The
Players
...wherein
Father Gaerik and his compatriots are fully detailed...
Episode One
...wherein the party enters a Shrine to Death and confronts Balor at the
Gates of Hell...
Episode Two
...wherein familiar faces return and lingering nightmares become reality...
Episode Three
...wherein the retired heroes are finally given rest from their labors...
The Movies
...wherein the inspirational viewing is reviewed...
The Repast
...wherein Maureen's refreshments are viewed and reviewed...
The Players...
Legend states that the village of Glennis, which is situated a little
over a day's ride west of the Vuchar River just south of Il Iluk, was once
plagued by Death-worshipping cultists. These men were not similar to the
Eternal Order, the disciples of King Azalin's mandated state religion. The
members of that august body seek to placate Death through the offering of
sacrifices and the performance of ceremonies. No, the cultists of Glennis
actually embraced the worship of Death as their deity.
Such were their crimes against humanity that an order of holy knights,
accompanied by sorcerous allies, rose up against them. The small band of
cultists were caught off guard by a well-timed assault, and the battle was
short but bloody. The lower levels of cults' lair were sealed off by means of
powerful abjurations. Before leaving, the mages buried the upper levels,
leaving the bodies of the fallen cultists to rot in the darkness and be
forgotten. But the legend persisted for one hundred years...
Part One, Ten Years Ago...
MARCH 740...
Brother
Gaerik, with his companions Sir Edgar and Garth, stumble upon Glennis on their
way to Lamordia. Word along the Vuchar led them to expect a quiet, peaceful
place. Word also included the local legend of the buried shrine. But what the
trio of adventurers did not expect as they crested that last rise was to find
the entire village packing up in a sudden panic to leave their homes behind.
Riding into town, Gaerik is quick to meet and parley with evacuating townsmen.
He learns from a nearly beligerent man that the Temple of the Eternal Order has
abandoned Glennis, and that soon the dead will be coming from the ruins. A less
angry young man tells Gaerik that the undead have already begun to emerge from
the ruins, and soon Glennis will be completely overrun.
The trio determines that there must be some way to end this menace aside from
leaving the village for dead. For years Gaerik and Edgar have actively taught
that belief in life and the power of the light is far superior to eternal attempts
to satiate the power of the grave. They are certain that the power of God must
be able to banish whatever demons lurk below.
In the village, brief encounters with Norrin, the village candlemaker, and
Lietta, the basketweaver, add some little information. Master Darkblood, the
high priest of the Glennis Eternal Order, vanished a full seven days ago. For a
week the acolytes of the Order have been seen investigating the town, the
cemetery, and even the forests to the west. Edgar quickly deduces that the
much-discussed ruins are in that very direction.
Norrin leaves Gaerik and company with a troubled young monk named Luther.
Luther explains that last night, as the orphanage was evacuated, it was found
that three children are missing. Luther remained behind alone to find them.
As the four talk, a scream goes up. Undead run the twilit streets of Glennis.
Four ghoulish creatures with a fearsome, life-draining keening, feast upon the
flesh of villagers and trapped horses. At the lead is a wraith clad in smokey
black robes adorned with two bloodstones at the lapels. After a brief melee,
Edgar manages to wound the wraith with a spiritual hammer, and all the
undead flee west.
Badly wounded, the four agree that they must recuperate before traveling west
to investigate the threat against the village. In the morning, they set out
into the forest. Luther is able to lead them to the reputed location of the
ruins, where a tunnel has recently been dug into the side of a low hillock.
Passing through, the party enters the shrine of the fell death cult.
In the shrine lurk the restless spirits of long-dead cultists and dust-covered
murals of a beautiful fallen angel, trapped within undying black flames,
scourging hideous demons with a wicked, nine-barbed lash. Through faith and
skill, the party weathers many traps and unholy guardians. Along the way, they
follow the footprints of a band of men who entered not long before them.
The missing children turn up one by one. First, six-year-old Tobie lies in the
dust, his severed head resting to the side of a great bronze door. The party
arrives in a brightly lit marble worship hall soon after the murder of the
second child, eight-year-old Gladys. Not only is the poor child dead, but her
spirit has risen to hover before a bronze door identical to the one Tobie had
been left before.
