The Mouth of Doom: Session 27
General Summary
The Forbidden Ward: Faith Recognized
Report Date
17 Apr 2021
Despite the beautiful weather, the Wrenjers’ mood was dampened by the knowledge that they had brought the contamination out from the dungeon and into the woods. With his laurel branch upon his pink mohawked head, Leofric could see the infection on everything they carried and the path they had taken last night. With his ritual spell active, Enya burned away an area and as the fire died down from the lack of fuel the pathogen crawled over the area to spread back where it had been before the fire. The wizard couldn’t identify anything magical about the infection; however, how it moved and the rate of infection seemed to indicate something magical about the process by which it was created. Zetwuzadi could feel her guts churning as if she was infected but being immune it couldn’t affect her the same way as the others but there was something about this pathogen that reminded her of desecration and smelled of fiends.
A few of them had participated in Zetwuzadi’s interrogation of Yaza, the cleric of the Master, they had captured yesterday and this feeling the paladin was experiencing coincided with what they had learned from Yaza. He claimed that the pestilence was created by the Master, not Vrokíva. Artem thought it was both disturbing and unsurprising. More important that they focused on cleansing the infection they had brought out of the dungeon. Some wonder if the Master had contaminated something the Menders had been working on and that cleansing it would potentially ripple out and clear the area of the pathogen.
They spend the day testing areas and burning the rest of the area back from their campsite to the Dungeon in which they reenter. But not before testing the pestilence against holy water and they find that when the water dries the infection returns. They also had to burn down three trees as the spores of the pathogen landed on a dandelion which then spread it to the trees with a gust of wind. Through their testing, Leofric could tell the pathogen was aggressive, malicious and did not need a fuel to spread. But as they enter the dungeon for the night, they feel confident that they eliminated the infection outside.
As they make their way to the outpost that Jackrat probably fell back to before descending and turning into a ghoul, the scouts could hear a patrol of six or so skeletal bipeds clatter down another hallway away from them. But they disappear without confrontation. The room was how they left it and before settling in for the night, Te’Leyuura sent one more message to Arddan. With Vadim’s words she sends “Currently contained. Desecration spreads like fine dust and grows back if not destroyed completely, Use fire and holy water. Keeping cleric ttyl.” His response informed them that they will follow their instructions and will send Ready help upon not hearing from them the next day. During the night, Te’Leyuura and Leofric start to cough but Zetwuzadi was ready and cured them. Later that same night Artem began to cough but a quick shake of Zetwuzadi gave him the curing hands of the paladin. Everyone else was able to withstand the pestilence, at least for another night.
The 5th of Asha brought heavy rains and they could hear them as they passed near the stairs on their way down to the Mender’s Ward. It seemed that it was lucky that they had the weather on their side yesterday or it would have been much harder to burn the pestilence away. During yesterday’s testing, the wizard had started cataloging and sorting what they had learned about the pestilence and was ready when they descended the stairs. Everything appeared to be the same, the bottom was filled with roaches that scattered into the walls when the group entered. They already knew what the northern door led to, but now made their way to the Forbidden ward. The door was heavy steel and looked to be more of a hatch, the door fit perfectly into the wall with a small seam. And the lock was tough but Artem was able to unlock the door for Jarvis to open. It seemed that the door had small arcane symbols making it air tight and hard to open but once it was, it led to another hallway.
Choosing the western path that indicated the Residences, the eastern path indicated the Isolation Ward, they moved with the scouts slightly ahead of the group. Artem and Jarvis did notice the uneven floor near the clear indicators of a portcullis, the blue circles on the ground, on the eastern path before returning their attention to the Residence path. The first door they come upon is similar in make to the entrance with the long handle and metal door that reminded them of a hatch. It was cold to the touch but wasn’t locked or trapped. Once the seal was broken the smell hit them, it was terrible and smelled of waste and refuse. Before the door was fully open they just shut it, leaving it for another time. The wizard did give a few of her companions some lavender smelling prestidigitation under their noses to help alleviate the smell.
Continuing down the path that headed north, they found an area off to the east that looked dorm like. The room had seven doors of various sizes numbered one through seven. The scouts could hear the moaning and shuffling of medium sized creatures off to the northwest. Before opening these doors, Artem stealths up to check the room with the sounds of creatures. It looked to be a dinning hall or at least it had been one at one point. Now the tables are all shattered and shoved to the north and south of the room. On the far wall there was a raised carving of a fat leering demonic face with their mouth wide open, looking like an entrance. The rogue falls back to the group, informs them to be ready for fight but moves to the swinging door across from the dorm area. Pushing the door open revealed the empty remnants of the kitchen with a large knife embedded into the thick wooden slab table. The table is sturdy and covered in blackish red blood stain that looked to be the final resting place of some aethrin.
