Session 10 – The Exorcism Ceremony
The group had fled the Citadel with a pair of teleport spells. They had teleported out in two separate groups.
• Group 1 - Martin, Callister, Rothgar
• Group 2 - Myrian Brothers, Grimnoth,
The teleport spells had taken them to a location about 10 miles outside of the Citadel. The plan was to evade Duthelm military patrols and make it to the town of Foreston.
The town of Foreston is some 50 miles away (three days by foot). It is the nearest settlement of significant size which is still controlled by Imperial/Kitaran forces. Between the party and Foreston is a large war zone with roving patrols of Duthelm soldiers, orcish raiding parties and burned out villages.
The myrian brothers stuffed Sargran's Ninth Book (which they had taken with them) into a Girdle of Many Pouches. They plan on using a rope trick as a secure extra-dimensionl resting place to hide from the Duthelm patrols.
Within the first hour, the party had a close encounter with a Duthelm patrol. They heard the sounds of horses and the jingle of armor. Peering from their hiding spot in the trees up on a hill, the party gazed down at the Duthelm soldiers. A dozen mounted orcish and ogrish soldiers. They were heavily armed and armored. The party did not want to announce their presence by attacking, so they stayed hidden and waited for the group to pass.
The party continued their journey toward Foreston. A few hours later, they spotted smoke over the next hill, directly in their line of travel. They crested the hill and looked down to find a force of some fifty orcs, ogres and humans attacking a Rukemian village. This war party had wagons, war dogs, beasts of burdens, a small giant and a wizard. The village militia, not more than 40 village men, was quickly loosing the battle. Unable to hold back, the party leapt to the attack and swept down from the hill top on foot. They charged into the village and single handedly turned the tide of the battle. Within a minute, the wizard and giant lay dead along with two dozen orcs and ogres. The remaining Duthelm soldiers fled the village.
The party stayed at the village that night. Early the next morning, they pressed on and by the end of the second day they reached the town of Foreston. There they met with Captain Retarg and his lieutenants. From Foreston, the party was escorted back to Rukemia with an armed escort of soldiers on horseback. Duthelm patrols pursued them for over 100 miles, but eventually the party and its escort were too deep in Imperial territory and the Duthelm soldiers ceased their pursuit.
In Aridorn, the party met with officials and were debriefed. The party rested and recuperated from their ordeal.
While the party had been journeying back to Aridorn, the imperial priests of Imarus had been studying the Avisarr and preparing for a Banishing Ceremony, an exorcism of sorts. They were going to exorcise the spirit of Draxorith from the Avisarr gemstone and destroy both.
The next day, all preparations were complete. The Banishing Ceremony was to be held in the main Temple Complex of Imarus in Aridorn.
The ceremony was to be conducted by the High Priest of Imarus and a dozen lesser priests. The ceremony was to be witnessed by two dozen Imperial officers and soldiers, the heroes and a miscellany of nobles, senators and other imperial government officials.
The ceremony was quite formal and began with an elaborate "recognition" of the heroes and a long-winded speech given by Senator Nitavla (the same senator who had recruited the player characters back in Session 2).
"It is a grand day for the Empire. Mere weeks ago we saw the break of the siege at Myranor. Since then we have stopped the advance of Duthelm at Shenart Valley and won the battle at Krellof. Now, we see finally before us the seed of evil that has spawned this war. We have before us the Demon Stone - the very life essence of their god. Today, before you, we, the priests of Imarus, will obliterate this dark essence and slay the Demon once and fall all. The armies of darkness will tremble at the news, their ranks will break and the cleansing of the lands can begin. This thing we do most humbly for the glory of the Empire. And to honor his most illustrious Imperial Majesty, Radiance of the Eastern Realms, the Emperor. May he see fit to reward the faithful of Imarus. Now, let us begin. Behold, the wonderous might of Imarus"
With that, the priests took up their positions around the Avisarr gemstone which lay on a stone pedestal at the center of the huge chamber. The priests began to chant.
The players could feel the stone beneath their feet begin to tremble and vibrate from the energy accumulating in the room. A brilliant field of glowing energy began to form in the room, suspended in the air, directly over the Avisarr. Callister's tattoos began to glow, reacting to the magical energies in the room. Energetic bolts of lightning began to fork about within the glowing cloud above the Avisarr. The Avisarr itself began to glow brightly and a clear crystalline note was heard. Strands of energy emanated from it. The light intensified as did the rumbling of the stone floor. The light and sound and energy increased in intensity, higher and higher, until finally the fury of energies reached a crescendo and the Avisarr shattered violently in a burst of glittering crystalline shards. The gathered crowd gasped and fell back. A noble woman fainted.
The priests redoubled their effort and their chanting became more urgent. The priests stared into the center of the room with vacant eyes, oblivious to everything around them, their attention focused on the spell, the chant.
