The family Mascari continues their way down the temple corridors to the second floor. Emerging into the second room they find themselves looking at an incredibly well built and fun puzzle. ![[C2E8A7B2-FDD5-463E-9815-82F877929D77.png]] The puzzle was so elegant and beautiful, AAA’s head got blown backwards. The cube held 4 entrances on the first floor, with exits on the floors above. The family quickly figured out they needed to enter an entrance on the first floor, then exit one of similar color. Though it took some time, the team made short work of this, leaving the second floor with a ring, some gold, and an orb depicting the image of [[Lilith]]. ![[Pasted image 20261018095031.png]] Upon completing the puzzle, the door to the 3rd floor opens, and the family again decends into the darkness. Although not completely dark, due to the sconces. They make their way through the twists and turns in the temple as things start to feel… off. It gets darker… the lights dimmed, not due to lack of sconce, but as if the sconce are being affected by a sconce dimming darkness. The hall opens to a small room that contains two matters of importance. ![[Pasted image 20261018095656.png]] A golden stature of [[Lilith]] , and a purple garbed figure with his familiar mask pulled to the side revealing a sultry chocolate man. As his velvety southern creole chuckle fills the room, the family recognizes [[Sebastian “bones” LaBeaux]] as he stands at a table, shuffling his cards with a joyful smile on his face. Sebastian greets the team, and offers the newcomer Silvertongue a tarot reading, to better get to know the small dwarf. ![[Pasted image 20261018101218.png]] Unfortunately, Silver has forgetten his past as much as Dugby, so the tarot falls short of having any emotional impact. Even his long lost love Willow and the man who saved him during his never ending fall escaped his mind. Disappointed, Sebastian engages the rest of the group and offers his services… in exchange for a game of chance. The crew wanted information, which Sebastian informs the family that knowledge is the most powerful asset one can have. With the correct information, one can control kings, tame volcanos, craft miracle potions or divine items… but Carlo wasn’t buying what Sebastian was selling. ![[Pasted image 20261018102523.png]] But Dugby was. ![[Pasted image 20261018103559.png]] Instantly rushing up, Dugby is looking for the whereabouts of mother’s soul. “Ahhh an excellent piece of information, and what are you willing to wager? Some gold, a relic, a tugger behind that pillar-“ “My soul!” Dugby exclaims… “An expensive wager indeed…” Sebastian begins to shuffle, a simple game… draw a higher card than the dealer, and you get the information you seek. Carlo with his quick wit, insists Dugby’s wager is higher than the offering, and asks for a 2:1… to which Sebastian agree’s. The seven of clubs is Dugby’s first card, right in the middle… leaves plenty of room for Sebastian to draw lower, except Sebastian draws an Ace, which is always high in this world. Unbelievable… did he cheat? Did anyone watch the dealers hands?… Unsure, Dugby demands his second card… the Queen of Spades is flipped… and with that… Sebastian reaches forward, grabs onto Feathers, and begins to infuse the African grey parrot with his own energy. The group watches on as the parrot changes from his usual grey… to a deep violet and crimson color. After which, the parrot is handed back to Dugby. ![[Pasted image 20261018111006.png]] Sebastian spreads his arms out, offering anyone else to approach and ask for assistance…. But none step forward. With that, he begins to dissipate into his familiar purple haze, and vanishes from the temple. His last words to the group come as his body fades. “Seeing as i do be feeling bad, I’ll tell you this. Your mother is closer dan you tink… She’s just feelin’ a bit blue.” Wanting to move on from this, the group closely inspects the busty statue behind them. Silver, trying to potentially distract the group, throws his hammer in the hand of the statue. As he does, it’s fingers twitch… ever so slightly. Which is the least concerning thing about it, as Silver feels himself drawn to the statue. An erection develops, everyone in the room is appalled … or aroused it was tough to read the room. The family concludes that any image or depiction of Lilith awakens a lust in them that is incredibly difficult to