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Chapter 10: Blessings of the Church of Horror

The Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Eight. After midnight. Sunday, October 23nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





"They're here! THEY'RE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!"



The Widow Hochstedt shrieks and the tendons in her scrawny neck stand out like cords.

"I found a map!..." exclaims Telkis as everyone speaks of escape at once. Mouser's last cursory glance notes nothing worth stealing except the silver candlesticks in the occult devotionals to the unspeakable god.

"We'll meet you at the mill," says Avril. The heroes divide their number even as they admit that to do so means certain death. They part without knowing if they will ever see each other again.

Grothnak, Telkis and Urdur escape down the hidden trapdoor and close it behind them. They descend a tall wooden ladder deep into a dark, dank cave beneath the temple of Merikka (at 'T').



Stones crunch underfoot. The 20 foot tall cavern has one smooth side and one jagged side, and extends beyond the illumination of Urdur's torch.



Ahead, at the edge of shadow, a door is set into the smooth rock wall.

With a chill, Urdur remembers this dark place. Yesterday, he thought he would never leave it alive.


Actions?!


Map:

PCs are marked by their initials.


Rolls and Rulings (non-required reading):


PC Status:

• Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 24/28
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 4/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl

Light Sources:

• Urdur's torch

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

Grothnak stops at the bottom of the ladder and listens. He scowls more than usual, disappointed that most of the party chose rashly to flee where they could be seen instead of hide.

"We should wait here to make sure that we have not been followed. Then, perhaps it is better to rest," he says, giving the wounded Telkis and Urdur appraising looks. "Urdur, you were down here. What did you see? What is here?"

"Yes," says Telkis, "I doubt the commoners know of the trap door. The party's scent will be all over that room, the dogs should, hopefully, follow those who went out..." He feels sick to his stomach as he says this, imagining his friends trying to out race the hounds. He begins scanning the walls and floor nearby for any possible other secret escape routes.

Urdur Shimmerstone, gnome illusionist

Zhym wrote:Grothnak stops at the bottom of the ladder and listens. He scowls more than usual, disappointed that most of the party chose rashly to flee where they could be seen instead of hide.

"We should wait here to make sure that we have not been followed. Then, perhaps it is better to rest," he says, giving the wounded Telkis and Urdur appraising looks. "Urdur, you were down here. What did you see? What is here?"

"Nothing good," replies Urdur, remembering the darkness and pain. "There are cages, just like the one that poor girl was in. What they were planning for me, I don't know. They mentioned some names, though. Onfre? Gades? Do they mean anything to you?"

Urdur joins Telkis in searching the place.

"Onfre is the town constable," says Grothnak. "The Gades are farmers. I know them. Knew them," he corrects himself. "I swore to protect them. Then they went missing. Are they down here? Does Onfre have them?"

The Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Eight. After midnight. Sunday, October 23nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





In the subterranean channel beneath the temple of fear, two warriors and a wizard hide from the villagers who hunt them.
Eyes raised to the ceiling, they listen breathlessly.

All is quiet.

Telkis wonders if the distraction created by their friends' flight will succeed in keeping them hidden. He hopes that distraction doesn't cost his friends their lives.

Rocks crunch underfoot as they begin to search the shadowy underworld. The two gnomes, Telkis and Urdur, hunt for secret passages and find none.
A second door is found set into the jagged, eastern wall (near 19). Urdur knows all too well where it leads.



The wooden door is ajar. Within a small cave dangle empty iron cages. Urdur puts the dark memories out of his mind.

At the northern end of the cavern is another towering wooden ladder.



It reaches up to another round trapdoor set into the rocky ceiling (T).

Then Urdur asks about the Gades and a constable named Onfre.


Actions?


Map:

PCs are marked by their initials.





PC Status:

• Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 24/28
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 4/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, Torch

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

"Onfre is the town constable," says Grothnak. "The Gades are farmers. I know them. Knew them," he corrects himself. "I swore to protect them. Then they went missing. Are they down here? Does Onfre have them?"

At finding the other trapdoor, Grothnak tells Telkis, "This must lead to the room behind the altar where you and I found the trap door. Clever. The priest could vanish behind the altar and use this passage to retreat to his quarters in mere minutes." The Uruk's voice contains no hint of admiration.

"Our choices are to hide in the cage room and hope to remain undisturbed long enough for Telkis to recover his strength or try the door. Telkis, what do you think?"

Urdur Shimmerstone, gnome illusionist

Zhym wrote:"Onfre is the town constable," says Grothnak. "The Gades are farmers. I know them. Knew them," he corrects himself. "I swore to protect them. Then they went missing. Are they down here? Does Onfre have them?"

Urdur nods, trying to connect the dots in his head. "I believe he does. I heard a voice, something about moving the Gades, dealing with me after 'Onfre' returns. It might have been a dream. But if this Onfre is the constable, then surely nowhere in this town is safe.

