Chapter 29: Sacrament of Blasphemy

[Urson]

Jerome Edit 6/26
Jerome bashes the thing with his blade.

[1d20+1]=19+1=20 melee Longsword s/m [1d8+1]=7+1=8

[OGRE MAGE]

Looking the severed heads over as he works, Bo moves 9 feet to his right, just around the first corner.

Setting the torch against the wall there, the druid casts a spell that he hopes will hide him from the monster if it is indeed still coming for him.

Casts: Obscurement

Listening for the horrible voices, once it becomes evident that they are getting louder, he sticks the butt of the torch in the crook of his elbow so that the flame is away from his face and holds the palms of his hands tightly over his ears, humming softly to himself while he hides in the corner, ready to escape past the monster if the opportunity presents itself.

[ChubbyPixie]

"Garl help us."

Thinking to try and hold the chest shut too late, instead Telkis strikes at the emerging skeleton with his improvised spike weapon, blood still visible on it from where it impaled him only minutes ago, grasping it towards the pointy end and swinging it like a club if he is able to do so without cutting himself...

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Seeing the skeleton moving and with no ability to turn or attack it herself, the cleric decides that her best course of action is to make sure the party is as healthy as possible. She places her hand on Telkis' back, allowing the healing energy to flow through her.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8]=7

[Inferno]

The Labyrinth Beneath the Church of Saint Pentival, The Ashblood Colony, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-seven. Night. Saturday, December 17th, 576 CY







Deep in the ancient labyrinth, isolated and alone, Long Bo gazes at the leering, severed heads impaled to the ceiling.

Then he takes cover behind a wall and begins chanting to the Shalm. His orisons echo through the tunnels of the stone catacomb and a supernatural mist rises!



It surrounds him, diffracting his torchlight in an eerie effect and smothering his sight!

The heinous voices of the eldritch horror grow louder! The grey druid covers his ears and hums softly. Deaf and nearly blind, he is hidden. But for all he knows, the writhing abomination is right beside him!


Actions?!





Elsewhere in the hellish maze, an ossified, deathless corpse rises from the coffin-like chest! Its aura of ageless evil is palpable...



...a half-glimpsed halo of horror and death!

The Accursed Thing glares shrieking at Mouser and Urdur! Perhaps rattled by a primal fear, their aim falters! The thief's blasphemous weapon tingles in his hand!

Ingrid cries out to her god, healing Telkis by a divine miracle! (+7hp) With weapons makeshift and unfamiliar, the warriors attack the undead terror! Telkis' spike is still slippery with his own blood, but Jerome valiantly drives the deathtrap blade deep between rotting, festering ribs!

The living cadaver ignores the paladin and lunges from its coffin at Mouser and Urdur with a fiercely burning hatred! Its baleful touch is as cold as the grave! (Mouser loses 6 from HP, STR and CON! Urdur loses 5!)

They both feel their life essence draining away in a shuddering vision-flash of unholy oblivion!




Actions?!


Maps:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible, all else is from memory. Darker grey shapes on the floor are slime trails.





Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=3, Monsters: [1d6]=1 Party wins.
Telkis: to hit with spike: [1d20]=9 Misses.
X1 attacks Mouser and Urdur: [1d20]=15, [1d20]=15 Hits both.
Damage to Mouser and Urdur: [1d3+3]=3+3=6, [1d3+3]=2+3=5

PC Status:

Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 13/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl (-6 to STR and CON)
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 25/25, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl, 2/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 38/38, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl, Torch
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 34/34
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 6/11, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl (-5 to STR and CON)

PC Magic:

Protection From Evil, 10' Radius (Jerome)
Find Traps (Ingrid): Duration: 41 rounds.
Silence, 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 3 rounds, Target: pebble
Obscurement (Bo): Duration: 19 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
By the power of St Cuthbert, begone,
thou abomination!
Jerome attempts to Turn Undead, fumbling at his chest for his missing holy symbol. Realizing his mistake, he swats awkwardly at the creature.
[1d20+1]=12+1=13 melee Longsword s/m [1d8+1]=3+1=4

Inferno: I don't know if Jerome has time to make an effective attack- I'm guessing not. If the attack is impossible, he's just flailing with his blade to slow the thing down.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur backs away from the horrid thing, feeling cold and weak in a way that he cannot describe.

