Episode 11
General Summary
Spying a moving shadow behind the crumpled statue of Mortona, Veda casts Faerie Fire into the room, which outlines the shadow and causes it to take humanoid shape; darting further into the temple. The group cautiously move forward, with Godric using his Divine Sense to detect the presence of anything untoward. His senses detect 3 sources of undead and as the rest of the group move into the room, they are attacked by undead Shadows.
The Shadows, though not too strong, do cause some serious damage - draining the strength of half the group. As combat ends and the silence of the temple returns, the group recover somewhat before moving on. Godric discovers a small hole in one of the walls which leads the group to discovering a secret passage. Leah sends Nyx through to investigate, and the owl returns with the news that the tunnel is clear and seemingly safe. Assuming the tunnel is an escape route for whoever once resided in the temple, the group decide to move through a set of large double doors instead, finding themselves in a large church hall - very similar to the Church of the Goddess in Kureta City. This church is abandoned however, and anything that wasn't part of the stone or nailed down seems to have been removed some time ago - that is, everything except for what now lies on the alter towards the back of the room.
Moving forward cautiously, the party find a bloodied corpse lying on a sacrificial alter. As the face of this person comes into view, they realise it to be Safana Grey, the elderly half-elf who had recently been murdering citizens of the capital. The woman has been tied down with her chest bared, and a dagger plunged through her heart. The dagger - a nondescript item much like the ones the murderer herself used - is left on the ground. Upon the woman's head is carved the word 'FAILURE', she appears to have been dead for only a day or 2.
In the hope of gaining some guidance from her goddess, Marty performs a reading for the dead half-elf. The cards drawn seem eerily apt for the situation - something the fortune teller isn't entirely used to - and with her prayer to Mortona completed, the dead woman's mouth parts. The goddess of death has granted her cleric a Speak with Dead spell for her efforts. Speaking with the corpse reveals that she was promised eternal youth and beauty by somebody called 'The Wicked One' as a reward for her murdering ways. Safana doesn't offer much more information on this mysterious person, other than that her cat would visit, and this is how they communicated.
As the half-elf returns to her eternal sleep, Atlas discovers a secret hatch behind the alter, which leads below the temple. Leaving this route for now, the group head down the opposite side of the secret tunnel they had previously found, and along the way spot a section of wall which seems out of place. A Detect Magic spell reveals a small area of lingering magic, and Atlas plunges his hand into the soft dirt to find a bag. Eva identifies the item as a Bag of Holding, and the group discover it to contain a sapphire, a Rune of the Viper and 12 ancient golden coins - minted under the rule of King Alaric Knightsbridge.
The party move back into the entry hall of the temple, and then on to one of the side passages. At a crossroads, the group find a campsite to their left with a long extinguished fire and 4 corpses lying dead around it. The corpses are of monstrous races, which it appears have come from the City of Pain. One of the bodies, an orc, is holding a journal of some kind, but it is written in a language that none of the group are able to speak.
On the opposite side of the crossroads are 6 prison cells. 3 of the cells have a skeletal inhabitant, which Godric detects have a very faint scent of undeath on them. Atlas breaks off all of the locks and cautiously enters the first cell with a skeleton inside. The corpse doesn't react to his presence, and the artificer finds a locket on the body. The other cells prove to be equally uneventful, though one does seem to have been holding a criminal from centuries ago.
Moving further up the passage, the group find 2 of the remaining rooms to be caved in, and a 3rd just a storage closet with some ancient brooms. At the end of the passage, a locked door leads to a large pit filled with corpses - the stench is overwhelming. Seemingly due to the presence of the party, a guttural moan fills the room, as the corpses begin to writhe and climb out of the pit. Marty spots a glowing crystal at the back of the room, which the group discern may be animated the bodies. Not taking any chances, Atlas coats the room in magical grease, which Eva sets ablaze. The burning corpses fill the air with their stink, as Atlas closes the door once more and locks it behind them. With that, hopefully, taken care of. The group decide on the best place to take a quick nap.
Rewards Granted
- Sapphire
- Bag of Holding
- 12 Ancient Kuretian coins
- Rune of the Viper
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