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Day Seven.
Briarsgate. The Church of Merikka (21) Night. Saturday, October 22nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty
The heroes invade the dark cathedral wherein abhorrent, unnameable rites transpire and transgress against Man and God.
Telkis pulls back his bowstring to his closed right eye and looses deadly missiles that make no sound as they impale a depraved acolyte through the neck and an outstretched palm, killing him instantly. (A7) Moogeye fires her crossbow into the black robed coven and loses sight of it. Avril nocks an arrow in her Elven bow and then holds fire, not wanting to risk harming the captive woman. Instead, she joins the charge.
Avril, Grothnak, Ingrid and Pelias race into the eerie, surreal territory of sonic void and are rendered deaf and mute. But their cold, bared steel does not hesitate.
Pelias shears open a cultist from shoulder to groin, spraying crimson blood as the human beneath the black robes screams silently with his final breath. (A8)
Grothnak splits a skull without a satisfying wet thunk, and the disciple of darkness falls beneath the unforgiving justice of Vadok.(A10)
Ingrid’s iron mace bludgeons an adherent of abomination into unconsciousness without a whisper. (A9)
Avril swings wide at a cultist near the defiled altar of Merikka and then suddenly, the Elven maiden crumples to the ground as if stricken! Flailing and screaming soundlessly, she tries to claw off an unseen power attacking her skin and flesh!
Suddenly, Grothnak feels all wrong. His skin crawls and his gut twists inside him. His gauntlets don’t fit anymore. He tears them off and watches in astonishment as his hands grow claws and green scales! Somehow, horrifically, the half-orc warrior is undergoing a startling, painful transformation! He is becoming one of the reptilian serpent men!
Grothnak senses the walls closing in around him. An unseen malevolent force threatens to seize his mind and flesh and enthrall him to servitude, like the other villagers of Briarsgate. Filled with shock, dread and terror, he must retreat, to save his life and his sanity!
(No attack possible this coming round. You must take full movement to escape this chamber. You may choose in what direction you leave.)
Meanwhile, Bo, Moogeye and Telkis are overcome with a startling realization: their friends are compromised. They are all part of the sinister conspiracy of Briarsgate! Paranoia, fear and loathing boil over.
Their friends are in truth agents of the Abominable God, in league with these hooded devils, plotting black treachery. They have been deluded, betrayed, and now was their last chance to act to survive.
(In the coming round you must attack the nearest fellow investigator of Briarsgate before they get you.)
Ingrid looks down and sees writhing coils of serpents slithering over the violated woman and the hooded malefactors near her!
(Ingrid must use her coming action to attack a cultist)
Mouser and Pelias do not perceive Grothnak's transformation, nor any serpents near Ingrid.
The element of surprise passes. The curving daggers of the cultists hunger for the heroes' death!
Actions?!
Map:
Map of Church of Merikka 7.jpg (300.41 KiB) Viewed 1478 times
One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas indicate visibility.
Rolls and Rulings:
The PCs managed to break down door in the same "round" as the silence spell. So given that, and the cultists' intense focus on their heinous ritual, I will rule the cultists were surprised.
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/2: AC 7, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 5, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: AC 4, HP 25/28 Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 15/16, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl Long Bo, Human Druid 3: AC 6, HP 20/22, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 1/1 3rd lvl Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 11/11 Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 17/19, Laying Hands: 1/1 Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: AC 0, HP 23/28
PC Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias. Silence 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 5 rounds.
Pelias, focused on ridding this church of evil, remains oblivious to the thoughts of his companions. Instead, he advances upon the nearest acolyte (A6), stumbling on the stairs of the altar as he does so.
Ingrid shakes her head in confusion, trying to clear her mind of the ensuing madness. She grips her mace with both hands and charges the nearest scion of darkness (A11).
How could I have been so blind! thinks Telkis, startled by the sudden realization of the evil that had been right next to him all along!! He drops his bow, pulls out Cranach and does his best to bean Long Bo, the traitorous Druid, right in the solar plexus.
Bo does not like getting hit in the solar plexus. He tries to trump the attack by swinging back at the traitorous little gnome, missing him badly with his spear.
What is happening here? Were you all in on this the whole time?
From the shadows Grey watches the situation deteriorate. He remembers from the cellar encounter the fear the serpent men inspired. Was that happening now? The thief doesn't see any reptiloids; perhaps they are in the form of men, or lurking nearby?
He takes out his sling, lobs a stone at a cultist (A6), then darts behind the column quickly before he sees if he even hit.
The Church of Merikka (21) Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Seven. Night. Saturday, October 22nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty
Before the profaned altar, in the silenced chapel of unimaginable depravity, madness takes hold.
Grothnak can only watch as his hands undergo a violent transformation.
hand.jpg (70.22 KiB) Viewed 1433 times
He alone can sense the dread presence of the heinous, unnameable god.
the unholy abomination.jpg (233.76 KiB) Viewed 1433 times
That atrocious, evil presence bends the half-orc's very flesh to Its horrible will. Before Grothnak's mind can likewise be recast, and his fearsome weapon turned against his allies, he races east to the nearest exit for the sake of his friends. He bursts into a long marble hall of stained glass that glows with spectral moonlight (10).
There, the malevolent power that warped Grothnak's form into that of a serpent man abates. His shape shifts back to normal, and he has free will once more.
Meanwhile, inside the shrine of horrors, Long Bo, Moogeye and Telkis are overcome by bloodthirsty paranoia, and set to work killing each other. Telkis the gnome drives his morningstar deep into the druid's gut! (-6hp). Long Bo stabs back murderously with his spear, and Telkis beats down the thrusting blade. Moogeye fires a crossbow bolt that hurtles directly between the two of them.