If he can do so, he weakly throws another stone at the thing. If not, he attempts to identify the liquid in one of the bone tubes.

Throw stone [1d20+3]=13+3=16

[ravenn4544]

Mouser wails aloud at the frigid touch! He withers before your eyes as his strength and vigor is frozen within his very soul. His color pales dramatically - almost ghost like. He staggers from the blow and lashes out pitifully with his dagger.

To Hit (20) [1d20]=2

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Unsure how she can help against this evil threat, the cleric attempts one of her simplest spells. Pointing a finger at the undead menace, she intones but a single syllable- Die!

Casts Command.

[OGRE MAGE]

Desperate to find his friends again, Bo continues looking through the mist, softly chanting prayers to The Shalm with his ears covered as he awaits his ultimate fate. The druid pokes his head around the corner to see if anything yet approaches. If he should see the large figure pass into the room, he sprints out of the foggy veil into the hallway beyond, backtracking his way towards the ladder he descended earlier.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fleetingly, as Mouser and Urdur are attacked, Telkis wonders if the skeleton is some sort of guardian, placed there by the powers of good to prevent the further use of the cursed items. It doesn't look good, though, he thinks. And it's killing his friends. He reflexively strikes out again with the makeshift "club."

Makeshift spike club: [1d20-2]=18-2=16

Hey... maybe a hit. No idea what the damage would be.

[Inferno]

The Labyrinth Beneath the Church of Saint Pentival, The Ashblood Colony, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-seven. Night. Saturday, December 17th, 576 CY







The shrieking charnel house horror continues the fearsome onslaught, attacking only Mouser and Urdur!

Its frightful, vampiric touch drains their souls and both heroes are stricken by a fleeting vision of eternal damnation as they collapse to the stone floor! (Each lose 6 more from HP, STR and CON!)



Urdur is unconscious and deathly pale! Mouser is too weak to stand! The black dagger, now too heavy to hold, falls from his enervated grasp.

The living cadaver's fleshless hand reaches for the accursed blade when suddenly Ingrid smites it with but a single word! At her command, the necromantic terror falls dead, if only for a moment!

Telkis and Jerome seize this chance afforded to them by divine providence and bludgeon and hack the grisly thing with spike and blade!


Actions?!









Elsewhere, somewhere deep below in the dark labyrinth, Long Bo hides within a mist-filled chamber, covering his ears and praying.

"Oh mighty Obad-hai, protect thy loyal servant in this hour of utmost need!..."

The druid peers north from the torch-lit vapor as the shambling, horrific mass of eyes, mouths and tentacles soundlessly writhes into view!



Suddenly, Bo feels his beleaguered sanity overwhelmed by a nameless madness!
(Please Save vs Spells in order to act freely! Wisdom modifiers count)


Actions?!


Maps:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible, all else is from memory. Darker grey shapes on the floor are slime trails.





Behind the DM Screen:

Initiative: Party: [1d6]=3, Monsters: [1d6]=4 Monsters win.
X1 attacks Mouser and Urdur: [1d20]=12, [1d20]=10 Hits both.
Damage to Mouser and Urdur: [1d3+3]=3+3=6, [1d3+3]=3+3=6
Telkis: damage with spike club: [1d6]=5

PC Status:

Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 7/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl (-12 to STR and CON)
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 25/25, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl, 2/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 38/38, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl, Torch
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 34/34
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 0/11, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl (-11 to STR and CON)

PC Magic:

Protection From Evil, 10' Radius (Jerome)
Find Traps (Ingrid): Duration: 40 rounds
Silence, 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 2 rounds, Target: pebble
Obscurement (Bo): Duration: 18 rounds
Command (Ingrid): Duration: 1 round

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)

[ravenn4544]

Mouser is motionless. His body has the strength to but pump the blood through frail veins. He lacks the strength to twitch in fear.

strength is zero, constitution is -1

[ChubbyPixie]

Not sure how long they have before the thing gets up again, Telkis swings as hard as he can at the prone figure, hoping to sever it's neck or spine and render it less of a threat.

