Chapter Nine: the Ragged Man (to the Temple of Kharad)

After spending a full day and two nights with Father Abstinence of the Church of Marius, the heroes set out on the final leg of the journey to find the Ragged Man. While staying at the mission a dwarf named Kettle Bricknell happened upon the group. It turns out he is also a Starborn, and he joins up with the party.

The heroes spend three days slogging through the swamp heading for the Temple of Kharad. After two days in the swamp, while Kettle is on watch, a strange scent of lilacs and roses alerts the dwarf to a strange presence. He wakes his friends and they watch a ghostly elfin lady around outside of the camp. She is non-threatening, and the heroes simply watch her as she spies on them. After about five minutes she vanishes from sight in a shower of rose petals and sweet-smelling air.

The next day the Starborn come upon the statue of the dead god. It's head makes a massive island in the water, and an uprasied arm towers into the air overhead. A cursory inspection reveals little about the statue as time and the environment have eroded the statue to the point that its features are not distinguishable.

Moving on the heroes come upon the temple in the swamp:

The trees of the surrounding swamp stop abruptly at the edge of a drop. It is a stone-lined trench or moat of some kind, surrounding a central flat region where a pyramidal structure stands. The pyramid is stepped, with a curious gleam to the top tier, as if it were made from metal instead of green-encrusted grey stones like the rest of the edifice. The water in the moat is black and has an oily gleam to it. The collapsed remains of a bridge span the moat. This seems to have been a rope bridge, but with chain links instead of ropes. Judging by the stumps of stone that jut from the edges, the chain bridge was itself a replacement for an older structure that has collapsed long ago.

After a bit of discussion about how best to cross the moat, Neil casts water walk on six of the party members who carry everyone else across the black water.

The square archway before you seems to be an obvious entrance into the temple. A single huge stone block closes it off. It is fifteen feet square, with no sign of a door anywhere. In front of this block are two small stone posts, three feet high and three feet apart. They are badly eroded but look vaguely like hunched creatures of some sort.

Neil figures out that the posts are the mechanism for opening the door. He places one hand on each post and the stone block begins to rise. As the block rises Neil can feel his strength being sucked away into the temple. After the block is about ten feet high he releases the posts and the block begins to drop again. Everyone scurries into the temple.

As the stone block drops down behind them with a resounding thud, the adventurers see that the posts for opening the temple on the inside are a shattered ruin. It looks like the Starborn may be here for a little while . . .

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