“Screaming Skull”
Ninth of Sunharrow, 474
As the heros were about to venture down into yet another sub basement, one of the kobolds ran in alerting them that the prisoners were attempting to escape. Not wanting to lose momentum, the group voted to send Mica to check on and quell the prisoners with the help of the kobolds.
Heading down the steps they found the moldy, rotting remains of a storage room, with a door to one side and a dark narrow hallway leading off in another direction. On testing the door, Anu heard voices inside, more cult members! Alaric devised a simple but clever plan to knock and the door, and when asked indicated there was a problem upstairs. When the door opened, Alaric clubbed the person over the head, and everyone rushed in to attack.
The first round or two of battle found 4 of the 6 cultists in the room dead, sending one into the corner to hide after failing a moral roll. The cult leader in an adjoining room was not deterred however, and nor were the 4 zombies protecting her. With Zombies attacking, and a magic using cult leader flinging spells, the table started to turn.
Having the idea that destroying the leader may end the zombies as well, Dove, Anu, and Maudrin combined attacks against the cult leader. The resulting blasting, freezing, and smashing of her face lead to a rapidly headless cult leader. The day was saved! Or was it? The zombies were still up, well, a couple were anyway.
Seconds later, a dark shadowy entity emerged from the neck of the leader, screeching, and sending Anu into a panic. The shadow raced across the room, toward the two remaining Zombies and Fiona. In one hit the shadow drained the life from the only slightly injured Fiona. Alaricand Maudrin both instantly recognized that what they were dealing with was a Wight, and that it was well outside of their league.
In a despirate attempt to at least prevent the cult from spreading further if they lost their battle, Maudrin charged into the now empty side office where the body of the former leader lie rotting. A quick glance around found the black skull mentioned by Anu sitting on a shelf above the bed. Maudrin took aim, and blasted it with his Eldritch Blast, hitting the skull with a critical dose of radiant energy. The skull shattered into thousands of small shards of glass, the Wight shrieked once more, then dissipated into nothingness.
After dispatching the remaining zombies, securing the one living cultist, taking a short rest, and reviving Fiona, the crew stowed the body of the leader into a newly found sack (which was oddly light for it’s contents), and continued down the hall. There they found a small dining room, with a single cultists sitting at a table, sobbing.
The cult member explained that he and the cult leader were part of an expedition group sent by a wealthy noble to find artifacts in the ruins. They found one in the catacombs; the dark skull, and the creature that inhabited it. The creature took over the leader of the party, and then used the power of the skull to force the others to serve it’s will. Those that didn’t succumb to it’s power were killed. The same thing was done to most of those in the cult. With the skull broken, their free will has returned, and they likely were no longer a threat, save those that may have gone mad from the memories of what they’d done. The adventurers also learned there were several other forms of undead in the catacombs, and possibly a few more artifacts. All would likely remain there if undisturbed.
Having rounded up the remaining cult members, the crew bid farewell to the Kobolds (warning them not to enter the catacombs), and began the march back to the palace.
On the way the party met up with a small garrison who were naturally curious about what was going on. During the discussion Anu noticed a small lapel pin of a black mask, not customary to the city guards. Discussing it later, after the garrison was out of range, the group pondered it, but didn’t think much of it. Perhaps a special unit insignia? (Though Fiona seemed quite distracted until arriving at the palace.)
At the palace gates, the prisoners were transferred, and the Lord Mayor was awoken and gave audience to the group to discuss what had transpired. Most of the story told, he seemed satisfied that the issue had been righted, and was quite happy with our report. The Lord Mayor asked what the groups future plans were, and how to contact them if he had any special missions in the future. Maudrin did take a moment to remind the Lord Mayor about their request for ownership rights of the Garaphos ruins, a request he would consider, but would still not commit to quite yet. After noting their location, and the intent was to help “clean up” the Rat Run, well wishes of a good night were exchanged, and the group was escorted out.
The party then headed off to the tavern for a good nights rest. The following day would be tasking, trying to find a proper church to cast the rituals needed to speak with the dead body of the cult leader. Would she tell them who the noble was who hired her? Had she been warned of the danger they were walking into? Has Hedra returned for work? And how was Odo’s vacation going? So many things left to do!
