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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3323250" data-attributes="member: 8951">Session 9: Assault on the Ebon Triad, takes 3 and 43rd of Flocktime.  After spending a second full day healing after the previous incursion into the dark cathedral, the party decided to wait a few additional hours and descend again after midnight (guessing that that's when the evil clerics would pray for spells).  4th of Flocktime (early in the morning, just after midnight).  With 5 party-members in the elevator car, even Tarric with 2 helpers strained to lower the elevator car safely to the bottom (without losing control and just plummeting in free fall for 400 feet).  But the car makes it down safely.  Again, the cultists seemed to be ready for them.  The 3 tiefling guards with bows were once again perched on the platform over the black pool.  A line of 7 zombies stretched across the middle of the cathedral area behind the elevator shaft.  The 3 spell-casting priests of Hextor stood behind the line of zombies along with the Killian zombie (wielding Killian's greatsword) as well as the last remaining cult fanatic (affectionately named "Joe Commoner" by the party) who still wears Killian's banded mail.  Tarric was the first one out of the elevator car, and as before, as soon as a party-member emerged from the elevator, a Silence spell was cast on a nearby pillar, and a volley of arrows were loosed.  Tarric was quickly surrounded by zombies.  Alees found a safe place near the door to the Vecna temple at the north end of the cathedral where she was out of the zone of Silence and could cast her scrolls of Cure Light Wounds.  Alexander got hit with arrows a couple of times before he could get his Shield up.  Thorash tried to hit a zombie and quickly discovered that his morningstar was virtually ineffective.  Killick tumbled behind enemy lines, going straight for Garras, the half-orc priest of Hextor with the heavy flail and Improved Trip.  Killick was quickly surrounded by Garras, Kendra (the human female cleric of Hextor with a Wand of Cure Light Wounds), a Tiefling zombie, Joe Commoner, and a Tiefling guard who had stowed his bow and drawn his battleaxe.    Due to some extraordinary luck, the Killian zombie got in a couple hits against Tarric with the greatsword and Tarric fell unconscious.  Just at that moment, when things looked the bleakest, Alees saw Katawan jump down from the top of the elevator car!  Somehow he had freed himself from Smenk's captors and had climbed down the elevator chains to help them in their hour of need!  Katawan did his best to tumble behind the line of zombies that were getting ready to surround Thorash, but due to some more bad luck, he ended up on the ground in front of them.  Then Theldrick (the main Hextor priest) cast Spiritual Weapon against Katawan.  Katawan was pummeled on the ground by the zombies standing over him and took additional damage from the Spiritual Weapon.  He was already in need of healing only moments after entering the battle!  He dropped back to Alees.  In the mean time, Thorash was able to kill a Tiefling guard and picked up the guard's battleaxe so that he would have a Slashing weapon to use against the zombies.  He moved to Tarric's body, but was soon surrounded by zombies and unable to heal Tarric.  Katawan used the opportunity to run up to Tarric, and pulled his body back to safety.  Meanwhile, Killick was leading the Hextor priests on a merry chase around the black pool, and Alexander was in a death struggle with a zombie.  Alexander was beginning to call the retreat when he was felled by an arrow.  Alees healed Tarric and Alexander, and then Killick and Katawan got them to the elevator.  Hearing the retreat being called, Thorash made a mad dash for the elevator.  Unfortunately, he was dropped by a zombie's slam on the way there.  He was too far behind enemy lines to save.  The party had to withdraw without him, not knowing whether he was alive or dead.  As the elevator car began slowly moving up towards the ceiling away from danger, Theldrick's silent form gesticulated wildly as he mutely shouted profanity and curses at them impotently from below.    During the long, arduous journey back up the elevator shaft, Katawan had time to relate the story of what had happened to him and how he was able to rejoin the group.  He was captured in the basement of the abandoned mine office by Kullen's gang while he was sick from the effects of the Corpse Bloat disease.  He was tied up and interrogated by Smenk who told him that he would be insurance against the party's good behavior.  A day or so later, Smenk hired a cleric to cure his disease.  Smenk told him that the rest of the party was cooperating, and that as long as they continued to do so, Katawan had nothing to fear.  A day or so later, one of his jailors quietly admitted to him that he was really a spy for Luzane Parrin.  As soon as this individual was alone with Katawan, he helped Katawan to escape.  