Session 99 - Cause You Gotta Have Faith

 

Wed 17th December 2025

In-game timeline: Ches 8 - Ches 9

With most of the Realm notified to our "Heroes" presence at the site of the blood ritual, and with night drawing closer, they press on. Any last vestiges of hope that they may arrive unexpected are dashed when they are spotted by another patrol - Sanada takes care of the patrol guards, but not before another alarm is triggered by one of them.

Having well and truly lost the element of surprise, they press on quickly towards the centre of the wood, from which they hear shouts and terrified screaming. They soon come upon the site of the ritual, which has started already, perhaps begun when their presence was first noted.

On an island in the centre of a small lake in a clearing, a stone altar is being used by a spellcaster. Glowing runes on the altar seem to connect via lines of power to some standing stones surrounding the altar. Tied to many of these stones are some of the captured villagers, with the remaining villagers either lying dead at the foot of the stones, or caged in wagons nearby. Guards are standing ready, pre-warned, and it seems more guards are arriving to boost the ranks.

With little time to think, the party decide to push full force towards the centre of the stone circle in an attempt to stop the ritual. This aim is aided by well-thought out use of the groups' remaining spells and abilities.

Alwaith becomes invisible and quickly heads towards the land-bridge to the island, unseen. Solveig summons some apes to distract the nearby guards, and then hides himself away, aiming to continue to harry the guards and help the group's progress. Sanada takes a circuitous route to the island, using the shadows and her ability to walk on water to get across as quickly as possible and Faith, limited in his remaining abilities, flies over the guards towards the altar.

The plan is good, though not perfect. Faith bears the brunt of the attacks, as he is the only one they can see. The apes do successfully distract, and indeed take care of, a number of the guards, but others continue to close in. However, the group are singularly focussed on getting to the necromancer in the circle who continues to perform the ritual, with a villager dying in pain every few seconds, and some of the dead villagers also rising up as thralls of the necromancer - their husks of bodies both acting as weapons, and, as a last resort, as dangerous explosives to all surrounding them.

With the altar seeming to be the primary focus of the ritual, Alwaith summons a dark creature to appear before the necromancer. His attacks are useful, but what proves more useful is his appearance, which serves to frighten the necromancer, who is forced to retreat from the altar. This breaking of contact prevents him from killing more of the villagers, and makes him more vulnerable, allowing the others to take him down with the main force of their attacks.

With the ritual disrupted, and the necromancer killed, the remaining guards, who had taken care of the apes at last, but paid a large cost for doing so - having lost a number of their own in the process - fled into the woods. Our Heroes were able to rescue the remaining villagers and search the bodies of the cultists. As Faith focusses on the altar, which reminds him of a similar one back in his home village of Easting, Solveig discovers a map which seems to indicate a ley-line route towards a probable site of the Vessel's lair to the south-east. He also seems to find a note using a cryptic cypher in the Abyssal alphabet.

Faith touches the altar and receives a jolt of energy and an influx of knowledge. He collapses but upon rising once more he seems to be somewhat older, more mature and more knowledgeable, having gained not one, but TWO levels in the process, as well as gaining more understanding about the source of his own powers.

With night drawing in, and their powers depleted, the group decide to head back to the village of Secomber with the remaining villagers, to rest up and plan their next steps. The eclipse is very nearly upon them, and time is pressing, but they have a sense of where they are headed, as well as something about what they are likely to face there, though the cryptic note remains undeciphered, and they must head out after only a single night's rest if they are to reach their destination before the eclipse is too far underway…