"The girl, Verity. She said something about the wealth moving south. That must be the source of the corruption in this town. If we can make it out of here alive, we must head there next."

Zhym wrote:At finding the other trapdoor, Grothnak tells Telkis, "This must lead to the room behind the altar where you and I found the trap door. Clever. The priest could vanish behind the altar and use this passage to retreat to his quarters in mere minutes."

"We know now where this chamber leads. I suggest that we rest here briefly and wait for the villagers above to disperse. We can meet the others at the mill and begin the journey south, to the true source of corruption."

"That seems to be what this map indicates - something to the south... must be what the girl meant. Something in the swamp." says Telkis handing the map he found to Urdur to see first hand. He then approaches the door on the west wall and listens carefully, pressing his ear to it, motioning for the others to be quiet for a moment.

DM:

Telkis hears nothing through the western door set into the smooth rock wall. The gnome spies no locking mechanism nor keyhole on this side.

Telkis looks back at the others. "We can't rest with a flank unguarded..." he says, then opens the door as quietly as he can just enough to peek inside...

Grothnak wonders if he did the right thing. Fleeing through the window was foolish; of that much he is certain. But to hide while others face danger? That is the action of a thief, not an Uruk.

He looks back, wondering if they should run back to join the others. No, he decides. They chose their path.

He steps up behind Telkis, Vadok at the ready.

Urdur stands behind Grothnak, following the two fighters into the room.

Beneath the Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Eight. After midnight. Sunday, October 23nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK.

Under the temple of fear, Telkis opens the door in the smooth rock-face wall, peers in and is instantly assaulted by a fell stench, like rotting flesh.

His gnomish eyes detect no warmth beyond the doorframe. Urdur and Grothnak draw near and the dark gnome's torchlight illuminates a brick wall ten feet from Telkis' nose.



They are near a hallway intersection composed of brick walls (20).

Telkis squints. The ground seems wrong.

They bring the torch closer and see low steps, and inscriptions etched into the floor.









Realization dawns. This is the basement of the church; a mausoleum of tombstone slabs set flush into the stone floor.

Someone has built brick walls atop and across the low crypt lids without regard for the honored dead they house.

There are three paths.


Actions?


Map:

PCs are marked by their white initials.





PC Status:

• Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 24/28
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 4/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, Torch

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

Grothnak looks askance at the catacomb floor. "For once, I wish the thief were here," he says quietly. "I do not like this smell, or what might bring it. But we have chosen this path, so let us follow it, smiting any evil that should dare try to stop us."

"But let us do it quietly and carefully," he adds.

Urdur nods in agreement. "Indeed, the dead may walk in this catacomb," he whispers. "Let us start to the north, and work our way through." If the fighters agree, Urdur heads north with them. He tries to position himself between the two of them.

Urdur holds his last flask of oil in his free hand, ready to throw at any denizens of the foul chamber. As they move, he tries to determine if any of the stonework is unsafe.

Telkis will also scan constantly for unsafe construction, pointing it out to the others, quietly. He won't step anywhere that seems unstable.

"Yes, North seems as good a route as any," he says. "Grothnak, if you don't mind, I'll let you take point. I'm not feeling up to a direct assault at the moment..."

Beneath the Church of Merikka (21)
Village of Briarsgate, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Eight. After midnight. Sunday, October 23nd, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, misty





Grothnak, Urdur and Telkis furtively enter the brick walled corridor, and the door closes behind them. CREEEEEEEEEEEAK.

Telkis examines the walls and floor and finds them solid. The floor has seen several decades but the walls are newer, perhaps less than a year old.

From the inscriptions engraved into the floor, it becomes clear. This area was once one large, open chamber: a crypt of the church of Merikka, where the priests and mayors of Briarsgate were interred for eternity beneath the floor:



Recently, brick walls were erected upon these floors, subdividing the chamber into corridors for purposes unknown.

The heroes cautiously trod north upon the tombstones of the dead.



The air grows colder.

The corridor turns left and ahead they see a figure unmoving.

When the heroes carefully advance, their torchlight reveals it to be a crypt angel mourning the dead. (at the star)



At the statue of the grieving angel, the corridor turns left again.

The vigilant guardian of the souls of the faithful departed faces south, into silence and darkness.


Actions?


Map:

PCs are marked by their white initials.





PC Status:

• Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 24/28
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 5/28
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 4/6, Spells: 1/2 1st lvl, Torch

PC Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

"Why would they turn the crypts into a maze?" wonders Grothnak. "Check the statue; perhaps there is another secret passage below this one." While Telkis and Urdur search, Grothnak listens for sounds that anything in this maze is moving about.

Urdur searches the statue, as Grothnak suggests. If he doesn't find anything, he takes his place in the middle and continues to follow the corridor south.