The town you’re in, Kassen, is named after the Paladin Ekat Kassen who
settled the area roughly 200 years ago when the majority of the
capitol cities of the Cheliax empire to the north were more heavily
under sway by corrupt powers than they are now.

His former companion from the Lastwall stronghold, Asar Vergas,
jealous or possibly thinking he had been cheated in treasure by
Kassen, came to the settlement leading a group of mercenaries to raid
the town and outlying farms.

The final confrontation between the 2 forces ended when the town
militia discovered Asar’s camp in an ancient crypt in the Fangwood
forest. Although Asar was slain and his mercenaries scattered, Kassen
died of his wounds 2 days later. All those that died in the conflict
were interred in the tomb and an eternal flame placed above Kassen’s
sarcophagus.

Most years, always after the final harvest has been brought in, the
ceremony is a simple pilgrimage by the town officials and elders
through the Fangwood to Kassen’s tomb to rekindle the town fires from
the Everflame that the town is now named after. (Usually followed by
large feasts that take place at the Great Hall, the Woodcutter’s Guild
Hall, and the Seven Silvers Inn.) Every few years those who have come
of age are given the privilege to perform the pilgrimage before either
settling down or venturing forth from the usually quiet and out of the
way village to have greater adventures in the wider world.

What Mayor Uptal “would” have said in front of the townsfolk, which
would have included all of your mentors and employers, family members
and foster parents, as well as older members of the Militia and
Bolgers… (possibly between discrete spitballs at Thom from his
mentor “Joclyn Stiffwood”, at least that’s his stage name, the half-elf.)

“Once again the winter winds blow through the Fangwood, marking the
end of another harvest. There are wolves in the woods, howling at our
walls, and serpents in our shadows, waiting to strike. [”ow, quit
it!", “quit what?”] Just as it was was 174 years ago, when Kassen left
these walls, so it is today."

“Where are the heroes? Where are the brave folk that will venture out
to Kassen’s tomb and retrieve the flame to keep this community safe
for another winter?”

[The lantern that is meant to bring the fire from the tomb back to
town and other supplies are handed over to the party members as they
step forward.]

“I present to you the [”hey!“] … brave heroes who will follow in
Kassen’s footsteps to retrieve the Everflame! Some of them may not
return [”wait, whut?“], but I say to you their sacrifice will not be
forgotten. Go brave heroes, [”yes, you… and you, too"], and do not
return until you have the eternal fire."

[And then you headed South.]

1st Day – Noon and the party leaves town heading South to go to
Kassen’s Tomb and retrieve the symbolically magical Everflame in the
special lantern. Snark ensues. A couple of hours through the woods and
they are attacked by illusory Orcs. The smell of pipe weed lingers in
the bracken.

1st Night – Make camp near the Broken Glade. Ooklar hunts down a deer
and as the sun sets the howling of wolves is heard. A single wolf
approaches the camp but is shot by Bella and runs away. The rest of
the pack returns later to try and steal the venison from the fire,
losing 3 of their packmates in the failed attempt. The bard is
injured, having thought this was just another illusory attack. The
half-orc uses the wolf heads to put on a puppet show and the rest of
the night passes uneventfully.

2nd Day – Around Elevenses the party reaches the north edge of the
Gray Lake. Washed up on it’s shore is the body of a man bearing newly
minted coins from a city far to the North. Although the color text is
mostly 4-color, the party finds the site where the rest of the
foreigners had made camp. Both the timing of the body’s death and the
age of the camp indicate this was roughly 2 months ago. (To explain
why the module says “2 months” I’ve looked up some basic resources and
determined that it was cold and the body is in the late stages of dry
decay. Either way, it’s not as recent as 2 days ago for the sake of
the so-called plot.)

2nd Day – Tea time, and the party has reached the North edge of the
Serpent Gorge and as it starts to rain … they decide to pitch their
tents, um, make camp for the night rather than descend down to what
would have been the dry tomb entrance.

2nd Night – Sumak the monk is on watch and wakes the party with the
rallying cry of “Bacon!” as a boar charges him from the woods. Ooklar
makes another puppet.

(So of course, you have tents, you have supplies, and now you have
fresh pork product and more entertainment than anyone can stand… why
would you want to try going down a muddy slope in the rain to some
stupid tomb when the forest provides? Stupid module… I’ll be …
“correcting” it.)

3rd Day – After a period of time gaily camping out in the rain for
(rolls a d20) 12 hours, the rain stops and the group decide to
descend down the now completely slick and muddy switchback trail.
Besides, the bacon and venison have been eaten and they were only
supplied with 5 days of rations to get to the tomb and back to town.
Luckily for them they have enough rope and mad DEX skills to make it
down to the bottom of the gorge without injury.

