Session 7

...As a final note She also asks them that as they are going into the Garrison, to please rescue any prisoners, recover any bodies for proper burial, and to undo any blaphemous things the demons have done to the area - afterall, the whole area was devoted to Iomedae, her followers, and those who believe in justice and righteousness. Try to save or restore everything possible from demon corruption ....

Shortly after the meeting our heroes set out for the Gray Garrison, along with four mongrelmen rangers provided by Neathholm. But once they got close to the Garrison, near the many ruptures in the earth that were caused by the first invasion force, they started to feel a rumbling in the ground. It started faintly at first but then once it got to the point that everyone could feel it, the ground underneath and all around them exploded from below throwing everyone for nearly dozens of feet away from the epicenter! Out from the ground came three gargantuan demons, towering some 35 feet tall and each carrying a proportional amount of muscle. They were laughing and completely oblivious to the destruction and carnage around them. This was a fortunte thing for our heroes for if they had been noticed, they wouldn't have even made a sizable appetizer for these three massive, abyssal beings. As it was, the three monstrosities just kept on going, leisurely making their way out of the city while our heroes were knocked unconscious and mostly buried by earth and debris. It took them a good couple hours to find each other, heal their bruises, and continue their trek to the Garrison.
Once they finally arrived, they found that the demons were still mainly preoccupied with the other crusaders diversionary strikes. At the entrance to the Gray Garrison they found only two "guards" admidst the wreckage:

A large stretch of buckled ground and rubble stretches before the Gray Garrison, an aptly named structure that squats across from the open ground that once stood before the Cathedral of Saint Clydwell. That cathedral is no more—nothing remains but a towering mound of rubble and a deep, jagged rift in the ground. Two hideously obese, naked men armed with scythes guard the Gray Garrison’s entrance and just silently watched the heroes until they approached close.

Then one of them asked them if they had come to turn themselves over to Deskari. It was obvious that neither one hoped that their answer would be yes. Upon closer inspection of the two naked and insanely grinning guards, the party recognized them both - one was Lord Hulrun, the leader of Kenabres and the other was Kandro Nyserian. Both were dead and possessed by demons known as vermleks. The heroes answer to the question was to take the fight to the demons and once they had killed them, they stashed the two bodies out of sight so they could recover them later for a proper burial.

Once they opened the building's front door, they were accosted by half a dozen tiefling cultists, one whihc was able to get away and go deeper into the building to warn the other inhabitants. The group made short work of the remaining cultists and quickly ventured further into the building. The entrance foyer and a small shrine near the entrance were quite damaged and had seen better days:

Along the northern wall of this room, a frieze depicts a line of mounted crusaders crashing over a horde of twisted demons. The crusaders’ faces have been obliterated and vile graffiti is carved over the entire scene. Fresh blood stains the floor. Nearby on the front wall a bracket shows where a longsword once hung over a stylized gold sunburst affixed to the south wall. Lines of strange runes are carved into the walls on both sides of the sunburst. Dried blood and excrement have been smeared across the sunburst and a short bench for kneeling that sits on the floor.

After the heroes spent some time cleaning the small shrine, they were able to figure out that the overly complex letters of the prayers engraved on the wall take the shape of a longsword on which is written, all in the Celestial language, “Let us inherit thine arms, Iomedae.”

Moving on, they opened a side door along the way deeper into the Garrison. Here they found a truly disturbing scene:

This room was once some sort of museum, but its contents have been smashed and scattered across the room—even the shelves have been shattered and torn apart in places. The decapitated bodies of two knights, their armor and bodies broken and mangled, lie in the ruins. In the midst of the carnage are a pair of ratlike abrikandilu demons. They are currently enjoying a grisly game of puppetry, using the severed heads of the two dead crusaders to entertain themselves with mock conversations in high-pitched Celestial.

When the heroes entered the room, the demons shrieked in delight and dropped their “puppets” to attack, and fought to the death. With the combined might of the heroes and the four mongrelmen, the demons' deaths don't take long at all to acheive. After the battle, they again take the time to gather all the body parts and whisk them away to the hiding place of the other bodies for a proper burial later.

Next they entered a short corridor that has a door to the east, which turns out to be barred from the other side, and a door to the north. Leaving the barred door alone for the time being, they concentrated on the North door and found some more cultists in the room beyond. The battle lasted for a few rounds, ending in the demise of the cultists. When they got a chance to take a look around the room they found themselves in a severely desecrated temple:

Blood and filth smear floor of this long room. Six white stone statues of famous heroes line the hall — each clawed, blood-stained, partially smashed, or otherwise defaced. At the far end of the hall, a raised dais holds an upturned alabaster altar. Sitting atop the upside-down altar is a hideous mass of severed limbs that have been stitched together into a vile monstrous insectoid shape. Before the dais, seven ratty bedrolls have been laid out on the floor.

They also noticed that near the altar on the southern wall they see the faint, glowing outline of a secret door. Finding the mechanism to open the door was not very difficult for them either and once opened, revealed the following:

This small chamber is free of dust. A holy symbol of Iomedae hangs unmolested on the wall above a weapon rack filled with swords, crossbows, and spears. Three wooden dummies wear pristine suits of armor. A shelf holds several leather quivers, each stamped with a golden sun. Two silver shields hang from pegs on the wall..

Inside they find a vertible treasure trove of weapons and armor in pristine shape that will come in very handy in the fight against the demons. After studying the items for a time they determine they have found the following items:

• 3 cold iron longswords
• 2 cold iron shortswords
• 2 heavy crossbows
• 1 composite longbow (+2 Str)
• 1 masterwork cold iron heavy mace
• 2 cold iron longspears
• 50 cold iron crossbow bolts
• 100 cold iron arrows
• 1 longsword +1
• 5 holy arrows +1
• 1 arrow of evil outsider slaying
• 2 sets of masterwork chainmail
• 1 breastplate +1 emblazoned with Iomedae’s holy symbol
• 1 masterwork heavy steel shield marked with the holy symbol of Iomedae
• 1 blinding heavy steel shield +1 marked with the holy symbol of Iomedae
• 1 finely crafted bastard sword, dead black in color

The last item, the black bastard sword, immediately catches Black Mage's attention to the exclusion of all else. He slowly approached the weapon, grabbed it by the hilt, and held it outstretched in front of him. Then the strangest thing occurred. Black Mage was......

That's all for this week. Tune in next week to find out what happens.