Session 19: Finding an Old Friend

After defeating the horde of zombies and skeletons, we decided to look at the statues of heroes at the front of the church hoping they might have a clue as to the location of the helmet. Given that we knew there were still more undead roaming around we sent Khemed and Erric to go investigate quickly. I watched from the door and as Khemed walked past the first statue an incorporeal hand reached out to grab him. It appeared that the statues were infested with Specters. Luckily Khemed's skittish nature alerted him to the danger and he avoided being touched. But all of the Specters converged on Khemed and Erric. Upon seeing this I cast some radiant spells to try and deter their attacks and without missing a beat, Princess sprang into action rescuing Khemed from being surrounded putting herself at great risk. The rest of us joined the fray as well. Haelee decided to try another plant trick to stop the advancement of the Specters. I'm guessing that they don't have incorporeal beings in the Feywild as the vines did nothing but halt our advance. But in a desperate attempt to help, she hugged Princess and then transformed into a bear to help defeat the monsters. Grimm, the quiet Ronin also joined in and we were able to defeat them. Unfortunately Princess was struck and my magic wasn't strong enough to repair the damage done to her. Something odd happened once the combat with the specters was complete. Princess lunged herself into a wandering zombie that had taken no notice of us. Her orcish nature seems to be coming out with each combat. I believe this is something I should discuss with her but it must be later as now we have too much at stake.
 
Looking over the statues, no likeness of Lanish Fogul could be found, thus it was a dead end so we only had one choice and that was to go down below the church to see if we could find any clues. As we entered the chamber containing the staircase, I noticed another broken mirror similar to the one we discovered in Gideon's residence. I fear that he may be below and I fear he is no longer amongst the living. We all noticed a glass case with a padlock. The Glass case appeared to have two vials in it. Khemed deftly picked the lock and opened the case. The first vial was obviously a Potion of Healing and Khemed took it as payment for opening the lock I suppose. Honestly, given how frail he looks, I think it's best to let him have the potion. I inspected the other potion and determined it was another Healing Potion, but one of a great potency. I thought for a moment whom it would be best to give this to, Princess or Grimm. After careful contemplation, I asked if everyone was ok with Grimm having it for an emergency as Princess has divine powers that can help her and he does not. Now all that was left was to descend the staircase.
 
The way down was dark, very dark. Pitch black to be precise. I was concerned about us being detected so I asked for those that had the ability to see in low light to darkness to lead those of us who could not. Erric to the lead with Khemed by his side; then Haelee and Grimm and the rear was brough up by myself and Princess. This cause for caution was for not as Princess was not the quietest person with her heavy plate armor. But we descended down the staircase in the darkness only to find a short hallway ending in two doors. Erric opened the doors and discovered that which I feared; Gideon was behind them. At the sound of Gideon's now raspy voice, Princess pushed her way to the front of the group and into the room. I tried to grab onto her arm to follow her as I feared her anger might get the better of her again but alas I couldn't get a good grip on the half-orcs arm. Luckily, as Princess passed him, Erric activated a magic stone that produced enough light for those of us without the ability to see in the dark to be illuminated. Once I could see I immediately asked to pass through to the room so that I could place myself between Princess and Gideon. The room had two more doors across from those that we had entered through and two stone tables in the center of the room. This looked like a room used to prepare bodies for burial. In the lower far right-corner of the room stood Gideon next to a wooden desk. As I looked back at Princess, I could see my fears were justified as the young paladin's hurt and anger had come to a head and she began to argue with Gideon.
 
