After exploring the Everholden ruins, we determine that these were once the temple of Veritus, the goddess of honesty. After solving several puzzles, we determine that we must defeat the dragon in the offering room to figure out where the artifacts of Veritus are.
Finds a bust of Azathoth, One of the progenitor gods, primitive god of consciousness
At some point he split himself into multiple gods, now known as the gods of human nature, the only four that are common knowledge are chaos, order, fortune, and greed, but it’s believed among academics who research this he has more parts than four
Azathoth probs split himself up into 10, four are gods we know, and Nim knows two others, benevolence and malice
Find a translation scroll, translates Primordial into Common
Solved an interesting mirror water color crystal puzzle
Learned some memories about Bloo’s past and about Veritus
Nim and Bloo scratch some math in the cave, tie their 50 ft. ropes together, and throw it down the pit
2.36 seconds fall, about 27 meters, about 90 feet
We all jump in, Nim casts Feather Fall, we land in a cavern
Bloo casts Light
Cold and dry air, feels empty, see stalactites on the ceiling, walls eroded, doesn’t look like anyone has been down here in a long time
We move through a narrow chokepoint in the cave
Enter into a new part of the cave (kinda like Tennessee-shaped), see a sleek marble wall ish at the opposite end of the cave, very smooth
There are 10 pillars in front of this marble wall
Each pillar has a metal plaque in it that has a message written in Dwarvish ^b4bb68
The metal is hanging like a painting
1: As it is divinely ordained all shall be mine
2: The true beauty of life lies in its structure
3: Others shall be crushed beneath my heel
4: scratched out
5: Only in truth shall we find true justice
6: It is writ therefore it is thus
7: Unpredictability is the highest virtue
8: Mind, body, and soul as one
9: May the golden wind bless us all
10: scratched out
Passing between 5th and 6th one, there’s a bust, a head of a particular being that Nim recognizes, it is Azathoth, and his mouth is open
One of the progenitor gods, primitive god of consciousness, what gave creatures consciousness and intelligence
At some point he split himself into multiple gods, now known as the gods of human nature, the only four that are common knowledge are chaos, order, fortune, and greed, but it’s believed among academics who research this he has more parts than four
Azathoth probs split himself up into 10, four are gods we know, and Nim knows two others, benevolence and malice
Nim inspects the bust, the opening in its mouth is a little small, but it looks like it can fit a human hand
Nim turns to Yul and asks for Jeice’s hand
Yul gives Nim the hand, Nim places the hand in Azathoth’s mouth, it slowly closes, the jaw looks like it’s trying to close more but it’s jammed
Nim takes the hand out, there are some stone teeth marks on the hand
Bloo moves the placard 1, a smooth gemstone, it’s clear and transparent
Identical one behind placard 2, also behind 4 and 10
We swap placard’s 9 and 10
Nim tries placard 10 on every pillar, nothing happens
Bloo takes the gemstone in pillar 1 and puts it in Azathoth his eyes glow white and then the jaw reopens
In pillar 2: glows white
Reset the placards
Above the bust, it says “only those who show their true hand are allowed entry”
Sarah walks up and puts her hand in Azathoth’s mouth, nothing happens
Lyra fans out her playing cards, the top card she pulls is the five of hearts, and under that is the five of diamonds
Bloo takes the fifth gemstone out, there’s a brief flash of green, also see one from the 8th one
Nim gets the 8th one out, it flashes green
Bloo puts the fifth gemstone, the eyes glow green, the jaw reopens, an entire part of the wall in the middle sinks into the ground, revealing a new passageway
Takes it out, wall goes back up
Puts the 8th one in, glows yellow, and another small narrow hallway opens up to the right of the main hallway
These two are the only gemstones that do anything
We do the 8th gemstone small hallway
8th Gemstone Small Hallway, Everholden Ruins
Staircase, opens up into a room
Sarah - Bloo - Nim - Yul - Lyra
Walk down 1.5 flights of stairs
See lots of cobwebs, underneath a certain mound of cobweb there’s a chest
Bloo uses mage hand to dust off cobwebs off the chest
Hear loud noise from above in the ceiling
Nim walks in a bit and looks at the ceiling, sees three giant spiders descend down
They look a little miffed at having their cobweb disturbed
One big spider walks up slowly and hisses at us
Bloo holds up a ice mushroom to the spider
The middle spider snatches the mushroom, Bloo offers one to each which they all nom on, then they come back for more
Lyra gave them a marshmallow
Bloo keeps feeding them mushrooms to distract them
Nim sneaks to the chest, opens it, sees a giant scroll, also dusted in cobwebs, scroll with weird script, written in multiple diff. languages, appears to be a translation scroll, translates Primordial into Common
Nim takes the scroll, closes the chest, and sneaks all the way back
The spiders chill on the ceiling
We walk out
5th Gemstone Big Hallway, Everholden Ruins
Hallway opens into large marble palace like interior
It would’ve been quite adorned, two busts on left and right after hallway opens out