Makeshift Spike Club: [1d20-2]=1-2=-1 Damage vs. s,m: [1d6]=3 vs. L [1d3]=3

Lets hope prone targets are "auto hit."

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur lies motionless on the ground, silent as the grave.

[Urson]

Jerome
Wait! It's just a guardian! Jerome kneels beside Urdur and knocks the bone tubes away from him, back toward the skeletal thing. His intent- however long it takes in-game is to separate Urdur and Mouser from the cursed loot, then help them get away from the creature.

[OGRE MAGE]

Save vs. Spells (14) [1d20]=10

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Believing Jerome is on to something, Ingrid steps forward to the Grey Mouser and uses her foot to slide the black dagger toward the pit trap.

[Inferno]

The Labyrinth Beneath the Church of Saint Pentival, The Ashblood Colony, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-seven. Night. Saturday, December 17th, 576 CY







The loathsome, malformed abomination shambles into Bo's sight and the druid feels his sanity slip away!

What follows is a frantic half-remembered blur of nightmarish flight! Gripped by terror, Bo flees for his life, dropping his torch and staggering south into the supernatural mists of his own conjuring!

Which may have saved his life. The unspeakable horror writhes toward the torchlight, rendered spectral and diffuse by the blinding fog, as Bo desperately follows the walls east then north, then west again and out!

The frightful thing somewhere behind him in the fog-choked chamber, Bo lunges headlong into the impenetrable darkness of the labyrinth!



Blind, feeling his way along cold, damp stonework, he could be lost in the vast, lightless maze for the rest of his life. But some fragment of his mind endures. The druid feels his way back to the ladder and up!

At the top of the ladder, his senses return. Suddenly from the south, echoing through the pitch black catacombs, he hears voices of frightened men. His companions are still in the dead end!


Actions?!








Meanwhile, Mouser and Urdur are stricken by the soul-devouring horror from the ancient, imprisoned chest! So too is the deathless horror... for the moment! Telkis quickly bludgeons its lifeless form again with the broken spike that impaled him!

"Wait! It's just a guardian!" Jerome cries out. The young, white-haired paladin retrieves the accursed treasures from Urdur's possession and slides them toward the cadaverous terror!

Ingrid follows suit, kicking Mouser's black dagger into the open dungeon cell. It skitters across the stones and stops upon the pit trap, not having weight enough to trigger it.

Then the baleful revenant rises from the grave! A ghastly necromantic aura emanates from its skeletal abhorrence!



Its bony hand seizes Jerome's offering! Then the living corpse wheels, lurching after the unholy dagger and suddenly it plunges from sight down into the spike-filled shaft below!


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. Lighter areas are visible, all else is from memory. Darker grey shapes on the floor are slime trails.

Behind the DM Screen:

This post covered two rounds.

Telkis automatically hits, and avoids a fumble.

PC Status:

Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 7/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 1/1 2nd lvl (-12 to STR and CON)
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 25/25, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl, 2/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 0/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 38/38, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 3/4 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 34/34
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 0/11, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl (-11 to STR and CON)

PC Magic:

Protection From Evil, 10' Radius (Jerome)
Find Traps (Ingrid): Duration: 38 rounds
Obscurement (Bo): 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)

[ChubbyPixie]

Confident the creature will not escape the pit, having just been stranded in it, Telkis runs to Urdur to try to determine if he is still alive, prepared to heft the gnome and flee if that is what the party decides to do.

"I think it goes without saying that the contents of that chest will bring only unhappiness. We should leave it all - or dump it down the pit," he says.