The Dungeon of Graves: Session 41

General Summary

Lord Frogius

Just after the other members of the Damned had started fighting with the clerics of Tsathung, the paladin had finally made it through the swamp with the wagon they had left him to deal with. Within the chamber, Kaertas could see the far double doors that could potentially give the servants of Tsathung reinforcements, with this thought the necromancer brought up a wall of fire. The flames were dropped on some of the priests and behind another set. The heat and flame rushed through the area and some of the devoted to Tsathung collapsed to the ground, Another one fell dead after they had managed to dodge the brunt of the flame. Vai’len had thought that the entire point was to draw the clerics out of the hallowed area and so she moved further from the area, hiding from anyone who came from the door and holding a crossbow bolt. Kaertas could see all of the priests and even the frogs turn to the large toad cleric. “Defilers” the cleric preached “destroy them, they have ruined the sanctuary of this church.” Being inspired by their leader, the clerics moved and while some of them dropped Shatters on the group around the doors, one of them casted Silence directed all around the backdoor.
Always vocal with their opinions, Sinestra’s words fell of deaf ears as the druid was in the zone of silence. They had wanted to ask if they were planning on keeping some of them alive or if they were just going to let Kaertas burn them all down. She moved back and sent some eldritch energy at the nearest priest she could see. Lothar moved out of the silence, moving south to the other door. Upon reaching the door the cleric demanded that the clerics of Tsathung come out and surrender. The door in front of him was locked and with the rogue across the courtyard, Lothar used his weapon and summoned Lupus to help break down the southern door. Peeking through the damaged door, he could see a well appointed room that seemed to be a library or possibly a bedroom for someone who did not need to slumber.
From inside the main chamber the cleric started chanting and a green light softly flowed out and rested on the fallen priests. With them healing he ordered his congregation to keep attacking the intruders while they gathered others. Ace was in the thick of the silence spell, it didn’t stop him from moving his dancing weapon into the dining room, nor did it stop him from silently complaining about the situation they have found themselves in. Lord Thevius had seen the green glow from the cleric’s spell but was unable to hear the words. Rather cleverly, the Lord started screaming until he was able to hear himself, knowing that was the limit of the area of silence, Thevius sent his own Shatter into the church of Tsathung. The bodies were hurled about with yet more frog goo splattering the stone walls. Emil had finally made it into the courtyard and right before the paladin reached the silence spell, he blessed a few of the Damned he could reach.
Down the stairs, behind Amo, he could hear a commotion as it seemed the cleric had moved down there to gather the resources he had promised his priests. He could tell that whatever resources were coming they were going to use the staircase he was hiding in. Knowing that his spot was going to become rather popular, Amo moved into the room and up to one of the fallen priests. He made sure the healing that had happened was moot and that this priest wouldn’t rise to fight again. The rogue fell back and hid in a bush, she still hoped that the others would fall back as they seemed to have riled the clerics of Tsathung that they could pursue them in the courtyard. Inside the chamber, Kaertas dropped his concentration on the fire to concentrate on holding one of the healed priests. Three of the healed priests rise and two of them attack Kaertas and Amo with shatters while one of the priests near Amo rose and screamed “heretic” before they blinded the hexblood.
The reinforcements shambled and moaned while they climbed the stairs to surround Kaertas. Sinestra watched as the wizard was engulfed in the undead, before she nailed a zombie she stated that once again Kaertas had found themselves in trouble and they needed to be saved. While Lothar had aggressively opened the door, one of the priests had run in, sheltering themselves from flying splinters and disappearing through a secret door. The cleric moved through the bedroom, noted the secret door and moved past it to the far door. Through the open door he noted the zombies and moved to attack but he did yell out to those who could hear that they had zombies. The undead looked to have been soaking in the swamp for a rather long time becoming bloated. Each of them have giant holes in their chest indicating that they were all ritualistically sacrificed. The battle continues with Ace having his magical weapon attack and Thevius punching a hole in a zombie's chest with a well placed eldritch blast.
Emil was able to move through the door and into the hallowed church without feeling the sickness. Glancing at the undead the paladin tried to control one of them but the magic in the area seemed to wrestle the zombie from the command. Amo used the walls of the room to move past the zombies as they were still blind and as he emerged from the building those outside could see the green gunk that had crusted his eyes. Once again Kaertas was in the thick of it and once again he was able to use magic to teleport out of the trouble he helped to create. He moved out of the silence and dropped a fireball on the zombies and as it was like before, when the fire reached the altar, the wizard could feel an inaethri presence looking down upon him. Lord Thevius had no idea that the bush he was standing near contained a hidden rogue. Vai’len could hear the lordling muttering about the area being disgusting. The wizard who had managed to burn a bunch of zombies had his two skeletal companions move to the hallway that Sinestra’s familiar had been exploring. The two undead were instructed to break open one of the doors but they seemed to just flail a bit against the wood.