After he was freed, Katawan went to Parrin's to find out where the rest of the party was.  She told him that the party had gone down an elevator in an abandoned shaft of Dourstone's Mine to combat (what she thought was a) Vecna cult that had been extorting Smenk.  After hearing Katawan's tale of being kidnapped by Smenk, she decided that they now had enough evidence against him to go to the authorities.    Parrin, Katawan, and Parrin's spy all went to the Sheriff and provided sworn testimony about Smenk's kidnapping of Katawan.  It just so happened that the Sheriff had an official visitor representing the ruling Oligarchy of Greyhawk in the office, a priest of Pelor named Krastor.  When this priest heard about an evil Vecna cult operating below the town, he demanded that the Sheriff investigate.  Krastor ordered Sheriff Cubbin to arrest Smenk while he led a small group consisting of 2 constables and Katawan to the Dourstone mine with a warrant allowing them to investigate all portions of the mine for outlawed cult activity.  When presented with the warrant, the mine guards reluctantly let the group in.  When they found the elevator shaft, Katawan asked permission to climb down the chain and join his friends who he guessed might need his help.  Krastor told one constable to stay at the top of the shaft until Katawan returned.  Then Krastor and the other constable returned to the Sheriff's office.  Before he left, though, he instructed Katawan to bring himself and his friends to the Sheriff's office as soon as he could to report what they had found down below.    Learning that they could now exit the mine complex without having to fight their way through Dourstone's guards, the party decided to get some healing from the town's clerics and head immediately back down the elevator to try to save their new friend Thorash and to try to hit the Hextorites while they were depleted of spells.  The party members spread out across town looking for healing from the churches of Heironeous, St. Cuthbert, and Wee Jas.  Through the combined efforts of these three churches, the party was healed to full.  The church of Wee Jas contributed a scroll of Shield and a scroll of Magic Missile to the endeavor, while the church of Heironeous, upon learning of a cult of Hextor under the town, ponied up 5 potions of Cure Light Wounds.  After the party was healed, Katawan convinced them to go to the Sheriff's office to talk to Krastor.  Even though it was now shortly before dawn, Krastor was there waiting for them.  When the party told them what they had seen and that they had had to leave a man behind, Krastor volunteered to use his clerical powers to aid the party in battle.    The party returned to the elevator shaft and lowered themselves down once again.  This time they found the Hextorites in complete disarray.  Only Joe Commoner had been left behind to guard the cathedral area.  (Apparently the Hextorites had not expected another incursion so quickly.)  For many rounds, the battle raged in single-file conga-line fashion.  But when Krastor turned the Hextorites' zombies and Garras (the half-orc Trip specialist) was killed, it became clear to the Hextorites that they needed to fall back to a larger room.  One of the remaining Tiefling Guards put up an area of Darkness to cover the Hextorites retreat.  Alees quickly came up with the Everburning Torch to counter the Darkness, but the tactic still gave Theldrick the time he needed to marshall his forces into defensive positions.    Alexander quickly put an end to those plans by casting Web in the room where they were lined up, incapacitating half of them.  Kendra lit the web to allow her comrades to escape, then she drew her Wand of Cure Light Wounds and prepared to assist her comrades in the double doorway.  Killick managed to tumble behind enemy lines when a bad guy in the doorway dropped.  For some reason, Killick was bound and determined to see Joe Commoner dead!  And although Joe Commoner dropped many times, Kendra brought him back to fighting shape repeatedly with her wand of healing.  Eventually the Tiefling Guards were burned out of the web and joined the fight, one chasing Killick and the other taking up the open spot in the doorway vacated by the turned zombie.  Kendra kept healing her comrades again and again and again, and the party was able to make little progress for a while.  Things looked dire for a moment.  So dire, in fact, that Alexander risked himself by tumbling into the room with the Hextorites to help provide flanks.  Alexander even stooped to stabbing at unconscious bad guys, an act that he had chided Killian for once upon a time.  Theldrick did a lot of damage with his heavy flail, seeming to prefer targeting the cleric of Pelor whenever possible.  But when Joe Commoner and the 2 Tieflings were all killed outright in a very short span of time, Theldrick and Kendra found themselves alone.  Still, they asked for no mercy.  They spit curses at the party and prayed that Hextor might welcome their souls to his eternal service.  