2021-02-10 || Desert of Desolation | What the Cult Left Behind Session Report

General Summary

The blood dripped off of the blade of Grim as the body of Corga hit the floor.   "I've never seen an execution before," Thallan shrugged, turning towards the route the escaped fanatic had gone, "Guess we better get that motherfucker."   The others nodded in agreement and headed down the nearest door and there they found a series of basins with different water, once again. These were different from the first pools; clear, sparkling red, and one that appeared to be fire. A passageway led north and while the party could not identify any runes, they felt hesitant to just charge through the doorway. Cramus returned to the main room to fetch a body which he tossed over the threshold. The body landed with a thud, but no trap was triggered. Grim and Belus charged over the threshold as the laughter of a woman came filtering down the cross-shaped hallway.   Standing a little way down the hallways, with a blade to her throat, she said, "You'll all pay for this," and slit her throat as she brought a torch to her open wound. Her body was engulfed with flame but death did not take the woman. She seemed to enter a new state as the flames raced around her body. She goaded them on.   Thallan drew his bow and sunk several arrows into her flaming body, dealing damage but the arrows were ultimately consumed. The heroes switched to ranged weapons and continued to attack. Belus seeing an opportunity lit his hand with electricity and made an attempt to close the gap needed to blast the flaming cultists. When he entered the crossway the floor gave way beneath his feet and he found himself slipping down a ramp and disappearing into a pit, that held the flashing light from the other room. He fell, slamming to the ground and barely survived the fall. Grim leapt the gap and moved in for the kill as Merosh attempted to rattle the creature psychically and a quite inaccurate Floki found it difficult to strike true. Cramus stepped to the edge and cast an illusion summoning the voice of Corga to tell the woman to cease her attack. She paused for a moment, called him 'father,' and then bowed down as the fires overcame her and she burnt away.   Grim attempted to explore where Belus went when he begins to slide down the ramp towards the open hole as well. Merosh slammed his magical rope in Cramus's and Floki's hands and lept after Grim. The group held fast and the two were lowered down into the pit and beneath an illusion, they find Belus among a few skeletons. With an impressive feat of strength, they manage to drag the Dragonborn, the half-orc, and the beefy human bard up out of the pit and to safety.   Once our heroes found their way to stable ground they worked their way further into the temple, passing by a door stopped up with white candle wax and into a private room that appeared to belong to Corga. There the found a modest bedroom and an elevated alter where the mask he wore must have stood. Merosh investigated the box where the mask could be locked up and used Thallan's letter opener to test out the workmanship. When the blade touched the engraving on the side of the box he was shown a vision of pain and agony as voices screamed out from the hells moments before they were silenced. Dark and horrifying images flooded his mind and the bard was thrown back damage dealt to his body and to the fibre of his being. He paused for a moment, rattled by the experience as the other explored.   Cramus, Thallan, and Floki explored the bed and nearby boxes. Floki found some gold and ceremonial dagger which he pocketed all under the watching eye of Thallan who savoured his seat on the bed. Cramus, however, is drawn to an item near the bed a block of red candlewax with the words "Mon Midgal" etched along the bottom and the impression of a key. He took the key off his neck, the one he's worn for as long as he can remember, the one that might reveal his origins and placed it in the mould. A perfect fit. His hands shook and he stole away to investigate more.   Once they'd completed their investigation and nearly poking a hole through the bag of holding they released a spectre from the sealed room which they quickly dispatched, but were a little baffled as to why someone would just have a ghost room. They then returned to the main room to investigate the statue and Cramus tried to use a body that had been resting for a while to sacrifice blood to the open pit but was not successful. Grim and Merosh worked to remove the ruby eyes from the statue but in the process anger the creature who woke and began to pummel Grim. His orcish fortitude saved him momentarily but a second blow knocked him unconscious. Merosh pulled him to safety and gave him enough healing to get him back on his feet. Fye cast a spell to shroud the creature with magical darkness and the disoriented creature stumbled forward off its throne. Its foot slipped into the pit, but at the last moment, it managed to catch itself to keep from tumbling all the way down.  Thallan lept forward his jade blade flashing and slashed the creature's fingers off, releasing its grip on the edge of the pit. Down it fell smashing into the ground. It's angry shouts carried up from the pit.   They debated dropping javelins down the pit and climbing to retrieve the creature's eyes, but continued exploring the immediate vicinity first. They found several rooms, one which was a sleeping quarters for cultists, one which hosted a magical feast and a prisoner, and one which had a statue of a monkey.   In the room with the prisoner, a starving man was forced to watch a feast and a never-ending stream of wine be poured out onto the floor. They determined that the food was poisoned and fed it to the prisoner who promptly died.   When they investigated the monkey statue with jewelled eyes they determined that there was a secret door behind the statue and using the statue were able to open up the secret door which lead to a new dark passageway, it was there that we left our heroes to decide what next.

Rewards Granted

XP: 4350xp (Combat) + 1000xp (RP) + 300xp (Traps) = 5650xp (808xp per character)