The Cultists Of Sel-kai: Part Four

General Summary

With the elemental defeated, the party retrace their steps to the second locked door that they had discovered. After a few attempts, Cherry defeats the mechanism and reveals a long sloping corridor heading off into what appears to be a small chamber from which the tell-tale sounds of pick-on-stone can be heard. At the far end of the corridor, two somewhat desultory robed figures stand guard. Sylke carefully approaches and places one of the men into an enchanted slumber. The second is dropped by a number of carefully placed arrows by Cran and Cherry before he can do much more than draw a long bladed kynac.
The chambers leads into a set of caverns, clearly the source of the strange metallic ore that the companions discovered earlier. This ore has a damaging corrosive effect on the metal used to keep Eidolon in place above Sel-kai. Moving deeper into the caverns, the party efficiently remove a small group of Iron Bell cultists who are returning from the deep caverns for more tools. The site of current mining and the source of the mining sounds heard back at the locked door is a large cavern split by a narrow sandy ridge. Four robed men, busy with picks are being supervised by a red-robed and cowled figure. A huge skeleton, some form of long dead dragon has also been unearthed at some point but it lies mercifully quiet in a dry depression to one side. The other pit is occupied by a shallow pool of clear water fed from the previous cavern's small spring.
Concerned that the red-robed figure could be some sort of necromancer, the party quickly decide to deal with him first; Cherry nocks an arrow, Sylke bravely ventures in ahead of the others while Cran moves into the other side of the cavern via the narrow stream. Catching the cultist's unawares, the fight goes well at first. Their leader is cut down within a few seconds; Sylke moving in and demonstrating some unexpected skills in unarmed combat, Cran severing the man's left hand. Lethally placed arrows from Cherry temporarily incapacitate another pair of men and Cran takes care of a third. Then, just as things seem to be going well, the battle turns. Though their leader is down, three of the cultists fight on, a fourth flees. One closes on Cherry and the diminutive thief is soon hard-pressed and bleeding from a score of cuts and slashes. Ugnan steps up to support Sylke who is in danger of being flanked by two recovering men and though he defends stoutly to buy time for Cran to wade in, a horrendous wound to his right leg drops the healer leaving Sylke face-to-face with the crazed cultist. Cran arrives just in time having killed one of the men and he is able to cut down Cherry's opponent; Sylke again demonstrates her prowess as a martial artist and knocks the other man to the ground.
Cherry collapses as the last cultist dies and joins Ugnan on the casualty list. All Cran and Sylke can do at this point is to try and retreat with their badly injured friends. Returning to the surface with their companions and a prisoner, Sylke runs to House Elgata for aid and within hours a number of sedan chairs arrive to whisk the party to the safety of their ship.
Cherry recovers quickly, Ugnan takes a few more days to recover; his uncanny regenerative powers and magic are aided by healers sent by Elgata. Their prisoner is called "Thantos Than". A Shay human and a native of Arull, the "priest" is one of three Iron Bell "leaders". Thantos was in charge of the mining operation and believes that the ore is to be used to fashion enchanted weapons to help facilitate a bloody coup and takeover of the city. The Iron Bell are not that numerous, dozens of people rather than hundreds. Two other leaders are in charge of recruiting new adherents and overseeing the worship of a demonic creature called "Bath 'Tuth". Thantos suspects that the "Minister" who leads the cult is a highly recognizable Sel-kai figure and one who is an outlaw as the man (?) seldom goes above ground during the day. The "Minister" has access to considerable wealth however and his relatively new appearance has rejuvenated the cult after years of limping along under one weak leader after another following the deaths of the two founders, Larkrise and Sunset. The demon, Bath 'Tuth "lives" elsewhere in the cisterns and feeds daily on the victims bought by the cult. In return, the demon acts as a vast reservoir of knowledge.
After four days convalescing, Ugnan feels ready to brave the cisterns once gain, there is clearly more to be uncovered and a demon to be destroyed.

Report Date

05 Jan 2019