Imela: The Adventure Begins

Theo

"Of course, I will offer whatever assistance I can. May Helm oversee our endeavours."

 Zakon will finish tying up the sleeping man and then wait in the room with him (and Kelvin?) while Viaya and Theo make the potion to wake him up.

It takes only a few minutes for Viaya and Theo to make the awakening potion, following the instructions carefully. Returning upstairs, they find that Zakon has securely fastened the man on the bed. Viaya gives him only a few drops of the solution, saving the rest for Vall upon their return. After a few seconds, the elf's eyes begin to blink. He sighs contentedly. "Ah, the New Morning has arrived," he says.

But as he blinks away sleep, he realizes that none of you are friendly faces. "Who...who are you?" he asks worriedly. He starts to sit up, but finds that he has been fastened to the bed. His eyes widen in terror. "Help!" he shouts. "Thieves, murderers, in the temple! Help! Somebody, help!"

Zakon holds his hands up, trying to calm the man.  "We mean you no harm," he says.  "Who are you and why did you put yourselves to sleep?" he asks.

The potion is thankfully easy enough to fashion out of the ingredients they found. A few drops of it seemingly all that is needed to awaken the slumbering stranger. Viaya is grateful to see it works and should hopefully do the same for Val but hangs back slightly as the man begins to come to. She's more than a little curious to know more about his situation but based on the state of the rest of the temple and its former denizens this isn't going to be an easy conversation to have. Still, as Zakon attempts to calm the man she steps forward a bit more. "You're Kymel, aren't you?" She asks. "We're sorry for frightening you sir, but we're here after answers and you seem a likely candidate to have them. We're not here to hurt anyone." 

Kymel struggled for a few more seconds in his bonds, but started to tire himself out. Catching his breath, he looked at the four strangers with contempt. "Fine," he grumbled. "If you must know, you've interrupted a very important ceremony. To put it simply, I and my fellow brothers of the New Morning had calculated an astrological event that would mark the beginning of a new era, the New Morning. To ensure that our human as well as elven followers were prepared for this event, we have put ourselves in a state of sleep stasis to only be awoken 116 years later. Since you have so rudely interrupted this, I would have to take a gaze at the night sky to figure out exactly how early you have awoken me. And just what other demands do rogues like you have of me? What I would like to know is how you even got up here? This temple was set to protect us from mere intruders."

Zakon's eyes widen at Kymel's words.  "116 years?" he says with surprise.  He looks to his companions then back at Kymel, clearing his throat.  "I'm sorry to have to tell you that whatever protections you set up failed.  We found your brethren in another room," he pauses, swallowing uncomfortably and then continues.  "With - with their throats slit.  They'd been turned into zombies."  He looks over at Theo helplessly.

Theo

Theo steps forward so that Kymel may see him. "I am Brother Theo, disciple of Helm. I believe that your ritual has been corrupted. I am quite certain it was a misguided endeavor in the first place. We have a task to attend to and woke you, in part to save you from undeath and hopefully to help us navigate this temple and save a young Elvin child."

Kymel's face fell slowly as Zakon finished his explanation. "What...dead? But...but that can't be! We put so much effort into making sure this place stayed closed off from anyone from the outside. How could this have happened? Please, I...I have to see this for myself."

Theo

Theo looks closely to determine if Kymel seems sincere, he calls upon Helm's guidance 

"You can see for yourself, but we need to make haste.  Somehow a child found his way inside and has succumbed to your sleeping magic.  We need to wake him as soon as possible and we need your help to do it," Zakon says to Kymel.  He looks at his companions questioningly, nodding his head towards Kymel's bindings. 

"Make haste and stick together." Viaya added, nodding to Zakon. "Whatever happened here, whatever the ritual was meant to accomplish, this temple is no longer safe. You'll need to stay with us and you'll likely need to leave with us as well." She isn't certain, finding it more than a little odd that the man is the only living thing they've found in the temple thus far, but Kymel's shock seems sincere at face value. Glancing briefly at Theo, the elf pulls her dagger and cuts his bonds. 

Zakon nods at Viaya, but keeps a watchful eye on Kymel, alert for any sudden moves from the man.  "We've cleared much of the building, but some remains unexplored as of yet.  Are there more of your brethren elsewhere?  Perhaps you should lead the way and help us avoid any more traps and surprises," he says.

Kymel sits up as soon as his bonds are loosened and begins making his way to the halls. He chatters aimlessly, likely trying to not think about what awaits him outside the room. "Likely the boy you speak of triggered the needle trap of the front door. Prevents intruders from entering by dosing them with the same sleeping draught. All of our brethren should have been here on the second floor. The first floor includes all our necessary living facilities, and the third floor contains the main chapel and alter. Gods!"

He stops abruptly when he sees the dead figures on the floor of the main sleeping room. He kneels down, looking at the faces of the slain victims. "Who would do such a thing?" he says. "We never did anyone any harm. Whatever this is, it is some dark ritual to bring them back in this state."

"Yes, well, that is what we were trying to tell you.  You do know how to make the antidote for the sleeping draught, yes? So that we can help the young boy?" Zakon asks. 

((we just made the antidote for kymel, Viaya can make it again for the boy))

Theo

"Is there anything upstairs that could explain what happened here?"

"I believe your friend there was quite capable of creating the antidote. How did you know to do that, by the way?" He thinks about Theo's question. "Very little is upstairs. Just the main altar."

Zakon looks at Kymel.  "Viaya is very skilled, as is Theo.  If there is nothing else of interest upstairs, perhaps it would be best to gather the necessary items for the antidote and head back to the boy," he says.

"It helped that we had an idea about what you all had intended to do from reading some of your records." Viaya added, watching Kymel as he reacted to the state of the temple and its other former keepers. "When we found the room where you kept your herbs it seemed like a good place to search for some idea of how you accomplished it. We found everything we needed there." She glanced at Theo at his question and then at Zakon at the suggestion that they leave whatever was upstairs be and went back to help Val. "To be fair, there was little of interest up there when Kymel fell asleep 116 years ago." The elf pointed out. "Things have clearly changed since then. "We should at least make sure there are no other threats. I know I was pushing to leave before." She admitted. "But now that we know the antidote works I think we should finish what we started. Just to be sure something like what happened to Val and that skeleton we found back there doesn't happen to whatever poor fool comes across this place next."