Session #14: The Chamber of Corruption

Cleric of Corruption

At the arrival of Cuervos reinforcements in the CHAMBER OF CORRUPTION, Thril Wolfsbane the Ghost Elf Fighter, Weddumlir Aleshield the Dwarf Fighter, Meldor Ironforge the Dwarf Wizard and Davroar Hollysword the Elf Cleric of Moriarty, and Acindor the Human Fighter dug in and prepared for the next assault.

To their surprise, it did not immediately come. Instead, the Cuervan Cleric of Corruption spread his arms wide and began chanting. In obedience to his wishes, the Cuervan Nobodies descended to the floor and willingly allowed themselves to be Corrupted by his spell.

”Oh, he has got to go,” Davroar said, appraising the cleric.

Supposing he meant the awakened Basilisk, Wedd descended the stairs, but was met by four Corrupted Cuervos. Even so, he managed to defend himself ably while Davroar concentrated his Sacred weapon attacks on the enemy cleric.

Meanwhile, Thril, Acindor and Meldor rushed to the bottom of their wing of the stairs, having spotted Thril’s husk in one of the coffins. They were able to keep the Corrupted Cuervos at arms length, as they were wary of Meldor’s flame sword. Acindor pounded on the coffin’s glass front with the pommel of his sword. Wide cracks appeared. Grinning, he renewed his efforts, unaware that something else was being stirred to action by his actions.

Davroar’s sacred weapon finally wore down the cultist cleric. The slain Cuervos fell into the vat of gray goo in the centered of the room as he died. This immediately awakened the Corrupted Jelly in the vat, who instantly attacked Acindor, trapping him in its embrace.

Critical Failure

Wedd managed to break free from combat and began creeping up on the Basilisk from the rear. For its part, the Basilisk, the cultist’s dagger still in its back, was slowly crawling toward Acindor and his comrades, while the latter tried in vain to fend off the Corrupted while trying to free their friend.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Acindor succumbed to the Corrupted Jelly. As his husk began floating in one of the vat coffins, his spirit looked to the portal on the far side of the room. The baleful eye of B.O.B., god of death and lost things, the deity to whom Acindor and Thril were beholden stared into the Chamber of Corruption. The servants of B.O.B. felt the psychic horror as the deity’s displeasure washed over them in waves. Both Acindor and Thril felt themselves being drawn into the portal into the Realm of Lost Things.

Cleric of Everly

Meanwhile, Nathan Garney the Human Cleric of Everly had been having a solo adventure.

Earlier, as Zayn Carthin the Elf Arbiter of Hero, Davroar Hollysword, Meldor Ironforge, Kerla Chog the Human Fighter, and Jotun Yggdrasil the Dwarf Cleric of Moriarty had raced off to aid Acindor, Wedd and Thril against their Corrupted in the DINING HALL, he’d felt the tugging of his deities. Pausing at the top of the stairs to the entrance of SMUGGLER SPEAK, he turned his attention to the statues of Ridley and Ripley which flanked the stairwell. He noted a faint glow coming from behind the statue of Ripley.

Sensing that he needed to follow it, he inspected the wall behind the statue and found a secret door. The door led to a treasure room, but Nathan ignored whatever riches they might contain, intent upon his pursuit of the divine light. The light led him out of the treasure room and into an underground cave. Past this, he found himself in an underground room. His attention was immediately drawn to a prison cell, in which stood the spectral embodiment of Ripley.

Attempting to open the cells resulted in a nasty shock. Ripley pantomimed that she needed him to find a way to open her cell. Through a series of gestures, she conveyed that she needed a pitcher and a seed. Nathan searched the rest of the underground room and found two doors. One led to a small room with prisoner shackles bolted to the wall. The room ended in a drop off to the waters far below. He noted a bit of graffiti scrawled nearby in rusty red: “Jotun was here.”

The other door led to a MECHANISM ROOM which controlled the drawbridge in front of SMUGGLER SPEAK. It was occupied by a Cuervos who did not appear surprised to see him. Instead, he seemed mightily happy that someone had come to relieve him of his shift at the watch. He found it very boring watching the seed which he indicated was sitting on stool nearby. It became obvious that the shape shifting Cuervan guard simply supposed that Nathan was a Cuervos disguised as a human, an assumption made because there really wasn’t supposed to be anyone else about except the Cult of Nobody.

Growing suddenly suspicious, the Cuervos asked Nathan for the password.

“Password?” he said, stalling.

The Cuervos nodded. “That’s exactly right. Of course, just to be sure, what’s the second password?”

“Second password?”

“OK, you seem square. No need to ask you for the third password. You’d just tell me it was butter.” He threw up his hands. “Ok then, I’m going up top to report to the Boss and see how things are going with that pitcher he has hidden up there.”

After the Cuervos left, Nathan gathered up the Seed and delivered it to Ripley. She was overjoyed. Taking the seed, she indicated that she still needed the Pitcher to escape.

Taking his cue, Nathan hurried up to catch up to the Cuervos guard. His path led him back the way he came, through the DINING HALL his friends had fought in and up the stairs to the upper level of the castle. He proceeded carefully but quickly, not daring to lose track of the guard he was following but also wary of waking the other Cuervan he heard snoring in their beds as he passed by several rooms on two separate floors.

At last, he came to a room where he could hear someone plotting treason against the Cuervos who’d usurped SMUGGLER SPEAK. She was more than a little worried about what might happened to her if Everly sought vengeance against her and the Nobodies for desecrating their sacred grounds. She was trying to get up the nerve to steal the Pitcher of Ridley and return it to where It rightly belonged. Surprising her, Nathan offered his assistance if she wanted to right the situation.

Suspicious, she asked him for the password.

“Password.”

“And the second password?”

“Second password.”

“And the third password?”

“Butter.”

She agreed to help him, leading him to an access ladder that reached up to the attic.

Above him, he could hear the original Cuervan guard arguing with his boss. It became obvious from their conversation that the Boss hadn’t sent anyone to relieve the guard, so they now knew there was an intruder in their midst.

Next: Session #15 – Unexpected Aid