Session 16. - Whispers in The Crypt
General Summary
All Hallow's Eve -- Samhain, 1439 A.P.
Oorr exited the inn in disgust. "Where the hell is Deadeye?" He thought as he headed back to meet up with the others. Even the money gouging innkeeper hadn't seen their feathered friend in several days. On the off chance that he may have gone to the market, Oorr made a quick detour on his way back to the temple. Unfortunately he got lost en-route and the quick detour turned into a several hour long trek. Several wasted hours in fact, as Deadeye was unable to be found. He didn't even get a chance to buy a quick meat pasty to eat as the market was winding down for the day by the time he found it.
Hungry and grumpy, he headed back to the temple, occasionally cursing out the little kenku under his breath as he went. Once back at the temple, he utilised his formidable not-rogue skill-set, and managed to sneak back into the church undetected. He quickly descended into the library and decided to take the long route back to the stairwell to avoid the teetering book piles that still gave even him pause. When he got to the stairwell, his ire and frustration rose another three levels as the others were also not there. Apparently they hadn't bothered waiting for him. Sighing dejectedly he drew his accursed sword and descended cautiously into the crypt. At the bottom of the stairs he discovered another room much like the one above, though in much greater disarray. Books were scattered across the floor haphazardly and the smell of rat faeces was overwhelming to the south. On top of that, as soon as he stepped into the room, he started hearing whispers just on the edge of his hearing. He couldn't quite make them out but they were pervasive and distracting. He tried to shake them off but they got under his skin quite easily and contributed even more to his irritability. Trying to focus, he searched the room for clues to his peers whereabouts. When he discovered the western door with the heavy oaken spar across it and the northern door without, he assumed that they had headed north and followed along. He stepped into the crypt proper and was momentarily glad to see the familiar face of a female Rayah staring back down at him. "The less said about the blasphemy upstairs, the better," he thought to himself. To the west he saw the aftermath of a battle with several corpses in heavy armour laying in the hallway, along with one emaciated corpse without any armour. Oorr tried to piece together the fight and assumed his friends had continued west down the passage. When he came to a T-intersection running north and south he was momentarily stumped as the signs of the battle had petered off. Uttering a quick prayer to Rayah under his breath, he headed north, hoping it was the right way. Almost immediately the hall ended in another T intersection, this one running east-west. To the west he saw a large double door and to the east another passage. Conveniently forgetting how long it had been since he'd seen his friends, he assumed that they'd holed up behind the door for safety. Taking out his "not-picks", he jimmied the lock surprisingly easily and opened the door. As he stepped through he spoke loudly in Goblinese "Hello Gents!". Unfortunately for him, his friends were not behind the door. Instead he was witness to three one-eyed creatures shuffling around several braziers in the room and a ghostly floating apparition standing with its back to him facing a statue that dominated the far side of the room. Realising his mistake he stepped back and attempted to close the door but the one-eyed creatures, similar to those they'd fought upstairs in the library but a mottled blue colour, turned quickly and advanced on him. The others had been resting in the nave nearby from their fight with the dreadwights, nursing their wounds and debating heading back upstairs when Arbor swore he heard someone speaking goblinese. He alerted the others and rushed down to the end of the hallway only to see Oorr facing several creatures that threatened to overwhelm him. Tired as they were, they dove into the fight to save their friend. Urith ran ahead, hoping to get a bead on the spectral creature but was winded from his run and couldn't line up a shot. Suljurn Moved up next to him, both close behind Oorr, and prepared to spring. The wraith-like creature turned its baleful gaze on Oorr and pointed ominously at him and the two close behind (whom Oorr hadn't heard run up). All three were suddenly subject to a maddening pressure inside their heads as the whispers wormed into their minds. Urith was able to shake off the effects but still felt the mental barrage. Oorr took the full force of the mental barrage and started swinging wildly at an unseen foe next to him. Suljurn was similarly affected, unfortunately the unseen foe next to Suljurn turned out to be Urith, who felt his friends spear icily pierce his side. He then tactically retreated under the pretence of testing out the full range of his bow. Suljurn was surprisingly hale and healthy (or at least he felt that way) as he waded into the fight, only to also be caught in the blast of the one-eyed creatures and quickly remembered his place. Deadeye stayed in the mid range and took careful aim, managing to land several key shots on the one-eyed creatures. Angrar hung back, waiting for the best time to tactically move forward, but as the one-eyed creatures blasted his friends, he realised he needed to step in and focused his attacks on taking them down. The spectral figure moved up and unleashed another wave of maddening whispers which stunned everyone near it. Thankfully, it's follow up attack against Suljurn proved ineffective at piercing the