Session Forty-Three - December 10, 2006

[Matt]

Larane 24, 731 TR (late evening)

The party stood in the empty room looking at each other. “We’re too late and the Inquisitor has already left the abbey,” Sir Baris said breaking the silence.

“No, there’s no reason for him to do that.” Sir Ewen disagreed. “Perhaps he’s down in the dungeon.”

“Let’s split up and look for clues. I’ll check the stables and you go to the dungeon. One of us is sure to find him either way.”

Kaelyn agreed with Sir Ewen that the Inquisitor was in the dungeon; therefore, she offered to go with Sir Baris to the stables. Imarë offered to go with Baris as well, as her superior vision and skill with the bow would be of more use to the party if the Inquisitor and his other two guards did indeed leave. A plan was devised: if there was evidence of the Inquisitor having left on horseback then Baris and Imarë would go after him; while Kaelyn would run back and inform Ewen and Cekiya. If none, then Imarë would hide behind the tool shed and watch the road for any activity and Baris and Kaelyn would join the others in the dungeon.

Ignoring the dead bodies of the guards; the party ran down the stairs with Cekiya in the lead. When they reached the first floor, Ewen, Cekiya, and Afaewynn continued through the kitchen to the vestibule while Baris, Imarë and Kaelyn ran out the door.

Once outside, Imarë quickly took the lead with Baris not far behind and Kaelyn lagging behind both. When the trio reached the stables they first listened for voices within, and when none could be heard they cautiously opened the doors. A quick inspection of the abbey stables showed that there was no one within and no sign of any horses being absent. Baris suggested that Imarë use her tracking skills and check the ground near the entrance for any disturbance. All Imarë could say was that horses had been there and since it was a stable that wasn’t surprising or particularly useful.

Meanwhile back in the Chapel, Cekiya quickly runs through the refectory and chapel to the dungeon door. After attempting to open the door and finding it locked, Cekiya listens for voices or sounds of someone on the other side.

“Open the damn door!” Ewen commands after seeing the door is locked and Cekiya indicates that she failed to hear anything.

“How, my lord?” Afaewynn asks.

Ewen, now growing increasingly annoyed, gives the Lady Knight a ‘be silent now’ look and leans forward himself to listen at the door. He can hear the voices of people within, but can’t make out any words or tell if any of voices belong to the Inquisitor.

Cekiya looks at Ewen and asks why he does not break the door down as he has had Baris do so many times.

“I am not Sir Baris,” Sir Ewen replies.

Cekiya looks at the door and back to Ewen, “Are you that much of a …”

“Never mind!” Ewen interrupts. “Cekiya, when I get this door open, you go in first and kill the guards. Try to save the Inquisitor for questioning.”

Ewen takes a step or two back and attempts to shoulder bash the door. As it is a rather thick door, it does not open, although, the timbers around the lock look to be weakened. Cekiya flashes a grin and gives the door the same kick she once delivered to Baris. The lock gives way and the door opens. She pushes the door the rest of the way open and makes her way cautiously down the stairs, taking care to stay as much in the shadows as she can.

The room at the bottom of the stairs roughly followed the same floor plan as the chapel above it with the exception being the curve of apse. The room was approximately 25’ by 40’and within it there were eight cells, a closed door directly opposite the door Cekiya had just came through and a table in the center. Near the closed door was the room’s only light source, a flickering sconce under which was a ring of key. Of the eight cells, only three were larger cells, but all were packed full of the people the Inquisitor had ordered to be held for further questioning. The prisoners all showed signs of various levels of torture.

Seeing no one other than the prisoners Ewen asks them when the last time they had seen the Inquisitor or his guards. The prisoners look back at Ewen with incomprehension on there faces and one of the prisoners calls out “What day is it?” Evidently the torture coupled with the lack of sunlight caused the prisoners to become disoriented. But the fact that they did not say “he just left” causes the trio to believe that it had been a while since anyone, let alone the Inquisitor, had been here.

Ewen motions with his hand and Cekiya once again takes the lead as the party goes through the other door. This time Cekiya grabs the key ring from under the sconce and unlocks the door. The room they enter is about the same size as the side chapels on the ground floor. There is another door on the opposite side of the room. The room contains various torture devices: a rack, chair of spikes, iron maiden, etc. The only light source is the flickering sconce from the other room. Ewen realizes that they are going to need more light and concentrating, within his left hand, a flame-like light appears and illuminates the room.

