The Skeleton King

"The village needs your help, Good Masters! As you know, some weeks ago King Leoric's younger son, Prince Albrecht, was kidnapped. The King went into a rage and scoured the village for his missing child. With each passing day, Leoric seemed to slip deeper into madness. He sought to blame innocent townsfolk for the boy's disappearance and had them brutally executed. Less than half of us survived his insanity...
The King's knights and priests tried to placate him, but he turned against them and sadly, they were forced to kill him. With his dying breath the King called down a terrible curse upon his former followers. He vowed that they would serve him in darkness forever...
This is where things take an even darker twist than I thought possible! Our former King has risen from his eternal sleep and now commands a legion of undead minions within the labyrinth. His body was buried beneath the Cathedral. Please, put his soul at ease by destroying his now cursed form..." - Ogden the Tavern Owner

The ghostly visage of King Leoric has appeared in the skies over the Tristram Cathedral and threated the people of Tristram once more. Ogden has asked for help laying the once-king to rest once more, explaining that in his madness the king had massacred his people his court slew him in retaliation. With the king once more arisen, Ogden fears it is only a matter of time before he uses his undead army to finish what he started on the good people of Khanduras.

• Pepin mentioned that King Leoric was buried in the Royal Crypt, located on the third level beneath the Tristram Cathedral.
• Aidan recalled that before the king went mad, there was a stained-glass archway commissioned for the entrance to the Royal Crypts. The travelers found this portal, but were unable to find a way inside.
• A tome found in the Tristram Cathedral depths held a cryptic message that the key to accessing the Royal Crypts lies in the blessing of three entities: the armies of Khanduras, the knights of the Royal Court, and the "land and Light" itself
• Three levers, hidden around the cathedral cellar, proved to provide entry to the Royal Crypts, each in a place associated with the clues from the tome. Once all were flipped, the stained glass door was opened, but each level twisted the imagery of Leoric into a darker and darker creature.
• Inside the crypts, King Leoric was heard speaking to Sir Gorrash, sending him to "serve at the Master's side." Gorrash vanished in a gout of flame, leaving the mystery of his assignment unanswered.
• King Leoric noticed the party entering his tomb and challenged them, identifying Aidan as his son, the crown prince, and accusing him of treason "like his mother." Refusing to parley any more, he attacked the group.
• The adventurers laid the Skeleton King to rest, with Aidan striking down his corrupted father and returning the fallen monarch to his grave.

With the undead monarch laid to rest once more, the group investigated the crypts, claiming an assortment of treasures from within. Aidan, now revealed to be the crown prince, claimed the treasures by right of birth, dispensing them to his colleagues for their aid in this task. Before leaving, however, the group was assailed by blackened skeletons disguised with horrific illusions from the group's past. The creatures were slain without much issue, but between their presence and the missing knight, Sir Gorash, it became clear that there were other forces at work, beyond that of the Mad King.

Parent Plot

Cleansing the Cathedral

Related Characters

• Ogden
• Pepin