Chapter 2 / Episode 54 – Black Sigils and Poisoned Promises

Chapter 2 / Episode 54 – Black Sigils and Poisoned Promises

Coldeven 15, 576 CY – Afternoon

Weather Conditions (above ground):

• Description: Freezing

• Temperature: 13.3°F to 38.4°F

• Wind: Moderate breeze (S) 13–18 MPH

• Precipitation: None

• Clouds: Gray, slightly overcast

Present Party:

• Dog, the Ranger of the Gnarley (Forest)

• Irving the Reluctant, Paladin of St. Cuthbert

• TerryOr, Cleric of St. Cuthbert

• Dixon, the Dwarven Fighter

• Oleg, Half-Elf Magic-User/Cleric of St. Cuthbert

• Slash, the Bard

• Crush, the Half-Orc Fighter

NPCs:

• Zert, the Hero

• Spugnior, the Theurgist

• Lita of the Fjord, Slash’s companion

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Emerging from the fetid chamber where the Otyugh was slain, the party pressed deeper into the underbelly of the Temple. Rot and mildew clung to every breath. In the refuse of Room 230, TerryOr found a hidden latch. A storeroom lay beyond—dusty, half-ransacked, yet with scattered provisions intact. Among them: six stoppered bottles of deep violet liquid.

Dixon didn’t hesitate. “Only one way to find out if it’s wine,” he muttered, uncorking one and downing it.

He choked and dropped to one knee, face going pale. “Spider’s piss,” he wheezed. The liquid was poison—bottled venom of the drow.

In Room 232, the Temple’s black-clad bugbears waited. Thirteen in all. The clash was immediate and merciless.

Irving stepped forward with divine fury. “By the justice of St. Cuthbert!” he cried, cutting a swath through the enemy ranks. TerryOr’s mace cracked bone, while Slash, bloodied and snarling, shouted lyrics that drove his blade home. Crush took blow after blow until Oleg’s healing touch kept him standing.

When the final bugbear fell, the stone floor was slick with gore.

Beyond, in Room 233, their leader lay cold on his cot—his throat expertly slit. “Someone beat us to him,” Dog muttered, crouching beside the corpse. “Clean kill. No fight. Temple politics?”

Room 231, the “Room of the Elements,” proved empty, but the air pulsed faintly with latent power.

Dog led the group southward, following scuffs in the dirt and the faint scent of rot. Room 228 held their next surprise. Crush shouldered the door aside and was met by a hulking ogre.

“Outta the way, ugly,” he growled, and with one bone-rattling blow, the creature fell.

In the dark behind: two crude prison cells. Inside were seven captives—four elves, including Countess Tillahi of Celene and her consort, Sir Juffer, and three from Nulb. The countess, bruised but proud, spoke softly.

“You will be rewarded. This, I swear by the crown of Celene.”

Escorting the captives slowed their pace. Dog’s tracking helped, but the Temple twisted like a living maze.

Room 224 brought another threat: bugbears and gnolls of the Air Temple. Spugnior raised his hand, casting sleep with perfect precision. As the last fell, Slash wiped blood from his blade. “Remind me to write a song about you, Spug.”

Room 225, the high priest’s chamber, was silent. Kelno, the traitorous priest, had vanished—likely warned by the noise.

They gathered in the abandoned room. The air was heavy. Time was slipping. Light still shone above… but the Temple clung to them like a second skin.

And deeper, darker things were stirring.

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XP: 581 each