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?)
• There's a ritual in the town square, sacrifices to be made of the town mayor?
• Eldritch horrors, scared villagers.
• Mid-session, Ian's character turns on the party as the mastermind of this plan.
• If Characters succeed with stopping the summoning then they fight the high priest
• If they fail, the high priest uses plane shift/teleport with the summoned creature. Once the fight concludes the fog lifts and horrors are no longer present.
• 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.

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.

Setup

As you continue your travel, it's a clear day, and the road quietens as you make your way. The travel is pleasant for the first half a day's worth of travel, and you are approaching the small town of Lithune. You expect to arrive at the at this small town for an overnight stop to rest up before continuing your journey.

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.

Off the side of the road you hear the sound of a sobbing child... "Father? Father?!" And as you move closer to to the source of the noise a small human child, 6, 7 years old? Runs out to the road.

"Help, can someone help my father? He's hurt"

You hear a groan of pain from the side of the road and see <Ian to introduce his character>.

As you near Lithune, a mist seems to descend and as you arrive at the gates to the village you find that the lanterns aren't lit and all is quiet. A little too quiet. As you pause to take a moment you hear hurried footsteps.

A panicked looking tiefling woman runs 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 pulled into the sky back towards the village by an invisible force.

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

Encounter One - The Approach

• We enter initiative order
• Creatures patrolling the area
• Failure will result in a combat encounter
• If we get close to a fail, Ian's character can signal to the creature (messaging me directly?) to hold off and play ignoran

Gugs and abominations patrolling

All houses/shops are boarded up. There are sounds of frightened citizens coming from each of the houses.

Possibly walk past a child sat on a bench, who as the party approaches starts coughing and retching before offering them a coin emblazoned with a symbol.

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On a near failure the party stumble over the upper torso of a vile, mutated creature. It's eyes shoot open and it lets out this unnatural sound as it reaches out and grabs the ankle of the nearest party member. As the member steps back, the wrist is ripped from the arm of this creature and remains attached - DC15 STR check to remove it. The player takes 1d4 piercing damage as it sinks its claws in.

On a second near failure the upper half of a creature is on the floor, lets out a low terrifying howl as it begins to crawl after the party.

As you enter the town, the streets are deserted. The houses are uninviting and shops are all boarded up. Occasionally you swear as you walk past some houses that you hear the faint cries and terrified whispers of what could be townsfolk.

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

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, 15 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.

Hear me!

King of Infinite Space!

Planetmover!

The Foundation of Fastness!

Ruler of Earthquakes!

The Vanquisher of Terror!

The Creator of Panic!

Destroyer!

The Shining Victor!

Son of Chaos and the Void!

The Guardian of the Abyss!

God of the Outermost Darkness!

Lord of Dimensions!

Riddle-knower!

Guardian of The Secrets!

Lord of the Labyrinth!

Master of the Angles!

God of the Whiporwills!

Omegapoint!

Lord of the Gate!

Opener of the Way!

The Oldest!

All-in-One!

The One by Life Prolonged!

Umr At-Tawil!

Iak-Sathath!

YOG-SOTHOTH NAFL'FTHAGN!!!

Your servant call upon you!

If the priest successfully summons the creature, it comes out of the floor, cracking the stonework as it ascends. It uses its tentacles to grab the limbs of the priest and pull him apart.

Combat Ideas

Patrolling monsters, players must avoid or trigger combat.

2 x Gugs are patrolling