11 Longday 508

The party has just finished a battle with six priests of Jörn and “The Abbot” and are looking over the bodies for anything of use. In addition to gear and gold, the man who claimed to be an “Abbot” has a key. The party also examines the pellets found on each of the bodies. Surm takes one apart to find out what its purpose is and determines that it is probably a smoke pellet.

Now that the fight is done, the party gets a better look at the room. The room is spare and furnished only with pallets and a bell-pull hanging in the corner. There is also a door at the far end of the room. Surm redeploys the volunteers and the guards to various points in order to guard their back. Alasir is stationed between the positions in order to direct them.

The priests come forward and Holga says a healing spell over Savaric. Ivarin says a healing spell over Rilka. Mirka says a prayer over Mõrvar, as well. Furfur stops flying about the room and settles down onto one of the corpses.

Rilka readies a potion of true strike in her belt pouch for future use. The priests make another round healing spells for the party.

Then Surm and Mõrvar discuss what to do with the last, unconscious priest of Jörn. Savaric determines that the priest will probably regain consciousness (without healing) in a day. Surm wants to leave him and move on. Savaric brings up the thought of running him through. Surm reiterates his desire to move on.

Savaric checks out the door leading out of the room, determining that it is free of traps and unlocked. He quietly opens the door and peers into a corridor going left and right. The right side leads to a staircase heading down. The left continues on and ends in a portcullis. Surm redeploys the guards and volunteers to guard the approaches from this room. The party then decides to explore the archway corridor in the previous room. Savaric leads the way, looking secret doors and traps. Surm tucks a color spray scroll into his belt for easy use. Mõrvar takes the rear.

Before leaving the room, Mõrvar lingers and then slays the unconscious priest, stabbing him with his poisoned dagger in a wound he already has.

The party follows the corridor, with Savaric taking the lead. It circles back around on itself and ends in a dead end. Savaric can see two eye-holes cut into the wall that allow viewing into the first room the party encountered, the room with the secret door. The party turns itself around and then decides to head to the initial corridor that ended in a locked door. Perhaps this key they found on “The Abbot” will work on the door.

The party arrives at the locked door. Savaric checks the door for traps and finds none. He places the key in the lock, turns the tumblers, and unlocks the door. Savaric keeps the key and opens the door. It opens into a rectangular room with another door across the way. On the east wall are two holy water sconces/basins built into the wall. That wall also has some sort of mosaic—Savaric can’t make out details with his darkvision. He steps into the room and lets the rest of the party inside. With light inside, the mosaic can be seen as a depiction of the entire Northron pantheon.

Savaric checks the door for traps. The key works in this lock as well. The door opens up into a room similar to the one they just came from. There are pegs on the walls and portcullis on the eastern wall. Savaric moves forward, with the rest of the party following. The portcullis has a control on both sides. It leads into a corridor that turns to the north. Savaric listens down the corridor, but hears nothing. Savaric checks the portcullis lever for traps, but finds none. Savaric raises the portcullis and locks the lever into place with a peg left for that purpose. He then heads into the corridor, looking for traps along the way.

The corridor turns back to the east and then continues past an intersection with a door and an arched doorway to either side. Savaric opts to keep going straight.

The corridor ends in an arched doorway that opens up into what appears to be a dining room. There are two long tables in the room with benches situated on either side for seating. There are tapestries hung on the walls that depict the Northron creation myth. At the north end of the room is an arched doorway and at the other end of the room is a door. Savaric checks the door for traps, but finds none. He then checks the arched way, noting that it opens up into a large kitchen. He steps into the kitchen and finds a portcullis on the same wall as the archway.

Looking beyond the portcullis, Savaric can see a corridor going forward and an open room on the immediate left. He also gets a whiff of mold coming from the room. The party decides to backtrack and go through the arched doorway in the corridor.

The doorway opens into a room. There is a desk with a candle on it, a small bed, and a chest at the foot of the bed. Another portcullis leads to another corridor. Mõrvar, Savaric and Surm begin to search the room. Rilka stays behind to watch the approach. Savaric investigates the candle—the wax is not soft, nor is the wick warm. The candle has been used. The portcullis lever is locked with a chain and padlock. There is a lever on the other side.

Savaric checks the chest for traps, but finds none. Inside the chest is bedding, a suit of common clothes, ten candles, a set of flint and steel, a stack of blank parchment, and two vials of ink. Savaric tries his key in the padlock and it actually works. He gives the padlock to Mõrvar and opens the portcullis. He checks the area for secret doors or traps, finds none, and passes through to the corridor.

