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The Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Seven. Midnight. Saturday, October 22nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





BONG!



The heroes have discovered that Briarsgate's holy Church of Merikka secretly shelters a nest of the evil, insidious conspirators acting against her. In a brief respite between deadly clashes, the heroes catch their breath. Ingrid silently prays for poor Moogeye, and mournfully closes the dead nun's eyes.



"Who will help me carry her?" Ingrid asks.

BONG!

Fallen Moogeye wears the ring of her god, Fharlanghn. (a +1 ring of protection)
A ring on Misha Devi's dead finger has the Baklunish symbol of sanctuary and safe harbor. (another +1 ring of protection)
Beneath Misha Devi's black, blood soaked robes is a suit of banded mail that would fit Avril or Ingrid. (AC: 4, Max movement: 9")

It must be past midnight. Pelias feels his blessed powers of healing restored with the coming of the new day.

BONG!

Avril Hollysword, herself narrowly spared from death, heals Telkis with reverent invocations to Corellon Larethian. (+1hp)

The heroes assess their position. Hateful repugnant Goblin Men, beguiled by the sinister forces of Briarsgate, lay in wait to the south, just beyond the closed door.



Hounds and acolytes lurk silently to the west.

The priest and his violated victim...



...are still nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, the ringing of the tolling bell abruptly stops! The grave-like silence is deafening.

Telkis the gnome warrior listens at the western door and can faintly hear men shouting: "Down there! Below!"

Grothnak gives Pelias a questioning glance and they quickly reaffirm their commitment. Resolute, the two warriors burst open the southern door. It shuts behind them.


Actions, Avril, Ingrid and Telkis?!


Map:






Grothnak and Pelias, their path now cleared of grisly graveyard guardians, race into the stairwell to the bell tower (13) and charge up the spiral stairs.



The cover afforded them by the stair-layer above their heads erodes with every step. High over them, sickening, bloodsoaked assassins (G1, G4, G5) bide their time for an easier target, and then strike! Crimson arrows sizzle past and between Grothnak and Pelias, shattering on stone walls and stairs!


Actions?!


Map:

This map is a 30' tall, spiral stairwell connecting the church's second floor to its bell tower. PC positions are depicted by their initials. G = Goblin Man of the Red Cloak tribe.
Movement is halved for climbing stairs. It's 100 feet of travel, three revolutions, to ascend the 30 feet to the top.
Missile Weapons: Firing up: effective range is doubled. Firing down: effective range is halved.





Earlier and outside...

Bo, still in the guise of a humble sparrow, soars into the church steeple and sees the wooden floor has a shut trap door. His plan to push the heinous bell ringer down the stairwell to his death won’t work.

Unnoticed by the gleeful, malignant wretch...



...Bo flits beside him and suddenly transforms back into human shape. His growing body pushes against the surprised Goblin Man, knocking him off balance and out the open window! The abhorrent blackguard shrieks a bloodcurdling scream as he plunges to certain death!


Actions?!





In the stairwell between the ground floor and the second story...

Urdur whispers to Mouser. The wily little thief pours his oil on the stairs before them, as the dark gnome hurls two daggers up into an acolyte above! (A1) His cry cut short by the second sinking blade, the hooded figure tumbles over the railing and plummets down the long stone shaft to the bottom, smashing into the floor with a wet red crunch.

Narrowly missed by the plunging dead man, Hoom finishes buckling his armor.

"Down there! Below!" cry the other disciples of darkness, pointing at Urdur and Mouser.



The two hounds also peer over the edge and Urdur recognizes one as his lost guard dog! (H2)


Actions?!


Map:

This map is a 30' tall, spiral stairwell connecting the church's ground floor to its second story. PC positions are depicted by their initials. A=Acolyte. H=Hound.
Movement is halved for climbing stairs. It's 100 feet of travel, three revolutions, to ascend the 30 feet to the top.
Missile Weapons: Firing up: effective range is doubled. Firing down: effective range is halved.


All Rolls and Rulings (non-required reading):


PC Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/2: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 5/10, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 5, HP 10/10, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 25/28
  Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 8/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 4/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 0/3 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 3: Move: 9", AC: 6, HP: 3/22, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl, 0/3 2nd lvl and 0/1 3rd lvl
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: Move: 9", AC: 2(0), HP: 4/19, Laying Hands: 1/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: AC 6, HP 6/6, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl

PC Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.
  Polymorph Self (Long Bo): Potion. Duration unknown.

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

Pelias pauses ever so slightly. Sweat and blood drip from his body. Half-panting, he turns to Grothnak. "It has been an honor to fight by your side. Should I fall, slay the vermin first. Tend to me later."

He claps Grothnak on the shoulder then runs up the stairs, shield raised as he attacks the nearest goblin.

Attack with long sword +1 (THAC0 19) [1d20+1] = 19+1 = 20, damage [1d8+1] = 2+1 = 3

Edit to add:

Attack with long sword +1 (THAC0 19) [1d20+1] = 16+1 = 17, damage [1d8+1] = 3+1 = 4

Gorthnak nods solemnly to the paladin. "Fight well," he says. "If it is time to die, die with honor."

