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Long Bo doesn't want to be left behind, alone. But, he also doesn't want to die down here.

He follows the light and the others back towards the action, attacking if and when he can.

Spear Attack [1d20] = 12 Damage [1d6] = 6

The scream feels to Telkis like an announcement of his own death. "Well, here we go," he says as he runs toward the sound. He'll snatch the lantern from Moogeye as he runs.

Day Six.
Village of Briarsgate, Beneath the Golden Grain Inn (6).
Between midnight and 1am, Friday, October 21st, 576 CY.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





Hateful, malicious hellions burst forward and attack the heroes with wanton, rapacious violence. In the room of the evil altar (24), strong-willed Grothnak is cut to ribbons but somehow still stands, until the unnatural chill overtakes him like a funeral shroud. The half-orc warrior falls. Mercifully, he doesn't land on his halberd blade. Mercilessly, consciousness does not pass away with his paralysis.

Grothnak sees everything. The entire world, which is now this dark, hellish cave, seems to lurch and loom fantastically, mingling shadow with nightmare. Voluntary motion of any sort is impossible, even the ability to roar with rage.

Helpless, he watches one of the pale graveyard horrors above him (X3) pounce upon brave Ingrid Esthof!



Black, razor-sharp nails ruinously savage the priestess and cut her down! (-6 hp) She falls near Grothnak, her unseeing eyes staring into his stricken face.
Then, directly over Grothnak, and a thousand miles away, the other gaunt, abhorrent devil (X1) lunges at the quavering Avril Hollysword! His wretched claws and necrotic cannibal fangs are suddenly, impossibly brought short! Pelias' invisible, sacred aegis shields the elf-blooded maiden from the accursed monster! Avril holds forth her holy symbol, but it is still powerless in this forsaken abyss.

Grothnak can barely discern the young paladin charge in and slash one of the repellent things (X1)! Pelias' divine aura drives back the foul, despicable hellspawns to their profane altar and the abominable statue beyond.

At one edge of the half-orc's rapidly darkening perception, lantern light and shouting comes from behind Pelias; the adventurers are closing in! At the other edge, the cornered, vehement demons (X1 and X3) howl, bark and bite; foaming, screaming, raging with undying malevolence!

Actions?

Map: Red marks the dead, unconscious and paralyzed.
The lighter areas mark visibility. All else is from memory and the PCs' map.
Each square is 5 feet. Movement in tunnels is halved.





More Cursed Die Rolls: Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 4/9, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl, Bo's Lantern
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 5/17, Paralyzed
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP -1/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl, Unconscious
  Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 2/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl
  Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 2/11
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 8/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 3/19, Ingrid's Lantern

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.

Resources:

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

Avril witnesses her two companions fall, and allows herself a brief sigh of relief as Pelias arrives just in time to fend off the devilish fiend before it had an opportunity to claim its third victim. Not wanting to block the entrance, nor leave the fallen Ingrid defenseless in front of the hell beast, the elven maiden brandishes her prized long sword and glides over her fellow person of faith, hugging the southern wall, and waves her blade at undead foe (x3). She curses her lack of offensive success as she raises her shield in front of her and prepares to defend herself from a retaliatory strike.

Again, feeling useless at the back of the group, Bo spins around to protect the party's rear.

He stays alert to any possible intrusions, jumping back into the fray if and when he is needed.

"Let us pull Ingrid out! These minions of hell are luring us into a trap!" cries Pelias. He will cover any that retreat, being the last one out. He will not follow the ghouls behind the altar, but will attack any that come after him.

Attack with long sword (THAC0 19) [1d20] = 20, damage [1d8] = 5

Moogeye places the lantern and her polearm at the room's entrance and rushes to Ingrid, fishing for the light crossbow strapped to the side of her pack as she does so. She attempts to drag the fallen cleric back to the tunnel and then load a quarrel, but will gladly stop all actions and defend herself violently against anything that moves in close enough to attack.

Seeing Avril's swing just miss, Telkis will rush to her side, to hopefully intercept any retaliation from the creature and deliver a blow of his own, perhaps the last one ever, from his trusted friend Cranach. "Die, you filthy, fithy creature! You smell like the inside of Grothnak's unwashed armor!" He swings with all his might... ...and immediately regrets putting so much focus into his final insult.

Day Six.
Village of Briarsgate, Beneath the Golden Grain Inn (6).
Between midnight and 1am, Friday, October 21st, 576 CY.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





In the dank, subterranean shrine to the unspeakable atrocity, unliving acolytes shriek and bark with depthless hatred.
"Let us pull Ingrid out! These minions of hell are luring us into a trap!" cries Pelias.

But the despicable disciples do not relent. Strengthened by their place of power, they lunge forward again against the holy mantle of the paladin's protection with pernicious, feral bloodlust!



The adventurers meet the cadaverous villains' depraved, unholy ferocity with grim determination.
Avril and Telkis advance over their fallen friends in order to shield them, but neither can land a blow against their vile, would-be murderers.
Moogeye crashes a bonecrunching hand into the nose of the heinous worshipper that Bo had earlier impaled with his spear (X3)! The execrable necro-cannibal falls!
Pelias retaliates with his longsword, and his fell-handed strike decapitates the final nefarious wretch (X1)!

The shrieking of the damned ends. Eerie silence returns to this dark, hellish underworld. For now.

In the sanctum of insanity, before the sacrificial altar and the graven image of the tentacled, serpentine horror, Grothnak still lay stricken and Ingrid continues to slowly bleed out the very essence of her young life.


Actions?

• • Map: Red marks the dead, unconscious and paralyzed.
    The lighter areas mark visibility. All else is from memory and the PCs' map.
    Each square is 5 feet. Movement in tunnels is halved.

