Week 6: Temple trouble

 

Feb 5, Monday; Snowy rain

• Last week, the Shipwrecked - Fenja, Menja, Chani and Saoirse - have joined the group of Amazons from Eklo on their trip home, though they dropped off their two hirelings, Glynn and Aerea, along with the cart at the temple of C'ro. The footwomen had no inclination to engage in further adventures.
• Eklo bore some heavy signs of fighting from the assault of the Feather-and-Claw people from 18th January and when the Shipwrecked arrived, they were quickly shown to the keep. Sìneag, the elderly village leader, was killed in the attack and her place taken by her daughter, Beathag, who had lost an eye.
• Beathag enlisted the Shipwrecked's help in a counterstrike against the Feather-and-Claw people. They are to be joined by a group of ten Amazons - Eklo cannot spare any more warriors than that - get into the Hungering Temple and assassinate as many of the temple's leadership as possible.
• They are to set out on Monday.

• We set out on Monday morning.
• Around noon - it's hard to tell with the non-stop rain - we crossed a wide river coming down from the glaciers (#1.15) and then climbed up to a saddle with a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. Among the rocks in front of us, we finally saw the Hungering Temple.
• We crossed the last miles under the cover of the night, wary of being seen by patrols and guards. Out guide lead us to a sheltered campsite near but not too near to the temple (#1.16), where we settled down for a rest with cold rations and no campfire to heat our hands. Too risky.
• As we kept watches throughout the night, we saw the cultists gather for their midnight mass. Their chanting was faintly drifting to us, punctuated by thunder cracks.

new hexes traversed = 20 XP

feature found = 50 XP

Feb 6, Tuesday; Clear & windy

• During breakfast, a plan is born. Nobody has any idea about how to get into the temple and to the dark priests, so Chani agrees to be our scout and have a look at the guard routes and access points. She goes alone, being the most stealthy of our whole group.
• She creeps to the temple and finds a nice vantage point to track guard movements from, but today luck is not on her side. A stone crumbles under her and sends her rolling head over heels down a slope. Before she has a chance to get her bearings, a guard is upon her.

1x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

• She jumps to her feet and throws her knife, catching him in the throat before he gets a chance to cry for help.
• Still, others will likely come to investigate, and soon. She smashes the corpse's head with a rock and finds another sharp one to open the cut on his throat more wide and ragged, hopefully masking her involvement in the death. Then she scrams.
• What an inauspicious start to our altogether too risky endeavour.
• Back in the camp, a small swarm of stirges can be seen flitting across the mountain side. Coincidence, or are they spying for the dark priests? We are left unsure and guessing.
• The rest of the day is spent planning a new approach to this venture.

Feb 7, Wednesday; Snowy rain, morning star

• There's little we know about the cultists, except that they attend a mass every midnight. They scale the stairs to the top of their ziggurat and then chant praises to their dark god around an altar and a sacrificial pit. This might be the only time where we can predict the whereabouts of at least some of the priests. It is also a time when they are gathered in numbers much too large for us to take on head on.
• Thus, we've planned a distraction.
• We stay in the camp for the day and when midnight nears, we split into three groups: Fenja and Saoirse with five Amazons, Menja with five Amazons, and Chani once again alone.
• We circle the temple, approaching from three different sides as the cultists start to gather and ascend the ziggurat.

• Fenja and her group are quickly noticed by the guards, but they have sneaked close enough to shoot. The Amazons release a volley of arrows and Fenja grabs for her javelins, but whether through eagerness or nervousness, they slip her grasp and clatter into the dark. Cursing, she instead grabs her war hammer and rushes the foes, splattering one's brain onto the ground.

5x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

• She contemptuously bats away their attempts at counter attacks, but one of the cultists - the shortest - slips a javelin around her shield and stabs her armpit even through chainmail. Fenja growls in pain and indignation, but the remaining cultists are immediately felled by Amazon arrows.
• Having raised a ruckus, the group looses a few more arrows against the onlookers and starts to retreat.

• From her perch near the temple, Chani sees that one of the dark priests takes a group of cultists and pursues. A moment later, two statues of black iron emerge from inside of the temple and join the hunt for the intruders. That is as good an invitation as she will get, so Chani runs towards the door, keeping to the shadows.
• Right in the entrance hall, there is another cultist on watch, so she tries to tiptoe behind him and slit his throat, but he turns around and his eyes widen in fright before she stabs him in the chest and then grips his throat and gently lowers him to the ground. He makes not a sound as he dies.
• So this will not be a "nobody knows I am here" mission after all, Chani sighs. Let mission "nobody knows I am here and lives" begin.
• She goes deeper into the temple halls.

