An hour before dawn and with very little
rest, the group spot twenty robed figures who walk past the barn and approach
the cornfield maze. They give the
figures a minute’s head start before setting off behind them.
Donning the robes found in the abandoned
manor, the outsiders manage to slip into the procession without notice and head
deep into the centre of the maze [Unbeknownst to them, if they had tried to
enter without the robes they would have been set upon by swarms of stirges and
attacked by a faceless stalker]. The
centre of the maze consisted of a large circular clearing and the assembled
‘cultists’ spaced themselves out so that they formed a perimeter around its
radius. In the centre of the gathering
was a small controlled bonfire and before it stood an altar of dense ancient
dried husks formed from plant matter and discarded chitinous shells. Ornigaard, the missing young lad, was
tethered to the altar and was soon joined by a crying Shel Lupescu, as she was
pushed into the circle by the senior cultist who was garbed in white. The senior member soon revealed himself to
this crowd, fully disrobing. To nobody’s
surprise it was Ravenmoor’s mayor!
As night began to give way to day, Mayor
Krieglar began chanting unintelligably and was soon joined in chorus by the
surrounding folk. The pitch grew higher
and after several minutes the adventurers were appalled to see thousands of
bugs and insects descend onto the cultists, who disrobe and allow their entire
body to be covered in multi-legged vermin.
The buzzing and high-pitched squeaks from the insects merge with the
humans’ chanting to create a disorientating sensation for the onlookers as the
mayor shouts out “it is time”. With that
he brandishes a long spear made of dark iron with a ornate but functional
spearhead of metal and wood crafted to a fine tip that looks like a large wasp
stinger. All of the other cultists seem
to be caught up in a chanting frenzy and are no longer paying attention to the
proceedings.
Before the mayor can kill either of the
two sacrifices, the party spring into action and move to attack Krieglar:
Miro attacks and manages to score a hit,
as the mayor has no armor or shield and is wide open.
Kyrander, Natalia and Vaneer all miss the
mayor, which they attribute to the off-putting noise surrounding them.
Otto throws a flask of alchemist fire at a
cultist to try and destroy some of the insects – the flask hits and kills the
insects and also sets the cultist alight, but the human does not react to this
– he just continues to chant as his skin burns away
The mayor blasts the group with a large wave
of negative energy and damages them all.
Otto in retaliation attacks and critically
injures the Mayor.
Natalia attempts attacks with a flaming
sword she conjures up, but misses.
Kyrander steadies his aim and shoots the
mayor, which was well placed enough to kill him.
With his dying breath, the mayor managed
to chastise the outsiders for interfering and unknowingly unleashing something
worse upon the lands than he – Mayor Krieglar’s ancestor who had saved the
village from starvation, drought and famine, had done so through an agreement
with Ghalunder, the God of Pestilence [irony?], bringing good fortune to
Ravenmoor in return for the occasional sacrifice. Unfortunately for the village, the mayor’s
death resulted in the spawn gestating within their savior’s bloodline being
unleashed…
All around the clearing the cultists began
dropping to the flor in convulsing fits as their life force is siphoned away to
give birth to the rising catastrophe.
Vaneer took action very quickly and casts several healing bursts of
positive energy, restoring the health and vitality of the cultists and saving
their lives. As this was occurring the
rest of the group wearily watched as the mayor’s dead body lifted up off the
ground with his belly extended as something sharp poked through it from
within. With a ripping sound, the body
exploded from around the emerging creature, exposing something that resembled a
giant mosquito, except that it quickly matured so that it’s body was larger
than an Orc’s. The blighted spawn’s legs
were covered in razor sharp hair and its proboscis, which extended from its
head, was larger in length than an elephant’s trunk and ended in a wicked point
sharper than even the mayor’s spearhead.
The creature had large powerful transparent wings, but they were
currently slick with ichor and as a result it was currently grounded. Seizing the opportunity, the heroes rushed
the creature, knowing that they likely had less than a minute to try and kill
this aberration before it would be capable of taking flight and bring devastation to the
surrounding area.
Rushing forward, the group quickly felt a
wave of nausea and anxiety wash over them as the creature’s appearance seemed
to unleash a perverse wave of energy that afflicted all nearby living things,
but they pressed on, until Miro started to hear whispers in his head that made
his body feel bulky and slow to act:
The creature attacks Natalia, hitting with
its stinger and both poisons her body and confuses her mind, addling her
actions and sense of reality.
Although slow to move, Miro is still able
to attack the creature and scores a hit, wounding it.
Natalia backs away from the creature
whilst Kyrander provides cover fire and hits. Vaneer casts another healing blast.
Otto blasts the creature with rays of
fire, but the creature is resistant to such attacks.
Natalia attempts to call down lightning strikes
upon the insect beast but ends up babbling to herself thanks to the creature’s
confusion affect.
Vaneer moves in to attack and hits the
creature whilst flanking it with Miro.
Otto fires off a volley of magic missiles which strike and injure
the blighted spawn.
The spawn tries to attack Vaneer with a
series of attacks, but narrowly misses.
Under the effects of the confusion Natalia
accidentally attacks one of the prone cultists.
Kyrander shoots at the creature and
manages to hit and injure it, giving Vaneer the opportunity to strike it as
well.
Otto fires off more magic missiles and hits.
The creature hits Vaneer and penetrates
his armor, causing the priest to become confused as well as seriously hampering
his spell-casting capabilities.
Miro finally takes advantage of his
flanking position and critically injures the creature and deals the blow that
finally kills it.
Taking a couple of minutes to recuperate
from the intense battles, the group are pleased to see that both Natalia and
Vaneer return to their right frame of mind, though the creature’s poison still
lingers in their system and has weakened them both physically and mentally –
this will have to be recovered via magical means over the next couple of days
through use of Lesser Restoration
spells.
Ornigaarde and Shel are released from
their bonds and given clothing. The
former mayor is relieved of his very fine spear and Miro quickly legs it to the
mayor’s estate to look for more incriminating evidence and notes of misdeeds
(and incidentally loots it of any notable valuables and many bottles of fine
wine).
Several minutes later, the cultists begin
to stir and come to their senses, alive and confused. Though they had clearly been involved in
wrongdoings for a number of years, it was through peer pressure and a misguided
upbringing that led them onto this path and so they were not put to death!
Alizna the elderly weaver accompanies a
weighed-down Miro back to the maze and following a long discussion they all
agree to burning down the corn labyrinth along with the nearby farmhouse and
shack, once all the villagers were escorted back to their homes. Alizna reluctantly takes on the temporary post
of village elder for several weeks until the arrival of a head cleric of Desna
and several representatives of Erastil who looked into the whole affair and
brought a more acceptable level of religious practices to the village. Followers of Erastil also helped the villages
adopt more modern farming techniques and with prayers from Desna they ensured
that there were no immediate droughts or famine brought about by the appearance
of Ghalunder’s Blight Spawn.
With the village now in safe hands and
adopting more acceptable teachings the group returned to the kingdom’s capital,
Wyvernshore.
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