Chapter 21: The Razor's Edge

[Joe]

Streko nods. "I shall join each of you as well. Perhaps having two servants of the Host will do something positive to address our four expectant reliefs."
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Streko joins Adamant and Starg in their brief moments of penitence.

Post edited to reflect correct actions.

[Jeff]

Joe, per Mirror Image:

Three illusory duplicates of yourself appear in your space. Until the spell ends, the duplicates move with you and mimic your actions, shifting position so it's impossible to track which image is real

He can't send them off to do different things. Plus, the spell lasts only 1 minute. Streko's Invoke Duplicity (Channel Divinity) can make one double of himself, and it can go as far as 120 feet, but it, too, only lasts 1 minute.

[Dave B.]

Shorak watches as Melethos, Adamant and Starg bow before the southeast relief. When they move to the next one Shorak moves to the dais they vacated and also bows and kneels. "It can't hurt for all of us to do this." While kneeling, Shorak takes the time to examine the relief closely, again looking for any kind of secret levers, buttons or compartments. If he finds nothing, he will follow the trio, kneeling, bowing and checking the reliefs for any secrets.

Let's try this again. Perception check: 1d20+5=14. Changed to 15 due to Reliable Talent. I can't remember the last time I rolled well on a perception check. Oh well. Thank goodness he has Reliable Talent.

[Ken]

"I suppose not," says Belarin after Shorak's comment. He looks at Histra and shrugs. "Might as well." He joins Shorak in giving a bow and then kneeling briefly before the statue.

[Jeff]

Starg's kneel is brief, but his head is bowed again. He seems to be attempting at least the imitation of reverence. It's hard to say with the old minotaur what his beliefs are. Then he moves from the Lawbringer relief to the Dol Arrah relief in the northwest corner, doing the same, then at last the hooded wizardly god in the northeast.

He doesn't even to turn to see who follows; he proceeds through the north archway . . .

Thul and Sem stare after him. As do the tiefling and bugbear of Orvak's company.

Shorak sees no movable parts at the base of any of the reliefs.

---

Waiting also to see what Streko is actually doing.

[Brian]

Melethos follows Starg, bowing reverently at each statue. However, he waits a moment at the northern archway. He wants to see if Starg reappears in the southern corridor.

[Joe]

Will edit post.

[Jeff]

Melethos and Shorak and Streko are following in Starg's actions. Adamant has not (yet). To confirm: Streko (and maybe Adamant) is bowing before the relief of what they think represents the Shadow, yes?

[Dave W.]

Adamant repeats his prayer to the second Dol Arrah relief. He kneel and will make a shorter prayer to the Lawgiver. He pauses at what he thinks is the Shadow but will not kneel. He does give a short bow, as if to a respected enemy.

"Starg, don't go alone!" he says hastily. The warforged will follow Starg into the North doorway.

---

Sorry it's been a day already so this is short. I was going to write two more prayers but life (work really) is in the way... I may not check back until late tonight.

[Darren]

Never one for prayer, Kal shakes his head and watches, waiting to see the results of his friends' actions.

[Jeff]

Adamant, Shorak, Melethos, and Streko followed Starg upon each dais. Adamant offers the Shadow wizard relief a bow, but does not kneel. (Do Melethos, Shorak, and Streko do anything differently from Starg?)

Sem climbs down from the plinth to watch. Histra brings her zombie to stand before her and Belarin. She pulls the wraith back into her staff, and stands, watching them along with Kal, Thul, and the two newcomers to the chamber. Starg has walked into the darkness beneath the northern archway. Streko and Melethos stand at the northern archway, then.

I wasn't sure if Adamant had his light on or not; either way, Starg has darkvision. (On the map, note that Melethos should be beside Streko.)

Adamant keeps pace with the minotaur, then looks up to discover that he's looking north . . . directly into the chamber on the opposite side. Starg, however, has gone!

