2/24/21 Session 4 "Facing the Monster"

After taking a short rest, the party collects themselves and readies to head back to the basement. Heading down to the basement they workout a plan on how to move through and clear the area. They are searching for clues and watching over their shoulders. They wander into a room with 5 beds. It the party deduces that members of the cult must use this space as sleeping quarters. The beds are long abandoned and moldy. Grinfiddeus Nobbles beings picking the footlockers to see what lies inside. Any that the locks are too rusty on Balasar Norixius uses his lockpicks to smash the top of the footlockers. They find a few simple items but the big finds are a scrotum fanny pack with money and a silvered shortsword. They being clearing out the rest of the basement and moving through the hallways they run into a trap
Balasar Norixius Pushes past the party and right into a trap. Falling 10 feet he lands on wooden spikes in a pit. Instantly falling unconscious, the party springs to action. Coming to his rescue Adrid and the rest of the party get him out of what would be a pointy grave. Healing him up Balasar Norixius comes back to consciousness screaming. Resetting their order they move successfully through the basement. The party makes their way into another bedroom, this one is nicer than the others they have seen. With the exception of the skeleton hanging from the ceiling. The skeleton clutches a note, in summary it's an apology letter. It belongs to Gustav "Fred" Durst. He apologizes to the children and tells them monster are real and their mother has turned into one. From behind them the dirt wall crumbles as an undead monster steps out. The stench is unbearable as Fredriech Carlston vomits from it. After vanquishing the monster they discover it was Elisabeth Durst. Fredriech Carlston seems indifferent about the situation. The party sees another letter, this one thanks someone for their ideas for a ritual with an "innocent". The party grabs the bodies and places them inside their proper tombs, laying them to rest.
They know now what they must do. There is one level left and they are as prepared as they will ever be. Heading down the stairs the chants get louder. "The end comes, death be praised" is chanted throughout the room. They see a partially flooded area and a prison area. Inside the prison area the rusty shackles are the only thing here except a skeleton against the back wall. The party looks over it and finds a gold ring but they aren't interested in stealing from the dead. Inside the reliquary they see the following items.

• A bloodstained wooden sun
• An aged Tarroka deck, in such foul condition some cards are unreadable, rendering the deck useless
• A severed finger
• A dagger carved from human bone
• A broken silvered bolt
• A jar of severed raven talons soaking in wine
• A crown made of black vines
• A desiccated frog lashed to a stick, easily mistaken for a wand of polymorph
• A cracked egg containing the skeletal remains of a deformed lizard
• A large, pure white feather
• A small wooden coffer containing a dire wolf’s withered tongue
• A chunk of amber resin A dagger with a bat’s skull set into the pommel

Unsure of what the items are they press forward into the flooded room. The chanting has stopped. The water in the room is only ankle high there is a raised walkway that runs the perimeter of the room. A portcullis and operating wheel are near the entrance.In the center of the floor raised above the water is a dais. There are a two chains suspended from the ceiling hanging above an alter. The alter is decorated in gasping ghouls and is stained red. In the southwest area of the room and out cove is home to a pile of rubble and bones. Lilithus figures its the discarded bits from what ever goes on in here. The chanting starts up again. "One must die....One must die..." Shadowy figures line the walls they are hooded and their faces are voids. They all are holding a torch with a black flame that is emitting slight light. The party is unsure how to proceed. Do they stop the horror by sacrificing Lancelot? Does one of the members just sacrifice the smallest member of the party? During the debate the chanting stops again and the portcullis slams closed. Fredriech Carlston was unable to grab and stop the wheel in time. "Lorgoth the Decayer, we awaken thee!" The chants are loud and thumping. The party sees in the out cove a black/ purplish glow. A large mound of flesh steps through the portal. This is the monster they were searching for.
The fight is on, and the party gets into their positions. Balasar Norixius and Om Wolfash stand in front to keep the monster back. The monster is full of legs, arms, and other body parts twisting and mixing together. Flesh tentacles reach out to attack. The front line manages to fight it off as the party discovers this monster is going to be hard to damage. Om Wolfash is the first to feel the strength of the flesh mound. Fleshy tentacles slam into him and knock him unconscious as it begins pulling him into its body. They party tries to free him pulling and tugging. Lilithus casts healing magic on Om as he snaps back awake screaming. The Fredriech Carlston  manages to wretch Om free from the monster. The party gets back to hacking away and slowly they see what appears to be a small arm. More strikes later they see what appears to be a child's leg then a head. They see a baby inside the heart of the monster. Flesh umbilical cords connecting the child to the abomination. Grinfiddeus Nobbles reaches in and frees the infant from it's flesh prison. The monster dies as Grinfiddeus Nobbles stumbles back holding a small baby, multiple umbilical cords still attached he stares at it waiting for it to take a breath.