Nightwick Abbey - Session 75 - Time Ghouls When You're Fly-People

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 75 - 16th of November, 1397???

This week's adventurers:

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Mechtilde (Fighter 4)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Verinka (Changeling 3)

Liminal Space (Changeling 3)

Krupe (Cleric 2)

Poppy (Fighter 1)

Voorhis (Cleric 1)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 1), Helusch (Magician 1)

A New Nightwick?

Last week, the party explored level four of Nightwick Abbey for the first time. Tired from our delve, we return directly to our homes for rest and do not notice that the world has changed around us.

In the morning, however, we notice that the guards now sport a badge with a white hand on a red field and that they have a more "sinister aspect" to them.

In the village, attached to the building that serves as the local church, is a large cubic steel shrine. We further find out that Lord Eckhard, Lord of Nightwick, has been dead for five years and Sir Albrecht rules in his place.

The final blow to our sanity is when we discover that it is currently the year 1397, not 1392 - we have apparently lost 5 years in the abbey. However, the villagers who we are familiar with have not noticed our disappearance - to them, we departed yesterday to the abbey and returned that night as usual. No one else notices that something is amiss.

On the backend - Miranda has decided to start running Nightwick again for the original Nightwick Abbey group, and has decided to merge the two continuities. This means that another group will be delving into the dungeon and we may get to stumble upon the fruits of their labor in future delves.

Downtime in the Village

While the party adjusts to the changes around them, two new adventurers approach us to delve into the abbey: the fighter Poppy and the cleric Voorhis. Mechtilde also takes her magic sword on a date where he reveals to her that he really wants to destroy some ghouls. With the new party members in tow, we depart on the morning of the 16th to return to level 4.

The Druid Cometh

As we approach the clearing on top of the nearby hill where the abbey lies, we hear a voice cry out:

"BEHOLD! NIGHTWICK ABBEY!!"

We see a robed man with a staff and unlit lantern standing on the edge of the forest.

"I'm Liminal Space, a humble servant. What's your name?"

"I'm Mervyyn, with 2 y's."

We find out that this man is a druid in service of Father Winter whose job it is to greet newcomers to the abbey, which we apparently are in this timeline. 

He has no more information for us, but graciously casts Barkskin on our frontline - Liminal Space and Mechtilde - before limping off into the woods.

Into the Abbey

We enter the abbey straight into level 3 through the graveyard entrance. 

Taking a direct path east towards the stairs down, it is not long until we see rust-red robed figures standing in the edge of our torchlight whose flesh seems to be in a state of decay.

We loop around them to the north in an attempt to avoid them. As we approach the stairs, the group notices us.

Ulf and Mayfly decide to take the initiative here and fire their crossbows at the group. 

The undead fiends of the abbey start cackling hideously and come flying at us to attack. Mechtilde is hit badly but she and Liminal, aided by the spears in the 2nd rank, bring them down quickly.

Down to Level 4

Our exploration this week.

Free to continue, we descend to level 4, entering out into the same room with the baptismal font.

To our south, we see several creatures bent over something.

Mechtilde's sword - Dhinron - senses that they are Ghouls and, as he expressed on their date, he wants to destroy them at all costs.

We consider forming a chokepoint in the doorway to receive them, but this takes too long for Dhinron and his will overpowers Mechtilde's and she charges into them under the sword's influence.

A Well Executed Plan

Liminal and others charge in behind her.

Mayfly and Liminal both casts spells with a wave of the hands: Mayfly casts Web over the ghouls and Liminal casts Fog which rolls over the party and fills up the hallway.

Unable to fight properly in the cloud, the party sans Mechtilde backs off until it dissipates. When the fog clears, Mechtilde has killed the ghouls in the web and the others have all scattered.

Treasure!

We inspect what the ghouls were interested in before the battle and find the body of a dead cultist from level 3.

On the body of the cultist are four gems - zircon cut into spheres. Without Blossom present this week, we don't know how much they're worth, but we're thrilled to find them nonetheless.

Time Flies When You're Casting Spells

In the next room is a fountain with two 4' long flies (Mayflies???) buzzing about. Verinka quickly puts them to sleep and we finish them off.

Listening to the southern door, the Changelings hear a mix of mumbling and buzzing.

Poppy easily forces open the door to reveal a wide 100' by 30' room with a trench full of blood taking up the middle of the room.

Jeff Goldblum's The Fly

Attending to the room are numerous 5' tall humanoids with four arms and fly-heads.

They are vomiting something into the blood trench and others are carrying red hot swords into the room and dipping them into the blood.

Maybe these blood-tempered weapons have some special ability??? We should consider researching them.

One of the figures notices us and waves a polearm menacingly at us.

"Begone from here, Plutus wants you not." - it buzzes at us.

A new friend? Or foe?

We perk up at the name and Liminal asks for more info, insisting he's a big fan.

They agree to ask him to meet with us and tell us to follow them.

The fly-men lead us through the room into a 20' by 20' room decorated with 4 pillars.

They continue south into a hallway and immediately exit into another room with more pillars and instruct us to wait here while one goes on into the next room.

A great stench wafts into our nostrils - a mix between rotten meat and pork rinds.

We hear buzzing and then a popping sound from the next room. The other fly-men wince and then motion us to leave quickly.

Back to the Village

The night grows late for us, and so we readily agree to leave the room and uneventfully journey back to the village.

Once in town, we sell the Zircon gems for 1,000sp.

We each gain 245xp and 111sp, with the hirelings taking a half-share.

This wasn't a bad session for us. We continued exploration of level 4 with no losses and made first contact with one of the factions there. The fly-people may be helpful to us and who knows what Plutus will bring??? We really don't know fully what level 4 holds for us, and so a cautious approach is best.