It’s shortly after 2nd breakfast as they reach the bottom and as the
morning mist clears away the lack of color text they find the tomb
entrance, where 2 horses and 2 ponies from the nearby village seem to
have been slaughtered while still in their tethers only 2 days ago.
(They’re fresh! And wet! Ew!) After uncovering the bones of a skeleton
that had been crushed under one of the horses the Cleric “heroically”
leads the party into the tomb.

… to find 2 dead townspeople (also slaughtered only 2 days ago),
their camping supplies (bedrolls, large pillows (?), 2 days rations,
lamp oil, blunted arrows (?)), and several skeletons lying in the
first main chamber. The skeletons rise up to attack but are easily
dispatched by the party, especially when Red channels the positive
energy of Serenrae against the necromantic energy that animates them.

(Plot Note: There are 3 “death timelines”. One is the group of
villagers that will have been attacked/slain 2 days ago, the group of
foreigners from 2 months ago, and residents of the tomb such as
skeletons will have been dead for roughly 200 years.)

The faint sounds of wailing and sobbing can be heard to the East…

(Plot Note: There are 3 “death timelines”. One is the group of
villagers that will have been attacked/slain 2 days ago, the group of
foreigners from 2 months ago, and residents of the tomb such as
skeletons will have been dead for roughly 200 years.)

“The faint sounds of wailing and sobbing can be heard to the East…”

3rd Day – Feeling the need to be better armed against skeletons Bella
and Red go outside to find or cut some clubs from nearby tree branches
under Ooklar’s watchful guard, Sumak and Thom hanging back by the tomb
entrance. As they’re nearly finished the group is beset by a warren of
what appear to be large rabbits. After some are mashed and some are
sliced the party now has the makings for a LOT of rabbit stew. (Funny
thing, some of them seemed to have buds where horns might one day
grow.)

After some food prep, and of course some late afternoon snackage, the
group delves carefully further through the East door of the main
chamber into a room with several large pillars throughout the room.
All seems safe enough, even the locked door to the South, as some
large and obvious levers are spotted in different locations until
Ooklar falls into a pit trap in the center of the room and onto some
very pointy… pillows…

Ah, pillows, like the ones on the ponies, and in the main chamber, and
by the door with the 3 brooms.

Ooklar climbs out of the pit and a couple of other pit traps are
triggered (Red falling into one of them.) as Bella figures out the
safest way through the room and a plan to throw the 3 levers to open
the South door and wedge it open with one of the brooms.

Through the south corridor the sounds of wailing grow louder. In a
barricaded room the party finds Roger, one of the townsfolk sent to
prepare some of the traps in the tomb, who has to be talked down from
trying to shoot them with his crossbow as they break down his
barricade. (The offer of rabbit stew since he’s out of rations doesn’t
hurt, either.) He’s also a bit off his rocker as he talks of the
armored talking skeleton that kidnapped his sister, Dmiria, as well as
ID’ing the bodies found in the entrance chamber before being convinced
to stay with the group for safety.

Further on in another room the party dispatches an acid spitting
beetle trying to stuff another villager corpse in a corner and in
another room the burnt remnants of the final villager from the town as
his Shadow unsuccessfully tries to weaken the party.
(unburnt are Ken’s +1 (halfling sized) short sword and the key he was carrying)

Realizing that Roger IS quite useless, as well as suffering from some
head trauma from when the attacks happened while he was setting one of
the “safe” traps, and after some interrogation that his story is as
accurate as can be (no, he didn’t kill the other villagers and push
his friend Ken into the fire, that was done by the same skeletons that
were at the entrance and by what can only be considered a “skeletal
champion”.) they decide to let him barricade himself in the way he was
before as the party moves on to explore the West side of the 1st
Level.

West of the main entrance the part enters a room with a large
rectangular pool by the north wall decorated with a mural of the hero
Ekat Kassen receiving a mortal wound as he vanquishes his foe Asar. A
disembodied voice (obvious to everybody a magic mouth) booms out the
message “Magic… Is… Key…”

(Ripped from the OGC module of the same name, with modifications.)

Off to the west door from the main entrance and the party explores the
room with the pool in it. The pool is deep, deep enough that they
can’t see to the bottom of it.

Bella uses a brick and some rope to sound the depths and find out that
it goes to 40ft. Tying a sunrod to the brick allows them to see the
many keys at the bottom of the pool, and tying the bard to the brick
and lowering him about 15 ft allows him to detect magic and both Thom
and Red are able to determine which key it is before tying a small
kettle pot to the brick and lowering it to the bottom.

