Speaker for the Deep

Ursina pulled herself up to a sitting position and breathed deeply.  "Did we win?"

"Yes all of the creatures are gone," Gavril responded, "Do we need to heal you more?"

"No, I can take care of it myself."

With that Ursina cast a cure on herself while the others looked for magic items on what remained of the bodies.  A few weapons and armor, cloaks, and three potions of Hiding.  Not a big haul here.

After a short rest the group continued their passage to the east and finally came to the edge of the "Snarl".

Before them lay a chaotic logjam of stone skyscrapers that appeared weathered but little changed over the millennia.  Paullus sent Barnabas on a scouting mission and he returned with little help.

"The area is quite covered, there may be an entrance about 200 feet or so ahead but you have to climb up onto the rubble and proceed cautiously.  There a opening appears to enter under the buildings."

Ciprian levitated and flew up 70 feet or so to the top of a fallen tower.  Then using a set of ropes he allowed everyone to climb up and the party headed across the tower debris.  Movement was a slow go and made it to the opening Barnabas described. The Snarl’s interior was dark, and the irregular and broken surfaces create difficult terrain. With the exception of a few small branching tunnels that terminate in dead ends, the route was a twisting jumbles of low caves connected by cramped passages.

Rounding a corner Gavril almost ran into a malnourished man who was approaching.  The man appeared to be a proud Azlanti who stopped quickly on seeing Gavril.  Upon seeing Gavril he bowed deeply and said "I honor you as a child of Azlant.  Welcome to the Snarl human."

As the other party members approached he moved to Paullus, Armania, and Kaklatath bowing to each and acknowledged them as children of Azlant.  "I see some other taint in your body though," he remarked to Kaklatath.

Ciprian began to question him although Ciprian was invisible.  "I hear a voice but do not see the speaker.  I can help you even though you may not appear.  I am Aeptolinu an ancient from Azlant.  What are you after here in Neruzavin?"

"We are looking for a magical stelae," Gavril offered.

“A starmarked pillar is within the Snarl. I thought humanity wise enough not to seek Carcosa’s blessing, but they have failed before and will fail many times more.” Aeptolinu responded.

"Do you know where the Monument of Destruction is?"

"The Monument is also in the Snarl.  It is to the south of the stelae."

"Is the stelae shining with a glowing light?" Ciprian queried.

"It was once after some other human came and performed a ritual, but later the light was extinguished."

"Please describe this human," Ciprian asked.

"He was a large, broadshouldered man dressed in expensive furs."

"Did anyone call him Count Lowls?"

"Not that I heard."

"How long have you been here?"

“I have survived only because oblivion has not yet won, and in that time I have seen empires rise, only to be crushed for the hubris of aspiring to be anything more than beasts. I shall remain until humanity learns to surpass these tragedies, yet even I know how it all must end.”

Ursina was sensing that most of what Aeptolinu said was true, but there was a current of something hidden beneath his answers.  She quietly let Ciprian know her suspicions.

Looking at Ursina, Aeptolinu perceptively said  “There are neither friends nor foes here—only truths that few are strong enough to endure. I can guide you and assist.”

"How have you survived this long?" Gavril asked.

“So long as the failures of history endure, so shall I. Follow. Learn.”

"Are there others in the Snarl?" Ciprian asked.

"The Saffron Prince occupies his throne in one cavern, while Eshimal the heretic diviner hoards his treasure in another."

"Is the prince really a prince? What else does he do?"

"I believe he is what you humans call a mesmerist."

 "Can you lead us to the stelae?"

He began to lead the party deeper into the darkness, which was pushed back by Armania's light rock. As he moved along he spoke in disjointed statements about his past and the present state of Golarion. 

"I quietly encouraged the spread of many Azlanti colonies. I took considerable pride in my work and my charges’ accomplishments, but like so many Azlanti, I was blind to the aboleths’ plan to eliminate humanity. In a matter of seconds, I saw the Starstone and the accompanying meteorites crash into Golarion and wipe out all I had helped create. Dismayed, I wandered the world, hoping to find somewhere the Azlanti could rebuild. Instead I found this city, and the horrors within revealed a future of terror and despair, shattering what was left of my faith. I fear the inevitable collapse of civilization, the world, and the multiverse, but I damn the gods’ failures, reject of moral principles, and dismiss existence itself."