“Nice trick,” Afaewynn said, recovering quickly from her shock.

Cekiya, on the other hand does not appear surprised, and quickly takes advantage of the light, scanning for fresh blood. The only blood she could find was tacky or had dried completely. She then moves to the other door, and waits slightly behind Ewen as he opens it.

Ahead is a narrow corridor that appears to go south, following the path of the interior courtyard above. Going down the corridor, the trio passes through an arched entryway into a storeroom. They realize that since the floor plan of the Abbey is the same throughout all the levels, they must be underneath the kitchen and are now close to the archives. As Cekiya and Ewen check the storeroom for anyone they notice a door in the southwest corner of the room. A quick glance through the door reveals another corridor that goes off to the west and a spiral staircase leading up, confirming they were below the kitchen. Ewen now must decide whether to go up the stairs to the kitchen and begin searching the abbey anew, continue down the corridor and check the archives, return to the dungeon and await news from Sir Baris’s party, or split up his group to cover more ground.

As Ewen tries to make up his mind, Baris, Imarë, and Kaelyn have made their way from the Abbey stables to the Bishop’s stables. A quick check inside showed that the party’s horses and the bishop’s six horses were the only living things inside. Imarë checks the two empty stalls and reports that the stalls have been mucked out and show no recent use.

“Well, if he did leave, he didn’t take any horses, and that seems kind of stupid,” Baris said, shaking his head in disgust. Imarë and Kaelyn merely look at him and shrug. Imarë then takes up her post behind the stables as Baris and Kaelyn run back to the others in the dungeon.

Ewen and Cekiya have decided to check the archives before heading up the stairs or back to the dungeon. As they near the archives they notice that the door is ajar. Ewen looks at Cekiya and tells her to go in first but to be as stealthy and stick to the shadows. He’ll go in after her and draw any attention while Lady Afaewynn stands outside and watchs the hall.

Cekiya sings softly under her breath as she goes in “stealthy in the shadows … they must see him … stealthy in the shadows … I’m going in.”

Ewen sighs and follows, immediately illuminating the room. This is the first time they had been in the archives, although Kaelyn had spent several days down here doing research for the party. Ewen notices the series of horizontal bookshelves positioned throughout, but doesn’t see Cekiya. He does see a doorway covered by a curtain at the far end of the room.

Ewen draws his sword as he approaches the curtained doorway. He pulls the curtain back with the tip of sword and shines his light into the room. The room is smallish-sized with a table and chair, papers strewn about the table, a chest, a small bed and a larger bed. In the larger bed he sees the Suloran, Querene of Debtun. She is awakened by the light of Sir Ewen’s hand. “I beg your pardon, madam.” Ewen says, slightly shielding his hand from her sight.

“You should. Sir Ewen, is it?”

“Yes. There has been a disturbance in the abbey this evening.” The Suloran starts to rise but Ewen motions her to stay where she is; “No, stay where you are; for your safety.

“Are you sure there is nothing I can do?”

“No, thank you. Once again, I beg your pardon.”

Ewen quickly withdraws back into the archive room and heads to the door, beyond which Lady Afaewynn still stands guard. As he walks to the door, Cekiya falls in-step behind him.

“What now?” Cekiya whispers when they are all back in the hallway.

“Lady Afaewynn will return to the dungeon the way we just came and then, using the stairs that lead to the vestibule, she will go out to the court of statues, hopefully intercepting Kaelyn and Baris along the way and there they will wait for us to return. Unless of course, it is just Kaelyn who returns, then the ladies will come find us on the second floor.” Ewen looks at Cekiya and continues “You and I will check the second floor, starting with the scriptorium, for any hint of the Inquisitor’s whereabouts.”

Cekiya and Ewen quickly reach the second floor after leaving Afaewynn to head back through the dungeon. A quick glance through the scriptorium reveals that no one is working late tonight at any of the nine desks in the three-fifths of the room that is visible. There is a curtain bisecting the room. Once again Ewen uses the tip of his sword to push back the curtain. Behind the curtain there are eight bunk beds, four on each side. Each of the beds is empty, and none show signs of recently being slept in as all are made neatly.

