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| The Ruined Church |
The adventure started in the town of Dragonwrath with the party resupplying and listening to rumors. They heard more talk about the strange group of men that had come to town a while back and decided to search Attercop Forest in the hopes of locating a ruined church, which was the likely base of operations for any nearby cult activity. The party gathered their belongings, donned their black robes that they had commissioned from the town's tailor and headed out into the wilderness once again.
After a few days, the party arrived at the village of Badwater, a small settlement located just on the edge of the Swamp of Dread and nearby to the Attercop Forest. The party, relieved to be able to sleep in a bed, stayed at the local inn for the night before continuing their adventure. On the 1st day of the Summer Festival, they left the village and could see the edge of Attercop Forest where they encountered a group of mounted men-at-arms traveling along a trail that led out of the forest. Our heroes could see that the leader was likely a local lord due to his appearance so they quickly took a knee, to show respect to their superiors.
The nobleman took notice and introduced himself as Sir Brufen, son of Lord Branif of Dragonwrath. He asked the party what they were doing and they explained to him that they trying to hunt down a group of cultists. The nobleman was pleased to hear this and bid them good luck on their adventure saying "By the light of the flame, you shall succeed in your quest" before leaving.
Finally, the party found the ruins of the old church within the Attercop Forest. They steeled themselves and entered the once holy structure. The room was dark and the only light inside was a ray that shone through a hole in the ceiling which highlighted the dust that filled the air. The party of adventurers lit their torches and continued to explore. They walked past rows of pews and came across a door at the back of the room. It was rotted and easy to open. The party entered and descended down a set of stone stairs cautiously into the crypt.
Ermer the Dwarf and Gobas the Canny scouted ahead and led the party down the eastern passage. They came across a medium-sized room with 4 black robed cultists collecting bones from the many piles stacked along the walls. The cultists were surprised so the adventurers explained that they were "new recruits" into the cult but were never given a tour of the lair. Drebb the cultist, fully believing their lie, offered to take show them around. The party, glad that their disguises worked, asked to see the store room so that they could drop off some of their gear.
Along the route to the storage room they had to enter a guard room. Drebb opened the door and was prepared to take the party further when a guard asked who the new guys were. The situation was explained but he remained unconvinced and asked the party to state the pass phrase to make sure that they were legitimate. The party members blanked and their ruse was up!
After a few brief rounds of combat, several cultists were dead and one attempted to retreat. Not wanting him to sound off an alarm, Hag the magic-user, rushed after the cultist and tackled him to the ground. Hag, who was unarmed, resorted to bludgeoning the cultist to death with his bare hands. The party then collected the bodies and dumped them into the various crates and barrels within the storage room, which the fleeing cultist had ran away to.
Not long after, the 3 cultists from the ossuary room came across the party questioning them why Drebb hadn't returned, until they noticed the blood stains on the stone floor. The adventurers first tried to accuse the cultists of being imposters but that failed. Then they tried to come up with a lie but the cultists weren't fooled. Peter and Kratos made quick work of hacking down the religious zealots and this time the party took care to not only hide the bodies but clean up the blood stains as well. They then searched the room and swapped out their damaged robes for some fresh ones they had found in a crate.
The party came across an altar room where a group of 8 cultists were preparing the space for a sacrifice. The leader of the cult quickly asked the party to identify themselves and speak the pass phrase, since he didn't recognize them. Now that they knew the pass phrase after having accused the cultists of being imposters, the party answered "I am Zellek'ur." The leader, figuring that Ton'chor the Acolyte, a cultist infiltrator of the Church at Dragonwrath, had been productive and recruited more converts. He ordered them to get the guards in a nearby room to bring the young girl they had kidnapped to him for the sacrifice.
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| Sapheera |
Once they reached the guard room, they kicked down the door surprising the cultists and Hag cast Sleep on them. Then they made quick work of slitting their throats and found the key that one of the guards had on him. The party made their way to the room where the girl was being kept and explained the situation to her. After looking around for a bit, they grabbed Sapheera and went to the altar room in order to confront the cult leader.
Once again, the party busted open the door and surprised the cultists. They immediately rushed the leader and his underlings were unable to respond since they were sitting in the pews awaiting the sacrifice. The cult leader was killed and the cult's morale broke, causing the remaining 7 members to flee for their lives. The party, not able to catch up to them decided it best to leave so that they could return Sapheera back to the safety of her family in Dragonwrath.
The party arrived back at Dragonwrath on the 6th day of the Summer Festival where they were celebrated as heroes for returning the young girl to her kin. The party outed Ton'chor as an infiltrator and brought him, along with his ally who he had given up upon further interrogation carried out by the town's guards. The next day, the party joined in the celebration of the Summer Festival and enjoyed a well earned day of rest.
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