Gideon was, as I feared, transformed into some sentient undead creature. I am now sure he is the one who broke the mirrors as his hands and lower arms were shredded down to the bone. He had a mission. He was trying to recruit us to work with Zarieal. Princess wanted nothing more than to strike him down. I tried to restrain her as did Grimm and Haelee once again hugged her and transformed into a bear. Between all of us we were able to hold her at bay. Reasoning with Gideon and Princess proved a difficult task. He had truly been convinced by the devils fiendish words. Apparently so had Khemed as he agreed that she was right and that the gods do nothing but stand on the sidelines while we mortals suffer. I find it astonishing that he complains about the gods doing nothing, but wants the gods to stay out of mortal affairs at the same time. Not only that, he witnessed the gift that Lathander gave Princess because of her faith and yet still believes the gods don't help us. I argued with Gideon, hoping to get more information from him, more of an idea why this fallen celestial Zarieal would choose to specifically corrupt him. But at the same time I was arguing with him I had to argue with Princess and fight to hold her at bay. It was chaos. I was feeling exhausted and mentally taxed by the whole ordeal, but this was our first clue as to what might be this Zarieal's plan and I wasn't going to waste this opportunity. But something unexpected happened in the middle of my thoughts came Haelee's voice telling me her bear form smelled fire. I admit I was not in the best of places at that moment and I snapped at the druid. I mean of course you smell fire, we're on a hell plane for Torm's sake. This was enough for me to loose my concentration and for Princess to break free. This set off a chain of events that had dire consequences. Firstly, despite agreeing with Gideon and stating so, Khemed fired a crossbow at him. Then Princess ran to engage Gideon in combat.
 
At that very moment one of the doors across the room swung open and through it came a floating skull on fire. And it cast a fire spell that engulfed us all. It caused me great pain so I knew it must have hurt the others greatly too. But that was not our only surprise, a Wraith apparated through the other door to attack Haelee in her bear form. Wraiths are nasty creatures constantly seeking to drain the lifeforce of the living and I guess a large brown bear appeared an appetizing treat. The chaos continued in the ensuing battle. All focus was on Gideon and defeating him. However, my focus was on my compatriots. I drew forth the holy power granted to me by Torm and channeled divine energy into each of our party members reinvigorating them. Then I called upon Torm's holy light to repel the undead horrors before us. Luckily, the floating skull was immediately repealed by Torm's grace and ran away. Unfortunately, the wraith was not. Meanwhile everyone was capable of striking Gideon down, hoping perhaps he was controlling these undead. But alas, these undead were fueled by their thirst for lifeforce and continued their assault.
 
One wraith is bad enough, but in reality their was another and it came after Erric whom happened to be standing next to the wall it entered the room from. It struck him hard and he fell to the ground. Haelee too was struck mightily and her bear form faded and the elf took another harsh blow. Again I channeled the Torm's holy light and filled my compatriots with his grace and our enemy's with fear. Given that Gideon had fallen, Princess directed her attentions towards the Wraiths. I could see she hadn't come out of the battle with Gideon unscathed and had a choice to make: heal my fallen comrade Erric or heal my sister paladin so she could continue to fight. To heal Erric would have put myself in danger and I had successfully stalled one of the Wraiths by instilling it with fear. Given Princess had mightily struck down the first Wraith, I decided that the safest option for us all was for me to heal her so that she could continue to fight. After I made that decision, a glowing blue light appeared above Erric and I saw life breathed into him once more. Haelee had used some druidic magic to heal him. He made a brave decision to assist Princess in the fight, putting himself in danger still. During all this chaos, Grimm had been following Princess around attacking her targets and helping destroy our foes and Khemed ducked in and out of combat. It was hard to follow him and I had lost track of him all together, thinking that perhaps he had decided to save himself given the dire odds against us. But in the end everyone was present. I healed Erric and Princess once more knowing that the flaming skull might return. Then I turned my attention to Gideon.
 
The battered form of the former priest of Lathander lay on the ground punctured and beaten. There was talk of cutting his head off, or burning his body to ensure that he couldn't return. I couldn't bare the thought of one of Lathander's priest not being given the chance to walk in his light to the world beyond. So I placed a spell upon his body that would ensure he could not become undead again for at least 10 days. My thought process is that if we aren't out of Avernus by then, we have far greater issues to deal with. His poor soul doesn't belong to Zariel and if I can help it I won't let her have him again.
 
The reprieve won't last long so we took advantage of it and searched for clues as to what Gideon, and his new master, might be up to. Haelee found some crystals that may or may not be magical so we saved them for investigation later. We also found some text and papers on the desk. There's no time to look through them so I stuffed them in my bag to again peruse later when we are safe. Now battered and bruised we must continue on. I have to admit that while Torm has not left me, it is taxing drawing on divine energies and I feel like I need a small breather, but I'm afraid we may not have that luxury and that we might need to press on further down into the depths of this cathedral to hopefully discover the dark plans for our beloved city and a way to stop them.