Cult of Aois I

The first session started pretty gonzo -- the players were blinded/ teleported by a magical sandstorm. They wandered through the desert looking for their destination but instead found a statue erected to "the god-killer" overlooking a jagged valley. Almost as soon as they got their bearings they were attacked. Depraved madmen in tattered priestly robes emerged from the biting winds gibbering in tongues and lashing long obsidian daggers.

The players were still feeling out the system so perhaps this ambush was a bit unfair. But now the players are fully aware of how desperate low level play is. A henchman had died, two heroes had fallen unconscious, and some of the trader's wares had been ruined. Paraphrasing Luukol, the group's cleric, "We are at 60% strength and havent even walked into the dungeon." But I'm not a malicious DM, no, of course not. I offered the players a risky power grab just outside the dungeon gate to make up for the gritty start.

A ram-horned 14 foot tall demon in hell-forged plate armor offered the players a pact. This demon presented himself as Orcus and told the players that those madmen were his unworthy thralls. In exchange for the players' worship, he would grant them a blessing in his halls. Two of the players responded with fervent piety, out of fear or greed I do not know. Others responded with guarded and not-so-guarded suspicion. The demon vanished into the sandstorm leaving the players with a lot of uncertainties. The heroes know that this demon's tunnel can lead to the dwarven city, but all else is speculation and rumor.

In the dungeon's antechamber the players found a half-dwarf entranced or stunned, but the players managed to terrify him away from any sort of allegiance. He had actually just been attacked moments before the heroes arrived, but saw the heroes as another threat. Dwarves are the only lawful race in these depths, all others are either neutral or chaotic generally. The half-dwarf fled, but could not be pursued far in the darkness. Once down into the actual depths, the players found themselves in a claustrophobic armory-turned rusting trash heap.

At one time this dungeon was a sacred barrack for the dwarven people, crafted by the finest artisans in pious worship of Aois. Aois was the famed demi-god bard who slew the selfish pantheon, freeing the dwarven people from their divine debts. While the dwarven faith in Aois was real the dwarves lived near  the surface but never lost a war to the beastmen. After Aois ascended becoming a god himself, the dwarves' grip on the surface caves became a tenuous one. They retreated ever lower, building their mausoleum citadels in worship of cthonic demons instead. Orcus was once the demon prince, but the dwarves stole his staff through unknown trickery, greatly reducing his power and outcasting him from their new pantheon. If the players read the books they found in the second session, they will learn this.

The heroes came across two doors, but opted for the one without the sound of dripping water behind it. The passage opened to to a hall with a collapsed staue defaced beyond recognition to the north. A door to the west opened upon a long "L" shaped hall lined on both sides by flying buttresses. Altars to various crumbling idols had been erected in alcoves by the beastmen after they had torn these halls from the dwarves. I was going for a holy warrior vibe hence the religious iconography and the remnants of long past battle. Thick gossamer webs flooded the room but the heroes pressed on, that is until the sound of skittering above warned them to draw their blades. Part II begins in medias res.

Read Part II.