1.2.7 Gods have mercy

Continuing through the Undercroft.

Opening Monologue

The battle was hard-won — the stitched-together abomination, Grettir’s carrion golem, now lies still at your feet. Its reeking body, an unspeakable tapestry of rot and monstrous flesh, fills the cold air with the stench of death. From its ruined chest you pried a glowing gem, once bright with alien energy. Now it sits heavy in your hands, a pale, lifeless white — as if whatever spirit had inhabited it has fled.

You stand battered. Blood cakes your wounds. Beneath your skin, some of you feel a disturbing change taking root — a prickling itch as coarse hair forces its way to the surface, a sharpening of your senses that brings every putrid detail into vivid focus. The curse of the wererat gnaws at your soul, testing your patience, stoking your anger. You are not the same as you were when you entered this place.

Before you, a rough breach in the stone wall gapes open, carved in haste. From beyond it, voices echo through the gloom.

"You said you could handle it," growls a man’s voice — "And now look at this mess."

A woman’s voice, wild and ragged — Brelka — screams back, nearly incoherent with grief: "You wanted them dead! They're dead! My friends—my friends—you wanted this, Tarod!"

The reply comes slow and cutting, like a blade across the skin:
"How disappointing you are. I thought you might rise above your weakness... perhaps even find a place in our order. But no. This temple of a bygone age, this failure — it suits you."
A pause, heavy with contempt.
"Prove yourself, Brelka. If you survive... perhaps you will yet be worthy of my time."

A sudden crack of energy splits the air. Tarod vanishes in a spiral of black fog, the mist lingering in the air like the aftertaste of something rotten.

Session Notes

Players chose to spend 2 hours removing the wall to gain access to Loki's temple.
Found a diary/journal, detailed raiding with Varka the later pages are maddened scribbling and hard to deciper.
Freed Sigurd, he made his own way back to The Black Tide Tavern. He was imprisoned by the others when he was unwilling to become a wererat.
Sigurd told them of two temples which they had discovered
- one of Heimdall
- one of Loki, the trickster. Brelka had started spending most of her time there of late.
Found some explosive rats in cages, they have bulging eyes and the bodies appear bulbous, misshapen and stretched in some parts the fur is missing and their coat seems too stretched. Their behaviour is manic. Found some notes in Grettir's research journal detailing his experiments and modifications.