Chapter 27: Mark of the Beast

[Inferno]

The Wolfpack's Lair, The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-three. Night. Wednesday, December 14th, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear







Crisp crackling skin and savory, juicy meat simmer on the fire.

Innocent Jerome cannot bear it any longer and he doubles over, emptying the meager contents of his stomach onto the stone floor of the heinous kitchen.

The other heroes, inured by atrocities without number, swiftly move past the pregnant woman roasting on the spit.

Beyond the door, a rough hewn hallway holds three more portals: north, east and west. The northern door stands open, revealing an eerie chamber with a summoning circle on the floor ringed by lit candles.

To the west, through a shut door atop a short flight of steps, can be heard the distant screams of women!


Actions?!


Map:



Map detail:

One square = 10 feet. X = dead.





PC Status:

Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 36/36
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 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 25/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 1/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 38/38, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
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, 1/2 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self.
Prayer (Ingrid): Duration: 2 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
Jerome wipes his mouth, spits, and moves to join the others. He enters the Northern room and destroys the summoning circle there- knocking over candles, damaging the runes on the floor, whatever else presents itself.

[wolfpack]

Brevos moves and open the west door

[ravenn4544]

Mouser follows checking the ground and sticking close to the walls.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The cleric assists in the destruction of the summoning circle, utterances to Tritherion on her lips as she does so.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo rushes into the summoning room behind Jerome, headed to the door in the west wall.

He takes a quick listen before throwing it open, wondering if they just found a shortcut they can use to cut off the screaming women.

[SocraticLawyer]

Invisible Urdur follows Bo, ready to summon a phantasm if needed.

[Inferno]

The Wolfpack's Lair, The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-three. Night. Wednesday, December 14th, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear







In the subterranean lair beneath the jagged hill, the heroes fly from the heinous kitchen of unspeakable feasts only to find further blasphemies.

Pious Jerome and Ingrid whisper fervent prayers as they defile an infernal circle of demonic summoning.

Long Bo and Urdur rush past them to a door. Hearing nothing, they throw it open onto a bunkroom devoid of life or further doors. A dead end.

Behind them, following the sound of the shrieking, Brevos and Mouser plunge headlong up the stair and through the western door. There they find an empty torture chamber, filled with bloodcurdling devices of horror, agony and torment.




An iron maiden shaped like a leering goblin...





... a breast ripper...





... a spiked rack...




...and more diabolical inventions of perverse ingenuity; each stained with the dried blood of its poor victims.

The western wall holds three open cell doors, and a shut door atop more steps. The distant screams of women emanate from there, fading fast.


Actions?!


Map Detail:



Map:

One square = 10 feet. X = dead.





PC Status:

Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 36/36
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 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 25/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 1/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 38/38, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
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, 1/2 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)

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

After defiling the summoning circle, Ingrid will follow after Brevos and Mouser.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser whispers urgently from the shadows, "Brevos - we must wait for everyone else to catch up!"

As others arrive, he'll continue along the southern wall to examine the empty cells.

[Urson]

Jerome
Jerome pauses to look for any sort of books in the summoning room. IF he finds any, they get tossed into the cookfires, with a prayer to St Cuthbert.
As soon as he can, he joins the others, studiously ignoring the torture devices. We.. have to hurry, but there may be improvised booby traps.

[wolfpack]

Brevos calls back

hurry get up here

he goes to teh top of steps and waits in front of the door waiting for others to show up.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur looks around briefly for any arcane texts or scrolls. Then he follows the others into the next room.

[Inferno]

The Wolfpack's Lair, The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Thirty-three. Night. Wednesday, December 14th, 576 CY
Freezing cold, clear







The doomed heroes plunge deeper into the nightmarish lair of obscenity and abomination.

Ingrid and Telkis burst into a torture chamber of heart-rending suffering and cruelty as Brevos halts at its only other door, through which the screaming of women fades away into nothingness.

Mouser peers into the open, empty prison cells and finds brutal iron shackles and harrowing blood-stained scratchings on cold stone walls.

Behind them, in the blasphemous hall of the defiled pentagram, pious Jerome finds three sacrilegious tomes of forbidden secrets on a lone shelf.



The paladin moves to seizes them, planning to brave the ghastly kitchen again, that they might be set afire and the Oerth be rid of them! But as he grasps the first volume, it somehow resists him! As if by some unholy supernatural force, the heinous book defies his very will! Unbeknownst to Jerome, invisible Urdur has a hand upon it too!


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 10 feet. X = dead.

Map:






PC Status:

Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 36/36
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 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 25/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 1/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 20/20, Laying Hands: 1/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 5: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 38/38, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
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, 1/2 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
Cuthbert crush you! Dammed book,
you will burn!
One hand on the spine, the other one on the pages, Jerome struggles to wrestle the book loose from the shelf.

LOL

[wolfpack]

waiting no longer Brevos opesn the door

[OGRE MAGE]

sorry for the delay

After a quick visual search of the bunkroom to see if there is anything of use inside, Bo turns back towards the others again, witnessing Jerome's invisible fight with what must surely be little Urdur.

Int Check (9) [1d20] = 4

"Allow the mage to look over the books before you destroy them, sir paladin. You know how much he loves doing such things. Perhaps they contain a map of this cursed place we can use."

The lanky druid continues searching the room they are in for any other surprises before joining the others again in the delightful torture chamber, taking a special interest in the Iron Maiden.

"We have clearly lost our advantage of surprise. They know we are here, and they know we will be coming for them. They will be ready for us now. Instead of running blindly after them, I suggest we first set up an area in here where we can fall back to if necessary. Barricades and such is what I am envisioning. And perhaps our thief would be able to set up a little surprise for them if they do pursue us back to this place? A deadfall of some kind that will drop in a certain area? Maybe right beyond the door that we can avoid, but they wont?"

Unless the others rush off after the women anyway, Bo checks over this room a little closer as well.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser sees the fight ongoing over some books and thinks to warn them. Books that now seem to rekindle a spark of doubt and dissent in Mouser's soul. A book that was until recently preciously guarded and held. A book that brought pain and twisted thoughts. His mind now distracted with ancient and foul images just beyond the periphery of his mind's eye. He forgets to warn the others...

[SocraticLawyer]

Hey! Take it easy on the books! says Urdur. He gives the tomes a brief review, hoping to get some idea of their nature.

[Urson]

Jerome
Jerome jumps and lets go of the book as if it had stung him. OH! I am sorry, brother Urdur. I doubt you'll find anything useful there- Cuthbert teachest that all real knowledge is gained from experience, not some dry text.
He doesn't step away- he'll be taking the books if/when Urdur rejects them, ready for the fire.