Where Ooklar proceeds to dive straight to the bottom and rather than
dither over getting a single key he gathers as many keys as he can to
fill the cook pot. A quick check when it is brought up to the surface
and the magic key was luckily one of the ones scooped up. (Or he
probably could have just made a second dive to get ALL the keys.)

PS – way to work together, y’all.

So, great. You haz a magik key. Whut do we do wif it? It doesn’t
unlock either of the doors to the south (the key you got off of
Kevin’s burnt body does that),

and it’s well past tea time… so the party decides to barricade
itself in with Roger until morning. (who had, btw, said earlier that
he had been loading the arrow trap when the skeletons attacked)

Next morning and Sumak the Monk has gone missing. He isn’t in any of
the rooms the party has already checked so they proceed down the
hallway that doesn’t have the statues with swords (half of the swords
have been padded, the rest have not), and instead find the one way
door to the circular room with the spinning pillar loaded with blunt
arrows… which are just enough to knock a panicked Thom unconscious
as the other party members try to rescue him from the room using the
pit in the center and waiting out the 10 rounds of the trap. (Where
Bella finds a handbill advertising the following: “All able bodied
persons in search of FORTUNE, GLORY, and TREASURE. Inquire at The
Ranger’s Lament in Tamran.” (Tamran being the capital
city of Nimrathis in the north where the coins were minted that you
found on the bandit you found in the woods.) The other end of the room
is the one way door that leads back to the barricaded room and to the
south is a door that unlocks after the trap is finished.

Proceeding south the party encounters a group of skeletons covered in
scabs and running blood, which after they are dispatched need to be
ruined with channeled energy or fire or else they can regenerate and
rise again. Just as the last of the skeletons is destroyed Sumak
arrives at the doorway, groans, and collapses.

When he regains consciousness after being healed of several deep cuts
Sumak muddily describes the passageway past the statues with the
swords and a large wooden statue (statue! statue! statue! don’t say
golem! argh! sounds like stirges! headdesk) of Kassen with a door
behind it. Why he went there alone and how he got there safely he
can’t clearly remember, just that he set off the sword trap on his way
back and a feeling that something important was behind that door.
(Survive the 2nd level and this will all be explained.)

When the party proceeds down the hallway with the statues they’ve now
been set off and their longswords now criss-cross the passage,
although some delicate maneuvering avoids the blades for the most
part. Ooklar, OTOH, has a better idea and cuts the arms holding the
swords off of the statues so the way back is now clear.

In the room past the statues the party sees the wood golem holding a
pair of large round shields (which would have been perfect for that
room with the arrow trap) which it uses to shield bash party members
who get too close… except for the flasks of oil that Thom throws at
it before Red casts burning hands to set it on fire (ruining one of
the shields, but since they’re so heavy they’re really not practical
for most purposes).

The magic key from the pool opens the door the golem guards and behind
it is a room with a table and a note that says “Compliments of the
Mayor of Kassen” and a ka-bunch of magic items:
Potion of Invisibility – in the form of a green marble indicating it
has 3 charges left, must be held under the tongue to work (2 minutes
as per the regular spell)
Potion of Cat’s Grace – in the form of 2 servings of mint fudge,
almost immediately consumed by mistake
Clay Jar containing Oil of Magic Weapon – enough to activate a single
1d8 weapon, or two 1d6 weapons, or three 1d4 or smaller weapons (gives
1/1 for 1d10 rounds)
Wand of Cure Light Wounds – 10 charges on what looks like a stone
pestle, touch activated
Wand of Mage Armor – in the form of a turtle shell, of which 10
sections are still opaque as opposed to the used charges indicated by
the translucent sections

Having cleared the first level the party descends down the stairs past
where the blood skeletons were into a chamber with arches leading to
hallways to the south, east, and west. Inscribed over the tops of each
archway are the following:
West (a corner, then a long wide hallway ending in a closed portculis) :
“To Your Final Deed”
East (a water-logged and swollen door that seems stuck, now partially
damaged after Ooklar bashed into it, another hit will probably knock
it off it’s hinges):
“Bring Elbow Grease to The Wheel”
South (a short hallway past a corner ending in a chamber with a clear
running water fountain):
“To Take Your Ease”

Having cleared the first level the party descends down the stairs past
where the blood skeletons were into a chamber with arches leading to
hallways to the south, east, and west. Inscribed over the tops of each
archway are the following:
West (a corner, then a long wide hallway ending in a closed portcullis) :
“To Your Final Deed”
East (a water-logged and swollen door that seems stuck, now partially
damaged after Ooklar bashed into it, another hit will probably knock
it off it’s hinges):
“Bring Elbow Grease to The Wheel”
South (a short hallway past a corner ending in a chamber with a clear
running water fountain):
“To Take Your Ease”
-—

Ooklar busts down the remnants of the waterlogged door to reveal a
chamber with 3 sarcophagi around the edges of the walls and a round 2’
high stone table in the middle of the chamber. Water covers most of
the floor and seems to deepen toward the south end of the room where
an open doorway is. As he proceeds into the water which at a foot deep
comes up to his calves 4 giant frogs (each roughly 4ft tall) rise up
out of the water to surround him, some of them leaping onto the tops
of sarcophagi.

