"Wow, that was a hard fight," said Mike.
"It sure was," I replied. "But you got there in the end."
"Only just," said Melissa. "I'm down to only four hit points."
"Can we rest here?" asked Carl. "I'm out of spell slots."
"The intense cold precludes good rest, but you can ransack the place," I replied.
"Excellent," said Mike. "Ransacking is good. What do we find?"
"Well, the cult leader has that staff," I said, "but you don't want to touch it. It looks dark and oily, and it gives off a really bad vibe. Carl, even you are repelled by it."
"Well, it's clearly an artifact of the Chained God," said Carl. "Can we, like, break it somehow?"
"Roll arcana," I said.
"Twelve," Carl replied.
"Okay. Its aura seems specifically intended to discourage people from interacting with it. It actively resists your approach."
"Is anybody carrying a ten-foot pole?" he asked.
"Not since first level," Mike replied. Melissa put her hand over her eyes.
"No," I said with a smile. "You don't even want to touch it with one of those."
"So its aura extends even to indirect contact," said Carl thoughtfully. "We could probably, like, drop rocks on it or something. The important thing is that nobody should ever be able to use it again. I'm going to pray for guidance."
"Okay," I said. "You can do that. Melissa, you've found his living quarters."
"Are they fancy?" she asked.
"No," I replied. "There's a fairly battered-looking bed, a chest which contains several of those purple robes, some underthings and at the bottom an old pair of shoes. The robes feel slightly warm to the touch."
"It's still cold in here, right?"
"Savagely," I said. "You can see your breath misting in front of you."
"Can I put one of the robes on?"
"It won't fit over your armour."
"That's okay, we're safe here now that we've stopped the ritual and killed the cultists. I take my armour off," she said.
"Well, the robe isn't all that clean," I said, "but once you've got it on, you no longer feel the cold."
"Can I pick up the staff now?"
"No, you still can't pick up the staff."
"So much for that idea," said Mike.
"Worth a shot," said Melissa.
"Mike," I said, turning my attention to him. "You're checking out the altar in the middle of the room. It too seems to be something that you want to avoid - it's hard for you to even look at it directly. It seems to be adorned with the same kind of symbols that you saw in the Crystal Grotto, and there's something in the middle of the top surface that you just can't look at. Roll a wisdom saving throw."
"Ugh," said Mike. "Six."
"Yeah, you can't look at it even sidelong. It might be a symbol of some kind, but you can't tell."
"Can I take one of the purple robes and throw it over the top?"
"You can do that," I said. "The moment the robe hits the surface of the altar, there's almost a palpable jolt, and suddenly the room is a normal temperature. The edges of the robe flick up as it is sucked into the altar and disappears. In its place there's a small box."
"What kind of box?"
"Like a jewellery box. Something that you'd put a ring or a necklace in. You can look at the top of the altar now. The symbol that you couldn't look at before appears to be a seven-pointed star with a circle in the middle, slightly offset from the centre."
"Is it a symbol that we've seen before?" asked Carl.
"No, this is new. You haven't seen this before."
"Can I take the box?" asked Mike.
"You can," I reply.
"I do," he said. "I open it."
"Roll investigation."
"Booya!" cried Mike. "Nineteen!"
"Okay," I said. "You find the secret catch that pops the lid open. Inside there's a small purple crystal, octahedral in shape. Do you pick it up?"
"I cast detect magic," said Carl.
"I thought you were out of spell slots," I replied.
"Oh yeah," he said.
"That's okay - it's obviously magical," I said. "When you grasp it in your hand and release it, it floats in the air, slowly orbiting your head at a distance of about two feet."
"Cool," said Mike. "What does it do?"
"It doesn't seem to be doing anything, other than revolving and rotating."
"Another one in our list of disappointing magic items," said Carl.
"Yeah, but they always seem to have unexpected effects further down the track," said Mike. "I'm going to keep it for now."
Carl shrugged. "If you have any weird thoughts or impulses, let me know."
"Will do, boss," said Mike. "I stow the box in my backpack."
"No problem," I said. "Carl, your prayers have guided you to what appears to be a writing desk in one corner of the room, not far from the living quarters. It has a hinged lid, which is locked."
"Can anyone find the key?" asked Carl.
"Is it in the chest?" asked Melissa.
"I search the altar. Are there any secret compartments?"
"Carl, you notice a key hanging from a nail just by the desk," I said.
"Oh," said Carl. "Never mind!"
"Mike," I said. "Can you roll to investigate?"
"Fourteen," he said.
"You found a secret compartment in the altar," I said.
"Sweet!" he said, surprised.
"A tentacle-like protrusion rotates, and a hinged door opens to reveal a small compartment. In it, you find the cap and the dagger."