Attachments:

[Joe]

Streko, like Adamant, bows before the relief of The Shadow, a sign of respect for His power and influence. "I doubt either The Shadow or his followers would kneel and put themselves in a defenseless position, even while in prayer."

[Dave B.]

After bowing and kneeling at each relief, Shorak pauses for a moment, then shrugs and follows Starg down the north passage. "What's the worst that will happen?", he mutters. "Either we end up some place else or we return to this chamber from the south archway."

[Brian]

Melethos also follows Starg down the corridor.

I'll stay in touch, he tells Kal telepathically.

[Jeff]

Melethos and Shorak hurry after the other two . . .

Melethos finds himself catching up to Adamant. Both are staring back into the chamber from the south side. It's an odd sensation, because he doesn't recall feeling teleported. Nor can he recall seeing Shorak vanish from his side.

Shorak, however, catches up to Starg, though his shape is dark, as neither carries a source of light and only the minotaur can see well. Starg turns and reaches out a hand to the much shorter person's shoulder. He stops them both and they turn around. Looking back into the well-lit chamber from the north tunnel, which now has gone some distance. "I believe thorough reverence was what the giants who built this place required of their guests," he says to Shorak. "You kneeled as I, yes? Even bowing was insufficient. Please, go and tell the others."

[Ken]

Belarin says to Histra, "Watching people walk is actually making me tense. That's a first."

[Jeff]

Histra frowns. "If kneeling before effigies is all that's required, we all may yet pass through. If some kind of observance of 'faith' is required . . ." The necromancer shakes her head dubiously. "I do not expect the dead would advance, to say nothing of some of us."

Sem walks over to both of them. "The giants of old likely had no more more proof of gods than we do. They called on whatever power our friends Streko and Adamant do, I suppose. But the nature of that power will be ever in debate. I don't think even the giants could force belief. I think we just have to step the step, as the Zil say. Don't think for a moment that the Riedrans before us followed any gods. They think they're the gods."

[Brian]

Melethos steps into the chamber and listens to Histra. "Let's find out. I only knelt before one relief. I'll trying kneeling and bowing my head before each, then attempt the norther corridor again."

Melethos approaches each relief, bending a knee and bowing his head. Once he has paid homage to the four gods, he walks into the northern corridor.

[Joe]

Streko will follow Melethos's lead, kneeling and offering respects before each of the reliefs and following behind Melethos as he makes his way into the northern corridor.

[Dave B.]

"Ah, I will do that. But, I will call from the corridor, so I don't have to go through all that kneeling again." Shorak heads back south towards the chamber and stops five feet from the opening. "Hey." Shorak calls out. "You may have already guessed this, but Starg says kneeling at each relief should do the trick. Oh, and someone with a light would should come quickly please. It's dark in this passage." He waits for everyone to get through kneeling and enter the passage.

[Ken]

"Well, I suppose our zombie could do some basic bowing and kneeling," Belarin says to Histra, "if the act is all that's required. Besides... a zombie kneeling? That's a first for me."

Belarin goes to each statue, where he bows gracefully and then kneels for several moments before moving on to the next. "The Riedrans must have hated this part."

[Dave W.]

"kneeling before one of the Dark Six?" Adamant rubs at the octogram on his chest. "I am having trouble with this." He tells the dwindling number of his friends in this chamber.

"Yet we are already separated..." he stands as though bracing against a strong wind. Finally to whomever is left in the room, "Kneel and go if you can bring yourself to do it. I will come last... I need a moment."

[Jeff]

Melethos and Streko begin the process. Thul lets out a sigh. He sets the Hammer of Syndra down near the middle of the room and then follows after Melethos and Streko. When they kneel, he follows with a grunt, but he does not lower his head. He looks up at the relief, as if refusing to go that final step of lowering his gaze.

Caros and Mulkav observe and speak quietly with one another.

Starg waits for Shorak, proceeding now further in the darkness. But he is facing that way, north, listening.

