Adventure #07 - On Holy Ground

General Summary

Adventure #7 - On Holy Ground 3/15/24
Players: Sean: Sylvi, with Raven companion Aly: Schmibblefritz Tim: Laerwynn
Synopsis: Word about the Aberystwyth's reconstruction has begun to spread throughout the realm of Farynthorn, and has attracted the attention of the church of Sarenrae, who worships a deity Sarenrae that promotes forgiveness, healing, protecting others, and redemption. To validate the rumors, the church charged a drow (another term for dark elf) paladin named Ahlysaaria Dryaalis and her giant spider companion Grogariel to investigate the town and, if the rumors proved true, resurrect the church in the same site where the original building was centuries ago. Beforehand, construction workers Fayara Warmshine and Bronith Terrabrand stumbled upon the ruins, and witnessed strange noises from within and felt an unnatural fear course through them, compelling them to flee in terror. This concerns Ahlysaaria; even an abandoned church of Sarenrae should still be peaceful and hallow, and she fears that there may be something darker brooding within the ruins. The job is to investigate the church ruins and clear out any threats!
Under the cover of dark clouds and rainfall, the party arrives at the site of the old church, and are surprised to see that the lichen covered marble building is still mostly intact, though a few roof cave-ins and a handful crumbling walls decorate the structure. They also discover an overgrown cemetery surrounding the church, lined with rusting metal fences and crooked gravestones. After taking moment to scan the area with both their own senses and magical detection (with no threats detected), the party cautiously enters the church, with Ahlysaaria taking point. The group finds the interior a messy scene, with rotting wood benches, tables, and chairs scattered all around the sanctuary, and the tile floor wet and reeking of mildew from the rain falling through the holes in the high arched ceilings. Ahlysaaria and Sylvi both detect a faint source of evil behind a doorway blocked a rusting portcullis, and Ahlysaaria surmises that she must perform a ceremony of prayer in order to purge the church of the source of evil by making the grounds hallow once more. The oils and other materials she will need to use for the ceremony are both expensive and difficult to replenish in Aberystwyth, and the ceremony itself takes time to complete; Ahlysaaria will need to perform it without disruption or all the materials will be lost, and she explains that there is a good chance that whatever is making the location unhallow will retaliate against her while the ceremony is underway. Because of this, she asks the party to provide her protection during the ceremony, should a threat arise.
Before it begins, the party take positions and ready themselves for the potential threat, while Grogariel weaves a conical web of protection around her companion. Ahlysaaria begins the prayer ceremony, and for a few moments, nothing seems to happen. However, the quiet rainfall is soon disturbed by the sound of wet earth being clawed away from outside the church, and the animated bones of Aberystwyth's long forgotten citizens begun climb out of their resting places and stagger menacingly into the church. Without hesitation, the party opens fire; Schmibblefritz mows down skeleton after skeleton with her bow, while Laerwynn struggles to bring down a particularly cheeky skeleton who relentlessly taunts him after every missed attack. Sylvi casts Burning Sands across the floor of the sanctuary, roasting any skeleton that finds themselves caught in the churching sand. Giving up on traditional combat, Laerwynn throws an entire table at an approaching skeleton, both knocking it back outside and blocking the doorway. That same skeleton then leaps over the table like a gazelle and brutally harms him, and Schmibblefritz manages to shoot Grogariel by accident in the heat of battle. Although the party continues to fell their bony enemies one after, more skeletons continue to rise and enter the church, and Ahlysaaria announces with strained focus that the ceremony is almost complete. After a few more blows are exchanged, a bright pulse of white energy ripples out in all directions, and the remaining skeletons drop to the floor with a clatter. The relieved party catches their breath, but are interrupted by the grating sound of the rusted portcullis opening behind them, and a powerful, unseen force pushes Ahlysaaria violently into a wall. Filled with an unnatural fear, Schmibblefritz flees the scene, putting as much distance as she can between herself and whatever just attacked their paladin companion. The unseen entity reveals itself as a ghastly skeletal spector, and the remaining party members rise to battle, trying desperately to not be thrown themselves.
Eventually, Laerwynn lands the final blow on the spector, and light beams pierce out from it in all directions as it shrieks. The light beams themselves grow brighter as the the shrieks grow louder, and the blinding and deafening sensory overload of both explode into a vision of the past that the party experiences collectively. In the vision, they see the town of Aberystwyth and the church in absolute pristine condition. Citizens in archaic clothing are bustling in and out of the giant doors of the church, shaking hands with one another and laughing silently together as children play amongst the cemetery head stones. An image of a paladin woman with flowing red hair falling over the ornate armor shoulder plates comes into view, and she smiles brightly as she greets the townspeople, and begins to heal ailing citizens of even the most severe conditions. Abruptly, the scene twists into something much darker. The town now appears to be under seige. The thatched roofs of many homes are on fire, billowing black smoke into the night sky. Citizens run in all directions as bandits give chase, cutting down anyone who happens to be nearby. The paladin woman rides into the fray atop a piercing white horse with a lone, spiraled horn, desperately fighting as many bandits as she can. Suddenly, a handcart is flung out of the darkness and directly hitting the paladin and her steed, knocking her clear off her mount into the muddy ground. A red-bearded giant lumbers out from behind his bandit minions, grabs the paladin woman by her hair, drags her into the church, and throws her into the prayer chamber, and locks the portcullis behind her. Then, as in fast forward time acceleration, the party watches the woman as she is forced to bear witness to unspeakable atrocities being committed to her friends and neighbors without end by these enemies, all while being trapped, starved, and unable to do anything to save them. She slips into madness, withering into skin and bone, and eventually into bone alone, as grass grows through her remains through centuries of seasons.
The vision ends and the party's senses fade back to reality. With eyes filled with tears, Ahlysaaria's explains that they had just witnessed the fall of old Aberystwyth through the eyes of the legendary paladin Lady Lenora, Head of the church of Sarenrae centuries ago, and that her soul had been tortured and twisted by the hand of Gorvath the Red and his bandits, "The Crimson Fist". Now, with her tortured spirit being defeated and the church grounds being hallowed once more, Lady Lenora is finally at peace and dissipates into the Great Beyond. Looking back into the chamber, Ahlysaaria notices an old medallion with a worn image of unicorn upon it, and recognizes that this once belonged to Lady Lenora herself, who befriended and rode upon a unicorn as her holy steed. In gratitude, Ahlysaaria hands the medallion to Laerwynn for landing the final blow on Lady Lenora, sensing that she would have wanted him to have it. With a bittersweet feeling, the party returns back to the Elderflower for healing and stiff drinks, and Ahlysaaria makes plans for restoring the church, to return the bones of the skeletons they slew back into their resting place, and to finally give a proper burial to Lady Lenora.

Report Date

15 Mar 2024