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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Kendrik" data-source="post: 153476" data-attributes="member: 123">“My lord, Sir Kendrik, what should we do next?” asked Callin “We should investigate this floor first for whatever we can find,” replied the knight “We must find the mace and deal with any other threats. Callin, you take the lead keeping an eye out for traps” “Yes, Sir Kendrik” The heroes, carefully on the lookout for another dragon or cleric, systematically worked their way from room to room. The only room to the west of the hall of was of note. A disused library in which Sir Kendrik found three bone scroll cases. Fr Arton bundled them in his backpack and the heroes moved over to the east side of the hall. Along the way they discovered a set of stairs going down to where Friar Leo had sensed one of the groups of gnolls, the heroes decided that discovering what lay on this level was more important than attacking the gnolls, lest the heroes become boxed in, or ambushed. Callin checked out a room just to the north of the altar in the monastery hall, after checking for traps he searched the whole room. In the middle of this room was a magnificent statue, depicting a cleric in a hooded cassock; he had his right fist just over a symbol of some order, his other hand resting on the hilt of a mace, an exact replica of Perdita Mortua. Fr Arton, who had busily researched the mace in the past several months, recognised the statue as St Darius, the first Consecrated Slayer of the undead and the creator of Perdita Mortua, whom with several of his followers disappeared in the Misty Isles nearly a millennia ago. The heroes discussed this remarkable find with the consensus being that they had discovered the location of the monastery that St Darius had founded in his hermitage. Callin also stumbled across a secret door. It appeared the evil clerics were unaware of this room, especially the secret door as no sign of recent use could be found. “What if this has something to do with the prophecy?” Sir Kendrik observed. “Maybe the fist it refers to is St Darius’ fist?” “If this is St Darius’ monastery then maybe he is buried here and that is why the clerics of Virakus are here?” added Fr Arton. “In that case,” said Sir Kendrik, “We had best try and find St Darius before the clerics do.” Sir Kendrik ordered Callin to investigate the secret door and what lay behind it, thinking that it might be the where the body of St Darius might have been. Callin checked the door for traps and carefully activated the opening device. The Door opened up to a set of stairs leading down to the basement. Callin moved silently down to see where these stairs led. After a short journey downward, the stairs opened to a landing that had a door to the north and a door to the south. Callin searched the south door for traps and opened it. The old stone door slid noisily which the other heroes easily heard upstairs. Callin cursed his luck and decided to check the other one door. Callin listened up against the northern door and to his surprise heard voices speaking a foreign tongue. Callin realised they must have heard the other door open and quickly jammed a piton in the space between the secret door and the wall, jamming it and beat a retreat to the others. Callin told them of the group down in the other room and it was surmised that the voices were from the second group of gnolls. Friar Leo mentioned that he had a magical spell that enabled him to see in a room without actually being there. Friar Leo closed his eyes and quietly chanted an arcane spell. The young halfling started to recount what was on the other side of the second door. He could see a priestess yelling at two gnolls who were following her shouted orders. One of the gnolls left the room heading in towards the other group of gnolls. Sir Kendrik and Callin decided that it would be a good idea to attack the other gnolls now, stopping them from combining forces with the others. The others agreed and they rushed to the other stairs with Sir Kendrik in the lead, Callin not far behind, Fr Arton and Marban bringing up the rear. Friar Leo chose to remain at the top of the stairs while magically observing the priestess in the room below. The steepness of the stairs slowed Sir Kendrik in his heavy armour as he climbed down the staircase, he was slowed so much that Callin and Marban were able to get past the young knight. Callin tumbled around the corner at the bottom of the stairs and positioned himself behind a gnoll, driving his shortsword up the length of his spine, killing it instantly. Marban was next to rush past Sir Kendrik, brandishing his longsword he attacked one of the gnolls near the foot of the stairs, slicing at its torso. Fr Arton squeezed past the knight and slammed his mace into the skull of the nearest gnoll. Sir Kendrik finally entered the fray and with a powerful swing of his longsword dispatched one of the gnolls and without even breaking stride finished off the one Fr Arton had just attacked. The gnolls attacked the heroes, but only Marban was struck on the side by a battleaxe. The gnoll that had run from the other room charged into the room and attacked Fr Arton and Sir Kendrik. Flanking the young knight, the gnoll behind him crashed his battleaxe into Kendrik’s back. Callin leapt over the body of the gnoll he had just dispatched and came in behind the one that Marban had attacked. Once more the rogue drove his shortsword into his foes back