resist. ![[Pasted image 20261018111527.png]] Having felt the statues hand for himself, Silver concludes the hand is more fit for an orb than a rod. Pulling the orb from the previous chamber, he rests the orb in the hand, and a vertical slit opens between the statues legs, revealing a 3 headed statue, similar to the one they found in the Pyramid temple. Finding everything needed in this room, the family Mascari drop down further into the temple, into the final chambers. ![[Pasted image 20261018111559.png]] Arriving on the final floor, the family finds the wendigo that had defeated outside, being reconstructed around a large purple gem. Being held aloft by chains that it’s using as support (NOT RESTRAINED) the wendigo looked on in dismay as the family entered. Unmoving, the creature watched on as the family inspected the room. They were in a large chamber with pillars and flowing water on the sides. TO the rear of the chamber lies a door they find all to familiar. With symbols carved into the gold and jade, the door’s runes were exactly the same as the runes at the pyramid…. This time, the family was not going to contents behind the door to be discovered by someone else. ![[Pasted image 20261018113125.png]] Sneaking to the left, Silvertongue made his way to the door. To the right, Carlo moved with shadow to distract the Wendigo as Silvertongue used mage hand to levitate the skull headed key to the door. As soon as the temple doors began to open… The Wendigo released the supporting chains… and all hell breaks loose. ![[Pasted image 20261018114156.png]] Silver takes to the sky and blasts down with eldrich blast. Carlo summons his shadow echo, and fires bolts in-between slashes to bring the beast down. AAA hammers at the Wendigo with its fist while showering it in a cone of holy light; all the while Dugby slings spells left and right. All appeared to be going well, until a horde of skeletons sprang forth with 3 banshees, adding a new layer of chaos to the mix. ![[Pasted image 20261018115557.png]] Immediately, the skeletons swarmed over Dugby and Carlo; to which Carlo immediately swapped his echo to safety. Dugby unfortunately did not have this luxury, as he summoned to the wounds he’s gathered during this temple, and collapsed by the entrance. Having seen his fellow Phoenix 5 member fall, Silver polymorphs with his cloak into a bat, and soars to the aid of his ally. AAA takes heavy damage as well, and all is bleak… especially when the Wendigo latches on to Carlo, and hoist’s him aloft in an attempt to bite into his neck, and remove his carotid arteries in a single bite. Just as the bite was about to come down, the beast grappled Carlo a little too tight, and the spikes of his armor pierced the gem that had spiderwebbed during the fight… destroying the Gem. The room, after the gem implodes in a wave of purple mist, falls into a deep silence. The family can hear the soft chirps of a bird, and look over to realize Dugby still isn’t moving. Feathers, clearly in distress, attempts to do what he has done so many times before but is unable to heal his friend. ![[Pasted image 20261018122154.png]] Soaring In with his cloak, Silvertongue lands and immediately casts a spell to heal his downed friend. In true Silver fashion, he had forgot that his friend was undead, and that healing spells damaged him further. ![[Pasted image 20261018122856.png]] The panic lasted approximately 4 seconds, as he was reminded to just deliver some aid, and stabilize Dugby. After a few bandages and a minute to recover, the family was ready to enter the secret ritual chamber ![[Pasted image 20261018123005.png]] Inside, they discovered… well they don’t quite know what it is yet. A ritual circle unlike any they had ever seen was carved into a massive stone slab in the center of this room depicting the final moments of Lilith. Next to the slab, a table stood on a pedestal, and at the top… read “Ritual of Soul Transmutation” they immediately began making etchings on paper and drawing into notepads to get the entirety of the spell written down and in their possession. Realizing they had little time left, the Family quickly teleported out of the room, leaving the secret door open to air the place out a bit. They family ended their day teleporting into the abode they had been gifted in Jungen. They will take the evening to rest, and awake to plan their next moves. The present party gains 8,650 xp.