Dirty Work for the Headmaster

General Summary

In a communication between Garth and Headmaster Protax Kadmion, Garth gains information about illegal cult activities. Protax has come to know that members of the dragon cult "The Promise of the Undying's Faithful" are situated in a building in Vilamond. The building is in the vicinity of a graveyard that has been plagued by looting, likely by these cultists. Protax explains that the cult are necromantic fanatics who worship an immortal dragon, Gargaltrax, who they believe will return to Umbaron and punish anyone unfaithful to him. Those who are faithful however, will be granted Gargaltrax's immortality, even after death.
Protax also makes it clear that there will be evidence at the location in the form of ritual instructions, necromantic research notes, and perhaps magical artifacts. Bring them to him and he will kindly see that they end up in the right hands.
Garth contacts Pinan and Thikil, who has proven reliable in dangerous situations. They meet up at The Mug on the Pier.
Garth explains the situation to Pinan and Thikil, and offers them any gold they find as payment, as long as he can have the cult's items. Pinan and Thikil agrees to this, as they are in need of money.
Before they head out though, they realize they will need some resources, and should head by the market to stock up. Pinan also reveals that he stole a fine-looking tome off of a stranger while his bag was open. He also reveals that it was he himself that made the bag open.
They head on to the market, and start looking for magical components. While Pinan has been in Vilamond, he's had time to experiment with his elven knowledge of nature magic, and has come to the point where he's in need of somewhere to keep his magical components. Garth is looking to stock up on some extra spell components for his research, and Thikil is hungry and on the prowl for sausage.
After looking around the market for a while, the group find what they need. Garth and Pinan haggle with an old lady for some magic equipment, and Thikil makes a service-minded vendor count his sausages before buying ten of them.
They continue on to the location Protax gave Garth, and end up in a shady alleyway. They investigate a small house and find a hooded man reading a book. Garth demands to see the book, and sees that it is "A Comprehensive Overview of Alandor's History, Myths, and Legends" by Landrich P. Landolf.
The hooded man seems to be on edge by the sudden intrusion, and Thikil realizes that he's got a dagger, and is just about to strike. With his insight, they are able to avoid a surprise attack, and defeat him before he could strike.
In the house, they find a hatch in the floor with a staircase leading down into the cellar. A rancid, pungent stench meets them as they walk down into the dimly lit chambers. They hear shambling and gurgling moans, and as the stench draws closer, three walking corpses appear. The corpses attack the party, and they are drawn into a battle with the wretched things. The zombified bodies are hard to kill, and while they are not very agile, they pack quite a punch when it connects. After a long-winded battle, the party is able to defeat them.
They explore the rooms directly evident to them, but find nothing of interest. Though the zombies were a remarkable encounter, they are confused to why there are no more signs of a cult here. Thikil ponders this, and realizes that a secret cult would of course try to hide their presence, and there must be a secret door or something similar. The party performs a more targeted search, and finds exactly that, a secret door in one of the walls leading to a dark tunnel dug through the earth.
After the encounter with the horrible undead, they are wary of what they might meet. Pinan steps forward and offers to scout ahead. Skilled in the ways of stealth, he makes his way down the tunnel completely unnoticed, without as much as a breeze to expose him. He turns a corner and sees a cultist occupied with some sort of dark experiment, he makes a decision and fires an arrow. The arrow strikes true and kills the person instantly and without any noise.
Meanwhile, Garth and Thikil is having a sausage party at the mouth of the tunnel.
Pinan continues on, and discovers a chamber with more unholy creatures. This time, walking skeletons armed with blades and bows. In the middle of the chamber, bent over a corpse on a table, is a tall hooded man. Once again, Pinan lets an arrow fly, and through immense luck combined with his skill, he is able to once again kill with one shot. The skeletons are immediately aware of his presence and attacks. The magic contract of protection to their master, while now dead, must still be fulfilled. Garth and Thikil hears the commotion and makes their way down the tunnel, following the sound. By now, Pinan has entered melee battle with some of the skeletons, and they rush to his aid.
With their master dead, disposing of the skeletons is a quick matter. After the battle they search the chamber, they find treasure, ritual and research documents, a magical potion, and a strange bone, unlike anything anyone of them has seen before. The closest guess is that it is a bone from a large lizard. It looks very old. Thikil asks if he can have a closer look at it, which would require a night or two. Garth agrees.
Collecting anything deemed valuable, they find their task complete, and make their way out of the location without anyone being the wiser of their visit.

Campaign

Moonshine Runners

Protagonists

Thikil Zirak

Report Date

29 Nov 2022