Session 8: Two Heads Are More Dangerous Than One Report
General Summary
As the group descends into the basement of the graveyard temple, feeling the ominous presence thanks to Tyrael's detect good and evil, they find the corpse of the priest who was supposed to take the next watch. They find the storage room with the remains and ritual items and come upon the two cultists who were performing a ritual to open a portal to the Underworld. They work to interrupt the ritual but before the portal could be closed a two-headed cerberus lept out and ate one of the cultists. The remaining cultist and the cerberus do battle with the players.
The cerberus attacks them and entraps Tyrael in molten rock. Tetra lops off the cerberus head and the cultist tries to cast hold person on her but she is too dedicated to the fight. Meelo and Phil work together to weaken the cultist with magic including attacking his mind with Mind Sliver. Phil hits him with her chakram and knocks him down, forcing him to surrender.
He stands down and says that he was just working for Erebos. Tetra points out that the cerberus ate his friend and that one of the priests from the temple above, which is dedicated to Erebos, was killed during this process. Doesn't that mean he's losing followers. And the cultist remarks that the priests are serving but one small, insignificant part of Erebos. He understood the risks as well.
He asks to be released to the authorities. He doesn't want to die. He confesses that the God has spoken to him through magical means. Meelo points out that the portal is still open. Tetra tells him to turn it off, but he says he can't. He appears to be telling the truth. There's a book he was holding on the floor, braisers, and some candles, as well as several bodies. Meelo looks at the spellbook and sees that the portal needs a physical component on this plane to stay open. Tyrael chips away at the design and then Tetra smashes the runes with the butt of her sword, the cracks arching around the entire vat of blood and disrupting the entire symbol.
Tetra then gets Tyrael out of the molten rock with the help of Phil. Tyrael's feet are a bit charred. During this, the cultist attempts to sneak off. The portal being closed relieves the area of the evil aura. They inspect the bodies in the room. Tyrael does lay on hands for himself. He has one left.
The other cultist has a dagger worth 15g, a holy symbol of Erebos, and bloody rations. There are quite a few bones, old blood, crates, two bodies, a pike ax, and debris. Tetra asks what's up with the bodies and the cultist says they were down there when they got there. They inspect the bodies to see if they were killed recently, but it is hard to difficult. They don't smell bad. But it is cold down there and a cemetery, but they could be fresh.
Meelo comes through the people to find things. He doesn't find anything on the first skeleton. The body doesn't have much and doesn't look picked over. It appears to never have had items. The next body does look like it's wearing burial clothing. It also has puncture wounds in the wrists to drain the blood and there are jars under each wrist. It looks like he was drained to put blood in the vat. The skeleton next is in similar robes to the priests upstairs. It is strange that it is already a skeleton. They don't see anything else in there.
Tetra tries to tip over the vat of blood but it doesn't budge. Before they go Meelo suggests searching the cerberus. Meelo retrieves a gland from the cerberus's throat that is hot to the touch and puts it in an empty potion bottle- a cerberus molten gland.
Tetra continues to push at the vat and trips, knocking over an altar and revealing on leather, a strange poking implement, and a vile of milky liquid with a strange green tinge. They decide to identify it when this is over.
They return the cultists to the priests and they call for the guard to take him to Perisophia. They inform them about the dead priest. They go back to the Brass Basilisk to rest as it's very late in the evening.
They talk about this rise in cultist activity. And Tyrael tells them that this weird demanding of death is why he left. He honors the idea of balance, life and death, but this was wrong. Phil says that a bit what the Green Lady is about. Meelo reveals that within his readings and the info he received about the polis that there has been a rise in this activity. He's unsure if this is going on outside of Meletis, but in the last six months, the activity has gotten much worse. And this start date would put it at the start of this leap year with 13 months. They remember that something important was supposed in that 13th month according to Zinon, the cultist of Phenax.
They need to pick up their clothes for the party and potentially speak to Ilias about the job. They decide to talk to Ilias and then go to Mara to get ready for the party. They go to the Different Sign during the afternoon and see with much more aware eyes that, yes this place is filled with thieves. Phil steals a couple of mugs off tables as they go to the back to be let into the basement area. They meet with Ilias and he gives them the two options for the jobs to complete: steal the valuable, entombed items of a dead nobleman found in the Richor mausoleum of the city or steal a magical ring displayed (and well-protected) from the Academy's Library. For either of the jobs, Ilias is willing to pay them 500 gold because he understands they are a bit more challenging than a cockatrice.
If the PCs are there to rob a nobleman's tomb for Ilias, they will need to break in and the mausoleum is protected with a magical lock. If they successfully break into the Richor mausoleum, they will find gold jewelry worth 250gp, a ruby ring worth 1000gp, which allows you to turn invisible for a minute, and a scroll of heat metal. Ilias is aware that the ruby should be there but nothing else.
The ring at the school is just stated as a magical artifact and its power is not said. Will be up to DM discretion upon retrieval.
Ilias does tell them their name as well, the Hallowed Masks. They are told that Jace wants to say hi, and they proceed to the other area of the underground guild so that they can meet and see that it is huge. This complex system of tunnels and waterways proceeds in a maze-like fashion for a long way.
As Ilias leaves to take care of his own business, Phil says she'll sneak up after him to see what he's about a bit more. Phil describes him going through the secret door. Meelo determines that the door is magically locked. Phil calls on her Grinner background to pick the lock, knowing it will be very hard, and does manage to get it open. They get just inside, attempting to be stealthy.
Ilias is talking with someone. It appears to be a Returned. Ilias has an Akroan accent. Meelo recounts what he can hear. Calls the other person Zissis, something about a donation, Asphodel, something about the Third Tower. Then they start rapping up and they run to not be caught. Meelo also noticed something about this Returned, he could sense his power.
They go talk to Jace to have it be an alibi for why they were there for so long.
Phil's outfit is lovely, and she's quite in shape. The green fabric and makeup as well as flowers and braids help to represent the Green Lady. Meelo receives formal wizard's robes in black with silver embroidery that is reflected in silver flecks in his hair. Tyrael gets a gold chain that links to the lower skirt portion, so he is essentially shirtless and his wings are on full display, the bottom is dusty gray. Mara sprinkles his wings with gold fleck, and they pop off a wrist cuff to clip to the edges of his wings. Tetra receives very dark, almost black, a long straight line down, she has thick braided sections of fabric that criss-cross over her chest and around her neck and within the braids are steel clips (sort of like dread clips) and at the back where it attaches at her neck there is a long steel chain that dangles down the open back of the dress and reaches the top of her lower back and ends in a ball with mild spikes so that it is a bit like a morning star. Mara does a side braid for her and fluffs it to be large and does her makeup as tribal war paint.
They set off down the road toward the Third Tower in all their splendor, linking arms, as Phil plays on her pan flute.
Rewards Granted
The priests reward them with a satchel of 100g. Meelo finds a milky pale green potion, the necromantic spellbook, the molten gland, and they all collect in the bag of holding a dagger.
Missions/Quests Completed
PCs reach level four.
Tetra Dreggari
Tyriel -
Report Date
18 Nov 2020
Primary Location
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