December 23, 2023

Hook

Funeral Rains: Red (Vervand, Cahyali)

Plot Synopsis

Party arrives at a lake east of Maendour. Tents and research stations have been set up around said lake. Someone will come greet the party and explain a little more about what’s going on. This prompted investigations and they found ruins within the lake. They don’t know what secrets the ruins may hold so they asked for an adventuring party to help explore it. The party will go down first and a couple of researchers will follow later to see how things are going. The CVC will be providing these flowers (Blodyr Flower) which aids in underwater travel.
As they descend deeper into the water they watch as various kinds of fish swim past you. As they keep going they soon feel the weight of the water above them pressing down, though the flowers seem to be doing their job relatively well. So down they go, 100 feet… 200 feet… 400 feet… They approximate they’re somewhere between 600 to 700 feet below the surface, where the light has begun to fade and the darkness of the lake rises towards them, when they notice something coming from the dark, a small pulsing white light. As they move towards it you can tell that it’s a spire with a rounded, dome-like top that extends up to a point. Below that is an empty space where columns connected the lower and upper parts. It appears to be a watch tower of sorts. Then they see that traveling from the peak of the spire down to just below the opening strings flow off of the tower, giving off the look of a jellyfish. Then looking off in the distance they can see more of the pulsating white lights. (9 in total including this one.)
Descending further the entire complex comes into view. The 9 spires connect to the base of a three tiered conical structure with a slope cutting into one part of it, parting around something and then continuing to the third tier. Looking at the walls they appear to be lined with terisium. At the third tier where the slope ends is an indentation in the stone upon which there is text in another languages. (Arcadian) This text is the poem that was posted in the listing. At the second tier there’s a single word above a similar indentation. “Glafynol” which roughly translates to Liminal Rain. Below that is a symbol. [Party used the strings to make the symbol on the spires.] After they do the spires will pulse with their light which will dissipate down the strings, meeting at the center of each string, then the light falls from the string onto the building and everything goes dark, aside from the light from the flowers and a soft glow at the entrance which disappears as party opens the door.
The second tier entrance is now open and going inside the place is completely dark. If able to look around they will see that the room is covered in stained glass murals. Many depict these tall figures, many of which seem to have a sort of aura about them. Additionally every mural has these markings that look like scribbles across them. (This is musical notation from ancient Vervand)

To the left and right are 2 murals bigger than the rest. To the right, one mural shows one of the beings, much of their upper body is covered by a poncho, but from what you can see, they have vivid blue skin that turns darker near their hands. Their skin also appears to open up wider from their wrist than a normal person, but you can’t see the rest as it moves into the poncho. Their hair is a dark blueish purple at the roots but transitions to a white near the ends, most of it tied behind them but to tendrils framing their smiling face. The mural depicts them rising from the sea to meet a group consisting of both elves and humanoids. The mural is labeled “The Arrival of the Daliad”. Looking around this figure seems to appear in more of the murals.

On the left. In the mural it is night time and the Lan-Diom can be seen in the night sky. Also in the sky are these long shapes that move across the sky in fluid motions. Looking down you can see a few descending and finally you see a red one, and you can clearly see that it’s a dragon similar to the one found on Vervand’s flag. It flies just above the ground, a field of flowers that lead into the seaside where the tall beings are talking, dancing, and all together having fun with the elves and humans. This mural also has the scribbled markings. Beneath the mural is an etching that says “The Meeting of Song and Dance” in Arcadian, Draconic, and Geleian.

Then finally at the back is the largest mural of them all, likely consisting of thousands of pieces of stained glass. In it you can see an army staged at the seaside carrying banners with a lion on them (Shinneok) and in front of them an armored figure stands with sword outstretched blood on the end. Beneath these soldiers and beneath the sea several outstretched hands rise up to grasp at them with one at the forefront, a dark blue hand. Though this hand is not reaching to grasp it goes farther. Following the path of the hand it extends towards a group behind the army, people who in anger and in grief push at the soldiers, many reaching out past, towards the hand reaching for them. The mural is labeled “The First Rain.”

The only light in the room is a white light at the ceiling near the back. While the ceiling of the room is smooth it has crevices in it that branch out across the room before coming to the 3 murals. All of these lines seem to originate from the light. As they study this and clear it out there’s a skittering as these small insectoid creatures float down from the crevices filling the area. The crevices were cleared out and the light has spread through them. Powering the murals will cause them to glow with new light. In the arrival the sea gets a small glow and the front figure gets some light from under their poncho and in their hair. In the meeting the night sky illuminates as the beauty of the Lan-Diom can be seen. The flowers in the field also start to glow. The murals shimmer in this new light and then the ground opens up. Descending into the third tier they see more lights on the ground, 4 to be exact (arranged with 3 in a triangle and one to the upper right. Something near imperceptible is in this room, a serpent coiled around the room, 2 smaller ones with it as well.

After killing the mama serpent part takes the other 2 with them as well as an egg. Additionally the mural at the back is now powered from both ends. Powering this mural from one side causeed it to shift. Clouds form at the top and the soldiers and people are in all out battle now. Meanwhile the hands from the sea reach out and grasp the soldiers though only 2 people seem to be paying them any mind. The first is the commander who slashes at them, his blade carving its way into the hands and the second is an elf from the crowd who reaches out to the leading blue hand, the two almost touching.
Powering it from both sides causes it to shift again as crimson rain covers the mural and the soldiers are lost to the sea while the crowd lay on the ground. Two figures stand facing each other in the rain. The first, his back to the sea is the commander, the red rain washing away the blood on his blade, his own colors washed out by the darkened sky, as if to mock him. The second is the man who was reaching out for the hand. He now stands his determination now, much like his arm, pointed at the commander, a blue glow around it. The two stand alone immortalized in this image as you notice the lines in the ceiling grow in luminosity. You can now see clearly that their paths trace a magic circle into the ceiling, but before you get a chance to study them the lights flash black, then purple, the yellow, and finally red as the ceiling shimmers and fades away, replaced with a light coming in as if through the surface of a body of water.

As they move into the light they come up at the surface of the lake, but the tents are gone, in fact it doesn’t look as if anyone’s around.

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