Freeport Campaign

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 1700
• Treasure: None to speak of

Chow checked the door for traps and, finding none, opened it. The room beyond appeared to be Cresh’s summoning chamber, judging by the giant pentagram and magic circle scribed into the floor. Chow, somewhat sick of the manor’s disturbing decor, headed to the north wall to cut down the obscene tapestry hanging there. Before he could finish, a tangle of sticky web dropped from the ceiling and trapped him in the corner of the room. The rest of the party reacted quickly to the new threat, with Richard summoning a whirling wall of tiny razors to confine the huge insectoid demon on the ceiling while Spike, Balama, Isaac, and Lumineaux tried to dislodge the creature and free their comrade.

When the bebilith squeezed itself into a corner of the room from which it could strike the party in the doorway, they retreated back up the hallway to regroup at the crossroads. Richard dealt quickly with the poison the demon had inflicted on Chow and Isaac, and the group decided without much discussion to conclude their exploration for the day. They headed back into town to purchase some supplies (most notably anti-toxins) to help in tomorrow’s assault, hashed out some plans, and retired for the day.

The next morning, the party was a bit surprised and more than a bit relieved when Richard managed to send the demon back to its home plane before they even entered the room. As it departed, the thing telepathically growled something guttural at the party, which Will later explained was the closest approximation to “Thank you” that existed in Abyssal (something like “at least now I don’t have to consume you,” or “you will not die by my hand today”).

Still fresh and ready for action, the group searched the room for hidden exits, eventually finding small keyholes in the walls behind the blasphemous tapestries. Chow picked the locks without trouble, and Spike backed him up as he opened the doors. The eastern door led to a short passageway with another crossroads and what looked to be a temple or shrine beyond, while the northern and southern doors led to small alcoves. Richard analyzed the bones jammed into the north alcove, but (surprisingly, given the locale) didn’t find any indication that they would animate in any sort of undead parody of life.

The floor, walls, and ceiling southern alcove appeared to be covered with tiny, intricate handwriting that could not be deciphered from the summoning room. Chow stuck his head into the alcove for a better look, but before he could report his findings to the group, he seemed to disappear in the massive column of flame that engulfed the alcove. The party, suddenly more awake, searched and called for their companion in the cellar, to no effect. Muttering curses at Cresh and the sordid, disgusting business that his demense had drawn them into, the rest of the group decided to push on and finish their investigation, hoping that Chow could fend for himself wherever he’d been teleported, whether on this plane or the next.

They moved on to the intersection past the summoning room. Hearing nothing at the closed door to the north, and electing to save the three alcoves off the southern passage for later, the party approached the temple to the east. When they got close enough to discern the statues of writhing demon-women flanking the bloodstained sandstone altar at the other end of the room, they heard familiar oozing and farting noises emanating from between the rows of pews. At the first sight of another group of the Unspeakable One’s animated tumors, the party retreated into the hallway. Balama sent a fireball into the room with the dual purposes of torching the pwalgs and maybe damaging the temple itself. Richard created another blade barrier in the aisle between the pews, effectively pinning the remaining pwalgs for Spike and Isaac to deflate with arrows and bolts.

While they waited for the pwalgs’ noxious emanations to subside, the group heard a faint noise at the other end of the cellar complex. Still in battle mode, they crept back into the summoning room and arrayed themselves for an ambush. Fortunately, they recognized Chow’s shouting voice as he approached. He reported that he had been undamaged by the flame strike trap, but had been teleported to the front steps of Cresh Manor. None the worse for wear, he accompanied the rest of the party to the temple to look for hidden exits. Finding none, the group headed south to investigate the three alcoves at the end of the hallway.

Uneasy about the leering demon faces carved into the rock at the end of each alcove, the party discussed their options. Chow inspected the floor to the left of the intersection, and finding no signs of a trap, he decided to check for a hidden door in the demonic visage. As he took a couple of steps into the short hallway, though, the party watched in horror as the rogue’s flesh seemed to dessicate and collapse into a pile of ash, which itself dissipated into the air, leaving only a pile of equipment behind.

When their initial shock passed, the group quietly collected Chow’s things and said a brief prayer for their fallen comrade. Richard asked Harrimast for the ability to detect magical auras, and quickly deduced that the trap that took Chow had reset itself, and there seemed to be another trap of similar power in the opposite alcove. The southern alcove, however, looked to contain some sort of teleportation magic, though Richard could not get a read on a destination.

Rather than continue into further danger in their shaken and distracted states of mind, the party trudged back to town to mourn their friend and investigate any possible options available to bring him back to the world of the living.

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