Gathered about the dead girl's remains stand Master Darkblood and his six
acolytes. Quickly, without uttering a single word, the master of the Order
grabs the third girl, twelve-year-old Elyse, and dashes through the door before
Gladys while his acolytes move to delay the party. Luther sees Elyse, still
alive, and charges after her. Moving at speeds only a hard-trained monk can
attain, Luther narrowly ducks through three thick, stone slab doors as they slam
shut behind him. He stands alone in a long hall with Master Darkblood and
Elyse. At the end of the hall is a pair of bronze doors, fashioned with the
image of the rising sun.
While Gaerik, Sir Edgar and Garth do battle with the acolytes of the Order, Luther
single-handedly incapacitates Master Darkblood, then slits the priest's throat
with his own unholy, enchanted scythe. Still under the power of Master
Darkblood's charms, Elyse rushes to the bronze doors and pulls one open.
Beyond is a shimmering, translucent replica of the open door, and beyond that
are the blasted, sulfur-spewing plains of Hell.
With the acolytes dead, Gaerik and the others are left alone with the ghost of
young Gladys. Weeping, the ghost speaks in a voice far too knowledgeable for
her earthly years. She explains that Master Darkblood uncovered the secrets of
the old cult and went through years of research to open long-dormant gates to
the fallen angel Balor. Balor is the most powerful of the Fallen who did not
take part in the temptation and Fall of Man. God allowed him to keep his
angelic form when the rest were transmogrified into hideous creatures. In an
indignant rage, Satan then punished Balor, trapping his renegade lieutenant in
undying, black flames.
Gladys also explains that the innocence of the children were needed to open the
doors. The first could be opened by flesh. The second only by spirit, thus she
had been murdered and summoned from the edge of life. The third and final door
could only be opened by the same child, first in flesh, and then as a spirit.
Before departing, the spirit explains that, to open the doors, a show of faith
must be given. Gaerik holds aloft his holy symbol and purifying flame splits
down the center of the stone slabs that had slammed shut behind Luther. One by
one, the slabs slide back, jarringly, into place. Standing below, holding the
catatonic, yet alive, third child, is Luther. Behind him lies Master Darkblood,
the bloodstones on his lapels glistening in the faint light.
Part Two, The Present...
Ten tumultuous years have passed. Just months after Elyse was returned
to the monks, the cataclysmic Grand Conjunction altered the face of the Lands
forever. In place of G'Henna and Markovia now stretches the bottomless Shadow
Rift. To the south, whole nations shift places, and domains such as Bluetspur
and the Nightmare Lands are apparently swallowed by the Mists.
For a decade, Gaerik, Edgar and Garth travel with Luther, righting wrongs and
crushing evils. Somewhat unhinged by the deaths of the two children, Luther
comes to relish the deaths of his enemies, and his companions begin to worry
about him. Sir Edgar continues the search for his father's homeland, though
evidence proves faultlessly that there is no such place as Cormyr.
Just months ago, an explosion transformed the city of Il Iluk into a city of
the dead. The Vuchar runs red with silt, though some point to more symbolic
reasons, and King Azalin has vanished. The Eternal Order is crumbling, and new
faiths are on the rise. Rumors persist of a white monolith rising from volcanic
Mt. Nyid to the east, and the Church of Ezra becomes more prominent with each
passing day. The party returns to Darkon, now referred to with increasing
regularity as Necropolis...
OCTOBER 750...
The
farms around Maykle are being terrorized by the warlord Karg-Nordgoth and his
inhuman allies. Karg has culled a force of goblins and derelict human filth
from the grottoes of Necropolis, the caverns of old Arak, and the highlands of
Nova Vaasa. Gaerik and the others constitute one of several bands of
mercenaries hired to defend Maykle against this threat.
The party battles a scouting party of four lumbering bruisers. Each oaf stands
a full ten feet in height and swings a huge tree-trunk club, driven through
with spikes, in melee.
