath it, and found ourselves in a large cavern with a gaping hole in the center that seemed to emanate a lot of heat. We found alchemist's fire near the entrance of another cavern that turned out to be the main sacrificial chamber, jutting out from the rocky mountain. > > There was a red-skinned tiefling in the center looking like he was in charge, three cultists that seemed to be keeping three innocent people in tow, and three infernal hounds that did quite a bit of damage. > > In an attempt to break the concentration of the cultists and the tiefling, Xenia cast Shatter in that area, accidentally killing the three innocents as well. ^summary ## Recap of last session ![[026_20211116 Temple of the Sun and Moon#^summary]] --- ## Log ```encounter name: players: - Scura - Milla - Reya - Wally - Xenia creatures: - Thing ``` Round 1 - Scura - Action: Twilight Sanctuary - Bonus: - Yell out to the others - Move out of line of sight - Tiefling - Action: Fire bolt - Bonus action - Move forward Heavily-scarred (on their face) human, dark black cloak. He's casting Inflict Wounds [[The Ninth Revelation|Cultist]] is wearing a clasp with [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Torog]]'s symbol. He says we're too late to stop the ritual. There is a waterfall all around the cliff/rocky outcropping that the observatory is on. We go to [[Observatory of the Sun and Moon]]. 5 more mins of Eyes of Night We hear faint chanting. We also hear an occasional growling. On the front door of the observatory, there is a bit of light. I hear chanting, but not from inside. ![[observatory-ground.png]] In the [[Observatory of the Sun and Moon#Viewing room]], Pinhole camera - we're seeing the night sky projected onto the black disk. It turns in and out of focus. There are steps that go down on the left. There are steps that go up on the right. Above us I see a mesh-like gantry, like a bit of a plate hanging in the middle. We can see up the dome. We see a small room on the left. It's [[Observatory of the Sun and Moon#Nihana's room]], with her things and a toilet. Reya finds a false bottom, with books and with a piece of brass that is 50cm long. It is square-shaped U shape. ![[observatory-nihanas_bedroom.png]] We go down the staircase underneath the observatory. The roof of the [[Observatory of the Sun and Moon#Cavern]] is about 20m high. Spiral ramp that goes up. ![[observatory-cavern.png]] The center seems to be where the heat is coming from. It's about 20 feet wide. The chanting seems to be coming from the top of the ramp. There is a brazier with normal fire, but we also see green magical fire. On the right side of the brazier is a dagger hanging from the chain. Left: brazier. Right: Dagger with chain. The fire is alchemist's fire. The dagger has blood on the edge of the blade. And on the sides of the brazier Xenia sees dried and not so dried blood. ```encounter name: players: - Scura - Milla - Reya - Wally - Xenia creatures: - 3: Dogs - 2: Normal cultists - 1: Different cultist - 1: Boss - 3: Old people ``` ![[observatory-sacrificial_chamber.png]] Dogs have glowing red eyes with smoke coming out of their mouths. Red-skinned tiefling (maybe) in all black seems to be the boss. "New playthings for the master". He calls out in Infernal for the hounds to attack us. His name is [[Mesa]]. [[Hell Hound]] does a 15-foot cone of fire. Hound 1 - 4 piercing - 6 cold - 17 rebuked the violent - 5 cold, speed reduced by 10 feet. - Hound 2 - 9 piercing - 10 piercing - 7 thunder - 8 piercing - 17 piercing Hound 3 - 30 - 5 damage from sentinel opportunity attack Scura - Action: Heal my fucking self - Bonus: healing word Tiefling - Action: Ray of frost 17 hits the hounds stencil of a crown that's rising and revolving in the air. [[The Evening Moon]] Bonus action to take a healing potion. ![[observatory-sacrificial_chamber-02.png]] Scura - Tiefling - Action: Chromatic orb ```ad-info title: DM's Notes Wally initially tried to speak to the cultist, who told him you were too late. Tired of talking, Wally stuck him with his sword, while Scura cast Twilight Sanctuary. Reya and Xenia moved further up and along with Milla Xenia cast their attacks. Reya finished off the cultist with an expert headshot with her shortbow. Investigating the body, Xenia found found a silver cloak clasp with three hands in a circle (10 gp). A dagger. 3 gp and 2 sp. Wally investigated the altar behind and in the dimness could see a disfigured body pinned to the table and a pool of dried blood underneath. Nearly retching, Wally left the scene. Hearing the cultist say "You're too late!" the party decided to leave the temple and rushed to the observatory. Dashing across the rope bridge and up the stone steps. Inside you found a large room with a mechanism inside like a camera obscura. Xenia started fiddling with the controls and was able to focus the image of the night sky from the telescope onto the black panel in the middle. The other red glass controls adjusted the lights. Then you made your way into what was obviously Astrologer Nihana Chist's bedroom off to the side. On searching the room you found her scientific notebooks and journal, two books on her desk and two in a secret compartment under the rug that the key you found on her unlocked. All the books were very old and obviously about Raei and Sehanine. You all heard the sound of chanting from outside the observatory and headed downstairs where you came out into a large cavern. In the centre was a hole about 20-30 feet across descending into complete darkness. Despite dropping items down it with light cast on them, you seemed to discern no bottom to the shaft. Although the cavern was cold and clammy as you might expect, occasional blasts of hot air came up from the hole. Wally and Xenia scaled the low cliff of the ramp that ran around the wall of the cavern, while the others simply walked. At the top, you found a passageway blocked with alchemist's fire. A lit brazier was to the left of the archway, a dagger hanging from a chain on the right. Xenia investigated and found blood along the edge of the dagger and spots of blood around the brazier. He cut his hand and dripped his blood into the brazier. The alchemist's fire died down and you went into the passageway. As you emerged from the cavern, you immediately saw three vicious looking large dogs with burning red eyes and smoke billowing from their mouths guarding the entrance. They turned to you and growl, sparks and smoke escaping from their mouths. Behind them, you caught a glimpse of a precipice at the edge of the cliff and a group of people standing in formation upon it. Three torches burn in a triangle. Three figures stand silhoutted by the light - one at each torch. A figure in jet black clothes and cloak stood with its back to you, black hair tied back in an almost samurai like ponytail. Later you saw that they had some kind of glowing crescent in their hands and are chanting. As the chants continued the glowing crescent – which looks like a silver stencil of a crown – hovered into the air and the air in the middle of the triangle started pulsating with a glimmer of light. The figure turned to see who arrived and you could only make out what looked like the face of maybe a tiefling with red skin. But then combat ensued. Reya attacked one of the dogs with her booming blade and dealt some damage, then the dog breathed a cone of fire dealing four of you a hefty amount of fire damage. As you battled on, Reya and Scura both were bitten by the dogs, their fangs piercing the skin followed by scorching heat. The first one took the booming blade damage as it leaped towards Scura. Reya fell unconscious. Wally managed to rebuke the hound and deal it some serious damage while preventing the other one from going anywhere. Milla took cover in the passageway and launched two successful Ice Spike attacks at the hounds, dealing them some good damage. Scura (I think?) healed Reya and she managed to deal the death blow to one of the hounds (I think? Sorry, was lost in the fog of war at this point). There were a couple of good critical hits along the way. Xenia's attempt to hold person on the main figure failed and on his next turn cast shatter in the middle of the circle of people, immediately killing the three sacrificial victims and one of the cultists and seriously injuring the others. The remaining cultists turned and both cast spiritual weapon - one a giant sacrificial dagger, the other torturer's tongs and tied to attack Xenia. The hound attempted two more attacks without success and we're at the top of the round where we stopped. ```