They told the party that the Ebon Triad was invincible and that the party's victory would be short lived.  Finally, at long last, they died.  And just when the party thought it was all over, a previously turned zombie returned to the room.  However, by itself it provided little challenge.  Tarric destroyed it with a single blow.    Krastor gave the party permission to loot the temple (as a reward for their public service) until noon, at which time they would need to report to the Sheriff's office to provide depositions.  Realizing that there was a time limit, the party went into high-efficiency looting mode!  Alees and a "bodyguard" explored the remainder of the Hextor temple complex looking for secret doors and opening locks while the other members of the party stripped the dead and filled empty crates with valuables.  Thorash was found beaten and naked but alive in a holding cell.  He had apparently been rougly interrogated by the Hextorites, and was understandably reluctant to go into details about what had happened to him.  Being the strongest in the party, Tarric was on elevator duty, lifting the crates filled with swag up into the mine complex.  After 8 hours of hard labor and a long night of fighting before that, the temple was as looted as it could possibly be, and the party-members were physically exhausted.  But the party still needs to head to the Sheriff's office...     Two important items that the party found during its looting were a letter written by Theldrick and Theldrick's journal.  The crumpled letter seemed hastily written.  In a blocky script, it read, "Dear Faceless One.  Praise be to the Unholy Trinity.  The cathedral area has been breached via the elevator for the past 2 nights by a group of adventuring do-gooders.  Either Smenk or Dourstone must have betrayed us!  We have slain one of their number and captured another, but they are making steady progress against us.  At this rate, my temple will be wiped out within the week.  Surely, you would agree that our efforts here will be undone without a temple of Hextor to defend the faithful!  How can the Overgod be born without our contribution?  And surely your own temple will not survive without my temple's military protection.  Accordingly, it is in your interest to transfer as many reinforcements to my command as can be spared.  Please reply at once.  Sincerely, Theldrick."  At the bottom of the same page in a different, more wispy hand-writing was written the reply, "Request denied.  If you are worthy, you will succeed with the forces you have."  This reply bore no signature.    Some excerpts from Theldrick's journal that seem noteworthy are the following:"Praise Be to the Scourge of Battle.  The Faceless One grows increasingly concerned.  That addled beast Grallak Kur has yet to provide new insights into the Overgod's nature.  The crude missives he sends speak of the worms, of a slumbering power that must be awakened, but nothing more.  I wish he would go back to the black pit that spawned him if he has nothing more to offer!  The Faceless One tells me these ramblings refer to an ancient figure, a being of great power.  Of course, he tells me little else.  He enjoys keeping his secrets, but he forgets that they flourish only behind the protection of Hextor!  Were it not for the dictates of the Ebon Triad, I would lead my troops into the Faceless One's damnable labyrinth and kill every last bird and wizard within it!  Grallak is the key.  Thank the Scourge that he trusts me and not the Faceless One.  Otherwise, I doubt the Faceless One would bother imparting anything to us at all.  We cannot trust these mages.  When the Overgod arises, I think it will be time to settle some old scores..." "Under the Herald's Watchful Eye We Conquer!  Grallak Kur has finally yielded a useful clue.  I personally delivered it to the labyrinth, and the Faceless one giggled like a blood-addled berserker when he saw the message.  Grallak spoke of the worms again, of course.  He says that even now they stir and writhe.  The world is like an apple infested with them.  All seems well for now, but soon they burst through the skin and swarm across the land.  Still, part of this vision troubles me.  Grallak spoke of a great power behind them, but the Ebon Triad teaches that these worms will awaken the Overgod.  Is there some other power at hand here that we cannot see?  Is it friend or foe?  The Faceless One knows more, but he of course has little to say.  Perhaps Grallak has invented everything.  His monstrous kin are few in number and battered after their pilgrimage through the Underdark.  If he is an imposter or trickster, we may need to root him out of this place.  In that case, our agents must make another supply run.  Six coils of rope, and perhaps bows and more arrows, should do the trick.  With the petitioners leading the way, we can uncover any ambushes they may have within the cliffs."</blockquote>

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