From the scriptorium Ewen and Cekiya go to check the corridor. There are four closed doors, presumably where each of the Master’s sleep. Ewen approaches the first closed door and attempts a Deryni talent. It doesn’t work. He then goes through the same process for each of the other doors. Cekiya, meanwhile, attempts to listen at each door for voices or snoring. She fails to hear anything at any of the doors.

They are now at the door where Ewen met with the Bishop earlier in the evening and where Cekiya’s bullied scribe had produced the key to the gallery. They open the door and find it empty. From there they go to the gallery around the chapel to the stairs leading to the vestibule. Encountering no one on their search, Ewen extinguishes his handfire and he and Cekiya go to rendezvous with Kaelyn, Baris, and Afaewynn, who are all waiting in the court of statues.

Once there, Ewen sends Cekiya to check the first floor dorm cells, while Baris reports what happened on the trip to the stables.
Cekiya peeks into the room and sees four sleeping females. She quickly rejoins everyone outside.

It is now close to midnight and there still has been no sign of the Inquisitor or his remaining guards.

It is decided that a quick search of the Lady of Paladins chapter house should be the next course of action, but before the party runs off Ewen takes a moment to think. Since they did not find the Inquisitor in the dungeon, the plan of killing his guards and taking him captive on the spot is no longer as feasible as it once was, as they now increasingly run the risk of being spotted by residents of the Abbey. Ewen informs the party that when they find the Inquisitor the line he fed the Suloran would suffice to get the Inquisitor back to the chapel and hopefully away from any witnesses. He then tells Kaelyn and Afaewynn to remain in the court of statues to keep watch for anyone coming or going but not to interfere alone.

The Order of the Lady of Paladin chapter house has two doors, one on the western side and one on the northern wall and is only one story high. The party approaches the Chapter house on the western side. They notice that there are no lights on.

“Open the damn door!” Ewen orders. This time the door is unlocked, and they enter the Chapter house with ease. Inside they can just make out the shape of a large table and a wall sconce slightly to the left of the door. Ewen tells Cekiya to go around to the other door, and she quickly moves off to the northern side of the building. Ewen then tries to relight his hand. It doesn’t work and Baris, not having seen Ewen’s handfire, looks on in confusion.

“Baris, just light a torch,” Ewen says.

When Baris gets the torch lit they can see two more large tables, sconces on the walls, and a corridor to the right with curtained off areas.

Cekiya by this time has tried the other door and found it unlocked. Moving quickly inside the dark room Cekiya can see crates, barrels, and a torch. She also notices a glow on the far side of the room behind a curtain.

Baris, meanwhile, is looking over the room and notices that on the farthest table from the door there is a visible coating of dust that has been disturbed, as if some had taken their arm and attempted to wipe off that section of the table. On the table nearest to the door are pieces of crockery and the food left behind has begun to spoil.

Cekiya has moved silently to the curtain and lies down on the floor to try to count feet in the other room. There is only half an inch between the floor and the curtain, but that is enough for her to peek through and identify Ewen and Baris’s feet. Sighing as she stands up, she moves the curtain aside and rejoins Ewen and Baris in the main hall. Because she had moved so silently, Cekiya startled Baris as she came through.

Baris then goes to check the other curtained areas. He finds that five of the areas are small cells containing a bed and chests. The last is a slightly larger cell with a double bed, desk and chest, all of which are empty. None of the six beds have been made.

After searching the cells, Baris, Ewen and Cekiya look into another room, which turns out to be the armory. They see that some racks are empty, but others contain spears, axes, daggers, etc. There are no shields or swords in evidence. The trio assumes that some of the racks are empty because of the low capacity of the Order at the Abbey.

From the armory, they follow the corridor into an empty classroom. On the southern wall of the classroom there is a shelf containing books, paper, ink, wax, and scrolls. A quick examination of some of the papers turns up some treaties on the Reluctant Way. Ewen and Cekiya notice that some of the pages have doodles on them. One of the better doodles is a cleric slaying what appears to be a dragon. As Ewen further looks around the classroom, he notices that the stained glass window has a knight fighting. He might have expected the knight to be crying considering all the information he has learned of the Reluctant Way. Ewen wonders why none of the papers he and the others found have been collected as evidence in the Inquisitor’s trial.

