Rel relays Jarsali Firahel's message to the rest of the party.  She muses aloud:  "I do not know what she means by 'be prepared for an assault.'  An assault by Jarsali's Zhelezo or other forces on this hidden temple to disrupt the ritual?  If so, why do we need to be prepared, unless she expects us to join in immediately?  Or does she mean Lord Agustin's ruidium cultists, for lack of a better name, will mount their own assault on us?"

She studies Tex's cursed ruidium injury soberly.  Unlike some of the others, she has plenty of magic left in reserve for the day, but she suspects her rudimentary healing spells will do no good for such an... infested wound.  She is willing to go along with whatever Tex's choice is, only...

Perhaps due to indirect guilt from time spent with her slaver mother, perhaps because she genuinely likes the little kobold, Rel has been observing Tex closely during the few days she has known him.  She has gotten accustomed to his rhythm and mannerisms.  When Lana suggests that the artificer's thoughts could potentially be influenced by the ruidium corruption, Rel reaches out for her aasimar father's divine Guidance and looks sharply at Tex.

Rel's Insight plus Guidance to determine whether Tex is just tired or something more:  21 (Nat. 20) + 1 = 22

Bellamy will follow Lana to the nearby Temple and hope there is a cleric still awake.

Rel, while the spike is quite remarkable and prominent, the kobolds mind does appear to be his own. The ordeal with the vision and 'growing' the spike was quite taxing on the body and mind of Tex though and has caused him to feel mentally and physically exhausted. 

You all continue on to The Pearl Shrine. Walking maybe six or seven blocks of the crimson shaded streets before a massive pearl white temple raises in front of you. Ogee archways line both floors of the temple, each engraved with intricate gold filigree. The white marble dome roof is topped with a golden statue of a woman head turned looking off into the distance, her golden hair runs down past her feet and merges into the dome roof, spiraling around and down the length of the dome.

A twisting path lined with yellow stones guides you between high hedges to the foot of the temple stairs.

Climbing the wide steps you walk through two large gilded doors and enter the temple cathedral. White marble columns rise up throughout the cathedral to the high domed ceiling above. As you look up you see a beautiful mural painted on the ceiling in pearlescent gold that twinkles in the light as you walk. The mural depicts a woman in the center, who's hair cascades down past her feet and transforms into a road that splits and curves across the ceiling in spirals and waves. The road traverses through all kinds of landscapes and seasons as it spirals out from the center.

As you approach the front of the temple a raised alter stands in front of a thirty foot golden statue of Avandra. Surrounding the statue's feet are a variety of offerings, from simple flowers and small plates of food, to scattered coins and large silver platters crammed with expensive incense, spices, and other items.

You are greeted by a copper skinned half-elf woman with green almond-shaped eyes and short blonde hair. She wears very plain, white robes. She says to you "Newcomers to the temple... at this hour... oh what has fate brought me this night...?" She chuckles to herself slightly before falling silent to await a response.  

Tex, still mounted on Lizzy, steps forward and holds out his affected hand addressing the cleric with exhaustion in his voice, "Can you help with this?" He sighs pained, "I tried to identify this rock with magic and... I don't know... I was out for a few seconds and when I recovered, I found that it had pierced my hand or... well, for lack of better words, it appears to have fused with me. Honestly, I don't know what happened... But I would appreciate any help with removing it."

From the corner of her mouth, Lana whispered to Rel. "Maybe it's a good time to offer something to the Temple. Say, that black stone, which is not magical?"

Rel nods, distracted by the strange beauty of the temple, so alien from what she is accustomed to.

As Lana suggests, she pulls the black stone (not the magic black orb) from her handy haversack.

"Our humble offering to the Change Bringer."

The half-elf woman steps back for a moment at the sight of Tex's hand before stepping back in to lean in closer and investigate. "I am no cleric, though I am an Acolyte of the temple. May I touch it?" She says as she looks it over. 

Meanwhile, she currently ignores the fact that you have made an offering to Avandra or may not have noticed it at all with her investigation of Tex's hand.

“I would advise caution when touching it, the stone was painful to touch in its raw form. I can’t be sure that it will not be painful now for someone else, or even both of us,” Tex says nervously and prepared for a shower of pain should the acolyte indeed touch the stone. “We identified it as Ruidium, is this right?” He clarifies but looks fir confirmation to the rest of the group before turning to the acolyte, “Perhaps that means something you?”

"Hm... Let's not distract the kind acolyte." Lana took the black gem from Rel's hand and placed it on one of the silver plates at the feet of the golden statue of Avandra.

(If she knows an appropriate gesture when praying to Avandra, she does it too)

She looks up from your hand. "Ruidium you said? I have never heard of such a thing. But perhaps you are right, we should use caution if it did this to you. Perhaps the Head Priestess will be needed. Please wait, I will go and wake her." She turns and quickly walks off, exiting into a nearby hallway.

Lana, not being proficient in religion, you would most likely only know about the Prime Deities but not any specific symbols, gestures, or prayers dedicated to them. You do attempt to make a gesture and if it were not for the fascination that the young Acolyte had in the Ruidium spike, you probably would have looked quite silly in her eyes. 