He charges up the stairs, Vadok seeking goblin skulls to cleave.

Vadok (Halberd +1) (THAC0 18): [1d20+2] = 11+2 = 13, Dmg [1d10+4] = 7+4 = 11 (S/M) [2d6+4] = 7+4 = 11 (L)
Vadok (Halberd +1) (THAC0 18): [1d20+2] = 17+2 = 19, Dmg [1d10+4] = 7+4 = 11 (S/M) [2d6+4] = 10+4 = 14 (L)
Vadok (Halberd +1) (THAC0 18): [1d20+2] = 9+2 = 11, Dmg [1d10+4] = 10+4 = 14 (S/M) [2d6+4] = 8+4 = 12 (L)

Pulling his ear back from the door: "Ingrid! Avril! The men on the stairs are after someone down below - perhaps Mouser survived or some good villagers have foolishly come to try to help after all... I have to see..." With that, Telkis throws open the door and looks over the ledge. When he sees what is up, he'll fire two arrows at the acolytes descending the stairs...

Hoom Feethos:

Finishing donning his armor, Hoom unsheathes his short sword and dash up the stairs. As he runs up the stairs he calls out "Careful, that one almost landed on me!"

Still crouched beside the fallen monk, Ingrid looks up at the gnome's words, "What is it Telkis? What do you see?"

Mant72 wrote:Still crouched beside the fallen monk, Ingrid looks up at the gnome's words, "What is it Telkis? What do you see?"

"Hoom!..." is all Telkis manages to get out in response.

Urdur Shimmerstone, gnome illusionist
"Mittens!" says Urdur. He smiles at the sight of his faithful hound. Remembering their dire situation, he gives his dog a command. "Attack!" he says, indicating the nearest acolyte (A2).

Urdur throws his last dagger at the acolyte next to the one his dog attacks (A3).
Seeing another gnome (who seems to have also attacked these acolytes), he calls out in the language of the gnomes: "Hey, are you a gnome? Help us out! These jerks kidnapped us and stole my dog!"

Bo chuckles at the falling goblin despite his severe pain and injuries.

He rushes to open the trap door in the floor. If he can see the goblins and make an attack on them, he does so.

Sling Attack [1d20] = 6 Damage [1d4+1] = 2+1 = 3

Grey Mouser, 1/2 elven MU/T
"Windy stairs and barking..." murmurs GM. Taking his cue from the gnome he pours the oil, and, if he gets a chance, will utilize his sling to hopefully know the acolytes off the stairs.

The Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Seven. Midnight. Saturday, October 22nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





Deep within Briarsgate's church of horrors, Telkis unbars the western door, throws it open and rushes down the marble hall!




The gnome warrior emerges upon the top of the spiral stairwell to the ground floor.




There, he finds Hoom Feethos and the Grey Mouser, both alive! They scale the steps with a dark gnome against ravenous hounds and sinister cultists! Surprised to see his missing friend still alive, Telkis calls back to Avril and Ingrid, "Hoom!"

The dark gnome, Urdur Shimmerstone, sees a dwarf burst onto the top step of the stairwell. Or maybe it's a gnome. He asks for help as he hurls a third dagger at another dark acolyte (A2), which breaks on the stone wall and clatters to the steps.

The Grey Mouser slings a stone at the forehead of an evil acolyte (A2), fracturing his skull! The cultist is dead before he hits the stairs, the eyeholes of his black hood streaming tears of blood.

At Urdur's command, his lost dog (H2) bares its white teeth and lunges at the nearest cultist (A3), ripping his throat out, savagely killing him, mid-cry!



The other guard dog (H1) barks wildly, but does not leave the post given him by Bo the druid.

The remaining acolytes of the unspeakable race down the spiral, charging their former captives with murderous intent! "Get back in your cages! Now!"
The first profane cultist (A15) attacks Mouser with a fierce, open-handed strike that the wily thief narrowly evades!


Actions?!


Map:

This map is a 30' tall, spiral stairwell connecting the church's ground floor to its second story. PC positions are depicted by their initials. A=Acolyte. H=Hound.
Movement is halved for climbing stairs. It's 100 feet of travel, three revolutions, to ascend the 30 feet to the top.
Missile Weapons: Firing up: effective range is doubled. Firing down: effective range is halved.





Meanwhile, in the church belltower, Bo's eye catches distant, shadowy movement in the northwest corner of the courtyard below.

Hearing battle beneath him, he opens a trap door in the floor of the belltower to find Grothnak and Pelias racing up the spiral stair to the belltower, charging the despicable Red Cloak archers!



Long Bo hurls a sling-stone at the nearest Goblin Man and misses the back of its skull!

Before the execrable, malformed villains can set their spears against the fighters' deadly charge, Grothnak decapitates the first goblin orc (G8). Its headless body plummets down the shaft, spurting blood the entire 30 foot plunge to the stone bottom.

Grothnak's halberd severs clean through the shoulder and breast bone of another twisted malefactor (G7). It slumps to the stairs, dead.

