The evening begins with the immediate attack of the Blighted Treant. The family, having listened intently to Volt’s description of the basement, snapped into action. Emmy bolstered the family with supporting spells as silver took to the air to do the same. Dugby fired lightning and rained down spells as Tormin stood tall in front of the hulking treant and hacked away with exploding axes and a slippery lightning sword. AAA and Carlo took this opportunity to sneak to the back of the temple, and make their way to the basement.  ![[Pasted image 20260925222937.png]] Just as Volt had described, a massive rotting cursed wood sat directly under where the treant was returning fire above. The gnarled tree was covered in excess roots and blight, and housed a massive purple gem in the center that housed a large dancing purple light at it’s core. A shimmering circular field was noticed surrounding the gem, protecting it from unwelcomed outside forces. Carlo and AAA quickly noticed a faint trail of light floating through the air, that led back to 3 separate glowing glass orbs. Sensing that the orbs were supplying the barrier around the gem, Carlo shattered the first orb near AAA’s feet, and would have blasted off some toes if he had any. ![[Pasted image 20260927174939.png]] Above, the fighting half discovered that the tree was absorbing some life force from within the temple. A purple vibrating energy made its way up the roots and to the tree, allowing the treant to knit its branches and bark back together to protect the purple gooey core at its center. The massive tree cleaved with a massive stone axe on one… branch/arm, and heaved massive blight infused boulders with the other. Holy attacks burst from Emmy that carved through the treant and burned gaping wounds in the bark, causing ichor to pour from the creature. Near the middle of the fight, a chill settled on the treant… and the tide shifted in the mascari’s favor.  ![[Pasted image 20260927175403.png]] In the basement, AAA and Carlo swiftly shattered the orbs, causing the barrier around the gem to fade. As Carlo put the 3rd glass orb to rest, he heard a distinctive metal slam from behind, and turned to find AAA had blacked out. Assuming it was the gem’s doing, Carlo went to work on the tendrils of blight and tree roots suspending the gem above the blocked spring.  ![[Pasted image 20260927175636.png]] Dugby expertly deduced the tree was pulling power and life from an outside source… and with a chuckle, shut that shit down. Unable to restore it’s health, the tree’s wounds slowly took hold. Oozing black and purple sludge, the tree fought hard, but not hard enough. In the end, the tree swung relentlessly at the dancing Tormin, unable to land a blow. Running up one of the roots and jumping to a branch, Tormin leapt high into the air, and brought his sword down the trunk of the Treant, slashing through the purple mass at its center. Oddly, the family above could almost hear a sigh of relief, as the Treant disintegrated and finally laid to rest. Those above rushed around to heal wounds, and make their way to the basement to check on their allies. ![[Pasted image 20260927180234.png]] In the basement, Carlo separated the gem from the blight and roots, and smacked it away before it fell into the well. AAA was coming too at this point as the remaining party joined them. In the basement they found 2 more locked rooms. On his way down, Dugby stopped to inspect the treant corpse, finding a key, a heart, and some monster points/parts. Silver made short work of the first lock, finding a simple room belonging to the previous bishop of the temple. In his room was a single stone carved with the symbol of Eldath located in the bedside table. The second locked room proved to be more advanced, and after an initial attempt at breaking in, Carlo felt that if he failed picking the lock again, the trap that was set would go off. Carlo ignored that thought, and tried again. This almost caused the entire basement to go up in flames, until Dugby announced he had found a key and they could try that. The key slid in easily past Carlo’s tools, and inside they found a circlet of Eldath, and 40,000 gold.  ![[Pasted image 20260930103242.png]] During this time, Emmy was off pouring holy water anywhere she could, and AAA was admiring the stone work that felt… off from an architectural standpoint. And Tormin was attempting to bond with a mace.  ![[Pasted image 20260930103007.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260930103025.png]] Back in the basement, Silver noticed AAA’s attention being pulled to the wall, and with a collective effort, found a small indentation that the stone of eldath would fit nicely into.  ![[Pasted image 20260930103148.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260930103200.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260930104526.png]] A secret door opened, and moved to the side, revealing a narrow hallway with a lone mirror at it’s end. After a quick tippy tap of the reflective surface, a lone man appeared on the other side. Standing quite tall, bald, with a handsome mustache, the man greeted the party and explained that he used to talk to the bishop of this temple all the time. Unsure of when he brought it over or when he last visited, he invited the family to his castle in Greynier after a pleasant conversation about the current situation they found themselves in and how they got there.  ![[Pasted image 20260930104906.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260930105654.png]] Around this time, Emmy decided it would be most beneficial to add the Water of Eldath to the well in the basement. At first, not a single noise could be heard. Water would naturally gravitate to the walls due to the natural static in the air, but even still she couldn’t hear the water poured connecting with the walls or the bottom of this pitch black abyss.  At this time, Carlo also took the Mace of Bael, and had it interact with the glowing purple gemstone. The purple glow left the gem, and moved into the mace, joining the blue glowing light in the glass case of the mace. She began making her way back to the group, when she heard the dripping of water come from behind her… then a steady increase, then a rush… Then a geyser of water erupted from the well, clearing the first floor where the Treant had grown through the first floor to the basement. As the water continuously spouted, in the center of the torrent, a form began to take shape. A beautiful curved woman took form with luscious green vines providing her… “coverage”.  Eldath… the goddess of rivers, peace, nature, springs, and healing… made an appearance in front of them. Grateful to the family for clearing the blight that had wrecked the jungle of Miraneen for decades, Eldath gave what she could to the party. She explained the world of God’s and Devil’s have balance. Any intervention by a higher diety or devil will be met in kind by the opposing force. The forces of evil that plagued this land and planted their seed was their intervention, and Eldath’s would be rewarding those who aided in cleansing that blight.  ![[Pasted image 20260930110347.png]] Eldath noticed Carlo trying to catch some of the water falling from her in an attempt to collect the blessing of a God. Chuckling at his attempts to catch every drop falling from her, instead she gifted him a vial of Blessed Lactation to aid him in his potion making.  After this, she turned to her loyal devotee… cupped his ragged and scarred face in her hands. He could feel the opposing force inside him struggling and fighting, a headache like no other raged on until he could feel her hands encase the sides of his head… for a moment… Tormin experienced true peace… ![[Pasted image 20260930112556.png]] And then felt the worst wet-willy of his life, which was followed immediately again by peace as he realized the water wasn’t flowing into his ear canal like it felt, but felt instead it was Eldath entering his soul. He found himself looking at a beautiful river/jungle scene with a dark outline of a man holding himself up with a cane. The shadow insisted he wasn’t leaving… just moving to the back of Tormin's mind… Tormin laughed… and challenged “Alabaster” saying that he will see him again. One final snicker… and one final question hung in the air. “Is that who you see? Interesting” as the figure was pulled into the river that Tormin stood tall in.  ![[Pasted image 20260930113902.png]] Eldath had one final gift, and one final answer. She gave the group a boon that would add 1D12 holy damage for the following week. And as she was flushing herself down the well, Emmy asked one last question about the mirror. Eldath states the Mirror was moved in by the opposing forces as the temple was being overtaken. Men in robes followed a man best described as overflowing with evil, and as the mirror was set into the stone and sealed away, her connection was lost to this Temple and this part of the world.  With this new information, Tormin charged into the sealed room, and destroyed the mirror, taking a few of the shards with him so that it may not reform… A lingering laugh sounded as the room sealed shut for the final time.  ![[Pasted image 20260930111829.png]] After cleaning up at the temple the family made their way down the slopes and to the east to search for the Rose sisters. After an hour or two of searching, the family discovered a cave with thorned vines emerging from the entrance. Inside were two very enthusiastic plant humanoids with a taste for blood… apparently any blood. As the family talked their way into exchanging a few local wildlife for a single harvest from one of the sisters' filaments. The mascaris were able to hunt down a large elk or something, and while the sisters feasted, Carlo cut free 1 portion of the necessary ingredient, and the family made their way back to the newly freed city.  ![[Pasted image 20260930111521.png]] The blight had mostly evaporated as the source of the blight was destroyed. A faint purple fog hugged the land, and would continue to do so until the blight was eradicated, and a nice breeze would carry the remnants off across the ocean.  At this time, the Mascari family will stop for the night. Carlo will head for Terry's old alchemy spot and gather the rare ingredients there. Leaving two Temples to either be explored or left for now and the family will head back to Jungen.  The family gained 6895 experience for the previous session and this one.