Session 168 - "Fostering Fear"

General Summary

The Fellowship comes face-to-face with the horrific power of the Cult of Dagon.  

 

Starday, Gozran 30, 4711 AR

Church of Dagon

11.02p

X deftly breaks his captor's grip and slashes the leg of another, causing him to stumble back. The man counters and lands a grasping punch. The priest attempts another punch, but X parries the strike just in time. The Soul suffers another blow. Kelath stands, quaffs a healing potion and raises his shield. The nerve of one of his adjacent foes breaks and the priest tries to bolt past the him, but Kelath wounds him as he passes by. Neferu moves back towards Kyrrn. The glyph on his head glows brightly, as does the Soul's. Suddenly, the Unworthy Soul is engulfed in flames, which then explode from him. Four of the priests go up like pyres, while all the others are badly singed. Kelath's lone aggressor strikes out at him, but misses wildly. X also evades all his attackers and skewers one for his troubles. Kyrrn curses and draws forth the frog globe from her pack. Suddenly it feels as if her body has been immersed in a warm, slimy bath and she can see the battle from above as if seeing it through a fish-eyed lens. Neferu sees the frog with in sphere moving through some kind of amber-colored fluid. A hyperfocus settles over her mind and she unleashes a telekinetic rend that catches all the priests. Steeling himself, one of X's attackers leaps at him, but misses on all counts. Kelath's foe lashes him with a spiked gauntlet. The last one on the Soul tries to punch him, but misses.   Growling with rage, X scissors the head off his constant captor, sending it bouncing among the pews. Kelath slashes his sword across the belly of one priest and raises his shield. The fleeing robed man opens the door and a magic tidal wave of water immediately crashes into him, slamming him against a wall. His body falls bonelessly to the ground. Neferu strides to Kelath and quickly patches his wounds. The Soul rips into the belly of his remaining target, eviscerating the man. One of the priests covering Kelath swings wildly and misses completely. The priest west of X panics and turns to flee, but his body makes further than his head does. Kyrrn unleashes and Nyrrk surgically strikes the priest west of Kelath with a splinter of wood, followed by a flick of psychic energy. X's last aggressor runs to the statue of Dagon and begins to fervently pray in front of it. Shaking by the blows, the wounded priest is unable to land an attack against Kelath.   X suddenly charges him and drives forward his sword, with Kelath finishing him off. Kelath shakes off the grasp of his last attacker and moves away. The priest tries to follow him and draws X's wrath. Neferu unleashes arcs of electricity, striking down the praying man. Suddenly something begins shimmering in the middle of the chapel as an aberration dimension doors into the area. A larger, more menacing monstrosity similar to chuuls previously encounter roars its arrival. Glowing demonic runes gleam on its carapace. Neferu quickly administers aid to himself. Nyrrk attempts to strike the beast with a candlestick, but misses. He withdraws to the north and cautions that they should leave. The last priest screams, "He has come!" and lashes out at Kelath. The creature scuttles to the door, closes it and intones in Aklo, "No entry shall befall this portal."   X cuts into the remaining priest and remains poised to parry. Kelath slips from his grasp and presses the attack. Neferu quickly enters the room before he and the Unworthy Soul disappear from sight. Neferu calls for the door to be closed, which Kyrrn does telekinetically before moving away. Still enraptured, the priest clumsily attacks X, who nearly strikes him down.  

11.03p

The monster turns in the Soul's direction, shimmers away, and suddenly appears in the room to the north. It smashes an enormous claw into Kyrrn, nearly laying her out. With grim satisfaction, X brings the last priest down. He opens the door Kyrrn had just closed and draws attention to a hidden door in the chapel. The southern door opens and another priest enters the room and makes his way towards X. Kelath carefully steps out of the room and gives a rallying call before rushing and slamming into the eastern wall, pushing himself into a hidden room. Inside is an altar with a large octopoid eye surrounded by twisted runes. Neferu tries to patch up X, but is unable to. Instead he draws a wand and administers some healing. Kyrrn unleashes and Nyrrk warp steps away and begins chanting a forbidding ward on Velaxander.   The demonic crustacean slams a claw into X, driving him to the ground. Taking in the scene, the priest begins running for the front doors. Kelath looks over the altar and, through Iomedae's divine knowledge, realizes that foul stone anchors the aberration to this plane. He cries out to Kyrrn to destroy the altar. Nyrrk flings debris into the altar, cracking it apart. With a howl, the monster begins to shimmer and then fades away. Nyrrk flings one last psi burst, destroying it completely, before he departs as well.   Kelath quickly moves to X and attends to his wounds and Neferu pours a healing potion into him. He finishes up by manifesting a healing well. Kyrrn limps into the room and partakes of the well.   Neferu quickly attends to everyone's wounds as X suggestions rending the entire party invisible to escape the temple. Still invisible, the Unworthy Soul moves to the north door and sees no one around. He quickly checks the southern room and finds a vacant barracks. Opening the north door in the secret altar room, the Soul discovers headless bodies neatly arranged around a pool of dark liquid. Kyrrn moves to the barracks and begins reading objects in an attempt to locate a possession of the man who fled, but only finds items relating to the priests. X goes body to body making sure all are in fact truly dead. Moving on, Kyrrn finds a side chamber with an unpleasant fishy smell and a small altar bearing the depiction of a skum. In the north a plush, lavish bedroom of someone of high station houses a small open sea chest with a coffer containing a number broken bottles with black liquid.   The Soul opens the south door in the hidden altar room. Within is another dark pool and two people cowering against the wall in terror. Kelath attempts to reassure them and tell them they are safe. When he mentions that the party had been sent by the mayor, they finally visibly begin to calm. The man says they are Rufus and Imelba Tolby and that they came to see Father Voltiaro. Kelath attempts to explain the shocking circumstances, but they are unbelieving. Imelba sudden says, "He has our daughter." They explain the Father has their three month old daughter, mentioning something about "a fostering". Rufus says the Father told them she would live a happy and long life with the Neighbors. X dismisses them as fools, promising that their daughter will not be returned to them whether she is dead or alive. Highly distressed the couple attempts to leave, but they don't get far as X clobbers Rufus.   The Soul looks again at the headless bodies and finds there are seven in all, some showing signs of the familiar withering. Imelba says that their daughter's name is Tara Tolby. Rufus tells Kelath that the vicar is brother to Father Voltiaro.  

11.23p

Kyrrn take Imelba to the barracks and has here think about Tara as Kyrrn attempts to use the frog globe to scry for the baby. The slimy feeling comes over her again as she sees the town as through a fisheye lens. She begins to see an old manor house in ill repair, part of its roof sunken in. Within the manor is a room with a baby's cradle in which lies Tara. Kyrrn describes the location and Imelba says that it is the Undiomede Manor, the family home of Cassius, the founder of Baytown. Kyrrn is able to convince Imelba to take her husband and to get somewhere safe so that the Fellowship can find the child.