The Priest's Missing Gauntlet

Brassons will tell the party that there is a job for them if they want it. A friend of his, Gavrila Ardalionovich Myshkin, is a priest of Torm over at the temple. Apparently, the priest has lost a gauntlet needed for a religious ceremony that is coming up and he does not want to go to the Streltzy over it. Brassons doesn't know why he won't go to the Streltsy, but he knows Brother Ganya and trust him.

Plot points/Scenes

The Temple of Torm is a large building, built like a bastion in the middle of the street rather than a church. The walls are bedecked with glinting weapons and armor and polished floors. Within the temple is Gavrila Myshkin, priest of Torm. He will bring the party into his study and tell them that he cannot go to the Streltsy out of shame. He had been walking the street with the gauntlet, but no money. A beggar came up to him and asked him for alms. Not having any, Gavrila offered a blessing. The man said he was starving and looked like it. Gavrila told the man that if he takes his gauntlet to the Ocean's Wake Bar, the patron would feed him in exchange for the token. When Brassons didn't return it, he knew something was up. He suspects the item was pawned, probably the docks ward where they do not ask many questions. He knows a podyachy of the local prikaz there who can be discreet: Boris Fedorovich Khilkov . Gavrila feels shamed that he was duped while serving the teachings of Torm and does not want that shame to come back to his family. If the party go to the docks district, they can find Boris Khilkov's office in the southern part of the district. A lowly clerk, he is considered the black sheep of his family because he goes beyond the strict adherence of the bureaucratic manual to help people. He will eagerly greet the party and ask what he can do for them. Explaining the situation, he will get serious. He will take out the records of pawnbrokers and try to narrow them down. Most will not accept religious articles since they can get them in trouble with the Streltsy. He has three that are possible: Rubal's Emporium, Pawn King, and Hawking and Gawking. Each one will say that a beggar with a Torm gauntlet came in but they didn't buy. They hint that it was sold if it wasn't found by now. A DC18 persuasion or intimidation check will cause one of them to say that there are places to buy goods if you know where to look. They will be recommended to visit a general store called Jubal's Supply Depot but to be careful as the proprietor is a bit mad. If they see Dalvanak, they will say that he used to be an illithid prisoner but was freed by the Brotherhood of Torm. He tells strange tales about the land where he came from: Earth. John Anderson is a human male about five and half feet tall with sunken brown eyes and, long, lank grey-brown hair he ties back. He is wearing a very patched pair of pants that at one point looked like they might have been blue jeans and a patched flannel shirt with a white tank top underneath and unbuttoned. He has solid leather cowboy boots with the image of a flag consisting of a cross with 11 stars embossed on the outside. The proprietor of the Jubal's Supply Depot is a human male named John Anderson. Prior to being a slave and having deep holes created in his memory, John was the proprietor of a Confederate memorabilia store in Virginia called Jubal's Supply Depot. He remembers little of his past except that the south will rise and that he loved a woman named Ford Bronco. He hates Illithids. He says he is in a secret society that hunts down Illithids and other "delineators of the sable complexion. He was abducted by illithids and believes he was taken by aliens that the government was hiding at Boswell. If the party ask him about the gauntlet, he will say he saw something like that but could not say where. Surface thoughts will be that he has it, but that these kinds of customers need to come after hours. John Anderson will tell the party that he sold the item to a man that he was told to sell it to and gives this description. It was a man with shoulder length dark hair, heavy lidded, deep set eyes, and a demeanor like he was perpetually drinking sour milk. John tells them to ask around the celestial quarter or some priests because the man was dressed like he was conducting some divine ritual. Looking around the celestial district, a DC 18 perception check will reveal a man of that description. Surface thoughts are of the Temple of the Dead and Marya. If the party begins to approach, a small gang of rough looking customers emerge from an alley. Paladin's Divine sense will detect the stench of undead and DC 20 perception check would have seen them briefly talking to man before going down the alley. The man will attempt to turn invisible and run away while the zombies cover his escape. Local Streltsy will intervene but more zombies will come to engage from the alley. They will see him running to the temple of the Dead. If they investigate the scene, they will find some clues. Each zombie has an X carved into the forehead. A DC 25 investigation check will find an X on the heel with thirteen stars. A torn page is in the alley where the man was standing. It is smudged but the only words that can be distinguished were: Damn Myshkins. Marya, my love. Password. The party will come to the temple of the dead and meet Ganya there trying to enter. He will say that was visiting a parishioner when he saw the thief running to the temple. If the party reveals the clues, he will not recognize the X or the stars, but he knows the name Marya Myshkin. She was a distant relation, the sister of the first Count Myshkin, so his great, great, great, great, great, great, great aunt. She eloped with a man named Evard who they believed killed her and ran away. He begs the party to try and get inside as he tries to get to his cleric friends for help. He hands them a sending stone to keep in contact. Examining the door, there is an arcane lock on the door cast at 3rd level. It also responds to the password, "Marya my love." The door is solid bronze. There is a small window that, standing on someone's shoulders, you could see in for the purposes of misty step. Inside is Evard, gaunt, pale, and performing some ritual. If the party are able to get through the door, Evard will panic. He will summon shadows to defend him as he misty steps to the crypt. After the shadows are dealt with, Ganya will contact them through the sending stone saying something powerful has blocked the doors and windows. The light from the outside fades and winks out, the candlelight from the chandeliers and braziers remain. A dark cloud has surrounded the temple. Ganya will attempt to break it with the other clerics, but urges them to find Evard. Going down into the crypt, the party will hear Evard speak. He will tell the party that they are puppets of the Myshkins who he has and considers hypocritical and self-righteous. He will say that he and Marya just wanted to be happy and that miserable family hounded them until she died. He is going to bring Marya back after all this time. At last, he has the power. He gave up trying to plead the Pakhan to use the Necronomicon and found a better patron: the Man of Long Shadows. Shadows will come from the walls and attack the party. Before Marya's tomb, Evard is conducting the ritual and shadows will continue to spawn around him. By the third round, if the party has not killed him, the ghost of Marya will be pulled out from her tomb, slowly, as if it is being dragged. She will speak, "Evard? Is that you? Why can you not let me alone!? For the love of the gods, leave me alone! I will never love you!" Evard will get upset and tell her that he is sorry about how things happened and how he feels like her death was his fault and he just wants to fix it so they can be together at last. Marya will be blunt. He shot her with a crossbow when she tried to run away from him after he pressured her to elope with him. Seeing the party, Marya will beg them to break his hold over her. She can feel a darkness creeping over her soul and the area. Evard needs to maintain concentration to keep Marya's soul present and will release her soul after three failed con saves. He will turn on the party then, calling out in an unknown language—deep speech—and will become possessed by the shadows.

Parent Plot

The Man of Long Shadows

Related Organizations