A short time later, they come across a shallow valley where villagers and
mercenaries barely hold their own against more of the giant oafs and over a
half dozen filthy humanoid creatures. At the top of a second hill, directly
across the way, stands Karg-Nordgoth himself, clad in full plate armor
decorated with leering demonic visages and bloodstones. At his side is a trio
of lanky, green-skinned creatures wielding bardiches, and a tall, thin woman
wearing a black robe covered in unholy sigils, with a bloodstone on each lapel.
Charging to the aid of the villagers, Gaerik and the others drive off or slay
the humanoids, and Luther personally kills the cultist at Karg's side--Lietta
the basketweaver. The true revelation, though, does not occur until Sir Edgar
removes Karg's helm, revealing "him" to be Elyse. Binding and gagging
their prisoner, the party returns to Maykle.
While villagers drag away the warlord, Luther seeks out the worldly constable,
Alec Rapacion. Known to be a well-traveled warrior from the southern domain of
Kartakass, Luther hopes to learn something linking worship with bloodstones to
demonic possession. Alec knows little on that subject, but does recall legends
of the Cult of Dragonfang Keep, the death worshippers of Glennis. It was said that
they worshipped one of the most powerful of the demon princes, and sought to
grant him entrance into this world.
A visit to Elyse reveals the worst. She refuses to answer to any name but
Balor, and she smiles and scoffs whenever Gaerik or Luther speak to her. She
boasts of the slow, agonizing deaths she gave every person from Glennis, every
orphan from Luther's charge.
Outside, the village priest, Donal Clift, agrees that an evil force is at work.
He tells the party of Father Morning, a priest known to be a practiced
exorcist. Without pause, the four heroes leave Maykle for the Balinoks
foothills.
The party arrives before Father Morning's cabin moments before it erupts into a
fiery shower of debris and blazing books. An undead creature awaits them with
two winter wolves. With one eye, the creature hurls balls of fire, and with the
other it instills absolute panic. While the party deals with the wolves, the
creature turns to leave. Luther chases after it, but eventually must let it
escape. Garth and Sir Edgar search the wreckage for any sign of Father Morning.
Garth finds the body, and a single, singed tome, The Rite of Exorcism.
Armed with the knowledge of tome, Gaerik and the others return to Maykle.
Instantly, they realize that no one is speaking; not a single soul speaks a
word. No guards stand outside the council building where Elyse was kept.
The doors open to reveal a long hall filled with the wailing of literally
hundreds of tormented voices. Elyse sits, smiling, exactly where she was left.
Flanking her are her two guards, though both are now obviously zombies. Lying
dead on the floor is Father Clift, an unstoppered iron flask in his twisted
right hand. Luther rushes in and stoppers the flask, silencing the voices, as
Gaerik begins reading the rite.
Reality bends. Gaerik continues to read, ignoring the threats, the promises,
the visions. Elyse--Balor--summons poisonous snakes, swarms of scorpions and
wasps, bees and spiders. Coupled with these summonings are illusions of even
more creatures. Balor cracks open the very earth, revealing for Gaerik the
tortured souls of the Underworld. She roars and the zombies attack.
Garth, Sir Edgar and Luther struggle to protect their friend as he fights to
save Elyse's soul. They cut illusory serpents, defend against true ones. Then
Garth hears a sound that freezes him in mid-swing. Members of the Kargat have
come to Maykle, demanding that King Azalin is the true ruler of Darkon; they
will deal with this upstart Karg-Nordgoth. Battering down the doors, swarms of
real insects suddenly flood the room, and the Kargat arrives.
The zombies fall to the heroes' weapons. The Kargat are slain and the doors are
shut against the relentless hordes of wasps and bees. Across the room, Elyse
opens her mouth and flames, black flames, shoot forth, but Gaerik is protected
by a white aura. Balor--Elyse--cries out. The demon prince reaches through his
host, paralyzing Garth and Edgar, leaving them easy prey for the scorpions and
wasps crawling over them. In a final, desperate display of inhuman strength,
she breaks her bonds and charges across the room, hands outstretched to tear
out the cleric's throat.
But Luther is there to trip her. Elyse slides across the floor, glaring
balefully up at Gaerik, as the exorcism is completed. The girl slumps to the
ground. The insects vanish from existence, leaving only Gaerik and Luther
standing among a room of dead villagers and injured heroes. Silence fills the
council hall as voices are once again heard outside.
