3,384 Protokynion 4
Dear mom,
It seems the Shorestalkers sought revenge sooner than expected for the public execution of their fellow that we captured last month. The night before we were to return to the Seaside Grotto to explore its depths, I was awakened by a poisoned urchin spine sword plunged into my gut, held by a Shorestalker whose skin shifted to match its surroundings. I was unarmed and bleeding badly. As it drew back to finish me, I lunged for my spear and stabbed it twice, I called out for Heliod’s divine power to grant me a respite and empower my strike.
Heliod clearly heard my cry as my spear struck true, once in the chest and again in its throat. By the time the guards busted in, the chameleon Shorestalker assassin was lying dead on the floor. I commanded them to fetch Pericles as I tried in vain to stop the blood gushing from my gut, but before he could get there, my most talented handmaid, Ourania, was there. She applied her ointments and bandaged me up. I would be good as new with a couple of days of rest.
Word of how the Shorestalkers had sent their best assassin, but was vanquished by the Polemarch spread quickly. When Pericles arrived, he used his divine magic to question the dead assassin. All he revealed was that his name was Bysseus, was from the Triton village, was sent by a wave priest, and entered through the window. He also said Kiora comes to the sunken city every year for Lyokymion.
In a few days, we were on our way back to the Seaside Grotto. Traveling with me were Pericles, Hellen, Thridax, and Anekdotos, the minotaur who had previously been found guilty of stealing from the Brethren of Fate. Pontreus and a small contingent of guards also accompanied us, but only to Lover’s Leap.
When we arrived, we saw large lizards scaling the cliffside of Lover’s Leap. Thridax was able to speak with them and learned that humans were gathered at the Seaside Grotto. Pontreus cast his Water Breathing spell on us and we used Thridax’s Feather Fall to drop down from the cliff into the water and used the underwater entrance to the lair. Cupid and the guards returned Potreus to Neolantika.
Inside, we found new crates, obviously filled with fish parts. Soon we found a group of fishermen taking residence in the Shorestalker lair. Their leader, Kritus, explained that they were working with smugglers from Deyda Harbor who had made an arrangement with the Shorestalkers and thus were able to bring goods into Neolantika.
We warned them of the evil within the lair and asked them to stay put until we returned. They were respectful and obedient.
Fearing the limits of our Water Breathing, we made haste into the lair and used Feather Fall once more to drop down the chute we had found into the watery temple below. At the bottom of the chute, stairs descended into the water. At the bottom of the stars was the temple, dominated by a black marble statue wearing a gold mask. There were doors on each side.
The door on one side had writing in Ancient that said, “Only those who know how can enter.” The door on the other side was only an outline of a door, but when I reached for it, I felt the knob and was able to open it.
Water flooded from the temple as we opened the door, dragging me with it. Beyond the door was a small circular chamber, with barnacles on the walls and a pool in the center. On the far side was a pile of rubble. At the bottom of the pool were very hot vents and the barnacles periodically released jets of steaming air. Working carefully, we were able to dig out the rubble, beyond which we found a lamp that looked like a mask.
Returning to the temple, where the water was now only up to my shoulders, we went through the other door. Again, water rushed out of the temple, revealing that the main area was surrounded by a moat, deeper than we could see. Beyond the door, we found ourselves in a similar small chamber with a door to our right and a narrow passage at the far end.
Beyond the door was a larger, cylinder-shaped chamber with a majestic circular staircase in its center. The top of the stairs had crumbled long ago, and their parts since were mostly taken, still leaving about fifty feet of stairs. But the top of the tall chamber must have been a hundred feet higher. On the ceiling, we could see the bottom of a large boulder. We were clearly below Lover’s Leap!
We exited and went through the other passage which led to a larger cavern with a sandy beach descending into the water.
Still able to breathe in the water, we quickly swam in and found an underwater passage.
The passage emerged into a half-submerged chamber dominated by a column-shaped altar. The inscriptions above the altar seemed to read, “Within is the path to wisdom.” Meanwhile, Thridax said they read, “Within is the path to joy,” and to Anekdotos they read, “Within is the path to glory.”
I helped Anekdotos move the column and behind it, the Ancient writing said, “Within is the path to death. Beyond this are lies.”
We swam through another passage into the fully submerged cavern beyond. At the bottom, we saw a skeleton. I swam down and took its glimmering, razor-sharp sword, which I used to cut off its hand and take its ring, which was inset with a black pearl.
On the far side of the cavern, the passage quickly split in two. Down each, we saw large water beasts that turned out to be illusions and we swam past them.
The two passages led to a much larger cavern dominated by a fissure of blackness so dark, that none of our light could pass through it. Pericles cast Daylight on Thridax and not even it could penetrate the darkness.
Two basilisks emerged from the far side of the cavern and came around the fissure to engage us. I suspect Thridax thought they might be illusions and was badly beaten before he fled to the far side of the cavern. Anekdotos and I held the line, though he was almost petrified. As I smote them, it was Pericles’ divine radiance that saved the day and the beasts were slain.
Thridax led us beyond the fissure, through more underwater passages that finally led to another beach. At the far side of the cavern was another door. To the right, we found a secret door leading to the chamber with the burning pool.
We decided to take a rest and while we were, I went to the edge of the water where I saw something moving. A tiny black mass leaped onto my chest. Fortunately, I was able to rip it off before any harm was done. It immediately dissolved into mist and disappeared.
When everyone else had rested, we opened the door to a smaller, half-submerged chamber. In the center was a statue of an Akroan prince. In each of the four corners were large shells with a single cushion inside. In the water, we found a perfectly tuned harp. On the right, we found a secret door leading to the main temple chamber. On the left, was another door.
Opening the door to the left, we entered a completely dry room that appeared to belong to a princess. Recalling the legends, Pericles deduced that this room belonged to the Setessan princess from the Lover’s Leap tale in which an Akroan prince leaped from the cliff when the princess was taken by centaurs and didn’t meet him. Did they meet here in spirit?
In the center of the room was an ornate bed. On one side of the room was a dresser and wardrobe, and on the other were bookshelves. The shelves were filled with books written in Ancient, mostly fictional tales of romance.
Pericles opened a dresser drawer and found an opal cameo of the Setessan princess and a silver pendant resembling an almost full moon. He detected abjuration magic on the cameo and transmutation magic on the pendant.
Inside the wardrobe, I found familiar-looking clothes that I realized belonged to Cordelia! Has she been loving down here this whole time?
Everyone else went back to the prince’s chamber while Anekdotos and I fetched the cameo and pendant. They were, in fact, trapped, which was shocking if not surprising.
Through the secret door, we made our way back to the surface, only to find that the six fishermen had been eviscerated.
Pericles used his divine magic to speak with Kritus and learned that he had seen the most beautiful woman ever before she turned hideous and ripped them apart. He said the smugglers should arrive later that day and could be signaled by the four flags in their crates. Lastly, his son was named Kryios.
Speaking with the lizards, Thridax learned that the woman headed south, toward Neolantika.
Following the coast, we found the fishermen’s abandoned dingy along with tracks heading east. We followed them for ten minutes, noting that they were headed toward Eldenwood.
We returned to the dingy and retrieved the crates from the Seaside Grotto before returning to Neolantika.
Your son in glory,
Aribantes, Champion of Heliod
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