pushing upward. Callin expected the gnoll to drop like the other but it remained standing, just. Marban slashed down with his longsword at the now staggered gnoll, dispatching it and moving next to Arton. Fr Arton was swinging his mace as he spun around to hit the gnoll behind him, connecting it on its chest. Sir Kendrik, incensed at the cowardly attack on him, swung around and drove his longsword deep into the gnoll, slashing at it again teaching it a lesson for choosing to backstab a Penlysh knight. The cowardly cur dropped at his feet. The last remaining gnoll understood that the odds were against him and backed away, turned and ran into the darkness. At the top of the stairs, Friar Leo continued to magically spy on the priestess. As he watched, she moved to a closed door and threw it open, savagely pointing her finger into the main room and screaming something. Through his spell, Leo watched as a horde of undead creatures he had never seen before entered the room and positioned themselves throughout. The remaining gnoll backed into a corner, obviously uncomfortable with its new companions. The priestess then cast a spell, reached to her waist and pulled forth a vial, which she proceeded to drink from. The priestess then faded from sight. Leo passed this information on to Fr Arton and Sir Kendrik. Sir Kendrik placed his hand on Fr Arton’s shoulder told the priest that the undead should pose no trouble to a priest of the One, True God. Fr Arton smiled and the heroes headed for the room to deal with the undead. Friar Leo had never seen such undead before but they were more than a recognizable foe to Fr Arton, Callin and Sir Kendrik. The undead were 13 hollow men (undead foot soldiers used by the legion). A dozen of the undead appeared human while one was much larger. The hollowmen appear as warriors, floating in the air, their lower spine exposed, as the creatures have no hips or legs, wispy mist floating around them. Their upper bodies appear translucent and red embers glow malevolently were their eyes should be. Callin returned the way the heroes came, using the secret passage to position himself behind the undead in the secret room, ready to attack if needed, while Fr Arton led the frontal attack through the door. Friar Leo cleverly decided to fight fire with fire and after muttering an arcane incantation disappeared from view. With Callin in position, Fr Arton stepped into the room, holding his holy symbol of Pelor out stretched in front of him. The two closest hollowmen reached back and in a fluid movement grabbed a javelin from behind them, pulling it through their bodies before letting it fly at the priest. Fortunately for Fr Arton, the hollow men’s aim was off and the javelins bounced off the wall beside him. Fr Arton felt the mighty power of Pelor build in him, working its way down his arm bursting outward from the holy symbol, burning the hollowmen were they stood till they disappeared, released from their pathetic existence, acting on orders without freewill. They now would find release from the urthly realm. At the back of the room was the remaining gnoll. Marban and Sir Kendrik charged in and the gnoll quickly dropped his weapons, knowing he was defeated. Sir Kendrik demanded the gnoll drop to its knees but the gnoll stood looking at the demanding young knight, unable to understand his orders. Callin seeing this came over and repeated Sir Kendrik’s order in Legionnaire, the young rogue having taught himself the language. The gnoll, like a submissive dog dropped to Sir Kendrik’s feet. Kendrik ordered Marban to manacle the gnoll, an order Marban duly followed. Once the undead menace was taken care of, the heroes moved into the room and searched for signs of where the priestess. Friar Leo, still invisible, searched the room carefully using his arcane skills by weaving an arcane spell to see what was unseen and worked his way around the pillars making sure she wasn’t hiding behind one of them. No sign of her was found in the room, so Friar Leo thought he would try his luck trying to find her in behind the door through which the undead had entered. Friar Leo entered the small room and was pleased to find the evil priestess. He stepped back into the main room and whispered in Fr Arton’s ear, telling him where the priestess was located and then returned to the small room with Arton moving in behind the halfling and blocking the door. Leo moved around to get right beside the priestess. Hearing the movement beside her, but unable to see the small friar, the priestess moved herself to a far corner, away from the door which was blocked by Father Arton. Unfortunately for the priestess, Father Arton noticed her movement, but he was unable to discern if the movement was from Friar Leo, or the priestess. Frustrated at his inability to act, Fr Arton decided to call on Pelor to remove any dweomers in the room. Meanwhile, Kendrik, Callin and Marban also began to move into the room, forcing the priestess to action. Quickly, she reached to her side and drew her ornate dagger and in one fluid motion drove the dagger into her stomach drawing the blade up her body, spilling her entrails outwards. This action revealed the dying priestess to all in the room. Sir Kendrik yelled at Fr Arton to stop her from killing herself, just as the young priest moved in to stop the priestess doing just that. Fr Arton placed his hand on the priestess’ stomach, the holy blue light of Pelor glowing as the priestess’s wounds instantly healed, which caused her to gasp