Night of the Mouse (19th), Lovers’ Moon, Year of the Burning Mountain

Midnight in the chapel of Votishal

The Eagle Has Landed

Aranduil of Waylorn circled disconsolately in eagle form through the smoggy skies of Lankhmar. He spied his associates Yucta Axotylata and Ockasiola the Zebran creeping towards the gaudy Temple of Votishal in the dusk. He observed them climb in through the upper window. Presently two dark clad figures emerged from the roof — but they weren’t his friends! They jumped onto neighbouring roofs and headed towards the docks. Aranduil landed on the roof to investigate.

Killer ghost

Aranduil, Yucta and Ockasiola were reunited upstairs in the temple. They found a dead priest with a note about a bronze skeleton somewhere in the sewers. They explored downstairs. They found a chapel tended by an angry ghost with a necklace of severed toes and a flaming sword. Yucta and Ockasiola aimed some blows at the thing but their weapons passed straight through. Aranduil managed to grab a vial of oil from the altar but got blasted by a black weakening miasma from the ghost which robbed him of his voice.

Yucta and Aranduil recognised the oil as one which might have special properties to harm ghosts. They coated their weapons and charged back to confront the ghost. This time, it seemed to work; after a few heavy blows the ghost vanished, leaving its gruesome necklace behind. The chapel was dominated by a huge spine topped with a bejeweled skull. Ockasiola was tempted to destroy it, but when purple beams lanced out of its eyes, Yucta dragged him out of the room

Downstairs were more corpses. Each had burns and sword wounds and a missing big toe. It seemed the killer was the ghost. One of the dead priests had a pair of bronze skeletal feet under his bed, which Yucta picked up. Aranduil calmed and fed the grey jaguar (called Otaz) and they pondered the well outside.

The sewers, again

Climbing down the rope from the well, they arrived at a pool chamber. Stairs led into the catacombs Ockasiola had explored earlier. Delving into the tunnels eventually led them to the sewers.

The rat bargain

A swarm of rats surrounded them. A giant rat walking on two legs shot crossbow bolt with a message ‘Bring us the toes’. A life-size rat-woman grew in front of them. She offered shrinking and growing potions in exchange for the toes of the recently murdered. Yucta declined the offer.

Crypt of the ghost

Near the rat embassy was a secret passage to a mass grave pit surrounded by narrow walkways. In the centre of the pit, accessible by equally small bridges was an open coffin. The ghost appeared, with its flaming sword. Ockasiola and Aranduil approached it from either side. Yucta tried, but the bridge at his feet fell apart, forcing him to jump back. With their specially oiled weapons, Ockasiola and Aranduil smashed the ghost, causing it to billow like smoke into the bronzed skeleton in the coffin. Yucta touched the skeleton feet to the rest and they fused together, trapping the spirit in its body. The killer had been put to rest.