Two busts, no mouths, looks feminine
Big statue in the back, spiral staircase that goes up on left and right
A tall slender women, her mouth is covered with right hand and other hand pointing out, looking towards where finger is pointing (looks Romanesque), wearing a circlet
Nim does not recognize her
The busts are of the same person
Placard at bottom of statue, written in Primordial, “to our goddess Veritus only you know the truth”
Inscription: “Goddess of honesty”
Spiral staircase on our left goes down, on our right goes up
The statues are slightly newer than statues seen depicting Azathoth, newer than Azathoth bust outside, it also dates to period where you speculated the current gods of human nature started emerging
Up Spiral Staircase, Veritus Foyer
A small room with a pedestal / podium, on it is an inscription in Primordial “place an item of personal significance and your honesty will be awarded”
Sarah places her locket on it, she feels as if her soul is being judged, feel otherworldly (beyond your recognition) similar to powers channeled during divine smite, a spark of light flows out, rams into the wall, and glows up steps that are very high up
Only Sarah can see it, so it looks like Sarah is walking through a wall
Nim pokes the wall and feels nothing, no wall
Underneath the steps it looks like a long way down
Sarah is going across, on the other side, inside, sees three chests and two more busts of Veritus
Bloo ties themself to Yul and goes across
Sarah opens the left chest, and it snaps off, a dead mimic, there is a dried out tong and teeth from the mimic in the chest
The middle one is sealed, very thick lock but also appears to have a weird glow
Sarah tries to break it open, feels a sort of presence on your soul, disapproving feel
Sarah opens chest on right, inside it Sarah sees a pile of 32 gp, a spell scroll of witch bolt, and a wand of conducting, and a rock
Something that showed up after the crow mask is an inscription on the wall, “only a scant few know that honesty’s true hue is a deep sea blue”
Nim places her hand on the pedestal, Nim feels the judgement, feels as if someone is looking at your soul, hear whispers and voices saying “so this is how you see yourself”
Looks over at your chest and sees a golden glow from Nim’s heart
Nim joins Sarah and Bloo
Nim pokes the lock and says “Open” on the middle chest, feel an even greater sense of judgement
Bloo unties the rope and Yul gets all the rope back
Yul un-redifies her fan and puts it on the pedestal, Yul can now see the path as well
Lyra places a marshmallow, it’s very faint but Lyra can see the path
Sarah’s was very bright, the amount of brightness is dictated by the importance of the object
Bloo looks over the edge, see faint traces of green purple blue red yellow and black, like faint beams upwards
Bloo puts their hand on the pedestal, doesn’t glow, nothing happens
Sarah and Bloo holds rope, Nim lowers her down into the void
Nim can’t see the light, only see darkness, there is nothing at 15 feet down
Bloo throws down a pebble that has Light cast on it, vaguely see a general shape of the room below
Nim is a little under halfway down
We keep lowering Nim, sees before you the room you’re in, there appears to be six giant crystals, purple, red, yellow, green, blue, black
Also see along the wall there is an indentation, there is a fountain on the other side of the wall
There’s a thick mirror, and on the other side, there are also crystals, black blue yellow purple red
Other then color mismatch and no stairs, rooms are a match
Pedestal in the center beside mirror
The indentation to the staircase, which goes back up to the foyer with the two staircases
Down Spiral Staircase
bowl in golden pedestal beside mirror
The crystals are taller than us and are protruding from the ground and was shooting up the light
Only water in fountain
In the bowl (fixed) is a chalice (unfixed)
Nim fills the chalice with water from the fountain
Even tho you can see your perfect reflection, no water being poured in mirror
Nim splashes water at the purple crystal, it’s clear going in, goes black as it goes out, also black out the other side of the mirror
Throws into the green crystal, blue coming out
Nim walks through the green crystal, the water in the chalice turns blue
Nim pours blue water into bowl, the water drains through the bottom, almost like absorbed
Nim walks through all the crystals and it just changes the color of the water
Nim takes clear water in the chalice, both reflection and real Nm run into the wall
Put chalice of blue water on statue upstairs on Veritus’s hand and nothing happens
Pour black water into bowl, notice that your reflection isn’t pouring any water at all, nothing happens
The water in the reflection has only shown up when the water is blue
Nim dumps blue water into the fountain, not a lot of things on this side change, but the fountain water in the reflection is now blue
Nim scoops up clear water from her side of the fountain, reflection side gets blue water, the chalice empties into the bowl, from Nim’s perspective you just look up, and now no one is near you, you turn around and they are no longer there, Nim is in the mirrored side
The others can see the reflection but Nim can’t
Nim took the chalice
