SESSION 157: In the Name of Suffering
Well it looked like Steve was not in a rush to go anywhere, cooking the octopus was going to take some time. We would take the risk of camping in the ruin of the lurker. Maybe it was luck maybe the locals know better than entering this structure. The rest cycle passed without disturbance. The intention was to head towards the ziggurat. As usual our hobos were blown off course and an odd looking structure caught their eyes. It was an ancient temple that appeared to be structurally sound.
Two heavy iron wrought doors greeted us. They were solid and gave no clear as to what may lay beyond. Scrawled in what appeared to be charcoal was a rough box with ancient numerals representing the number twelve. We didn’t give it much thought, Steve went ahead and opened the doors. It was a temple to worship a long lost divinity that had been repurposed (defiled) for something else and whatever that was they were doing it now. As the purple light of the city bled into this partially lit chamber, braziers were burning at the front some 70 or so feet away.
Twenty feet into the temple was the backside of the last of three rows of pews filled with the congregation all in robes covered in weird symbols. After that, upon a podium was the altar with course inscriptions that had been carved into it to assert this new ideology over the old. A human-like head displaying a beauty beyond words sat on the altar. Beyond that was the apparent preacher of this church. The unholy one was wrapped in a pair of man sized bloody white wings over its robes. The priest was facing towards the final blasphemy of this place, on the back wall a crucified and headless entity flayed of all its skin. The being held up a golden goblet overflowing with a viscous fluid and called its congregation to “Give praise to suffering! N’Gathau! N’Gathau! N’Gathau! We give this sacrifice to Ghezi lord of all mutilation”. This place was clearly a ghouls chapel and was dripping with wicked life hating evil.
The hobos were fairly certain these guys should be on the hit list. Steve opened the double doors with perhaps a bit too much gusto and our thieves were looking elsewhere, there would be no sneak attack today. The congregation caught a whiff of living flesh as the tanks moved towards the back row of pews. The entities that made up the followers were in fact a mix of ghouls and ghasts and there was no bad time to eat flesh. Steve, Camillus and Rhagnar moved in as the undead cast off their robes and flipped over the pews to get some hobo. The priest then turned around to reveal a human-like visage except for a vertically oriented mouth from which tentacles erupted forth from, “eat them slowly they must suffer for this transgression”. Game on.
The denizen of somewhere else did not see our nearly-naked purple girl outside the doors and caught him/it off guard for a psionic assault. Nara cracked the priests defences and temporarily shattered its mind, the priest stood there leaking a sickly mucous from its now limp tenacled maw. The undead swarmed our front line Carla attempted to channel the divine light of TMB through the Armature of Palantis but this place was a forsaken pit of evil in a corrupted city of malevolence, she had no power here. Fortunately the wizards were able to relieve the pressure with numerous electrical bolts. The smell of ozone and burnt dead meat began to overwhelm the stench of the congregation. It looked like we were quickly getting control of the situation until the headless crucified thing pulled itself off the wall and rushed Steve. He was buffeted by its skinless arms that oozed acid rather than what we would consider more normal fluids. It was singularly focused on Steve even when other surrounded it. Every hit resulted in an acidic blood geyser covering all those around it. The battle began slipping away from us. Both Steve and Camillus were battered and bloodied, Steve ruptured one of his Achilles tendons and Camillus had succumbed to the paralyzing bite of a ghast, both had one foot in the grave. The clerics rushed in as Rhagnar attempted to fight the ghast off of Camillus. During this time Bunny crept to the altar to remove Mr. Tetacleface’s head as Nara warned that it would soon regain its wits. The beaten fighters were extricated and Carla was left facing the faceless. As a clearly mindless force of chaos the second line of hobos were able to surround it and dismember the horror but not before being covered in acidic blood.
It was over but the strongest of our horde were well reminded of their mortality as Bimbles pulled out his magic jug to douse those still burning from the acid blood. The medics had some serious work to do and we had just started our day. We finally got to investigating the temple. The clerics believed that the headless thing was the product of heinous vivisectionist-like blasphemy. They called it a flayed angel, a grotesquery that was a receptacle of the unfathomable evils that could conduct such a horror. The clerics went about attempting to cleanse the black presence, this church would now be twice defiled. The rest of our gang did not reflect on such things and began searching for and collecting valuables. The altar was a slider and underneath was a pit full of gleaming coin and jewelry. The collected wealth of previous sacrifices? Probably but they and theirs are long since gone and material wealth only benefits the living and so we loaded our sacks.