• Menja also makes use of the distraction and gets her group onto the stairs and within a striking distance of the cultists gathered for the mass. Of the three priests there, one went to pursue Fenja, but that still leaves two priests and a gaggle of cultists, all distracted and unaware of the arrows aiming for their backs.

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess of Night

HD 5, AC 8, AT staff

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

HD 3, AC 8, AT staff

18x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

• Menja sinks a javelin into the priestess standing by the altar and the Amazons follow her lead, peppering the priestess with arrows until she falls.
• Recovering from the surprise, the cultists close ranks around the priestesses and send javelins at Menja's group with frightening accuracy. Only Menja is left standing.
• Gritting her teeth, she withdraws and runs, a few more javelins falling around her. About half the cultists go after her while the rest escort the priestesses to the safety of the temple, carefully carrying the bloodied, unconscious one.

• Chani slips down an empty corridor and finds some unlocked doors, but they only lead to small cell-like rooms where the cultists live. As she turns a fourth corner of the corridor, though, she notices that firstly, she has come a full circle and is approaching the entrance hall once again, and secondly that there are people in the hall now, chattering in a language she doesn't know.
• She creeps to the door and sees that a group of cultists led by a priestess is fussing over another priestess lain on the ground. She seems to be heavily wounded, but still drawing ragged breaths.
• Well, that's as good an opportunity as she will get. A single shot to end this and then out of the door before anyone can get to her.
• Chani reaches for her long bow, nocks an arrow and after taking a careful aim, shoots. But at the last second, a cultist notices her and cries in alarm, her shot going wide as she is startled.
• Cursing, she tries to reach for another arrow, but the uninjured priestess caws out an incantation and suddenly, an invisible force lifts Chani off the ground, suspending her in mid-air.

• Fenja and Saoirse with their five Amazons and Menja with no one but a story of a semi-successful ambush reconvene in the camp. Both have thankfully evaded capture by their respective pursuers, but nobody sleeps until morning, waiting for the cultists to find them. Nobody comes - not even Chani.

Feather-and-Claw cultists = 60 XP

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess of Night, very nearly killed = 65 XP

Feb 8, Thursday; Windy & snowy

• We have to save Chani. Or at least try to. Otherwise, she will be sacrificed with the stroke of midnight.
• The Amazons were wary of our plan, their losses already heavy, but we managed to persuade them that even if the one priestess is dead, we can still inflict further harm upon the cult while rescuing Chani.
• We went to break camp, but then our sentry gave the signal that enemies were approaching. We disappeared into the surrounding undergrowth.
• Soon, two crow-headed animated statues entered the camp.

2x Living Statue, Black Iron

HD 4, AC 9, AT talon (+1), ML +4

• A hushed argument later, we have decided that the risk here is too great. We retreated, leaving our tents and some supplies behind.
• The plan was simple - once again, we cannot afford a head-on assault. There are few entrances into the temple and right now, their guards are doubled. So we split into two groups again, a distraction and an extraction team. We wait until the midnight mass, when they have to bring Chani out to the altar, and then we act.
• We even caught a few hours of sleep during the long wait.
• Then it was time to act. Fenja insisted on leading "her" five Amazons again, even though her arm still hurt from that cultist's javelin jab yesterday. The extraction team thus was to be Menja and Saoirse.
• And as midnight neared, a throng of cultists streamed out of the temple, surrounding three priests - we have seen the leading one yesterday, I think - and dragging a bruised Chani along.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

