On they went to another door and opened it to reveal a stairway leading down. Upon descending the staircase, they came to a door. Jake peeked through it to spy eight hulking creatures. Never one to pass up a challenge, he threw open the door and charged headlong into battle with two Bugbear gang leaders and six Quaggoth slaves. Lanolin and Tearence entered the room behind him while Glim, Marlon, and Soulan blasted the beasts with ranged weapons.
Jake and the others in the room were being pressed hard and soon realized that they had bitten off a little more than they could chew. Bryce and Roland quickly joined the fray, but the foes seemed unstoppable. Within minutes, Jake and Tearence had succumbed to the creatures raging attacks. All looked grim when suddenly Vlaad materialized in the room, summoning two Strahd Zombies. With the vampire at their backs and the others at their front, they began to fall. When the dust cleared, Jake had managed to barely survive and Tearence was dead. Vlaad, seeing an opportunity to catch a quick snack, fed on Tearence and raised him as a spawn.
Now back to full strength, the group made there way to the main chamber where the ritual vying to steal their very life’s essence was already in progress. When they opened the main doors to the open-aired ritual chamber, they saw a sea of prostrate cultists chanting in unison. Many of the faces were familiar residents of Axegard. They ignored the intruders, lost in a trance-like fervor. In the center of the room was a circle of energy containing an ornate crypt, two casting mages, and an animated hand statue with a blinking eye embedded in its palm. The two mages were channeling magical energy into the hand while a single beam of negative energy was shooting from the eye into the sarcophagus.
Meanwhile, two alcoves flanked either side of the circle of power, each with a pile of writhing bones bathed in a sickly green glow. At the head of the chamber stood a dais upon which stood a high priest of Vecna, his face shrouded as he lead the thralls in their chant. He stood behind a stone altar with seven glowing clay jars upon it. Lastly, in the far corner of the room lay an unconscious J’Saahuis.
Again, not one to sit idle, Jake charged the circle of power only to be held fast as he crossed its evil plane. The rest of the valiant group, taking the marshal’s lead, spread out into the room. Seeing this blaspheme, the high priest summoned forth legions of skeletons that formed from the bones in the alcoves to stop the intruders. Their threat was short-lived though, as Edgar rebuked the new enemies, causing them to cower where they stood.
After Edgar then kept the attention of the priest as Soulan, Bryce, Glim and Marlon turned their sites on the mages feeding the symbol of Vecna. They fell them quickly only to see them rise from the dead to continue their ritual undaunted. Meanwhile, Roland was picking of the glowing altar jars one by one.
Lanolin, to his surprise, was tackled by Tearence who it seems was indeed a cultist all the while. Just as the ferocious dwarf was about to sink his newly acquired fangs into the elf’s exposed neck, he deftly slipped out of Tearence’s grasp. Over and over the dwarf grabbed at the elf and each time Lanolin managed to evade his attack. Vlaad finally appeared and commanded his spawn to desist.
About this time, Jake roused himself from his held state and forged ahead through the circles energy to beset upon the now undead mage before him, dropping it with mighty blows when the lich in the coffin began to rise from its slumber. Seeing this new powerful foe, Edgar and Bryce came to the realization that they had to stop the Vecna symbol from revitalizing the lich. Edgar made the first move but was instantly rendered immobile by the priest at the altar. Bryce pressed through the circle of energy and interposed himself between the eye and the lich, sacrificing his own body to do so. This gave the others time to drop the remaining undead mage and keep the newly risen lich occupied while Jake smashed at the Vecna statue, destroying it moments before Bryce’s life was forfeit.
With the destruction of the Vecna symbol, the lich fell and the subjugated townsfolk broke out of their entranced stupor. In the confusion, the priest managed to make his way and duck through a door to a side chamber. Soulan and Lanolin gave chase but, alas, lost the villain who slid down a narrow escape tunnel hidden in his bedchamber.
Vlaad bade you a job well done and turned gaseous, taking his new minion along. Now that the chamber is empty, you begin to rummage through your well earned booty.
When you look in the desecrated sarcophagus you find…