Carrion Crown, as told by Inquisitor Victoria van Helm.
NB: I missed session 39...
Esteemed Witch Hunter Coim,
It is my greatest shame; I got lost. While I was lost, the party discovered a cult.
As I have not been seen by them, and Hecathia is believed to be one of them, I join her on an infiltration of the cult.
We walk into the Recondite of the Order of the Indomitable Sea, past a somewhat outdated depiction of Gozreh. Something seems off -- her hair is, on closer inspection, tentacles.
Cultists are worshipping quietly, so we scoot on past and open up a room on the right.
On the far wall is a mosaic of a Scum, a race of fish-like creature. Monstrous humanoids that live underwater in large broods called "Cabals". They're functionally immortal, not dying of old age, but cannot reproduce within themselves. Any spawn of their unholy relationships have a certain "look" about them, and become like their monstrous sire. Darkvision, multiple attacks, sentient and capable of casting magic in certain cases. Resistant to cold.
There's an altar filled with fish guts, the source of the positively charming odor in the room.
We move into the next room; it's a dormitory of some sort. I search it and find some interesting books on fishing, and a dusty tome of Gozreh, Hymms of the Wind and the Waves -- doesn't look like it's been used for a while.
The far wall has an aura of magic about it; Hecathia dispels it, and we pass through into a SECRET ROOM.
The secret room has a wooden bench, next to a pool of dark water. Also two people. They seem wary of us. Hecathia asks how they are, and what they're doing; they're just waiting for the Father to come back.
I wish them fun with that, and they take it literally; it's no fun at all, the Neighbors haven't taken the offerings lately. Hecathia bluntly implies they're doing it wrong. They mumble about how the Father told them to, and they've sent a 3-month old baby to the Neighbors.
Hecathia throws up in her mouth a little bit, unable to hide her disgust. I cover for her, explaining that the child is a bit young, and move on.
The next room's walls and ceiling are covered in carvings of fish, including an unsettling illustration of a woman mating with a fish man. A semi-circular pool of water stands in front of a bloody altar.
The chief priest is here, and so is a big crab-like creature covered in jewelry. It sees us, and immediately aggros.
Hecathia bluffs with "I bring an offering to Father Dagon"
The priest can't understand how we got in. The crab doesn't care and wants to hurt us good. We run as fast as we can, but by the time we get back to the entrance, the crab is already there! He locks the door with magic.
I charge in, and stab at the crab, but it scoops me up and sqeezes me.
Lucia smashes through the window, a literal blur of motion, and begins mutilating the crab.
Ronan clambers through and joins in.
The cultists who were praying at the statue stop that, and finish pumping before they charge in with sickles.
We battle them, and the head priest who emerges from the room, and I take a bad hit but we eventually win.
When exploring the temple, we found three reddish-gold statuettes of unholy creatures, and hidden in the deepest reaches of the hidden rooms, headless corpses, one of which we identified as Undersherriff Grumph.
One of them seemed rather well-to-do, with 21 gold coins that appaear to be freshly minted in Kalathas (I take 5), and a ceramic egg. Hecathia promptly drops it, and it splits open to reveal a metallic symbol; a gagged skull.
The mystery deepens.
Glory to Pharasma,
Vic
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