The Vexing Venhatis

We traveled deeper into the Dwarven ruins. Wary of what awaited further into the depths. It was as silent as a tomb down there. Morbid thoughts, but what else is that quiet. Heading in each direction were many doors leading to the Cultists' living quarters. Each one contained little more than a bed and a dresser. Not much in the way of coinage either. Where was everybody? Had we killed them all? Where was their leader?

In addition to the basic living quarters we found the High Priest's rooms. In the one was a diary of Freya. A bigwig of some renown in the cult. From what I gathered the Blight Cult came to the Vale after curse. So, they are not the cause of it. They are just capitalizing on the misfortune. There was also some details about the Cult leader Venhatis. He is described as a mad man and Freya and her brother Drognir are planning on betraying them. I kept that information in my head thinking it might come in handy.

 In the other high priest's quarters we found a treasure chest with a secret switch in the bottom. I flipped the switch in the hopes that it would reveal more treasures. Instead it opened up a secret door behind a painting. Within this area were terrible looking creatures that were nothing more than grotesque heads with wings. One emitted a harsh shriek that pierced my very soul with fear. I slumped to the ground too frightened to move, even when the creature came close to me. It inserted it's horrendous tongue into my mouth. I don't know what it was planning to do. I couldn't stop it whatever it was. Luckily my companions made quick work of the beasts and saved me before I was done in. Needless to say this encounter left a bad taste in my mouth. The sooner we got out of here the better. There was just one more door to go...

And this was the one. The black heart of the blight cult beat within this Dwarven Hall. It must have once been a temple with the balconies and the pews. At the end of the hall was a Dais where stood Venhatis and the Blight Siblings. Venhatis was a madman who's cackling laugh and jittery speech echoed off the walls. What gave him that spastic tic? As we entered the room he gave his speech and pulled a switch dropping two cages from the ceiling. Inside was one was Phineas and Deborah,the kindly farmers that sheltered us. Kevin, their son, said they were kidnapped. Inside the other was the Mayor's children. Attached to each cage was some devious trap. We were obliged to rescue them, but first we had to get through Venhatis' minions.

They appeared to be mindless goblins. They were sitting in the pews and turned on us at their master's bidding. I quickly stabbed the first one I saw with nothing to show for it but a small piercing that oozed acid. My swords would be of no use on them. It fell to the light of Heironius to deal with them. And deal it did. Trevor's god basically obliterated these "blight zombies" Good for us, bad for Venhatis. Unfortunately there was more than just zombies serving Venhatis. The balcony contained more mages, and blight priests. These suckers continued to the vex us with magic grease and acid blasts. Then to top it off, we discovered a giant Gelatinous Cube guarding the dais. On top of that, Venhatis decided taking flight was a good way to engage us. The coward hid behind Stalactites only appearing to spit acid and taunt us.

Wolfwood took care of the balcony cultists with the help of Veekay. That left the gelatinous cube for me, Trevor and Soranna. Of course Soranna found herself floating in the ooze, again. She nearly succumbed to the Cube before we finished it. Then the Siblings attacked . We fought back valiantly Wolfwood with his arrows, Trevor and I with our Swords while Soranna lay recovering on the ground. The coward siblings turned to gas and fled before we could offer the finishing blows. Meanwhile Veekay was doing his best to get Venhatis. Lightning Bolts, Magic-Missiles and every other spell he could cast. In the end it was a well-placed crossbow bolt that finally took the Mad Priest out.

We were left bloody and broken. Somehow Wolfwood's Wolf companion Toafy was killed. I quickly ran to the dais and rescued the mayor's children. Sadly there was nothing I could do for Phineas and Deborah. When Drognir escaped he dropped the key to their cage and it broke on the ground. There was nothing we could do except watch them get consumed by acid.

There is no time to mourn and no time to heal our wounds. We have to get back to the surface and the relative safety of a town.

The blight might have started to take it's toll on me. My hair has fallen out. Will I succumb...