During the melee the giant frogs are able to grapple and bind Red,
Ooklar, and even Sumak, one of them managing to swallow the 3ft tall
Sumak whole. OTOH, it probably didn’t expect to be tenderized from the
inside, even as it leaped over to the table to attempt to escape with
it’s meal.

The party finds the remnants of the frogs last meal and the ring of
swimming the human must have been wearing (fat lot of good it did HIM)
as well as more coins that were minted in Tamran, as well as the
breach in the wall the water had come into the chamber through, and
probably the frogs had come through as well.

After a brief discussion about the best way to prepare fresh frog meat
for storage and seeing that the next room has even deeper water going
to 3 ft in depth, and a wheel set into the wall that probably needs to
be turned, the party gets Ooklar to wade through and as he reaches the
center of the room the skeletons (yes, more skeletons) come out of
hiding from the corners to surround him only to be completely
destroyed save one by Red’s channeling the energy of Sarenrae “down
upon their asses”.

After the giggling fits stop the wheel is turned and the grinding of
gears indicates some kind of machinery probably lifting the portcullis
on the other end of the 2nd level.

The party goes to the chamber with the fountain to investigate it’s
properties and determine if the water is inherently magical or if it’s
localized to just the fountain… and as they’re puttering about they
hear slow moving footsteps coming from the hall where the portcullis
(am I even spelling that right? checks, and it needs 2 L’s can’t we
just say "big, heavy gate?) had been raised.

The party sets up an ambush at the door of the fountain chamber to
take down the interlopers who seem to be zombies, but with the
difference that they’re covered with yellow and green buboes and what
can only be considered a fungus-like smell over the normal smell of
decay expected of zombies.

What’s worse, when destroyed the zombies burst spreading a cloud of
green and yellow gas, after which Ooklar spends a few seconds in
coughing fits before seeming to recover. (Ooklar rolled a 3 vs
Fortitude save vs DC 11, everybody else either made the save or was
out of range.)

After this the party checks out the room beyond the big heavy gate
that the zombies must have been behind, and towards the large brass
covered doors leading to the crypt where the boss monster at the end
of this dungeon must be waiting. If only it HAD been Grover… wait,
forget I said that, Grover in plate mail with a magic longsword would
be worse than the Skeletal Champion who manages to finish his brief
monologue (HAH!) before the players can roll initiative. (Also at the
far end of the room above Kassen’s sarcophagus are the wall sconce
with the torch holding the Everflame, and on the dias an unconscious
halfing female form which we assume to be Dmiria, Roger’s lost
sister.)

For future reference, undead are immune to mind effects including
compulsion enchantments. I double-checked. Even undead who can talk…
but if the GM is distracted by the roleplaying follow-up to the spell
then in some way so is the monster.

By the time that people had to leave for the night the Skeleton was at
half hit points with all of his minions destroyed (so much for HIS
flank buddies) and had managed to roll a series of 3’s and 4’s and
gotten himself flanked by 4 different player characters who were all
about to get to make their attacks… the
next round between several blunt object attacks as well as sneak
attack bonuses you dispatch the Skeletal Champion.

[Plot thickening leading to the next bits to be posted…]

You started in the town of Kassen, named after the Paladin Ekat Kassen who
founded it, on a coming of age trip to the nearby Tomb of Kassen.
It was supposed to be a fun little jaunt to light a little magic lantern and
bring it back. Unfortunately someone else had been there (“bandits” from
Tamran, as identified by the coins they carry… why would they be anywhere
near this podunk logging town?) and awoken the spirit of the town hero’s
former friend turned arch-nemesis, Asar, as a skeletal champion. Hijynx
ensue and some townspeople who were to set up harmless traps and puzzles are
found dead.