The party lines up once again and continues down the corridor. It jukes once and then continues on in the same direction. Then it turns north, goes on for quite a while, and then ends in a door. Savaric checks the door for traps. He finds none, but does discover that it is locked. The key works in the lock and he opens the door.

The door opens into a long room with a door heading south. The room is filled with barrels, crates, and bags of grain. Savaric and Mõrvar find nothing of interest. Savaric checks the door for traps, but finds none. It is unlocked. He opens it and goes through, the rest of the party following.

The door opens up into a corridor that turns and leads to the portcullis in the kitchen. They also see an open room from which they smelled mold earlier. That room is small and contains racks on the wall with cheese and breads and other larder items. The mold smell comes from the cheese.

Mõrvar is convinced that there is something in the long north-south corridor protected by the locked portcullis. So they all head to the long corridor. Savaric, and Surm all search the corridor for secret doors, each with the help of Rilka and Mõrvar’s engineering knowledge. A secret panel is found in the corridor. Savaric check it traps and finds none. The panel opens into a narrow corridor that slopes downward. The party descends down into the corridor.

As the party travels down the winding, descending corridor, the party is brought up short as arrows come shooting out of the wall, striking Rilka and Savaric. The party continues down the corridor.

They finally reach a point where the worked stone of the corridor ends and then becomes more of a cavern tunnel. It continues to slope and wind downward. The cavern walls are damp and the party can hear dripping up ahead. Savaric continues to look for traps as they continue down the tunnel. Finally, it looks like the tunnel is going to open up into a small cavern. Water drips off of stalactites into a pond in the center of the chamber. Another tunnel leads out of the chamber.

Savaric searches the area for tracks. Mõrvar tries to help him. They find one track, near the pond, of a booted foot. The track was made within the past day. The party then decides to hustle back up the corridor into the temple.

They return to where they stationed the guards and Alasir reports that there has been no activity. They then head to east-most corridor where the stairs lead down and the portcullis lay to the north. They head for the portcullis.

There is a chain and a padlock on the portcullis lever. Looking through the portcullis, they can see racks of weapons lining the walls and mannequins in the center of the room wearing suits of armor. Savaric checks the portcullis for traps, but finds none. He then unlocks the padlock with the key and opens the portcullis. Surm and Savaric begin searching the room for secret panels while Mõrvar begins appraising the weapons. No panels or traps are found. Mõrvar determines that none of the weapons or armor are masterwork; they seem to be pretty run of the mill.

They find 10 daggers, 10 short swords, 10 longswords, 3 suits of studded leather, 5 suits of padded, a chainmail shirt, a suit of scalemail, 3 light steel shields, 3 light crossbows, and a barrel full of bolts.

They move all of the gear they found on the dead priests into this room and shut it up and lock it up. They then line up and start heading down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Savaric hears a slight scuff sound in front of him. Suddenly a figure appears in front of him, stabbing him the face, through his cheek and into his tongue. He then feels weakened by poison coursing through his veins from the wound. Savaric then runs through the figure, deeper into the corridor. The figure slashes at Savaric with his dagger, but misses. Savaric then attacks the figure with Edgefrost, striking him with the cold weapon.

The figure slashes at Savaric again, but misses. Rilka steps forward and strikes at the figure with her falchion and connects. The poison continues to course through Savaric’s veins. Savaric lashes out with Edgefrost once again, dealing more damage with the freezing weapon. The figure slashes with his dagger again, but fails to connect. Rilka swings her mighty falchion, slashing the figure with her blade, and he falls.

Rilka stabs the man to finish him off and moves deeper into the hallway. The rest of the party shuffles about to move the priests to the head of the line. Mõrvar drags the dead body up the stairs and then loots the body, placing the found gear with their stash in the armory. Ivarin moves to Savaric and says a healing prayer over him, healing him of the damage done by the poison. Ivarin then says another prayer over Savaric and heals his wounds.

The line reconfigures to its previous order and Savaric continues down the corridor, leaving Mõrvar in the armory to catch up.

Savaric continues to look out for traps, secret panels, and invisible priests down the corridor. Suddenly the area fills with a cacophonous sound that damages Rilka and Savaric, and stuns Savaric, who drops his weapons and holds his ears. Up ahead of Savaric, he sees another priest appear in the corridor. Rilka pushes through Savaric, knocking him over, and attacks the priest with her falchion; Rilka essentially carves her initials into the priest. The priest then swings at her with a light mace and misses.

Rilka attacks the priest again, scoring a hit. Savaric gets up and gathers his weapons and readies himself to step up if Rilka falls. The priest swings again and misses, swinging too hard and dazing himself.

