~ SESSION 10 > SESSION 11 – (BRIEF RECAP) ~
Welcome back my friends!
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When last we met, the core of the party were inside of the tavern, recovering from a brutal battle with King Leoric, down in his cold as ice tomb… which sadly forced them all to flee for their lives.
After a while, a lone newcomer entered the town, and approached Ogden as he was stood nearby his tavern doorway.
They spoke briefly about the recent events happening over the past few months, in and around Tristram, and he was eventually invited into the tavern to join the others for a meet and greet, and to share a drink and a tale or two… At this point, the newcomer introduced himself as Ebrin, and in return Lyra and Levi offered their names up as well.
When they were all settled around a table off to one side of the room, Ogden joined them and brought drinks for everyone, including himself.
He spoke about the curse of King Leoric, and his sad tale which led him to rise again as the Skeleton King.
After some more time had passed, another newcomer entered the tavern and stood by the bar as he observed the group talking away.
However, he did try to enter quietly and unnoticed, but the moment he stepped foot inside the tavern, the very appearance of this dark robed stranger, and his presence itself, had the party on edge…. especially Lyra.
Levi plucked up some courage to go and introduce himself to the stranger, and eventually invited him over to the main group for a drink, who were just staring at the figure…. their mouths all agape.
Fulgrim, the newcomer, sat with the others, and keeps his distance slightly, but explains to them that he was there in Tristram on business, and that he sought out any rumored demonic activity.
Levi, sat closer than the rest of party to Fulgrim, and quickly confirmed to him that the rumors are in fact the truth, and also informed him that these demons can on occasion be found within the surrounding countryside, but they are mainly found inside the depths of the once holy cathedral, now as witnessed, is twisted for demonic cultist purposes.
With a common goal in mind, to seek out this evil, and in doing so find answers to many questions they had…. Ebrin and Fulgrim agreed to join the others in their quest, and bolstered the party with yet more numbers… but Jack was still inside of his tavern room, and had not been seen for almost a day now… It was beginning to worry Lyra a little.
Also – Arthas was currently unavailable, and was lost in his own mind due to his recent dark experiences, and so he too would not be joining the party on their next journey into the cathedral.
Once the party had finished their drinks, and were ready to go, the four of them said goodbye to Ogden, and left the tavern door.
They were soon heading towards the entrance to the dungeon, but on the way, Ebrin decided he would pay a visit to Griswold, the town smithy, to purchase a club from him – then he would meet the others at the entrance to the cathedral grounds, and they would venture down to floor three together.
Setting off, the others walked past the open shining blue portal on the way to the graveyard gates, and Lyra felt an uncomfortable feeling run down her spine.
She gazed into the swirling mass for but a moment, and although she had put it out of her mind before, she soon remembered where that portal led to, and she was happy to just let it fade away.
The party headed by foot, back to the cathedral and down to floor three, where they walked the passages until they came to a familiar split in the path.
One way led to King Leoric’s tomb, the other route was undiscovered… and so the party took the undiscovered route.
Turning a corner after several meters, they walked into blood coated beasts, lapping at a pool of blood between them.
The moment Ebrin stepped foot into the room with these beasts, they howled and rushed towards him.
The party worked well in combat, this was their first foray together against the hounds of hell.
The enemy fell hard and fast to the might and magic of our adventurers -and they were victorious in battle.
With combat over, the room was searched quickly, and then the party took the nearby stairwell… which led them down to the fourth floor.
As they gathered at the foot of the stairs, a soft and calming feeling washed over them all.
Immediately, they all got to work…
Ebrin investigated the closed up door on the far wall, whilst Levi searched a close by dead body, which was propped up against a pillar – to which he found an unused soothing potion.
Opening up the door, and going through the doorway, the party all encountered a strangely colorful skin goat demon, crafting something unknown to them on a forge in a makeshift workshop.
Ebrin tried to talk to the somewhat peaceful goat demon, and through a limited understanding of the common tongue, he was able to offer Ebrin a gift, and promise of more gifts in furture, in exchange for agreeing not to kill him.
Ebrin cautiously agreed and took the item placed onto the table for him, which was a magical club.
Meanwhile – Lyra and Fulgrim inspected a dusty old bookshelf in the corner of the room and found a Horadric spell tome, and a scroll.
Moving on, leaving the goat demon to his crafting, the party rounded the corner, and struggled with opening a very large shipping crate, which held their interest for far too long.
During their failed attempts, Ebrin even broke his dagger in two, but as he did so, and cursed it about the shoddy craftsmanship of Westmarch weapons, which brought back memories flooding into his mind, of the recent war he had returned back from, that so many of his friends and allies, did not.
Shakily – he dropped the broken dagger parts to the ground, but happy… in some way… to be rid of it.
Eventually, the party moved forward, and found a slain townsman, his corpse laying a few feet from an opening in the wall, and as Fulgrim searched the body and collected his gold coins, there was a voice that called out to him from the archway.
Fulgrim stood back up and turned to see a purple skinned demon, who once again was able and willing to communicate with people.
The demon informed Fulgrim of something he called “Big Uglies” – and a magic banner.
All of which made no sense to him at all, but what was clear, is that this creature was requesting Fulgrim to get the “magic banner” – for him.
Fulgrim returned to the others, puzzled a little at the demons request of him, and they moved onward, where they then entered a large storage room.
Crates and barrels were piled off to one side of the room, in one corner, and another further away corner had a fenced off area with another lectern inside of it, atop it rested yet another history tome, which instantly got the attention of Lyra.
As the party moved towards the lectern, they could hear loud groaning sounds, and the shuffling of feet, looking around, and in their curiosity, they saw they were beset by dark yellow skinned zombies, which were moving towards them all…. Hungry for their flesh.
Ebrin reacted fast, with a fire bolt cantrip, and this caused the battle to be truly underway.
Luckily or miraculously, throughout the entire fight, none of the party members took any damage from these foul undead abominations of nature.
After the encounter with these rotting creatures, the storage room was searched, and the lectern was investigated by Lyra, and a nearby Fulgrim took an interest.
The tome was another history book, telling of the tale of the Dark Exile, a very important piece of lore pertaining to the history of the three.
Lyra collected the book and took it with her, sharing its knowledge with Fulgrim as they moved to join the others.
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The Present Scene:
The area is quiet — All that is heard is quiet breathing,
Gentle breezes, begin to whistle as they rush through small cracks in the walls,
The lit sconces lining the walls — their flames dance and flicker, as the wind rushes by.
The atmosphere in the room is thick with anticipation… as to what may be found around the next corner.
Questions that needed answering… will soon be answered.
Meanwhile – Up on the surface, Jack exits the tavern, realizing that he had overslept for far too long… He makes directly for the dungeons entrance, only to see on the way there a cloaked figure, entering the cathedral doors ahead of him.
He quickened his pace, in order to catch up to this unknown shadowy figure… or maybe… it was someone he knew?
Let’s find out who this mystery figure is, together.
Join me my friends, as we embark on this episode of…. Adventure in Sanctuary.
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