After rescuing 2 survivors and defeating the skeletal champion you found
Asar’s first victim, a man wearing an iron mask of the Cult of Razmir and
carrying a handbill with the sentence: “All abled bodied persons in search
of fortune, glory, and TREASURE! Inquire at The Rangers Lament in Tamran.”
Before he lays himself back to rest the ghost of Ekat informs you of how he,
Asar, and the elf Iramine had found a city of gold which could only be
opened by a special amulet.
Deciding at the time that it would be best to leave the cursed riches alone
they broke the amulet into 3 pieces. He and Asar had 2 pieces of the amulet,
Iramine had the 3rd. The 2 pieces that were buried with Asar and Ekat are
now missing…

Once everybody has returned to town Thom the Bard’s mentor, an alcoholic half-elf named Minurhial, revealed that
Iramine is his half-sister and he has been waiting in Kassen, afraid that
this day would come. He warns that Iramine went insane after her experiences
in the city of gold, joining the cult of a “living god” who calls himself
Razmir, and was never the same. If the bandits were cultists sent to
retrieve the other 2 pieces of the amulet, then she must be planning on
going back to re-open the cursed city. No one but the 3 who had been there
knew of the city’s location.
The first 2 are dead and gone, and the 3rd is insane. He pleads with you to
go to Tamran and seek out a friend of his, a ranger named Reginar, who will
be able to help them and guide them in the big city, and may be able to help
stop the cult, or even Iramine herself if it’s not too late.

On your way through the Fangwood to Tamran there were kidnappings, kobolds,
undead dwarves, a rust monster, and finally a chance to help with a wedding.
(Some of you helped with the feast while others helped with entertainment,
not to mention rescuing both the groom and bride from hobgolblins.)

But all of these are detours along the way, you take your leave of the town
having each been rewarded for volunteering your services with Riding
Mastiffs and an Asfodel Mountain Pony to help speed you on your journey.

To help you across the Tourondel River, Captain Walhren of a barge named the
Black Mist offers to take you on for a modest fee, not only across the river
but into Lake Encarthan, upon with the harbor of Tamran lies.

We’ll pick up as you approach the city of Tamran, capitol of
Nimrathis.

Run from 7/21/2011
(GM’s note: player perspective, ah what fun…)

The Halflings travel across a huge lake to this other town, which is a bit wilder and has more humans than normal.

On the way some Lake Raiders attack them and lose. One guy drowns after having his junk set on fire by Thom. Oooklar (’Roid Rager) kills another raider and the third died too, accidentally, by the halfling prostitute thief. The Cleric spent most of the fight getting dressed, then he got all serious about his god, Starburst, which comes in many flavors?

Thom fell in the water and his Mastiff One-Eye kept him from drinking most of the lake. Raiders. They had some stuff in a locked box. There was a letter giving them permission to raid. They sucked at staying alive though.

We went to an inn and met a hobo. Thom drank a lot of rum and played his mandolin. Also he learned about how the fishermen diced. The hobo was hungry.

Ooklar got a jones for some bread so we went to the bakery and bought some old bread from the apprentice, which Ooklar then ate. The bread, not the apprentice. Before we got there, a kenku showed up and took the monk away on a QUEST.

We all traipsed around town until we found, further away in the woods, a Ranger who used to know Thom the Bard’s weird teacher. He told us about the Cult. The recently met half elf hobo wants to join the cult so we can pass info along to the law dogs. Then they can rightfully kill everyone! The Cult is in a big building opposite a bar. Cultists wear metal masks and don’t talk. We will fit right in.

That is the plan. Since everybody’s stuff might get confiscated when we go in, the bard wants to disguise Oooklar so we can hide some stuff in his clothes that might come in handy. Oh and Crazy Elvish Woman is off in the boonies, maybe with all three amulets (not Mullets) which will enable her to go the City of Gold. which might make her even more insane. She will probably show up at a bad time.

P.S. Never say anything bad about Ooklar’s mother.

The temple itself takes up almost an entire city block. Two stories
tall it’s the size of a small hotel. Walls made of stone at least 5
foot thick, you can see where masked priests patrol the tops of the
walls, sometimes looking in at what must be a courtyard on the West
side when you can hear the clackety clack of what sounds like training
with practice swords and shields in the early afternoon.

The only doors to the temple are on the southern side near the west
corner inset at the back of an alcove, but these are behind a
portcullis (hah! spelled it right the first time!) on the very outside
of the alcove, and neither of these are opened at the same time. Only
masked Razmiran priests go through this way, no deliveries are ever
taken in and supplies are carried in by the priests themselves after
they have made an afternoon excursion to preach in the market square
where some priests will collect donations from the crowd while others
make a show of giving food and clothing to the poor.

There are no windows, but at night the 10ft wide and 15 ft tall
stained glass image of the Mask of Razmir glows gently towards the
East… where across the street the limned sign of The Ranger’s Lament
swings gently back and forth in a late spring breeze.