saurial's armour. After several gaze attacks from the nothics and the continued pervasive whispers from the wraith-like creature, the party was feeling very outclassed. As they recovered from being stunned, they started to think about a tactical retreat. Suljurn, as always, was opposed to retreating and instead waded deeper into the fight, effectively tying up the one-eyed creatures while being equally ineffective at hitting them. Arbor felt his inner magicks swirl chaotically inside him and tried to keep them under wraps but even one of his most basic spells went awry and after he cast it, he started running involuntarily. First directly into the fight and then after being stunned by the spectral creature's mental blast, then back down the hall from where they'd originally came. Urith continued to slowly back up, comfortably testing his bow's range, but unaware of his surroundings in the heat of battle. He stepped back into another room and his movement triggered the arrival of two mummies who descended on him relentlessly. The fight balanced on a knife's edge and threatened to overwhelm them in a second but they did their best to stay focused, despite their exhaustion and flagging reserves. Oorr shifted between the two fights almost effortlessly, first landing blows on the nothics before moving up to help Urith deal with the mummies. Deadeye feathered the second to last of the nothics, leaving Angrar and Suljurn to deal with the last one and the spectral figure whose attacks continued to be stymied by their heav armour. The first mummy cast its dread gaze on Urith to little effect and took a swing at him but missed. The second took a moment to get up off the ground where it had fallen, giving the party some time to react. Urith backed away, preferring not to be a punching bag to the undead and Oorr moved up, fearless as always. Unfortunately, just because he wasn't afraid, didn't mean he wasn't invulnerable too. The mummy landed a blow that took out Oorr and the other one moved up, setting off a loud crashing noise as he approached. With Oorr down, Urith had to backtrack and use one of their limited supply of healing potions to revive him. Arbor finally recovered from the effects of his wild magic induced dash and ran back into the fight. He rounded the corner and appeared to toss a small ball of fluff at the mummies. The fluff expanded and grew as it sailed through the air, coalescing into the form of a giant weasel as it landed. It made various threatening hissing and growling noises at the mummies. Seeing Urith return, the mummy took another swing at him, but the blow glanced off Urith's armour and the mummy ended up punching himself in the face, collapsing to the ground as Urith and Oorr backed away to safety. Angrar finished off the last of the nothics and Suljurn called forth all the inner rage and pent up holy fury that only a former cloistered scribe could muster and managed to finally land a smiting blow that brought the spectral menace to an end, easily slicing through its incorporeal form. With the spectral creature gone, the whispers inside everyone's head ceased and they were able to regain some of their lost focus. Deadeye was frozen in his tracks from the mummy's gaze and the second one advanced inevitably on him only to be intercepted by the brave little weasel who was in turn frozen in fear when the undead glared at it. Arbor had idly wondered earlier if mummies were flammable and decided to test the theory. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were in fact, flammable and watched gleefully as his little fire bolt torched the second mummy into oblivion. With the fight finally over, they wasted no time and retreated back into the room and barred the door while doling out the meagre amounts of healing they had left. A quick search of the room revealed very little. Other than the statue on the far wall, that seemed to be missing something from across its knees, all they found was a half-burnt book in one of the braziers with writing that made their eyes hurt. They arbitrarily guessed that the book said "The Book of Moloch" though there was no evidence to support their claim and none of them had even seen the language before. Arbor pocketed the book after Urith cast a quick mending spell on it, hoping to return it to its original state. The book did return to near pristine condition but none of the words on any of the repaired pages returned. Once everyone was rested, Oorr stepped up to the statue, sighed dramatically as if he expected something bad to happen, and placed his sword across the knees of the statue. His sword clattered noisily to the floor, not being large enough to fit across the gap between the statues hands. The others glared at him but said nothing. They had a quick meeting to determine next steps. Urith voted for leaving the whole mess and coming back once they were better rested. Angrar and Arbor wanted to finish the quest and try to find the Archdeacon and the acolytes before leaving. Oorr was relatively fresh so he didn't see the problem with continuing. Both Suljurn and Deadeye didn't have any vocal opinion. In the end, they decided to explore the northern corridor off the main room and then head out. Sending the weasel out front, they came to a small crypt off the main room. At the far end a column had collapsed and the air above it sparkled magically. Two skeletal figures stalked along the outside of the barrier, occasionally testing it with the axes, resulting in a shower of sparks. After each hit, the barrier started to flicker weakly and the creatures pressed forward. Leading the way, Arbor's weasel nipped at one of the creature's ankles, distracting him momentarily. Oorr