Mike's eyes lit up. "I grab them," he said.
"No, wait!" cried Carl.
"Too late!" I said as Mike realised what he just said. "Mike, you've touched the dagger before, so you're familiar with the images of cutting and bleeding. When you touch the cap, you get a new set of images. These are of... an explicitly sexual nature."
"Oh, well, that's..." he said.
"And not the good kind," I added. "It's pretty disturbing. Can you roll a Charisma save?"
"Ah crap," he said. "Four."
"Yeah, you've blacked out and other guy has taken over. Melissa, I'm afraid you've had to knock him out."
"Ah," said Mike. "I needed a rest anyway. Sorry about that."
"That's okay, but don't even think about doing that again," she replied.
"You recover after a few minutes with no memory of what happened."
"Okay," he said.
"Carl, you can open the desk."
"Excellent," said Carl.
"You find some papers. Most of them seem routinely uninteresting, but there is one missive written in Common that catches your eye." I handed him a piece of paper.
"Our plans are proceeding as prophesied, but we require additional resources," he read. "You must chant the... zorubon? Is that a word?"
"Roll religion."
"Thirteen," he said.
"It's not a term you've heard before," I said.
"Okay. You must chant the zorubon with one more sacrifice before the satellites breed in the beyond. Take care not to release those that wail prematurely."
"That sounds ominous," said Melissa.
"And mysterious," said Carl. "Return the results to me beneath the realm. It's signed E."
"Just E?" asked Melissa.
"Just that," Carl replied, handing her the paper.
"Beneath the realm?" she asked. "Wonder what that means."
"I thought this guy was the boss. Now it looks like he's working for someone else," said Mike.
"There's always a bigger boss," said Melissa.
"Is there anything else interesting about the desk?" asked Carl.
"Can you roll investigate?" I asked.
"Eighteen," he said.
"One of the drawers of the writing desk looks odd. There appears to be some kind of mechanism. It looks like if you turn the handle before opening the drawer, something might happen."
"What sort of thing?"
"Do you try it?"
"I guess... yeah."
"Which direction do you turn the handle?"
"It turns both ways?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied. "It requires a bit of effort to get it out of its middle position, but it appears to turn both ways."
"Okay," he said, and he rolled a die. "Left."
"Okay. The drawer is definitely empty. When you close it, twist the handle ninety degrees to the left until it stops, then pull the drawer open, there is now a book sitting there in the drawer."
"Clever!" he said. "Presumably the other direction was a trap."
"The book appears to be throbbing a little," I said.
"Sorry, it's what?"
"Throbbing. In a slow rhythm, like you can see its heartbeat."
"Okay..."
"Are you taking it out of the drawer?" I asked.
"Apart from the throbbing, what does it look like?" he asked.
"It's fairly small," I said. "About the size of a cheap paperback, but thicker. It's bound in some kind of leather that's tooled and stained to resemble bloody muscle."
"Is it resting on a pressure plate or something?" he asked.
"Not that you can see. It's just sitting in the drawer. Throbbing."
Carl thought for a moment. "Do it," said Melissa. "It could be very important."
"Wom... wom... wom..." I said.
"I grab it," said Carl.
"Okay. As soon as you touch it..."
"I knew it!" he cried.
"As soon as you touch it," I continued, "you get a flash of images, much greater and more vivid than the ones that you have experienced before. A series of scenes flash through your mind - images of carnage, destruction, and death. Can you make a Wisdom save and a Charisma save?"
"Fifteen for the Wisdom, eleven for the Charisma," he said.
I turned to Melissa and Dave. "What are you doing?" I asked them.
"I'm standing very still with my hands behind my back," said Mike.
"I'm watching Carl, and I'm ready to knock him out too if he requires it," said Melissa.
"Carl has fallen to the ground, twitching spasmodically and foaming slightly at the mouth. It lasts for about ten seconds, then subsides. He's still clutching the book."
"Is he okay?" asked Melissa.
"Am I okay?" asked Carl.
"You're okay now," I said. "But that was intense. You're still a bit shaky."
"What about the book?" he asked.
"You can read it. It seems to be some kind of diary, though it is interspersed with what look like diagrams, formulas and what appear to be incantations. It's very old."
"I'll need to take my time studying this," he said. "Hopefully it'll tell us what to do with the staff. We can rest here now, right?"
"Yes. It's still cool, but it's no longer that intense cold. Of course, there are still a dozen corpses lying in pools of blood on the floor."
"Oh, that doesn't bother me," he said.
"It bothers me," said Melissa. "Mike, you might want to get your guy to help me clean this up."
"No," said Mike. "That guy's in the doghouse after what he did. I'll help you myself."