Chapter 1: Welcome to Paxectel Island

Opening the door Elandra hears a loud click. Too late to move out of the way, she sees a thick cloud of green smoke billow out from the door frame. Herself, Z, Singer and Aenwyn are caught up in the gas cloud. They cough and sputter as the cloud clears, and once it is gone they see that the door leads to a narrow staircase that leads to what is presumably a crypt below the ruins of the temple.

Can you all make three Fortitude Saves at DC 20

Stupid, stupid, STUPID! Elandra thinks angrily, as she tries to hold her breath and bear through the poisonous cloud. A year reading books at the estate and you've gone soft. As the gas clears, she looks around at the others and says, her tone and expression sheepish, "Err, perhaps someone with a better eye for traps should take the lead going forward.

"Ah, Goddess!", Aenwyn gasps. I didn't ask to be this close to the front!

((Missed Singer 2 somehow))

Singer briefly begins to feel exhausted, but a minute later the feeling passes. No one seems to be affected by the smoke, which has by now fully dissipated. Before you is the open door, a narrow staircase descending into the crypt below the ruined church.

Having decided on a path, the group proceeds to the shrine in front of the ruined cathedral. As you proceed through the ruins of the cathedral, doing around piles of rubble and ducking under half-collapsed archways, Elandra stumbles over a stone, kicking it aside and revealing a trinket of some sort. Bending, she identifies it as a charm, a little bronze flame that was likely once strung on a pendant. A charm worn by those who worshipped the Fire Goddess of old. She takes it, and upon picking it up senses its magical properties.

It is a beautiful stone statue, about 18 feet high and 6 feet wide. The face is carved as a near-life representation of the Lady Trinity and her three faces, Charity, Faith and Hope.

As you approach the shrine, you all feel a bit refreshed, elated and as if you are somehow wiser than you were before. You notice something at the foot of the statue. A small moonstone bead, not unlike the ones from the necklace that shattered back in the inn.

Elandra finds Mabharo's God of Fire. It is a small token which can be activated to cast Fire Shield. It has one use.

You all have the Blessing of Fortune - You may use it at any time to reroll a single ability check, attack roll, saving throw or skill check, taking the better result. The Blessing may be used once.

Pocketing the charm, Elandra carefully walks over to the bead, looking around for signs of tripwires or pressure plates that would set off yet another trap. If satisfied, she bends down to pick up the little moonstone bead, rolling it through her fingers. "Well, doesn't this look familiar..." she says, looking around at the others.

Elendra sees no reason to proceed with caution and picks up the bead. It is exactly as she thought it was, a little moonstone bead. She gets the sense that it, like the token she found in the ruins, possesses some limited magical power. Although precisely what she isn't sure.

Zisera returns with a report. There is a small campsite to the south of the portal (B), all along the coast (F through H) are signs of an ancient battle, and there are several buildings and ruins to the south of the chapel.

Aenwyn detects a faint aura coming from the entire island. The signature of the aura is strange to her, a kind of ancient and powerful magics she has never before encounter.

Following Dimal, the group heads due south (towards building I). The first building they reach (I) is heavily damaged and several trees have fallen on the roof. It looks like it used to be an armoury, although the interior is bare of anything useful. The only remnants that indicate a purpose are the shelves and and stone racks designed to hold weapons and armour. Pressing along (towards J) the group finds a copse filled with trees and rocks big enough to climb over. There is a shrine here with symbols indicating a deity forgotten by time. The final building in this group (K) looks like it used to be a barracks. It too is in disrepair and several trees have crashed through the ceiling.

Continuing to explore, the group moves along the path (towards O/N, from around behind I) across the yellow grassy field they see a stream leading into a cave of some sort. The cave is over twenty feet high and extends into deep darkness several dozen feet back. The air is surprisingly cool, the walls smooth and the dirt floor umarred by footprints. You can hear muffled voices coming from the depths, and straining it sounds like it may be the voices of those who were in the inn the night before. Standing at the edge you see a narrow staircase descending into the black depths. The sense of magical energy grows stronger as you stand at the top of the stairs.