A Surprising Development

From the factories of Amber into the Volcanic Mountains, our intrepid band presses on.  Durim once again gets into the grapes, much to his woe and dismay, but the group is enlarged with 4 men-at-arms, as well as the priests Kylie VanDerWolfe and James Morrigan.  After almost three weeks of travelling through the mountains the party arrives at a set of lava tunnels - the location of another crypt like the one outside Applo, according to Tara's research.  The lava tube itself is enormous - easily 50 feet wide and almost as tall.  Several hundred feet in - thank goodness for everburning torches! - a stream trickles down the tube and out a small passage; following the stream for another half a mile the party comes to a carved tunnel in the side of the tube where the stream flows from.  Walking down the tunnel the party comes to a door, behind which is...

Several men, playing cards at a table.  They are as surprised to see the party as the party is to see them; friends are called, and a somewhat tense conversation is had, where the party reveals themselves as militia, and the men say they are in a philosophical retreat.  It seems a bit fishy in retrospect, doesn't it?  But at the time, it made some good sense, and the party was allowed to search the caves for any secret tombs, with the cave-dwellers' blessings...  at least, until a strange wall was found, with an unusual, magicked region about the size of a doorway.

"You cannot go in there", says the party's guide as he casts a spell, "We serve a higher power than you know."  AOfEk casts a spell, as does the man guiding the party around; Horace sees this as an opportunity to strike from behind at one of the sneaky guards, putting her down.  And combat is afoot!

Which, of course, our bold adventurers handily won.  The mage lay dead, as did one of the mercenary guards; the other three mercenaries, the head mercenary, two sneaky 'scouts' and the enemy priest (who invoked Ixia in his spells!) lay unconscious, or surrendered.  The three mercenaries are quite cooperative, saying what they know about the men who hired them, what the contract was for and how much it paid, and some small information about the people they shared the caves with.

The priest is awakened and questioned, and is not very forthcoming with information:  "We guard an ancient secret which must not be disturbed."  If anything, however, his words make the party even more interested in disturbing ancient secrets, and disturb them they do.  Behind the strange spot in the wall is a statue of a woman in full armor with a spear - the same kind of statue as was in the tomb outside of Applo.  A secret opening in the floor leads to a ladder down, with a strange, ancient complex of rotten and musty odors.  Many corridors are followed and doors are opened - two with wards.  The outside one reads "This is the (bedroom / resting chamber / crypt) of Aelaephixia.  Let (men / creatures) war no longer."  Some interesting and non-rotten items are found - a strange light suit of armor, a handful of gems, and a bundle of arrows - as well as a second warded door, again with runes.

Behind this door is a large chamber - over 100 feet in both directions.  In each corner of the room a pool is set into the floor - one with a roaring fire, another with a stationary dust-devil, a third with loamy compost, and the fourth a pool of serene water.  In the middle of the chamber are daises - each about eight inches high, with the middle platform a good four feet from the floor level.  On the middle platform stands another marble statue of the woman with a spear.

The woman.... changes, somehow, and becomes instead of a statue, something... alive.  Her eyes open and stare at the party, looking through them and inside their souls, smiling as she asks:

IS IT TIME?

The party is rather taken aback at this, but AOfEk has the presence to say, "Who are you?"

I AM AELAEPHIXIA, AND I... OH.  OH, I SEE.

She pauses, and again looks through the party and into the beyond.

THIS IS... FUNNY.  YOU ARE MINE (looking at the Barbarian) AND YOU, IN YOUR WAY (looking at the mage) ARE MINE, BUT YOU (looking at the rogue), WELL - AND OH!  OH, I SEE.  YES (looking at the two priests as she starts to smile.)

She smiles a horrifically and awe-producing smile at each of the party in turn, then says:

YES.  I SEE.  YOU ARE MINE, LITTLE ONES.  GO AND SPREAD THE WORD OF AELAEPHIXIA

And she vanishes from the chamber as if she were never there.  The party, stunned almost beyond belief, realizes they have been touched by a god, and have gained some abilities of the priesthood.

James sits down, stunned, and Kylie races to the middle of the platform, screaming, "NO!  NO!  NO!" at the top of her lungs, smashing her mace hard on the stones.  The rest of the party reels, watching her, as she leaps down and races into the pit of fire, burning herself quite badly.  Were it not for the quick thinking of AOfEk - who grabs the fire-proofing help from the barbarian and pulls Kylie from the fire, screaming for James to heal her - she would be lost. As it is she will have scars and burnt skin, perhaps mirroring the turmoil she feels within.

The curtains close on this act of our drama with our adventurers reeling and confused about what just happened, and how to feel about freeing a goddess and being chosen as the first members of her congregation.