Larane 25, 731 (early morning)

It is now One AM and the party has spent the better part of the last two hours searching for the Inquisitor. Baris suggests that they need to check the Bishop’s Hall. Cekiya and Ewen are doubtful that anything has changed since they left it earlier in the night, but Baris persists and the trio makes their way there.

Once at the hall, they quickly search their own rooms for uninvited guests. Cekiya listens at the Bishop’s door and hears light snoring. Again, Ewen tries and fails a Deryni talent to get a sense of the number of persons inside. Yet it soon becomes clear that the Inquisitor is not there nor had he been there this evening.

Back outside, the trio starts to throw ideas out as to the whereabouts of the Inquisitor. Soon, Ewen notices Cekiya’s attention has wandered. She informs him that she is going to check on the elf and quietly moves off. While Cekiya is gone, Ewen has decided that he and Baris would go and clean up the bodies of the four guards and perhaps lie in wait for the Inquisitor and Cekiya would go and do a search of the cemetery. Baris, not being able to come up with any other options, agrees.

As Imarë’s post behind the Bishop’s Stables, was not far from the Bishop’s Hall, Cekiya quickly reached her. Cekiya fills Imarë in on the search and lack of findings, and Imarë had a thought of a possible secret passageway under the Abbey. Imarë also asked Cekiya if she thought it was odd that during the search no one had reported the body of Gris being laid out in preparation for her burial in the morning. Cekiya had nothing to say to that and soon leaves Imarë at her post and returns to Ewen and Baris.

On the walk back to the abbey Ewen informs Cekiya that he’d like her to check the cemetery. Cekiya does not say anything, but when they reach the fork in the road, she takes the path to the cemetery as Ewen and Baris continue to the abbey.

At the abbey, Kaelyn and Afaewynn are still guarding the statues. Baris and Ewen stop briefly to tell them what the plan is now before going in the southern door to clean. As Baris and Ewen pass the scriptorium on their way up the stairs they come to the first body. The guard, being the one that suffered the wound to the groin and was later killed by Baris, was doubled over in the fetal position. By this time, the blood had dried on the stairwell and rigor mortis had set in making moving the body slightly awkward. Baris has the idea of hiding the bodies in the Inquisitor’s room under the bed. Ewen, lost in thought, doesn’t question why and helps Baris move the bodies from the stairwell. As Ewen takes the quilt from the bed to wipe up the pools of blood from the hall, Baris goes to clean up the area around the guards in the bunk beds. The blood from the guard on the top bunk had pooled to the bunk below, creating a truly gory mess on the bottom bunk and the floor beneath the bed. Baris, thinking quickly, goes back to the Inquisitor’s room and takes a blanket from the bed. This blanket is much larger than the narrow bunk bed and Baris is able to completely cover up the mess on the bottom bunk and the splatter on the wall. Baris also covers the guard on the top bunk up with a blanket to cover the rest.

After covering the guards, Baris thinks to go and do a more through check on the acolytes’ room. He enters the room and sees that the boys have somehow managed to fall back asleep. Baris notices that room is curtained off about two-thirds of the way down. He moves as quietly as he can to the curtain and peeks behind it. He sees that behind the curtain are the girls’s bunks. Seeing nothing out of place, he leaves.

By this time Ewen is done cleaning up the pools of blood on the stairs and sees Baris just coming out of the acolytes’ room. Motioning Baris over, Ewen asks him if he thinks if this rooming arrangement and the guards were just a decoy, perhaps even SOP for all inquisitors. Baris admits that he didn’t think of that and that it is very likely, but the question remains as to where the Inquisitor actually is.

“There are four rooms on the second floor that Cekiya and I did not enter. I presumed that these were the rooms of three of the four masters and the Serolan, and that the Master of the Acolytes, supposedly displaced by the Inquisitor, is now sharing a room with one of the other masters.”

“Do you think that the Inquisitor had actually taken one of those other rooms?”

