D&D Campaign Session for April 2nd, 2000

Volume I, Chapter 2: The Ghost, the Zombies, the Rats and their Leader

Played with 1st Edition Rules

The Party:
Earowin, Human Male Paladin of Ehlonna, 1st Level (Scott)
Oberill, High Elf Male Magic-User, 1st Level (Dennis)
Kari, Human (?) Female Ranger/Cleric of Fharlanghn, 1st Level (Andy)
Reddof, Half-Elf Male Ranger, 1st Level (Greg)
Kyrem, Half-Elf Male Ranger/Cleric of Trithereon, 1st Level (Caleb)
Azaki, Half-Orc Fighter, 1st Level (Josh)
Kort, Human Fighter, 1st Level (Neil)
Nikka, Halfling Burglar, 1st Level (Patty)
Dradmas, Human Male Cleric of Heironeous, 1st Level (NPC)

Cameo: Wererat, Monster (played by Ed)

[Continuing on from events in Chapter I...]

The party decided that their best hope lay in setting up a guarded camp near the island shore, where they had fought and burned out the spiders. Using the raft to create a lean-to, the party slept through an uneasy night, with three characters on each of three watches. Despite a general feeling of trepidation (Kari in particular was troubled throughout the night by troubled feelings which she could not decipher) and the occasional wailing from the northern side of the island, the party awoke safe and sound. One of the rangers had spotted a glimpse of an unusually large rat watching the camp, but it vanished quickly into the heavy vegetation.

The goal for the next day was the northern end of the island, apparently the source of the periodic wailing sound. As the party walked along the shore of the island, the rangers saw tracks from and occasional glimpses of giant rats that seemed to be shadowing the party, preceding them as they marched along. The shoreline began to rise from the river, leading to a rocky cliff-like promontory that the party glimpsed from a bend in the shoreline. The remains of a ruined tower also came into sight. Set in a position that would have once allowed it to command the river, the exterior of the tower was now overgrown, practically reclaimed by the jungle. Ruined stones had tumbled around its base and the round exterior walls, covered with thorny vines, disappeared into the canopy of plant growth above.

Past the tower, the party saw the promontory and heard the continued wails, now distinctly those of a female voice, though without discernible language. Bypassing the tower and heading for the cliff, Reddof Nonnac was in the lead. As he walked out of the jungle and onto the rocky northern end of the island, the wailing changed. The party felt itself surrounded at once from all sides by wails that became more distraught, more disturbing and almost painfully loud. The wails almost as quickly quieted and took shape in the form of a transluscent apparition. Nearly invisible in the daylight, an elven female dressed in robes stood before Reddof, floating inches above the rocky ground. A wail again issued from her ghostly lips as her eyes conveyed an immense sadness and anger to the stunned ranger. She turned and walked off the edge of the cliff, fading into the sunlight and the air.

Earowin, who had been praying for guidance on the nature of this apparition, found himself overwhelmed when the spirit (which did not itself appear to be evil) vanished and the island itself flashed with a distinct and deep sense of evil. The sense vanished quickly, replaced by the general feeling of unease he had experienced since stepping off the raft, but the impression of some great wrong remained.

Kort immediately took it upon himself to search the base of the cliff for the remains of this maiden, who he (and most of the rest of the party) assumed had jumped to her death. Fortunately, he wisely secured himself with a rope and the rangers above helped to keep the rope from fouling on the rocks or wearing itself through on the cliff edge. Despite his lack of climbing skills, he made his way down the forty-five foot cliff and reached a short pile of rocks that served as a shoreline, disappearing into the deep river. A quick search proved fruitless and Kort was pulled up by the rest of the party when it was clear that the answer to the spirit's presence was not to be found at the base of the cliff.

From the promontory, the party now returned to the tower. The rangers had noticed before that the rat tracks did not seem to venture onto the promontory, but that they could be found in great numbers around the tower. The rangers also saw the tracks of one particularly large rat that was at least twice the size, based on the tracks, of the rest of the already giant-sized rats.

Reddof decided to approach the tower entrance carefully and peer inside. The door appeared to have been bashed inwards a long time ago and the overgrown interior was dark, with the jungle forming a canopy over the ruined tower's old roof. Unfortunately, the slight disturbance caused by Reddof's entrance awoke the dozens of bats sleeping inside. Buffeted backwards by a swarm of agitated winged creatures, Reddof staggered outside. The bats swarmed briefly around the party - most flew off, but roughly a dozen of the giant variety were enraged or confused enough to attack party members for a brief but terrifying battle of swooping, turning, diving bats the size of large eagles. The adventurers responded quickly and one after another the bats were struck to the ground, bleeding and screeching, but several of the party suffered serious bites from the creatures before they fell. Just as the last few bats flew off to escape the party's blades and slingstones, a group of large rats emerged from the jungle to the party's south.