- Preparations:
Not wanting to chance the loss of all of their belongings to the plan to “join” the cult, some of the characters left some of their belongings in trust with the innkeeper at Gar’s Last Meal. Their riding dogs and pony left in the keeping of Reginar, who promised to stable them and keep them safe. Ooklar took only his armor, shield, his large mace, and some bread. Red had a potterer bake his holy symbol, the image of the sun in gold, into a small clay plate. Bella entrusted a small red clay item to Thom who hid it in a small bag of curiosities such as a potion of invisibility that he hid within the folds of his clothing, hiding other things such as money in the heels of his shoes.

- Ranger’s Lament
At the inn across the street from the temple the group entered, noting that while other inns nearby were doing a brisk evening business the Ranger’s Lament seemed empty of patronage except for them. As they were welcomed by the innkeeper Rolen Oggersmith they started with requests for small ale, but were advised to wait just a little while as a group of masked priests, some in white and some in grey robes, came out of the back room followed by yet a taller priest in black robes who took the small lectern near the door to the inn and gave a welcoming speech in a charismatic voice ending with the question “Will you join him?”
After unanimously answering “Aye!” the characters were congratulated by their hosts (they would later learn that grey was for priests while the lower ranking acolytes wore white) and served the previously requested ale along with beer and wine and a thick beef stew as they listened to their hosts extol the virtues of being one with the Living God.
Being a suspicious lot the players attempted to discern if the food was drugged or poisoned, but not detecting anything within the first few seconds made short work of the first few servings. After 5 minutes the door to the inn was locked by the priest in black as the odorless and tasteless drug took effect, putting all except for Thomas (6 major saves in a row) into unconsciousness. At the first instant of seeing his friends fall under Thom pretended to suffer the same effects while he actually resisted them and kept his wits as the entire group was dragged through a trapdoor in the back of the inn and through a tunnel underneath the street and into the basement of the Temple where the group was stripped of their armor and weapons and placed into a holding cell.

- Fasting in Prison Cells
Everyone awoke with only their clothing and shoes in a holding pen, just in sight of the bottom of a stairs where a white robed acolyte gave a signal to someone at the top. A couple mites later the black robed priest came down the steps and addressed the group in reassuring tones, introducing himself as Egarthis and apologizing for the manner in which they needed to be drugged and brought into the Temple, and that they should fast (wait, what!?! fast?!?!) and meditate over the next day on the glory and riches of Razmir in order to prepare themselves to join the faith. A bowl of water is placed on the floor within reach of the bars as Ooklar grunts and scowls and mutters about them taking his bread before planting his back to the wall and his feet to bars of the cell and wrenching his back in the process. One of the grey robed priests advises patience and meditation, but is not foolish enough to get too close to Ooklar in the process.

- Acolytes Indoctrinated
The next day the party is escorted by a small group of priests and acolytes out of the basement and up into the main floor of the Temple where they are given their white robes and iron masks and sworn in to rising chants of “All hail Razmir!” and a celebratory shout from the gathering of cultists. After the ceremony the rest of the cultists disperse, leaving the party with Krant, a large man of enormous girth who explains the contradictory tenets of the faith and begins their instruction, starting with hard labor in the courtyard. (One of these is that no acolyte shall approach the 2nd floor, and that their masks must be worn at all times when on the 1st floor or when in public, the better to emulate the Living God whose face must not be looked upon, but also for the strength of anonymity in numbers.)

- Daily Routine and Rhetoric
2 days of routines including manual labor, prayer meetings, bland food, and transcription of seemingly meaningless text go by before the new group of acolytes have proven their worth and are given back their possessions. During prayer services it’s obvious that even the grey robed priests find their own sermons to the acolytes uninspired and boring, but necessary as part of the routine of indoctrination. Trilgar actually pays attention to the writings and sermons in order to figure out their religious worth, and soundly concludes what he was already told in that there’s no actual religion, but only worthless contradictory rhetoric to confuse the casual onlooker. At no time does he see any of the priests perform healing, blessings, or any of the other acts normally attributed to a god that imbues his clerics with power. During training and even mealtimes it becomes obvious that some of the acolytes do not survive their training, either at the hands of other acolytes of at the hands of Krant as they witness him knock one of his students unconscious with a simple backhand. They are also trained in how to move as a group and how to enforce charitable donations (either through charismatic rhetoric, filching, or outright thuggery) before they taken on the first of a couple of outings.

