Grave MarkersGrave Markers DM Note: Cheesy Fudge was abandoned in character introduction here; they were just here. |
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After some discussion, lots were drawn for the magical mace formerly belonging to Abbot Denarius, and it fell to the newly-arrived paladin Benedicta, who tucked it away against future need.The corpses of the other possessed monks yielded no valuables, and were soon burning merrily on a bonfire in the middle of the abbey.
Kry'Ojenix took the dead warrior Gamaros' mailshirt and Ozymandias brewed up some poison as the rest of the party looked around the now-quiet abbey grounds. All their thoughts were turning to the concept of loot, despite the blank drawn with the monks' corpses.
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Still atop the chapel, Tallan clambered down the scaffolding slightly and examined one of the building's windows. The quality of the glass wasn't high, and it was stained and decorated, blocking much in the way of a view inside. Quietly, she knocked a small pane out and peered through. The inside was dark and dusty-looking, and not much was visible; what she could see suggested the place hadn't been damaged or ransacked.
Down below, Kry'Ojenix and Lord Brellmone, their muscles enhanced by Strength spells, approached the heavy wooden doors of the chapel. Counting down from three they kicked savagely at the doors. The effects were greater than they had expected. Chunks of wood bounced down the nave, leaving a few splintered bits hanging from the hinges. Slightly embarrased by their excessive force, the pair peered into the chapel, joined by their comrades who'd been attracted by the noise. Slowly and cautiously, they entered the building.
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The church was quiet, undamaged slightly dusty. It radiated a strong sensation of peace, wholesomeness and light; sanctity fortified against the Darkness. Some of the party - notably those who had harboured the clearest thoughts of plunder - felt rather unwelcome and watched. Tallen noticed that the columns bore little shelves on which offerings of food - mostly apples - which presumably the monks had maintained. They were now sadly decayed. Reaching up, she cleared one, and replaced the offerings with the eight apples the unfortunate Karsen had collected. A warm, comforting feeling of having done the right thing washed through her.
A few minutes after they'd entered, a shimmer in the air resolved itself into a humanoid, female form, indistinct and formed of different colours. “I am Ralisha,” she said in a strangely resonant voice, “Spirit of the New Planting. My mistress sends me to ask your purpose here in her fane?”
There was some shuffling of feet and coughing, before Ozymandias spoke up and explained that they had fought and defeated the demons outside. Ralisha bowed her head. "My poor congregation," she said sadly. "May they find peace." Bendicta stepped forward, and greeted the spirit in the name of the Cult of the Light to which she belonged. Ralisha bowed back, returning the greeting with respect and approval.
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While all this was going on, Rellik and Kry'Ojenix had quietly slipped past into the rest of the chapel, and were eying the valuable altar furniture. Reaching the far end under the magnificent glazed dome, they gazed up at a life-sized statue of the Goddess Calera herself, beautifully made and probably worth a lot of money.
"What happened here?" asked the dwarf barbarian Sergio of Ralisha. Sadly, the spirit related the events of recent weeks; how monks started to become corrupted, how some others had gone to investigate and come back the same, how finally Abbot Denarius had taken his senior monks and gone forth to face the evil - and been utterly outmatched. "And now," she said happily, "you have braved the graveyard and slain the master demon!"
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There was a heavy pause. Then; "er, what?" said Rative. "We haven't even been in the graveyard," said Bendicta slowly. Ozymandias recalled his glimpse of the graveyard from atop the scaffolding. "It didn't look right, somehow, I know that," he said. Ralisha's face seemed to fall. "Oh," she said. "Then to complete the redemption of this sorrowful place, you must face the monster in the graveyard." Tallan spoke up. "What can you tell us about it? What kind of demon is it?" Ralisha shook her head. "My place has been here, to protect the chapel from the corrupted; I haven't left the building since I arrived here." She paused. "From the results, I would think it is some kind of demon of Possession."
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The party exchanged glances. They were all-in after the fight with the demon-monks, although nobody remained actually injured, and magical energies were greatly drained. Kry'Ojenix, returning from his explorations, spoke up. "May we rest here?" Ralisha smiled. "Of course you may," she said warmly. "You will be safe here; I shall watch over you." Rellik muttered to himself at that; so much for quietly collecting a few loose valuables over night. He turned his mind, as did Ozymandias, to the preparation of poisons. The others settled themselves to sleep, prayer or study as their training dictated. The priests Brellmone and Rative prepared Holy Water, and Tallan climbed to the upper windows again to look out over the graveyard. After that she cast a Guards and Wards on the chapel. Ozymandias smirked sceptically at the gap where the doors had once been, but the expression slid off his face as the misty magic of the spell, seeming to interweave with and emphasize the protective magics Ralisha had already laid down, gathered the pieces of the doors and reassembled them, suspended in a matrix of silvery light that filled in the spaces where splinters were lost.
The next morning dawned grey and rather ominous. There was little conversation as spells were readied, armour straps tightened and weapons checked. Kry'Ojenix cast Shield on himself and Strength spells on most of the party, while Lord Brellmone invoked the Blessing of Nolat Lord of Swords on their endeavour. Thus fortified, and accompanied by the spirit Ralisha, the heroes entered the graveyard and looked around.
