D&D Campaign Session for May 20th, 2001

Played with 3rd Edition Rules

Player Characters:

Azaki Ushento, Half-Orc Male Fighter, 3rd Level (Josh R.)
Borik, Half-Orc Male Fighter, 3rd Level (Greg)
Glothe Longstride, Dwarf Male Fighter, 3rd Level (Caleb)
Ithil, Elf Female Rogue/Fighter, 1st Level/1st Level (Dennis)
Kari Morningdew, Human Female Ranger/Cleric of Fharlanghn, 1st Level/3rd Level(Andy)
Kessem Chexz, Female Elf Wizard, 2nd Level (Neil)
Kobort, Half-Orc Male Cleric of Heironeous, 3rd Level (Bart)
Mike Steel, Human Male Fighter, 4th Level (Patty)
Odlits Burdfriend, Male Half-Orc Wizard, 3rd Level (Bill)
Selena, Female Human Monk, 3rd Level (Scott)
Westwind, Halfling Male Fighter, 1st Level (Andrew)
Kespin eth Lunar, Human Male Bard, 1st Level (Josh N.)

Non-Player Characters:

Deina, Human Female Cleric of Pholtus, 3rd Level
Riis, Elf Male Ranger, 3rd Level

A Feast Fit For a...

On Hallowed Ground -- or is it?

Flocktime 20th, 574 CY: Seblingham.

By the time we arrived at the temple the battle was over. Kari and Westwind had the unexpected help of a black wolf, and together they had killed the high priest, a couple of lackeys, a pair of grey wolves and one of his clerics. On our way in, we just caught a glimpse of a black wolf retreating from the temple -- I have to guess it was one and the same, and the same as the one Westwind chased off yesterday. The infantry arrived in time to engage the remainder of the temple's defenders along with Deina, Ithil, Borik and a man who introduced himself by humming Moonwhisper's ballad -- I took it that he was a bard of some kind. By all accounts he fought well enough, and only recovered with Kari's help. Kobort joined us from Heironeous' ruined temple, and Selena arrived just before we did.

I have never seen Kari so determined in a fight as I did this morning. Armorless and carrying only the stone axe from our troglodyte captors, she threw herself into the fight against the evil priest. She was bloodied and nearly spent, but was ready to continue onward without so much as catching her breath. Deina tended to her wounds as the combat ceased, or she might have run herself to the ground in her anger against the priest and his evil goddess.

We claimed armor and weapons from the fallen in the minute of quiet. Ithil had disappeared through the roof of the temple, and we heard no sound within. The courtyard was empty of any save ourselves, and the inner doors remained barred. Then the doors began to swing open: Borik raised his axe, ready to strike down anything that emerged -- but was confronted by our diminutive elf, who calmly warned him, "Don't you dare." He lowered his weapon.

Kari, Odlits, Glothe, Azaki, Kobort, Deina, Westwind, Kespin eth Lunar the bard, Selena, Ithil, Borik and I entered the temple with Corporal Presmond of the Keep's mounted infantry. The other infantrymen either remained outside or returned to camp to report, Kessem with them.

The interior of the temple seemed all as it should be; the main hall was neatly tended, with harvest symbols and mosaics adorning walls, ceiling and floor. Great elm columns rose to support the roof, upper windows showing the night sky above. Ithil had broken one of those windows, and I have to surmise that she came down a column, which is no small feat of climbing. A large statue of Berei sat, as it should, in the place of honor atop a raised dais at the far end of the room, and doors led out on various sides to other areas. We began at the southeast door, for no particular reason other than that it was locked. Borik and Kobort crashed through it, paying little mind to the craftsmanship of the thing.

An antechamber led through another locked and subsequently bashed door to a private room. Some papers on the desk had not been tended in almost three months, to judge by the dates and writings, but the room was used and recently. A chest contained nothing but clothing, and something had been removed. A door, this one unlocked, led to a gleaming white marble hallway lined with images of the goddess Berei and jade statues of all manner of plants. Our own priests agreed that this was the holiest area of the temple and that its presence meant that this was not a minor establishment for the religion, boasting such sacred wealth.