Rushing forward in a chittering swarm, the rats came in two waves. The party was fortunate enough to react in time to this new threat and reoriented itself to deal with the onslaught. Leading the normally timid rats was a monstrosity that caused the party some significant concern. A remarkably large rat-like creature that held a sword and seemed to direct the rats in their own language led the second wave. Oberill, the party's elven mage, recognized the creature as a lycanthrope - a wererat. Formerly human, but afflicted with a terrible combination of disease and curse, now a combination of human and rat. A foul creature indeed, and one which Oberill now found heading straight towards him.

A furious battle commenced, during which the party held fast and survived the initial attack, subsequently slaying nearly half the attacking rats. After several party members had fallen or sustained severe wounds, Dradmas commanded the wererat to Surrender, which the creature briefly appeared to do. This seemed to break the control it had over the rats, who began to hesitate, then flee. The wererat, snatching his sword from the ground, quickly followed. The whole group faded into the jungle, leaving the wounded but stalwart adventurers to decide their next moves.

After many prayers from the clerics of the party, the party decided that their wounds were serious enough that a return to the Keep before nightfall would be advisable. Heading back to the coast, they crossed over the river again in their raft, tethering it near the riverline. A quick trip back to the Keep proved eventful, with the party first encountering a group of Kobolds, which were quickly slain in a woodland battle, then being overflown by what appeared to be a low-flying dragon (which fortunately took no interest in the group as it passed quickly out of sight).

The adventurers reached the gates shortly before twilight and checked themselves into the Inn for a night's rest. The Curate once again provided healing to those who had agreed to become members of the Keep Church. The Tavern provided good food and drink and the Inn heated plenty of water for baths. The next three days at the Keep would prove more exciting than expected.

Based on the observations of Oberill and the rangers, the party decided that they would need silver or magic to fight the wererat. Accordingly, contracts were drawn up with the Keep armorer to create two silver spearheads and ten silver arrowheads, to be mounted on the appropriate wooden shafts. Meanwhile, rumors continued to circulate at the Tavern. The party heard word that no adventurers had returned yet from the souther cave-ridden hills, though this was clarified upon questioning by the fact that there had only been one prior adventuring party to date which had only left a short while before the party members arrived.

Oberill attempted to gain admittance to the inner keep to see the Castellan's elven advisor (whom he had heard about when the party's late-night return was related to him by the other adventurers). He discovered that only three residents of the Outer Keep regularly visited the Inner Keep, which was normally off-limits to all but the Castellan's men. The three he sought were the Captain of the Watch, the Curate and the Guildmaster of Merchants. He secured an audience with the Guildmaster and managed to get a lecture from the Curate (who stated clearly that he would never recommend an unproven adventurer who had refused to join his Church). He did not manage to track down the Captain of the Watch, though his audience with the Guildmaster was more positive. Despite the Guildmaster's initial reluctance and boredom, apparently based on Oberill's lack of reputation and the fact that he was neither related to nor on specific business for the Castellan's advisor, he ended the conference in a better mood after Oberill deposited a significant amount of gold on his desk and promised that this was only the beginning of his donations to the Guild in an effort to secure a more worthy status within the Keep.

Unfortunately, that same day Kyrem managed to get himself banned from the Tavern. In the afternoon, a heavily scarred young human fighter entered the Keep and sat down in the Tavern to drink. His clothing and armor was dirty and appeared stained by non-human blood. When pressed by Kyrem and others for information (and after being bought several drinks) he revealed that he was the only survivor he knew of from the initial adventuring party. They had found a valley among several cave-ridden hills. They had camped there for the night, only to wake in the morning and find that two of their number, including an elf, were missing. A foray into a nearby tunnel led to greater disaster. The fighter related that they were surrounded by hobgoblins who slew the entire party except for him and a cleric. Barely escaping the trap, the fighter and cleric withdrew with several of the other party members' bodies. The fighter claimed that the cleric, who had presented himself as a servant of St. Cuthbert, at this point attempted to slay him from behind, completing the annihilation of the party. The fighter slew this betrayer and fled, leaving the rest of the bodies where they lay. After binding his wounds, he trekked back across the hills and forests, he arrived at the keep alone.