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Benedicta and Trixis Shadom, the two paladins, opened their senses and surveyed the place, alert for incondign influences. As the others watched, both staggered slightly, their faces paling and eyes widening. To their sensitive eyes, evil flowed and roiled from the centre of the graveyard like black, oily smoke, concentrated enough that watching it felt like being hit in the face like a hammer.
The graveyard was a square area of plain grassy ground, bordered with a low stone wall and dotted with plain wooden gravemarkers. In the centre, however, bulked a blocky stone mausoleum, ten feet square, the stonework suggesting strongly the same builder as the chapel. Over the sealed stone doors were the words: "Crispin Markandus, First Abbot of Dalethorpe Abbey"
Tallan placed herself at the side of the door, prepared to cast through the doorway, while Kry'Ojenix and Sergio launched kicks at the stone doors. Once again, the Strength spells had enhanced them beyond what they had expected - bits of shattered stone went flying into the square inside of the mausoleum. Kry'Ojenix and Sergio bailed out to each side while Tallan reached around the doorframe and sent a Fireball zipping into the interior.
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The blast radius of a Fireball is much bigger than the space inside Markandus' tomb; and as expected, a tongue of flames blasted outwards from the aperture. It wasn't, however, anywhere as large as it should have been, leading Tallan to suspect that there was somewhere else for the flames to go to. Sure enough, when they looked cautiously inside a couple of minutes later, there was a large, ragged hole in the earthern floor of the tomb.
Bits of coffin, bone, and cloth were scattered around the edges, but by the look of them, they hadn't been thrown to the sides by the Fireball; the spell didn't generate that much pressure. Abbot Markandus' rest had been disturbed by whatever had excavated the hole.
Scrambling inside, the party peered into the hole, while Tallan, Rative, Kry'Ojenix and Ozymandias covered them from out in the graveyard. What they found, amidst the many small fires, was a ragged pit 7' across, with a slope of rubble at the far side allowing access to whatever lay below. Bendicta, Sergio, Trixis Shadom, Brellmone and Rellik edged around to where they could see down the slope, peering into the darkness below.
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While they did this, the vampire Tallan concentrated, listening for the heartbeat of living beings that guided her kind to their sustenance. She could feel several below the tomb; a few normal and human-like, many more of the unnaturally accelerated rate of the demon-monks - and one huge, slow, powerful beat that was anything but human. Hearing heartbeats from under a graveyard was always a bad sign; but this last heartbeat worried the warrior vampire. In a low, urgent voice, she called the news out to the others.
Kry'Ojenix cast his newly learned ESP spell and ranged into the depths. The thickness of ground between himself and the lurkers beneath was enough to blur the results, but hunger and hate were clear enough. The thoughts of the big heartbeat were more worrying; slow, and roiling with malice and complexity.
Benedicta called upon the Light to guide her, and a radiance appeared on the crest of her steel helm, brightening until the dark chamber was a light as the outside - lighter, for it provided the light of a summer's day. Then a cry from Tallan brought everyone to the ready - the demon-monk heartbeats were on the move. A few seconds later shadowy movements appeared in the pit, and more of the possessed charged to the attack.
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Several of the party within the tomb got a couple of arrows off before the demons closed, and one went down. After that, they were claw-to-blade with the living intruders, with the watching archers outside unable to get a clear shot; the demons were largely still underground, leaning up to slash at the mortals who had to lean down to fight them.
Trixis Shadom had a bow drawn, and loosed point-blank at the oncoming demons, slaying another one despite the difficulty of combat archery at close quarters. "Forward!" cried Brellmone, slashing with his sword, but the steep angle spoiled his strike as it did Rellik's. Benedicta struck home and slew her foe, but only dodged a return strike with the speed of an elf.
Missiles lashed through the fight as the archers outside, trusting their aim not to let them down in the blur of a bloody melee, shot into combat. Tallan and Kry'Ojenix slew their foes, while Rative hesitated, looking for the perfect shot.
Recovering his weapon from an overheavy swing, Sergio realized his guard was down just as a clawed hand arched over his shield and down on top of his head. The terrible blow split his skull to the teeth and the dwarf warrior toppled forwards and down into the pit, out of reach of the others, his life-blood splattering. Tallan and Kry'Ojnix each accounted for another demon as Ralisha stepped forwards and stretched her arm out over the pit, concentrating. Suddenly, the scrubby grass and weeds mixed in with the rubble sprouted, growing and twining before the party's startled eyes. Thick tendils of stem lifted, hesitated, then plunged into Sergio's head in and around the wound. More growth submerged the upper half of his inert form in fringes of green.
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Only one demon-monk was left, lashing out with its' claws to try and get past his guard. Ozymandias shot at it with his hand crossbow, but with the accuracy that was becoming his trademark managed to shoot Sergio's prone body instead, shattering one of his legs. Ralisha rolled her insubstantial eyes, extended her other hand out over the pit, and the strange plant growths extended across to envelop his leg as well.
Parrying high, Rellik switched angles and swept his blade low and across, gutting the last demon-monk, and the battle was over. The party glanced around, gasping for breath, then down at the new bush that had been Sergio with some trepidation. The pause was broken by a yell from Tallan as she sprinted away from her position - "The big heartbeat is on the move!"
Session Date: 26th Jan 2016