Session 25

The unknown "Emissary" having apparently fled, the Ninth recovers from the battle and they turn their attention on the cathedral around them.

They quickly rummage though the guest room the "Emissary" came from.  While looking through the effects they find a letter from a Brigit of Brijidine.  Mardus picks up a fine silk with unusual gems.  Wasyli walks up and examines it as well.  The two share a look.  The Emissary was a Ghaele...

The Ninth check the rest of the ground floor.  They are blocked from the inner sanctum of the Cathedral by a raging wall of divine flame.  Still they are able to explore the rest of the level.  They mostly find empty quarters of priests and holy warriors who fell in the Battle of Saintsbridge.  Along with stores of mundane items.  Still, one thing was of particular note.  They found the personal journal of the Lord Abbot, MacCathlain, in the back of his family bible.  Within the last journal entry were two items of interest.  First, that the Lord Abbot was in the basement, trying to summon an army of the dead.  Second, Ara Mathra, the divine head of the church of Mitra was sealed behind the raging fire, in the inner sanctum.  And "Only a Saint could pierce the flames"... Mardus gives Yvainne a shrug, "Guess we need to find some saint bones."

Before taking the stairs down into the basement, the Ninth do find some religious paraphernalia of Saint Macarius.  They decide, if they manage to find the bones of the Saint, then they might as well wrap them in the dead saint's robe & walking stick.  After all, it couldn't hurt.  Them.

The Ninth descends down into the depths of the cathedral's catacombs.  Weary of ghosts.

Within it's halls they find room after room of old bones wrapped in cloth.  Along with records of the church, including books detailing those interned there.  Quell quickly looks through it and finds the name of Saint Macarius.  Seems they have their saint bones, if only they can go get them.  Mardus is eager to burn the records but Quell and others urge cation, lest disturbing the records would disturb the spirits.  Mardus shrugs and instead of burning the records, simply takes the main internment records book and sticks it into his Bag of Holding.  As the books leaves the plane, a group of nearby ghosts moan & rush through the walls to attack the Ninth.

The Paladin ghosts attack, some manage to corner a couple Nessian War Hounds and nearly smite them down before Yvainne and Emmerick come to the rescue.  Quell flees back before realizing the Hounds are stuck and then helps Brother Summit fend off a ghost.  It's when a couple more ghosts come rushing at Wasyli that the Ninth realize they've seen these ghosts before.  And recently.  They were two of the monks they burned in the second flame at the center of the gardens outside the Cathedral.  A shiver runs down Mardus' spine.  Did all the corpses they burn turn into ghosts...

The Ninth, even without ghost touch weapons, managed to overcome the incorporeal foes and vanquish them.  In the case of the monks, for the second time.

The Knot moves forward, exercising extreme cation going forward.  Simply poking heads or shining lights into bone filled rooms, but never actually disturbing anything.  The Knot managed to stumble on surprised Ghosts, three ghost paladins, and the ghost of the Head of the Serene Order, the Master of Serenity.

The combat was fierce and long.  The incorporeal nature of the ghosts protect them, forcing the Knot to wear them down.  But like before, the Ninth manage to be victorious over the Ghosts.

Exploring a little ways further and finding more rooms full of bones, the Ninth doubles back and starts openly pillaging and defiling the graves.  They gather any trinkets of value, knowing full well gold and silver holy symbols of Mitra can be melted down for scrap.

The Knot continues on like this for some time before their open desecration summons the last group of ghosts, these spirit paladins being lead by the Oracle of Mitra.  The ghosts run into the trailing end of the Knot's forces and battle is joined.  Where before the combats where quite affairs this was not.  The Oracle laying down blade barriers and screaming out Holy Words, the Knot responding by filling the halls of the quite crypt with the load noise of roaring fire.  Hounds, Knot members and ghosts ran this way and that, fighting, yelling, unleashing divine and arcane destruction.

The Knot managed to take down the Oracle, but was still contending with the Ghost Paladins when Wasyli and Yvainne heard the sounds of near by shouting from a yet to be explored section of the crypt.  It seems there loud combat had drawn a fresh wave of combatants...