[Room 10]
Stepping into an octagonal chamber, they find a bewildering array of furnishings either nicked or bought second-hand from the surface world and twisted into cut paraphernalia -- mismatched draperies with badly embroidered occult sigils, a rattan chair with human skulls wired on top, a child's vanity table converted to a makeshift altar, and a cement lawn statue of a nymph painted as an avenging demon-goddess.
As the explorers are marvelling at the diabolic tat, a man in simple black robes strides in from a passage behind one of the curtains. Beside him is a singular brute of hulking aspect; its face is a fleshless, grinning skull, and its elongated arms end in taloned fingers which scrape the floor as it lumbers behind its master.
"Friends!" exclaims the man. "Have you come to pay obeisance to the Radiant Malignancies of Her Divine Putridity?"
"Sorry, old chap," says Bassianus. "I was raised C of B."
"I'm not, er, terribly religious," stammers Isabeau.
"I'm a nice Jewish girl," adds Athalie.
"Destroy them, my Accursed Thing!"
[encounter: cult adept & pet
Q: Does the adept possess useful item? 50/50: O3 C6 - no
Q: Treasure? 50/50 (5+): O5 C7 - yes]
STR 11, DEX 10, WIL 13, 5 HP
Armour 2 (mystic aura), obsidian knife (d6)
Aura of Revulsion, enemies cower until WIL save succeeds
Steal Soul, target take d4 WIL damage, adds to Adept's STR
Driven to draw blood for a dark goddess
Accursed Thing
STR 12, DEX 4, WIL 8, 7 HP
Driven to bite and to claw
Bite & Claw d8
once-human, warped by dark rituals
[Round 1]
Emanations of soul-wrenching wrongness emanate from the Adept, and Bassianus is overcome by revulsion. He cowers behind the rattan throne. Geta, too, succumbs to the unholy power; he squawks once and flutters up out of reach atop the kitchen hutch used to store sacrificial implements. [They failed their WIL saves]
Athalie and Isabeau throw off the sour feeling and engage the pair of fiends. Athalie takes a swing at the Adept with her sword, but the blade is turned aside by some unseen force and what should had removed his head just bites into his shoulder [6-2(armour) damage puts him at 1hp]. The Adept strikes back with his obsidian knife, not connecting but forcing Athalie back a step or two [1 damage leaves her with 4hp].
Isabeau engages the Thing. It seems insensible to her sword point [1 damage, to 6hp], but at least she mostly escapes its filthy, clutching claws [3 damage puts her at 2hp].
[Round 2]
Bassianus and Geta are still whimpering with nausea [WIL saves fail again].
Athalie inflicts another minor wound on the Adept, but his resolve does not falter [5-2=3dmg to 0hp, STR 9, d20=no crit]. Isabeau is beginning to doubt that the Thing even notices the repeated stabbings [4 damage, 2hp left].
The Thing catches hold of Isabeau's left wrist, and drags her close to take a bite out of her upper arm [7 damage to 0hp, STR 12, d20=1, no crit]. She's too angry about the damage to the nice lace sleeve to feel any pain from the needle-like teeth.
The Adept points his knife toward Athalie like a wand, and calling on the power of his Demon-liege, attempts to siphon her soul away though it. She feels the tug on her psyche, and stubbornly resists the seductive pull to surrender to it. But the Adept appears to have strengthened his own life force with the modicum of energy he stole [1 WIL damage (to 15), Adept's STR up to 10].
[Round 3]
Athalie responds by laying open the Adept's forehead. He crashes bleeding to the floor. Isabeau finally thrusts her sword into a vital spot (gall bladder as the seat of power was an inobvious, yet effective choice). The Thing drops besides its master [both took critical damage]. They hack at their downed foes until it is certain the jumble of limbs and other odds & sods will pose no further threat.
They take a few minutes to recover from the ordeal [short rest, d6=no encounter]. Isabeau grows bored first, and begins rooting round the cult's accoutrements for anything of potential value. Most of it is bizarre and worthless, but atop a low end-table in one corner she finds a collection of jewellery -- most likely belonging to former victims of the cult. She shows her comrades the trove she's uncovered before tucking it all safely away in her purse.
Q: Does shrine altar have any power? likely (3+): O2 C5 - no]
She hazards a look at the altar last of all -- approaching with extreme caution lest it contain some awful power -- and finds with mixed relief and disappointment that it holds little more than bloodstains and empty sardine tins used as incense burners.
Isabeau also finds a passageway concealed behind the draperies, so once her friends can be arsed to continue -- I mean, once her friends are ready to once again face the untold horrors of the Underground -- they set off on their way.
[Room 11]
The passage leads almost immediately to another room, which looks to be the cultists' living quarters. The explorers are uninterested in rifling through their dirty linens, so make a hasty exit -- or endeavour to do so. Three cultists leap out from behind the furniture and come at them with wicked knives. The explorers are taken aback to see that these cultists are also persons of their acquaintance: Clodia, Gaius, and Caelius, who disappeared some short time ago. "Join us," they say in unison, whilst raising their knifes to answer any dissent.
[encounter = d4 cultists. Had this been a pre-planned dungeon, these cultists would have come into the next room when there were sounds of fighting. Since they didn't (as they didn't yet exist), I decided to justify it by making them cowards, who'd prepared an ambush Just In Case.
The PCs needed DEX saves: 17,17,5 - only Isabeau avoids Surprise, allowing her to act in the first round.]
