Hello,
You awoke on the day of the assault to another misty, sleet-ridden morning and you traversed the hill to the Monastery without incident. The stone house outside the abbey walls had two guards watching, so presumably the others were inside. You'd set a plan with Jzhurte's warband to wait for a signal from you once you were entering the Monastery proper. Magics aplenty were cast. Boamund tried out his new “Northwinds Blade” sword.
Fraud proposed a cunning plan to set loose the horses from the stable as a diversion for the two guards and he snuck under the fog's cover to do that. It worked perfectly- the mercs came running, shouting as they came, and he dispatched one while Miguel's arrow impaled the other and force him to take cover, which allowed Fraud to rush in and dispatch him as well.
Meanwhile Boamund and Ahappi rushed the house's main door, and were met by the leader of the mercenaries, Marcoulf the Troubled; a grizzled grey veteran. He conjured strength-enhancing sorcery and squared off with Ahappi first. With one swing of his iron greatsword he bloodied the Captain's face, and then Boamund joined in but tripped the leader, which saved you much trouble. Meanwhile more mercenaries of “Marcoulf's Marauders” were coming out of the house and defending their captain; one however swung his broadsword in too large an arc and hit his liege.
Miguel sent arrows into the fray to good effect, and Fraud came forth to help. Inside the house, more warriors were preparing sorceries that sent smothering magics upon you but these had no ill effect. Ahappi(?) dealt the final killing blow on Marcoulf and you got rid of the others outside the house easily enough, so you now faced five angry mercenaries that had formed a “killing pocket” inside, taunting you to enter and die. Ahappi, though, had the terror of the depths to reveal to them with his Magastan sorcery and that shattered theiri will to fight- four of them broke ranks leaving one brave soul to take the doorway and challenge you to face him. A few quick blows and an arrow from Miguel and he dropped. You accepted the surrender of the quivering last four men and sent them sprinting down the hillside in a panic.
The way was clear now for you to begin your long-awaited purging of the Evracian monks! You crossed the yard to the main doors, sent a firearrow to signal the attack, and flung the doors open-to silence. The great nave and halls of the refurbished abbey lay empty of people and no sorceries impeded your exploration. Miguel warped the door-hinges to seal the doors shut. Hurrying to find your quarry, you crossed to the east side and heard the Giranois entering the abbey from across the Cloister and Garth. Boamund heard a monk's voice so you entered the west side of the Cloister, and saw Brother Basharus, the novice-master, standing boldly in defiance to Jzhurte's band while the 13 novice monks cowered in the gardens behind him. Unexpectedly, next to Jzhurte there was another monk, Prior Mujahid, and the young Giranois woman Zuhayra, whom Jett had mentioned.
Miguel wasted no time-with one firearrow he pierced Basharus's head and killed him instantly. The novices shrieked in sorrow and horror while Jzhurte stood uncertain, grappling out loud with his quandary that this monk Amaurius seemed to be Giranois and had “conjured frogs” before him. But then Jzhurte relented, seeing no reason to spare the novices (his warband was thirty for blood-spilling), and set his killers upon them, resulting in a quick slaughter of pathetically praying liturgists. Jzhurte insisted that, for now, this monk was under his guard. There were still two monks unaccounted for - the Abbot “Uzzi the Scuzzi” himself and this new monk Brother Qasim, so you hurried to find them. Scouring the lower floors, you found some minor riches and the library full of old and new Seshnelan documents, and plenty of beer, but no people. Shaven was interested in a stone slab in the floor near the main altar but it had not been moved in some time and you wanted to fully explore the main abbey first- the last place left was the upper floor; the choir-monks' dorter.
That newer wooden construction held small spaces for the main monks and then a locked room at the far end, which was the Abbot's private chamber. A golden glow seeped forth from within through the keyhole. With another bronze-warping spell by Miguel and a heave by Ahappi and Boamund, you gained entry - and saw a great, golden glowing flower (yes, a poppy) blossoming around the vague shape of what must be the Abbot.
The monk had been intoning something about “One Church (etc)… One Dream, One Node!” as the glowing expanded… but Miguel didn't waste time again. He nocked the adamantium arrow and fired it square into the Abbot's head-and what happened next was the subject of some awed and confused discussion for plenty of time to come. It seemed that the arrow followed the Abbot as he grew smaller, or further away, fading toward the back of the chamber– or into the golden Node that surrounded him? Anyway, the Abbot vanished without a sound. There was a brilliant flash that blinded you all, and the Abbey shuddered-as your sight recovered, you saw an implausibly huge and flying form fill the chamber (and more than the chamber? How could it?): the many-winged and many-headed form of a Talanimm; a warrior-angel of Makan! You'd seen one once before when leaving Hell, and Miguel had been haunted by visions of one before. Was that a rare, true smile that crossed Ahappi's face when he saw it? Anyway, you were all awestruck as it spoke: “This once-holy place is judged to have fallen into Error, sin and venality. Solace and sanctitude are hence denied. So sees the Invisible God! So speaks the word of Law! So cleanses the Flame of Truth!”
It continued to stomp and flap its wings and the Monastery began to crack, and collapse. You knew to run- but Miguel saw his precious arrow lying at the far end of the room near the Abbot's bed. He politely asked the Talanimm if he might retrieve it, and it did not care. It was not here to pass judgement on him nor did his fate matter to it. So Miguel bravely dove across the room, grabbed his arrow, and dove back, then spritely leapt down through a growing hole in this upper floor down to the ground floor, where he met the others as they fled through the only remaining exit, the Warming Room doors. On the way, you saw the Giranois and gave them a hasty explanation as the golden glow grew from above and rent holes in the ceiling while the very stones of the Evracian Monastery cracked… It was going to come down. At last, this hated place was going to fall! But you still needed to ensure you didn't fall with it.
© Copyright - 2000-2024 - John Hutchinson, Tim Evans, Pete Nash, Colin Driver and Gordon Alford