Finding The Hidden Child Sacrifice Cult (Session 40)

Summary

They began the session with a recounting, first from Oglesby about the battle that killed him, and then from the others catching him up on the goings on since his untimely death. Brandy made it a point to hit him and yell at him for not making noise when he was caught by the spidery creature that had killed him but then she hugged him, visibly relieved that her friend was back. They discussed next steps and realized that they were in agreement; people who sacrifice children can't be allowed to continue. They were heading North to deal with them. First, they stopped by the Temple of Saint Cuthbert again to purchase some potions to replenish what they had lost, then to the North they went.

It was afternoon when they started out and they travelled until the evening and set up camp. With the exception of hearing some drums beating in the distance, the night passed uneventfully. The next morning they set out again. They continued North and eventually found the path that Knocker had pointed out to Kipp. They moved off in the direction that Knocker had told him about and finally found the area where Kipp believed that Knocker had met with the representatives of this group. They stop and looked out over the area. Brandy borrowed the Hat of Disguise from Oglesby and placed it on her head, transforming her appearance from that of a stout warrior Halfling into that of a small young human girl, a sort of ragamuffin Brandy. She was to be the bait.

Kipp and ragamuffin Brandy slowly moved into the area beyond, Kipp looking for tracks, Brandy looking like a new sacrificial child victim that he was delivering. The others stayed far behind but always kept them in site. The quite ones, Oglesby and Elenor, staying closer while the heavily armored Audra and Pyreece stayed way back. Kipp tracked them well for a bit but eventually their tracks disappeared. They seemed to get better at hiding them. Finally, far North in this area, Kipp found a curtain of briars covering a door of some sort. He moved closer and examined the brush finding a single horizontal vine that could be used to pull back the curtain to expose the door.

Kipp motioned Oglesby forward. Oglesby checked the door and determined it was safe to open and did so. Everyone moved in quickly after that and they closed it up again. Inside, they found a long, wide, East West hallway. There were three columns supporting the ceiling. There were also three doors in the northern wall. The outer two doors were wooden and the center door was a large metal door. There were symbols scattered about the room consisting of a skull with streaks of blood wiped through them. They moved to and opened the eastern door first. It opened into another East West hallway. In the middle of the northern wall was a passageway North. In the western wall, there was another opening leading to a North South passage. Oglesby found stairs leading up there that appeared to go back out into the open air.

Oglesby moved back to the center tunnel and moved North through it. He found a single door in the eastern wall. Across from that was a passageway leading West. At the North end of the hallway that they were in was a turn to the East. Oglesby moved up there first and found a door at the end of that hallway. He got everyone to move closer before he moved up to the door to check it out. He listened and hearing nothing, opened the door. He found a room with yellow robes hanging up with the emblem of a skull adorning them. He also found ceremonial daggers. He invited everyone up as he searched the robes and room. They found an amulet and a necklace in the pocket of some robes. The daggers were not special but were clean and polished. They took the necklace and amulet. Pyreece really wanted to burn the robes but the smoke would be a serious issue.

They backed out of the room and moved back to the door in the Western wall in the tunnel below. Again, Oglesby opened the door and found it to be a stock room. He searched it for anything useful but it was mostly full of supplies. They exited that room and went down the western tunnel. At the end of that tunnel, the options were to go South and then West, or to go North. They moved North to a "T" intersection. To the East of that was a tunnel leading South again and beyond that, a smooth worked area in the southern wall with a door. To the East of the tunnel they came up, there was another smooth carved area in the southern wall with a door.

They moved East to the tunnel that led South. About 20 feet down that tunnel was a door. Oglesby carefully moved down to the door and listened. He didn't hear anything. He checked the door and finding no traps opened the door. He found a woman inside the chamber beyond appearing to be casting a spell. A magical floating Spiritual Hammer appeared in front of him attacking and hitting him. Everyone rushed into the room and quickly put down the woman. With the first hit, the Spiritual Hammer vanished as the woman was unable to maintain her concentration. They searched the room.

There were books, scrolls, and notes on tables and on shelves. There were bottles filled with liquids. Two chest were in the room as well. Oglesby carefully opened each chest and pulled there contents out onto the floor. They pulled out all of the items they had found so far and placed them on the floor. Elenor cast a Detect Magic scanning the room highlighting all of the items that glowed. I do not have a complete list but I remembered there was a robe in the room that glowed, several potion bottles and most notably, a book. The book had no writing on it.

The occupant of this room was a Cleric. With that in mind, Pyreece checked out some of the books. There were books on the various religions of Oerth. She gathered those books to read later. The big book on the table that glowed had no writing on it. Pyreece opened it to see what it was. As she read the first word her mind was assaulted. It was hammered by forces she could not see but were trying to force their way in. Only by force of will was she able to keep it out. She managed to close the book quickly. Though she had a headache, she seemed to suffer no long term ill effects from her encounter with it.

This is where this session ended.

Please start the recorder.

No experience points were awarded this session.