ROLECALL
Carla the Green High Priestess of TMB (C9) 248356 xp +10% <300001> CRT 1d12/III
Scars: permanent loss left index finger and scarring on arm
Bimbles the High Priest of GSS (C8) 212596 xp +5% <300001> CRT 1d12/III
Lasting injury: -1 STR, mashed arm
Hobo Steve the Superhero (F8) 210241 xp +5% <240,001> CRT 1d24/V
Brain Damaged: reduced mental capacity (tough night on the town)
Rahgnar the Dwarven Superhero (D8) 175078 xp <280001> CRT 1d20/IV
Serious wound: permanent loss of an eye (-1 to missile fire)
Critical Wound: disembowelled less able to process poison (-1 penalty)
Raul the Voyager (MD8) 186623 xp +10% <240000> CRT 1d12/III
Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -4,
Removed one of his own nostrils.
Ding-We the Peg-Legged Sorcerer (W9) 402373 xp +10% <470001> CRT 1d10/I
Critical Wound: Left leg obliterated, runs at ½ rate (peg required)
Bunny the Thief! (T9) 181873 xp <280001> +10% CRT 1d20/II
Light wound: permanent loss of pinky finger, off hand
Ramrod the Cloned Magsman (T8) 115896 xp +5% <160001> CRT 1d20/II
Serious wound: Bad Back (-1 stone CC)
Scars: Neurological damage to hip, noticeable limp
Missing six teeth talks with a lisp
The Henchmen
Saffron the Mad Fairy Queen of Mad Ribbits (FY6) 128890 xp <130001> CRT 1d10/III
Moderate wound: Scar on abdomen
Lasting injury: -1 STR, mashed guts
Sloth the Bopper (L7) 135460 xp +10% <178800> CRT 1d20/IV or 1d6/G (vs. s, m)
Mental Illness: Mummy-a-phobic
Nara the Nearly Naked Purple Swami Girl (PS7) 70976 xp +5% <125000> CRT 1d16/II
Wraith Drained: -1 CON
Biff Bartley the Half-Orc Blackguard (HO7) 83471 <120000> +5% CRT 1d12/II
Lasting injury: Crushed spinal column -6”H, -5’mv, -10% thieving
Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 87371 xp +10% <100000> CRT 1d10/III
Dolec Da the Hero (F5) 18799 xp +10% <32000> CRT XXXX
Camillus the Myrmidon (F6) 57924 <65001> +5% CRT 1d16/IV
‘BOB’ the Deadly Shade (N7) 59275 <90000> +5% CRT 1d16/II
Felix Ignatius Hemlock the previously Skeletal Sleuth (I7) 42208 <80001> +5% CRT 1d16/II
Mason the Canon of Yrrrg. (C6) 40211 <50001> CRT 1d10/III
Yasser Imaphat the Djinn (D4) 30372 <32501> CRT 1d6/II
Gurn Hammerhand the Dwarven Swordsman (D3)
Wendul the Thaumaturgist (W5)
RESERVES
Charles in Charge the Myrmidon (F6) 45913 <64000> +10% CRT 1d16/IV
REMAINING RECUPERATION: 0 DAYS
Critical Wound: Punctured lung (-2 CON)
Mostly DEAD. (-1 CON) -ADJUSTMENT REQ’D
Boris the Dwarven Lord (D9) 319718 xp +10% <400001> CRT 1d20/IV
REMAINING RECUPERATION: 4 DAYS
Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -3, carved up face
Lasting injury: -1 STR, mashed arm
Wound: Bad leg (-5’ MV)
Multiple Injuries: lost 20 teeth, drools a lot CHA -1
Serious Injury: Brain Drain -2 INT
Elapsed Campaign Time
339 days at beginning of session (also applies to recuperation)
Join us for session One-Hundred-and-Fifty-Seven when we ask the questions:
Who or what are the N’Gathau?
What about the box symbol with XII inside?
Have we made a new enemy?
Are getting concerned with the evil that we are finding in this ruined despicable city?
What will we find in the ziggurat?
For that matter, do we dare go further?
Tale of the Tape
We got close. I will redouble my efforts.
KILLS
Flayed Angel
Denizen of Leng
Barrow Ghast (2)
Ghast (6)
Ghoul (12)
LOOT
Gold ceremonial chalice 800gp
Gold braziers (4) 250 gp each
30,000 ep
Jewelry (20) 7,500gp combined
Potions: Speed, Treasure Finding
Scrolls: Treasure Map VII, Wizard Lock (A), Speak w/animals/ Quest (D)
Ancient short sword +1
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