May 18th, 2024

Forte, Custodia 22nd, 1194

We plan to go to the Oakfield monolith. It’s getting late, so we tree-port to Oakfield and spend the night there before heading out in the morning.

We get an room at the Shaded Bough, their largest inn towards the center of the city, and gather information about the monolith. It arrived at the same time as the others and also had a repulsion effect. A group from the Temple of Enchantment came later and quarantined it. They left a few weeks ago and now there is no repulsion effect. We didn’t hear anything about anyone going in to or out of it.

Bellum, Custodia 23rd, 1194

We enter the monolith. The floor has a mirror finish that reflects a younger version of the viewer. The ceiling is too high to see and the walls have indistinct faces, as if pressed against it. With each step we take, we hear a chime.

Ralzer hears his own voice tell him:

“I opened the gate because no one else would. What came through… was not mine to command.”

“Burn the stars. Bury the sky. Only then will the veil thin.”

“Why do they still trust me? Can’t they smell the rot on my soul?”

And other unsettling musing.

We follow the long hallway to a circular room with no floor; it has spiraling stone platforms that descend. Between the stones are semi-transparent maps of places that we do not recognize. There is an underwater city, an underground city, a star-shaped prison, and many more. The stones are within step distance, so we follow it all the way down to a dim, silent garden of strange trees.

The bark on the trees have celestial and infernal runes carved into them. Instead of fruit, all of the trees have strange liquid-filled orbs. Ishtar plucks one and receives a vision of a grey sandy area with impossible geometry on the sandstone tile floor. Graynor says that it sounds very familiar to the void realm he visited.

Sigmund plucks a fruit from a different tree and he sees a small village of people walking around in a daze. Ty tries one and sees a very large city in grayscale that is completely absent of life. The plant life hasn’t taken over, so the absence of people has not been long. There is a church of Kel’Quey present, which is unusual for the God of Travel.

Ishtar tries another fruit and gets a vision of a dungeon with a mind flayer jailer. Ishtar then bites in to one of the “fruits” and forgets why he ever became a druid.

Ralzer plucks a fruit and forgets most of his relationships outside of the party and sees a vision of an insane asylum. He then bites in to it and gets no vision.

We continue down the path to a room with a large stone heart suspended above a dark pit, rhythmically pulsing. There are large gouges in the walls, like something was trapped in here.

Ty wants to throw one of the fruits at the heart, but doesn’t think she can do it hard enough to break, so se hands it to Ishtar. When he takes it, he gets a vision of a dusty plains and a pillar of fire. He also forgets a feat that he knows. throwing it on the heart doesn’t seem to do anything.

Nothing detects as magical in here, so we move to the next room.

The next room looks like a library with floating blank books that leak dust. There are hourglasses on desks where the sand flows in reverse. Flipping one gives Ty the sensation that a recent decision in the last few hours she made has been reversed.

At the end of the hallway is a door that everyone except Ralzer is able to walk through. Graynor is able to pull him through.

The next room is like a giant void, we feel as if we are in an enclosed room, but see nothing except the door we came from and the inky stars around us. Walking farther in, we see another structure that looks like a monolith. It has an overwhelming magical aura. In front of the monolith is a crystal cradle with a root-like metal cage. Ishtar, Graynor, and Sigmund hear a strange hum while approaching it.

Within the cradle is a baby; we can’t determine it’s race or gender, nor does it detect as evil. It seems to be alive. Sigmund repositions the cradle so that the monolith doesn’t interfere; the kid and cradle are non-magical. While moving the cradle, he can hear everyone’s inner thoughts. Whenever someone looks at the child, they see a collage of their past decisions and how they could have made better choices.

Sigmund picks up the kid and Ty searches the crib. Ty gets the feeling that she can now read the Architect writing.

Ishtar examines the baby, which seems to be fine, then is able to see a light blue glowing aura on everyone. Except for Ralzer, who has a blue and red aura; the baby has no aura.

Ty goes ethereal. Nothing seems different; it looks exactly like the material plane. She can touch people, but they don’t notice. There is nothing of note about the baby.

Sigmund tries to “feed” the baby mythic energy. It tries to take more, but Sigmund denies it.

Ralzer feeds mythic energy into the mini-monolith. It tries to take more and then ejects him outside the obelisk. He then makes his way back to us.

Ralzer then gives the rest of his mythic energy to the kid and nothing happens. He now occasionally sees himself in the corner of his eye, as if nearby. Now that he can’t leave the monolith, he comes up with the idea of being smuggled out via the portable hole.

Ty takes the kid through each room in the complex. It doesn’t have a reflection in the first room and it doesn’t react to anything.

Ishtar searches each room as an air elemental. He doesn’t find anything of note, except that the final room doesn’t have a ceiling that he can approach.

Graynor holds the baby and he feels a little stronger as a paladin, but also gets the sensation of being watched.

Sigmund cast sending to the baby asking it to open it’s eyes and it’s name and gets a brief jump scare as an image of a tentacle jumps from the baby to his face. Then, it opens it’s eyes.

We leave the monolith. Once the baby is outside the monolith, the structure begins to hum.

On the way back, we find out that Ralzer has lost his memories of all people that are not us. He remembers deities, locations, and events.

Ty reads the Architect portions of her book.

Iustitia, Custodia 24th, 1194

We plan a trip to Derth, then Granyor gets a sending from Dora asking for a visit. So we first word of recall to Ironwald Downs. Ishtar will travel via plants since Luca (the baby) takes an extra spot.

Graynor and Ty visit Dora. He’s getting a promotion to Research and Acquisitions, which is a dead end job, sort of like a punishment, and is unusual for someone of his rank. This was at the request of Valiant Sharpe of Jasper. His new officer is Jarveth. Dora is apologetic regarding the situation. We then go to met Jarveth and he asks that Graynor return tomorrow for a job.

Sigmund and Ralzer go to the market to get some needed items and maybe jog Ralzer’s memory. They also get some paperwork for renovation work at Ralzer’s home.

Graynor and Ty visit Nadal at the Inevitable Order. Nadal is reasonably panicked about Luca and insists we deposit it into the containment receptacle in their basement.

We then get the rest of the party together and deposit the cradle and fruit that we took from the monolith, as well as the books that we took from another one. Ty asks Nadal about the vision she saw with the Kel’Quey temple. He doesn’t know where that would be, but suggests asking a local priest. He also suggests inquiring at the Temple of Enchantment for info on the auras that Ishtar is seeing.

The maladies afflicting Ishtar and Ralzer could be curses. It’s difficult to remove, but are eventually removed.