silently cursed at the creature eagerly got underfoot and messed up his attack pattern. The others moved up and a fight broke out in earnest. Sadly the weasel fell quickly, easily cleaved in twain by the skeletal creature's axe. Oorr also felt the bite of their axes and was unimpressed by the effect it had on his attire. Blood does not easily come out of silk dammit! Mid fight, they saw another figure step briefly from behind one of the pillars at the far end of the room. Urith was tempted to fire but the figure did not seem hostile. In the shimmer of the barrier, it was hard to tell if it was a female or a burly man. The figure looked like it was attempting to bolster the shield and then disappeared. Arbor was pretty certain that there was blood covering the figures face. Oorr shouted, "We'll save you miss." and tucked in. The combined might of the group overcoming one of the creatures. When the other creature overextended itself, Angrar casually pulled the creature's weapon from its hands and tossed it out of reach behind it. The clerical figure appeared again to tend to the shield but collapsed. As it collapsed, the shield dissipated and the disarmed skeletal warrior pounced on it ferally, tearing at the figures robes, ignoring the hits it took from Suljurn and Angrar to get there. Deadeye put it out of its misery with a solid arrow to the back of its head and like that the fight was over. However, the priest looked like his wounds were severe and he was bleeding out. The party debated saving the figure using the last of their healing, and before the others selfishly sounded off, Arbor poured their last healing potion down the priests throat. The priest stabilised and came to briefly, asking if "Orin" had been dealt with. The others were confused, not recalling the name at first, until Arbor recalled the name from a listed of interred dead here in the crypts. They confirmed to the priest that he had been dealt with and the priest visibly relaxed. They also noticed the small child acolyte hiding in the corner, almost catatonic with fear and tried their best to console him with little success. With the priest slipping in and out of consciousness, they decided it was well past time to retreat and headed back upstairs. When they came into the church itself, they heard the sound of bells, and were instantly alert to danger until they realised that it was likely the bells to signal the end of the year. They made enough noise to attract the attention of the priests and quickly got the archdeacon administered to. The priests also offered the party beds and they were all too tired to argue and fell into a deep, restful sleep. In the morning, they were summoned to the Archdeacon's chambers. The man (for he was a man) looked far worse for wear than they were. His skin an unhealthy grey colour, though his eyes were bright and quick. He thanked them profusely for their prompt actions at rescuing him and his acolytes and asked if there was anything that he could do for them. Arbor spoke about Oorr's cursed sword and the priest said he could easily take care of the problem, though in his current condition it would be about a day before he would be strong enough to do so. Arbor also asked about the potential for getting rid of his current colouration as it wasn't his natural pigmentation. The priest was willing to do so, but apologised as he only had the energy for one spell at the moment. They decided to fix Oorr's sword and hold off on curing Arbor's blues. Speaking through Angrar and Arbor, they were then offered a reward of several hundred gold for their services to the church. They spoke to the Archdeacon about the events in the crypt and he provided some information about the creature known as Moloch. Though he was unsure as to why the thieves took the sword. Oorr loudly declared that this Moloch was now his lifelong enemy and swore undying vengeance. When Arbor attempted to show the priest the writing on the book he'd found, they priest became visibly wild-eyed, and started chanting a litany of protection against evil. Saying that the language was that of the Infernals of the Outer Dark. Arbor apologised profusely for causing the priest undue stress and hastily put the writing away. They asked if there was anything they could do? The priest offered them 1500 gold to retrieve the sword. After some brief negotiations, some replenishment to their healing reserves as well and access to horses should they require them. Once again, they thanked the priest and decided to use the rest of the day to gather materials for their quest. Oorr opted to stay at the temple for the services, feeling that the second he left the sword, it would appear back in his hands and not trusting them to properly fix it.The others went shopping, only discover that with it being a holy day, everything was closed. They retired to the inn for the evening and started to formulate a plan as to how best recover the Sword for the temple...
Rewards Granted
- 814 XP (407 for Deadeye)
- 300 Gold
Missions/Quests Completed
- Rescued the Arch Deacon of the Rayahn Temple in Dhabara and several of his acolytes.
- Defeated the Allip known as Orin
Character(s) interacted with
- Argus Fotheringham, The Arch Deacon of the Temple of Rayah in Dhabara
Notes
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Oorr Rosetta del Hilltopple
Chaotic Good [Tar] Faun (City Watch / Investigator)
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
37 / 37 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
18
18
CON
12
12
INT
8
8
WIS
12
12
CHA
16
16
Urith Thane
Suljurn sah-Ghad
Arbor Nox
Angrar Ironbrow
Report Date
06 Apr 2024
Primary Location
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