Bilyur, unperturbed by his failure, immediately continues to press through the trials. He is still wondering why Ivory chose to take the Path of the Knight in the first place. He scans the room for threats.

Bilyur sees no threats at all in this room; the ghost in particular seems quite passive.

Salamander near jumps out of his skin when the ghost appears right in front of him. He makes a "!!!" noise if such a noise can be described. He ruminates over the words of the two tortles and sighs, wondering how the temple must have looked like in years prior. 

Soon after the owls scout out what's ahead and he listens. He tweets on after them a thank you then relays what's been said. "Looks like the Shadow Weave's just around the corner!" He puffs his chest in the air. He tilts his head. 'Wait that's too easy.' 

"There's also another tortle up ahead. One last challenge?" He looks up to Peltanon and the High Priestess with a curiosity although knowing that they likely wouldn't reveal it to him. "Good things always come in things of three."

Summoning up his bear spirit to go on ahead forward, he was about to start marching in before he notices Bilyur and Xarkris come back in. "What happened?! Whoa Bill- you okay?" If Bilyur agrees, Salamander will heal him (1st level) for 10 HP.

[Salamander just so happens to make this noise absolutely flawlessly lol: Surprise Sound Effect] 

As Salamander expected, the ghost and Peltanon have no response, just give him a knowing look. 

Techi is quite pleased for the whole group to be reunited; seems he believes there’s safety in numbers, despite saying he’d go alone earlier on. 

Quote from Shiverquill >>

Elana chuckles and says 'Well, you'll have to make sure you don't perish then, else I'll be mightily disappointed!' Techi, Xarkris and Bilyur then bid their goodbyes and go across into the Path of The Mage, and find the rest of their party members with a Tortle and the ghost of a Tortle, Salamander receiving information from Eggo Lass's owls and an archway visible to the north that goes through into a corridor.

 I forgot to ask about Iv*ry. 

[You wouldn’t have gotten much from her tbh, though I think she did actually mention how pitiful her last opponents were after fighting Xarkris, which is about as much as she could comment on. 

In a while, depending on if we get many more posts soon, I might have Techi move ahead in the corridor to try and get the ball rolling again here since things have slowed down a bit these last few days, though that is completely understandable considering that people are likely busy this time of year!]

[[ Sorry for the slowdown. ]]

Eggo Lass is ready to head on.

Xarkris will join Techi and go down the corridor as well

Xarkris, Eggo, Techi, and also potentially the rest of the party head through the arch into the corridor that the owls reported on. It's very similar to the two corridors you entered into the Paths through, however it lacks any of the features that made those paths distinct, such as the ghostly effects and sounds of water. It sharply turns just after you enter through and continues straight down, splitting off about halfway down and then continuing on. You expect that if you were to go straight down, you'd just come to the end of the Path Of The Knight, but if you turn off, you're likely to come to the Shadow Weave portal, and the tortle that the owls saw.

Sly still holds the fabric of the tapestry up and waits patiently until everyone is through. Then she steps after the group. Seeing the crossroads, she offers: "I surmise that there may be articles of interest towards the east that may escape our grasp if we were to rush on."

As usual with Sly, she does not offer to go herself and will follow anyone that does with a calculated delay.

Bilyur follows the rest of the party, still clutching his stomach

((BIlyur, what is wrong with your stomach. Do you need healing?))

(No I'm fine, I just got turned into a werebear)   

"We were able to get information from the end of the Path of the Mage. Think there might be similar utility to the Path of the Knight? Or do you think that t*baxi would still be there?" asks Eggo Lass.

[Since we’ve slowed down here at the crossroads and haven’t reached a decision after a while, I think I’ll tell you that the eastern path just leads to a locked door and nothing more. I want to keep this type of metagaming to a minimum in future (I wouldn’t have done this at all unless there was absolutely nothing to find) but we’ve already spent a lot of time in this dungeon with little progress, so I wouldn’t want you to all spend time searching the eastern path when there is literally nothing to see there, which I hope you can understand! Obviously we can say that you all do go through to there and check it out since that seems to be what y’all are inclined towards doing, but there’s absolutely no point in making checks or writing descriptions for it when it is simply just a mundane corridor meant to link up the areas!]

BIlyur heads north to the shadow weave. 

Xarkris follows Bilyur North to the Shadow Weave.

[[ No prob, Shiver. ]]

Eggo Lass follows behind Xarkris, her eyes focusing on what lurks in any darkness beyond.

[All good, makes sense in this case Shiver.]

Sly responds to Eggo as she follows towards the shadow weave: "With any luck, she has a substantial lead. Her substantial arcane competencies could just as well be turned on us, so I'll personally endeavor to extend the distance."

The party heads through into the final room that the owls reported on, and find a great, high ceilinged but destroyed chamber, small piles of debris littering the floor. On either side of the room there seems to be what looks like pews or choir benches, and in the centre there’s a small stone structure that has been completely demolished, which could have been anything from a font to an altar back when it was whole. Ahead of this is a tall, thin window, a few feet of the ground, however it is entirely inky black. Maybe before the Shadow Weave portal was hosted inside of it, it might have been a gorgeous stained glass window, allowing multicoloured light to filter into the room, but now it only glows with darkness. 

Between you and the once-altar is a tortle in dark robes, and he is easily the oldest of all the tortles you have met so far. His shell is enormous and round, scarred and encrusted with barnacles, whilst his greying scales look chipped and worn like slate. He hears your approach and slowly turns to you, his reptilian eyes staring you down, before announcing in a slow and ragged voice that ‘You have reached the final trial in this temple. No matter the path you chose, you will have trained vital skills and learnt valuable lessons, but now it is time to put them to the test. You will not survive these dungeons without knowing how to work together, combine these skills, and persevere through adversity, even when things get tough. Thus, your final challenge begins now…’ His long claws crackle with a myriad of coloured energy contrasting his greyscale hues, and he stands his ground in a firm position, as if inviting you to face him in combat. 

The party goes first in initiative, feel free to take your turns.