A long hall stretches before our heroes. Three sets of black metallic double doors stand closed on the north and south walls. A grand altar looms at chamber's eastern end, over which hangs a winged sculpture. A pile of dirt and stone-encrusted skulls lies before the altar.
Lying on the floor, as if in the process of being sorted or prepared, are six strange stone statues. Standing above them is a snakelike monster covered in fine purple scales with a face that combines human and ophidian features. Next to it is a gray fleshed, hairless humanoid with white, empty eyes. It carries a black rod. The snake-thing hisses in clear Common, "You're late! Elder Arantham will have your hides! Come, help me sort these properly!"
Our heroes keep up the ruse of being servants of the Ashen Covenant for awhile, just enough to get the advantage of surprise on the creatures. After dispatching them, they proceed with the exploration of the Reliquary.
R2: GUARDIAN ALCOVES
A half-foot thick layer of dust covers the floor of this double chamber. Ebony alcoves line the far wall. Standing silent within each alcove is a dust-shrouded nightmare-humanoid in shape, each is a composite figure formed of mummified corpse pieces that do not match. Devilish, demonic, and otherwise decidedly nonhuman sections are stitched into a gruesome mixture. The creatures stand like sentries, each staring out of their individual alcove.
The creature animates, imperfect guardians of ages past, and try to stop our heroes progresses. But they're no match for the party.
R3: PORTAL GUARDIANS
A half-foot thick layer of dust covers the floor of this triple chamber. Three 10-foot wide archways open in the center of the far wall of each connected chamber. The archways are filled with an opaque blue radiance. Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceilings of these chambers.
Three creatures stand motionless under a pall of dust, one in each of the three connected chambers. Two are blood-red, hairless humanoids with four arms and massive claws. The final creature is a skeletal human dressed in rotting finery. The faintest suggestion of shadow tentacles writhes like a crown around its skull.
As the fight begins, more demons start to come in through the archways, until our heroes realize how to deactivate the mystical passages.
Their strengths drained almost to the limit, our hereos decide to use their chance to be teleported home to rest, and come back to the Reliquary the day after. They then enter the inner chambers of the Reliquary.
R4: HYDRA DEFEATED
Fresh blood and ichor splatter every surface. A glimmering symbol etched in the center of the room slowly alters and shifts from moment to moment. To the north, three alcoves open off the chamber. Two are tiled with rune-covered plates; the central one is empty except for gauzy web fragments. Each runed alcove holds a baroque figure of black stone standing on the symbol- covered plate. A wizened crone naps along the north end of the east wall. In the center of the east wall, a human in ragged clothing stands near a set of adamantine double doors.
Our heroes are not fooled by the disguise of the two creatures (a Rakshasa and an Hag), and immediately charge to do battle. They also deactivate the gruesome trap present in the chamber, who would have summoned a bestial creature of rage and slaughter.
R5: DREAM POOL
A relief-carved passage leads south. The far end of the corridor is sealed with ebony double doors, apparently impossible to open. Dreamy music and wavering blue light emanates from two passages leading east. A pool fills the far side of this chamber. Its contents roll and break as if part of a larger sea of effervescent, glowing elixir. Runes around the pool spell out a message. Four statues of unfamiliar, multiwinged angels with eyes gouged out stand facing each other near the pool. A massive wave breaks over the lip of the pool. Even as the wave crests and begins to curl downward, it takes on hue and form, becoming a huge crustacean horror, pincerlifee claws and mouth cilia squirming incessantly and dripping with malodorous fumes. Beside it, a creature takes form. It is half-primeval fish, half-enormous slug, with tentacles where fins should be. On the pincered creature's other side, a thin woman with mottled yellow and brown skin takes shape holding a silvery sword. Only after having defeated these nightmares can our heroes forge a key of pure gold from the Dream Pool, and open the door at the far end of the corridor.
R6: DESECRATED TEMPLE
A yawning cavity punctures the floor of this 30 foot high chamber. The pit is surrounded on three sides by a 10-foot tall wall of obsidian. Animate black liquid undulates as if seeking to escape the cavity, constantly scrabbling at the sides of its pit with tendrils and claws of darkness. The stench of rotting blood pours from the thing. The air above the cavity is hazed with distortion, and every few moments, a rivulet of blood appears within the haze and falls onto clawing darkness. The larger rivulets are accompanied by faint shrieks of terror, each of which cuts off at its crescendo.Four fire pillars bum in the chamber's corners; each pillar is topped by a fire-blackened, horned, demonic skull. Six disembodied skeletal claws emerge from the lower portions of the flame. Behind each flame pillar, identical statues to Orcus rest atop 10-foot tall stone biers. An emaciated human male wearing an elaborate ramhorn headdress and red robes stands by the obsidian wall, lie cackles and says, "Ah, just in time! Are you ready to sacrifice your lives for the glory of Orcus?"
The Hierophant of Orcus, togheter with the demonic Imoliths and the Thing in the Portal offer a hard fight to our heroes, who suffer hevy injuries, but manage to defeat them.
R7: SUMMONING CHAMBER
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling here. The floor along the east and west walls has been heavily excavated, as evident by the large pits dug there. Two magic circles flare with power in the center of the room. Near one, a featureless black ball of stone hovers, energy arches from it to the circle nearest it. At the other circle, a skeleton with a gleaming gem set into each eye-socket, one black, one red-gesticulates and chants, apparently trying to summon something into its circle. The undead glances repeatedly at the floating ball, as if determining its progress.
Ruby fools the Blackstone idol, making him believe the Flameharrow lord is attacking, and a short fight between the two summoners ensues, until the Flameharrow manages to summon a Dracolich, and the heroes intervene to destroy both sides of the fight.
