Session 7: Shrine Cleansin' Report

General Summary

Date: Mournday RainRun 29 - Joyday RainRun 30, 27930 9th Age

Forced March

After the party faced the creatures from the Shadowfell at the Bandit camp, they had a decision to make. Would they press on to cleanse more dwarven shrines or rest and heal? Tri and Etin convinced the rest to press on, arguing that the danger of mindflayers is imminent. Markus informed the party that Fergus had only one arm, and that he hoped to be back in Thornwall by the start of the next month, which was the Festival of Couches. Etin did not know what that involved. Flidais initially had a very difficult time leading them to the next shrine. Even with Tri's assistance, it took them a long time to travel through the woods and hills. They arrived in the late afternoon and heard chanting ahead. Etin snuck forward and saw five cult members preparing to sacrifice a captive and corrupt the shrine. Returning to the party, Etin encouraged the party to intervene immediately to save the captive. As they were still disguised as bandits, they sent Valen, Etin, and Markus (the ex-bandit) ahead to try and trick them into leaving, while Tri and Flidais hid. Valen and Etin interrupted the ritual and tried to convince the cultists to leave. Etin recognized the captive as Sindel from Thornwall. They had some success, and convinced the leader to send off two of the cultists with Valen and Markus. Etin stayed behind. The cult leader did not like this, but wanted to continue with the ritual. As one of the cultists moved to put Sindel in the shrine pool, Tri and Flidais rushed forward to stop the ritual. Battle began. Tri freed Sindel and dropped his polearm for her to use. Instead, she jumped up and began to use martial arts on the cultists. Valen convinced the cultists running with him to allow him to stop while they continued on. He then ran back and joined the fight at the shrine. He used Markus' crossbow. It was a tough fight for the party, but with the assistance of Sindel, they defeated the three cultists around the uncorrupted shrine. When the last went down, they rushed off to try and take care of the two that had run off with Valen. They found them trying to knock down a tree Markus had climbed up. When they were killed, they rescued Markus and returned to the shrine.

Catching Up

The party finally decided they needed to rest and recover. They talked to Sindel, who turned out to be an agent working for Constable Brom. Brom had been concerned that the party had seemingly disappeared for four days (the four days they were in the Shadowfell). He sent Sindel to investigate, but she had been captured by the cultists. The party filled her in on the details about the cult and their plan to weaken the Forest God. Decoding the cryptic riddle given by the aiosidhe, they told her that Fergus was a thrall, possibly under the control of a mindflayer. He was helping to direct the cult as well as bandits in the area in their work to corrupt the dwarven shrines. Sindel asked if they had heard about Pezzlio being involved. The party had not, and Sindel said that was good, because townsfolk in Thornwall were currently being interrogated to find Pezzlian spies. She also identified DD on the note found in the bandit camp as possibly Devin Dufane, the bower currently standing for the forester position. SIndel hurried back to Thornwall while the party rested for the night. During Tri and Etin's watch, Tri heard a small clunk behind him. He turned to find a backpack full of supplies where none had been before. He could also see some footprints. Later Flidais identified them as human and another creature that seemed large and reptilian. Valen said it seemed more amphibian, like a large frog, walking bipedal. The party could discern no other details, except the pack had a faint smell of lavender.

Fungus Among Us

Approaching the next shrine, Flidais noticed a huge amount of fungi and mushrooms in the area, a result of the corruption. At the polluted shrine, the party found a dead bear Flidais identified as the pet of a druid. As Valen took off the bear's inscribed necklace, Tri chopped off its head, causing the bloated corpse to explode, casting its gore and maggots on Flidais, Valen, and Tri. The noise attracted a corrupted monstrosity, an elk covered in fungus. It attacked the party, passing its foul corruption to Markus, Tri, and Etin. Valen was able to drive it off and Markus shot a killing blow. Flidais cleansed this shrine and arrested further development of the fungus. Valen took a few samples to try and make poison.

Swamp Corruption

Pushing on, the party descended into the fetid southern swamps to find the next shrine. Instead of the regular fulacht design, they found an underground cave shrine decorated with twisted vines and a carved head. The dwarven runes had been scratched out and Flidais could tell the shrine had already become corrupted. The entrance to the cave shrine was bared by a locked iron gate. Tri and Etin smashed it down, causing great noise. The party peered into the dark interior of the cave and realized they had to press forward.