NIGHTWICK ABBEY: The Purple Eater of People, Session 4

 

Art by Chris Huth

Previously...

The Party

Blossom (Rogue 1) Our only surviving PC of the first delve
Bertol (Rogue 1) Upgraded from hireling to PC
Dominic (Cleric 1)
Mayfly (Magic-User 1)
Virzin (Magic-User 1)
Red
Curly
Pavel
Sibet
Assmus
Kunrat

At the Medusa's Head...

November 11th, 1390: The party gathered with a new member, a sharp magician named Virizin (INT 18! and Sleep) who was undeterred by horrid stories of the Abbey. With hirelings paid for, equipment replaced (rope, spikes, never enough crowbars), the PCs set off for Nightwick Abbey.

The session was a split delve: Main push (left),
Some exploration (right)

RIGHT TOWER: After considering the graveyard, the party dropped back into familiar territory. A quick push south, another warning from the goblins ("Maybe their warnings mean they have something worth taking?"), and across the pool the PCs reach the south door. And hearing something behind it...kick it open!

THE CULT OF THE LADY: Dark-robed figures, blades drawn, spring forward. Bertol, crossbow cocked, fires into the on-rush! Curly and Red move to the second rank to support Kunrat and Dominic the Cleric. Melee ensued! Dominic crushed the skull of the first cultist with a blow to the head. While Red and Curly, from the second rank, perforated a second with their spears. But these dark figures driven by fevered devotion struck back felling the faithful Dominic! Bertol, with expert aim, made the group pay for that transgression with another crossbow bolt. Still refusing to break, Kunrat laid low another one. Blossom, Virzin, and Mayfly (mainly cowering) cheer and jeer from behind.

Once the PCs made it into the room, they found it empty save for lurid depictions of The Lady --founder of the Church of Law. Blood motifs abound even on the cultists' cloaks and the silver necklaces from their necks (400 SP!). The choice for the party now is the door west, south, or east. Blossom hears nothing at each door. Mayfly is worried the west door will take the party to the "slow dance of sword fighters" witnessed earlier. After a group vote, the party heads west and since neither Mayfly, Curly, or Red can open the door, Blossom steps up with a crowbar to crack it open.

THE DINNER PARTY: The stench of rot hits the party first. Then eleven emaciated faces turn to face the party and a beat later rise from their seats.

 A small crop of the larger fantastic art by Chris Huth

Not what the party wanted to see, especially when their skeletal faces reminded the party what was lost with the slaying of Dominic, not moments earlier. Red and Curly dared not enter the room but held the line as the things tried to push through the door. But horror! Their spears do nothing, but slide easily through these foul things!

With the initiative in the party's favor, Mayfly steps forward to read the scroll containing instruction on the manifestation of astral flame upon the earth (i.e. Fireball). A searing heat tears from the center of the dining table engulfing all the hooded figures (22 dmg!) and just burning the eyebrows off Curly and Red.

With the room smoldering in flame, but plenty of pristine silverware on the table, it is Bertol who picks up a hoe and starts knocking the loot out of the flame and onto the floor (500 SP!). Avoiding (mostly) the clutches of death twice, the party decides to head back to Nightwick village.

A week later...

November 11th, 1390: Flush with an exuberance for life, Bertol decided to drink and drink and somewhere in all the carousing was separated from his money by a gentleman aptly named Deceivios of Xenopolita. Something about art depicting the monkey saint. So needing the extra coin, Bertol convinced his friends, whose purses were full of silver and hearts of blood, to see if loot could be had to form the graveyard of Nightwick Abbey.

The target is the two Mosoleum entrances. Bertol creeps down the first but returns quickly with stories of a large sword welding statue. Mayfly, thinking, surrounds himself with protective energies (Protection from Evil which also prevents constructs from attacking in melee) and walks down the second entrance. A similar statue confronts him and swings a huge sword. Energy crackles about and the blow is deflected!

With shaky knees, Mayfly makes a quick survey of the immediate rooms. And returns to the party, outlining that 1-2 months of making protection scrolls would allow the whole party to move without fear of the statues. But that's a lot of time & resources. And so the party returns to Nightwick village.

Money recovered (left) and lost (right)

Current accounting of the living & dead