Chapter X: Shadow Over Ashenport Part 3

Upon Returning to the Smooth Sailing Inn, Duvall and Theolin Windsplitter find the inn almost empty, save Mathhias Creel and Terza; their entourages gone as willing sacrfices to the Celinadian River. The two remaining adventurers begin brainstorming plans to get the survivors out of Ashenport. Suddenly, the door to the Smooth Sailing is opened, and entering the decimated taproom was a Half-Orc clad in golden armor carrying a spear and shield. He introduces himself as Deimos Champion of The Twelve. Deimos is seeking his Catfolk travelling companion. They were travelling south when the nefarious storm erupted and both became lost. The two travellers became seperated, and Deimos wandered into this fishing village by either sheer luck of divine will of the gods. He was hoping his companion found her way to the inn.   Duvall, feeling his vampiric hunger creep in once again, decided to make his way into the stables by the inn to slake his bloodthirst by making a steed his next meal. He spied fresh footprints in the mud, fresh enough to not yet be washed away by the torrential rain leading from the doorless kitchen door of the inn to the stables. Duvall crept quietly to the stables and discovered a shadowy figure attempting to hide in one of the horse stalls. Duvall quckly apprehended the creeping person and discovered it was Pioter, proprietor of the Smooth Sailing Inn.   The Dhampir drug hia captive inside the inn, and the three adventurers tied him to a chair, wishing to interrogate him. Deimos used one of his divine abilties that prevented anyone within his presence to tell a lie. The group learned from Pioter that he was the one who snuck into the inn's kitchen to spike some food with the black elixir discovered earlier that night. The elixir was to lower the will of those who consumed it, making them susceptible to the "call of Dagon." The innkeep revealed that Dagon is one of the Great Old Ones, the forgotten gods that predates the Twelve, former rulers of the Natural World countless millnnia ago, and it was Dagon who summoned the unholy weather. Under more questioning Pioter reveals a ceremony is supposed to indeed take place at the time Shallaran had mentioned, but not in the town's chapel but the true chapel, the altar of Dagon, that exists underneath the neglected Gleaming Dawn Church. The secret door to the tunnel that leads to a tunnel could be found underneath a pew in the church's sanctuary.   Pioter then espoused his fanaticsm of Dagon, claiming that the Great Old Ones are the true gods of this realm, and the Twelve were nothing but false godlings and usurpers. Upon hearing this crazed heretical rant, Deimos took a sword and murdered the Lumenian captive in cold blood, saying the punishment for heresy was death.   Theolin and Duvall surmised that the only way to stop the storm which was keeping them prisoner in Ashenport was to disrupt this ceremony. Deimos volunteered his aid for no other reason than end this blaphemous cult and bring a halt to this Dagon.   The three ventured to the Gleaming Dawn Church and found the pew in the sanctuary as promised. There a set of stone stairs led to an underground complex of worked stone filled that must have been carved into the cliff that the church was built atop. The first chamber they entered the group was attacked by hideous Fishmen of Dagon and a few of the repuslive fishmen-hybrid. Once the battle was over, the group discovered a room with a filthy straw bed upon which laid Persephone , Deimos' companion. She was bound and naked save for a silk split skirt.   Persophone was freed and a locked footlocker was found as well. The catfolk rogue deftly picked the lock showcasing her skills in theivery and inside was her leather armor and gear. In the footlocker an ancient tome was discovered written in Abyssal, which Duvall could translate. The old book conatined a ritual that would protect all those it was cast upon to be immune to the Call of Dagon, the eerie demonic knell that filled Ashenports the last two midnights. A living sacrifice had to be made to comeplete the ritual; the "tainted blood of an infidel," which Duvall surmised meant the blood of a non-human sentient being.   Contuing on the through temple, another battle was fought. This one took place in some sort of makeshift library. There the four warriors found Shallaran, the supposed priestess of the Twelve-obiously a priestess of this Dagon in all actuallity, and Ritter, the alderman of Ashenport. The battle was won, and the party had guessed that likely the whole fishing village were members of this abysmal cult.   The adventurers carried on, and found a room that contained an altar to this once dark god. The room, like all the rooms in this underground temple was bathed in darkness, but filled with a few dozen cloaked figures, the Ashenport villagers, kneeling before the altar. at the far end of the room. From the darkess rose a voice,