The rogue had been waiting until a priest had positioned itself for her to take a shot. Her bolt pierced the cleric causing them to slump to the ground. She then moved across the courtyard to join Lothar. Ace joins Lothar and Vai’len while the priests use their time to heal some of the fallen and prepare spells. Kaertas’ skeletons are joined by one of the priests who managed to cause one of them to run in fear. The Damned continue their siege on the temple of Tsathung. Zombies try to attack Emil and Lothar but in the end they are unable to slay any of the Damned. The priests join the zombies but with their goal of bringing some of the clerics to Zhanna for the bounty, only a few of them are dead while some they had managed to just knock out. Lothar yelled out to Kaertas to ‘check this out’ while the cleric moved through a secret door. Through the door they could hear the large toadman bellow out that they have survived for eons and would outlive the defilers. At this point they could have gathered the dead and living priests for transportation but the lordling had other thoughts.
Thevius had been complaining about the frogs while engaging the priests and undead. He dropped a shatter on the statue and frogs in the small pond, a horrendous explosion of water, tree branches and frogs went everywhere. Thousands of frogs explode in its wake. “I hate slimy frogs!” he yelled while the statue responded with green light, turning the lordling into a frog. Amo walked past the frog helping Emil gather the aethrin resources for Zhanna. With usual magical polymorphs causing damage to affected creatures would break the magic. Vai’len used the back of her dagger to gently hit the frog; however, instead of breaking Thevius out it just killed the frog.
Meanwhile Lothar and Sinestra are down the hidden stairs and could hear a very soft bubbling noise, like something brewing. Sinestra shared that the others seemed to have everything in order. Do they pursue the others or should they fall back, this is what Sinestra asked but Lothar was dead set on stopping the servants of Tsathung as he sent Lupus to break down the door. Above ground, the frog was healed and Amo reluctantly used a scroll to dispel the magic on the frog. But the lordling hadn’t learned his lesson. With the images of what happened to him as a frog returning to him, Lord Thevius dropped another shatter on the statue and frogs. The remaining frogs perished in another explosion and as the others above ground turned to talk to Thevius, they were once again looking down at a frog. Amo shakes his head and regains some of his magic while Ace gently picks up the frog and follows the rogue who had quickly joined Lothar and Sinestra, knowing that the cleric. The paladin was rather confused during the entire frog debacle and signed his confusion to Amo. When the statue had exploded with the last spell, two bright green gemstones exploded out and were sent flying through the courtyard. Emil had started to follow the others and had gone to grab the stone but thought it might be too dangerous. Ace on the other hand just picked it up and continued on his way to the secret door. For some reason, Kaertas had joined his skeleton at the northern hallway and they had been trying to open a door with a shovel when the others move to see what Lothar and Sinestra had been up to while they were dealing with Lord Frogius.
When Vai’len joined Lothar and Sinestra, the cleric asked if the others were following and she explained that she hoped that they were. The rogue offered to unlock the door and while the other two prepared spells she felt obligated to kick it open as if she let Lothar do it he would drop the spell he had been holding. With the door open, the cleric of Tsathung released the magic that they had prepared when Lothar had first sent Lupus against the door. Those inside had more time to prepare and it was obvious. The trio on the stairs were now in the middle of an insect plague. Cockroaches were flying around them, biting them at every moment. Not realizing the scope of the spell and knowing that Lothar would continue in, Vai’len stepped into the room, taking more damage as she remained in the affected area. The other clerics attacked Lothar and Sinestra. Emil used the time it took him to get to the door to heal.
Lord Frogius wiggled out of Ace’s grasp and hid in the mud when they heard the cleric of Tsathung. Amo explains that there are bugs down the stairs to Emil who could not hear the spells and his fellow Damned explain. Lothar managed to dispel the insect plague and he demanded that the priests surrender. Sinetra followed up stating they were tired of the cleric’s zombies and priests machinations and that they would keep them all alive except for the undead. Kaertas moved quickly down the stairs, remaining on the stairs while the rogue drank a healing potion. She had wanted to fall back but did not want to abandon the others in the room. The booming voice of the large toad cleric responded to Sinestra and Lothars call for them to surrender. “Eternal damnation will await me if I follow you,” he then releases another plague upon the group, nearly killing all within the room and reaching Kaertas on the stairs. Emil had managed to move down the stairs and had just reached an area outside the cockroaches while the zombies and priest continued their onslaught on Lothar. The cleric had been standing in the doorway, making themselves the biggest target. The zombies spent their entire turn trying to grab the cleric to push them back into the insect plague, over and over again. With those in the room nearly dead, the Damned have only one viable option, try to run for their lives.

Report Date

25 Jul 2021