Rilka overruns the priest, knocking him over, gets on the other side of him, and attacks with her falchion, scoring a hit. The priest stays down. Rilka runs him through. Savaric and Rilka switch places in line, getting Savaric at the head of the line again. Mõrvar catches up to the line and steps over the fallen priest after debating whether or not to go ahead and loot the body or not.

The corridor turns to the right and the party continues to follow it, Savaric continuing to search for priests and secret panels. A priest appears in front of Savaric, stabbing at him with a dagger, but misses. The priest stabs at Savaric again and misses. Savaric attempts to overrun the priest, but fails to move through, opening himself up to another attack. The priest misses this attack as well. Savaric attacks with Edgefrost and deals a great deal of damage.

Savaric is narrowly missed by a dagger from the priest. Savaric attempts to overrun the priest again, knocking him down in the process. The priest slashes at him with his dagger, scoring a hit. The ranger feels poison running through his veins once again. Savaric then turns and attacks, damaging the priest again. Rilka moves in and attacks with her falchion, hitting the priest while he’s down.

Rilka attacks, but misses the priest. The priest rises, allowing Rilka and Savaric an opportunity to attack him again. They make quick work of the priest and then Rilka finishes him off.

Savaric calls for a priest to heal him. After a brief debate on whether or not they need to change the order of the line, the opt to keep going with the same order.

The hallway takes another turn. Suddenly, a disembodied dagger appears in the air before Savaric and swipes at him, missing. Then another priest appears further down the corridor. The dagger attacks, missing Savaric. The ranger determines that it is probably being wielded by a spiritual weapon spell. The corridor is once again filled with a cacophonous sound and Rilka and Savaric are damaged by the sonic attack. Savaric moves forward through the dagger, and attempts to overrun the priest to get on the other side of him. He fails. Rilka attempts to “disarm” the floating dagger and fails.

The floating dagger, following Savaric, swipes and misses. The priest fumbles his dagger and accidentally stabs himself. Savaric then attempts to overrun the priest. He fails to overrun the priest again, opening himself up to attack. Fortunately, the priest misses again and then Savaric attacks the priest with his frozen longsword, scoring a hit. Rilka holds back.

The floating dagger misses again and the priest strikes with his own dagger, cutting himself with the blade. Savaric once again tries to overrun the priest, but fails. The priest then attempts to cut Savaric again, but misses. Savaric attacks with Edgefrost, but misses.

Savaric again tries to overrun the priest, this time moving past the priest while knocking him down. The priest takes an opportunity to slash at Savaric, but misses. Savaric then attacks with Edgefrost, scoring another hit. Rilka moves forward and attacks the priest with her falchion, and he falls.

Rilka moves back through the line, looking for healing from the priests. The priests want to hold back in order to use their spells more effectively. So Mõrvar takes the lead and Savaric takes the rear. Holga channels positive energy to heal the party. Rilka also takes one of their potions to heal herself. Surm casts mage armor on Mõrvar.

Mõrvar casts light on his sword and leads the way. Savaric looks for secret doors as they go through, causing him to lose ground. Mõrvar comes to a point in the corridor where he can either go through an arched doorway or turn down another hall or continue down the corridor. There is flickering light coming from the arched doorway. Mõrvar makes his way stealthily to the arched doorway and peers inside.

In the center of the room is a stone basin, looking similar to a bird bath. Etched on the basin is a ring of flame. There are torches on sconces around the room. Mõrvar feels that more than likely this is a holy water or oil font. It would probably be used to anoint oneself before going into a sanctuary. There is a also another door at the far end of the room. Mõrvar moves inside, immediately stepping to the side of the doorway. He tells Rilka that he suspects that there is a sanctuary on the other side of that door. Surm calls forward, “What’s down the hall?”

Rilka goes to the hall and sees that it double-backs on the corridor a bit and then ends in a door. She reports this to the rest of the party.

Rilka steps into the anointing room and steps to the other side of the doorway than Mõrvar. They both start moving along the walls, avoiding the basin. Two priests appear in the corners of the room, throwing daggers into Mõrvar and Rilka. Rilka moves forward to attack and Mõrvar bull rushes forward to attack. Mõrvar rushes forward, but does not push the priest back. Rilka attacks with her falchion and misses. The priests attack with light maces, but both miss their opponents.

Rilka attacks with her falchion. and deals a good deal of damage. Mõrvar is struck by a priest with a light mace. Mõrvar roars in anger and attacks, dealing a mighty blow to his opponent.

