Village of the Damned

High-Level Plot

• The party approach the village, expecting a small vibrant little place and to find board overnight before continuing on their journey.

• As the party near the village they find a mist covered place and the lanterns which would guide them into the village are extinguished.
• The party find an NPC wandering near the entrance looking for help. (Ian? Small Children?)
• Eldritch horrors, scared villagers.
• If Characters succeed with stopping the summoning then they fight the high priest, Ian's character concludes the ritual
• If they fail, the priest is ripped apart by the creature and Ian teleports away with it.
• Bodies of incapacitated adventurers will yield more creatures to strengthen the army here. Aim will be to raise more priests and exponentially grow this army to tale over this planet.
• Current head priest tired to kill Ian's character, was an apprentice who has attempted to take the power from his character.
• Bronwen Proudguard is Ian's character
• Pax has gone ahead to scout hence him not being there.
• What god is the church for
  • Village will be farming
  • Goddess will be Thaelmire - the Goddess of Agriculture, Servant of the Wildmother

Ians' Character

He has taken over a farmer's body. Was betrayed by Fintan.

To Do List

• Review Ritual and work in Ian's words as final element of ritual
• Define more detail about farming town/village
• Define simple symbol for the goddess
• Write introduction
• Re-Write high-level plot
• Flesh out Fintan - Self-centered, would sacrifice others but wouldn't think of self-sacrifice

Notes

• Options for character possession?
• Cursed Items?
• Wisdom saves against horrific visions

Corpses of failed attempts - hung up as food? Chunks bitten out of them.

Note: Write journal from this persons POV - Voices, Research, Rituals (chants, requirements/components, experiements and outcomes)

Preacher arrived, started healing folks. Those he healed, some mutated... some became sicker. Infection? Plague?

## IAN NOTES ##

So odds are you'll be putting a village in either Westhold, a more military centric county, or Mirrial, where the capital is. Both are human/half-elf territories, though the former was historically elven.

Group Name: The Order of Chorazos

Traitor: Fintan Drabek

Other cultists: Teren (F) and Yadan (M)

Summoning: Mature Young One

Setup

10 days have passed since the events of SK-Con as you continue your travel to Loria. Things have been relatively peaceful as you continued along the main road into Mirrial, crossing the river Mir and following the road to Loria. Your travel next stop will be the village of Lithune. A small farming village approximately 1-2 days away from your destination.

The day has been clear as you travel but now that you're 15, 20mins away from the village you notice things start to seem a little hazy as you start to see farmland through the mist in the distance.

Off the side of the road you hear the sound of a sobbing child... "Hello?? HELP!! HELP! ANYONE" And as you move closer to to the source of the noise a small human child, 6, 7 years old? Short brown hair and grey eyes, Runs out to the road.

"Help, can someone help my father? He's hurt" child's name is Duston.

You hear a groan of pain in the distance. As you approach, Ian, would you describe your character? <Ian to introduce his character>.

A panicked looking tiefling woman emerges from the mists running towards you. Rose coloured skin, a thin golden chain attached to her gently curled horns and wearing tattered and dirtied robes. She looks terrified. "oh my god, thank god you're here!! At the church, they're... they're sacrifici-" as she is just gone, yanked into the sky back towards the village at incredible speed as if picked up by an invisible hand. For a moment you hear her scream before she is lost quickly from sight.

Once the adventurers enter the town/village a 1hr timer begins before the ritual starts.

Encounter One - The Approach

• Creatures patrolling the area
• Failure will result in a combat encounter

And so you enter Lithune. As you begin to carefully move through the deserted streets, the mist begins to clear to your let and you see a small child, perhaps 10 years old with short blonde hair sat on a bench watching you with a blank stare. He does not seem to react to your presence beyond giving a watchful stare. As you begin to approach, he begins to cough and wretch until he coughs up a silver coin which he holds out to you in his open palms. The coin itself is plain, containing a faintly glowing symbol on both sides. Any attempts to speak to the child are met with silence and the child merely stares at the party.

You begin to hear the muffled sound of approaching, heavy, slow footsteps, but you're struggling to tell what direction they're coming from.

Continuing in the direction of the Church you see this terrifying looking creature on the floor, silent and still. Only visible is the torso with two arms, which each split at the elbow into a pair of lower arms and hands. The head itself has a vertical mouth with large razor sharp teeth. As you stop to look, it's eyes open and it lets out a horrifying scream as it holds itself up and starts rapidly crawling in your direction screeching.

The muffled footsteps you heard earlier begin to get close and closer and out of the mist a complete version of one of these creatures lurches accompanied by a humanoid covered in boils across it's enlarged stomach and it's head and one arm now a giant tentacle. Gugs and abominations patrolling. Small combat encounter of 1 x Gug and 1 x Abomination.

As the 1 hour timer expires, a private 5min timer starts after which you hear a booming voice, echoing around the village

Behold! Lithune

For your sacrifice is not in vein

Ra'zhos will rise and bestow his gift upon this world

The Chant

In the shadows deep and ancient,

Beyond the stars, beyond the spaces,

Unveil the gate, reveal the passage,

From realms unknown, from hidden places.

