Mission Journal, continued. <<<< Part I the Interim Report
Where we last left off, the team had investigated some kind of poisoning or sickness that had befallen a farmer’s son. The trail lead them to an overgrown shrine in the middle of the wilderness.
Our heroes discovered that this shrine was constructed by a since-excommunicated offshoot of the well-known Church of Lathander. This Lathander-worshipping order believes in a prophecy foretelling of the New Morning, when the sun god Lathander would bring a miracle into this world to push back the forces of Evil perpetually encroaching on the world (most likely the reincarnation of Lathander’s Avatar). Only this order had not been heard of for 120 years… until our heroes arrived on the scene.
But what they discovered was that the “miracle” of the New Morning would take place in 6 more years but 120 years ago, they couldn’t wait it out without time getting the best of them. They put themselves into a magical & alchemically induced slumber to naturally wake up after 126 years. They even prepared a feast and magically preserved it for the time when they were to awaken… only things did not go to plan.
They were betrayed by one of their own. From what our team could gather, a low ranking priest in their ranks was not as excited about the New Morning as he had let on. Evidence indicated that the leader of the Order and her second in command went to sleep in their respective rooms that were locked and trapped to protect from intruders and grave robbers while they slept while 13 other priest went into their magical slumber in other rooms. Their betrayer only feigned to take the hibernation-inducing elixir.
While the other priests slept, he snuffed out their lives but their eternal slumber would not exactly be “eternal“. Determined to blot out the Lathander’s sunlight in the service of much darker deities, he would proceed to desecrate the shrine and altar to the sun god. That not being enough and driven by a jealous need for more and more power amidst his bloodlust-filled murdering spree, he proceeded to go after the leader of the Order. He snuck into her room, throwing her body into a trap he knew was there and dawning the leadership robes for himself. His bloodlust reaching a fever pitch, he scrambled back up the shrine to gloat at the god he loathed.
No evil deed goes unrewarded (so much for “no good deed goes unpunished”); as he ran back upstairs to the shrine he seems to have stupidly fallen one of the order’s own traps that he even knew about. His blood flowing down the stairs as his body falls into a lifeless stupor, his deities “recognized” his accomplishments and achievements. He was rewarded by being brought back from the dead as an undead Cleric bound to this shrine unable to leave, unable to escape, unable to enjoy any kind of victory.
The second in command had not yet been killed by the time this villainous cleric was and our adventurers decided to give him the antidote to the sleeping elixir. Lucky for me, I could chat with the priest and fill in some of the gaps when filing this report.
The evil cleric and the other slain priests brought back as undead servants of dark gods and the desecrated altar, our heroes defeated the undead and destroyed the evil conduit into our realm. Situated amidst the Cold Iron Woods steeped centuries of lore, mystery, and danger. By reputation alone most would stay clear of this wilderness but with the desecrated alter destroyed and replaced with a new blessed altar for Lathandra a darkness seems to have lifted from this region. While the reputation still exists, new exploration may awake this region for strong-willed adventurers.
Finally, this Patrol-turned-Thwart-Evil mission was observed by Captain Morgan and according to a friend of a friend who caught a glimpse of the report on the Commander’s desk, he had favourable things to say about the team. He gave them a 94% rating and noted it being 405XPs whatever that’s supposed to mean.
[…] >>>> Part II the Final Report […]