Spices and Things Half Sundered
27st of Rova 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
"This talisman is a danger and it will remain one as long as it is whole. Better to break it now than take counsel of our fears and let it fester like a splinter in the wound." You speak the words without much fire, but then neither the priests and certainly not Mina are sure what to do, weighing abstract danger against the long term dangers of inaction and the chance of finding more answers about those ancient cults of unlife against the danger that the tainted thyrlien might snare more dreamers to its call.
"I think our friend of the road speaks true," the Loreseeker says solemnly. "We cannot see all ends, but this is a wicked thing and one which will bring danger upon any temple, perhaps even any city in which it is held. Gebbtes, servants of accursed gods, madmen who follow the Whispering Way, all would have an unwholesome interest in this ring should we shirk our duty to them and to the gods. I pray that in this the spirit of the tormented one is freed, but it is not for mortal men to act only when they are sure of the path ahead else they would stay rooted to the ground like rocks and trees."
"The Whispering Way?" Mina asks eyes widening in alarm. "That's... something people do, something they
still do?"
"Alas, yes," Jaes sighs. "Tar Baphon's apprentices and lieutenants wrote countless blasphemous texts glorifying and recounting his foul deeds, and even should all of them be put to flame it will still fester among the blackest dreams in the hearts of men while the memory of the tyrant's foul triumphs endure."
"But we have to remember him," your friend counters. "Remember that he is bound that we might keep him so."
"Therein lies one of the greatest conundrums of our order," Kastor Tuvius interjects. "And with that I find myself convinced. Augustana does not need its own bound horror beneath its bustling streets, not while we can avoid it." So resolved he insists that it should be the power of the Lady of Graves to sunder the soul cage, here in a place that is consecrated to her Great Charge to all the world.
A Decision is Reached (Escort, Keep, Destroy, Destroy): 1d4 = 4 (Destroy)
You and Mina are thus given leave to wander about the public areas of the temple, from the small garden at the back filled with prickly sharp scented herbs that send you sneezing, to the small ward used by midwives when they feel they have need of the intercession of Pharasma to help a child enter the world hale and healthy, to the small library, carrying an assortment of neat leather bound books. Mina runs her fingers over the spines until she pulls out one with some kind of long red fruit crossed with a flaming meat skewer.
"
Spicy Oparan Delights," she reads. "Why's a
cookbook here?"
"Shouldn't it be?" you ask, confused. That seems a reasonable thing to put down on parchment as any other, especially after evening's meals at the
Minotaur's Horn. If you never see another soggy cabbage it would be too soon.
"Brothers and Sisters of Pharasma are meant to live simple lives, accepting life's pains that it may give weight to their souls before Her Judgement, at least that is what I thought..."
An acolyte perhaps five years older than you, as Burnlanders count their years, clears her throat. "Ah, you must be used to the Penitence then. I have to warn you it is a bit controversial in these parts, seen as myopic and overly morbid when the domain of the Lady is birth and death in equal measure. The way I had it explained to me is that while comfort for the dying and the bereaved is an acute need for most of us throughout our lives, 't is wiser to dwell upon the budding of the poppy flower rather than its wilting. Wisest of all perhaps to live in the moment, but we are all a bit odd to choose this calling, eh?" She smiles a little too brightly, as one who is shy and trying not to show it. "My name's Altea by the way, Altea Morgys..." She affixes a lock of coppery hair behind her ear. "Are you
adventurers?"
"I guess we are..." Mina trails off. "Sorry, it's just hard to think of that word outside of Pathfinder Journals about dashing gentlemen rogues."
"Easy test, were you ever 'down a hole and out of rope'?" Altea asks eagerly as she turns to you, bright green eyes narrowing a little to see you in the shadow you'd staked out.
The last part is clearly a quote, but you choose to take it literally. "No, we packed rope."
"
Ooh, you know what I mean," she grumbles looking you up and down.
Wait... is she flirting with you?
Akorian Sense Motive (DC 16): 1d20+11 = 18 (Success)
What are are you supposed to do? To say? Probably not vanish from sight, no matter how strong the urge might be. "Well, we did have to
use rope quite a lot," you finally settle on. "There are a lot of treacherous passages out there in the world."