At times Aeptolinu is especially quiet and distant, at other times engaged and talkative. Even when energetic, his most optimistic statements conclude in nihilistic statements.

After traveling further into the claustrophobic cavern the party next came upon chipped basalt towers forming a hallway of jarring angles. Each of the dark, smoothed surfaces bears hundreds of chalky messages as if every wall, floor, and ceiling served as a blackboard.

"I have filled this hall with thousands of statements of Azlant’s lost glory and how it failed, though at times I have heard and recorded the failures of ongoing events throughout the world."

As the party made their way through the hall of messages, several of them began to see the chalky words crawl and glow.  Yelling out to the party to get out of the room, Ciprian immediately headed out followed by the rest of the party.  Unfortunately, Kaklatath was marooned on the far side of the hallway. As the party stood breathing heavily they saw some of the heinous acts they performed as slaves of Haserton Lowls flash through their minds subjecting them to a minor wave of regret and nihilistic despair.

Ciprian told Kaklatath to hold on while the party went to investigate the stelae, he didn't know how long before the Haunt would end or reset. Then the party continued on with Aeptolinu to a large area where more than a dozen immense stone towers crisscrossed messily above, forming a manner of roof for this large cavern. Broken basalt scree created a beach that sloped gently into the water to the north. A familiar nearly cylindrical pillar stood near the shore.

Gavril began to approach the stelae with Erevel and Paullus close on his heels. As they approached two shifting masses of green seaweed slouched from the lake.  They transformed from the shape of a humanoid back to a patch of algae, continually changing.

Gavril began walking toward one of the masses as Ciprian identified them as Sargassum Fiends and began a Bardic Performance.  Armania fired magic missiles at one of the fiends and then Paullus and Erevel began walking toward the other as Ursina cast invisibility on herself.

Gavril reached the creature and it seemed as though he put his hand into the seaweed and then into his pocket.  Ciprian was astounded by this action but moved to attack the other seaweed mess.  Armania kept up firing magic missiles at the monsters while Erevel and Paullus made it next to the creature but didn't attack.

"Lissa, I am sorry for telling you I was fighting for your people. Please forgive me." Paullus pleaded.

"Alora, where have you been?  I have spent years searching for you.  It is time to come home now," Erevel exclaimed.

Now Ciprian began to worry as he continued attacking the monstrous seaweed and Ursina came over to cast Bless. As Gavril continued his pantomime the mass attacked him with a slam.  The other monster moved back toward the water and Paullus and Erevel followed.  Armania kept up the magic missile attack and Ciprian stepped toward the monster to continue attacking.

Two claws appeared out of the water and grabbed Erevel and Paullus and pulled them toward the water as a lobster-like creature with a thick armored shell emerged from the water. A pair of tiny eyes gleamed above a mouth full of writhing tentacles.  Ursina, now urgent, moved to the center and cast Prayer.  Gavril and his Fiend continued to attack each other as Ciprian and Armania continued their attacks.  Erevel was transferred from a claw to a tentacle and then was nibbled on by the mandibles. Erevel and Paullus both attacked one handed and started to do damage to the lobster like enemy.

As the battle continued, Erevel escaped the tentacle grab but Paullus was then moved to the tentacles and looked paralyzed as the mandibles chewed away. Ursina moved to Erevel and cast healing on her. Ciprian and Gavril killed the seaweed masses.  Ciprian then identified the lobster creature as a chuul and changed the performance to that creature.  With all the firepower now focused on it the Chuul died before it can grab another hero but Paullus falls prone but rigid to halfway in the water.  The Chuul's body burst in a burst of spores.

During the battle, Gavril, Paullus and Ciprian had noted when they failed to hit or even sometimes when an effect was noted, they felt some entity helping them with a save or new attack.  The others noted nothing of the sort.

As the battle ended Aeptolinu approached and congratulated the humans on proving themselves of worthy of being the children of Azlant.  No magic was noted and the party looked closer at the stelae which seemed like the others but the runes were not necessarily in the same place or order as the other stelae although being of the same style and image.

 DM's Notes: The party earned 6400 XP for the night's work.