“My friends, please.” The voice was that of an old man, old yet firm. It came from above, from beyond the altar. It was indeed an elder fellow, his gray hair long and stringy, standing by the basalt block. “There is no need for further violence. Join us. Pledge yourself to the Father of the Deep, and be greatly rewarded. Gold, jewels, and great magic can all be yours, as can forgiveness for those of the flock you have already slain. For Father Dagon is ever accepting.”

Deimos spat towards the elder priest wearing robes of navy blue with white trim. Beside him was another human cultist draped also in blue robes and room full of the dangerous fishmen.   The battle was on, and the cloaked worshippers quickly fled the chamber.   Theolin quickly made his way to the basalt altar and swung his wepaons. His blades biting deep into the elderly high priest. The priest's illusory disguise was dispelled when he received the deep cutting wounds from the former pirate, and his true appearance was revealed. Standing before them was a bipedal creature. The being's horrific face was squid like with tentacles drooping from the creature's lower jaw and chin, which would have been whiskers on a regular inhabitant on the realms. The priest's skin was covered in slick, slimy scales, and it's small eyes were dead and black.   The party was determined to bring an end to these atrocities aginst the gods once and for all. The fish-men and hideous high priest were slain, but the group left alive the last human cultist for questioning. The cultist negotiated the information he had for his life and freedom, and Deimos agreed though some of the party were not feeling as charitble.   The cultist revealed the plot of the cult of Dagon, as well as the will of Dagon himself. A few years ago, the fishing in the Celinadian River had gone dry. With freshwater fishbeing the village's main export, Ashenport had become poor, it's businesses dying with the economy of the town trade, it's villagers going hungry. Then a stranger came to Ashenport, Althanas, the now slain high priest in his human guise. He promised gold and other treasures in return for the inhabitants of Ashenport to forsake the gods of The Twelve and pledge their devotion to the Prince of the Deep, Dagon. The deal was made and the faith of the fisherfolk turned to this abomination, and the temple was dug into the cliffside. Worship to Dagon had begun.   And the priest kept his promise. Soon after the conversion of faith, various ancient treasure began washing up on the riverbed. These possibly priceless valuables were taken to larger cities to be sold to be bartered for food and supplies. Althanas then revealed Dagon's will to the people of Ashenport. The date of the festival held once every decade in Ahsenport, where merchants would arrive to negotiate for rights to the town's fishing trade historically, was approaching. The outsiders that the festival would attract would be sacrfices to Dagon. They would succumb to his unholy call and drown themselves in the waters of the Celinadian River, like some blasphemous baptismal.   All poweful Dagon would ressurenct the drowned and reshape them in his own image. Once all were "converted," these spawn of Dagon would travel the Great Rivers to infiltrate other fishing towns and villages; covertly becoming followers of the Great Old One. The adventurers had then figured out that killing Althanas had not stopped the threat, that Dagon was actually here in Ashenport! The cultist revealed their suspiscions were correct, and that the beast's lair was in the sunken caverns buried further underneath this crude temple.   The four agreed to uphold the bargain Deimos had made with their captive and set him free. Duvall insisted on escorting the man to the surface where he would release the cultist from his captivity. Once Duvall was out of sight of his comrades, he sunk his fangs into the human's neck draining him of his blood, killing him.   Investigating a pool filled with water that seemed bottomless, Duvall not needing to breathe, climbed into the pool sunk into a water filled tunnel that after several minutes emptied out into the river below. When the half-vampire reached the riverbank, he could see in front of him and entrance to cave or cavern. He scaled the cliff face effortlessly walking along it's surface due to his undead abilities, ventured back inside the church and the secret passage to Dagon's temple and rejoined his fellow warriors. He shared the information he found, and the party needed to decide to return to the relative safety of the Smooth Sailing Inn to recover their might, or to find a drier and safer way into the caverns to kill a god...