"Huh, funny, that's the second time this week someone said those words to me in that context, though I'd guess you'd know more about this than Lynea Vaylyn, no matter who her family is. She's only been to
Oregent." For once it is your turn to listen rather than speak, learning of the history of the aforementioned town and the Darkmoon Vale whose southern border it lies upon, a fey-haunted land under the shadowy boughs of hateful trees where the darkness is dangerous, but not near so much as the light of the full moon.
Werewolves, you conclude,
are another reason in a very long list to live out of sight of the sky.
As you leave Mina whispers: "Did you hear that name?"
"Which name?" you ask, startled from new and bewildering thoughts.
"Lynea Vaylyn, that is one of the people Ergriso's shade implicated in the conspiracy. I wonder what she needed a Pharasman for? It couldn't have been to put the ward on the tomb, she did not look skilled enough for that, and in any case the church would have tried an exorcism before just sealing the poor spirit in there, which could have revealed the conspiracy. I do not care how different they are in other regards, if they are not outright heretics they would work to right the balance, not just sweep a lost soul out of sight."
"Right... the conspiracy," you force your mind on a new track.
"You know..." Mina's voice turns sly, though her cheeks also heat up a bit though the glamor. "I don't think Acolytes of Pharasma take oaths of celibacy."
"We are not talking about this," you declare loftily and quicken your pace.
***
The priest had laid down the ring upon the table where the bowl of water had been and over it he begins to chant prayers in a tongue at times soft flowing and at others sharp edged like a storm cut with lightning. Five times he stretches out his hand and five times a beam of colorless light, not white, not grey, but
void springs from his fingers. The metal frays like fungus wood infested with parasites, it splinters like bone under blows. It does
not break.
Eroding Ray Damage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (34 Damage Dealt -> Phylactery at 4/40)
Spellcraft (Akorian, Mina DC 17): 12, 21 (Failure, Success)
"Pharasma give me strength, give me the will to fulfill your Great Charge," High Priest Tuvius grips the table gasping. Again he speaks the words, but they are just words now the ancient ring indisputably whole. "That is all I can do until the morrow."
For a moment no one speaks, then High Loreseeker Jaes turns her head upwards, to the face of the unseen sun, still climbing into the heavens. "Hard will be the night and the morning's finding. In dreams as in the waking world it will come, whether it be cast adrift or unmake the nightmare a messenger will come."
Mina opens her mouth to offer help, then glances back towards you, looking guilty of all things. All this time and effort to deliver the ring only to now have to fight once again.
"It
will just keep trying to kill us." You remind her. "If anything at least now it's going to have to do it on our terms where earth and stone rebuke it."
"If you remain to protect the temple tonight I will of course see to is that you are properly reimbursed. The Church of Pharasma may not have the reputation of being as exacting as that of Abadar, but we pay our debts on both sides of the blade."
That reminds you of something, there are other magicians in the city, other priests. Surely one of them could pray for the proper incantation to finish what Tuvius had started. "Can's we pay for a priest under the Key to come here?"
"What was begun in Her name must be ended in Her name." the old priest shakes his head wearily. "It is not just a matter of speaking the words and breaking the soul cage. There is
one-in-waiting to hopefully catch the soul when it flies, but only if is done by the power of the Lady of Graves and none of the acolytes here at the temple have the power."
As your mind goes back to the acolyte you had spoken to in the sun streaked library you know that you'd fight this battle even without pay, not that you are about to say so. Gorok and Cob will come that much you know for certain, and you suspect that even Sirim would be willing to help if you are willing to vouch for him.
What preparations do you make for the night ahead?
[] Bring the trio of iruxi warriors
[] Vouch for Sirim
[] Do some last minute shopping for weapons against the undead and wards against their power
-[] Write in what you would like to buy
[] Write in
Additionally Akorian is not the only one to learn some things over the last few days. What has Cob learned?
[] Write in Cob level up
OOC: Edits done 