Rilka attacks again with her falchion and scores a critical hit, opening up an opportunity to attack him again, but misses with the second hit. Mõrvar attacks with his mastercraft sword and scores another solid hit. Mõrvar begins to laugh. The priest hits Mõrvar again, but Rilka is missed. Ivarin moves in and says a prayer, makes some gestures, and points at the priest fighting Rilka. The priest gets a look of intense fear on his face, and starts looking like he wants to get out of this combat.

Another priest materializes next to the priest on Mõrvar. Mõrvar takes the opportunity to attack and hits the priest mightily with his sword. The second priest fades away as the priest falls in a bloody mess. The other priest attempts to flee and Rilka takes the opportunity to attack, scoring a hit. The priest attempts to pass by Ivarin, who stabs out with his short spear and stabs the priest, felling him.

Mõrvar loots the bodies and then listens at the closed door. He hears nothing on the other side of the door. The door is unlocked. So Mõrvar flings the door open, revealing a small five foot by five foot corridor ending in another door. Mõrvar approaches this door and flings it open. He narrowly dodges the bulk a spray of acid that springs into being in the doorway. He still manages to get caught in some of the acid, allowing it to burn him. The door opens into a room with a mosaic depicting a sly-looking young man conversing with some grotesque giants as he bestows a flame to a gathering of lowly men. There is an arched doorway across the way and a second arched doorway at the corner of the room. There is also door in the other corner of the room.

Mõrvar goes to the arched doorway across the way. It opens into a corridor. They follow the corridor down to another arched doorway. This doorway opens up into a large room. There are mosaics on the wall depicting a sly man performing various duties. There is a trough dug into the floor in the shape of the ring, about 15’ in diameter. Savaric searches the room and finds nothing of interest. The corridor also leads back into one of the arched doorways they hadn’t checked before. They return to that room and Surm searches it out, finding nothing of interest. This leaves a wooden door that hasn’t been investigated.

Surm listens behind the door and hears nothing. The door is locked, so Surm goes to pick the lock with Mõrvar’s multitool. He hears a click and then a series of magical missiles appear in the air and strike Surm with a vengeance.

The door opens into a corridor that turns up. The party lines back up and follows it. It jukes once and then ends in an arched doorway. Mõrvar approaches the doorway. The doorway reveals a large room with mosaics depicting a sly young man stealing lightning from clouds, seducing a woman, and stealing an old man’s pouch. There is a door across the way. The party makes their way into the room and allows Savaric to search the room. Nothing else is found of interest in the room. Mõrvar goes up to the door and finds that it is locked.

Surm searches the door for traps, but finds none. He once again takes up Mõrvar’s multitool and attempts to pick the lock. He hears a click as the lock turns and then narrowly dodges as another spray of acid materializes in the doorway.

Mõrvar opens the door and peers inside. The door opens into a large room. There is a trough in the center of the room that is currently lit, creating a ring of fire in the floor. Beyond the flames, on the other side of the ring, Mõrvar can see figures, how many figures he can’t tell in the flickering of the light. Then a voice calls out, speaking in Tradespeak: “Surrender, interlopers!”

Mõrvar steps back into the previous room. He then calls out into the room, “We are here to collect weregild and are still waiting for it to be paid! How many more of you are going to die before we get it!”

Surm moves back and loads his crossbow. Rilka moves back away from the door as well.

“I have drenched myself in the blood of your templies,” Mõrvar continues, “and I will cover myself in your blood if you do not pay! So step forward and pay your fine or face justice!”

The voice from the room calls out. “Be gone from this place or face the wrath of the Sly God. If you strike us down, more will come in our place.”

Mõrvar says, “That’s just more to strike down, I guess.” He then asks the priests to channel positive energy to heal the party, which Mirka does. He then calls into the room, “This is your last warning. We’ve brought representation from the rest of your pantheon. You will pay retribution.”

Rilka runs back to the last bodies they left and fills her pocket with ten smoke pellets.

Mõrvar’s proclamation is met with silence. He continues, “We have you cut off from your food and water supply. We will outlast you. Surrender! We can stay out here for months. How long can you stay in there? I can assure you, you have no back up coming. We have all entrances guarded.”

Savaric asks Ilona to make him invisible, which she does, and he begins to sneak into the next room.

Everyone in the room hears someone moving out of the room. Surm fires at the sound, thinking it to be an invisible priest. He ventilates Savaric with a critical hit. They hear a thud as Savaric’s unconscious body hits the floor. Then they see Savaric lying on the floor with a crossbow bolt sticking out of him.

Mirka comes forward and prays over Savaric, administering healing magic. The half-orc ranger stirs.

“Sorry, but next time tell us if you’re going to do something like that,” Surm says, “Especially if we have invisible priests attacking us left and right.”