Vadok hacks again (G6) and another mangled body hurtles down the stone tower, crashing into a limp, broken shape of crushed limbs and splintered bones.



Pelias charges, Avril's magic blade singing a halo of blue flame above his head.

The paladin squeezes past Grothnak, and his first sickening foe (G5) dies shrieking as it claws at the crimson stump that had been an arm.

Then Pelias disembowels another loathsome cannibal (G4), killing it in a spray of blood and shit before it topples down into the stone abyss.

One revolting Goblin Man remains (G1). It attacks Pelias with malicious glee, but its curving goblin blade is turned back by the paladin's emblazoned shield.


Suddenly, from the bottom of the well, a deep, fell voice echoes up, uttering unholy blasphemies in a forbidden tongue.

"'Ai! 'Ai! Fhtagn! Ftaghu! Thanarak! Vulg'th! Shogg-Shuggli! Zhro!"



A dark shadow stirs. Black sorcery is woven with obscene syllables, loud enough for Avril and Ingrid to hear through the closed door.

Then, impossibly, the dead broken Goblin Men, shattered across the stone floor of the stairwell, begin to move! They start to rise up on broken bones and ruptured flesh, ghastly bloodsoaked shambles of undeath glaring balefully up the long cold shaft at their murderers.




Actions?!


Map:

This map is a 30' tall, spiral stairwell connecting the church's second floor to its bell tower.
PC positions are depicted by their initials. Bo is peering down from a trapdoor in the ceiling of this tall shaft. G = Goblin Man of the Red Cloak tribe.
Movement is halved for climbing stairs. It's 100 feet of travel, three revolutions, to ascend the 30 feet to the top.
Missile Weapons: Firing up: effective range is doubled. Firing down: effective range is halved.



Actions?!



All Rolls and Rulings (non-required reading):


PC Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/2: Move: 9", AC: 7, HP: 5/10, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 5, HP 10/10, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 25/28
  Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 8/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 4/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 0/3 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 3: Move: 9", AC: 6, HP: 3/22, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl, 0/3 2nd lvl and 0/1 3rd lvl
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: Move: 9", AC: 2(0), HP: 4/19, Laying Hands: 1/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: AC 6, HP 6/6, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl

PC Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.
  Polymorph Self (Long Bo): Potion. Duration unknown.

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

With a wary eye on the barking dog on the stairs, Telkis takes careful hasty aim and looses two arrows at the rearmost acolyte, hoping to reduce his chances of accidentally impaling his long lost party-mates or the bonus gnome: "...and Grey Mouser! ... and extra Gnome!... " he stammers at Avril. He smiles widely, baring his metal teeth and waves at Urdur over the railing, momentarily forgetting where he is in his excitement.

Avril follows Telkis with her bow drawn and also fires two arrows at the same acolyte:

To hit, bow [1d20] = 3, damage [1d6] = 1
To hit, bow [1d20] = 15, damage [1d6] = 5

Grothnak growls. He's tired of having to kill each of his enemies twice.

"More zombies!" he shouts below, hoping his allies on the other side of the door can hear him. "And we may have found the dark priest!" He switches to his bow and uses his superior tactical position to take pot shots at the zombies.

Long bow (THAC0 18): [1d20] = 17, Dmg [1d6] = 5
Long bow (THAC0 18): [1d20] = 1, Dmg [1d6] = 6

Bo keeps track of the time it will take the villagers to reach the church in his mind. He figures he only has time for one or two attacks before they arrive.

He drops down through the door to get a better shot at any approaching reanimated monsters.

Sling Attack [1d20] = 9 Damage [1d4+1] = 4+1 = 5

Urdur Shimmerstone, gnome illusionist
Urdur begins chanting a droning incantation and intricate somatic gestures. After a few seconds of this, he stops, and says to the acolytes in front of him, "You are so weary from all this fighting. Sleep here on the comfortable stairs."

"Your god has abandoned you, vile creature!" proclaims Pelias. He hacks at the last remaining goblin.

Attack with long sword +1 (THAC0 19) [1d20+1] = 7+1 = 8, damage [1d8+1] = 5+1 = 6

Attack with long sword +1 (THAC0 19) [1d20+1] = 3+1 = 4, damage [1d8+1] = 5+1 = 6

Hoom Feethos:

Noting that his position on the stair is not going to allow him a direct line of engagement, he sheaths his short sword in lieu of favorite ranged projectile. With the curvature of the stair and his position below his target granting him the greater advantage Hoom sends forth three piercing stingers at the target in his direct line of site (A4).

Grey Mouser, 1/2 elven MU/T
"What the heck is going on..." murmurs GM as if he hasn't been with the party all along. Stowing his sling, he uses his sabre in his primary hand, and his cats claw dagger in his off hand to attack the acolyte in front of him.
Scalpel (THACO 20) To Hit [1d20] = 6, S/M/L Dam. [1d8] = 3
Cat's Claw (THACO 20) To Hit [1d20] = 2, S/M Dam. [1d4] = 3, L Dam. [1d3] = 1

"We will return for you." Ingrid whispers to the fallen monk. She hefts her mace and shield and follows after Telkis and Avril.