Alair - Holy Wars |
 DM Note: Only Allan and Aimo this session, so Ghlaads hung back a bit and provided magical artillery for the most part. |
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4. After a few good wallops at the iron doors closing the end of the trapped passage, the three decided they weren't going to get through them and resolved to try a different part of the keep cellars.
Returning to the sigil room where they'd encountered the three ghasts, they crossed it and took the southern passage, listening carefully as they went. Ghlaads was already beginning to feel the effects of the sickness inflicted by the ghast, so took rearguard armed with her spells and crossbow.
10. A doorway opened to their left, and Eigia and Hougaard spread out into the abandoned cells formerly inhabited by the monks of Immshin. All still held the crumbling remains of their furniture and possessions, suggesting that the abandonment by the monks had been sudden. In the litter on the floor of the north-eastern cell, Hougaard found a rusty but intact iron key, which he tucked into a pocket.
A corridor opened out of the far end, so Egia turned to call her sister after them. As she did so, Hougaard noticed a movement at the end of the dormitory. Two spectral figures began to drift up through the stone floor, heading for the two adventurers.
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Egia shrugged her bow off her shoulder and nocked an arrow, letting fly at one of the floating shapes, but was disappointed to see it zip straight through without making contact. She hefted her sword and tried to turn the undead back with the power of her Goddess, but to no avail. Ghlaads loosed a Magic Missile and nodded in satisfaction as the bolts of magical energy tore ragged holes in the advancing spectres.
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Leaping agilely in, Hougaard wielded his quarterstaff and swung at one of the shadows, but it sank through the floor and out of his reach.
Egia and Hougaard glanced around wildly, trying to locate the shadows as they backed towards the exit where Ghlaads was standing. As they reached the wizard, the two shadows rose out of the ground and lunged at the intruders. Hougaard struck again, his staff tearing the tenuous integument of the undead creature, and sprang out of reach. Egia loosed a last arrow at the same creature as it approached, and the missile ripped the shadow to twirls of vapour. She dropped her bow and ripped her sword from its' scabbard.
| DM Note: Ghlaads has had her Strength drained by 1 point of temporary damage. |
Ghlaads levelled her crossbow at the second spectre as it bore down on her and loosed an ineffectual bolt, then she too dropped her missile weapon and drew her sword as the shadow lunged at her. The misty fingers of its' incorporeal hand passed through her chest with no resistance, and she sagged as an icy cold sensation of weakness spread through her muscles. The shadow faded into the wall just as all three attacked, and two swords and a staff cut nothing more than empty air.
Warned by some instinct, Egia spun around just as the shade drifted out of the opposite wall, and struck again, a full-blooded two-handed strike with Farrell's Sword - and dashed the last undead to shreds.
Once they had their breath back, Egia turned to Ghlaads and sighed. "I suppose we'd better sort this out," she commented, and worked a Cure Disease by the grace of Belisama. Ghlaads stretched and smiled; she still felt weakened, but the creeping sickness of the fever was gone.
16. They moved on through the far side of the dormitory, finding a junction opening into two large rooms. The northern room, once the kitchen, showed no signs of recent use or traffic. A few kitchen implements - none servicable - lay scattered around; Hougaard noticed that there were practically no knives to be seen. Some half-rotted chairs and benches were also overturned on the floor. The most disturbing sight was the massive, overturned cauldron, out of which had spilled at least a dozen skeletal human hands... all right hands.
17. The southern chamber looked to have once been some sort of storage area. Crumbled barrels and crates lay all about the floor, along with the long-rotted remains of foodstuffs and other supplies. Off to the left a wooden door and most of the stone wall that once separated the main portion of the room from a smaller closet looked to have been battered to the ground, not recently. Beyond the ruined wall, the adventurers could see a privy. Faded dried blood was splattered against the wall over the latrine in a horizontal line - about neck height for a user.
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Hougaard squinted at the horrific stain, and estimated which hole in the latrine was likely the one upon which the unfortunate victim had been sitting. Peering hesitantly down, he saw a cluster of bones huddled among rags of cloth; almost certainly the body of the victim, though without any sign of a skull. A glint of gold caught his eye, and he fished around with his quarterstaff. eventually coming up with a golden pendant necklace marked with the symbol of Immshin. Egia frowned at this further symbol of the heretical old religion, but didn't object when Hougaard pocketed it. It was agreed that this was to be a shared pice of loot, to be donated to the Church if no better use for it appeared.
| DM Note: Yes, there was a sound of wind at this point, sorry, I knew it was there somewhere, but you'd still have gone in, wouldn't you? Yes, you would. |
11. Returning to the passage, the party pressed on south to the corner, and around it to the antechamber. This small chamber boasted a large stone door at the far end, adorned with the symbol of Immshin. The doorframe was elaborately carved with images of swirling vortices, and a large key-hole was set into the stone frame next to the door. The sight of this immediately reminded Hougaard of the key he'd found in the dormitory, and he produced it and slotted it into the lock. It slid in easily, and with a twist a click was heard and the stone door slid gratingly up into the ceiling, revealing a long passage leading east. A faint sound of wind could be heard from the other end.
