gal recognizes the black and ghostly horses that were part of the phantom steed ritual
cross digs a shallow grave for the monsters and says a blessing over it to prevent the area from becoming a fell place or something like that
harpy has a satchel with something shifty inside
we open it carefully
the bag has blackness inside
kava pulls out a greataxe! it appears that the axe couldn’t possibly have fit in the bag. frost greataxe +2
magic orb +2 is found! gal grabs it
bracers of defense get! ->cross
leather armor get! black dyed, sneaky and halfling-sized -> mat
gal recognizes the arm as “deathcut armor +1″ p228
gap recognizes the bag as a bag of holding -> 200lbs or 20cf in volume, but always weighs one pound
we wander away looking for a camp and camp all night
bracelet bitch is now giving gal -1 to INT instead of +2 because she’s bitchy >:-o
resultantly gal becomes a bit moody and frustrated himself
we stop in salidia to go shopping
cross overhears some farmers talking about slaves rescued from the forest
he goes to ask about them, and they apparently were from the town of rancor’s crossing, and when found they were all raving mad
cross lobbies to go to randor’s crossing, says we won’t lose too much time going to randor’s crossing and then continuing to venant via river
gal remembers a bit of the area’s history from his aunt:
once upon a time, the evil demon zendrach enslaved the people of the domain; demanded sacrifices & other depraved demonic acts
a group of adventurers came together and challenged him and fought him
2 adventurers died but zendrach was killed and fell through his portal to the hell dimension
it was sir landolin the brave whom dealt zendrach the killing blow, and his sword went through the portal (inside the demon)
people built pillars to protect from traversing the portal (they glow or something when you near)
the sword was bound to him and when he died he found that he couldn’t pass on, so his soul protects the portal to demonland
cross finds a guy (peloric cleric) from venant to send a message to venant, in return he wants cross to see what is teh up with randor’s crossing, which suits cross just fine
gal asks the peloric guy about serving pelor (or appearing to do so) and gets a way-too-idealistic answer that doesn’t really help him pacify the bracelet bitch
arrive in randor’s crossing on the south road
there is a peloric temple, run by lathgor
there is also the “ferry tail inn” near the river
mat and kava go to the inn
cross and gal go to the temple
inngoers overhear that the former temple cleric died 6 months ago
the new priest father meris is not very good at healing or helping the town, people are suffering from the lack of a talented healer
also there are rumors of people coming back from the dead, but in a creepy undead way
templegoers see the cleric, short middle-aged guy (5′5″), unruly, black, wispy hair and stubble, overweight, danny devitoesque… he is preparing for his evening services
cross sits down discreetly in the back, gal reluctantly joins him
ceremony is for avandra, even though the guy is a cleric of pelor–temple is a combo deal kinda thing
cross waits until the end of the ceremony, then approaches the cleric to chat him up
cleric says he’s kinda busy with religious duties, cross is suspicious, cleric explains he has 4 funerals and a wedding tomorrow
cross pushes his help on the cleric, who looks a bit dubious… cross insists and the cleric says he can talk to the families but the ceremonies are his responsibility and he must go, cross can talk to him tomorrow
cross and gal go to the inn and fill in the others and vice versa
cross takes an interest in the undead rumor drunkard
cross goes to talk to the families of the dead and subtly asks about the cleric
many stories of people dying of things the previous cleric would have been able to help–infection, e.g.
the old cleric wasn’t particularly old or in bad health, he just was found dead one morning in the temple 6 months back
cross gets mat to spy on the cleric for him
we get two rooms for 5s each
cross drags us to church in the morning
the cleric questions why we are still around, cross says we are takin a load off
gal asks the cleric about pleasing pelor, he gives another idealistic answer about bringing light good deeds blah blah blah
gal mutters “why couldn’t i get the bracelet of a god that just wants some dead calves or something”
kava notices he smells like dirt and rot
we all exchange glances
the cleric invites us to dinner, we agree and he takes us to the cellar
the cellar smells a bit like the cleric… and looks like a catacomb
there are lots of cobwebs and dust but also looks like it’s been well-trod
gal looks around and says “you know guys, not to jump to many conclusions, but this looks like a trap”
the cleric says “now that you’re down here, i can get rid of you! bwahahahah”
the coffins start to rattle
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!