for breath looking at the good priest with malevolent eyes. Father Arton immediately started to ask the priestess questions, Callin acting as an interpreter. Fr Arton wanted to know why the clerics of Virakus were here in the ruins of St Darius’ monastery. The priestess who told the heroes that her name was Grenen was cagey in her responses, not wanting to divulge anything that would help the heroes stop the legion’s plans. Little did she know that Friar Leo, who was still invisible, had said some arcane words and was able to read her thoughts. He was able to divulge the number of remaining clerics in the ruins and some of what the legion was planning. Sir Kendrik took off his cloak and wrapped it around the indecently dressed priestess, which caused Grenen to shoot a steely gaze at the knight. Sir Kendrik told Callin to inform Grenen that he would give his word as a Penlysh noble that she would be treated well and justly. Grenen stared at Sir Kendrik in disgust before turning back to Callin snarling why should she trust the word of an uncouth barbarian savage. She refused to give any more information. Sir Kendrik offered a drink of water to Grenen who pushed it back at him. The knight rose to his feet and stepped out of the room. Grenen was then tied up and placed next to her gnoll accomplice with Marban placed to stand guard. The heroes finally had time to explore the room properly and noticed craved into the wall an exact replica of the statue of St Darius in the room upstairs. Callin searched around the relief to see if it hid something and he found an opening device. Callin pressed it and the wall canted and opened. The heroes moved in carefully. In the middle of the room lay the mummified remains of the long lost cleric of Pelor, St Darius. Under his clasped hands was a sheath of scrolls, with his hands clutching the chain of his holy symbol just above the simple, yet truly beautiful sunburst cross symbol of Pelor. The heroes were in awe of what lay in front of them almost unable to speak. The heroes were almost afraid to disturb the last resting place of such a pious man. Fr Arton did not want to remove the items the saint protected on this chest. “Father, surely we should return these holy relics to the church,” mentioned Sir Kendrik to Fr Arton. “These sacred relics need to be in safe hands. What if these evil clerics are after these very items?” “Sir Kendrik you are right” replied Fr Arton, who proceeded to carefully remove the scrolls from the dead saints clutches. Briefly looking at the scrolls, Arton discovered that they were written in Legionnaire, and asked Br Leo to ascertain the meaning of the words. To their surprise and joy the scrolls that the saint had been guarding were an ancient copy of the ‘Books of Light’, hand written in legionnaire, possibly by the saint himself. This was truly an amazing find by the heroes. The heroes returned to the main room. Friar Leo began to place the scrolls into his backpack, when a piece of parchment fell to the floor. Callin quickly reached down catching it before it hit the ground. The rogue past the parchment to Leo who began to read what it was. Stopping after a sentence or two, Friar Leo turned to Fr Arton and with a concerned look in his face informed Arton that it appeared to be a confession from St Darius. Fr Arton motioned to Friar Leo to return to the crypt where Leo continued to read out the confession to Fr Arton. The confession detailed St Darius begging for forgiveness for the evil he had unwittingly unleashed on Urth. The confession further detailed how the saint had discovered an ancient pagan relic known as Altus’ Weapon, and how, in his pride, used the weapon to create Perdita Mortua to hide it from the clutches of any who sought he weapon. The confession begged for forgiveness, and for those reading the confession to pray for his lost soul. “Let us pray for St Darius Friar Leo,” suggested Fr Arton motioning for them to drop to their knees as Friar Leo nodded As soon and Fr Arton closed his eyes to pray to Pelor, he was engulfed by a wondrous vision. Arton found himself on his knees under the open sky. The clouds rushed across the overcast sky at a fearful pace, the seasons appearing to pass as if it were the blink of an eye. Suddenly, in front of the priest stood St Darius, standing posed like the statue in the ruins, the deanimated bodies of hollow men and other undead surrounding him. The figure of St Darius, covered in the ichor of the undead, clutched the equally gore covered Perdita Mortua in his left hand. Looking directly at Fr Arton, the vision of St Darius brought his right fist to his chest, uttering. “In the fist of true death” Fr Arton found himself ripped from the vision as quickly as it had come causing him to fall back onto the crypt floor, panting and disoriented. “Father Arton, Are you alright?” exclaimed Friar Leo “Yes Friar, I am,” reassured Fr Arton. “I think I just had a vision.” The priest recounted what he had seen. “What does it all mean, Leo?” “I do not know Father. At this time, all I can offer is speculation.” End Session What do you think everyone? We killed a dragon! I still can’t believe it. What are your thoughts and comments on the events of this session, as always these views are greatly appreciated by myself, and my DM, Mancerbear. I was sure Sir Kendrik was a goner; he was taking such amounts of damage that the next attack by the dragon would have finished him off.</blockquote>

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