Session 13: The Prayer of Fourfold Wrath

General Summary

Our party found themselves settling down for the evening within the village of the Morose, nestled along the northern edge of the Alikr Desert. Morose is a sleepy and assuming village built upon an oasis, however it’s history and involvement in major events leads to a sort of vicious cycle, past events begetting future events, historical, magical and spiritual traumas begetting more magical and spiritual trauma so to speak. It is during one of these vicious cycles; that our party now finds themselves within.

During their investigation of the Darkin Spectres, Aethrondil happened upon the scribbled journal of a madman that wrote of a historical massacre taking place within the village of Morose at the hands of one of the Red Dervishes of Rihaad, the chosen champions of the Darkin Blade. This Dervish massacred the village, killing men, women and children out of suspicion of “being mages.” This Dervish was banished for his actions and went on to form the organization known as the The Darkin Spectres, a zealous, shadowy organization dedicated to worship of the Darkin Blade how they want.
While conducting this research, Aethrondil was given a quest by Glaorinil the Altmer historian at the Library of Sentinel, to retrieve a text from a ruin recently uncovered by a sandstorm just on the outskirts of the modern day village of Morose. The book was called the “Prayer of Fourfold Wrath” and was said to be a text dedicated to The Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon.
As your party approached the Village of Morose just this past evening, you happened upon what appeared to be a corpse, sunbaked and rotting along the road. Upon closer inspection this corpse was not a corpse at all, but a man in a simple white robe. He had torn rope bindings on his arms and a gaping wound in his chest. After receiving healing magic, the man was revived and physical wounds healed, but the wounds to his mind were not. In between fits of maniacal giggling and sobbing, he managed to blubber out prophetic warnings of the coming revolution and the wrath that will break us all. The wrath of Mehrunes Dagon. With these ominous warnings given, the man slit his throat and ended his own suffering.
Your party arrived in Morose and sought shelter in two locations. Knight Sister Solaine, Aethrondil, Steve and Jonus took shelter with the parents of Nami, the young pregnant woman you rescued along the road. The others: Theodane, Cleetus, Darius, Havem, and Peeeeeen-Ja, found themselves bunking in the stable. Sometime would go by and the 5 of them would awaken after an indeterminate amount of time in a different location. They were bound, gagged and disarmed lying on the floor of a dark dusty dungeon. Quickly, Cleetus was able to break the binds from his hands and began to untie Havem and Darius. Theodane and Peeeeen-Ja were able to also slip out of their bindings. Taking a quick stock of their location, the group realized that they had been taken from the stable in their sleep. Not getting much time to explore, a Cultist of Fourfold Wrath who was patrolling the halls came close by to the room they were stashed in. In one quick movement, Cleetus was able to wrap a rope around the cultists neck and pull him into the room, where he was quickly slain by Darius. Peeeeen-Ja and Theodane also quickly engaged the scamp closely following him from behind. With the immediate danger over, Theodane scouted above the room they were stashed in, flying through the skylight of the ruin to observe that they were surrounded on all side.
Steve, Aethrondil, and Jonus awoke to the Knight Sister, dressed in her armor and shaking gently, with a finger to her lips to keep quiet, and to get up. She did not go to sleep, suspecting something was off in the village. Leading them to the cracked window, the three watched as a line of cultists speaking in tongues were gathered around the stable and slowly working their way out into the desert. Quickly waking up their hosts, Johjin confirmed that the cultists outside must be associated with Ajax, a priest of the Imperial Temple who preaches in this village. One thing they would also notice was that Nami’s parents were also missing. Aethrondil would overhear the voices chanting in the distance, recognizing it to be in the Ayleid language, the ancient race of elves that inhabited much of Tamriel during the first era and likely were the original inhabitants of Morose during the days of the Great Crossing. The small group would then see Toe-neigh hovering overtop of the Stablemasters home. Investigating the stablemasters home, none of their friends were in the stables and the home had been abandoned. An investigation of the home would reveal a hidden shrine to Mehrunes Dagon stashed away. There was a simple altar, with a thin blade cake in blood, along with various scribblings and etchings of the same Daedric runes, of Mehrunes Fourfold Wrath. They also located a chest with a hidden compartment in Rory’s room, where they stole a Spell Tome of Soul Trap and 3 common soul gems.
