ThreadBare

...This isn't over ! I'm going to search the area... What ? Chanting ? Coming from where ?
 
[Killian, Lairion and Krod search the cathedral for signs of what is going on and discover chanting coming from beneath the alter.]
 
I knew we weren't finished yet. Somehow we've got to get underneath this. Killian has tried moving it with sheer strength to no avail, Lairion too and I can't find a mechanism or lever anywhere. Perhaps looking at this from a different angle might yield different results. This is where my skill in masonry will come in useful... Damn it ! This there's no time for this ! I'll fix it once we've stopped the unmaking of reality as a penance !
 
[Krod casts 2nd level shatter on the stone alter, cracking the solid stone revealing an entrance leading down to the cathedrals lower levels.]
 
Looks like a spiral staircase leads down to the lower levels of the cathedral. It's as I feared, there's more to this than just a brief encounter with priestess Jalena.
Note: The entrance beneath the alter will be something I'd look at at a later date after thoroughly looking and finding no mechanism for entrance to it. I also theorize that the entrance has been warded in such a way that only certain people can pass through it. An interesting method of security and one i'd like to adapt myself.
 
Argh ! More Traps ! Why !?
 
At the base spiral staircase the chanting is louder...we're on the right path. The staircase opens out into a corridor that leads to a central circular chamber. What we are confronted with is not a sight we will forget anytime soon. Upon the walls are exquisite tapestries that are becoming threadbare. I take this as a sign that we are running out of time. In the circular chamber are five young boys barely out of their teens lost in trance and prayer. Each of them stands at the point of a pentagram that glows in the central circular chamber. Beyond the chamber is Priestess Jalena. She has in her hand The Silver Spindle and starts to create patterns as if weaving magic. Wary of the boys we start to approach her but before we can apprehend her and stop this madness, the weave that she conjured seams its way into each one of the boys. All five of them snap theirs heads in our direction.
Damn you ! Vile creature !... We can't hurt them, we've got to save them and I tell the others they should do the same.
Note: Jalena is in possession of an artifact known as The Silver Spindle and is using it's magic to use weaves from the black loom.
Eldrin has mentioned the artifact and it's importance. I think if we can get it from her, it might limit her powers. The frayed tapestries around the chamber are steadily becoming less and less as time goes on. I feel this is our clock. Perhaps there is a way to fix them as well.
 
[Lairion casts 2nd level Bane on the five acolytes. Krod casts 3rd level hypnotic pattern catching the boys and incapacitating them, taking them out of combat. Killian casts 2nd level Misty Step to teleport past the acolytes and move his position closer to Priestess Jalena and engage her in melee. Killian, Lairion and Krod all engage Jalena afterwards. After a few rounds of combat. Priestess Jalena taking damage from all three members of the party and not having back up from the five acolytes, she is brought to her knees having previously been wounded.]
 
Finally the mighty Priestess brought low! Perhaps now we can wrestle for control of the situation... Wait ! Something is wrong ! By the Gods no ! What the !?...
 
[Upon defeat Priestess Jalena utters an infernal incantation. The five acolytes explode and coat the room with their blood. All tapestries soaked and the floor a sea of red. Some of the entrails coagulate around Priestess Jalena while she's on the floor and with her incantation she reincarnates into a new form. Killian, Lairion and Krod engage in combat once more.]
 
Nooooooo! Damn her and her infernal prayer ! More innocents lost !
 
Note: Her new form is covered in runic ritualistic scaring, exposed wounds and completely warped features. This incarnation of the former priestess has submitted her mortal coil to the murder god known as Baal. With the discovery of the cultist basement in the town and the writings and scriptures we've studied, there's no doubt in my mind this betrayal has been planned for a long time. It can't be a coincidence.
Before her reincarnation she mentioned the orphanage Killian, our old friend Dolen and I grew up in. An orphanage that no one knows what happened too all those years ago. Whether she is speaking for another or she is knowledgeable of the events that transpired is another matter. Twisting facts to suit theories in this instance would not be prudent.
 
[Killian, Lairion and Krod engage the newly transformed Priestess Jalena. Lairion running low on HP cast 2nd level Cure Wounds, Krod casts 1st level Sanctuary, heals with a Superior Healing Potion and studies the priestesses new form, discovering the creature has the following Damage Resistances to the following Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant; Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage from non-magical sources. Killian heals with a Superior Healing Potion.
After a serires of melee and spell attacks Krod is knocked down, Killian chipping away at the enemy is a few Hit Points away from being the same way. Lairion using his magical bow and fires arrows, overcoming the innate magical resistances into the priestess finally bringing the deadly foe down.]
 
Thank the Gods! Whatever that thing is, it's dead! But we're not out the woods yet! Why are the tapestries still unraveling, have we not restored balance. I have a feeling the tapestries are the key. If we don't repair them soon who knows what the consequences they will bring us and the world of Ashien itself...
-Note- Upon Priestess Jalena's body are the following
1. The Codex of Unraveling Stars (now glowing with infernal script). Within the Codex is a ritual to mend veil of reality. Having only a few hours of knowledge of the practices of the order of celestial weavers. Invoking a ritual of this magnitude incorrectly will have dire consequences. Its a good thing I've got two holy men to help...
2. A Bloodied Tapestry. This tapestry must have some significance, three sacred constellations that appear to be misaligned. The cosmic weave is being torn. I wonder if somehow realigning the constellations may help the tear ?
3. A Shattered Silver Thread. (pulsing weakly). The thread itself must be whats left of the Silver Spindle, its seems that the threads magic is waning without the spindle. The Silver Spindle is an important artifact and clearly hold immense magical properties. I hope its not lost I'd love the opportunity to examine and possibly work with such a relic... and of course mend a tear in the fabric of reality.
 
... So what in the various hell's do we do now !