Session 05
General Summary
Having defeated the cultist presence in this part of the temple ruins, it was time to discover what
they had been working so hard to uncover. Nex Pervenio moved cautiously to the door the golem
had burst from. Beyond was dark and still. Thick dust and debris covered the floor, clearly this
place had lain sealed since the temple's demolition. A corridor led to a crossroads. Rockfalls
totally blocked two of the passages but one to the south seemed clear. This led to a huge chamber
with numerous side passages. The room was dominated by a huge crack, more of a crevasse
actually, cutting diagonally across the room.
With his comrades gathered in the doorway, Argus edged to peer into the nearest tunnel. Sounds
of scrabbling claws suggested this place wasn't totally deserted. Ghouls and wights sprang forth
and hurtled across the chamber, eager for the taste of flesh after so long. Shinobi bore the brunt of
their affections but luckily he could rely on Valun's potent healing. To make things worse, a
wraith rose up out of the crevasse. It floated right through everyone, inflicting horrifying wounds
as it went, leaving its victims dazed. Meanwhile Argus found himself surrounded with the wights
sapping his stamina. Despite their dangerous attacks, the undead were not particularly robust and
they soon began to fall. Soon only the wraith remained, though it proved a nimble and elusive foe
as it sped around the room, choosing the weakest targets. But soon it too was defeated. Nex
Pervenio had prevailed though their resources were beginning to run low.
Looking around the area, virtually all the side tunnels were blocked with rubble. Just one tunnel
was passable, sealed with large stone doors. Meanwhile, Valun was studying the crevasse. He
noticed something strange about it - the floor of the crevasse appeared to be flickering and
moving. He recalled that this might be some kind of weak spot between the planes. Perhaps it
could act as a portal to some distant (and presumably dangerous) domain. Something to report to
Sister Columba for sure.
By this time Shinobi had picked the lock on the doors, which took some effort due to its extreme
age. Argus opened the doors wide, his sun rod illuminating another large chamber. Piles of rubble
dotted the floor, where parts of the ceiling had collapsed. Of more interest were two coffins, one at
each end of the room. The gladiators gathered around the southern coffin and Shinobi heaved the
lid aside. Inside was a dessicated figure which burst into life.
"Who disturbs the rest of Emperor Trajan?". It fixed its steely gaze on Argus, who felt compelled
to obey Trajan's every command and turn on his friends! Not only that but corpses arose from the
rubble and moved to attack. Finally, an ominous sound from the darkness at the north of the room
was that of another coffin lid shifting aside. Out of the shadows crept Trajan's consort, who
unleashed a hail of arrows. Fortunately Argus swiftly shrugged off Trajan's malign influence and
went toe to toe with him. Shinobi pulled off a flashy martial arts manouevre which ended with the
destruction of most of the corpses. He then headed away to engage the consort. Trajan desecrated
an area around him, which hurt his foes and healed him. Mika responded by filling the same area
with thorny plants to restrain the undead. Trajan was forced to adopt a misty form and flee north
to protect his consort from Shinobi's unwelcome advance. Nex Pervenio regrouped and
surrounded their enemies. Trajan's desecrations continued to hurt though they managed to avoid
any further domination and dodged Trajan's attempts to drain their blood and replenish his
strength. The consort was dropped and finally Trajan too, at peace at last after 500 years trapped
in undeath.
Dash felt the Deck moving in his pouch, frantically shuffling itself. When he withdrew it, it
displayed the Sun card. This seemed like a very positive sign, it seemed the Deck was very
pleased that such a powerful leader had finally been defeated. In fact it was so pleased it favoured
Dash with a little more of its power.
Nex Pervenio's resources were at a low ebb, though fortunately it seemed they had completed their
mission to this part of the temple ruins and could look forward to some much deserved rest back at
the camp. There they reported to Sister Columba. She was very pleased that Trajan had been dealt
with. She had no idea if he'd have allied with Lareth or what might have happened but thinks it
was good it wasn't allowed to happen.
When told about the strange crevasse she said that several such zones had been found. It seemed
they were not actual portals as such, but certainly weak spots where certain arcane summoning
rituals might be more effective than usual. It's thought they connect to the Abyss and the Plane of
Elemental Chaos in particular.
In fact the task for the next day would involve one of the planar rifts. It's believed that a senior
cultist is summoning elementals and demons, to bolster the cult's ranks. The dwarven mercenaries
had been despatched but seem to have run into difficulties, so there's a rescue aspect too.
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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