Nim walks through the blue crystal, gets blue water (on the reflected side) pours it into the bowl, and comes back to the real side
Her reflection has now disappeared
Nim has both chalices, puts one down, pours the blue one down, is now on the other side
Bloo pours blue water into the thing, joins Nim on mirror side
For many many attempts, pouring nothing
On the other side, three people can’t see the other two
Nim holding mirror side chalice on the mirror side, pours blue water into the bowl
Nim’s reflection is back
Bloo is holding an empty chalice, the fountain water is clear on both sides, Bloo appears to be alone in the room, Bloo notices that the water on their side is flowing much faster
Dark spot in the mirror where I should be
The mirror side chalice is colorless, and the reflection
Bloo dunks the head in the fountain, some water gets in eyes, now that the water is over my eyes, see your reflection, I can see everyone, they cannot see you, but there’s a weird illusion thing on the left wall like heat rays that’s fading away
There’s an indentation, Bloo presses it, it clicks, and the mirror is receding forwards on both sides, the mirror is now very thin
Can now see bloo
Bloo holding blue water chalice, walks through the mirror
Now Bloo and Nim don’t have reflections again
In the same exact spot where Bloo pressed the button, there’s another button on the real side
Nim presses it, Nim and Bloo pop out of existence, on the other side, the other three lose their reflection, the mirror looks more like glass now, can see each other directly through the glass now
The wall retreats back, and now there are two hallways, one on each side
We exchange chalices, both sides now have one chalice filled with blue water
Left hallway has Sarah Yul Lyra
Right hallway has Bloo and Nim
Left side: arrows shooting extremely fast in both directions, past that, occasionally a cone of fire sprays out
Right side: A large set of spikes that periodically shoot up thru the ground, occasionally two cone of fires shooting at each other
Pretty far down the hallway, it ends, see a door
A switch to our left, before the spikes, it doesn’t look real
Bloo presses the switch, the spikes move faster and now more spikes
Hear footsteps from above, look up, on the ceiling you see a shadow, Bloo and Nim run back
Left side: lever in the arrows and button where the fire is shooting
Yul, looking through glass with blue water, like using a lens, the arrows disappear, don’t see the lever or button, see empty hallway
The arrows phase through, don’t feel anything at all, the arrows are fake
Sarah walks through after telling her about the shadow
We walk down the right hallway, the three of us look up, hear scuttling, see
Sarah uses Divine Sense, doesn’t feel or smell anything, do hear more scuttling, flying spider
3 Flying spiders land in front of us
Toss mushroom onto the ground, it noms the
Sarah goes to left hallway, sprints through to the end, end of the hallway has nothing, it feels like wood, Sarah tries to break it down, the door on the right hallway got kicked open
Bloo misty steps twice down the hallway
The two hallways connect together and then combine into one hallway
We reconvene
End of two hallways
Another door at end of hallway, locked
Sarah smashes the door open, it was pretty old
See a room, a very small room, there’s a slightly raised platform, on it, there’s a sigil that none of you have seen before
Primordial and Dwarvish written on wall: “speak not a lie and you may advance”
Sarah stands on pedestal and says “I am not green”
Sarah is warped away
Nim stands on pedestal and says: “I am not a banana”
The three rest of the ppl stand on it, Bloo says “I am not a tiger”
Only Bloo warped
Yul: “I am not Nim”
Lyra: “I am not a cat”
All get warped
We flow through various streams, flowing through immaterial, zoom over, exit on the other side, all seem like you know a few things
It’s like we’ve all shared a common experiences, memories of your lives have been flooded into each other’s brains
See a young Seliph getting dunked on for milk through his nose and being called names, see a sincere Sarah coming to his aid
Visions of a young Allie and a pet wolf
See Nim cramming for an exam and nervously presenting her dissertation and a feeling of adrenaline as you are conferred your degree
Lyra is sitting there feeling ostracized from her human family, clinging onto what little she had of her father before meeting Horace, but a bit of familial bonding and warmth to playing poker with an unconscious father
See visions of fighting, visions of Astrid, and Violet, and your life as a blob
See flooding visions of being constructed almost as though you’re looking at yourself but someone who’s more gentle and taller and one who does not eat sand, she gives a lot of care, hear the words “you are my greatest accomplishment in life” as the hand slowly falls away never to see that face again :(
Meanwhile, see visions in the forest, some sort of blob making its way through, but inside there’s a weird temple yet you feel so compelled to go towards it, and as you’re making your way towards the temple, see a familiar face, see Violet entering a sanctuary that feels super familiar but never seen again, as you inch your blob-y way over, all five of you are spat out on the other end
