The party emerged from the Vault of Imperative Truth, only to find a guard investigating the chamber where Winnifred Redwyne lay dead. The guard, visibly suspicious, ordered the party to wait in the adjoining room. There, another guard recognized Momeline and Lirielle from wanted posters. A tense standoff ensued—Momeline gave her real name, while Ferinthria offered a false one. Acting swiftly, Momeline cast Sleep on one guard, while Dravencoles knocked out the other before they could raise an alarm.
On their way out of the Marble Academy Library, the party was nearly intercepted again. A group of guards approached, but Lirielle, thinking quickly, pointed them back toward the restricted wing. The guards took the bait and ran. As the group slipped away, they spotted Lirielle’s image on a wanted poster, confirming their faces were known in Lusteris.
Back at the Thistle household, the group recounted the encounter to Velara and the Thistles. They discussed the book Void Crowned, Star Bound and the implications of the Vault. More pressing, though, was the matter brought to them by Ithilwen Galandel—the disappearing priestesses of the Sapphire Temple.
Following Ithilwen’s lead, the party investigated the crypts behind the city’s ossuary. Using the medallion Ithilwen had gifted him, Dravencoles detected necromantic activity and identified a suspicious tomb. Inside, they uncovered a hidden passage leading to a dark cult lair.
In the first chamber, the party ambushed a cultist in meditation. Momeline struck first with a devastating sneak attack, but the cultist survived long enough to summon three undead. Lirielle and Ferinthria handled them efficiently, but the noise alerted others. Reinforcements came—six cultists and two dark priests—but Ferinthria unleashed a devastating fireball, reducing the bulk of them to ash. Lirielle and Momeline dispatched the survivors.
In the southern crypt, they discovered a skeletal corpse, a cache of loot, and a chilling note:
“The hammer has been verified. It drank from the source and did not break. The priestesses screamed, and the light leapt to their aid.”
The note also confirmed the cult was experimenting on the priestesses.
As they continued their search, the party encountered shadowy undead in the north and south chambers. Dravencoles channeled radiant energy through divine smite, burning them away with holy light. In the northern crypt, they discovered the missing priestesses, weak but alive. Dravencoles used his Lay on Hands to heal them, and the party guided them to safety.
The final room housed a terrible foe: a Mezzoloth, locked in a ritual with three priests bound to glowing columns that simultaneously healed the creature and drained the captives. The battle was brutal. Lirielle and Momeline realized the columns were the source of the Mezzoloth’s power, and with Ferinthria and Dravencoles working together, they shattered them. The priests were freed, and the Mezzoloth fell—but not before forcing the party to spend nearly every resource to survive.
With the cultists defeated and the priestesses rescued, the party now has more answers—but even more troubling questions. Is this hammer that “passed the test” The Holy Warhammer of Elandria—and why was it moved to Lusteris’ “most secure location”? What ritual were the dark priests attempting, and who gave the order to use the priestesses as vessels for such cruel experiments?