R8: SARCOPHAGI CHAMBER
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling. Four massive sarcophagi lie in this chamber-three are sealed, one gapes open and empty. Two/ree-standing stone sculptures of armored warriors rest on either end of the northern wall. The statues seem inert, but their eyes glow so fiercely that they dimly illuminate the area. To the west, an arched passage is flanked by two large
alcoves, each of which holds a sarcophagus that gleams as if plated with gold.
As the heroes disturb one fo the sarcophagi, screams rip from the three sealed sarcophagi lying in the center of the chamber. The first sarcophagus lid smashes upward, propelled on a burst of cloying steam. A moment later, a creature stands revealed, its eyes blazing with hate. Once the undead are defeated, our heroes inspect the golden sarcophagi, and find in them the Eyes of the Old Gods, powerful artifacts that can help them in the fight against Primordials.
R9: SENTINEL TRAPS
As our heroes make their way out of the previous room, through twin archways, both archways explode with silver radiance, producing a sound not unlike the roar of a battle-hardened commander calling troops to the front line. Suddenly, an invisible force grabs Zakonik and Rudd, crushing them hurling them forward, toward the gaping maw in the floor ahead. In the chamber behind them, composite creatures formed of mummified corpse pieces that do not match appear in the formerly empty alcoves to the south. The trap, though deadly, is but a minor nuisance for our heroes, who proceed deeper nto the Reliquary.
R10: HALL OF JUDGMENT
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling. Free-standing stone sculptures of armored warriors stand in three corners. The statues' eyes glow so fiercely they dimly illuminate the chamber. To the east, a passage lined with alcoves is obscured by a rolling cloud of mist. A massive excavation lies in the chamber's center.
Maniacal laughter accompanies the appearance of a large, free-floating sphere from the central excavation. The wide orb is dominated by a central eye and mouth. Ten smaller eyes on stalks sprout from the orb. The entire creature is rotting and mold-encrusted. Gaping wounds expose portions of its gruesome interior. All its eyes are milky with death. Simultaneously, two of the stone statues shudder, animate, and move toward the party.
The Beholder Death Emperor and the two Golems prove a very hard fight for our heroes, who are forced to use the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull to save they immortal souls.
R11: RELIQUARY TEST
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling of this chamber. The alcove-lined passage from which the party just emerged is obscured by a rolling cloud of mist. To the south, a black cavity gapes in the floor. To the north, a chiseled pit steams with green vapor. A grand altar looms at the chamber's eastern end, over which hangs a roughly eaglelike sculpture. Two approximately human-sized hand-prints are carved on the altar's top. On the altar's face Supernal hieroglyphics spell out a message. "Place thy hands upon me if you seek Timesus."
As Waylander places is hands on the Altar, a voice echoes in the chamber:
"Formless, I can move even gods to action.
Soundless, my fervor can inspire grand rhetoric.
Colorless, in my absence atrocities gather and fester.
Breathless, victims of those who ignore me echo to the sky.
Not all care to receive me, but those who do wield salvation."
Daedrie correctly guesses that the answer to the riddle is Compassion, and the altar moves away to grant acces to a shaft delving deep into the reliquary. Before proceeding further, the heroes decide to rest.
R12: DIVINE MEMORIAL
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling of this chamber. A dais directly below the access shaft in the ceiling is carved with images of flying angels. Heavy stone pillars arch up and over this chamber like granite ribs. Two rows of statues march down the center of the chamber. Two of the statues are smashed, and stony pieces litter the floor. The four that remain whole gleam as if with internal light. They depict humanoid creatures of such astounding beauty and grace, they can only be divine entities, though none seem familiar.Creatures are also present in the chamber. Two huge crustacean horrors with pincer-like claws skulk around the periphery of the chamber. Also present are two constructs of black stone, one carved in baroque armor, the other a hovering orb of glossy black stone.
The Ashen Covenant has delved deep into the reliquary, and our heroes can waste no time to stop them. After dealing with these guardians, they proceed to open the huge double doors.
R13: RELIQUARY (PART 1)
As they open the doors, the disembodied head of a gargantuan platinum-hued dragon breaths forth an apocalypse of radiant fire. Our heroes quickly escape the trap, only to be confronted by the sculpture of a faceless angel standing in an alcove, glowing with a faint radiance that projects forward. Another alcove holds the sculpture of a darker angel, which radiates a dimmer, colder light. Where the two emanations meet, turbulence shimmers the air. Both radiance are harmful, attacking the mind and soul of our heroes. They proceed through the tunnel, finally reaching a huge excavation site.R13: RELIQUARY (PART 2)
Relief sculptures cover the walls and ceiling of this chamber. Great incisions in the floor proceed by giant's steps from the west to the east. The lowest level of the excavation contains several creatures concentrated around two large objects. The larger of the two objects is a mass of floating black rock. Smaller creatures, apparently composed of the same stone as the mass but roughly carved to resemble humanoids, swing mining tools. They carve pieces out of the ground, and then carry the pieces to a portal that resembles nothing so much a vertical pool of swirling blood.Two flaming skulls blazing with green fire flit over the area. One other creature stands within the pit: a lichlike humanoid wearing fine robes. It looks up and screams, "You're too late!".
Our heroes now confront Elder Arantham, the leader of the Ashen Covenant, and Orcus' greatest servant in their World.
After a difficul fight, Arantham decide to escape through the Blood Portal, to fight the heroes another day. The party closes the portal, stopping the theft of Souls from the Raven Queen's Domain. Unfortunately, there's no trace of Timesus the Black Star. Are our heroes to late to stop Orcus form gaining control of the Primoridal?
When our heroes exit Death's Reach for the final time, they pass through the final gate that ushers them forward on the path to legend. If they do nothing else, they have trod where few mortals will and accomplished deeds that will live forever in the annals of Tyrrah.
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