The next morning, the storm had finally subsided.
Krystoff, helped Bjørn with some training. The Ulfen Ranger wished to improve the accuracy of his combination of Hammer and Hatchet strikes without sacrificing speed. So he was working on flurrying attacks against the Paladin, who kept his shield up, forcing Bjørn to target the openings in his guard without slowing down his attacks.
Meanwhile, Betty prepared her Alchemical concoctions for the day, Andromeda and Chorizo communed with Nature, and Alosrin studied spells from his Spellbook while enjoying a nice cup of coffee.
Once they were ready, they travelled North to the Temple. They reached a roughly 60 foot cliff with a structure on the top. The side facing them had a terrace being held up by 3 pillars.
Before heading up, Alosrin sent up Slip to investigate.
What he saw was that under each of the 3 pillars, as well as on a fourth pillar that wasn't viewable from below. Someone had attached barrels of explosive gunpowder. There was also lines of gunpowder going from the barrels somewhere to the North.
The intent of blowing up the temple was clear, and the party rushed to stop it.
Alosrin sent up a magical ripe, that he commanded to tie itself to one of the pillars. Bjørn and Krystoff started climbing, while Alosrin and Betty send up their familiars, Slip and Gumball, and Andromeda pulled out her Jade Serpent Wondrous Figurine, and summoned a Giant Viper whom she ordered to start climbing up the left side of the wall.
Gumball brought with him a Frost vial, which he placed on top of the rightmost barrel to minimize the damage were it to explode and slip attempted to dig through the line of gunpowder.
Once the viper got up, it disrupted the line on the left most Barrel. Alosrin shot a beam of acid at the far right barrel, burning through the ropes holding it, which made it fall down the cliff, inertly.
Andromeda cast Aqueous Orb on the middle Barrel, making wetting it and it's components. And the Viper disrupted the line in the center barrel.
Meanwhile, Bjørn and Krystoff finally made it to the top, and started making their way around the Temple.
Krystoff was the first to see Gerhard Pendergrast, holding a box of tindertwigs. "YOU AGAIN!" he shouted exasperated, and laughed as he lit the line of gunpowder on fire, expecting a huge explosion, and instead getting nothing.
He started running towards the left most barrel, with the intention of lighting it up manually. But Andromeda moved her Aqueous orb over it as well, making it inert.
Meanwhile, Chorizo and Betty Climbed up the cliff, while Alosrin and Andromeda held on to the rope so Betty, Chorizo and the Viper could pull them up.
Frustrated, Gerhard pulled his Blunderbuss, and pointed it at Krystoff and Bjørn. But instead of shooting them, he instead shot at one of the Temple's doors, who until then had been covered by some type of clay. He rushed into the Temple. Krystoff followed, and although he was struggling to see due to all the dust the exploded door picked up, he noticed a large creature deep within. A colorful feathered serpent uncoiled itself. This was a worshipped creature, and this was it's temple.
Krystoff put a hand on Gerhard's chest, hoping to stop him, but he resisted, and as he looked passed Krystoff and saw the Feathered Serpent.
The Quetz Couatl shot a Hydraulic Torrent at the two humans who dared invade it's home. Krystoff tried to protect Gerhard from the blast, but he would have none of it and ran away, knowing he didn't need to outrun the creature as much as just outrun Krystoff and Bjørn.
Krystoff slowly started backing away to the entrance of the Temple, and the Serpent attacked him with a thousand razor sharp feathers, causing bleeding cuts all over his body.
Bjørn took chase of Gerhard, and the explorer used his whip to swing away on the branches of the trees. Not without flipping the Ulfen man off as he left.
On the opposite side, Alosrin caught up and saw Gerhard swinging away.
When Krystoff exited the Temple, the Snake slithered passed him and made it's way to Gerhard, catching him in the air in it's massive mouth, and immediately ripping off the top hard of his body, devouring it.
As it was done swallowing and the party watched in horror, it looked at them and spoke "Dare, come, Sanctum. Go, live. Stay, consume."
As the group showed the godlike creature they meant no offense, and it detected that the party in fact saved its Temple, the Quetz Couatl entered their minds, showing them all flashes of events worth hundreds of years of Mwangi History in a matter of seconds. It also granted them three scrolls and a ring of electricity resistance that Andromeda equipped.
Once done, the creature returned to it's rest and sealed off the Temple.
The party continued their journey and set Alosrin's Cozy Cabin for the night.