Chapter 25: Hell Vomits Forth The Damned

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur is relieved beyond measure when he sees his companions, and not the horde of undead that he expected. I'm here, you guys! he says, knowing that they can't see him. While he waits for them to catch up, he lights a torch from his pack.

[rredmond]

With a quick look to see if they can shut the stonegate portal, a lever or anything they missed last time. "Is there any way to shut this thing, or block it up to keep those terrors inside?" Rudolf hurries to catch up with Urdur, hoping his question didn't have the amount of whine in it that he thinks it did.

[wolfpack]

Brevos grabs the girl

No time to dally, we must get as far from here as we can

[ravenn4544]

Mouser continues to flee with the others.

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis lets out a held breath when he realizes his gnomish compatriot, Urdur yet lives.

"Fløøsten!" he cries as he runs, doing his best to keep up with the longer-legged folk and flanking Brevos as best as he is able.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo hikes his robes and tries to keep up with the others, looking back periodically during their escape to see if anything follows them.

[Inferno]

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







The heroes race along the wharf of a vast subterranean lake as they escape the ancient shrine of abominations with that for which they came: the child Amity Mantle who still yet sleeps.

Suddenly, from under the open maw of the Stonegate comes the hammering of swarming dead pounding on the locked demon doors! Unsure how long the doors can hold, the heroes rush into the tunnel by Urdur's torchlight and up a stairway cut into living rock!




Through brutally plunging temperatures, the stair leads into another tunnel...





...which opens into a glacial cave.




The heroes fly from it as fast as they dare across the icy ground. The grey druid watches the darkness behind them for any dreadful thing that might emerge!

They burst from the dark forbidding mountain at the top of the world, out onto the bone road!



At the end of that ancient path of death and horror, the heroes behold a sight that stops them in their tracks.

Across the strangely wavering air of the towering mountainside, eerily devoid of wind and snow, they see directly before them the stone stair that descends the mountain, and their sled!

But on their right hand lies the vast snow-shrouded burial ground, luminous in the spectral moonlight. And from it rises countless dead, slowly pulling themselves up out of their frozen graves!




If the heinous shrine held hundreds of the cult's damned, these mass graves vomit forth thousands!





Actions?!



Map:

One square = 10 feet. X = Undead.
The burial grounds range beyond the northern edge of the map. The southern edge is mountain cliffs.





PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 18/31, Light from magic sword
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 8/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 12/22, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl and 2/4 2nd lvl
  Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 8/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 29/30, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl and 1/2 3rd lvl, Torch, -1 to Strength
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 14/16, Light from magic sword
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 4/34
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 2/11, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self.

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 Edited and expanded
Jerome reaches for his holy symbol, ready to attempt to Turn these horrors. He suddenly stops, then begins whistling- trying to mimic the chord that stopped the creatures in the temple.

After a few notes, Jerome realizes his idea isn't going to work- at least not here.

Calling up memories of Father Brown- his least-favorite combat instructor- Jerome shouts over the noises of the walking dead.

Let's go, people! Move your asses! Death ain't waiting for any of us! Get that girl down this cursed mountain! Brevos, Rudolph- you're with me at the back! We're gonna make sure the rest of them have all the time they need! Head for the stairs, and stop any of those Unlife bastards that get too close.
True to his word, Jerome falls to the back while waiting for the rest to head for the stairs.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Seeing the endless stream of the dead crawling from their graves, the cleric knows their only hope is to get to the sled before the dead reach them. Run! she screams. Run for our lives!

[ravenn4544]

Mouser runs!

[wolfpack]

Brevos dashes for the sled with the girl

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo is not a young man. All this running and nearly soiling himself from fright is taking its toll on the older human.

But he runs all the same, trying to outdistance the oncoming dead and beat them to the sled.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur runs as well. Someone else picked up Amity, right? If not, he does so.

Also, shouldn't Urdur have a torch?