Up a flight of stairs was a room lined with skeletons, a distinct change in decor. Although they did not move, Kobort took no chances and reduced them, through Heironeous' might, to dust before even stepping into the room. I did not miss the fight, for myself.

Beyond lay the temple's library, dusty and defaced. Berei's holy book bore scrawls of gibberish and draconic; the one recognizable phrase translated to "snake mother." Several of our party members tried to make sense of the writings, but none could. I have to believe that it made sense to whoever wrote it, for it is repeated all over the upper level of the temple. Odlits spent some time going through the library's shelves, and found several books of interest to him. I have borrowed a book on Sunndi's history, Glothe has claimed a dwarven treatise on armormaking, which is his craft, and Kespin has several scrolls of elvish poetry to study. Nothing in the library seemed recent enough to give us much clue about the priest and his corruption: perhaps he was already corrupted when he came, though it seems unlikely. Of course, it is unlikely already that a true priest of Berei would turn to another goddess, but that he did.

The library, for all its interest, was not the center of the snake goddess' worship or power, so why post undead guardians unless another door waited to be discovered. Ithil spotted one in the stairwell; I wonder if we missed one in the library itself. The stairwell led to a torture chamber: blood stained Berei's harvest mosaics. We continued toward the southern corner of the temple, and as we opened the door we heard the chime of several small alarm bells. We braced ourselves, but there was no response.

The antechamber we found was covered in the same scrawling gibberish as we saw in Berei's holy book. Every surface was defaced haphazardly. Other phrases of draconic stood out, which Odlits translated. "A crocodile has many teeth." Whatever that is supposed to signify, none of us seemed to make heads or tails of it. A battered chest contained ripped shreds of clothing and the shards of an ivory statue of Berei; a ceremonial robe hung on the wall, the only thing left unsullied. A secret door opened behind it, operated by a switch under the desk. It led into a smaller, unkempt room. A jade statue of the snake goddess took up the far wall, the same figure as the one in the underground cavern. Still dazed from Thaddeus' drug, I half-expected it to animate -- thankfully, it remained still. Then I noticed the cage against another wall. In it, a young girl slept.

Unexpected as it is to find an innocent in a den of iniquity, indeed it is as she seemed. Sirilli Finla is the daughter of the shopkeeper in town. For three months, she has been kept in the cage, a pet of the priest Abramas. She seemed to take a liking to Kespin, and was much more open when he spoke to her despite her initial fear. She had remained unconverted to the snake goddess' worship, yet still she seemed almost disappointed to hear that the priest was dead, and spoke of him almost fondly when she told us that he had carved the jade statue himself. She was glad enough to be freed from her prison, though, and did not remain distraught for long. Myself, I was about to destroy the cursed statue when Borik anticipated me and smashed it. While I would have liked to do it myself, I took enough satisfaction from seeing it shatter beneath his determined blows.

Sirilli showed us a trap door down into the private chamber we had explored already. She has been helpful in providing us with information, as much as she has of it, about the cult and the temple. A gesture, commonly used by the worshipers she saw, is a nod with a palm to the forehead. She has told us that much of the town is probably under the goddess' influence by now, and the story of her family's conversion is horrific and, I suspect, not unlike many others in Seblingham. People and their families were taken in the middle of the night to an underground chamber to be held in the goddess' coils and charmed to her worship. Those who resisted were usually slain; she was allowed to live by Abramas' request. Screams could be heard in the night in recent months, although before her family was taken, Sirilli had only the barest suspicion that anything was wrong. Her father, though, was nervous.

Mayor Zacharias is one of the few that her father trusted. A week before the family was taken, he had met with the mayor to discuss his fears. Zacharias, a former adventurer, had brought his adventuring group into town over the last several months in hope of solving Seblingham's problem, but the two elves and the half-elf of them had been targeted and killed in the Walpurgis battle and only Zacharias and his bodyguard, Trevor Stoutheart, remain.

