C2E08 – House of Orcus

Last updated on March 17, 2020

Welcome to the session recap for episode 8, House of Orcus. The party finds themselves in an alternate version of the house, but they are no longer alone. Voices are now coming from the previously empty kitchen. They listen in for a bit and quickly surmise, these are not good people. Unsure if they’ve traveled through time or into another plane, Rialta claps. The voices go silent and they hear one of them tell the other to, “Go check it out.”

Raiding the Kitchen

Without hesitation, Allix grabs her sword and flattens against the wall. Without warning, she swings her longsword and catches the searcher above the knee. He howls in pain and quickly scurries back into the kitchen. The party storms into the kitchen and finds a heavily tattooed man with a nasty gash in his thigh and a cruel-looking man in ash gray robes. They sound the alarm and ready for battle.

Raging, Allix charges past the thug and immediately goes to work on the man in the robes. He tries to cast some form of enchantment spell on her, but it fails. Night and Rialta rush the thug, with Tibalt, Rowan, and Zap right behind them. A door opens to the right and another tough guy comes through while a second readied a crossbow in the hall.

The fight was quick and lop-sided. While Allix, Night, and Rialta dealt with the cultists in the kitchen, Tibalt, as a giant wasp, Rowan and Zap took care of the other two. When the dust settled, they found a few coins and an amulet with an unusual symbol on it.

un-Living in the Basement

With the threat upstairs dealt with, Tibalt leads the charge down into the basement. As he swings open the door a blast of necrotic damage hits him and nearly brings him down. As the rest of the party rush in to help, they see four undead humanoids lumber out of the shadows and two men in robes linger in a doorway across the basement. An older, grizzled wizard in dark robes and a younger apprentice immediately begin slinging spells at the invaders as they use the zombies to keep them at bay.

Things start going wrong almost immediately for the cultists. Their first few spells fail to find purchase and the martial members of the party are making short work of the zombies. A couple of the party members jump the railing and manage to get around the zombies and head for the casters. Sensing the tide turning, the master tells his apprentice to fight on and slips out the back. The apprentice falls shortly after and the party mops up the remaining undead.

Purpose Revealed

With the zombies and the young apprentice dead, the party begins searching the basement. Through the door on the other side of the room, they find a small temple. A small altar to a horned demonic creature stands in the center with small benches on either side. In the center of the altar sits a small basin filled with black feathers and blood. A piece of parchment sits beside it.

You have done well, Melkonen. I will be sure to speak highly of your efforts to Elder Arantham. You have been promoted within the Covenant. Congratulations. You are hereby a Grave Speaker of the Ashen Covenant.

We will restore order to the universe by making undeath the inevitable conclusion to life!.

Orcus be praised, death to the Raven!

– Ash Bearer Ebonwright

A hole in the wall leads to a small room with a ladder that leads up. Following it, the party find themselves in the cold, dark alley behind the house. Mere feet from the door they entered earlier in the evening. They pop back into the house to see if it has changed but discover it was all some kind of elaborate illusion that is no more. Exhausted from their fights, they return to the Black Oak and go to bed.

End of Session