Oct 22, 2021 10:09:54 GMT -4 Ken said:

"Well, I suppose our zombie could do some basic bowing and kneeling," Belarin says to Histra, "if the act is all that's required. Besides... a zombie kneeling? That's a first for me."

"Those who made this place set the rules," Histra says, sounding surprisingly stoic about it. "If that is the only toll..." She shrugs.

Sem approaches them both.

Oct 22, 2021 10:09:54 GMT -4 Ken said:

Belarin goes to each statue . . .

There may be some mixing up of terms. There are statues (the columns, with the warrior women caryatids within them) and there are the bas-reliefs depicting gods on the walls; the latter is what Starg and Shorak have kneeled before. What is Belarin kneeling to?

Oct 22, 2021 10:09:54 GMT -4 Ken said:

"The Riedrans must have hated this part."

Sem lets out a laugh. "I'm quite sure they did. I now have a lovely image in my head of the flawless Inspired grappling with climbing equipment on the cliff face instead." He grows more serious, though. "But you know, plenty of giants would have hated this, too. From what I understand, the giants of the Cul’sir Dominion—arguably the most powerful and tyrannical of them all—paid no homage to gods. They'd become too powerful to respect anything greater than themselves. Cul'sir himself seemed to have thought himself a god. So..." The gnome looks around the room. "This wasn't made by that empire. Maybe one of the Eleven..."

[Jeff]

When Belarin does regard the relief of the hooded wizard, opposite the Aureon-like robed figure that apparently represents some aspect of Aureon, he is reminded of the first time he looked upon a clear symbol of the Shadow. Long ago, but not so long that he's forgotten it. A standing stone carved of obsidian in the wilderness of northern Aundair, like a twisted obelisk. He remembers the Emerlad Claw soldiers in whose company he was employed. Captain Relith, the almost personable one among them, and his eventual death. 

But it was that pillar of the Shadow that somehow led him to meeting Kalarian d'Deneith and Streko d'Jorasco, and eventually the rest...

There is no such holy symbol here; just a mysterious arcane figure of giant size, like the kinetic force to the potential force of the other. Yet this does feel like the Shadow; the face is obscured, the intentions unclear. The only thing apparent is that this robed figure is taking action, not storing it or waiting to use it.

When Adamant stands still, Sem breaks off from Belarin and Histra and walks over to him. "Are you wrestling with this?" He gives Kal a look, too.

[Darren]

Kal frowns. "I don't love it," he says. "Debasing oneself without any meaning behind it is typical of the sycophants of my house. I never wanted to be that person." He watches his friends kneeling. "Still, we must sometimes do what is required of us, even if it is distasteful." He moves to the reliefs, kneeling before them with a flourish, then moves to the north corridor to follow his friends. Before he walks through, he turns back to the tiefling and bugbear. "You are welcome to travel with us until you are reunited with your own. The choice is yours."

[Dave W.]

Oct 22, 2021 11:44:23 GMT -4 Jeff said:

When Adamant stands still, Sem breaks off from Belarin and Histra and walks over to him. "Are you wrestling with this?" He gives Kal a look, too.

Adamant listens to Kal's statement and watches him do his posturing.

"It is difficult." he says to Sem. "I don't believe the things we do have no meaning. Everything does, even if it never leaves the confines of our hearts. Yet I can not protect my friends if I can not join them."

"Will you do this ritual with me, Sem?" Adamant asks the Zil.

(to speed things up I'll assume he does, otherwise Adamant will do it alone but will not leave until Sem does.)

Adamant will kneel before the Dol Arrah and Lawbringer reliefs as before (though without the words spoken this time). When he gets to the Shadow he stands a moment, "This is not a sign of my fealty. Nor do I condone what you inspire people to do, Shadow. But You are one of the gods, so I offer only acknowledgement of Your power."

He glances down at Sem, "I hope that is enough," and kneels.

Then with Sem, he will try the doorway again.

