Session027

Session Twenty Seven - 4th October 2024

Recovering from the early morning attack by cultists - the group continue to search for the House of Chaos. After travelling most of the day, occasionally back tracking and trying alternative directions, the group came across the ravine mentioned by Feriae the Wise. With the notes from the deceased cultists to help guide them, they travelled along the edge of the ravine towards it's end, eventually spotting a set of bronze doors some 100 feet down on the opposite side, reachable by a narrow path down the far side of the ravine leading in from its end. Deciding to leave the horses somewhere safer, the group backtracked along their own trail to find a suitable spot to leave the horses, hobbled, fed and watered, and then returned to the ravine, this time noticing a small cave, harder to get to, but potentially offering a back door into the complex.

With daylight fading, the group made their around the end of the ravine, past the spot directly above the bronze doors, to the spot directly above the cave they had spotted. Drex sent Spank down first, the monkey scrambling down the cliff face with ease before disappearing into the cave. After only a few minutes, the monkey returned, reporting that the cave did go further but he had stopped because there was a narrowing that meant having to get wet, and he didn't like getting wet. Deciding it was worth exploring anyway, the group made their way down to the cave, Drex grabbing hold of first Morthos, then Cormir and finally an unhappy Mogadon as he "flew" (more of falling with style) each of them down one by one to the cave.

Upon arrival, Drex suggested that he have a short rest to replenish the magic he had expended flying the party down to the cave. Whilst he rested, the others explored the small cave, following the path Spank had taken to find the narrowing where a small rivulet of water made staying dry almost impossible. Marks in the floor of the cave indicated that some form of wild-life had used the cave in the past, but nobody could tell what that wildlife might have been.

Eventually, with the daylight outside fast disappearing, Drex announced himself ready, and the group made their way down to the watery hole. Morthos clambered through, finding himself on a narrow ledge on the side of a cave with a good 40 foot drop down. Edging along, he made room for Drex to squeeze through, the warlock somewhat startled as Spank, in an effort to avoid the water, scrambled over his back as Drex was crawling through the puddle.

As Cormir started to make his own way through, Morthos continued to edge along the ledge, towards the end where it narrowed further, but the ground of the cave below also rose to be much closer. Suddenly, Morthos touched something sticky with his hands, which convulsed, wrapping around his left forearm and yanking him off the ground. Spotting it, Cormir moved like lightning to dodge past Drex before leaping up and grabbing Morthos's leg. Morthos, recovering from his surprise whipped out his dagger with his right arm and lunged upwards to slash at the filament that had ensnared him, severing it. As Morthos fell back to the ledge, Cormir almost overbalanced, but with assistance from Drex's quick reactions, managed to rebalance himself.

With there being virtually no room to move on the ledge, Morthos made his way to the end and clambered down, followed by Cormir and Drex, with Mogadon bringing up the rear. The bigger cave had a smaller crevice leading off in the direction that Mogadon sensed they would probably need to head, and sure enough after a little while, one side of the crevice could be seen to be cut stone instead of natural stone. Mogadon estimated that he would be able to shift some of the stones that were only dry fitted, but that it would be noisy - so Morthos invoked the magic of his boots, creating a zone of silence around them. In complete silence, Mogadon, using his knowledge of masonry, pushed and levered, and eventually, with a cloud of dust, a hole in the wall appeared and the group clambered through, finding themselves in a decrepit orc leather working room (?) with an ancient wooden door warped in its frame. With the silence spell still active, the door was quickly broken down, and the group found themselves in a long corridor. There were four other doors visible, all on the same side of the corridor that they had come in - and at both ends of the corridor, what looked like a 90 degree turn. Dropping the silence spell, the group could all hear some distant chanting - this time coming from their left.

“Gartlemak, who watches from the abyss, grant us strength.
We shed the skin of the weak to rise again.
Let the flesh burn and the soul be reforged.
Blessed be the unyielding, for they are your zealots!”

Deciding to explore to the right first, way from the repeating chant, the group headed that way, peering in a couple more rooms where the doors had been opened, but noting that most of them were still jammed shut and had never been opened. The corridor itself looked fairly clean, as if it had been regularly swept.

At the corner, the group saw a similar corridor leading away, with another corner at the far end, and they suspected that it might lead in a square. Sure enough, as they progressed further down it, the sound of the chanting started to grow louder again and from in front of them. As they progressed around the square, finding yet more doors, they found some that had been opened, and could see sleeping mats and small piles of personal possessions - presumably where some or all of the cultists slept. As they reached the last corner, the chanting they had heard before stopped and a voice began issuing some instructions - asking others to stand in particular spots etc. A new chant/song started - something weird about sands of stars, thorns, flower blooms, trees and a pool... After listening to it for a few lines, the group got fed up and pushed forward to the corner, where Drex spotted a target too tempting. 8 cultists gathered around another one bent over in the middle. As Drex watched, the song ended and the man in the middle straightened up with a flourish, raising a curved blade into the air with a spray of blood. At his feet, a kneeling figure that they hadn't noticed, toppled over, having just had its throat cut.

Drex saw this as his cue, and casts a Hex on the cultist leader before unleashing a fireball into the middle of the group, even as a hexagon shape on the floor suddenly glowed brightly, before fading to reveal a hexagon shaped wooden trap door, the cultists ritual obviously complete. With screams of pain, four of the cultists fell over, overcome by the flames, the others managing to dive aside and get back to their feet, badly burnt, but still alive. The man in the middle pulls open the trap door, revealing a set of stairs leading down, and orders the four other surviving cultists to get inside before turning to "deal" with the party. He strides towards the corner the party are hiding around. Mogadon calls forth a Guiding Bolt, but is struck back by a Hellish Rebuke in return. Starting to get worried, Drex lets fly with his Eldritch blasts, and is somewhat surprised when the man is struck down. (Rolled 3d10 max damage plus the hex!)

With combat over almost as suddenly as it had begun, the group hurry over to search the cultist leader's body - finding a notebook with the lyrics to the song that they had heard singing before ritual had taken place... As soon as he realises what it is, Morthos rushes over to one of the four large braziers in the room and throws the notebook onto it. Drex's Eldritch Sight reveals a strong aura on the ritual dagger the cultist had used, and also on the pentagon shaped trap door. Looking down, they can see a spiral staircase heading down. Having had no luck so far in detecting the ghost of Melgar the Quick, one of the remaining Minas Herion druids, the group decide to descend after the four burned cultists...

On to Session 028

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