- Working the Crowd
Krant, along with a couple of priests and Xanthar, one of the black robed heralds, take the acolytes to the marketplace to perform an afternoon sermon and enforce donations. The notes that will be turned in by Krant and Xanthar about their performances will read as follows:
Ac. Bella – Casual in her manner, was able to filch several small purses without notice. Her quiet devotion to our cause will help her go far.
Ac. Evran – Beat a donation out of an onlooker who shouted against the LG. Crude, but effective and admirable. Have Renec reward him with a bottle of Chelian wine when we get back.
Ac. Thom – Filched a small purse and was able to lift an expensive brooch. Stupidly returned the brooch, but managed to make the woman sing praises about the honesty of our priests because of it. Watched her berate her husband for his opinions on the church, will send a group to his business later.
Ac. Trilgar – Spent most of the time preaching about the church and it’s glory. Maybe he can take over and give my sermon next week.
Ac. Ooklar – Spent the entire time brooding. Will have to teach him a lesson.

- Collecting from the Baker
A day later Krant takes the acolytes to Welton’s Bakery. This is the same bakery whose apprentice was kind enough to open the shop in order to sell the group a late night snack the evening they arrived in town.
Krant’s instructions are to get the tithe that Welton owes the church for protecting him, amounting to 100gp past due, and to teach the baker a lesson while in there by roughing him up and wrecking the place.
At first Welton tries to buy time by offering them fresh bread, and then promising that he’ll pay next week, but when Ooklar goes back out to try and talk Krant out of the idea the party comes up with a few different ideas.
Thom gives Evran a potion of invisibility so he can run back to the inn they have their possesions at and fetch the 100 gp from their own cash. Bella manages to find Welton’s stash of hidden gold and takes 100 gp from that, handing it to Krant as Evran arrives with the money while Ooklar had been stalling and hands it to Trilgar, who puts it in with the other money Welton had hidden away. For good measure and a few theatrics Thom proceeds to throw a few choice, and unexpected, punches at the Baker to convince Krant that the second half of his instructions are being carried out. The destruction of some pastries follows suit, leaving enough of a mess to both satisfy Krant’s inspection as well as a couple of appetites.
(XP awards according to the scenario were supposed to be based on how the PCs handled the dilemma. How much damage they did or didn’t do to Welton and his shop, and wether they used their own money or took it from Welton’s hiding place. Considering the results wound up being the same regardless of the intentions the full XP for this encounter were awarded.)

- Ooklar vs. Krant
Later that evening as the acolytes were doing transcriptions and Ooklar continued to make rude doodles in the margins of both the copies and the original texts, Krant indicates that Ooklar is done for the evening and needs to come with him… now.
(Bella, Red, and Thom sneak through the halls and follow in order to witness.)
Krant proceeds to take Ooklar into the courtyard where he faces off with his giant 2-handed club, even offering Ooklar the first shot, which is a lie of course, and the pair of brutes trade ferocious blows until the bruised and unconscious half-orc lies of the ground nearing death if not dead already. Looking up to the second floor the group can see Egarthis watching with a detached interest out of the large window overlooking the courtyard. Krant sneers as he refuses a healing potion offered by the kindly Trilgar and one of the other priests steps forward to administer a stabilizing potion to Ooklar, saving him from dying from internal injuries in front of the onlooking acolytes and his body is carried back into the sleeping quarters in the basement.
Following the priests carrying Ooklar to the basement Bella overhears Egarthis say to a couple of other priests, “He could have been useful, too bad we’ll need to feed him to the pit.”

- Deceit and Reconnaissance
After concluding, rightly, that Ooklar’s life in in danger, Bella stays by his side and when Egarthis shows up with a bowl of oatmeal and apologies for the brutal display he asks the acolyte Bella to feed him and nurse the half-orc back to health. Remembering what can happen to people who too trustingly eat food offered by the priests she manages to make an act of feeding the oatmeal to Ooklar while in actuality hiding the food down Ooklar’s shirt with the quiet admonition NOT to eat it, making it look convincing to Egarthis who leaves to tend to other duties and preparations.
Shortly after they are left alone Bella and Thom go and investigate the locked door to the Pit and the viper while Trilgar stays behind to perform some healing on Ooklar. Evran keeps himself busy as lookout in case the priests suddenly show up.
Only one door on the basement level has remained locked during their entire stay, and as Thom uses a bardic spell to cast his sight beyond the door he sees a set of curved stairs leading down to a chamber with statues atop of pedestals at either end. The pedestals have a small hole in their base, and as he watches he sees a giant viper come out of one hole and wander around before retreating into the hole underneath the other statue.
Bella manages to unlock the door and not only detect the trigger plate on the middle stairs, but to disable it as well so they don’t suddenly slide down to where the hungry snake is.

- Releasing the Viper
And then Thom gets an idea and tells Bella to get everyone ready… and summons his mandolin with which to call and fascinate the deadly snake who hesitates coming up the stairs at first, but as Thom stops playing eagerly rushes after the bardic happy meal in pursuit… all the way up to the great staircase in the main hall of the temple and up to the second floor where the viper proceeds to attack and poison both of the guards while Thom uses the last dose of the invisibility potion.

