Nightwick Abbey Session #3 Character Play Report

There are many dead in the world. Some lie quietly in the grave. Some are the living-dead lost souls that walk among us... lost and in need of the Church... and some have come back prematurely from the grave and Hell; the undead.”

- Brother Damian Bernard in his homily: The Dead Are Among Us

On the feast day of St. Crispin, I joined the efforts to rid the ruins Nightwick Abbey of the foul pestilence that has infected that once holy and sacred place. The company was made up of another cleric of the order (Brother Kolvun), myself and some companions that made me question the wisdom of the superiors that sent me to this task.There was a strange person named Blixa, who was an unseemly yet resourceful sort, who showed great ingenuity in laying traps for our foes. They had a canine compatriot that spoke! I know the Lord has used an ass to speak to his wayward servants, but I have never seen such a thing before... nor a talking, intelligent pig, who also accompanied us.

Upon reaching the almost totally destroyed walls of the abbey, we saw that the two north and south towers also lay in near ruin. To the west were the crypts and graveyard surrounding the abbey enclosure. We decided to descend the stairs to the catacombs that lay beneath the north tower.

It was not long before we ran across the bodies of those my companions called “berserkers” - no doubt some of the godless heathen barbarians that have plagued civilized lands for some time now. The bodies wore armor and face masks made of human skin. I would have felt revulsion if I was not so shocked at their cruel barbarity! Going yet deeper into the catacombs, we found passages that led to the what had been the shrines and tombs of the sainted dead. The funerary art work customarily placed on the walls of these has been worn from time. Many were also desecrated by blood and vulgarities painted over them in human gore and blood. I rinsed away the filth from as many as I could with holy water, but as I had little with me, I could not rectify all of what the cultists of the devil had done.

The third encounter with the undead in my short service to the church occurred upon the stairway leading down into the catacombs. The party was assailed by zombies. All of the party fought valiantly, but we had much distress in defeating these corruptions. My fellow brother was badly hurt, but I was able to assist him and he returned with us to finally destroy the undead creatures. The intelligent animals were very effective and even if I am unsure of their nature, I still thank the Holy One for their aid in this  pursuit.

We were able to liberate offering boxes of silver that were in one of the shrines. I have received no orders regarding recovered property of the Church, but if I survive, the share that I have from our explorations I will return to the abbot of my own monastic order. We plan on temporarily exiting the catacombs and returning with better provisions to continue this most righteous labor. God-willing, I will be able to soon report in person to both my Father Confessor and the Abbot of all that transpires at the ruins of Nightwick Abbey.

I shall end this report for now and I pray that I am granted valor and success in the name of all that is holy.

-|-

(This play report was written for Evan Elkins' Nightwick Abbey G+ session #3
for more info on Nightwick Abbey please see: http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.com/search/label/Nightwick%20Abbey )