Students of Life & Death #10

The Students sent Jarro off to warn Thothrind in Wayward that Middalah was coming to kill him

Afterwards, they made their way down to Thalassa at the bottom of Elfhome Lake in order to find the relic indicated hidden there by the riddle from Thothrind

Upon arriving, they found all the Triton of Thalassa were hidden within the city, and a massive beast was circling the city, which Gwenna and Val identified as Petera, the creature that lived within the canals of Trine

The group managed to find Tawhito, an elder of the Triton, who was helping others hide from the beast

Upon carefully scouting around the city, distracting the Petera as they went, the Students found a man in golden armor, and upon healing him from unconsciousness, discovered his name was Sir Sam of the Golden Light, an apparent follower of John Gold.

• Sir Sam explained that he'd helped bring the Petera to Thalassa with another Triton named Spike, who he'd met in Trine. Spike wanted revenge on Thalassa for being outcast and the two spent years tracking, taming, and luring Petera to the lake from Trine, where they then set it loose to feed as it saw fit

Deneb used an illusion to make Spike look like a delicious meal to the Petera and the beast turned on its former handler and destroyed the cache of food used to control it when Spike attempted to hide there

During the confusion, the Students sought out a religious site hinted at in the riddle, a place where the Divinaxiom claimed a divine presences was attempting to hide itself

• The group found a statue of a man, hands on hips, staring at the sky, and sensed multiple magical presences within

• Gore attempted to break the statue's head open, and the statue reacted, causing Gore and Deneb to lose consciousness, while the others were spared the effects of the statue's power

As soon as Gore was unconscious, the statue came to life, claiming to be Lot, a god of creation

• He also claimed to have the relic they sought, a set of armor, and happily gave it over on the condition they never bring the Divinaxoim back to that place ever again

The group returned to Thalassa and Tawhito to decide how next to proceed.