- Hijynx Ensue
As the rest of the party follows out of the basement to the main temple Bella and Ooklar go to the end of the hall where the 2-storied stained glass window depicting the Mask of Razmir glows softly by torchlight, and Ooklar proceeds to smash an exit through the panes of glass and reinforced lead amidst the shouts of “AAaaaagh, a snake!” and “The Temple is under attack!”Before leaping through the opening they hear a shout behind them and see…
On the 2nd floor the invisible Thom goes to the double doors on which the depiction of a triumphant Razmir amongst his followers is done in gold plated bas relief. Thom tests the door without checking or noticing the trap which hits him with a blast of cold. Shortly after which he hears a click and the doors open where he sees…
Evran and Trilgar follow up to the 2nd floor and avoid the tangle of snake and now dying guards just in time to see…

- Cliffhanger
… Krant standing at the opposite end of the main hall, his club in his hand and murder in his eye.
… the double doors opening to reveal Egarthis, who locks eyes with the giant snake he had held captive for so long.
… the room beyond, including the pedestal between the outer door and the inner chambers upon which stands a statue made of hundreds of masks, the head made of a mask with a large sapphire on it’s forehead.

Next Week: Revenge Is Served

• 1st floor – Ooklar vs. Krant (Bella sneaking)
• 2nd floor – Egrathis vs. Snake and Red and Evran
• Thom vs. the statue vs. rust monster vs. Rennec
• guards on the courtyard and walls

• hells hounds vs. snake down the stairs
• Ooklar and Bella kill Krant (sneak attack!) then take his mask
• Egarthis disappears and Red sets Evran on fire
• Thom sneaks, defeats a magic mask
• statue vs. rust monster vs. Rennec, Rennec retreats

• Ooklar up the stairs after the hell hounds and snake pass by
• Egarthis makes a fatal mistake
• Bella’s sneak attack! Egarthis killed as the courtyard priests arrive
• Evran takes a mask to the face and is suffocating
• Bella sneaks up the stairs and uses a dead guard’s club to smash the window
• the snake escapes out the broken 1st floor window with the hell hounds in pursuit
• Bella sees the Ranger’s Militia out the broken 2nd floor window and calls for help
• Thom tosses the bedroom of the high priestess for loot and mocks some bad poetry

• Ooklar proceeds to use Egarthis’ corpse as a meat shield while holding off acolytes and priests who want revenge for their leader’s death (he’s a big barbarian and wearing Krant’s mask, they think they’re avenging Egarthis while paying back Krant for the beatings they’ve taken as trainees)
• Bella manages to get the suffocating mask off of Evran while Red takes pot shots at Ooklar’s attackers
• Thom vs. the writing desk

• Bella sneaks into the foyer, hides and watches Thom tempt Barfy back into the bag
• Ooklar has killed his attackers, but a second wave appears from the guard towers and the basement. He uses intimidate enhanced by Krant’s mask to cow them while the Ranger and Militia come in through the broken window and demand their surrender.

• Thom hears Rennec and his whore inside one of the rooms, is invisible for a short time and watches as the door opens but no one steps outside. Bella watches as well as Thom reappears. As the foyer doors are unlatched by an unseen force they both attack the area of the doorway with a burning hands and rapier. The whore is burned badly and reappears when she takes a swing at the invisible Rennec, but not Rennec who tries to remain unnoticed. Bella and Thom continue to launch attacks until a frustrated Rennec tries to swing back and his invisibility is ruined. After taking severe burn and puncture wounds he accepts terms and surrenders. Bella makes the whore tie up Rennec with his own belt. They then proceed to sack the rest of the 2nd floor rooms as fast as possible before the Militia come upstairs.
• Red is healing the wounded and the Militia are rounding up the surviving first floor prisoners, Ooklar pushes the bound Rennec over the 2nd floor railing where he falls onto the steps. Rennec breaks a leg and throws his arms out of joint, but DOES NOT DIE (by 1 hit point, jeez) and will later be interrogated by the Militia. This also causes the Ranger to come upstairs and investigate.

• The party shows Reginar the Ranger the ledgers as well as offering a visible portion of the treasure they found upstairs. (But not all of it.) Reginar informs them that they should go ahead and keep what they found (YAY!) since his men have found the basement treasure room (We missed the treasure room? Sadface.) and will be using most of it and the ledgers to return as much as possible to the people who were extorted or killed (But… but… aw man.) , including the family of the artist who had done the murals on the temple walls but had gone missing. (They found his brushes and paints in the snake’s lair. This annoys the bard, it is now ON… if only is wasn’t mostly over.)