Straight Outta Deepwheat #1

Straight Outta Deepwheat #1

“Right, team” said Silvery Cedric, the Deepwheat Village Priest, “here's the plan. Some chaps from nearby Poggollo have recently cleared out the topmost underground layer of The Monastery in the Marsh, St A'Silvidh.”

He picked up some sheets of parchment off his desk in front of them. Dramatically, he waved them at the group assembled before him in the preparatory room.

“These drawings you did of that map for your graduation exercise will come in handy” he said “they're of the Monastery. Use them to find your way about in the dark. Enter each room, set alight some incense and say a little prayer. Fumigate the place, re-consecrate it, cast out evil spirits.”

“You're a good bunch. This should be an easy start for you all in service to the Religion of the Four Points, on your road ahead to perpetual salvation.”

Cedric took them as far as the turnoff from the main road, pointed them to the cobbled causeway that led to the monastery and holding back a tear he bade them farewell

“Off you go, then, best of luck.” he said and started off back towards Deepwheat, before he broke down emotionally. It was tough for him, setting forth his proteges into the big, bad world.

So off they trotted, the team, eager to please on their first adventure:

Deepwheat1

 

Player	Class	Race	Name
Susan	Cleric	Human	OnmeKnees
Susan	Scout	Human	Snatchit
John	Cleric	Human	Rev Hire-a-monk
John	Fighter	Human	CameronFodder
Marc	Cleric	Human	FriorStatham
Marc	Fighter	Human	SirCasperVonDim
Sid	MU	Human	IvorSurve
Sid	MU	Human	FeebeeL
Sid	Pony	Pony	Donkey

They thought they'd start with the church itself, on the ground level, ruined as it was. This wasn't a bad idea, as it gave them the gist of what they needed to do and how long it would take. Even if they didn't give it as much reverence as they could have done:

“....oh come on, there's four of us....what's the hold-up ....half an hour tops....”

It was as if the pub next to the Bishop's House was about to open, they were in so much of a hurry.

Donkey didn't fancy going underground. Not his thing, apparently.

So they pegged him out to graze and got a plan without him.

OnmeKnees, called it out -

“Right. Here we go: In, north, First room with the rubble and the 2 graves. Fumigate/consecrate”

“Then south from there and back to the entrance in a loop”

“Doddle” they all agreed.

So they carefully inched down the wide stairway, to the crossroads, an eerie whistling sound just audible in the black stillness ahead.

“We go north” reminded Rev Hire-a-monk

And so they did, taking the next right, to the east.

A quick listen at the door .....nothing .....and they were in.

“Rats” called out Snatchit, who had somehow found himself at the front, despite his lack of armour. He didn't have to worry about it much, though as the lead rat sank it's its incisors deep into his neck.

Snatchit sank like an anchor.

Next to go was the RevHeiromonkAbraxus and it wasn't pretty for him either

But the tide turned. The religious fanatics got hold of themselves and soon a Sleep spell and valiant action, five out of six of the long-tailed hellspawn lay dead. The other was lucky to get away to warn his rodent chums.

The thought of its return spurred on the rest of them. They posted guards, burned some incense to help exorcise the evil and performed their ritual.

They piled their two fallen comrades into the non-occupied of the 2 sepulchres, said a burial orison and moved off down the south corridor.

There would be time for sadness later. Now was the time to complete their mission.

To the south lay a 30 by 40 foot room. But someone noticed that there was a secret door marked on the map to the east. So they set about trying to find it. This proved easy enough and with a professional routine worthy of their combined clerical wisdom they figured out how to open the door, spot the trap mechanism, disable it and go through the portal.

Result.

The passageway went due east. A loud roar of water grew to deafening by the time they reached a set of stairs leading down to a ledge. They surveyed the scene. Beyond the ledge was a huge and powerful waterfall, with a plunge pool beneath. Beyond the waterfall was a wall of rock, but at the plunge-pool level the far side led off into the distance.

On the near side, the path went both north and south.

It all looked very interesting.