The Master Exposed

Drovic was hollering for support, something invisible had rushed past him.  Baru was shocked that the Talisman was missing.   Varrid headed toward the door to the bridge trying to cover an escape.  Meanwhile Petchko's skin and frame were melting and reforming in a strange fashion.  The entire room was a charnel chamber, bodies were strewn everywhere, one priest was muttering to himself and walking in circles.  Bolsh was standing at the pedestal seemingly transfixed by the horror before him.

Baru ran toward the door, Arvien grabbed Seglun and Ralom and pulled them away from the dais.  Then she Dimension stepped with them to the far end of the bone bridge hoping to cut off Madar's escape.  Drovic and Baru started slowly walking the bridge, swinging their swords across the whole width.  Arvien webbed the entire exit of the bridge back into the dissection chamber.  Grunyar was merely waiting for someone to move, the arrows would follow.
Ralom cast Invisibility Purge and began searching down the bridge for the culprit while Summergale flew under the bridge and over the vast chasm looking for the same.  Finding no one Ralom retreated to the large chamber and began to search there for Madar.  Finding no one the party ended up finally retreating to the dissection chamber and up the stairs to the entry hall, expecting to have a quick escape.  The two remaining priests came with the party, Bolsh leading  Gimgraw out by hand.
Seglun made it part way to the archway leading out when a voice echoed in the chamber.
"Leaving? Hmmm??" said the familiar, deep voice filled with menace.   This was followed by a high-pitched giggle that ripped through the air.  There was a clatter of bone on metal and the walls of the hall rustled.
Before Seglun a gigantic skeleton detached itself from the wall, the blue radiance shifted to furnace white and all the skeletons jerked to life. The skeletons blocked the exit while others moved to the rear of the party to attack.  Arvien threw a couple of fireballs into a group of skeletons, Baru strolled forward to bash at the one eyed monsters.  Grunyar switched to his hammer to bash the bones.  Drovic found himself quickly in dire straits and retreated while Bolsh continued along the wall trying to make a fast exit with his charge.  The skeletons were quite deadly but the party made it through the fight with not even Drovic hitting the floor.  Afterwards healing was delivered by Ralom and Baru.
Now the party fled the House of Bones, out into the wastelands of G'Henna.  There was something definitely wrong, even in this bleak domain.  The air pressed hard upon their eyes and ears,  The smell of a storm threat was in the air.
"Where do we go now?" asked Varrid, "Can we escape this place now?"  Arvien was not sure that leaving was possible.  The party's experience led them to believe they would not be able to leave until the Lord of the Realm let them go.  "We need to go find Yagno, and kill the bastard," was Baru's input.  Ralom suggested heading toward the Mongrelmen camp, "Maybe they can help us get back to Zhukar."  This was the agreed upon path, so back off to the north they headed.
After the first day of the journey, the land was just as harsh as they remembered.  As the skies to the south grew increasingly dark and angry, Summergale spied a group of Mongrelmen traveling in the opposite direction toward the party.
"Friends!" they greeted the heroes, surprised at seeing the them.  "We go to serve the freed Zhakata.  What of you?  Will you not serve him also?"
"Where do you plan to go?" queried Ralom.
"We are headed to the House of Bones!" was the quick reply.
Discussion followed in which the heroes related their experience, tactfully trying to dissuade the Mongrelmen from following their chosen path.  After hearing of the slaughter at the House of Bones the Mongrelmen reluctantly agreed to lead the party to their camp, which had moved in the interim.
As they approached the camp it was obviously much smaller than when they left it.  The camp held a few dozen mongrelmen.  The elder told the heroes that shortly after the party and priests had headed of the camp was attacked by the Swords of Zhakata, hundreds were slain, hundreds more scattered and were assumed lost.
Ralom created food and water for all, as the heroes helped the remaining few assemble all the goods that were left.  After spending the night, the elder and the heroes agreed that they should head to Zhukar.  Maybe that creature god was there assailing the city.
Early the next morning the party headed for Zhukar, along the way they met up with peasants who were headed toward Dervish.  The peasants were carrying a few belongings and stated that the land was bad. They hoped the environment in Dervish was better or possibly they could leave G'Henna behind.  Arvien was skeptical of being able to leave, "When have we ever left a realm here, until the Lord let us?" she posited. 
Ahead unearthly howls and horrid screams alerted the group to violence not far away.  Summergale was sent to investigate.  She returned saying that a group of strange looking beings were tormenting another one similar to them, tearing at the creature with their claws and fangs.  When the party approached the hapless victim spotted them, crying out for help in a piteous and somehow familiar voice.  A group of short squat, and rubbery creatures with bloated torsos and gangly arms and legs, whose mouths were slack and slobbery with small fangs: along with two midgets with bloated bellies, spindly arms and rotting flesh, with cruel fangs were attacking.  The victim was a malformed human with a pointed skull, distorted features and claylike flesh.
A battle ensued, the taller wretches could breathe out a stinking cloud and then attack with their claws and fangs inflicting poison in some cases.  The smaller creatures attacked with claws but the real danger was when they died, exploding for acid damage to all around them.  The battle was not long but took a toll on the heroes.
After defeating the altered creatures, Ralom and Baru approached the badly wounded creature.   His doughy flesh was blackened and oozing a slimy gray ichor.  Determining that the creature was suffering from poison also, Ralom applied some healing. 
The pointy headed monster raised its head and in a familiar voice said, "I remember him now ... his name is not Madar.  That didn't seem right.  When I first knew him he had a more horrible name and reputation.  He was Rega, Yagno's chief aid!  He is much changed, but I recall his voice and manner from when we were both novices.
"He was ambitious even then,"  choked the creature.  "He has betrayed us all.  The Circle ... everything must have been some kind of trick to benefit himself or Yagno..."
