Last but certainly not least is SITHRAK

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YAOLNAIGH in his tomb

After the spider battles, the party continues on.  The find the traditional worker live/work spaces, and then enter a room with statues, representing the 'gods'.  Oh, I'm sorry - the 'GODS'.  It's pretty freaky and repetative - they go through a series of similar but not quite identical rooms, which is spooky and off-putting.  Finding their way free of that they start hearing chanting / singing, and come to a cavern with a statue of an old, robed/bearded man in the middle, and floating mouths/eyes/ears.  It is a fight, with biting and gaze attacks - again, the fight with organs is spooky and off-putting.  The party approaches the statue of YAOLNAIGH, who starts to change and transform - AofEk leaps forward with his Jovanspike and stabs YAOLNAIGH in the forehead.  The GOD laughs, and transforms into cockroaches and centipedes and other creepycrawlies - and again, uugh.

The party leaves, with the cultist priests bleeding from the eyes behind them.  And then back to Joven to check in with Salamancar.  There are more refugees; chit chit and helping and drinking, but mostly there's nothing new to be heard in Joven.  So the party leaves for the fourth tomb!

Some information about the Elves

From traveling and conversing with the Elves for a month or so, the following information was gathered:

• The Elf Lands, in area, are a little smaller (maybe two-thirds) than the human lands.  Maybe.  The lands are a rough circle, and it generally takes 20 days (or so) to ride a horse from one end of the Elf Lands to the other.
• However, there is a faster means of transport - each main Elf city has a device which transport between the city in question, and the Capitol.  These devices are called 'the device'.
• The Elf Capitol is called Trademeet.  Eight other cities have devices to teleport between the Capitol and that city.
• The devices have been around since the start of Elven history, which goes back 4500 years.
• The Elves originated when the gods were bored, and desired beings to dance and make their lives less tedious with love and artistic endeavors.
• The terrain of the Elflands is much less variable than the human territory - lots of plains broken up by forests, with rivers and the occasional hill.
• There are a few mines - but not as much industry as in the Empire.  Most of the ore dug is of higher quality than the human mines, but MUCH less of it is accessed.
• Elves live about twice as long as people do, with 300 being possible but quite rare.
• The Elven government is more along family/tribal lines; occasionally large groups will gather to talk about large projects (like constructing roads, or trade regulations).  There is a High Council with representatives of each family group meeting once every year, too.
• Families are organized by female lines; a male Elf will marry into a family, giving up the family of his birth.  The opposite happens, too - but rarely.  Family leadership is generally by age, ability, and will; women slightly outnumber men in government/leadership positions.
• The leader of the High Council is Glindea Au'Rean; she's held the position for 24 years.  The First is chosen by the Council when the previous first is ready to leave (or, rarely, is impeached); Glindea is a fairly popular First, though, and generally goes along with the High Council's decisions.
• Justice seems to be meted out at the individual level, when appropriate; for the most part restitution and rehabilitation is applied except for horrific crimes, or the insane.
• The elves don't breed as quickly as people; family sizes of three are uncommon, four are rare, and more than four children in a family is almost unheard of.
• If you had to guess, you'd think there were about a tenth as many elves as humans.
• Technologically they seem about as advanced as humans - their weapons are similar to human weapons, but with each element of design seems built with an eye to aesthetic appeal as much as functionality.
• The Elf Gods are as follows:
• Tir'Na Niogh; Goddess of Family, Organization, and Magic (NG)
• Allundrielle: Goddess of Nature, Moon, Poetry, Beauty, and Wine (CG)
• Zhen: God of Wisdom, Language, Mysteries, and Exposing the Unseen (LG)
• The Elves also honored JOVAN until quite recently.  Another God - KinThia Marquille - is seen as a trickster god - like Coyote in certain Native American pantheons.  Maybe KinThia might best be described as a demi-god; her alignment is CN but with good tendencies.
• The High Priest of the Elves is (was?) Gorioh Moliere; he was fairly old and feeble when the Elves you met left the Elf Lands, though.  Elven priests exist outside - or maybe parallel to - the general Elf governance.  Gorioh could cast 4th circle spells.
• The Elves don't, in general, dedicate themselves to one god or another - the priests honor and give each god their due, as appropriate.
• Elf wizardy is seen as a skill, like metallurgy or singing, which anyone with the will and time can learn (but few can master).  Magic training is informal and fairly well-distributed; sharing spells and even trading spell-books are common.  There are stories of casters who could cast 5th circle spells, but none widely known to currently exist - a few can cast 4th circle spells; almost every family has at least one person who can cast 2nd circle.

The Human Gods (revised) and the party

JOVAN was the human God.  As a monotheistic faith, JOVAN was dominant in all spheres of influence, touched everything the humans did, and granted spells to the faithful; under HIS influence the Church of JOVAN came to have great influence over the human Empire's development.  JOVAN was, in a traditional alignment scheme, NG.

JOVAN is now dead.  HE has one priest left, a scattered few relics, and some Paladins who still pay HIM some sort of regards.  In HIS wake are the new human gods:

• AELAEPHIXIA is generally represented as a tall woman wearing full armor and holding a spear.  SHE is generally associated with war, battle, the moon, courage, and strength; SHE is Lawful Evil.

• ASHELOIATAUR wears a faceless and formless-but-well-formed humanoid shape when appearing.  HE is associated with faceless masses, anonymity, magic, and the hidden/unseen.  HE is CN.

• YAOLNAIGH is a wizened old man with a beard and a smile that appears variously congenial and insane.  HE is associated with madness, mysteries, mortality, and penance; HE is CE.

• SITHRAK is a strange, somewhat bestial humanoid, with stringy patches of hair and an extra joint is HIS arms and legs.  HIS influence is that of control (especially over monsters and other humans) and slavery, trickery, and the night.  HE is NE.

Most of the worshipers of the above Gods are insane, by any regards.  It is a dark time for the human Empire!

Currently, the party casts as equivalent as 2nd level priests.  They have each chosen two domains, with the abilities of each domain and one 1st level domain spell per day; they can each cast a 1st level cleric spell and 2 0th level spells each day, too.  If anyone takes a level in any divine-casting class these spells are in addition to any of those spells; and the effective caster level for any cleric spells or abilities will be increased by two.

Freeing JOVAN also gave the party a permanent +1 to all saves as JOVAN's boon.

The spells and powers the party has do not come from any particular deity, and no powers need be invoked to use them.  Starting at 3rd circle, these and more powerful spells must come (at least in part) from a deity's beneficence.