Suddenly, the paranoiac fever breaks. They all return to their senses.
At the desecrated altar, vipers undulate around Ingrid. So do bristling daggers and bludgeons. Gleaming with candlelight, they emerge from black robes and attack! In a frenzied instant, the priestess of Trithereon rains down bonebreaking, savage blows at the nearest cultist (A11), beating him into unconsciousness without a sound. Then she sees the writhing snakes are gone.
Avril's wide eyes are filled with adversaries no one else can see. She swings her elvish sword wildly and happens to disarm an approaching cultist! (A12) The arm-shaking jolt of the silent impact restores clarity to her pale eyes.
Pelias, paladin of Hookhill, and Grey Mouser, thief of Lankhmar, both target the same hooded acolyte (A6) and miss with sword and stone. Hateful, curving knives slash at Pelias (from A5 and A6) and one sheathes itself in his side, up to the hilt! (-2hp)
Across the altar, the last hooded despoiler (A13)...
...lifts the limp pale body of the girl from the altar of unspeakable rites. He turns and his obsidian vestments merge into the shadows of the northern wall. He is swallowed up by the darkness there. And so is she!
Actions?
Map:
Map of Church of Merikka 8.jpg (319.93 KiB) Viewed 1433 times
One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas indicate visibility.
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/2: AC 7, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 5, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: AC 4, HP 25/28 Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 15/16, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl Long Bo, Human Druid 3: AC 6, HP 14/22, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 1/1 3rd lvl Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 11/11 Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 15/19, Laying Hands: 1/1 Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: AC 0, HP 23/28
PC Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias. Silence 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 2 rounds.
Grey watches as his comrades flee, fight cultist and each other. Something is effecting them; will he fall under its sway if he gets closer? The priest and his sacrificial girl are gone. Perhaps the priest was responsible for the swaying effect. These thoughts flash through his mind as he considers whether to join in the melee or attack from afar.
As the others continue to cut down more of the hooded acolytes, Bo begins to realize the error of his ways.
Apologies master gnome! I think I was enscorceled by some dark magic. I am glad to see that you are still really you and not on the side of the enemy.
We must find that man who just fled with the bound woman. He is clearly some type of ringleader!
With that the druid bounds towards the eastern doorway that Grothnak entered, hoping to find the warrior before he is further separated from the group in all the magical confusion.
Moogeye loads another quarrel and levels it up to Long Bo and and Telkis, sickened at how their mutually shared corruption could be so evil that it even turns them upon themselves. Soon she begins to forget some of her paranoia, and as common sense slowly returns she wonders what had caused her to fire upon her own comrades, and is afraid to discover that she cannot actually remember.
Turning back to the altar, she fires the quarrel at one of the evil acolytes (A5), believing their wicked rituals to have been the source of her temporary insanity.
Telkis shakes his head as he snaps out of the evil influence. "I hope I didn't harm you too badly with my pelvic thrust Long Bo," he says, unaware, in all the confusion, of how awkward that sounds. "I'll go after the scoundrel and save the human girl if I can." He runs as far as the altar and strikes at one of the remaining alcolytes as he goes by, if he is able.
The Church of Merikka (21) Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Seven. Night. Saturday, October 22nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty
priest.jpg (141.78 KiB) Viewed 1386 times
Within the desecrated, once-pious house of worship, a black hooded heretic (A13) lifts the limp pale body of the girl from the altar of unspeakable rites. He turns and his obsidian vestments merge into the shadows of the northern wall. He is swallowed up by the darkness there. And so is she!
More deadly missiles rain down soundlessly around brave Pelias and his murderous enemies, launched from Moogeye's crossbow and Mouser's sling.
Long Bo moves through the darkness to the moonlit doorway where Grothnak fled, and the half-orc warrior bursts from it, lunging toward the violent battle, ready to kill!
Ingrid moves to attack with her iron mace and stumbles on the steps that surround the altar, but keeps her feet.
Avril slices the air above a hooded disciple (A12) as he collects his weapon. The acolyte swings wild at Avril, fracturing his own forearm!
Telkis rushes the defiled altar and hammers an acolyte (A6) with Cranach! Pelias' steel slashes down upon the same damned man and the cultist falls silent and hard with splintered limbs and severed spine!
Witnessing this butchery up close, the last cultist (A5) retreats into the black shadows where the priest and the girl had just vanished. Pelias' sword is a blur of silver at his neck, but the dark apostle avoids the attack and melts away into darkness.
Actions?
Map:
Map of Church of Merikka 9.jpg (325.1 KiB) Viewed 1386 times
One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas indicate visibility.
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/2: AC 7, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 5, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: AC 4, HP 25/28 Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 15/16, Spells: 1/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl Long Bo, Human Druid 3: AC 6, HP 14/22, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 1/1 3rd lvl Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 11/11 Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 15/19, Laying Hands: 1/1 Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: AC 0, HP 23/28
PC Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias. Silence 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 1 round.
Moogeye rushes up to the others, having dropped her crossbow to hang by its cord against her back and picked up her pole-arm. At the altar she fishes for the key that had been found on the guards outside, and wonders aloud if it is designed for the outer door only, or perhaps some passages within as well.
She looks for keyholes in the altar, and manipulates any candles or objects on the surface for good measure. Once she is done with that, she will begin searching the back wall for similar devices.
Bo enters the room (10) and rushes due north in the direction of the disappearing priest. When he gets to the corner, he stops and listens for a moment before taking a peek around the corner to his left.
