Chapter 24: Human Sacrifices

[Urson]

Jerome Addendum

Poisons save: 11
Stat check [1d20] = 5

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The cleric gets as close as she can, without getting into the cloud, so that she can help pull out those who are struggling.

[Inferno]

Gallery of Horrors, The Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil
The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY







As the damned, tortured faces in the outer room roar with daemonic laughter, the heroes vault away from the smoke cloud of the burning powder of the death blossom! All the heroes get clear...

...except one. Jerome the paladin breaths of the perfumed smoke tendrils of the Black Lotus.

His friends watch in horror as his movements slow and then he sits down in the center of the spiral pew, the smoke forming a hazy rippling halo around his head. The paladin stares up at the Dark Mother and her demon court of sycophantic gods until his eyes roll back in his head.



Jerome's sightless eyes shed involuntary tears.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Asterisk by the door, and dot by the '4', don't represent anything. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Map:






PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 31/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 22/22, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 30/30, Spells: 5/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 16/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 34/34, Torch
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/11, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl, Torch

PC Magic:

• Find Traps (Ingrid): Duration: 16 rounds

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
  Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
  Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

[Inferno]

Beyond the Fields We Know

Jerome's mind and his soul enter into the painting of the Dark Mother.





Past her undulating tentacles, past her unspeakable screaming, a world waits beyond this one. Nay, a universe.





An alternate dimension of existence. Into it he plunges.





Hurled into the howling black abysses beyond his ken where stars burn in the fathomless gulfs of infinity and eternity,...





Jerome ascends shrieking upward into the higher planes of consciousness.





Hurtling beyond space and time, matter and energy, flesh and the soul, beyond all concepts of madness and death.





Transported and transcendent, beyond all imagining and all comprehension.





His sanity under siege, his beliefs, his memories, his very sense of self, all hang by a cracked fingernail.





A mountain... A girl. Was there a child??





Beyond all darkness, his shriveled, quivering mind is naked before the unimaginable vastness of The Outer Planes. Suddenly, he is not alone.




Suddenly, that which remains of Jerome gains some small fragment of understanding.

(Random Effect of the Black Lotus: "Contact Outer Planes. You may ask d4 questions."
Jerome: please roll 1d4 and ask away.)


Questions?!

[Urson]

Jerome

[1d4] = 2

Jerome's mind strains, feeling like an overstressed muscle ready to fail.

iS tHe chiLD We cAmE too rEsCuE STill aLivE?
He gasps for breath, froth running from the corners of his mouth.

Who IS tHe mASteR oF tHis StRongHOld?

A thread of blood mixes with the froth...

[Inferno]

DM:

Meanwhile, on Oerth, within the heinous shrine of ancient evil, Jerome's limp body asks those questions aloud. His shuddering, cracked voice is loud enough for his companions to hear. It is a terrible thing to experience.

[SocraticLawyer]

Confused, Urdur backs away from both Jerome and the smoke of the Black Lotus. He keeps his dagger and torch ready.

[rredmond]

Uncertain what else to do, Rudolf listens and readies his looped rope as a lasso. He also keeps watch on that smoke, to ensure it doesn't come closer or have any residual effects, and that it's dissipating.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo moves over to Telkis.

“I can’t bear to watch what is happening in there.”

[wolfpack]

Do i try to pull him out?

[ChubbyPixie]

"Jerome!"

Telkis cannot watch and do nothing while his companion loses his sanity in the cloud of poison vapor. He rushes in holding his breath as best he can, trusting to his dwarven resilience in order to get the paladin out, attempting to heave him and pull him northward over the pews.

Save vs. Poison (13): [1d20+3] = 19+3 = 22

[Inferno]

The Gallery of Horrors, The Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil
The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY





That which remains of Jerome of the Mighty Oak hovers far beyond this universe, within the sanity-shredding horror of the Outer Planes of existence!



Jerome's harrowed, devastated mind asks:

iS tHe chiLD We cAmE tO rEsCuE STill aLivE?

The answer ravages his psyche:

Yes.




Jerome's trembling, desecrated soul asks:

Who IS tHe mASteR oF tHis StRongHOld?

The answer razes his consciousness:

The Praetor-Pontifex.
Who Slumbers within The Tombs of The Greater Repugnances.




Suddenly Jerome opens his eyes and he is back on Oerth. The dark mountains. The lost shrine. The gallery of horrors. The center of the spiral pew.

How long... have I been gone?... Centuries?... Longer?

...Did it happen?... Did I dream it?

Unable to move, unable to speak, blood and froth are Jerome's only words now.

As the others watch, Telkis alone lunges forward to save his friend's soul, at risk of his own sanity. The valiant gnome is smaller than the stricken paladin, and both of them are heavily armored. Telkis has no recourse but to drag Jerome's lifeless form in a painstaking spiral path until they are both free of the pews and the smoke of the Black Lotus powder!

The writhing smoke cloud begins to dissipate as Telkis pulls Jerome into the horrific chamber of tortured faces that continue to roar with daemonic laughter!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Asterisk by the door, and dot by the '4', don't represent anything. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Map:







PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 31/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 22/22, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 30/30, Spells: 5/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 16/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 34/34, Torch
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/11, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl, Torch

PC Magic:

• Find Traps (Ingrid): Duration: 14 rounds

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
  Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
  Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

[Urson]

Jerome EDIT

Jerome lies still and limp, his eyes open and staring, the bloody foam on his mouth beginning to dry.

[rredmond]

A look of relief comes upon Rudolf's face as the smoke dissipates. He stows his rope back on his belt, replacing it with daggers and the worried look returns as he watches Telkis pull Jerome out. "Please say we're done with this room," he says quietly. "And done with setting things on fire." he adds with a smile. He moves hopefully, but purposefully, toward the eastern (southeastern?) exit to peek around it's corners to get a better look.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur backs out of the strange room he is in, and into the strange room to the north. He adds an important data point to his knowledge of Black Lotus powder. He hopes Jerome will be ok.

[wolfpack]

brevos shakes the paladin awake

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Rushing to the paladin's side, Ingrid checks to see if Jerome yet draws breath. If she feels he still clings to life, she casts Cure Light Wounds on him.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8] = 6

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo takes the key from the door and moves towards the final unopened portal while the others deal with the paladin.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser inches over to see if any lotus is left.

[ChubbyPixie]

"Jerome! Jerome! C'mon, wake up now," says Telkis, smacking the paladin lightly on the face and jostling him, trying to bring him around.