They all move up to the dining hall, ready for battle. The area is filled with detritus of old banquet items and it is clear to Leofric that the face was added. Off to the north, they could see the four shambling corpses of plague zombies picking through the wreckage, constantly repeating the gestures. Each of them looked bloated and had little clothing, from the south they could see large bloated rats. Battle commences with a frontline but unfortunately the hallway and angle made it hard for any of the range Wrenjers to target the creatures at a safe distance. When the first zombie died, a green vapor filled the area around the body. Figuring they shouldn’t get near they tried to keep their distance.
It wasn’t long for the rats to notice the battle and upon further inspection the rats seemed to have green ichor leaking from their fur and must be coursing with pestilence. The wizard had to move out front to get a good line of sight on the zombies, with her detect magic still active, she noticed the magic aura on the carving and two in the rubble behind the zombies. With only one zombie left, Leofric turns them instead of finishing them off as they want to study it before slaying it. Vadim finishes off the last rat while Leofric casts Detect Disease. ((Achievement unlocked: Detected the Most Disease)). He does learn that when these zombies perish they create an area of pure pestilence around them that eventually fades or distributes. It’s a disease with an incubation of 12 hours that does not clear, the victim either is cleansed or they catch it. The pestilence is highly adaptable, spreads on every surface not sanctified and stepping into a hallowed area might work. These zombies looked to have been raised by the disease in an unholy blend of unnatural sanctification.
While Artem and Jarvis started the task of searching for the magical items Te’Leyuura had spotted in the rubble, the wizard brought Sindragosa to the demonic carving. She did not want to cast Identify personally but was going to use her familiar but upon touching the conjuration magic transported the flying snake somewhere else. Not being the smartest creature, Sindragosa wasn’t able to learn where they were transported by the time Te’Leyuura brought her back. They all fell back to the dorms, leaving the transportation carving alone, for now. Each of the doors was wood reinforced with metal and all with normal locks. The first room contained a desk, a small chest and a bed that looked to have had two aethrin die in it. Within the trapped chest they found it filled with parchment that looked to have been part of a larger collection and this was what was left. They do find five sheets with arcane writing and abyssal. It looks like they were trying to summon a demon and the spell had everything they needed to do so. The parchment had the same watermark that the Menders used and reeked of desperation. Other than the chest, everything else seemed to have been dragged out into the dinning room. The other rooms looked to be the same with the items removed. One of the larger rooms had a small child room attached to it. Leofric, upon hearing about this, walked into the room, dropped to his knee and prayed to Calelis over the bed. They wait patiently for their companion, each one of them trying to reconcile what they were seeing with the need to push on. Artem and Jarvis could hear the shuffling behind one of the doors and they opened it cautiously. This zombie was still wearing the tabard of the Menders and was missing their left hand. Vadim and Enya hurt the creature first with the paladin moving in and shutting the door behind her before releasing the zombie from their torment.
They hadn’t noticed before but each zombie had their left hand missing and it looked to have been severed before their undeath. Having each of the fallen Mender’s missing their left hand hinted at something perverse, something up the alley of demons. Whatever they summoned had asked for an ironic exchange as the Menders would have used both hands to heal. Artem brought up that the blood in each bed and on the kitchen table, might have been left to scare whomever followed or tried to cure the pestilence. Pressing on they moved up the hallway. It turned and along the upper part it contained a couple doors and alcoves that looked to be the start of more dorms or rooms. The door ahead of them was another hatch-like metal door. When they opened it, the air rushed through and Leofric could feel that the pathogen was everywhere. They closed it for now as it led to another hallway. Leofric was at the back of the group, Zetwuzadi falls back and begins to speak softly to him, “This is why we’re here, we’re going to put an end to this.” She continues to explain they are here to figure it out and put an end to this ever happening again.
Jarvis had waited at the southern door until Leofric was closer. He opened it and it looks to be a storage room of some sort. It smelled sour with a slight hint of rot. Artem moved in and could spot a plate of armor on a stand in the far back with the religious symbol of the Mender pantheon. Meanwhile, Zetwuzadi continued her speech to the cleric. She never once downplayed the horror or grief but tried to inspire him to meet the challenge. The armor jerks and animates, moving to Artem. A noise emitted from the helm simply states “this room is for the Menders only. Please remove yourself or you will be removed.” Leofric nods to the paladin and dashes in, holding up their holy symbol stating official Mender business. The animated suit responds with “Faith Recognized, welcome Mender.”
