Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1247190" data-attributes="member: 6294">Kull's 9th Report - Part 2As the information provided by the locals was clearly of little use, I conducted a reconnaissance of the boundary of the county.  There were obvious signs of incursions by the humanoids, but - despite the complete lack of defences - these were clearly only raids, with no effort made to occupy the territory.Given the ease with which the village should have been overrun, the lack of concerted attacks could only mean that either there was something holding the enemy back, or that the humanoids at least believed that there was. Returning to the Church of Pelor for the night, I instructed the others that we would maintain a guard throughout the night, as I did not choose to put my trust in the villagers claims of divine defence.  This decision proved wise, though not for the reason I originally intended: at around midnight, faint echoes of deep and sombre chanting could be heard, seeming originating from somewhere within the church.No Pelorite worships at the dead of night, nor do their hymns have such dark and heavy tones.  Whatever force might lie over this village, it was not what it claimed to be.  If any doubt of this remained, after these midnight disturbances, it was dispelled by the ridiculous story with which I was presented, the next morning.The abbot, Aldiss, showed me a tiny chamber in the heart of the temple, where an acolyte knelt, spinning a golden top, like a child's toy.  According to Aldiss, this was the 'Hand of Pelor', an ancient artefact that would destroy any evil that approached it.  Aldiss hurriedly added that, despite the hostility Pelor bears toward our Lord Hextor, the artefact would not affect me, as I bore them no ill will.  Which suggested that he was even less adept at spotting lies than at telling them.I thanked him for his time, accepted his offer of a report for his superiors, and informed the others that we would leave the next day.  I had to override a protest from Gnorric at this point, and he continued to try and dissuade me from leaving, even after I took my leave of the abbot.  It seems he believed I actually meant to leave.Once I made him understand that I did not truly mean to leave, the wizard finally quieted, and - making sure that there were no Pelorites nearby to overhear - I made the others aware of my intention that we explore the Church that night, to locate the source of the chanting we had heard the night before, and learn what was truly occurring in this town.Two hours after dark, I gave the word to leave our rooms and begin the search.  This immediately ran into an obstruction that was in itself a sure sign that something was being concealed: many of the doors of the church had brand new locks, of formidable complexity.  Dargrim inspected them, but was not able to overcome the mechanisms.Leaving these doors aside at first, I led an exploration of all the more easily accessible portions of the Church.  I did not expect to find anything of note - it would be sheer foolishness to protect some areas so well, only to leave incriminating evidence elsewhere, but I have found that people are more often foolish than might be expected, and being thorough often leads to unexpected rewards.In this case, it availed me relatively little, though I was able to locate the chambers of several acolytes, and bar the door into this area, preventing them from emerging behind us.  I doubted they would be a threat, even if they had chosen to fight us, but every chance to reduce the foe should be taken: one of the many wise teachings of our Lord.With this done, I was faced with the three doors that Dargrim could not open.  One guarded the so-called "artefact", one the main tower of the church, and one a small door tucked under some stairs.I chose to check the tower, first, as any enemies there would have nowhere to retreat.  The time for subtlety was past, so I called upon Hextor to silence the area around the door, and then kicked it off its hinges.</blockquote>

Verification