[Inferno]

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







The wan moonlight on the snow creates an eerie ghostly luster that mercilessly exposes the thousands of horrific undead rising from their accursed graves.

Here, at the top of the world, the heroes peer into a fathomless chaos of eternal death.

The raging, shrieking nightmare of Perdition descends upon them.



"Run for our lives!" cries Ingrid as they break and flee.

With mere steps to spare before they are overtaken by countless cold dead grasping hands, the heroes reach the vast sled, throw down torches and frantically board her in a mad frenzy! Death at their heels, they have no choice, no other chance for survival.

Then they plunge precipitously down the endless steps of the mountain!



Overcrowded, unwieldy, they plummet reckless and perilous, out of control, hanging on for dear life! The sled gains deadly speed, escaping the ghastly swarm of horror!

Frightful moments and several hundred feet later, the heroes hurtle past the tree line and howling wind and snow cut through them!



Half blind and frozen, in fear of crashing into rock or tree or flying off the mountain, they plow the sled into a deep snowdrift to stop it before they kill themselves (1hp damage everyone). Brevos shields young Amity's sleeping form (+1hp more damage to Brevos). They pile off the sledge into the snowbank.

The heroes live, so far. The stone stair continues down the mountain, a day or two til Banemourne on foot.



They look back up the towering, looming steps. Visibility is 40 feet in the driving moonlit snowfall. Of the infinite legions of Hell, there is no sign... yet.


Actions?!


Map:

X is the Ancient Shrine of Evil.





PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 16/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 7/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 11/22, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl and 2/4 2nd lvl
  Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 7/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 28/30, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl and 1/2 3rd lvl, -1 to Strength
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 13/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 3/34
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 1/11, Spells: 1/3 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self.

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)

[wolfpack]

We can't hesitate long we need to move through the night. Ingrid can you look at the girl and see if she needs healing.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The cleric will quickly examine young Amity, trying to determine if a healing spell would be helpful, or if the child needs more than they can provide in their current situation. If Amity is not dressed for the weather, Ingrid has an extra set of clothes and boots she can put on the child to help keep her warm. She will also gladly wrap Amity in her hooded cloak to ensure the child will not succumb to the cold.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser looks back up the stairs and shudders at the thought of the undead corpses. He looks to the snow and remembers the wolves - out of the frying fan and into the fire! Again!

[ChubbyPixie]

Near the end of his endurance, Telkis moves automatically. He's not sure he'll survive another confrontation, and he is determined not to die up here if he can help it. The speed at which he descends the stairs with his stubby legs is impressive.

"Don't suppose you have another Earthquake prayer to end all this properly like last time, Ingrid?" he says as he puffs along, attempting some humor in this bleakest of situations. What will happen now with all the dead released? What have they done?

[Urson]

Jerome
Jerome holds his place near the back, helping the others keep moving if they need it. His primary intent is to delay the undead if they manage to catch up. As the group hurries down the stairs, Jerome keeps an eye out for a choke point that he can block to stop the hungry dead.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo struggles to catch his breath in the frigid air, wishing he wasn't sweating so badly in this dangerous climate.

"What is our goal here now? Is getting the girl back to safety our only concern? Or were we eventually planning on coming back here to finish the job we started? There is a great and powerful evil living here in these mountains, and by the looks of that army, it is growing all the time. Can we really abandon the folks who live in this area to their fates? We all saw what the towns we passed through looked like."

Following the eyes of Jerome, Bo continues.

"If we need to stop the oncoming hoard of zombies, I may have an idea for that. I can use my magic to manipulate the very rock under our feet. I can turn a good sized portion of these steps into a steep slope. If I summon some water over the top of them, it should freeze quickly enough to make the icy ramp even harder to navigate. That will use up almost all of my magic to accomplish however, leaving us quite vulnerable if we should find ourselves in another fight for our lives."

The druid looks around for a good spot to lay his trap as the others decide what to do.