Chamber of Horrors

The party was fighting their way through Blood Creek Mine, trying to rescue the innkeeper’s daughter and her boyfriend (or possible kidnapper) from a bloodthirsty cannibal cult. They had just fought off a half-dozen zombies, only to be confronted by a mob of filthy cultists.

The cannibals were coming from two passages, one to the north and one to the south. Sawyer moved to bottle up the ones to the north in the narrow corridor, while Shinjiro and Marie moved to block those coming from the south. Sandoval turned to Zhustin with a broad grin. “OK kid – I’ll set ‘em up, and you knock ‘em down!” He moved towards the group to the north, singing a soothing Lullaby. Zhustin immediately realized what he was doing, and followed up with a Sleep spell on the already-drowsy cultists. The entire group fell into a deep slumber, leaving little for Sawyer and Bella to do but slit their throats. Meanwhile to the south, Shinjiro and Marie kept the cannibals blocked in the hallway, while Nicki alternated Dazing first one then the other of the front-line opponents, minimizing the threat while the monk and cleric mopped them up.

As the party caught their breath, they took a quick look around the landing. There were stacks of crates and barrels in this room, as well as in a small storeroom to the north. They were of varying ages and origins, and seemed to contain mostly foodstuffs like grain, dried fish, etc.; there was also a large pile of fresh horse meat. The rest of the food was moldy and infested with insects, but it appeared someone was still using it.

Shinjiro was checking the southern corridor, which curved off to the west. It appeared to open into a larger room some distance down, but it was impossible to see what was there. However, he could hear unintelligible noises coming from that direction, overlaid with what sounded like a nasal chanting.

Fearing the worst for the young captives, everyone hurried forward. As they reached the room, they found themselves faced with a scene of unimaginable horror. To the south, a group of ragged men and women crowded around a bloody corpse, tearing at its flesh with their teeth and stuffing entrails into their mouths. The thing was barely recognizable as human, but the party feared it was the body of young Jerrol Stark.

Golubrin - Cannibal Cult Leader

To the north stood two men. One was almost as wild looking as the cannibals, and was clad in what appeared to be a suit of leaves. The other was a tall, balding man in stained robes, chanting in some unknown language, reading from a scroll. Between them knelt a young girl, apparently the missing Isabelle. She seemed to be unable to move, and the ragged man held a scimitar above her neck. She was kneeling over some sort of altar in front of a crude statue. The statue appeared to have been formed from clay by someone with little talent, and depicted a creature with the legs and head of some bird of prey, two pairs of wings, and a long, barbed tail.

Isabelle

As the party approached down the hall, one of the cannibals peeked out from behind one of the pillars that held up the roof of the larger room, calling out a warning to his comrades. Sawyer ran forward, drawing his bow to get off a quick shot at the druid holding the scimitar before the cannibals rushed the entrance, trying to block the party’s entry. The druid summoned a Giant Centipede to also block their path, snapping at Sawyer with jaws dripping poison. The necromancer poured a vial of liquid over his head and simply disappeared from sight.

Ameiko rushed to the front with a shriek of rage, swinging Whispering Shrike like a woman possessed. Koya cast a Bless and Sandoval began singing his inspiring song, but the rest of the party was trapped in the corridor with little they could do until Sawyer and Ameiko cleared an opening in their foes. Suddenly, a Spectral Hand materialized in front of Sawyer and touched his arm. In an instant, the fighter’s muscles seized and he found himself completely paralyzed. Worse, he began to give off a horrible carrion stench that Sickened everyone around him. Bella noticed that the necromancer was now lurking in a tiny corridor in the northwest corner of the room.

Marie held her breath and wrapped her arms around Swayer, dragging him out of the front line so that she could take his place, and Sandru stepped up behind her. She felt the ghoulish touch of the spectral hand, but shook off its effects. The druid saw them moving into position, and cast Heat Metal on both of them; Marie’s armor, and Sandru’s armor and sword began to grow uncomfortably warm, then scorching hot. Marie gritted her teeth and bore the pain stoically, but Sandru ultimately had to drop his scimitar from his blistered fingers. Everyone with bows began firing at the druid, and arrow after arrow found its mark. Nicki let fly a Magic Missile that felled the cult leader just as he was raising a potion to his lips.

Vasharian - Necromancer

Zhustin remembered how well his Sleep spell had worked a few minutes ago, so he tried it again here, and four of the cannibals blocking the doorway slumped to the floor. That provided the opening the party needed and Shinjiro ran full-speed towards the necromancer. The necromancer saw him coming, and blasted him with one Magic Missile after another as he retreated back up the narrow passage. By the time Shinjiro finally reached him, he was near death. Fortunately, Koya was following close behind, all but ignored by the cannibals thanks to the Sanctuary spell she’d cast on herself earlier. She did a Channel Positive Energy as she drew near, allowing Shinjiro to survive the necromancer’s final magic missiles, then followed up with a Cure Moderate Wounds. Nicki tried to help out with a Magic Missile of his own, but it simply disappeared as it reached the necromancer.

Feeling like his old self again, Shinjiro decided it was time to stop the necromancer from casting spells. He tackled the spindly magic user, and proceeded to pummel him to death as he held him in a headlock. The necromancer’s attempts to fight back with touch attacks of his own grew more and more feeble as the monk delivered punch after punch, until finally his body grew limp and lifeless.

Ameiko, Bella, and Marie were still battling the last of the cannibals, two of whom were proving unusually resilient. Ameiko in particular fought like a madwoman, ignoring her wounds as her wakizashi whistled through the air. Finally the last cultist fell, and a hush fell over the unholy chamber, broken only by the panting of the exhausted adventurers.

The PCs gained 829 XP for the night, putting them at 4655 XP with 5000 needed for level 3. You should start preparing your level 3 characters – if you don’t reach level 3 next week, you certainly will by the following session. We’ll be at Leo’s again next week.