Week 7: Temple raid

  

Feb 12, Monday; Cold & cloudy

• The Rogues had a week of downtime to come to terms with their loss and they are ready to travel once again. Their goal has not changed - get to the temple of the Feather-and-Claw people and rob it of its riches. They still have Deryn the cart-driver and two footwomen, Gwen and Bronwyn, with them, plus Brenna and Maera have spent the week honing their abilities, perhaps to dull the heartbreak. Additionally, Yt the last surviving ragwretch from the altercation with the owlbears has decided to join them as a guide and companion.
• Yt leads us all straight north from the ragwretch village, down from the hills and into a thick forest that he can nonetheless navigate without any trouble. (#4.19)
• We passed by a tumbled-down temple where a group of ragwretches was just butchering a corpse of some equine creature, but they only waved at Yt as we passed by them. According to him, that is a temple of Ís, the village's god of wine, and the seat of their priestess-queen.
• By noon, we were deep in the forest (#3.19, #2.19) where we arrived to the banks of a large river. Yt informed us that it's called Water-that-Leaps and it will guide us to the mountains where the temple we seek is.
• Going against the stream, we soon got to a ford (#2.18) and crossed the river, then continued west into a valley (#2.17) carved into the quickly approaching mountains.
• Dusk was upon us, but Yt insisted on going a bit further. As it turned out, the road we took into the mountains came to an abrupt end at the foot of a massive cliff, from which the river dove in a beautiful waterfall. Yt showed us a sheltered campsite where we can hide our cart. Tomorrow we will have to leave it here and climb a goat path to the higher reaches of the mountains.
• We were lucky that our camp is well-hidden. Just as we were about to go to sleep, Nissa noticed a group of hunched humanoids clutching primitive weapons scurry along the river downhill into the forest. They didn't notice us at all.

new hexes traversed = 50 xp

features found = 150 xp

Feb 13, Tuesday; Cold winds, morning star

• We leave our hirelings to guard the camp and climb up into the mountains. (#1.16, #1.17)
• The footpaths that Yt knows are winding and treacherous, plus we have to avoid a small group of big beetles munching on similarly big robber flies, but as dusk approaches, we catch the first glimpse of the shadow temple. It is still a few hours away, but tomorrow, we will be there.
• The night is uneventful, but the starry sky this high in the mountains is beyond beautiful.

new hexes traversed = 20 xp

Feb 14, Wednesday; Cold rain

• We awoke to the sound of endless downpour. But alas, we have to brave it anyway. Sometimes I wonder how adventuring in a desert would be, where there's no rain to drench you nor snow to make your toes purple.
• Anyway, we made our way across the deep valley towards the shadow temple. Everyone was rather sombre - both because of the weather and because we are getting close enough that running into a patrol is an increasingly likely possibility. Thus we've made sure to pick our path through wealds and shrubbery where we cannot be easily spotted.
• Instead of a patrol of Feather-and-Claw people, though, we've happened upon winged, leonine creatures taking apart some nightmare spawn.

2x Manticore

HD 6, AC 8, AT bite (2 dmg) or tail spike, MV flying, ML +2

4x Nightmare Spawn

HD 8, AC 8, AT giant weapon (2 dmg), ML +1

• The spawn seemed in pretty bad shape by the time we saw the fighting, the two manticores circling in the sky above and slowly taking them apart with shot spikes. They were all too invested to notice our little group.
• First spawn soon collapsed, pin-cushioned by spikes, and the other were already bleeding, too. Yet they seemed more enraged than daunted.
• They tore great boulders and smaller trees out of the ground and threw them up at the manticores. The smaller one was just a smidgen too slow and a boulder clipped its wing, sending it plummeting to the ground.
• The larger manticore cried out in anguished wrath and dove at the wounded spawn. It died clawing and biting at the spawn.
• During this whole ordeal, we stayed hidden and we kept hiding for at least another hour as the spawn collected their fallen kin and eventually left. Only then did we climb out of the bushes and went to investigate the two manticore corpses that were left behind. We cut off their tails, still bearing quite a few of the strange iron spikes.
• It was already past nightfall, so we quickly found a passable sleeping place and set camp for tonight. We have found more signs of monstrous activity in these parts of the mountains, but luckily nobody bothered our little campsite.

