Gods, Gold, and Getting Out Alive
The adventuring party found themselves on the second tier of the dungeon, the echoes of their recent battle with a strange genie still lingering. After a brief discussion about party formation, they approached a heavy door adorned with intricate glyphs and a striking carving of an eagle battling a serpent. Stone warriors with panther masks flanked the entrance, hinting at the dangers within.
Vela, with her keen eye, deciphered the carving's grim message: a journey for truth ending in failure and imprisonment in the land of the dead. This sparked a debate about the temple's inhabitants' apparent hatred of reptiles and differing views on the afterlife.
Upon opening the door, they entered a wide foyer leading to a circular chamber. A jade death mask was affixed to the wall, and further in, a cross-shaped dais with stairs leading to a central crystal cylinder encasing a stone pillar dominated the room. Offerings of jewelry and statuettes lay scattered in the alcoves.
Their attempts to disarm a lever behind the jade mask proved futile. Soon, their looting activities triggered a trap: a voice boomed through the chamber, announcing a poisonous gas and offering a cure atop the central pillar, reachable only by solving a puzzle. The door began to slam shut, but a jade breastplate was wedged in the gap, only to shatter under the pressure.
The party cautiously explored the stairs leading to the dais. The north stairs were bloodstained, the east obscured by shadow, and the south luminescent and color-changing. Vila's attempt to ascend the shifting southern stairs resulted in no progress. Yuri tried the western stairs, carved with the heads of many gods, but felt overwhelmingly weak after a few steps.
Meanwhile, on the bloodstained stairs, an animated warrior statue attacked Yuri. Vila finally reached the top of the dais and the crystal cylinder. Various attempts to breach its walls with brute force and unconventional items failed. Finally, Yuri's proficiency with thieves' tools allowed him to open a small gap, revealing a potion and a glyph on the stone pillar.
Ignoring warnings, Yuri jammed his blade into the glyph, causing a wall of force blocking the potion to disappear. However, the “potion” turned out to be a mimic. Simultaneously, a feathered serpent was freed from within the crystal cylinder.
Vela, captivated by the serpent, immediately declared it her new deity, naming it Finnegan van Peebles. As the serpent, who introduced himself as Mortimus, flew away, Yuri quickly looted the chamber, acquiring a Balance of Harmony, the Mirror of the Past, a Parapet of Wound Closure, and some translucent gems. Good Morning mage handed the jade mask as they left, triggering a set of iron bars that sealed the empty space.
Discovering a secret door, they entered a room filled with an amber haze, strange mirrors, and a basin of steaming golden liquid. Yuri, peering into a red mirror, saw a ghostly figure resembling himself, only for it to attack him in a terrifying vision. He reacted by smashing the mirror, which burst into flames, causing him minor burns.
Good Morning, while examining a blue mirror, was inexplicably sucked into it, finding himself submerged in murky water. Algos and Yuri tried to break the mirror to free him. Meanwhile, Yuri dipped his handaxe into the golden liquid, and the weapon instantly turned to gold. The blue mirror finally shattered, releasing a torrent of water and a sputtering Good Morning.
Looking into a black mirror, both Yuri and Good Morning saw reflections of themselves in ancient attire, with their mirrored images offering to answer a single question. Yuri used his question to inquire about past loot and the creature from the red mirror. Good Morning, after an embarrassing dance in front of the black mirror, looked into a white mirror and was suddenly stunned as an ochre jelly oozed out and attacked him.
A chaotic fight ensued with the jelly, which split into two smaller versions when struck with slashing weapons. Yuri, despite being stunned, was dragged out of the room. Good Morning flung golden liquid at the jelly with little effect. Eventually, the jelly was defeated.
After a short rest and a burgeoning religious discussion between Vela and Yuri about her newfound god, they discovered a secret door concealed by the black mirror, leading to a diamond-shaped room. In the center stood a bizarre altar resembling a many-armed, beaked octopus with a large gem in its forehead.
Attempts to magically remove the gem failed. Vela, resorting to a crowbar, climbed onto the altar and promptly became stuck as it began to spin rapidly, dragging Yuri along with it. A frantic combat round saw Yuri escape, only to be slammed into a wall. Good Morning, with the help of his bird, managed to shatter the gem, stopping the spinning.
As they looted the now-inert altar, Yuri picked up the gem and was immediately afflicted by Otto's Irresistible Dance. After dropping the gem and ceasing his involuntary jig, a series of unfortunate events led to Good Morning accidentally turning Yuri's hawk into a golden statue by throwing it into the golden liquid. Yuri promptly re-summoned his bird, which then relentlessly pecked a bewildered Good Morning.
Finally, they navigated a pipe to a new chamber with fountains. Disturbing the water in one of the fountains caused a water weird to erupt and attack. After a brief but intense fight, the elemental was defeated. Vila then noticed a platinum key and chain near the remains of a crayfish.
Using the key, Yuri opened a door revealing a chamber containing the mummified form of a centaur mounted on a marble slab, surrounded by various trinkets and jewelry. Detecting that the centaur was undead, they cautiously prepared for battle. Their fears were realized as the centaur animated and attacked. A chaotic fight followed, during which Vela solidified her faith in Finnegan van Peebles. Looting the chamber yielded mostly worthless trinkets, but Vela claimed an electrum serpent bracelet as her new holy symbol. The session concluded with the party, battered but alive, facing an uncertain future and a new, somewhat questionable, divine presence.