HD 3, AC 8, AT staff

Darkness-Regnant the Priestess

HD 4, AC 8, AT staff

Gloom-Unforeseen the Priest

HD 2, AC 8, AT staff

4x Hungering shadows

HD 2, AC 7, AT touch + devour, ML +5

23x Feather-and-Claw cultists

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

• There really was no point to subtlety, they must know that we are coming. Thus we put to good use the one thing we still had even though we abandoned our camp - lamp oil and bandages.
• Fenja and her Amazons charged, flaming bottles in hand. About a dozen of the cultists went to meet them, readying their javelins. The rest closed their ranks around the priests.
• Fenja threw her oil, splattering a few cultists and breaking their stride with a pool of flames. The Amazons followed her lead.
• The cultists responded with javelins. Though caught off guard by the sudden flames, there were a lot of them and some of their attacks found flesh.
• There was no need to press our luck further - Fenja and the remains of her group turned tails.
• The other group of cultists, with the priestesses and Chani, was unfortunately not fooled by the distraction. Though Menja and Saoirse did manage to get close, they were noticed. They had one chance.
• S͕I̬͒LEN̵̳͗C̤E̵̵̡, Saoirse said in a voice that was as inevitable as the turn of seasons. The priests' mouths shut.
• Still, the cultists - though taken aback - have raised their javelins in the face of the charging Menja. Snarling, she cuts right through their javelins, decapitating the two cultists that are restraining Chani in a single blow. She grabs Chani and drags her away.
• Her eyes widen, though, when she sees a javelin stuck through Saoirse's side. She grabs her too and tries to support the two women as they turn to escape.
• "Get them, boy!" she shouts at Úlfi, her small but vicious dog, with tears barely held back. She already knows how his bravery will be rewarded.
• Yaping and snapping, he starts after the cultists. Some are delayed and distracted, others skewer the dog to the ground.
• Ŕ̵͜U̮ͭ͒N, Saoirse says in that voice that shakes the sky.
• Even though that she is bleeding heavily, even though that Chani can barely stand, somehow their legs start working and they sprint into the night.
• Though there is immediate pursuit, somehow both groups manage to evade their pursuers and find each other at their hiding place in the woods.
• Fenja and Menja are both lightly wounded, but from the Amazons,only one is still alive.
• Chani bears some nasty marks of burns and cuts - she had been tortured to reveal the location of their camp. She will need some treatment, or she might well still die to infection. Worse, all of her possessions had been taken, including her winter garb. She is shivering in the bare tunic the cultists made her wear for her short walk to the sacrificial altar.
• Saoirse is injured, but stranger are her pained cramps. Something under her skin seems to be moving.
• "I... have draw too deep of... my magic," she gets out, sweating yet ice-cold. "I... will be... fine!"
• They are all itching to keep moving, but half the group is half-dead. They will have to rest for a while, tend to their wounds - with no fire and no tent - and hope that they will not be found. We use the few bandages and medicial herbs we have left and go to sleep, Fenja and Aneira the last Amazon keeping watch.
• Nobody finds us during the night, but nobody is truly rested in the morning.

Feather-and-Claw cultists = 40 XP

successful rescue = 100 XP

Feb 9, Friday; Wet snowfall

• The weather is, frankly, a bit of an double-edged sword. It hides our tracks quite well, but it also slows us and freezes our butts off.
• We have all given some of our clothes to Chani, so she shouldn't be outright freezing to death. Still, we'd better find a place to warm up tonight.
• We trudge through the snow from dawn to well past dusk and it's only thanks to Aneira that we find at least some shelter under a rocky outcropping and wood for the night. (#1.15) We spent the next hour trying to get a fire going, but everything was so wet we eventually had to use the last of our oil to start it.
• We all huddle around the fire and try to doze off.
• We all wake up in the middle of the night to a loud screech high above. Whatever is flying up there is hidden from our sights by the snow clouds, though, and so are we from it.

Feb 10, Saturday; Cold & cloudy

• When we woke up to a sky no longer spewing an endless flood of snowflakes, Aneira the Amazon guide declared that we should be able to reach Eklo by today's nightfall. Good.
• We made good time, except for a short delay when we needed to scale an icy slope and Menja had to cut some steps into the ice lest we fall to our deaths.
• But by nightfall we were indeed in Eklo. (#1.14)
• Though exhausted, we were immediately called before Beathag the village leader. We have reported the truth - one of the dark priestesses was either killed or heavily wounded, but at heavy cost in lives. The temple is well-guarded and without way more people, we cannot make a noticeable dent in their defences.
• Unfortunately, we may have also provoked a swift reply with our assassination attempt.
• Beathag was not pleased, especially by the Amazon lives lost saving one of ours, but we have pledged our help in defence of Eklo, should the Feather-and-Claw people mount an offence.
• With that, we were dismissed and went to find a place to sleep. In the end, Aneira offered to host us for the night.

Feb 11, Sunday; Cold winds

• Chani's wounds do not look good. She has woken up with high fever and an ugly cough, so we forced her to stay in bed. Saoirse is not injured, but she has drawn so deep of her magic that she still feels winded from any strenuous activity, so she volunteered to keep Chani company while Fenja and Menja run some errands around Eklo.
• They have found a place for all of us to stay, plus bought some basic equipment for Chani, to replace what she had lost. We don't have much coin left now.
• Menja also ran into Sabatha, the apothecary apprentice, and learned more about the happenings in Eklo. The last attack of the Feather-and-Claw people has led to much death and apparently, there is now talk about an exodus. Beathag is unsure that they can win, so she plans to abandon the village and move her people somewhere safe.
• We might well be there to see it, because right now, we are staying put. At least for a week, to give Chani some time to recuperate.