STR DEX WIL HP
Clodia 15 10 12 3
Gaius 4 16 13 3
Caelius 11 12 11 4
wicked knives (d6)
[Round 1]
"I never did like you much," says Isabeau as she stabs at Clodia. The sword leaves a bloody but superficial wound in her side, and she lays into Isabeau with her dagger -- though with little real effect. [Clodia took 4 damage, dropping her to 0hp, 14 STR; d20=2, no crit. She inflicted 2 damage on Isabeau, putting her at 3hp.]
Bassianus and Athalie are still readying their arms as Gaius and Caelius spring at them. Bassianus feels the bite of Gaius's blade, but thanks to the power of the Titan Paste he just shrugs it off [2 damage puts him at 0hp, 14 STR; d20=8, no crit]. Athalie manages a weak defence, but fends off Caelius' wild attack [4 damage, 1hp left].
[Round 2]
Bassianus cracks open Gaius's forehead with his hatchet [5 damage to 0hp, 2 STR, crit]; he staggers back and topples onto a cot, insensate.
Athalie slashes back at Caelius, but the pain of the cut into his shoulder only makes his eyes glitter with malicious glee [5 damage to 0hp, 10 STR, no crit]. His dagger flashes before her eyes in a swift arc; a few centimetres further and she'd have lost an eye [1 damage to 0hp].
Isabeau sticks Clodia in the other flank, but she does not fall [3 damage to 11 STR, no crit]. And she's left herself wide open. Clodia gets in under her guard and sticks her knife deep into Isabeau's hip. She falls, clutching the painful wound [5 damage to 0hp, 10 STR, d20=16, crit].
Clodia is looming over Isabeau, about to finish her off, but Bassianus buries his hatchet in her shoulder [5 damage to 5 STR, crit]. She drops beside Isabeau, their blood mingling in a pool on the tacky rug.
Athalie strikes Caelius again, but the madman seems continually emboldened by the bloody gashes now criss-crossing his torso. [3 damage to 7 STR, 3=no crit. He also needs to check Morale (a WIL save) since half his group has fallen. d20=5, he'll fight to the death.]
Caelius dashes up to Athalie, and his knife slides effortlessly between two of her ribs. She looks down in shock for a moment, then staggers backwards, tripping over Isabeau and crashing down into the bloody pool beside her. [6 damage dropped her to 6 STR, 11=crit]
[Round 4]
Caelius' cackles of glee are cut short as Bassianus crashes his hatchet down at the base of his skull.
Bassianus sets about reviving his fallen companions, though his bedside manner is a curious admixture of 'you poor sausage' and 'quit your whingeing'. He does help both of them to sterilise their wounds (and throats!) with alcohol, and as they are binding their injuries with makeshift bandages he sees to it that none of the vile cultists are left breathing. [short rest, HP to full, no encounters]
Having already ascertained that the cultists possess nothing of value, the explorers exit the chamber. They soon come to a Y-intersection. After much deliberation, they eventually just let Athalie pick a branch and go on their way. [I had her make a WIL save to pick the correct direction (d20=4, success). Failure would have meant that the first time they reached the goal/reward hex on the hexflower actually brought them to a dead end.]
More occult symbols have been scrawled on the walls of the passage. Having seen what passes for a wicked cult down here, the explorers do not deign to examine them. Terrible scraping echo down the passage, getting louder as they proceed down it -- ever more slowly and cautiously than before. The temperature drops sharply as they approach a doorway ahead. They cannot see inside, for everything is obscured by a swirling, opalescent mist, which is blindingly opaque in the lantern light.
"You're sure the way is through here..." says Bassianus.
"Unfortunately," says Athalie.
"You're positive?" asks Isabeau.
"Very well," sighs Athalie, and walks slowly into the mist, sword before her as much for defence as for finding obstacles before tripping over them.
[Room 12]
[contents: uncomfortably cold, pearlescent mist, grating noises
Q: Does the mist have any effect? 50/50 (4+): O1 C6 - no]
She can see nothing but swirls of white. The sharp grating sounds hurt her ears, and the frost bites her face and hands, but after a few moments she comes to believe that these petty discomfitures are the worst she'll have to contend within this blind chamber. She goes back to her companions, and convinces them to follow her round the wall of the chamber to discover an exit.
This they do, and despite the clamorous grinding, the bitter cold, and the awful, blinding blankness, they pass through to the other side unharmed.
[Room 13]
[contents: gentle breeze, strange ribbons of light =Confines of Eternity]
A warm, slightly humid current of air greets them as they step into an irregularly shaped chamber. Ribbons of rainbow-hued light twist round and sway like streamers in a breeze, filling the chamber with a soft glow. Their gentle, sinuous motions are quite enchanting, and the explorers cannot but help themselves, pausing to stare in rapt wonderment at the lovely colours.
[They need WIL saves to not become entranced: Bassianus fails.]
Athalie and Isabeau come to their senses and look away from the charming display before it draws them in too far. But Bassianus is rendered numb by the beatific sight, and offers no resistance as one of the strands wraps slowly about him [and drains d6=2 WIL -- he's down to 1!]. Geta screeches and launches himself from Bassianus' shoulder, flying off to where the lights cannot reach him [WIL save succeeded on a natural 1].
"What is it with him and cosmic enrapturements," grumbles Isabeau, grabbing his hand to pull him out of the room [STR save succeeds]. Fortunately the light ribbons snap back into the chamber as she pulls him through the doorway. She leans him against the brick wall opposite the loud, gurgling pipes.
When Bassianus comes back to his senses, his two companions are looking at him crossly. Even Geta, perched for the moment on Isabeau's arm, is giving him an accusing stare. "Can we talk about this later?" he asks.
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