Feb 15, Thursday; Cold & cloudy

• We woke up early, intending to spend the day scoping out the temple and any forces guarding it. We split in two groups, Maera with Yt and Brenna with Nissa, and off we went.
• We quickly discovered an unfortunate turn of events - the temple was on high alert, guards posted to overlook every access path. Brenna and Nissa even found some of their patrol paths, though thankfully we haven't run into any of the patrols.
• We reconvened in the evening and shared our troublesome findings. This changes things. We all thought we could rob the Feather-and-Claw people blind, but this is now frankly out of the question.
• We have enough provisions for a few days yet, so we might as well wait at least one more day to see if providence doesn't smile our way, but it would seem that this venture was after all our troubles a resounding fiasco.
• Providence struck just after midnight. Maera was keeping watch and woke us all, pointing at the sky with a trembling finger. Two great shapes were locked there in a deadly dance, fire and darkness crossing the night sky. Was it the great dragon we have found sleeping a fortnight ago? Was it the horrid corvid-beast we have seen slaughtering citizens of Eklo?
• We were frozen in awe and fright until suddenly, a blast of darkness took the dragon square in the chest and it plummeted from the sky. The other beast flew back to the temple, but it was obviously hurt.
  Interesting.

Feb 16, Friday; Icy & cloudy

We split up again. Brenna and Nissa will go to watch the temple and its happenings again, while Maera with Yt will check out the place where the dragon presumably met its demise.

The temple was quiet and well guarded, just as yesterday, and Brenna and Nissa were getting rather frustrated that this was clearly going absolutely nowhere. Then, a dragon swooped in from the clouds.

Dragon of Cinders

HD 10, AC 10, AT bite (+1, 4 dmg) or breath, ML +3

5x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

It tore through the group of Feather-and-Claw guards and then tore open the temple gate. Screams started to be heard as it barged inside.

"...What?" Brenna said.

"Maybe it's a spouse of that other dragon from yesterday?" Nissa ventured.

"You know what? I don't really care. Let's go find Mae and hide and never stick our heads out again."

Maera and Yt had reached the other dragon's corpse in the meantime. There were tracks that suggested it was already checked upon by the cultists, but no one was around at the moment. This would be a goldmine of magical materials is they had the time to properly butcher it, but they will probably not have such luck. Maera at least went to pry some teeth out of the dragon's mouth while Yt stood watch.

She managed to get six by the time that Brenna and Nissa found them. After a bit of disjointed explanation, they all decided to withdraw into the forest - and not too soon, as before long the dragon rose up above the now smoking temple and made for the very corpse they have just been desecrating. Watching from a hopefully safe distance, they saw the weary but mostly uninjured dragon land by its dead kin. In its mouth, it brought a massive corvid head - the head of that monstrous creature that served (or was served by?) the Feather-and-Claw cultists.

It laid the head by the dead dragon and for a few long minutes seemed lost in thoughts. Then it spread its wings and breathed out a column of brilliant flames, torching the corpse and the corvid head.

There were tears in Nissa's eyes.

"Are you actually feeling for that monster?" Maera whispered.

"I was," Nissa sniffed, "thinking about how much we could've gotten for that corpse."

The dragon stood watch over the pyre and the party sneaked away. Smoke was rising from the direction of the temple, a sure sign of the dragon's wrath, but Maera urged that they should still check it out.

"Beat the iron while it's hot, y'know? That dragon probably killed every last damned thing in there and the ziggurat itself didn't look all that flammable. It will probably be left standing, which means we can go a-looting."

"We don't know if everyone is dead and we don't have enough food left to stay about and wait for them to come out," Brenna doubted.

"I have seen a secret entrance," Nissa said.

"What?" Brenna said.

"It the base of the ziggurat. When the dragon attacked, a few cultists slipped out of there."

