RPG Recap: Beyond the Temple of the Abyss, 2012-05-05
Saturday, the 14th day of the Red Moon, 937
After a good night’s rest indoors and without serious fear of attack, the whole party was feeling much better — except possibly for Delian, who felt great, but was looking greener than ever, and had begun to grow a long black claw from his left stump. The group braved the rain, ran to the nearby tented markets, and enjoyed the best meal they’d had in days. They did some shopping, and Delian picked up a scroll of Find the Way. Rocky was kicked out of several places after brandishing the now-animate troll head, including the inn.
He did manage to get some advice from the innkeeper on how to most safely (or, at least, least doomedly) find help inside the city. Their best bet, he said, was to head south and avoid the Happy Door and the Way of Sunshine in favor of Death’s Door. (“Well, no,” he admitted, “I’ve never actually been through any of them.”)
The group decided to look for Hajiya Malaga, a priestess of Haarg, and got some rough directions to her church. They hurried through the ruins of Alithica, past a group of exiting refugees and into the park, where they’d been warned not to tarry. Immediately, they came under fire from a ghostly group of soldiers. Delian tried to negotiate, but to no avail. By the time the group hobbled away, they’d been terribly affected, and none moreso than Rocky, who was left a doddering old man, barely able to shuffle along with the group.
They all made it safely to Malaga’s church and were shortly admitted to see her. She quickly identified Delian’s condition as caused by his use of the Draught of Super-Heroism and said she could alleviate him of this service to Haarg, as long as he’d wear to another: securing for her an artifex. Delian agreed, and the deal was done. As for the rest of the group’s problems — Delian’s stump, Rigby’s stump, and Rocky’s accelerated decrepitude — she didn’t have much to offer. She suggested that they might be able to seek out Krisos the Undying, beneath the old bazaar, but also explained that it would be extremely dangerous.
Sunday, the 15th day of the Red Moon, 937
The group spent the night in her care and the next morning, with two new hirelings (Bill and Jude) they headed out along the path they’d been given. Their walk was fraught with weirdness and danger: strange worshippers around a jet-black monument, a battle between a band of brigands and a flying wizard, a rescue operation being carried out by a bunch of bug-men and pygmies, and then finally the bazaar itself.
As the group closed in on the marketplace, they spotted a group of armed men with metallic skin watching the market from an alleyway. Assuming these were the market’s guards, the party headed in and explained that they were just there to shop. The metal men didn’t seem to like this explanation, and said that the whole market was in contravention with municipal ordinances and would be destroyed … starting with its newest customers. They attacked! Jude and Bill were killed almost instantly, and Rocky was incapacitated and carried off by Delian, who trailed the group as it fled back to the main road. On the road, a cart of red-skinned monks was passing by, and let the party climb aboard to flee their (very slow) pursuers. Everyone decided to try to figure out another route to Krisos.
In Memorian
- R.I.P., Jude the Soldier
- R.I.P., Bill the Soldier