The cloud of energy above the Avisarr changed into a rolling cloud of oily blackness and smoke. The cloud boiled and churned with a deep guttural growl almost as if it were the embodiment of anger. Then, quite suddenly, the cloud calmed and contracted and solidified into a perfect sphere. The surface of the sphere appeared to be hard and stony.
The chanting of the priests rose and fell, reaching a climax. Cracks appeared in the surface of the stone and the chanting reached a fevered pitch. The stone sphere exploded in a brilliant flash that lit up the room. Jagged bolts of lightning flashed out from the center of the explosion. Chunks of flaming stones were hurled and the assembled throng dove for cover. Several priests were caught full in the chest by the lightning bolts and their flaming, charred corpses were hurled bodily back against the wall. Other priests clutched their chests, belching forth spellfire from their eyes and mouths, and then keeled over.
Once their eyes adjusted from the bright flash of light, the crowd saw that the rolling cloud of churning shadow and smoke was back. It expanded as if it had been taking shelter in the stony sphere. It rose up and took the form of a great winged thing. Two great glowing eyes formed and the thing glared at the party of heroes. A deep voice, like the grinding of stones, spoke words in a language the heroes did not understand. With that, a tremendous rush of air was heard and the demonic figure evaporated in the air. Sudden silence descended. Bits of ash and dust fell gently to the floor.
The crowd and heroes, dazed, struggled to their feet. Smoke filled the room, but the black demonic cloud was gone.
"Praise be to Imarus!" exclaimed one of the Senators. "You've done it! You've banished the demon!" The crowd cheered. People shook the hands of the party and the priests, congratulating them. Everyone was talking excitedly. The senators were already talking of a parade and a grand celebration.
"Wait!" cried the High Priest. The crowd quieted down as all turned to look at him. His brow was creased in concentration, a stern frown on his face.
"What is it?" asked Senator Nitavla nervously.
"This evil has not been banished," he said, slowly opening his eyes. "This evil is still here." He turned his head slowly one way then the other, surveying the assembled people.
"There!" he cried and thrust a finger at one of the Imperial officers, a dark haired captain. "Stop him!" cried the High Priest. Before the soldiers could react, the captain drew his sword and lopped off the head of the lieutenant standing next to him. With a feral cry, he ran another officer threw as he ran to the doors of the chamber and threw them open. He turned to gaze back at the startled people. His eyes glowed a hellish red and his gaze settled on the party. He then fled out the double doors.
Senator Nitavla ran over to the heroes. "Stop him!" he cried. "You must stop that thing before anyone else is killed".
Another senator strode forward and stabbed an accusatory finger toward the heroes. "You brought that monster into our city. You must be the ones to kill him".
With a heavy sigh, the heroes drew their weapons as they charged out of the chamber. The heroes poured into the main corridor just in time to see the possessed captain exiting through another set of doors. They followed him, running through chamber after chamber. In his wake, the captain was leaving a wake of destruction – an overturned table, spilt food and wine, scared servants, a dead acolyte, a splattering of blood on the wall. Down a corridor and left they turned, in close pursuit, only to stumble over the body of a temple guard, his throat cut and his blood spurting out onto the floor. The sound of a woman's scream spurned them on and they soon found a door torn off its hinges.
The heroes burst out into sunlight and found themselves in a courtyard. There they found the captain engaged in battle with several young temple guards. Callister drew his sword and lunged in while Rothgar fired arrows. Several other temple guards joined the fight. The captain hurled fiery bolts from his finger tips and slew several of the guards. Callister cleaved his sword into the captain and almost split him in two. A dark churning cloud emerged from the body. The glowing red eyes were visible in the cloud.
Ugita summoned his most potent magic and cast a spell to banish the demon. His spell grappled with the disembodied spirit, but the demon spirit shook off the spell. A deep, guttural laugh emanated from the cloud and echoed about the courtyard. Ugita, having no more magic, dropped to his knees, clasped his prayer stone and squeezed his eyes shut in prayer.
"Please Oxolai," pleaded Ugita," please, I beseech you, my Lord... grant me one more Banishing spell. Let me be the vessel through which your Power might flow. Help me destroy this abomination."
In answer, Ugita felt himself fill with power. Magical energy crackled from his fingertips. He felt power surge through him. He uttered the same incantation again and the magic roared from his outstretched hands. The courtyard shook with the fury of the magic and the demon spirit was struck squarely with a blinding bolt of energy. A terrible wailing shook the walls and was heard throughout the city district. The energy sizzled through the cloud and with a tremendous flash, the cloud was ripped apart. The demon's scream echoed in the courtyard for several seconds as the remnants of the cloud dissipated.
The cloud was no more. The demon spirit had been banished. The day was won.