Adventures in the water temple continue. Castiel, with his new found plate armor of can-talk-to-fish, meets an octopus, formerly worshiped, who claims to be a god and demands that Castiel release the fish he has captured. Fish turn out to be pretty preachy on the subject of natural freedoms and the party kills the god octopus.
Frederick, the new cleric, sound bursts some eels and inadvertently a kingdom of fish in a coral reef, Castiel has to listen to the widespread lamentations. Frederick realizes his relative might and moves on to another reef, kills another mob of fish, and then casts the lifeless husk of their octopus god upon the floor. There is mass fish suicide and Frederick gains a small following of fish who worship him as a bringer of the end times.
They proceed onward, get a couple more magical goodies and find an exit. As they are about to exit the range of the air/water reversal, Frederick takes the leader of his fish cult into a bag, the others hail this fish as the chosen one. The adventurers, unable to take their zombified sharks, are forced to leave behind a large and valuable gold gem-encrusted turtle shell.
They proceed into the Well of Vessa.
Level 1 They meet a guide and, since she doesn't seem evil and offers to lead them through a labyrinth, prudently decide not to kill her. She leads them to the entrance into the next level and is promptly killed by a giant onyx scorpion, which flees with her.
Level 2 They appear in a mead hall with all their hobbit friends, their guide, and all their old adventuring buddies who died. All this in the realized hobbit kingdom they have so long aspired to create. Frederick is unnerved and goes on a killing spree, eventually killing the guide and shattering the idyllic world.
Level 3 A sequence of horrific monsters. The last is a basilisk, which petrifies Frederick from the neck down (84%). The group mixes some magical ingredients until on try #3 they manage (a one-in-one-hundred chance, no fudging, scout's honor) to make a cure for magical effects and turn him back. They take the basilisk head.
Level 4 A series of traps preceded by alcoves that demand a price. In each case they may either pay the price or face the trap. The prices grow as the traps become more deadly. Frederick sacrifices a finger at one point, Decanus an ear at another. They throw a basilisk head on a pressure plate that releases a Medusa head on a chain. The two heads petrify each other. The last alcove demands "a hero's soul" lest they should try to outsmart an orb which disintegrates anything within a radius around.
Together they formulate a plan. They take out Frederick's now-dead fish acolyte. Castiel casts Speak With Dead to recall the fish's soul to speak. He asks whether it would give its life for its god to become a hero among its people. The fish consents and when they stab the fish on the altar the orb shatters.
Level 5 is some climbing and platforming and otherwise tricky maneuvering through a cave dripping salt water with the sounds of weeping all around and sharks in the water below.
Level 6 The guide holds out the Vessan Orb (destroy orb=destroy Well) to the heroes and smiles. Locke carves the symbol of Weirdunn (necessary to destroy the Orb) into an arrow and readies it as the party approaches. The floor cracks and breaks open and, about to fall, they see the onyx scorpion waits beneath. Locke's player has already declared that the shot was ready, and so is allowed a difficult roll to hit the orb.
Level 7 does not happen as Locke's player rolls a 20. The Orb shatters and the Well disintegrates.
The group appears at night in the lake above the water temple.
Next up is a visit to Edryn and then some business with the Church of Weirdunn concerning Castiel's potential promotion.
*(The theme for the Well levels two through six was the Five Stages of Grief. I don't think anyone caught it during play.)
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