Part Three, In Twenty
Years...
Two decades pass. The four heroes have retired and moved on with
their lives. On occasion they gather together and reminisce. During one such
gathering, a knock comes to the door. A boy stands outside, holding a scroll
bearing an unknown seal. Gaerik cracks it open and reads an invitation to come
to Glennis for a very important meeting. It will be the thirtieth anniversary
of the day they entered the shrine.
A week passes in silent travel, and the party arrives in Glennis. They go to
Jarvis' Inn, meeting for the first time the son of the innkeeper who swore he'd
rather die and serve drinks in Heaven than run from the dead and leave his bar
behind.
The door opens. In steps a young man wearing a black cloak adorned with
bloodstones on the lapels. He wears back-and-breast and a cross about his neck.
He approaches the party in obvious awe.
Leaning forward, Luther taps the man's cross, and then the bloodstones, and
asks, "Which of these do ye value more?" The young man answers
truthfully that he values the cross, and that he wears the cloak only for the
magical protection it provides. Pleasantries forgotten, he produces a scroll,
which he and his companions found in the wreckage of an old exorcist's home in
the Balinok's foothills east of Maykle not two months earlier.
Father Gaerik,
I knew you would come as I knew you would finish the work I started. Just as I
knew I could not banish the dark one from the Lands of the Mists; just as I
knew you would. Take this scroll to the palace of King Tully in the domain of
Damara, where I have secured a reward for you. A pension awaits you there, of
one thousand pieces of gold per year, and a plot of land in the Galenas
Mountains. For your friends there awaits and equal reward.
And so the party traveled to Damara and met with King Tully. Gaerik and Garth
and Luther received their rewards, but Sir Edgar received a reward far
different, and far more valuable. At the hands of the greatest cleric the Lands
have ever known, the cleric who banished the Mists themselves, Sir Edgar found
himself plane shifted to another Realm, his father's home. Cormyr.
The Movie Marathon...
The following films played in the background, for inspirational
purposes...
Death Ship
1980, 91 mins. George Kennedy, Richard Crenna *****
A cruise ship is rammed in the night and sunk. The handful of survivors take
refuge aboard an ancient World War II vessel, only to find it is still
inhabited by a sinster, ghostly crew.
Bram Stoker's
Dracula
1993, 130 mins. Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves ****1/2
The classic retelling by Francis Ford Coppola, transforming the ultimate Gothic
horror tale into the ultimate Gothic love story.
Halloween
1978, 91 mins. Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance *****
John Carptenter's masterpiece, the birthing place of Michael Myers. In this
episode, Michael comes to Haddonfield, Illinois after a fifteen-year sojourn in
an institution, followed closely by the ominous Dr. Loomis, who is the only man
who understands the sheer magnitude of Michael's threat.
The House on
Haunted Hill
1990, 75 mins. Vincent Price ****1/2
Vincent Price offers a diverse selection of guests ten thousand dollars each if
they dare to spend the night with him in a house notorious for seven murders.
Foul play and debauchery abound!
The Exorcist
1973, 122 mins. Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller *****
William Peter Blatty's haunting story of demonic possession. Even after
twenty-five years, the special effects and story still are convincing enough to
send chills down the spine.
The Exorcist II,
The Heretic
1977, 118 mins. Linda Blair, Richard Burton, James Earl Jones ***1/2
Once again, Regan's soul is the battleground between the forces of good and
evil. Pazuzu is named as the demon from the original classic, and Richard
Burton, as Father Lamont, must come to terms with his own questions of faith before
he can follow in the footsteps of Father Lancaster Merrin.
The Repast...
Hours of
laborious work produced the finery displayed below.
Grave Earth
Bologna Wiggles
Pumpkin and Bat Cookies
Pumpkin-Poke Cake, Skewered Fruit and Cheese, Pumpkin Pie, Spidersilk Pie,
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Goblin Goo Punch
And Festive Plates, Napkins and Party Favors
And here is Mr. Flopsy Ears, wearing his favorite Halloween tie, to wish you
Happy Holidays for 1998!
In the background, all snug in their bedding, you might notice
Sam, Reginald and Marvin...
Follow Mr. Flopsy Ears back to the resort.