By arcane sigils, by twisted threads,

By the cosmic dance of endless night,

I beckon thee, O Ra’zhos,

Step forth from darkness, into our sight.

From realms uncharted, beyond the veil,

Come forth, emerge, let boundaries rend,

In your enigma, our desires we hail,

By this chant's power, our worlds blend.

By cryptic whispers, by hidden truths,

By the shifting sands of the astral stream,

Answer my call, O ancient one,

Awaken from your eternal dream.

From the stars' embrace, you were cast aside,

Now heed my words, our desires align,

Ra’zhos, breach the divide,

With your presence, let power intertwine.

As you all begin to pick up the pace in the direction of the Church of Thaelmire I need everyone to make a dex save. A party member trips over corpse of creature. Again, another torso/head/arms of one of these horrifying creatures with the vertical mouths and 4 forearms. It reaches out and grabs hold of the ankle of the player. As the player instinctively moves back, the claw detaches from the creature at the wrist but remains with a vice-like grip on the ankle for 1d4 piercing damage.

The Final Fight

You enter a large chamber, pews pushed to the side. The altar at the front beneath the ornate stained glass window where inexplicably there is sun shining through.

As the party enter the cathedral they notice 3 robed figures in the central chamber chanting and concluding a ritual. The room is full of 10 people who turn around, eyes black with grey/ashen and stare at the party. One of these people raises an arm and points to the party letting out a high pitched whine. The group as a whole begin to step towards the party before they dissolve into black ichor and disappear.

The Ritual

To prepare for this spell, the Priest will have a box made from ebony and ivory, approximately six inches on each of its sides. The box will have a Hendecagram carved upon the lid. The box will be endowed with the Caster’s True Name. They will also have a silver bladed ceremonial knife as well as an additional container available to capture the Vapour that escapes from the sacrifice’s mouth, a sheet of parchment, a silver bowl and a quill made from a crow’s feather.

A human will be made available to sacrifice.

At the beginning of the casting, the Priest will drink a concoction formed from hemlock, honey and water

When they drink the poison, they will need to roll vs Constitution. A successful save deals no damage. A fail deals 3d6 damage.

The Priest takes the blade in their hand. Whilst they do so, black blood, blood that has been corrupted by the poison, will drip from their hand, running down the blade and dripping onto the ground. The Priest's nails will turn black, both on their hands and on their feet. Their bones will also all turn black, including the teeth, although the teeth will not fall out. Whilst, the blackening of the bones will fade over the next few hours, if the Caster dies, this whitening will not occur. This may lead to skeletons being found that are completely black.

The Priest then stabs down into the chest of the sacrificial victim and cuts out the heart with their dagger. Taking the dagger into their hands, they squeeze it and drain the blood into the silver bowl.

The Priest will then place a Scarab Beetle into the hole in the sacrifice’s chest that has been created by the removal of the heart. The Beetle will latch onto the torn flesh with its mandibles, and begin to expand and contract, beating like the heart that it has replaced.

Dipping the quill that has been made from the feather of a crow into the blood in the silver bowl, the Priest will commence writing down the spell. Once the entire chant has been written down, the scroll is burned until it is nothing but ashes.

The Priest then eats the ashes of the burned scroll. They open the box made of ebony and ivory and whisper the name of XXXXXXXXXX into the box, They shut the box and speak a short chant and then open the box directly next to the sacrificial victim’s mouth. The word XXXXXXX will be whispered from the box and enter the victim’s mouth along with a swirl of grey ashes, seemingly blown by the breath of the dead.

The dead sacrificial victim will then speak the chant. Whilst the victim is doing so, their breath will be blue and if gathered becomes Vapour.

Upon the completion of the chant by the dead body, the ritual is complete and the summoning occurs.

Combat Ideas

Patrolling monsters, players must avoid or trigger combat.

2 x Gugs are patrolling

No longer required

Pax Leaves

From behind, you hear the sound of metal scratching and scraping.. as you turn to see the source of the noise, you see Pax is holding himself differently, standing a little taller.. his shoulders a little broader and the grill across his face is now glowing red instead of the orange you normally see.

"Who the hell are you all? Where am I? And why am I here?"

If anyone asks who I am "That, is not your concern at this time"

If anyone asks what my last memory is "I was injured in the fighting and a damn dwarf was supposed to be repairing me. I've seen glimpses of things since... flashes of a 'friendly' fight for gold,

"Yes, that name. Pax, that's familiar but foreign. That is NOT my name and NOT who I am"

"Where's the nearest city? I'll figure this out there"

"No, I don't know any of you and don't have a reason to trust you. I'll not be following you, and would prefer if you did not follow me"

"DON'T make yourself a problem that I need to deal with" as Pax says this, you see from his right arm a blade appear.

And with that he turns around and starts walking back in the direction of Fairwind.

Stunned, you all watch him leave before continuing on your journey.