[Ken]

Belarin stares for a long moment at the representation of the Shadow. So much has happened since that time in the woods. Love and hate. Life and death. Friends and enemies.

When he has bowed and knelt before each representation of the gods, he follows his companions.

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Oct 22, 2021 11:17:58 GMT -4 Jeff said:

There may be some mixing up of terms. There are statues (the columns, with the warrior women caryatids within them) and there are the bas-reliefs depicting gods on the walls; the latter is what Starg and Shorak have kneeled before. What is Belarin kneeling to?

Oops, sorry! Yes, the bas-reliefs of the gods.

[Jeff]

Histra goes with Belarin, even taking his hand. She kneels with him, even bows her head, but she does all this in a very mechanical fashion. Going through the motions. He knows she doesn't give much thought to deities—only those in the world who do.

Oct 22, 2021 12:03:24 GMT -4 Darren said:

Kal frowns. "I don't love it," he says. "Debasing oneself without any meaning behind it is typical of the sycophants of my house. I never wanted to be that person." He watches his friends kneeling. "Still, we must sometimes do what is required of us, even if it is distasteful."

Thul is only just ahead of Kal in the order. When both men have finished, they pause at the northern archway. "Not sure you know what debasement is," the captain says to Kal, sticking his pipe in his teeth. He summons Syndra to his hand with a mere gesture (one of his recurring magical talents) and then starts smoking. He holds Syndra out like a torch so there is some light in the dark. Kal already has his staff lit with magelight.

Oct 22, 2021 12:03:24 GMT -4 Darren said:

Before he walks through, he turns back to the tiefling and bugbear. "You are welcome to travel with us until you are reunited with your own. The choice is yours."

Caros gives a respectful nod. "I appreciate it, dragonmarked. We must wait for our company and tell them what you have discovered here, so that we may all pass. I will relay your, umm, cordiality to Orvak and the others."

Meanwhile, Sem stands with Adamant. "No one ever accused Sem Darlesh of being a religious person," the gnome says before Adamant takes any action, and it seems to the paladin that Sem has never looked more serious. "I can't say I believe in the gods, Adamant. But I do believe in you, and your light. And that comes from somewhere. And not from any wizard-books." He thumps his satchel. "Not from any of the arcane arts. What you and Streko can do is amazes me still. The sun rises each day, and if your magic comes from something responsible for curating that kind of power, that banishes the night, then it's real enough." 

Sem's face remains serious. "But if Dol Arrah is real, so is the Shadow. He may have been ousted as a member of the Host in the mythic past—as I recall being taught—but he has not been unseated as a god. You can't deny his place. A place even Aureon lets him have, yes? Well, you needn't worship something to respect it. And I know, Adamant, that there Vassals across Khorvaire and in Stormreach who make offerings to the Devourer before going out to sea. Good people, merely asking him to be merciful so they can see their families again. There's something to that, isn't there?"

He reaches up and takes one of the warforged's fingers and goes with him upon the Shadow dais. 

Sem kneels with him, following the paladin's lead. When Adamant rises, Sem is still kneeling. He's whispering something. Adamant only catches the words "whatever it takes" softly. Then the gnome stands up, and grins. "No harm, right?"

[Dave W.]

Oct 22, 2021 13:41:08 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Then the gnome stands up, and grins. "No harm, right?"

Adamant is buoyed by Sem's comments on religion, and gives a mirthful snort at the gnome's grin. Eye-gems glowing brightly, "Let's go find out."

They move together into the doorway.

---

Adamant will have the delver's light on bright when the get into the dark north hall

[Dave B.]

Shorak nods to each person as they enter the passage. "Starg is just ahead," he tells them. When Adamant and Sem pass through the archway, Shorak joins them as they continue north down the hall, joining Starg and the rest. He takes his place at the front of the line, making sure he continues to look for any threats, traps or foes. "Well, time to move on then." He comments and moves to continue down the passage, glsd to have the several light sources being supplied by his friends.