“No, if he did, I don’t think he would have been able to keep it a secret from the Bishop’s steward at least, if not the Bishop himself. But I don’t know which room houses which master and there is one master I don’t know of. I know there is the Master of Secular and Noble Affairs, the Master of the Fighting Order and the Master of the Acolytes, but perhaps the fourth master is in league with the Inquisitor,” Ewen muses. Realizing that his train of thought is taking him nowhere, he informs Baris that they should return to the court of statues if everything is cleaned up and await Cekiya’s report.

Cekiya after leaving Ewen and Baris at the fork in the road proceeds to make her way cautiously to the cemetery. There is only one entrance to the cemetery and she attempts to be unobtrusive as she enters in cause there is anyone watching. At a break in the hedges she pauses at the first section of minor paths breaking off from the main path to look around. After seeing and hearing nothing unusual she continues to the north as the land slopes slightly upwards towards the north-west section of the cemetery. Reaching the first crypt she cautiously inspects the area and the crypt itself. The crypt is made of stone with a pediment on top with Larani as the focus. The double doors are made of iron and are rusty with a rusty band of iron locking them shut. On the other side of the doors there are spaces for plaques. The plaques hold several names, although it is not full, and appears to be a familial plot. Leaving that crypt behind, she continues her way north stopping to inspect each crypt she comes to. They all appear to be exactly same with the only differences is the name of the family on each one. At one of the crypts, the rusted iron band holding the doors locked was rusted off enough for Cekiya to inspect the inside of the crypt. Inside she saw a bier with four shelves on the wall on either side and behind it. In front of the bier was an altar. Six of the twelve shelves had very old occupants. Seeing nothing peculiar in her search of the cemetery, Cekiya returns to court of statues.

It is now two o’clock in the morning. After listening to Cekiya’s report, Ewen begins to pace back and forth. “Ok, the way I see it, we have two options at the moment. We can take the path of least resistance and stake out the room the Inquisitor was supposed to be staying in and when our friend gets up from where ever the hell he’s sleeping, he’s going to either, come and meet the guards in front of the Master of Acolytes room or at least notice that they aren’t reporting in. If he sends someone to collect those guards, then we can just add them to the room and eventually he has to come himself.”

“What about the acolytes?” Baris asks.

Kaelyn, giving a suspicious look replies, “Haven’t you checked on them enough?”

“No, I mean what do we tell them when they get up for morning prayers?”

Ewen shrugs, and continues, “The second plan is that we investigate the four rooms of the masters.”

“And what happens if the Inquisitor is not there, and you wake up everyone?” Kaelyn asked. Evidently guarding statues had made Kaelyn more than a little irritable.

“We can listen at the door for sounds of sleeping and not disturb anyone,” was the reply she got.

“I’m going to bed,” Cekiya suddenly announces. Ewen takes this as a sign that enough time had been wasted tonight and either action must be taken or the party should just retire.

“Should we go free the prisoners tonight at least,” Kaelyn wonders.

Cekiya and Ewen both do not think that would be a good idea and would end up confusing the situation even more.

“Alright, this is what we are going to do,” Ewen says, “We are going to use the story I told the Suloran. There was a disturbance in the Abbey this evening. Cekiya was attacked by the Inquisitor’s guards. We tried to look for him, but failed. Now we are going to wake up the Bishop with righteous indignation and demand he deal with this.”

There are no objections to this plan and all of them make their way over to the Bishop’s hall. Kaelyn volunteers to go get Imarë, so that the entire party is together when they wake up the Bishop.

Once at the Bishop’s Hall, Ewen tells Baris to knock on the door. Baris, looking confused, does so.

“My Lord Bishop, Ewen of Ravinargh must speak to you at once,” Ewen says in a booming voice.

“Can’t it wait,” is the mumbled reply.

“No.”

The Bishop opens his door in his dressing gown, muttering something about a full night’s sleep.

“The Inquisitor’s thugs have foully treated a lady of my entourage,” Ewen declares, looking the Bishop in the eye.

“I am most distressed,” the Bishop replies, as a flicker of something passes his face.

“It’s been necessary to,” Ewen pauses, “with reluctance, to kill them and one was unmanned.”

“The goddess is just.”

“Yes, but the matter stands that this is an outrage!” Ewen replies, almost shouting.

“I’ll summon the Inquisitor at once.”

“I want to be there.” Ewen demands.

“Wake my steward.”