Before going through, Egia selected a chunk of rock big enough to jam the door and left it across the threshold.
12. Moving carefully down the passage - leaving Ghlaads in the antechamber - Egia and Hougaard came to the doorway to a small chamber twenty feet square. The walls were decorated with carvings of symbols and motifs of the winds and some figure, presumably Immshin. The stone altar was obviously old and completely covered in carvings; two tarnished censers hung on either side. Kneeling at the altar was a figure in heavy blue robes belted by a black sash. A sky-blue staff lay on the ground next to it. The figure appeared to be praying, though no sound is heard since the whispering of the wind.
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Egia nocked an arrow, preparing to loose at the first sign of hostile movement, but Hougaard took more precipitate action, bounding out of the corridor into the room and throwing a leaping punch at the back of the figure's neck. No-one was more surprised than he when - ten feet from his target - he was brought to a stunning halt by an invisible Wall of Force that blocked the final five feet of the chamber.
The figure at the altar slowly rose and turned, lifting the staff, and as it did its hood fell away, revealing the creature for what it was. Dried flesh was pulled tight over its' bones and its' face was little more than a skull. Dark pits stared out from empty eye sockets and skeletal hands gripped the staff. A key ring with a single key hung from the sash, and a holy symbol of Immshin was draped around its' neck.
Hougaard blinked as an arrow smashed itself to fragments against the forcewall next to his head. Egia lowered the bow, frustrated.
The creature's jaw opened and bright pinpoints of light appeared deep in its eye-sockets. It emitted a loud, shrieking howl and screamed "Intruders! You dare defile the sanctity of this holy shrine?" It turned back to the altar and raised the staff above its' head with both hands. "Immshin!" it shrieked, "I beseech thee! Smite these intruders with thy holy wrath!"
The wind in the hall picked up and grew until it was a dull roar, then a howling windstorm, lashing Egia and Hougaard's cloaks and hair. In the instant before Hougaard's lantern was snuffed out, they saw thick rolling mist pouring from the censers and black smoke curling up from the altar and beginning to take shape as an air elemental. Egia could feel waves of hate for her, personally, coming off the robed figure, and she knew it to be evil - though the elemental was not. Then the shrine was plunged into darkness and wind, over which the only audible sound was the shrieking laughter of the undead abbot.
| DM Note: Searing Light only needs a ranged touch attack, and they were running away which was a +2 bonus and the Mighty Undead Abbot rolled a 4. Monsters must dread being recruited into dungeons I'm running. |
Egia, who - thanks to her celestial heritage - was able to see, grabbed Hougaard's arm and pulled him back out of the shrine and into the passage, and the pair began to sprint back towards the antechamber where Ghlaads was waiting. As they did so, the corridor was lit up for a moment by a blaze of illumination as the bolt of a Searing Light, aimed at Egia, blasted past them and on up the corridor to flash past Ghlaads, half scaring her to death. She ducked out of sight behind the doorframe as her companions tumbled out, Egia kicking her boulder free as Hougaard hurriedly pulled the key from his pocket. Jamming it into the keyhole, he twisted savagely and the door rumbled down to block the passage behind them.
Breathing heavily, they considered their options. Not only was the abbot undead, but he was still a spellcaster. It was going to take all three of them to tackle this. He was solid, unlike the shadows, so their weapons would bite... Hougaard gestured for silence. Faintly audible from the other side of the door were the sound of bony footsteps clicking up the passage.
Ghlaads retreated to the far side of the antechamber, where she could take cover around the corner of the far corridor, and spanned her crossbow, while Egia and Hougaard spread themselves out one each side of the stone door. When everyone was ready, Hougaard turned the key again and the door began to open.
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As soon as it reached knee height, Ghlaads cast a Fireball and sent the incandescent bead shooting through the gap and past the abbot's legs to burst in the corridor beyond with a dull whoomph. Flames licked out through the opening and a high, jarring scream of anger from the undead creature showed that it was displeased at least by the fire. The door continued to rise, and the two braced themselves to strike. As it stepped through, they lashed out simultaneously from both sides. Hougaard's aim was thrown off by the robe's hood and his punch struck only cloth, but Egia's sword slashed across the bony legs, sending chips of bone flying.
Ignoring both, the abbot levelled a finger at Ghlaads, who was bringing her crossbow up with frantic haste. The abbot spat a single word in its' harsh, jagged voice and the wizard stopped moving, motionless in the midst of the movement she'd been making. Satisfied she was out of the fight, the abbot spun on Egia and struck with his staff, delivering a blow driven and enhanced by its' hate for the goodness of the paladin as well as the desecration she'd visited on the altar the abbot had revered in life. The blow rocked her back, but she responded with a strike of her own, the power of her Goddess flowing down her weapon. "I am the blade-bearer of the faith!" she grated. From behind the abbot Hougaard leaped in the air and struck with an elbow as he fell towards it, blade and punch landing in the same moment to shatter the dry, black bones.
The abbot disintegrated into a pile of bone fragments loosely gathered in a scorched, decaying blue robe, and a small key, which Hougaard picked up to add to the large iron one he already had.
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Session Date: 20th December 2012 |
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