Guardians and Lictors

With the cathedral empty you are free to explore at your leisure. On the alter is a golden chalice containing blood. You add it to your ever growing stash of sellable loot. Down some stairs lie the sleeping quaters of the cultists. You rest here for a time regaining your strength and resolve.

When you awake you return to the cathedral and search it more thoroughly. You find a secret door beneath the alter leading down a narrow stairwell. As you begin to descend into the darkness, Vello, the priest, begins to howl in pain. The strange Glyphs tattooed on his skin glow and burn, searing hot. He staggers back as smoke rises from his body.

"You will have to procede without me." he says, "but be warned! Whatever lurks down there is an evil of despicable evil and great power."

You leave him behind you and the shadowy presence slinks past. The priest smiles knowing instinctively that it has no nafarious intentions. His smile is wiped clean and replaced with a distainful shudder as a deeper shadow shifts by, stalking the first. He whispers a quiet prayer for your safety.

The path ahead splits in two, one way leads to a stairwell, the other to a long corridor. Choosing the stairs you begin to descend. Before you have taken 5 steps, a trap springs turning the staris to a slippery ramp sending you plummeting into the depths. A ghostly presence sends Hrothgar, cloaked in the shadows, barrelling after you.

You land in a dark room. The sourcerer lights a sunrod revealing a learge interior. The ground is wet and squishy and littered with corpses in various states of decay. A series of low growls can be heard eminating from the darkness. A ghostly presence lights up a dark corner of the room near you revealing a surprised looking Shadar-kai ranger.

"Who the fuck are you!?!?" Exclaimes Spartan.

"err... don't mind me, I'm just passing through..." says Hrothgar, regaining some of his composure.

before proper introductions can be made, a hoarde of salivating beasts, insectoid in nature, crawl from the walls and ceiling towards you. Their tendrils are dripping with a slimey digestive mucus and they do not look pleased.

Leading from the rear is a hideous misbegotten fiend of nightmare with grasping, spiked foreclaws and a bloodstained proboscus. It's thoracic segments are distressingly elongated and it's raptorial legs send it lopeing menacingly towards you at a frightening pace.

A shimmering barrier of light arizes between you and the army of creatures, causeing them to hesitate momentarily. Hrothgar pulls a small axe from his bandolier and hurls it towards the wall of light to test it's solidness. The axe passes straight through unhindered hitting one of the monsters in one of it's many shoulders, sending it into an enraged frenzy.

The first beast drops from the cieling and engages the party beginning an epic battle between man and beast. Steel, arrows and flame flash death and destruction through the endless ranks of insectoids. In the ensuing confusion another creature, even more brutal and menacing than the leader creeps from the shadows, gurgling in horrid rapture.

as the last of the smaller creatures subside You advance beyond the barrier to engage the first beast. The second lashes out at you but is blocked by a heavily armoured man who shouts,

"I'll handle this one!"

He single handedly dispaches the creature in a few deft motions and shouts encouraging words in your direction.

Bladed claws lash out and grab Erevan using him as a human shield to ward off attacks. While the others carefully try to avoid hurting the wizard, The cold hearted sourcerer is completely undeterred. He unleashes obscene magics directed at his own ally, blasting him from the monster's grasp and away into unconsiousness.

Without the human shield protecting him the beast is vulnerable and a hail of arrows and sword strikes rain upon him with deadly accuracy.

"The final blow shall be mine!" Hroth shouts, grinning maniacally at the goliath.

"Ha! We shall see." Spartan replies.

The beast howls a hiddeous cry and collapses, coated in a thousand arrows and missing several limbs it falls to the ground. It's flaming corpse being slowley eaten away by corrosive acid.