Ewen nods to the bishop as Baris wakes the steward. The steward, stumbling awake, joins Ewen and the Bishop at the door.

“Wake the Abbot and summon the Inquisitor to the Chapel at once,” the Bishop tells the man. “Sir Ewen, we will go to the chapel as soon as I am dressed. Tell me, was it the Lady Knight who was mistreated?”

“No, my lord, it was that slip of the girl who accompanies me.”

“Why, she hardly looks of age!” the Bishop exclaims. He then turns to leave and as he does Ewen notices he is smiling.

When the party enters the chapel they see the acolytes, under the direction of the unhappy Serolan, lighting the candles. The steward enters the chapel, also looking unhappy, and speaks with the Bishop.

“What do you mean he is not in his room?” The Bishop exclaims, and then turns to Ewen, “Where did this assault take place?”

Ewen informs him that the attack happened near the Master of the Acolytes room where the Inquisitor was supposed to be staying.

The Bishop growing perplexed listens to his steward as he tells him something else.

“Bring him forward,” the Bishop says in response to his steward’s news.

The steward motions to a young acolyte and the young man comes forward.

“I heard the altercation outside of our room,” the acolyte says somewhat hesitantly. “That one,” he continues as he points to Sir Baris, “Told us to be quiet and that he’d protect us. We looked out and saw that they had killed the bad men.”

“Where is the Inquisitor?” the Bishop asks in a booming voice.

A voice – it’s the Master of the Archives – comes into the chapel and answers the Bishop. “He’ll be here shortly and he’ll see to you all.” She then turns to leave.

Ewen nods at Cekiya to follow her. At the door to the vestibule Cekiya sees Gris coming out of the door to the dungeon walking towards her. Cekiya’s instincts tell her to retreat and shut the door.

Upon closing the door behind her, Cekiya turns to the confused party and says “We either have an amorvrus or gulmorvrus outside the door.” Cekiya pauses and tilts her head slightly, “It looks like Gris.”

“By the LadyI” the Bishop exclaims, his face going pale. He then turns to the altar and begins to pray.

Cekiya, with her back still against the door, explains to the party what exactly is coming towards them. “They don’t suffer injuries, but can be killed. When a gulmorvrus is killed, its body will crumble; the amorvrus will disintegrate and go back to its resting place.”

“So we don’t know what exactly we are facing until we kill them,” someone asks.

“The gulmorvrin will attack the person with the strongest aura they can find,” Cekiya says looking at Imarë. “When it’s in close proximity will have the same effect as being killed with the shadow. Don’t let them touch you. Touching is very bad.”

“Kaelyn, go get torches,” Ewen orders, quickly assessing the tactical situation of the room. In the Chapel, in addition to the party, there are two acolytes, the Bishop, the Serolan, and the steward. Ewen hears the pounding on the vestibule door. “This is a barely defensible place,” he says.

“I need to go up there and block the door.” Cekiya says pointing up at the gallery.

Agreeing that the gallery door needs to be shut, Baris comes over and offers to lift Cekiya up. With no protest of ‘touching bad’ Cekiya allows herself to be lifted up and grabs the bottom of the balcony and swings herself up. Once up, she grabs the glass relic and moves it in front of the closed door leading down to the vestibule. The relic is not large enough to keep the door blocked for long, but it will alert the party below when the door is opened. Cekiya then sprints to the other side of the gallery and locks the door leading to the corridor with the key she stole earlier to watch the Inquisitor’s trial. With both doors shut she then returns to the others by grabbing the railing and flips to the ground floor. “I’m not bored anymore,” she says with a smile after she lands.

She looks over at the acolytes and says, “Go get Arnys and Quinn. They’ll get you to safety.” The acolytes, used to Cekiya by this point and quite scared, are more than happy to follow her advice. They run out the door to the right leading to the kitchen, nearly running over the three other masters as they enter the chapel.

The pounding on the door stops.

As they are being filled in on the situation, the masters and the Serolan start stacking the pews against the doors under the direction of Baris. Above them there is a great crashing of glass.

The party readies themselves for battle. Imarë is standing near the Bishop, the Serolan, and two of the masters who are now all praying near the altar. Baris is standing near the door leading to the refectory. Ewen and Lady Afaewynn are standing halfway between the balcony and the doors to the vestibule. Kaelyn is standing in the corner away from where the majority of the fighting will be. Cekiya is standing near the other corner, but is more tactical sound position for the battle.

