Middle Plains Campaign Sessions 14-15, Sanguis 23, 1181 EC

Session 14

Sanguis (July) 23, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Mike
• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, Fighter 1
• Andzej
• Charr Untarskjur, Assassin 2

At 3 am, Huzn and his henchmen were awakened by a banging at their door. As Huzn leapt out of his bed and snatched up weapons, he heard the church-bells of Blessed Anthony Priory begin to ring out. Huzn swept open his front door (naked) to see another revenant in the livery of House Horn. But this one was not mindless.

“Murderer…” it snarled. It was the revenant of the man he had killed at the Shrieking Hollow. Huzn’s dwarven bravery was an easy match for the revenant's paralyzing gaze, and he fought it in a fury. Though he took a couple light wounds, his ferocity tore apart the revenant.

Swanhild, Snak and Gerrit, awakened by the church bells, arrived just in time to see Huzn madly chopping apart the undead creature’s head, hoping to prevent its regenerating.

They proceeded to the priory. Outside, they met the evacuated monks on the lawn, and their paralyzed comrade, Taredd. The two remaining watchmen informed them that goblins had burst into the basement of priory. While the watchmen awaited reinforcements, the party hurried into the church.

In the crypt and sacristy they fought and wiped out two small groups of looting goblins. Gerrit had a close brush with death as a goblin blade caught his head. Luckily, he had only been dazed. He got to his feet, reporting a vivid vision of Dirge, the Keeper of the Dead passing him by.

Approaching the priory storeroom, they heard a loud noise of breaking wood and plaster. Snak cracked the door open and peeked in to see seven goblins and two humans running through the dark storeroom from a hole in the wall. One figure was tall and black-armored, the other small, hooded and robed. Assuming this to be Riele and the black armored warrior the Sporecasters had spoken of, Snak quickly closed the door and allowed them to pass by.

After some deliberation, the party decided to follow.

They descended the cellar steps and followed through the obstacles that had been supposed to keep the priory basement safe: a heavy wooden door (broken), a ward against evil (dispelled) and a stone brick wall (broken). They carried on down a rough-hewn stone tunnel which ended in what appeared to be the facade and front doors of a church.

They threw open the doors to a horrific scene, the torchlit nave of a church with a black stone altar. On the floor was a carved rune that glowed with red light, and at eight pillars stood skeletons in ceremonial armor.

Session 15

Sanguis 23, 1181 EC

4:20 AM

We picked up as Snak opened the door to the underground temple. A goblin cackled and disappeared down the south staircase, and eight skeletons turned toward the door.

Snak closed the door for a moment to deliberate with the party, and when they reopened it they found that the skeletons had formed up into two ranks - shield bearers in front and spearmen behind.

Gerrit began the battle by destroying a skeletal warrior with a single crossbow bolt, which seemed to give the party confidence. Perhaps… too much confidence. The barbarians charged forward and Denis attempted to turn undead. But to Denis’ shock, the evil rune in the floor pulsed, and his turning had absolutely no effect. More to the barbarians’ shock, they found themselves bloodied by a flurry of counterattacks from two ranks of skeletons.

The party announced a fighting withdrawal, but initiative was unkind to Swanhild, who was attacked and taken down.

Unwilling to leave Swanhild to die, the party committed once again to the attack. This time, they attempted to flank and target the spearmen. It was a brutal slugfest. Huzn, already wounded by his fight with the revenant, went down. Snak and Denis were badly bloodied. But the party prevailed.

With Denis having spent his last healing spell to treat Swanhild during the fight, Huzn had no help on his mortal wounds roll, and when he rolled a grievous wound, the party nearly despaired of finding him help within the 10 minutes he had left. But, Meinard had been sent for reinforcements before they entered the cellar. So Snak picked up the dwarf and charged back through the basement.

As luck would have it, the Count himself accompanied his knights responding to the attack on the priory, and Huzn had the honor of being healed by him personally.

In the end, Swanhild had a badly broken leg, permanently reducing her carrying capacity, and Huzn lost his left arm. Both were subject to bed rest to recover from their terrible injuries.

The count and his men set about restoring the basement wards. Snak looted the weapons from the skeletons, and noticed that their bones were attempting to knit back together. He gathered all the bones in sacks and removed them from the temple before the wall was sealed. The priests agreed to bless them and rebury them in consecrated ground to prevent their animation.