The only thing in this room, at the end, is a massive door, chiseled into it is another instance of this sigil of Veritus, it’s clean cut in half, appears you are missing something
There’s a massive key hole in the door
Sarah’s rock is glowing, she puts her rock in the key hole, the rock as you see through the blue water is a key
Turn the key, the doors open wide, inside you are met with a massive sanctum
See many many many cobwebs covering a few statues, see two identical statues of Veritus, identical and much larger, and you see a massive stone throne
Ton of cobwebs on the statues, a gold coin mound in the center
We all go towards the gold
Nim look up and see a gigantic hulking shadow, but this time, the head looks reptilian, if even draconic
Nim sees spider legs descending down, hear a roar that pierces the room, see more webs shooting down
Webs shoot down, the only thing you can see is this massive hulking spider dragon
He’s massive, descends down near all of us, and he starts speaking
He’s speaking in Draconic
Switching languages, but cannot understand
Bloo uses comprehend languages scroll
“What are you doing in my trove? What is your purpose”
Left statue has circlet, right statue has a mask, it’s flat, covers entire face, one single where eye socket would be, but both carved into statue
Nim speaks Dwarvish, he vaguely understands
“We’re looking for a crown”
“Crown? That’s mine”
Gold also mine, tell me then, why are you here
Coughs up bones and spits them out (whoever was here last), hundreds of years ago
Appears to have served orig. purpose of offering room, throne is where offering platform is
Veritus’s throne
Dragon doesn’t care about Veritus, doesn’t care about gods of the planes
That little god has been dead for many many years
Sarah attempts to convince him to let him go outside, he’s not amused
Sarah attempts walks out, the dragon scurries over to look at Sarah
“You didn’t take anything did you”
The dragon spins a web over the entrance
Sarah cuts it down, the dragon scurries back to the gold hoard
Up Spiral Staircase again
we go back to the up spiral staircase with the floating stuff area
We place a chalice of blue water on the pedestal, which vanishes
Sarah and Bloo and Nim head to the chest area
We pour blue water on the chest, nothing happening
Sarah smites the chest
Bludgeon the chest, unaffected by radiant damage, absorbed by chest
Sarah keeps hitting the chest, eventually you bust open the chest, but it’s empty
Upon smashing the chest, Sarah hears a light voice that just exudes disappointment
“That is not how you will find what you seek”
And now the chest is shattered on the ground
And we mend it back together with Mending
On the back of the chest is an inscription that says “The key is somewhere within the heart”
Bloo touches the lock, thinking of something they really want, feels something flashing before you
Fixated on idea of wanting memories back, see vision of throne, of Bloo sitting on it, and all of a sudden see something else in that room, see the circlet on one of the statue’s and the mask start to glow, you have a feeling those are not in stone
The chest does not open, the chest changes shape and is now a pillar
Only Bloo sees this change
This pillar looks as tho it is a statue of Sorean
But it also appears to be morphing, as Bloo gets closer it gets blob like
Bloo touches the statue, feel a sense of familiarity, feel as though there’s a reason why you emerged from the Geimshall Woods, you weren’t going towards Violet, was leaving Violet as though you were exiting the sanctum, feel a weird sense of nostalgia as tho you want to go back to visit
Get a sense that she knows who you are, she knew your identity, and concealed it from Astrid for some reason
Retracts hand, the statue looks like a hand as it once was
Bloo tells Sarah
Sarah really wants to get the artifact
Sees a vision of horse-like limbs, chains rattling, a gruesome scream, see a wormhole, screaming distorted faces, but inside you reach your hand, for a familiar face, one that you know is surely out there, reach into the maw of this horse-like creature as it screams and you slowly fall in and you grab a gentle hand and then the vision fades, the chest is not transformed
Nim grabs the lock
Nim sees Veritus, she’s alive, she’s alone
She seems to be fighting, wearing a circlet, dons a mask, hear a voice “I know where you are, I see you, I know your true form, it’s wretched”
But then she’s attacked, swallowed by an abyss
“I know your true form” she proclaims “I know the truth behind you” “I figured it out” but she is swallowed by the darkness
She takes off the mask and circlet and throws them away out of the abyss and fall to the material plane
Two ppl fighting her, two of Nyarlathotep’s generals, recognize one of them is a name that is familiar Abyss, the other you don’t recognize
See a flash of white light, as your vision is swallowed
See vision of self sitting on throne, your eyes are glowing, in there you see the inner sanctum, see the circlet on the left statue and on the right statue, the mask glows brightly, also see something buried amidst the gold
Dragon
In the room we spoke a not truth, a fountain has appeared
Pouring clear water, but inscription that glows says “the blue blood of magic flows, the red essence of life flows, the restoration of purple flows”
