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⬅️ Previous capture (2023-11-04)
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Following a few more tankards and a restful night's sleep, the adventurers readied their equipment and set forth on their journey towards Sanctum Cor Cordis. The road south led through the scenic expanse of Verdant Vale, a region adorned with sprawling grasslands bordered by two imposing mountain ranges to the east and west. After a half day's trek, the intrepid adventurers reached their destination.
Nestled in the gentle foothills of the Shadowreach Mountains, Sanctum Cor Cordis graces the landscape with its cobblestone walls. Though these walls mark off the holy grounds they do little in the way of defense. Within its serene confines reside a dedicated community of a hundred monks. To the west of their modest quarters lies their religious center, and to the east is a physician's building, a small farm and vineyard.
The adventurers proceed through the northern gate of the abbey, where a monk is drawing water from the well. Approaching him they request an audience with the one in authority. The monk introduces them to Brother Eadric.
Ingol: "Brother Eadric, we've heard troubling rumors about members of your order not returning from their journey through the mountains. We're here to offer our assistance in any way we can."
Brother Eadric furrows his brow and responds, "Aye, it's a matter of grave concern. Two parties have not returned, and the abbey is shrouded in a cloud of worry. We've made requests to the kingdoms of Veridonia and Solarium and neither wish to get involved."
Ingol: "Let us discuss what you know and tomorrow we will head towards the mountains."
The next morning the adventurers set out towards the mountains. Brother Eadric provided what litter information he could about the missing members of his order. They had taken a little known path that split the mountain range rather than taking the multi-day trip following the main road to Alderbrook. When the original party did not return three more monks ventured out to see if they could find out what happened. As of yet, none have returned.
Crossing the foot hills that lead to the mountains, the adventurers make their way to the base of the Shadowreach mountains. On what could only be described as a deer path, they make their way across the craggy terrain. Lilly looks on ahead and notices an outcropping of stone not quite weathered as much as those around it. As the party gets closer they notice that the large rock has been pulled way from the mountain side exposing a small cave entrance.
Lilly: "I think I've found something."
Using her stealth, Lilly sneaks up to the entrance and peers inside. She floats into the cave as if made of shadows. A moment later Lilly pokes her head out of the cave and waves the party in.
The rough sides of the mountain quickly turn into the soft smooth texture of chiseled stone. As the party descends the few steps into the entrance they smell the musty scent of years of water eating away at the stone. Musty with a hint of decay. Ingol lights up a torch to find that the entrance ended quickly into a decision. Before he could ask the party which way they wanted to go a groaning sound was heard to their right.
The party proceeds down the corridor and, around a turn, they discover what looks to be a body sprawled on cold stone floor. Wearing a similar robe as Brother Eadric this must have been one of the missing monks. As they approached they could see the fear etched on his face.
"Aaaaaarrrrggghhh!!!!"
The appendages of the lifeless body snap and crack as the head lifts and whips around to look directly at the adventurers. This was no longer a human. With a single merciful strike, Nuznock obliterated the zombified monk's head with a single blow of his warhammer.
As the party continued into the cave they came upon a large room. To the far wall was an altar raised upon a step. A pile of bones, blood and robes found to one side. The alter was made of a darker stone than the rest of the room. Across its surface was etched runes, unknown to anyone in the party.
Looking over the remains it looked like only half of the missing monks could be accounted for. Unable to glean much else from the room, the party heads back towards the entrance. The other end of the cave lead to a large locked room. Unable to pick the lock they decide to leave the cave.
Ingol: As it is getting late we should setup camp and head back to the abbey in the morning.
Dina: With some of the search party still missing, we should setup camp in view of the cave and see if just happen to be early to the party.
$ published: 2023-10-25 00:13 $
$ tags: #ttrpg, #obsidian $
-- CC-BY-4.0 jecxjo 2023-10-25
