Chapter 24: Human Sacrifices

[Inferno]

Chapter 24: Human Sacrifices

Within the Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil, the Dark Mountain, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear.





Against their every instinct for self preservation, the heroes cross the threshold of the stonegate freely and of their own volition.

Within the dark mountain, they willingly enter the subterranean temple of abominations, the unspeakable source of the evil that plagued poor Briarsgate.

They come in search of an innocent child taken here from the Ashblood Colony of religious dissenters by a coven of heinous witches.



Beyond the monolithic slab engraved in occult symbols and spells, the heroes are suddenly attacked by biting, frigid cold.

They find themselves in a large empty room whose furthest wall lies beyond the flickering light of Telkis' relit torch. Its every surface is carved with twisted faces bearing tormented expressions!



The faces are wet and appear to be moving and changing, writhing in agony, due to a trick of the torchlight. The tortured faces on the floor near the stonegate shriek in hideous daemonic voices, telling these willing human sacrifices of the dread fate that awaits them:

"You are a gift to The Nothing! The Nothing!"


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Greyer areas are water.

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
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 16/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 34/34
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 11/11, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• Read Magic (Mouser) Duration: 2 rounds
  Hypnotism (Urdur): Duration: 2 rounds. Targets: Rudolf, Jerome, Brevos, Mouser

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)

[rredmond]

"If any place needs a blessing," Rudolf whispers, "or an exorcism, it's this one." Not trusting anything, and not wanting to focus on the faces, Rudolf scans the floor and the ceiling for any threats.
All the walls are covered with those faces? Anything funky about the floor and/or ceiling? At least that of it which I can see?

[Urson]

Jerome
I suspect it would take an actual God to do the job properly. I would settle for an intense, cleansing fire.
Jerome reaches to touch one of the tortured faces, but then stops himself, laughing at his own foolishness. He moves out toward the right flank, watching for trouble.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo quietly stays put right where he is until the torchlight advances far enough for him to see further into the room.

Once it does, he slowly advances along the wall, trying to get to a place where he can see to the other side.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur lights a torch, both for its light and heat. Now clearly visible, he keeps his dagger drawn in his other hand.

I think Urdur should have 2 1st level spells available, not 3.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Ingrid will quietly advance with the others, holy symbol in hand, allowing the power of Holy Tritherion to radiate through the party. Whether or not it will do any good in this foul place is not hers to question...

[ravenn4544]

Mouser shudders at the unholy visages but follows the group. Thinking back to the time spent in the pit - which seems ages ago now - he reasons that it could only be worse in this accursed shrine.

[wolfpack]

Brevos puts the images of the twisted faces out of his mind and with Brood in hand leads the way forward

[ChubbyPixie]

"There are two doors, north and south. I don't know if the traces you found out side continue in here to give us some sort of clue, but we need to choose," says Telkis, moving forward to illuminate the portals he found on his previous visit.

[rredmond]

"Even old Gerontius Took didn't have this many mouths to feed," Rudolf says to the paladin as he searches. "The northern door can't lead to much I'm guessing, if that water makes it all the way around like it seems to," Rudolf responds to Telkis, "might be best to go that way first. Either way the yelling of these faces has alerted anyone, or anything, hiding behind those doors."

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

That sounds like a solid reason to try the northern door first. I'd prefer not leaving unexplored areas behind us if we can avoid it.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser will slide up to the north door and listen for what it's worth but mostly look for traps.

[wolfpack]

Brevos will search for any signs of passage

[1d100] = 44

[Inferno]

Within the Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil, the Dark Mountain, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear.






Within the underground shrine of atrocities, frightful demon voices near the stonegate shriek again!

"Look Upon The Seven Faces of Immensity! Look Upon The Breaker of All Things! Look Upon the Bound and Conquered God!”

With Ingrid's holy symbol held aloft, the heroes cautiously step deeper into the freezing chamber of twisted visages, treading upon tormented faces as hard as cobblestones that seem to writhe beneath their feet. Such otherworldly terrain makes it impossible for Brevos to track here.

Before they find the room's easternmost end, their torchlight uncovers two bronze doors on opposite walls, facing each other - north and south. Both are sculpted in the shape of an identical ghastly head.



Within each of the terrible open mouths of the horrid faces is an ornate doorknob and a keyhole. In the northern keyhole is a bronze key.

Mouser finds no mechanical deathtraps at the northern door's gruesome visage. Nor does he hear anything beyond it. But the eerie atonal sound first heard in the graveyard is present here, still alien and unidentifiable.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Greyer areas are water.

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
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 16/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 34/34
  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:

• None currently.

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)

[rredmond]

"Damn," says Rudolf, "and me without my 10 foot pole." Without putting a darn thing in that mouth, Rudolf checks around the door too for anything hidden or any traps and such.
Is the atonal sound louder here than the graveyard?
How far "within" the mouth is the northern doorknob?
Do the doorknob and/or key stick out of the hole in any way? Are they longer than the depth (that the right word?) of the mouth hole?

[Urson]

Jerome
Jerome winces as he walks across the tortured faces, cringing with every step. Interesting that the key would be in this door- almost as if inviting us in. Personally, I would suggest ignoring that door- it seems an obvious trap to me.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo retrieves a torch from his pack and lights it from the existing one carried by Urdur before moving 20 feet further east, hoping to see more of the chamber while letting the thieves ply their trade at the door.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

These doors are...odd. I too dislike the key left in the door. It seems too...inviting? Trying to draw us in to our doom, like those plants that eat insects by having a sweet nectar that they can get to, but not get back out of the plant. Perhaps it might be best if I use magic to determine if there are any traps, as there may not be anything physical for you to find.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur chimes in. I don't trust the door with the key in it. Something feels odd about that. Let's try the southern door. He waits for the sneaky-types to check for traps before going in.

[ChubbyPixie]

“I doubt they get many thieves here, much less visitors of the normal kind. They’re probably not too afraid of being robbed. Surprised they even have locks on the doors. Maybe they just left the key there for convenience,” says Telkis, sounding as if he’s trying to convince himself “Still, now that you mention it… it doesn’t hurt to check.”