On further prodding from the Paladin, the fighter said that he had fought as a mercenary all throughout the Iron League and had even seen a Paladin slain once before. He seemed willing to consider employment with the party. Unfortunately, at this point Kyrem related that the party had seen a dragon on their way back. The fighter responded cynically and sarcastically, ridiculing Kyrem as having imagined the encounter. Kyrem responded by suggesting strongly that the fighter had indeed been the traitor and had been the real one to slay his entire party. Being rather drunk, upset and of a generally short temper, the fighter attacked Kyrem with fists and a short brawl ensued. Kyrem took a fist to the face before the two were separated. The party escorted Kyrem outside and attempted to calm down both parties. The fighter seemed content to see the ranger on his posterior in the dirt and returned to finish his drink before going to the common room in the Inn.

The watch showed up shortly thereafter to question the taverner and some members of the party. Kyrem, who had gone to pray for guidance to Trithereon, was lectured by the Curate, who seemed to advise something to the effect of "You shouldn't have done it, but if you were going to do it anyway, you should at least have hit him back." in typical St. Cuthbert style. Upon leaving the church, Kyrem was escorted to the Captain of the Watch and given a stern warning that any more trouble caused within the Keep would find him thrown out and banned for an indefinite period of time. Kyrem was also told that he was not welcome in the Tavern for the near future. After showing some contrition, he was allowed to return to the Inn, where he spent an uneasy night in the same building with the fighter.

In the morning, the fighter left the Keep and the party picked up the finished spears and arrows that they had commissioned. Without further ado, the group set out again for the river and the island.

After making good time, the party arrived at the river by late morning, only to find that their raft was gone, the tether rope chewed through. Quickly setting themselves to build a new raft, the party crossed over again in the late afternoon, tethering their raft in the same spot near the ruined bridge on the western shore of the island. Heading inland, the party decided to explore the interior of the tower. A quick foray revealed that the tower interior was possibly more ruined than the exterior. Only remnants of rotted wood remained to show that there had once been upper floors. Partly collapsed stone stairs ended partway up to the mix of stone and jungle that was the new roof. Most of all, the interior was dark and also rather pungent. Bat guano in extraordinary quantities had created a new, mostly hard floor which sloped in unusual ways. A staircase down was still apparent, however, and this was also the source of the strongest stench. Heading down into what was once a rough earth and rock cellar, the remains of the rat den were found. Tunnels left the warren in various directions, small enough that only the halfling could attempt their exploration. The rangers found that the rats had evacuated the cellar completely, even to the extent of apparently dragging a rather large and heavy sack of some kind along with them into the tunnels.

Nikka, the halfling at this point decided to climb up to the top of the jungle canopy to see what she could see. Very nimbly navigating trunks and vines, she found herself at a fairly high point in the canopy that afforded a decent view of the lower southern elevations on the island. From this vantage she was able to see a fairly large clearing to the south, which seemed to have at least one stone building in its center.

Upon Nikka's return, the party headed south towards the clearing she had spotted, determined to unravel the mysteries of this isle and perhaps track down the rats that had attacked them. Theories were forwarded by some that perhaps the rats had only attacked because the party had entered their "home", but such discussions were laid to rest by thought of the remarkably large and ugly sword-wielding rat that had led the entire bunch. Based on their experiences thus far, the party was fairly certain that some evil tragedy had befallen this island.

They found the jungle grew denser and thornier towards the center of the island, eventually requiring them to physically hack a path through its vines and branches. One of the party's rangers at this point thought of checking on the raft they had tethered, having realized that perhaps the loss of the earlier raft had not been an accident. The party rushed back to the beach only to find that the rope had once again been chewed through, the raft itself pushed back in the river and lost to them. Faced with swimming the murky river or the fording at the dangerous ruins of the bridge, the party found itself effectively forced to spend the night on the island, as late afternoon was already upon them. Heading back to the central jungle, the party forged ahead to the clearing, coming upon its edges as dusk was approaching. The heavy overcast of the day made the light even scarcer than normal, though the clearing was certainly lighter than the heavy jungle around its edges. A moderate and constant rain had begun, which drenched the party as they stared out from the edge of the jungle.

It was apparent to all that this clearing should not naturally exist. The jungle, incredibly dense and lush, faded over the course of several yards into bare dirt, which surrounded what was clearly a ruined stone temple. Only part of the structure could be seen from the party's viewpoint, but clear enough was the broken sign of St. Cuthbert over the large door in the ruined stone wall facing the jungle. A roof arched up and away, giving the impression of arched interior ceilings. The clearing, however, had an unnatural feel to it. Far too bare, far too dead.

