The 25th of Darkel
After resting overnight in the now-hallowed chamber of the Betrayed, Jeremi prays to �ton and, with his blessing and guidance, is able to read the passages in the book recovered from the Chamber of Swords. Although most of the book is nonsense, one passage is circled. It reads:
And thus Danar said to the knight, Gerrante, �Go forth and find the guardian seraph who holds the sword of flame.� To do so, Gerrante had to travel through strange lands where he met the Lillend. She sang a beautiful song and introduced her companion, Thruun, the peaceful one. But the song delayed him, and R�goraxx the half-dragon attacked Pharnaith as she collected her lovely jewels. It was Bastion, the four-winged angel of the morning, who saved them all in the end.
Someone has scribbled the word �Maliforte� in the margin, and drawn a line from that word to the reference to the four-winged angel in the passage.
Cirend astutely notes that the passage refers to eight characters, and that the Company had found eight moveable statues � many that seem to correspond with the characters from the passage � in the chamber containing the pulsing wall of magical color. Cirend hypothesizes that the statues might need to be moved in the order in which they are mentioned in the passage, which could possibly remove the chamber�s barrier wall.
The Company returns to the chamber with the prismatic wall, but it is not empty. Two men stand there, dressed in the garb of Hallowed Tolnan, the Patron of Healing and Family, looking battered and weary. Jeremi instantly recognizes them as fellow servants of �ton, and notes that they match the description of the group of holy warriors that High Priestess Mara had sent down to the Vault to retrieve the Sword of Lies. When Jeremi questions them, they seem intent on having the Company lead them out of the Vault. Sebastian spots that one of them bears a bone ring, and, despite Jeremi�s order � as a member of the Illumination � to show Jeremi the ring, the two men refuse. Jeremi and the Company suspect that the two men are not what they seem. Once again, Jeremi is disillusioned to find more evil, deceitful creatures masquerading as members of the �tonist church.
At that instant, one of the men explodes in size before them into a giant, and the temperature around him drops precipitously. The other man steps back and begins calling upon the arcane arts. The Company attacks. Cirend, Si�lara, Logan, Avi and Sebastian quickly surround the giant. As they battle the giant, Sebastian freezes in place, drops his rapier and, without warning, drops to the ground, dead. Horrified by the mysterious death of their companion, the Company fights with renewed vigor, and eventually takes down the giant. Once slain, he reverts to a steaming pile of ooze. Si�Lara, in bear form, grapples the spell caster, pulls him to the ground, and ultimately rips out his throat. The Company finds, among other things, a bone ring on the spellcaster�s hand.
The Company turns to Sebastian, forlorn at his passing. Jeremi kneels down beside him, calling upon �ton to breathe life into his long-time companion. But, Sebastian does not rise. Jeremi finishes his benediction, and the Company tends to Sebastian�s lifeless body and begin to contemplate their next move. Thus far, the Banevault has claimed the life of two members of the Company: the religious rogue, Rafe, and now the disguised half-elf scout, Sebastian. Who will be next?
The Company returned to the chamber with the prismatic wall of colors, where Sebastian had fallen, and surveyed the eight stone statues in the alcoves. Jeremi pulled out the book the Company had recovered from the disintegrated backpack strung on the skeleton in the Chamber of Swords. Cirend and Si�Lara matched the descriptions in the passage with the various statues. One by one, Cirend and Jeremi pushed the statues from one position to the other � first the robed man, then the knight, the angel with the flaming sword, the woman with wings and tail, the pensive ogre, the half-dragon man, the woman in robes and lastly the four-winged angel.