"Why haven't you mentioned anything?!"

"Things were happening. It wasn't important at the moment."

"Well, you could've told me as we walked!"

"Could've, should've! I'm telling you now. We can go right into the guts of the temple, steal what hasn't burned yet."

"I'm in but I'm also mad at you," Brenna said, "just so we're clear."

"I'm in as long as you stop bickering and concentrate on not getting killed," Maera said.

Yt just nodded.

And thus we went. We crawled through the bushes back towards the temple and it was indeed on fire. There were some cultists about, but they were mostly dragging people and paraphernalia out of the ziggurat, paying little attention to the party as they carefully circled to the hidden back entrance. There Nissa showed the others where she saw the secret door open.

Maera took out her toolkit and after a little while of tinkering pushed at a mechanism deep between two stone blocks, which made one of the blocks slide inside and reveal a narrow corridor.

"Ladies first," Maera motioned towards Nissa.

"Funny that you only noticed now," Nissa glowered but went inside.

From the dark but short corridor, she emerged into a large, barely lit hall and the rest of the party followed. The room was half-filled with crates, barrels and boxes - mostly food, as Yt discovered. However, Brenna also opened a small box that turned out to be full of jewellery. This prompted everyone to search the room more properly, revealing a pouch with several hundred silver coins in a chest of clothes.

Enheartened, we went on. Listening behind the single door out of this room let us know that a lot of people are running about this place, but none too close. We crept down the corridor, trying the doors to see which were unlocked. There was a kitchen and a common room with nothing much in them, a locked door, and then a room in which a statue of black iron was lifting a massive crate. With a metallic creak, it fixed its gaze on us.

Living Statue, Black Iron

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

We jumped it before it could let go of its load. Though its iron hide was barely dented by Maera's blow, the others have slipped behind the construct and their blades found its joints, prying open the cracks where its limbs moved.

It threw its crate at Maera, but she deftly dodged and the box shattered on the ground. A swipe of the statue's talon, however, took Yt in the chest, leaving several shallow cuts behind. But it left itself wide open and Maera bashed in its sculpted beak with her quarterstaff.

"So..." Brenna said, "my sword is busted." She was holding just the pommel now, the blade mostly shattered.

"My sword's fine!" Nissa beamed.

"Yes, we all know you have an enchanted sword. Shut up about it already!"

There was unfortunately nothing interesting in the statue's crate, so we moved on promptly. We swiftly scanned a few more empty rooms, all obviously vacated in a hurry, and had to hide a few times from cultists running down the corridor carrying various knick-knacks.

Then we found the first room bearing the signs of the dragon's rampage - its wall was crumpled and a massive hole was melted into its floor, coating everything in the room in soot. Maera carefully edged in, but then Brenna called out a warning from behind her.

Carcass Crawler

HD 3, AC 7, AT tentacle (+4, no dmg) + paralysis, ML +2, XP 75

From a pile of slaughtered cultists smouldering by the collapsed wall, an insectoid shape rose and readied itself to jump at Maera, but several well-placed shots by Brenna and Yt saw it fall down into the hole.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem," Brenna said. "But we have a dilemma here, I think. The dragon clearly went down there, probably for a reason. There might be something interesting to appropriate, yet it will require that we abseil down a scary hole in the ground. I have rope, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, first."

"My sword-" Nissa started.

"If you say it's enchanted," Brenna grit her teeth, "I swear to all gods you will be the first down that hole!"

"It's enchanted and allows me to throw my sight, kinda. Like into that hole, so that I can safely see what's there, so suck it, Brenna."

And so we tried that, until Nissa started to look uncomfortable, gripping her gleaming sword with closed eyes and fidgeting.

"So... I may have figured something out. It appears that I can only throw my sight upwards, not downwards."

"Oh, really?" Brenna grinned.

Before more could be said, Yt interjected: "We throw torch down the hole and see, yes?"

And so we tried that. There was a cavernous hollow one floor below us, with some sort of a pool in it. By vote, 3 against 1, Nissa was chosen to go down and have a look and Yt volunteered to accompany her. Brenna and Maera were to remain up in the half-collapsed room to protect the rope.