He looked up at the sliver of a crescent moon in the sky, his catlike eyes glazing over.
Baru, recognizing Petchko's voice queried if anyone had a Remove Poison.  Ralom produced a scroll and read it, healing the toxins coursing through Petchko.  His mind half gone Petchko implored the group to head to Zhukar to stop Rega and Yagno.
Arvien was still unsure, "How did you manage to get this far from the House of Bones?" she asked Petchko. 
"I found that I have some sort of Teleport or Dimension Door capability," came his reply.  "When these altered monsters started to pour out of the House of Bones, my fear kicked in and I was able to move a long distance just by thinking about it.  The power is inconsistent though, sometimes I can move many miles other times mere feet."
Again spurred to action, Zhukar now the goal, the party headed back on the road.  In the middle of the next day the wind rose, whipping up a stinging whirlwind.  A wicked dagger of lightning jabbed the ground ten feet away, its flash blinding the party as the wave of thunder crashed all about.
As vision returned they saw a hazy, gargoyle like, image, the desolate landscape visible through its form.  It was the creature from the House!
"Mortals!" he snarled in contempt.  "At first I thought you had stolen the crystal and considered amusing ways to destroy each one.  But I found that the item I week was taken by a priestling, called Rega.  I want it back!
"You had a hand in freeing me.  That was worth a reward, so you still live.  Now, I will offer you one boon within my power if you recover that stone.  Fail, and I will ensure your life is long and exquisitely agonizing."
Varrid tried to talk with the monster but he merely repeated his demands and hinted at the possibility of leaving G'Henna.  Then in a explosion of sand and grit, he departed.  The party picked themselves up and bandaged their wounds.
The next few days were filled with planning on a method of entering Zhukar, without having to encounter or fight guards or inquisitors.  Before long the heroes were on high ground overlooking Zhukar.  The city seemed far too quiet, even from such a distance.  Summergale flew over the city and reported little if no movement on the streets, no visible guards, no smoke from any chimney.  The party drew closer and Summergale's description was apt.  No smoke, no apparent guards, no light from a window.  Indeed, under the darkening skies, the land was darker still.
There were bundles of clothes and small personal possessions discarded along the roadside, mute witness to a mighty exodus.
Zhukar had been left to her fate.
Cautiously approaching the closed gates the heroes were still unsure whether there were any guards within.  Baru and Seglun moved up and opened the gates.  No response from inside.  Still warily Seglun moved into the gatehouse, it was empty, no guards were on the walls, nothing moved.
Through quiet, empty streets, shadows flitted from alley to corner almost faster that the eye could catch them.  An occasional clatter of falling stonework echoes as the heroes walked past guesting houses with gaping doors and wine shops left broken and gutted.
Varrid spied a couple of people through a dark alley, she moved to tail them.  There were three of them holding sacks some of which bulged from whatever they carried.  They were obviously looters, and soon Varrid determined they had no interest in the party as they turned away and fled quickly.
Drovic had convinced the rest of the group to head toward the safe house, which was a short distance from the temple complex.  Ralom wanted to rest and then cast locate object on the talisman, hoping that it was inside the temple.  Without any other encounters the group found the safe house, it was empty and uninviting.  Inside it was much as it was left from before,  A few beds, no food and a view from the second floor of the temple complex.  From here they could see no activity in the temple grounds.
After spending the night, the party headed toward the temple.  The Temple itself stood ahead, its blunt facade resembling the prow of a beached galleon.  The windows were dark, and the usual bustle of juniors priests and clerks was absent.  The missing millings of humanity caused and uneasy felling among the heroes.  Ralom cast his locate object and triangulated around the temple.  The talisman was definitely inside, on about the third floor.  The main doors were ajar, their frames black and gaping.  On door creaked loudly as it shifted on its hinges.
Reaching the third floor landing, Baru could hear the sounds of fluttering paper and heavy objects being flung about.
"Useless!" A voice bellowed, followed by a string of curses.  "All useless trash!"
Summergale flew in and reported Madar (Rega) alone inside a library.  After preparation for battle, Seglun rushed into the room.  She found herself facing Madar.  He stood among toppled shelves from which books and scrolls had been pulled.  They now lay scattered and torn across every inch of the floor.
Wild-eyes and obviously on the edge of exhaustion, Madar clutched the crystal in one hand.  Cradling it to his chest, he stared at the party as they entered.
"You," he growled.  "Outlanders!  Always turning up like birds of ill omen.  What would it take to be rid of you?"
After taking Seglun charge, Rega retreated to the opposite corner near a glowing orb.  Baru charged in and tackled Rega, holding him in a vise like grip.  Meanwhile the rest of the party entered and began attacking the priest from all angles. 
"You certainly are persistent, aren't you?  You want this chunk of rock?  It's worthless.  Yes, its part and parcel of that monster we released, but there is no way to use it!  I thought I could use that thing as a weapon against Yagno -- I was wrong." concluded Rega as he stabbed at Baru.
Drovic was suddenly assailed by a hulking brute that looked like a misshapen orangutan.  Reddish fur and gray skin with long arms and fangs, this monster was deadly.  Drovic felt confused as two more of these creatures entered the room and attacked the party. 
On his last legs Rega finished his diatribe against the heroes.  "It was a great plan!  But now G'Henna is changing.  Black skies, cold winds, and what next?  Why should I want to become the lord of this miserable place?"  With that Rega fell to the ministrations of the party. 
The hulking orangutans were harder to defeat and the kept confusing the party with their attacks.  Finally the group whittled away at these large apes.  Varrid was flanking, Grunyar firing away with arrows, but Baru was confused and stood around babbling to himself.  The last ape fell and the party was spent and in need of healing.

DM's Notes:  The XP for the module will be delivered at the conclusion (?).