Adam Session 0 -

Adam woke to the sound of other students training. It was his graduation day from the Rallison combat school, and he spent the morning talking with his friends about their future plans. When the time for the ceremony came, he made his way to the central hall, and when he finally reached the front, a voice yelled out an objection. Adam sighed and turned to see Hedgon Rod, a gnome who had been held back for several years. He demanded a duel for his honour, not believing that Adam should graduate. Adam tried to get him to stop to no avail, and was then forced to humiliate him instead.
  Upon graduating, he met with his friends to celebrate before settling down for the night. The next morning, he went to the local Harper branch and asked for archeology jobs, and was pointed to a group of three people in the corner. When he approached them, they introduced themselves as Mound (dragonborn), Harry (pottery lover), and Yvonne (half-orc). They were going to investigate some ruins dedicated to Dorn, god of artificers, as they believed there was something else going on at the site. They agreed to Adam joining them, and told him to meet them the next morning when they would set off.
  The next morning, Adam woke up late and ran to the gates, earning the slight doubt of his new party members, not helped by tripping over a tree root and picking a bad campsite later at night. Yvonne accompanied him during his watch, during which they discussed what Adam knew about the gods.
  The next morning, Adam made sure he woke up on time, and the group made their way to the temple. They found the entrance carved into an alabaster cliff face. Inside were hewn pews, and an inscription that read "Behind these doors we honour those who bound the strength of a god. Their rest has been earned through trial and conflict, may their will protect us evermore."
  Yvonne took out a strange device, saying they got it from Pneuma and it could break the seal. Once activated, it started to very slowly carve a path through the doors. While they waited, Adam asked about Harry's carrer.
  His career started 20 years ago, left Nautimont towards Marcia, was attacked by sea serpent that destoryed the ship, landed on a shipwereck that landed on Falkeen, toook what he could and slowly returned to the mainland, learning boatmanship from the locals, he travelled back to Marcia with nothing but pottery, found they were expensive, was told to go to Teldrun where he learned all about pottery. He then became a pottery appraiser for 5 years, and also forged his own pot with many abilities, including spell casting. Pottery was apparently a great medium for spellcrafting.
  After he was finished, Adam sat in stunned silence until the construct dropped off the door, its task complete. They woke up Mound, who shoved the doors open, revealing a dark room that smelled almost like the desert. Inside, they found a series of mirrors that could be turned to reflect a beam of light entering from the ceiling. Before they could finish the puzzle, a horde of zombies and a mummy attacked them, seriously injuring Harry. Eventually they were able to clear them out, and Adam suggested they should take a break to recover before pressing on. Yvonne insisted they keep going, and so reluctantly the group solved the mirror puzzle, until the light shone upon a wall on the far side of the cave, and a sigil with a series of strange names appeared. Mound approached and tried to push it or do something to no avail, however when Adam approached the sigil glowed and part of the wall slid into the floor.
  Inside, they saw a large room with a burning altar in the centre. The walls were carved unlike the previous cave, with intricate metalwork made to resemble stone grates on the wall. Inside the fire, they could just make out the glimmer of some kind of object. Mound went up to try and see what it was, but couldn't get too close before the fire turned him back. Yvonne suggested that Adam could have a look instead, as the door seemed to have responded to him. After some hesitation, Adam went up and managed to rake out the object with a javelin, finding it to be a necklace with a strange symbol. When he turned around to show the others, Yvonne had suddenly appeared behind him, stabbing him and taking the necklace.
  Mound yelled at Yvonne, asking what he was thinking, while Yvonne laughed maniacally, thanking Adam for getting what he could not, saying that with it he could do something to a tree that would allow him to resummon his master to the Material Plane. He told them the real Yvonne had been dead for a long time, as he shed his skin to reveal their true demonic form. As Adam faded from concsiousness, the last thing he saw was the demon attacking Mound and Potter as they desperately tried to fight back and protect his body.
  Adam found himself in a strange white room, across from a figure with a robe that covered their face. They introduced themselves as Ayrn, telling Adam he had just died. Adam tried to make sense of the situation, and was told that his celestial blood was the reason they could enter, and had allowed the demon to get the sigil. On hearing this, Adam asked if there was anything he could do to fix the situation. Ayrn said that if Adam took the burden he carried, swore an oath and promised to right the sins of the past, he could revive Adam with the strength to defeat the demon. Adam was hesitant but agreed. As he began to return to consciousness, Ayrn told him to seek the tree, and carve out its rotten core.
  Back in reality, Harry had also been knocked unconscious, while Mound was close to following him. The necklace the demon held began to glow brighter and hotter, it dropped it in pain as Adam's skin began to glow, cracking and leaking radiant energy as he was forced upright once again. The demon hissed and cursed him as Adam ran forward and stabbed him with a sword wreathed in holy light. Mound in disbelief asked how many other tricks he had, as he also ran in to help. The demon stumbled in the radiant aura consuming Adam, trying to possess Mound but being knocked back. As Adam stabbed it once again, it turned its attention to Harry lying on the ground. It melted into the shadows and began controlling the unconscious man's body to run for the exit. Adam asked for Mound to throw him towards them, Mound complied and Adam was able to grab them and force the demon out of Harry's body with a protection spell. The demon lashed out, unable to kill Adam before he concentrated the energy surrounding him to blow a hole through the middle of the demon, ending the battle.
  Adam was just barely able to heal Harry before he died, and the three of them slowly tried to process what happened. Adam picked up the sigil the demon had dropped, explaining what he had seen to them. Mound didn't seem to believe him, and Harry was too preoccupied with a crack in his pot. After a brief rest, they slowly made their way back to town, also realising that the gold Yvonne had given them was in fact disguised copper. They spent the evening talking about future plans, with Adam suggesting the two of them could find his parent's in the Pale Forest if they were looking for more work. They agreed and set out the next morning.
  Meanwhile, Adam went to a local church to ask about the symbol he had found, but was unable to find any information. The cleric reccmonded he head to Overbridge for more information, or Thallin as it was closer and on the way. To prepare for the journey, Adam took on some more commisions at the Harpers, meeting several more archeology teams with thankfully less demon encounters, before finally arriving in the small town of Thallin.