They climbed down into the cave and got only somewhat frightened by the sight of a massive black-feathered body. Half of it was charred down to bones and it had no head.

"I've heard you screaming like a little girl, Nissa!"

"Fuck off, Brenna! Hey, there's something in that pool."

A moment of silence.

"There's a lot of something! There's a whole hoard of frigging gold and gemstones!"

The Many-Winged Herald's hoard:

• 15 000 gold
• 30 170 silver
• 14 gems
• 40 pieces of jewellery
• Curse: One magic item of the defiler permanently loses all abilities.

Then we had to figure out how to get all that wealth out of the pool and then out of the temple. Nissa dived into the pool and brought back handfuls of jewels and gold, while Yt partially emptied out their backpacks and stuffed them full of the treasure. Then the rock started to creak.

"Hey," Brenna called, "get out of there before you get buried."

"Just one more dive," Nissa called back.

In the room above, the door opened and several robed and feathered cultists rushed inside.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

HD 3, AC 8, AT staff

5x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

"We've got company," Maera hollers and gives ground to have enough time to shoot the priestly-looking crow-person before the rest of the cultists surround her. She scores a solid hit and drops then her bow. Brenna has borrowed an axe from Yt to replace her shattered sword and now uses it to decapitate two cultists, stopping their advance.

Shadows thwirl and the priestess disappears from sight, while the remaining three cultists harass Brenna, scoring a shallow cut.

Maera joins the melee and fells two more cultists, the last remaining one turning tail and running. Maera and Brenna do not follow, instead checking on Nissa and Yt down below.

"Are you all right?" Nissa calls crom the cave, waiting by the end of the rope with a sack of gold.

"Yeah, but get your asses up here. They know about us."

They climb up, but before the gold can too be lifted on the rope, Maera gestures for everyone to drop everything and join her by the door. The cultists are coming back for rematch.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

HD 3, AC 8, AT staff

5x Feather-and-Claw cultist

HD 1, AC 7, AT javelin

The whole party gets ready to ambush them by the door, but then a flood of spell power made their knees buckle.

K̯͆͌N̘ͪEE̥̺Ḽ̀ͥ, they heard and understood even though there was no sound. Everyone but Yt obeyed.

The cultists stormed inside, only Yt going forth to meet them. He took one down, but another pierced his side.

Maera, Brenna and Nissa frantically fought the magic and the oncoming cultists both. Somehow, they managed.

Maera and Nissa blocked the remaining cultists while Brenna crawled to the fallen Yt, fumbling for a vial from her pack. She poured the greenish liquid down his throat and with a bloody cough, he sat up, then immediately stood up. He no longer bled.

The last cultists beaten, Maera started to grin, when the priestess entered the room and from beneath her robes, a flood of darkness came. Maera sagged and the other three felt their blood turning halfway to ice.

Still, Yt was feeling the lingering warmth of the healing potion that Brenna fed him and swung at the priestess. She blocked with her staff. He swung again and cracked her skull open.

Brenna rushed to Maera's side, carefully rousing her from unconsciousness.

"I'm finnn-ugh," Maera groaned. "All right, I'm not fine but I'll live."

They lift the sack of gold and quickly redistribute everything they carry, leaving most of their food and all non-essential equipment behind to stuff more gold into their backpacks and pockets. In total, they now carry 9 050 coins of gold, a dozen large gems and 28 pieces of ancient jewellery.

Nearly clinking, they move to get out of the temple. As they turn a corner, they feel the ground shake beneath their feet as something collapses. More cracks are spreading through the walls all around them. They move faster, jogging down the corridor and cramming themselves into the tight secret entrance tunnel. Then they are back under open skies, which have by now been taken over by the moon and the stars.

"Yes!" Nissa cheers.

D̐I̧̜Ę̇͂, a gravelly voice orders.

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess

HD 5, AC 8, AT staff

2x Hungering shadow

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

Living Statue, Black Iron

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

They all do.