The Fallen World

Sanctum of Sethariel

4 min read

Sanctum #1 — the site the Monastery of the Dawn was built over, two days north of Halwa in the high desert. The first sanctum any of the party has entered, and per Estelle, the door to the prison of Sethariel, Voice of the Dawn.

Getting There

Due north into the high desert with Mamud: one brutal day to his oasis, one more to the site. The desert crossing left most of the party immensely fatigued in both directions. (S5)

The Site (all S5)

The gash. A rocky area split by a chasm roughly 100 ft wide × 500 ft long × 200 ft deep, with old, unmaintained stairs carved into the edge. Near the stairs, pitons chiselled in moderately recently — within the last 5–10 years.

The doors. The temple is carved into the chasm wall, facing east. The doors — thick, heavy, metal-bound wood — hang open because they were battered open, internal bar broken, apparently by a siege weapon. This is older than the 5–10-year-old traces. Flagstones past the threshold are crushed in a pattern suggesting something heavy walked on them.

The dead. About two dozen charred corpses on the far side of the chasm from the doors — already old when they were burned, piled on a makeshift bonfire that ran out of fuel. Probably an attempted religious cremation, a few years ago. The living quarters north and south were stripped, apparently for fuel.

The temple. Corridors north and south of living quarters. A tall columned central hall to the west, walls painted with scenes from the Book of Light — the heavy footfall divots continue through it, to a hole smashed in the wall. The altar on the west wall is smashed. Side rooms: one that held long tables (hauled out), one that was probably a library, and a room off the library with a torn-open wall hiding a small chamber behind it — this damage dates to the 5–10 year incursion, not the old one.

The tunnel. Past the smashed wall: a roughly worked, narrow stone passage with stairs down, older than the temple above it, breathing cold air. The cold deepens far past anything natural — the party could not stay in it long. Haroun detected faint background magic and strong evil.

The octagon. ~100 feet down: a 50-ft octagonal chamber with 50-ft ceilings, smooth walls of dark purple stone, almost black. At its centre sits the abbot — a talking corpse in clerical vestments. Scattered on the floor, shards of a translucent purple gem, confirmed by Haroun’s magical sight after the party retreated and Gnaeus teleported a torch down.

Two Incursions

The stonework records two separate break-ins, and the party can date both:

  1. ~100 years ago — the siege-broken doors, the crushed flagstones, the smashed altar and wall, the dead monks. This is the destruction of the Monastery of the Dawn. Per The Abbot: “the red star rose, they broke the door…”
  2. ~5–10 years ago — the pitons on the cliff, the torn-open wall hiding the small chamber, and (a few years ago) the amateur cremation. Consistent with the Order of the Owl expedition Mamud guided, and with the party’s assumption that someone took something out of that hidden chamber.

What It Is

Per Estelle (S5): sanctums sit at confluences of magic and predate the Empire, the Church, and the Old Elven Empire. This one is the Dawn sanctum. The purple gem was a gateway from the physical to the spiritual — and it is broken. The “chains” the abbot mentions may be the bindings of Sethariel. See The Six Voices.

Status

Open, unguarded, and occupied. The abbot did not pursue the party past the temple entrance. The gem shards are still on the floor. Whatever the chains held is not described as being in the octagon.

(Naming: Estelle gave the name as “Sethariel” and the Voice as “Sathariel” in the same conversation; the wiki uses Sethariel until corrected.)

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