Escape from the Monastery

cy 4862 Arr 22nd - May 2nd

The party clear up the mess from the Combat Hall. They are joined by Deverrask, a dwarven sword cultist, Borriolix, a giant Ygran elf martial artist, and Carshan Zandria, a Tilean Paladin from a strange unknown order. As a precaution they return to the remaining monks and decapitate them. Xira spends her time healing viscount Taymar. Through the next door they come to a gallery with six balconies that overlook the northern tip of the Isle of Sharok. They find themselves almost two miles up, below them a sheer drop straight down.

The next room contains a blood stained altar with a pentacle beyond it and a flight of stairs descending to another level. Carshan touches the ancient stone slab and is overcome by an overwhelming sense of evil.  The party drag him back to the gallery to revive him.

Katana leads them down into a dining area where two skeletons slump over a long table. Borriolix and Carshan smash the bones to powder as a precaution and they head south to another door. This leads to the kitchen where a third skeleton resides, Borriolix duly smashes this one up as a precaution. The kitchen is dusty and deserted but opens out into a much grander chamber. Even beyond the chamber they see another room - a library. In the centre of the room is a raised dais and on this is a pentacle of protection.

Something moves in the pentacle. An overpowering sense of evil permeates everything. A severed muscular arm squirms at the centre of the pentacle and viscount Taymar speculates that this may well be the arm of the Old God Mormegon, severed by the ancient warrior mage Kiruk four thousand years earlier. Katana notices the watch still ticks backwards.

They avoid the arm and instead head for the library. Here they find ancient manuscripts that turn to dust as soon as they are handled but both Katana and Taymar can sense sorcery within. Before long they discover two ancient magical tomes but are unable to decipher the script. Borriolix stashes them away in his backpack and the party head back for the only other door.

Enter the Hall of Kings. Three statues stand in their way; an old first millennium soldier with a spear, a similarly ancient Darkland warrior with a nodachi, and a black-robed priest of Mormegon who carries a rod. Viscount Taymar launches an arrow at the furthest statue - the priest - and his aim is superb. The priest's left eye is punctured and the stone gushes blood as the statue falls and shatters.

Katana is swiftly upon the spearman, a lightning fast attack sees him decapitate the old soldier and he too falls dead and shatters. The assassin - Shihan - sneaks up behind the last foe - the Darklander - and the ancient warrior leaps into combat. This warrior proves a more difficult opponent. He trades blows with Katana and Taymar, the viscount suffers another terrible wound to the stomach. Borriolix hurls darts at the Darklander whilst Deverrask, Carshan, Taymar and Katana start to wear it down. Shihan stabs it and opens an awful wound in it's back before Katana - using the Iron Hand technique - cuts the statue in half.

Xira lays on hands and cures Taymar once more, she offers her healing to other members of the party who were injured in the fight.

Borriolix takes the nodachi and Deverrask puts the priest's rod in his backpack.

In the final room, the monks quarters, they see a sleeping Rosen nobleman called Almas. Katana knows instinctively that this man is indeed one of the ancient undead families of Rosengrad. Indeed Almas informs them that he believes the time to be cy 4850 and is stunned when they tell him that he has lost twelve years. Katana stays close, he tells Almas of the intervention of Malakar in Rosengrad and of the purification of the vampire lords and their influence.

Katana discovers the light of the full moon from another gallery and urges the party back out into the mountain pass. Their horses are gone. Almas' presence sits uneasily with most of the party but they put up with him initially. Later that night the drained bodies of four bandits litter the pass and Almas seems healthier and much happier. As night wears on the vampire becomes concerned about finding shelter from the daylight. They find a suitable cave and bed down for the day.

That morning Katana realises that the hands of his watch will not move. Somehow he is drawn out alone up the pass and finds a grey haired old man sieving for gold with a pan. "Greetings Katana," he says simply.

"How do you know my name old man?"

"I know many things; many things that will be and many things that have already been. The universe forces you toward a choice young man, a choice between the honour of your professional and your loyalty to your friends. It is a choice you must make."

Katana has heard enough. His blade is out quickly - the swift lightning draw - but as he attacks the old gold digger has gone.

Back in the cave Viscount Taymar attacks Borriolix without warning. The Ygran is forced to defend himself and Xira tries to step in, she warns the viscount that she will defend the elf if necessary. The rest of the party draw weapons and the tension rises to a fever pitch. Amid the confusion Shihan, the silent killer, sneaks up behind the daylight-weakened vampire Almas and draws a dagger across it's throat. He then tosses the head into the sun and the party watches as it dissolves to dust.

This seems to ease the tension. Viscount Taymar admits that he has been hearing voices urging him to kill one of the party. Katana asks Deverrask to reveal the priest's rod but it has gone, somehow migrating into Taymar's backpack. "It fed off your dishonour," Borriolix remarks astutely, "That thing is pure evil."

Try as he might Viscount Taymar cannot relinquish himself of the rod of chaos. As dawn breaks the party make their way down the steep pass that leads them to the northern tip of the Isle of Sharok...no-one speaks and the atmosphere is strained and tense...