The Master of the Fighting Order has brought his sword and as he draws it he declares that he will help defend.

Cekiya looks over at him and says, “Good. Touching is bad.”

The Master of the Fighting Order shudders visibly and nods.

There are more sounds of glass breaking above them at the same time the pounding on the western door resumes. The pounding sounds like a battering ram is being used on the door. The door is slowly giving way, but the pews are definitely slowing things down.

Imarë sees her first target on the gallery level. One of the columns is partially blocking her view, so she cannot see if she recognizes her target. She thinks to herself as she draws her bow; ‘Shoot first and let Larani sort it out later.’ She releases the arrow. It flies up to the gallery and strikes the target square in the shoulder, the shot is normally a killing blow, but the target continues to move forward. From behind her she hears an exclamation from one of the masters that who she just shot was Nerlael of Astine, a matakea.

There is another figure overhead in the gallery moving towards the middle left pillar. Cekiya, being the only one in position to see him, throws one of her knives and hits him in the groin.

By this time the door has split and Gris is now crawling over the pews. Ewen swings his bastard sword at her as she attempts to scramble through. He manages to slice her thorax open exposing several vital organs. Ewen sees that she is still coming over the pews and yells to Imarë to get the Bishop and others in the knave out. The Bishop refuses to leave, saying that the Lady will protect them.

Ewen takes another swing at Gris and this time he hits her in the face. The blow is sufficient to cause Gris to burst into dust, but there was another one right behind her to take her place. Lady Afaewynn sees this and takes a swing with her sword to help Ewen. Afaewynn manages to hit the thing in the neck, but like Gris, the blow doesn’t slow it down.

By this time the one Cekiya had hit had dropped to the Chapel floor. Baris tosses Cekiya his bastard sword to fight with as he moves to engage as well. Baris runs up swinging his axe and hits it in the hip. The thing now turns to Baris and yells. Baris, now on the defensive, dodges out of the way of the attacking undead.

Imarë’s original target has also managed to make its way down and Imarë takes another shot at it. Her arrow pierces the back of the skull with no obvious effect. The Master of the Fighting Order takes a swing at the gulmorvrus with now two arrows sticking out of it. He is a little unbalanced and as a result, he misses and has to dodge out of the way of the attacking gulmorvrus.

Afaewynn attempts to run her sword through the gulmorvrus coming over the pew, but misses. Luckily Ewen is also there and places a solid slash across its neck. Ewen recognizes it as one of the Lady of the Paladin knights.

Imarë, by a stroke of luck, manages to shoot around the Master of the Fighting order and hits the gulmorvrus in the eye. This time it disintegrates, like Gris, and the arrows fall to the floor.

Baris has now taken back the offensive and strikes his foe in the hip again. It too disintegrates.

“Give me something to kill!” Cekiya yells, seeing that all the gulmorvrus closest to her have been taken care of.

Kaelyn takes a few steps forward from her corner, looks up toward the gallery and casts her spell. Unfortunately, due to nerves, inexperience, or plain bad luck, the spell backfires. She is just able to prevent a catastrophic release, but lies unconscious in the corner.

Yet another undead crawls through the western door and as Ewen begins his swing, it flails out and catches him on the shoulder. The gulmorvrus’ touch does not penetrate Ewen’s armor, but Ewen feels it clawing on the edge of his shields. Afaewynn takes a swing and manages to hit the gulmorvrus clinging to Ewen on the head, but it is not a solid strike.

A gulmorvrus drops down from the gallery in front of Cekiya and Baris. Cekiya instantly attacks it, hitting its left elbow. Baris takes a hard shot at it and lodges his axe into its thorax.

Imarë, reloading her bow, takes a quick look around. She sees Cekiya and Baris fighting one gulmorvrus. Cekiya has managed to get another hit in, this time across the abdomen while Baris is having minor difficulty getting his axe out of its thorax. She notices that one gulmorvrus has managed to grab hold of Ewen, but fears to take a shot as she might hit Ewen or Afaewynn. Imarë glances up towards the gallery and sees another gulmorvrus coming over the balcony. She aims her bow upward and fires, hitting it in the shoulder. It drops to the chapel floor and the Master of the Fighting Order begins to engage it.