Die Rolls: Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 4/9, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl, Bo's Lantern
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 5/17, Paralyzed
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP -2/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl, Unconscious
  Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 2/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl
  Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 2/11
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 8/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 3/19, Ingrid's Lantern

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.

Resources:

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

Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter

"Someone look after Ingrid. I have no skill in these matters," says Telkis. He can at least get Grothnak's face out of the mud. He grabs the half-orc by the back of the breast plate and heaves him up into a sitting position against the wall. "Sorry I said your armor smelled," he says as he does so.

"By my estimation we have come to the end of these tunnels, with no way out except the narrow shaft we just discovered to the Northwest. I also estimate that this exit would by necessity let out near the cursed inn. Perhaps the egress is hidden in another structure. Perhaps not. At any rate, the immediate surroundings of that place are sure to be a hive of activity at the moment and we are in no shape for a fight... such as the one we just had. If Pelias had been a lesser man we may not have survived. The question is, do we dare hole up in one of these burrows to heal ourselves? We may lose valuable time."

Bo does what he can for the injured cleric, trying to stop her condition from worsening.

I will not sleep in this forsaken grave. We must find a way out of here before we are all dead. Those deceased villagers came back for us in less than one day. That does not bode well for us down here.

I don't think that the tunnel comes out by the Inn at all. It seems to lead in the direction of the cemetery, which makes sense with the type of creatures they had guarding this place. I still don't trust all of those so called constables, I think that the one who is newest to town may have something to do with all of this. What was his name again? Nasty looking fellow if you ask me.

I say we at least try to find the end of the windy tunnel in order to see what is there.

Bo will try to muster the gang in order to return to the wind tunnel chamber. He looks around for the smoke from the fire above, knowing that it must be exiting these dank tunnels somewhere or else the group would be feeling the effects of it by now.

"I will not stay here either," states Moogeye as she retrieves her polearm and returns the lantern to Telkis. She peers down the room's single dark exit, then back at the shrine. "This atrocious object should not be permitted to stay standing. How quickly can we destroy it?"

She gives the thing a cautious looking over with one brow lifted, half-leaning backward and holding her breath as though expecting it spew forth noxious fumes at any moment.

Bo has had enough of the blood and sweat and death and dirt that surrounds him.

He hovers over the fallen Ingrid, grabbing at the earthen walls with both of his massive hands. He squishes the muck tightly between his fingers as his booming voice begins to hum softly. His voice slowly rises in volume until it is all you can hear in the place.

After a few moments of mild convulsions and extremely loud humming, Bo suddenly releases the muddy walls and grasps onto the shoulders of the prone cleric with his filthy hands.

SSSHHAAAAAAAAALLLLLMMMMM!!!

The large man of nature channels every scrap of magic he has left inside of him as he shakes the lovely Ingrid until she regains consciousness.

CLW [1d8] = 8

Day Six.
Village of Briarsgate, Beneath the Golden Grain Inn (6).
Between midnight and 1am, Friday, October 21st, 576 CY.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





In the secret shrine of madness, the victorious adventurers discuss next steps, and how to aid their fallen friends.

Pelias carefully approaches the sacrificial altar and sees its surface is etched with intricate, serpentine designs. They are filled with dried blood.



Pelias concentrates his virtuous mind again, that he might detect emanations of evil from within this profane chapel. Once more, the young paladin senses vile putrescence radiating from the evil altar. But the ivory likeness of the heinous abomination still emanates none. It would seem the blasphemous statue's dread powers are purely psychological.

Moogeye warily watches that idol of immorality, estimating that to destroy it would be akin to chopping down a century-old oak.

Telkis pulls Grothnak's incapacitated bulk out of the mud, and sees his eyes are alert and conscious. The half-orc warrior begins to stir. He is no longer paralyzed. Control returns to his trembling, mighty limbs.

Long Bo, perhaps overcome by the horror of it all, cries out to his lord and feels touched by something that might only be described as divine intervention. He lays his earth-covered hands upon the valiant Ingrid, and heals her injuries with blessed magic. (+8 hp!)

Ingrid suddenly awakens from a chilling nightmare, only to find herself still trapped within another.


Actions?





DM Notes: Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 4/9, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl, Bo's Lantern
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 5/17
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 6/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 1/3 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 2/15, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl
  Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 2/11
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 8/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 3/19, Ingrid's Lantern

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.

Resources:

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

Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter

"West?... Look, Bo, with all due respect, I'm a gnome. We're what you might call experts the in the matter of burrows and tunnels. I think you'll see I'm correct about where that tunnel lets out." "At any rate, we should check it out further I suppose..." As Telkis talks, doubt starts to creep into his recollection. Did that tunnel seem to veer West? Maybe the tiniest bit...

"Let me know if you need help destroying that thing, Pelias," he says, indicating the altar with the end of his morningstar.

Pelias nods to Telkis. "Have any of you the ability to find traps by skill or magic?" he asks the party.

If not, the paladin will bow his head and ask for Heironeus to guide him in destroying this great evil. He will then inspect the altar to determine what it's made of, any weak points to enable destruction, etc.

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

With Nature's very healing essence flowing through her body, Ingrid returns to life. "Thank you," she says to Bo.

"I can use the last drops my magic to find hidden traps," she says and, facing the unholy altar, raises her holy symbol.

Casts Find Traps.


After checking the altar (and while the spell lasts), she walks around the chamber to see whether Tirthereon's blessing reveals any other traps. Just in case.

Grothnak stretches his neck, trying to shake off the lingering effects of paralysis. He stands erect and faces the others. "I apologize to each of you," he says. "It was rash to move into the room when we were already injured."

He waits on guard until the others are ready to leave.