The girl related that she had seen the elves meeting in the forest with the old hermit and another older man, and had been sworn to secrecy about it. I believe that Zacharias may remain uncorrupted; as much as I can tell he is still working for the town and its good and not against it. As for the rest, I cannot tell. We do not even know how many enemies we may have here.

We left Sirilli with Corporal Presmond as we explored the rest of the temple. She was reluctant to part with Kespin, and he promised to check in on her as the good Corporal offered to show her the horses.

The rest of the first level of the temple seemed ordinary. Kitchen, dining hall and a small anteroom seemed regularly used and part of the ruse of keeping up the worship of Berei. A few bottles of Seblingham Special wine, pressed four years ago by the temple, caught Glothe's attention. We will have to find him some good ale, and soon -- he has not been the same since he ran out of his own stock. A rough secret door led from the dining hall to the side of the courtyard, for a quick and covert exit in time of attack; Odlits was interested in the kitchen, but unfortunately, breakfast had to wait.

We returned to the priest's private chamber, where Glothe had discovered a trap door under the bed. It led down into recently-constructed tunnels below the temple complex. Considering that half of us had only half our wits about us, exploring it was probably not the smartest thing to try just then, but it seemed a good idea at the time. Glothe jumped down to the landing with his customary grace, and the rest of us used the carved hand-holds to descend.

We had explored only a short way when we came upon a very large, very hungry ogre. I felt sorry for him only until he attacked us and called us food. Glothe fell to his first blow and Borik dragged him from harm's way. I recall stepping up and striking with my scavenged short sword, when rage overcame the creature as Odlits yelled something at him. The ogre swung his club and I think I probably hit the wall. Hard. The next thing I knew, Kobort was standing over me and I have Heironeous to thank, once again, for my life. The ogre was already dead, and I have heard that Kespin had created an inspiring tune on the spot for the battle. Perhaps we should keep him around.

Kessem turned up with Sergeant Vorl just as I awoke. While a couple of the party went through the ogre's pockets, we related our discoveries and they theirs. Thaddeus was already gone when they arrived at the Willow Inn; who knows what trouble he may be stirring up for us elsewhere? Kessem and the infantrymen discovered hidden passages in the Inn which connected all the guest rooms with the underground network of tunnels, and have left guards posted there. A couple of chests awaited Ithil's attention, so we decided to rest and recuperate back where it all started in the dubious safety of the Inn. The chests were trapped, of course. Ithil removed a poisoned needle from one, but missed the gas on the other, which spilled out as she opened it. Luckily, it was not deadly and those affected were only slowed down by it, and the find was worth the trouble -- several sacks of valuable coin and gems. Of course, much of it belongs to the town and should be used for rebuilding, but the coin we had stolen from us has not yet been recovered elsewhere. As of now, the chests are under guard, as they should be until all is decided.

We rested until mid-morning, long enough to clear our heads from all but mild hangovers. The rain had stopped and it looked to be clearing into a sunny spring day. We visited the smithy to see about getting some equipment to replace our stolen gear, but our encounter with the smith was unsettling and we left quickly. According to Zacharias, the smith has been unstable for the past year. When we asked to buy equipment, he grew angered and insisted that he didn't have to sell anything. His sons restrained him, and there were sounds of a fight after they closed the door. Some of the party think he must be a snake worshiper. I wonder if it might be the opposite, or even just a coincidence -- as unlikely as that may seem. Seblingham and all its secrets and puzzles is beginning to get to all of us, I think.

The Mayor was speaking with Sergeant Vorl when we returned. He was offering five or six men that he thought he could still trust to help the infantry on guard duty. The sergeant had filled him in on the story, and although we were not entirely sure he could be trusted, he seems earnest in his actions and he has been forthcoming. Sirilli spoke in his favor, and Vorl seems familiar with him. I need to speak with the him anyway, so I will ask Vorl what he might know of Zacharias. If he has been at the Keep for any time, he may have had dealings with him before now. Zacharias has told us, in any case, about the hermit Ramne of whom the girl spoke. Interestingly, there is also a local legend about a black wolf that has been in this area for nigh on a hundred years: the King of Wolves they call him, and they say he leads the other wolves. How much is true is hard to say, but he seems to be as much against this snake cult as we are.