Baris by this time has managed to get his axe free and takes another swipe at the gulmorvrus. Baris manages to hit him in the shoulder.

“Damn!” Baris exclaims after his hit has no effect.

Imarë scans the gallery again, and sees no more undead. But before she can breath a sigh of relief, the eastern door opens and several enter.

Ewen has managed to throw the gulmorvrus off him and notices that one of the others that came in from the eastern door is headed toward Kaelyn lying unconscious in the corner. He tells Afaewynn to go and help her as the gulmorvrus he is fighting tries to grab him again. Ewen takes another swing and connects in the its abdomen. The gulmorvrus is knocked to the side taking Ewen’s sword with him.

Cekiya sees this, but decides that Ewen has things under control and she would be of no real help as she disengages from the gulmorvrus she and Baris were fighting to attack one of the new ones.

As she strikes it in its gut, it sneers at her saying, “You’ll be mine little girl.” Cekiya wastes no time counterstriking with a hit to the face. “Is that the best you got,” it taunts with its face split open.

Imarë takes a shot at one of the gulmorvrus. This one, who once was Sir Goliem, dodges the arrow, draws its sword and advances toward Imarë with another gulmorvrus following.

Baris, left alone by Cekiya, prepares to take another swing. As he does so, the gulmorvrus grabs his chest, but with no effect. Finishing his swing, Baris hits the gulmorvrus in the hip again, and this time it disintegrates.

Afaewynn, having gone to Kaelyn’s aid, attempts to strike at the same time is struck by the gulmorvrus . Afaewynn manages to hit it in the skull, but she herself is hit in the thorax, but because she is wearing mail is unhurt. Afaewynn hits the gulmorvrus again, this time hitting it in the chest.

Another gulmorvrus had come through the vestibule doorway and attacks Ewen with its hands. Ewen sees his broadsword lodged in the undead but does not think he can reach it safely. Ewen attempts to counterstrike the gulmorvrus with his Deryni powers. A blinding light shoots out of Ewen’s hands and strikes the gulmorvrus who vanishes in a cloud of dust.

The Master of the Fighting Order strikes the gulmorvrus he is fighting in the thigh. The gulmorvrus gets through the master’s defenses and strike him on the hand. The Master of the Fighting Order loses his encounter with the shadow, screaming as he dies.

Ewen ignoring the screams of the Master of the Fighting Order sees, through the hole that used to be a door, the Suloran as she heads down the stairs to the dungeon. Ewen reaches for his sword ,and pulls it from the undead body.

Cekiya, has managed another to the upper shoulder on her foe, causing it to disintegrate.

Sir Goliem, seeing that he’s on the losing side, stops his advance on Imarë and the Bishop and yells to the others “Let’s get out of here.” Sir Goliem, the gulmorvrus Afaewynn was fighting and one other all begin their retreat. Imarë takes a shot at Sir Goliem as it retreats, but Sir Goliem dodges the arrow again. Imarë quickly takes another shot and this time hits him in the back, but to no avail.

The gulmorvrus Sir Baris is fighting takes another solid hit to the thigh. Before it can counterstrike, Baris hits him again, this time in the chest. That proved to be the telling strike as the gulmorvrus finally disintegrates.

Ewen goes through the door after the archivist, with Cekiya following him. As Cekiya was about to go through the door she notices that the gulmorvrus that had Ewen’s sword was still moving.

“Kill him!” She yells as she continues through the door. Afaewynn, also following Ewen, does so.

Ewen and Cekiya run down the stairs and through the jail area following the Suloran. The prisoners are all pointing and shouting “There! There!”

Ewen and Cekiya continue to follow the archivist through the torture chamber and into her quarters where they find nothing.
Ewen attempts to extend his senses to get a direction of where she went, but senses nothing.

When Cekiya and Ewen return upstairs to the Chapel they find the Bishop and the masters still praying. It is still dark outside, but a beacon of light shimmers through the stained glass window onto the Bishop. There are a few raised eyebrows by members of the party, but no one says anything.

The search then continues in the Abbey for the Inquisitor, Suloran, and others until the sun comes up.