A few moments pass before the Acolyte returns, followed by a sleepy eyed but graceful human woman. She is dressed in what appear to be high-ranking religious robes of white and gold. Around her neck hangs a large golden coin with the face of Avandra on it. She has tan skin and brown eyes. Her long wavy salt and pepper hair is tied back in a ponytail. She says to you Tex "My acolyte tells you have been cursed of some sort yes?.... by a strange, what was it... ruidium stone? Let me see." She takes a moment to look it over.

"This is something I have not seen before. It seems to have grown from you, rather that attach to you from this mineral. The only thing I could try is a Greater Restoration, though our services are not free. We charge 450 gold for this service and we make no guarantees that it will work."

Zane nods, "We can do that."

He shrugs slightly and follows that up with, "It's been an extremely long day full of great danger. Would there be a place for us to spend the night safely within the temple grounds?"

Rel is happy to pay her share (90gp each) for the cleric to attempt Greater Restoration on Tex.  "Even if it does not succeed, we will have learned something more about this strange, corrupted material."

She also reiterates the party's humble offering of the Black Stone to Avandra, the Change Bringer as a token of good faith and appreciation regardless.

Tex doesn’t share his companions’ enthusiasm about the priest’s offer and feels a bit annoyed. Probably, he’d be more reserved under normal circumstances but he’s dead tired and just wants to rest and not help lining the pockets of some priests. “You don’t know what this is and simply suggest the most expensive service as Hail Mary? Of course without any guarantee. How do we know that you even bother casting the spell if you can’t guarantee that it works or refund if it doesn’t? I say we pay full if it works and a maximum of 50 gold for your efforts if it doesn’t.” He turns to his friends, “I say we rest and then follow Bellamy’s suggestion to look for someone who actually might know what we’re dealing with here. From my point of view, there’s no need for such desperate measures at this moment, mostly we… I need to rest.”

The priestess yawns and rolls her eyes saying, "You come here in the middle of the night seeking aid. I offer our services, which by the way that is far from the most expensive, and you intend to haggle and insult our practices. With all do respect little kobold, I ask that you take your leave. As for the rest of you,  thank you for your offering to Avandra, fate will smile upon you tomorrow."

She touches Rel on the shoulder as a divine glow forms on her hand. She then turns and walks back to her chambers.

Rel

Zane just rolls his eyes and gets going towards.. something else.

"We can afford it and even a failed attempt would give you some information..." began Lana but as Tex firmly refuse to heal his wound, she shrugged and followed Zane out.

As they leave the Temple Bellamy talks with Melby "I need you to search the city for the insignia of the Cobalt Soul. Once you find a building with that symbol return to me at the Inn."

He will then relay a mental image of the Cobalt Soul insignia to Melby before she takes off. He won't be in telepathic communication with Melby letting her search the city. He watches Melby for a bit before heading to the Seaside Inn to get some rest.

Tex seems sullen on their way back to the inn and tries to justify his over-reaction, “Maybe you’re right but to me it felt that these priests tried to take advantage of our situation. They didn’t care at all what the problem is, and how can anyone solve anything if they don’t even investigate what the source is? The problem started by casting a harmless spell on the mineral and now they suggest, without having any idea about the mineral, that casting another spell on it will solve it? Perhaps it absorbs magic and it would have just gotten worse? I think the problem needs a methodical approach and not just blind faith.”

At the inn he tries to get a good rest despite the injury, or alteration of his hand.

Rel murmurs a sincere thank you and tries to pay her respects on the way out to smooth things over.  Thanking the cleric for waking to speak with us.

She listens to Tex and muses, "I do not know that they tried to take advantage of us.  They simply offered what they had, which is not arcane knowledge, but divine healing.  You are right that it may not have worked.  Perhaps the Library of the Cobalt Soul will help as Bellamy says."

Lying in bed at the Seaside Inn, she keeps the sending stone near her.  As far as she knows, she cannot use it again until tomorrow, but Jarsali Firahel could possibly use the stone on her side to initiate a message.  She considers the events of the day, turning them over in her head, but coming to no better understanding.  What could this ritual of ruidium possibly be?  Nothing good, it would seem.

She also considers her own tactics during the infiltration of the manor and the tunnels below.  She had saved all of her resources (OOC:  Hexblade's Curse, Favored by the Gods, Sorcery Points) and nearly all her spellcasting ability, in readiness for a final fight which never came, leaving her resources all unused.  Meanwhile some of her companions had utilized their resources more quickly and were, not surprisingly, more insistent on turning back sooner.

If we are to work together, I need to align myself to them better.  Still, I hope we did not make a fateful mistake, turning back before reaching the temple...

Eventually, she falls into a fitful sleep, her dark earrings still dangling from her ears, unremoved.

For Lana, the evening did not end just yet. She had to report back to Jersali and ask for the next job. The Queen Bee was used for her "hive" to be active at any time and the matter was too important to postpone the full report.

After the visit (considering Jersali did not have other plans for her) Lana planned to finally get some rest.