Sirilli's parents are dead, and one of her brothers. Another brother may still be alive, but is missing. Of course, she told us that all of her family had converted, but if we find the boy alive we may hope to undo that evil. Sirilli's father was the shopkeeper, so we have made an arrangement with Zacharias to rent equipment from the store at ten percent of its cost; the money will go toward rebuilding the town. I suppose it seems fair.

Re-equipped, we set about exploring the tunnels beneath the Willow Inn. Kari led us down the most-traveled tunnels to find the familiar room, snake statue and bones and all. The goddess' image did not remain for long: Kari went for it with both maces. Before she could finish the job, a trio of ghouls slunk in -- drawn, I suspect, by the stench of death that permeated the place. Kobort and Deina together turned them away, and Deina then called on Pholtus to destroy them. They shattered and fell to dust in an impressive display of her god's power. I am glad these gods dislike undead. Kobort helped Kari finish off the statue, though Ithil was dismayed, for she estimated its worth at ten thousands of gold pieces. Even that much is not enough to stay my hand from that image of evil.

Moving on, Kari alerted us to a low hissing sound. She was eager to follow, but Ithil scouted ahead in the dark -- right into the jaws of a fiendish constrictor snake. The party sprang to action: Kobort fortified Borik with Heironeous' strength and our orcish comrade changed in -- the snake, distracted from the small elf, took a chunk out of Borik. Kari somersaulted around the coils of the serpent to reach Ithil in time to save her, and my borrowed great-sword hewed great chunks of reptilian flesh. Its last attack failed as it fell, dead from our relentless attack. It was a truly evil creature -- Ithil and Kari gave up the idea of skinning it as a trophy, though they searched the snake's gullet and oddly enough came up with a valuable opal. Odlits was not deterred by its corrupted appearance and claimed some pieces of it for his magicks; wizards may deal in things strange to me, but our half-orc seems too eager in his craft with too little regard for honor and good.

The snake had guarded a concealed compartment. Within were laid our belongings, and I have never seen a happier pair of wizards than Kessem and Odlits upon finding their spellbooks. The rest of us were none disappointed either, although none of our coin was to be found and we remain penniless. There is talk of a reward, and at the very least we have gained some valuable equipment which I do not think the town will begrudge us.

We explored the remainder of the tunnels and found little of note. None of them connected to the temple, which possibly explains why we were carried overland as captives. I would like to know where we were being taken, and I intend to find out before our trail from last night fades. We also have the rest of the temple tunnels to reconnoiter.

We returned to the Inn only briefly to update Sergeant Vorl before setting out to pay a visit to Ramne the hermit. Troglodyte trails led us straight to his cottage -- one section of the forest was charred, several roasted creatures grotesquely scattered about the new-made clearing; nearby the trees had been split, their tops violently twisted from their trunks. The trails continued farther on into a grove of majestic elms, rising up to a giant's height and more. The shrubs and thickets were nearly taller than the ramshackle cottage. Everywhere were dead troglodytes, and the door was gone -- possibly by magic, since it was nowhere to be found. Inside the cottage lay the body of the hermit, or so we deduced. Next to him, a weasel had been nearly sliced in half. We called out, but got no answer.

Kari spotted the black wolf again, watching us from the underbrush, and she and Ithil followed it while the rest of us prepared to bury the old man. Someone found a false panel in the floor that revealed a metal box without lock or key which still wouldn't open; Odlits cast a spell to detect other magic and discovered that not only was the box magic, but so was a ring on Ramne's finger and, surprisingly, the coat of mail I had borrowed from Abramas' body at the temple. Odlits claimed the ring while Kessem was digging the grave.

When we lifted the old man, I realized something was wrong. The body was a fake -- an illusion. My hand slipped through its shoulder instead of connecting. Ramne may, after all, still be alive. Perhaps the black wolf knows.

Here endeth the session, as excerpted and translated from the journal of Mike.