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071026

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 5 months ago

The Shroud of Skelos, Chapter One

Willow's dream had said that only followers of Shinara, the Goddess of Fortune and Misfortune, would provide them aid, so the group sets out for the closest temple of the Fickle Lady. As it turns out, this particular one explores the vagaries of fate by being a casino, and the group settles in for a bit of gambling while the high priest, Belsham, talks to Willow about her problem. The group's luck starts out quite well, with Hanthel winning a sizable amount of money.

On the other hand, Willow's news is not as good. Belsham's research reveals that the group has broken the seal of the dimensional lock that holds Shuggutiegli, also known as the Reaper of Worlds, or He who Walks in Eternal Darkness. The only way that the seal can be restored is through the magical power of the twelve artifacts that created it in the first place. He shares with her a fragment from the Eighteenth Canticle of Belbel the Diviner (a somewhat mad historian):

At the Crystal Palace, the races of the younger gods feasted upon the flesh of symmetry, and crafted that cosmic infinitude called the Seal, behind which they shut the antiquarian monstrosity called Shuggutiegli, the Reaper of Worlds. And into that eldritch cartouche they bound the powers of twelve items, each serving its own purpose: The Shroud of Skelos, that the Seal might be hidden from the baleful eye of He Who Walks in Eternal Darkness...The Spear of Autumn Casting, so that the Seal's power might extend throughout that abysmmal prison...

Unfortunately, the fragment ended, only identifying two of the items needed to remake the seal. All was not lost, however, because Belshem knew a story about the Shroud of Skelos being taken by Brinmar the Strong into the Bone Sanctum, an evil necropolis. Willow collected her friends and they made plans to set out.

Not all omens were good, however, as Xander did some last minute gambling, and lost much of what Hanthel had earned.

The group traveled to Crow Ridge, a small but hardy town near the Bone Sanctum, and met Tybane, High Priest of Helm. After witnessing the corrupting power of negative energy upon a young girl, the heroes grimly set off into the Bone Sanctum.

All PC's get 176 XP, and Willow gets the XP bonus of 88 XP