Slowly and carefully, the party walked forward towards the large door, the only apparent entrance to the temple. As the adventurers had covered half the ground to the door, those with good hearing were troubled by scraping sounds that seemed to come from around them. Before the party reached three quarters of the distance to the door, the earth broke open around them, disgorging necromantically animated and preserved corpses clawing their way through the dirt. As the party formed a ring for defense, the zombies attacked them from all sides. Six of these walking corpses faced the party. Through the rain, the clerics in the group recognized the remains of the attire these zombies wore as acolytes' robes belonging to the servants of St. Cuthbert. A fouler perversion of the lawful, undead-hating followers of the Cudgel could not be imagined.

Despite the best efforts and prayers, the undead would not be turned from their purpose. Several in the party felt their cold, tearing claws as they sought to destroy the life before them. Fortunately, they fell one by one to the party's blades, maces and slings. With night falling, the party decided to retreat to the edge of the jungle, and to take the now deanimated corpses with them for eventual re-interment and to get them away from any possible reanimating effects associated with the clearing. Earowin was generally feeling significant unease with this part of the island, bordering on the kind of pain that the presence of focused evil would cause. Some sort of pervasive low evil was at work here.

The party camped a short distance from the pile of former zombies and spent a wet and anxious night. Several times, eyes were seen in the darkness, which again receded when others in the party were awakedn by the watch. None slept particularly well, but all slept enough to recover their spells, powers and some endurance for the day that was to follow. A quick look at the corpses found that they had been gnawed on through the night, with some severed limbs entirely carried away, apparently by the remaining rats who had been near the party's camp through the night.

The morning dawned, again overcast and wet. The party walked back to the clearing, again setting out straight for the door to the ruined temple. Right near the door, the tell-tale scrapings in the earth were again heard and the clerics prepared themselves. As three more zombies burst up from the earth they were quickly sent cowering back into their graves by strongly presented holy symbols and faith in life and good. Leaving the zombies for the moment, the party approached the door.

A quick examination revealed this to be most likely a remarkably thick iron-bound door which was now more of a fairly rotten rust-bound door. Nevertheless it was tightly sealed and appeared undamaged except by age and weather. After failed attempts to open the door normally, the strongest party members applied their shoulders. The paladin Earowin finally managed to break down the door, tearing it off its rusty mountings. The opening ahead was dark as night. What little light filtered in showed that the ceiling rose away from the entryway beyond the door and that there seemed to be pews of some sort a short distance into the room.

Taking a few steps inside, Reddof cautiously looked around and immediately motioned the party back, stating that his half-elven eyes had revealed that a part of the ceiling was in motion and heading towards the door. Alarmed by this news, the party readied oil, torches and spells to see what would approach. In a matter of seconds a dark mass began to slide and ooze from the edge of the entryway, pooling on the floor below. As the party watched, the pool of dark viscous matter on the floor seemed to rise higher and higher. As the last of the matter dripped off the ceiling, a roughly six foot high mass of undulating grey-black plasma had gathered within the temple entrance and began to change, rapidly. First there seemed to be fleeting glimpses of shapes and objects on the surface of the matter, then more clearly faces, screaming or crying, arms, legs, hands. The mass seemed to generate new visions of horror at an incredible rate, as if dozens of people were within it, attempting to escape but held in by the slimy skin.

The party decided to act quickly, tossing oil and flame at the abomination. Where the flames touched the grey-black surface, they quickly disappeared. Oberill then called forth a magic missile, casting it into the center of the thing, only to see it swallowed with no visible effect. An idea was presented that perhaps silver would harm this thing, at which point a silver piece was cast in its direction. The only unusual result was that the thing itself seemed to reach out and grab the silver with a short pseudopod, almost as if it craved it rather than feared its touch. Throughout these tests, the creature did not approach any closer to the party, seeming to want to stay inside the ruined temple, but a quick venture beyond the doorway led to a narrow escape as it clearly showed its aggressiveness when challenged within the old doorway. This venture did, however, show that holy water would harm the creature. The application of all that the party could spare caused the thing to smoke and diminish in size where it had been spashed.

Lacking any more holy water, in frustration the party fired arrows at the creature, only to find that they seemed somehow to cause it pain. Though it did engulf those that struck its body, it also seemed to reel back with each hit. As a final arrow found some mortal spot within the being, the entire party was struck by a blinding light. This light seemed to strike at the very center of each person's mind and carried with it a feeling of pain, anger and sadness that was nearly overwhelming. Two of the party were dazed for a full minute and all were physically stunned for a few seconds after this. Upon looking back into the doorway, all that could be seen was a great deal of swirling dust, blown by the breeze from outside.

As the party tried to decide what to do next, they heard from behind them more sounds of earth being pushed aside...

[Here endeth the Session]