Coia: 28 - Take Me to Church
General Summary
Having sensed evil in the Dancing Donkey, we head there to investigate. Retta casts an image of herself inside and it gets attacked by a slow-moving man. We attack him and after knocking him back, a ghost comes out of him just like the librarian and three more wraiths show up. We dispatch of these wraiths along with a bard named Thallon Sparrow who also became a ghost. After the battle, Nym discovers Arnold (Wolfgang's son) hiding behind the bar. He says that his dad started acting weird three days ago and he's been scared. Nym gets Mithac to come and heal Wolfgang and Thallon.
Across the street, we hear a noise from Golden Drops, the local mead brewery. Retta runs in the front door and is instantly stuck by an oozing honey. Garus tries to jump in the window but gets stuck. A slashing creature attacks Retta but she kills it. The others come in the other window to find another slasher in the mead-makers bedroom. They kill him and discover the brewer dead on the floor having been eaten a few days earlier. After Lucy loosened Retta's tail, Nym launches himself at her to break her free from the honey.
We continue down the street and hear noises from within a posh, well landscaped house just beyond the brewery. We figure it’s likely the lord’s manor as it appears to be in the best outward condition of the lot. Busting down the door, they discover it was booby-trapped and poison darts hit a few of us. Inside, a well-dressed man (Gideon Beckett, the Lord of Herthe) is on the bed apparently sleeping. Nym tries to sneak in, but the floorboards give him away and the Beckett stands up with a sword and attacks. We knock him out and fight yet another ghost. We’re getting good at this.
Garus hightails it across the river and discovers a graveyard, which based on its aged appearance, likely traces back to the first settlers of Herthe. A single mausoleum rests among the head stones and Garus runs inside. He's able to push open a coffin to find a skeleton of Daavid Herthe dressed in chain mail with a sword.
The rest of the party crosses the river and turns right to investigate the Church of the Forgotten Soul. The exterior of this stone structure is clearly well crafted, having stood for at least a few centuries based on the style of architecture. The double-door entry at the top of a small set of stone steps, appears to be the only entrance. Smaller stain glass windows puncture the thick stone walls to shed divine light into the meeting space, although looking through the translucent glass reveals little detail because of their age and layered filth.
We’re about to attempt entry when we hear rustling nearby and discover a man named Alistair Keaton. He says he came to Herthe to meet his son Emis and recognizes some of the party from Berkeso. He asks after Emis and we inform him that the last time we saw Emis was back in Grantherton. Alistair says that he and Emis were in the family business and used to run in some pretty dark circles. He tells us that a siege of undead creatures has set upon the town and that new creatures emerge from the church every couple of hours.
Turning back to the church, Retta attempts to doppelganger herself inside without success. We nudge open the front door and send Rasputin in who sees an empty church before a blinding flash of light and then nothing. We break down the door and feel a chilled breeze as we enter. Intricately carved pews lead up to an altar in the back. We’re immediately set upon by a group of zombies and skeletons.
As we battle, a large figure with 3 skeleton heads appears from behind the pulpit. He attacks with his sword and causes ice to fall from the sky. Garus gets infected with zombism, but we're able to kill the figure and when he dies, the other creatures vanish. We inspect where he came from to find a loose tile in the floor and stairs beneath it. Too weak and embattled to follow them down, but knowing the fight will have to continue later, we attempt to bar their way up by replacing the tile and placing the immovable rods on top.
Outside of the church we meet up with Garus who describes the mausoleum. Zen retrieves the chain mail and the sword from the crypt. Retta sets up a neon yellow nuttobuthut so we can rest at least until the next waves comes out. Alistair says he's going to head up north to Grantherton since that's where the party last saw Emis. Retta decides to accompany him, but not before letting us know that an unknown person in Berkeso had slipped her a note that said "Bring the party to Herthe".
Estimating that it'll be a half hour until the next wave of creatures comes, we just hope the rods slow them down so that we have enough time for a short rest...
Rewards Granted
- Level 3 spell scroll of waterwalking; golden cross worth 24G; pouch of 37G
- potion of Charisma; 422G;
- box with 350G, 2 star rubies, and a robe of stars; Bone Staff; chain mail; magic sword;
Sszardan T'Sarran
Zenhorn
Mithac Fezim
Lucius
Garus Silenus
Retta
Nym Lenore
Report Date
01 May 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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