Toe-Neigh would then begin to lead the party out of the village and towards the Desert ruins. The group in the ruins already began to investigate the area slowly and carefully. It would not take much time before a wave of cultists would enter the room and drag all of the characters except for Darius into another chamber, where they were tossed through a portal and transported to another location. They found themselves placed on their knees in the centre of an ancient and dilapidated ruin, with a cultists surrounding them on all sides. Ajax was hiding behind the cover of a blue forcefield of magic, inspecting Havem’s bow.
He would explain to the party that the Bow of Ouroboro was a relic, sought by the Imperial Temple, that only appeared to the chosen avatar of Satakal the Worldskin, either being a force to save the world, or destroy it, thus fulfilling Satakal’s primordial hunger. He spoke about a ripple in time that had reverberated through Aetherius and was felt through the various planes of Oblivion. The Divines, the Yokudan Gods, and the Daedra had begun to prepare for something, and had started to choose their champions in Tamriel for the trials and tribulations to come. Havem’s appearance before Ajax confirmed that which he already suspected, a war was brewing among the gods and the Daedra. Ajax also seemingly confirmed to the party that he was the chosen champion for Mehrunes Dagon, utilizing his Deadlands Hammer that was gifted to him by the Daedric Prince to channel the Power of the Prayer of Fourfold Wrath, the text uncovered within the ruin. Ajax planned to sacrifice one of the party members in order to feed it to the Atronarch summoned from the Deadlands to begin his plans to bring the Great Revolution to Hammerfell.
Cutting back to the other party, they approached the ruins to find it swarming with cultists, scamps, and other daedra. Some short planning would ensue as the group began to sneak up on some resting cultists guarding the entrance to the ruin. A very successful surprise attack would occur, with all of the cultists dispatched before they could elicit even a peep of sound. As they were hiding the bodies within the tents, they noticed Darius poking his head up and out of the ruins, gesturing for them to quickly follow him. Darius would lead them down into the ruin where they would quickly ambush another group of cultists before coming upon the rest of the groups gear all stored away. Grabbing whatever weapons they could carry, the proceeded to the next chamber before coming upon the portal deep in the well in the room. After chucking a rock and a giant metal cage through it, the group would take a leap of faith and dive into the portal.
Ajax would have Cleetus dragged into a magic circle directly in front of him. Cleetus would give him a defiant last word, stating Ajax would be killed if continued, before being sacrificed by Ajax, his life essence being consumed by the Deadlands Hammer. At the same time, Peeeeen-Ja would summon his Bound Sword, while the rest of the party teleported into the room just in time to see Ajax kill Cleetus and toss his body to the ground. As combat began, Ajax channeled the power of the Deadlands Hammer, opening a gate to Oblivion and summoning for a great Iron Atronarch. A tremendous battle would ensue, with the party members quickly dispatching the various cultists in the room. Peeeeen-Ja and Jonus took on the Iron Atronarch, engaging in a tense and vicious fight to protect Havem from being devoured by the being of molten rock and iron. Steve would notice that no weapons could traverse through the forcefield where Ajax was hiding, and instead teleported into a shadow right in front of him, knocking him prone and stunning him on the ground. Steve would deal the killing blow to Ajax, stomping his head into the ground just like he had done to Cleetus.
With Ajax dead, all of his Daedric followers would disappear and return to The Deadlands. The Spirit of Cleetus would appear above his body, and he requested that all of his gold be donated to Steve to help him with the orphanage he was planning to open. He also requested that they let his son know what happened to him and to apologize for being an absent father. It was his hope that his friends might be able to save that farm for him and ensure there was a legacy still left to give to his boy when he was old enough. After saying a couple final words, the Knight Sister would repeat the Last Rites over Cleetus’ body as he ascended to the next life within the Far Shores.
It was decided that the party would take the Deadlands Hammer with them, to ensure it was not happened upon by anyone else. Peeeeen-Ja would feel a force within the hammer try to reach out to him as he picked it up, and he also felt a burning feeling through his hand that held the weapon. They would wrap it in cloth before storing it away. Aethrondil would take possession of the Prayer of Fourfold Wrath. Our session concluded with the party teleporting back to the surface via a teleportation circle within the ruin, and slowly working their way back to Morose, with the body of their dear friend Cleetus being carried by the party.

Report Date

16 Aug 2022