The Church of One's Suspicious Activities

#1

Contributed by Adam Lobel

Glog and Rapi’Lal were getting annoyed, they had been digging for hours and over and over again they were hit with delays. At first the soil had been soft and easy to dig through thanks to their shapeshifted claws however they then hit solid rock. It slowed them down a bit but not too much then they hit concrete, that hurt a bit to cut through but they started to get through. Then they hit steel, Glog had no idea why the Church had wasted hardened steel for the base of their facility but then again none of this made sense. Rapi’Lal suggested that they dig around to find a section that wasn’t so reinforced so for the last few hour they dug and dug while Glog’s apprentice carried out the dirt through the ever growing tunnel. Finally after more than half a day they found a section not reinforced and were able to start ascending toward the base. Glog was exhausted from his work, he didn’t care about why this section wasn’t reinforced he was just happy to get out of the dirt and get this mission done. The sooner they found out about the Church’s plans the better. As he got higher he hit a wooden floor, this was it. Glog nodded at Rapi’Lal as they carefully shapeshifted their ears to listen for movement above them. Hearing nothing they cautiously carved a hole into the floor and came up into an elaborate Earther office. Glancing around they spotted a window, seeing no one nearby Rapi’Lal and Glog opened it and let Glog and his apprentices climbed out to begin their sabotage. Then Rapi’Lal’s enhanced hearing heard footsteps approaching, looking around he tried to figure out how to hide himself….then the door opened……

Squire Lanpotter was sweating, his job was small but then again the Inquisitor in charge of the facility scared the crap out of him. Lanpotter had to empty out all of the trash cans in the Inqisitor’s office, it wasn’t his job to ask why the Inqusitor had five separate garbage cans which always seemed to be full. He rushed to the door and quickly unlocked it, stepping in he saw that things seemed rather normal……except the window was open, that was strange. Shrugging Squire Lanpotter closed the window and began straightening up. He emptied each garbage can into the bag he brought with him and did a quick dusting of the room. He got the desk, the bookcase, the weird looking dresser that wasn’t there before…….man that is an ugly dresser, who built that? Oh well it wasn’t his concern, he quickly finished his task and left the room locking it behind him. Lanpotter didn’t want to piss off the Inquisitor.

#2

As Lurtor approached the main Church of One base he smiled to himself about how smoothly this mission was going. He had ambushed a lone Paladin who had wandered off alone to answer a call of nature and taken his armor and appearance, the armor smelled like a rusty pot. This particular Paladin didn’t take good care of his equipment, splotches of rust were here and there and his sword was barely sharp enough to cut through leather. Lurtor shook his head at the carelessness, however at the same time if the Church’s soldiers were more responsible then his people would have had a much harder time winning their freedom.
Lurtor had joined a patrol of four Paladins, they had just finished setting up a burning cross at a nearby village and thankfully the Paladin he had replaced had thrown some rocks at a local so he didn’t have to prove his worth with violence.
The Paladins were grumbling about the lack of action. They truly wanted to start killing the Olgogs in the villages however they were under strict orders not to case any real damage. Normally they would ignore this type of blasphemous instruction however before each patrol left they had to walk past several Paladins who had disregarded the orders of the Inquisitor in charge. That sight convinced them that no order was too blasphemous to refuse. Lurtor upon hearing this grew quite concerned about this Inquisitor whose name was never once spoken among his “traveling companions”.
Arriving at the door Lurtor was surprised to see it swing open without any real inspection of the patrol. No one questioned their identity, nor looked at them too closely. It was then that Lurtor heard the whimpering and groaning coming from his right, turning his head so he could see his human appearing face paled and he felt his stomach rebelling against him, fighting against the impulse to vomit his mind was having trouble with the sight before his eyes.

Glog and his apprentices snuck around the base, they had already set up some rope traps to prevent organized pursuit if they were spotted and found a cache of bows and arrows which they had sabotaged by cutting the bowstrings and removing the arrowheads. They weren’t able to get close to the machine guns themselves as they were guarded at all times by half a dozen Paladins each defending the Red Bishops inside them. The oddest thing about the base was how few soldiers there seemed to be. Yeah there were soldiers on the walls, but the actual grounds seemed deserted. Glog saw the main building that he had exited from, however besides that most of the inside contained large tents and poorly made shacks most seeming empty upon being look into. Glod was very confused as to why the base of the facility was solid steel while the actual facility itself seemed to be so cheaply made. Not that it mattered much in the end, but something nagged at him.
Glog looped around toward the main entrance looking for more things to break when a patrol returned, the door opened and in walked four Paladins, seeing them was weird mainly because the large base seemed so empty. As the first three moved forward toward one of the tents, the fourth, turned to his right and stopped walking. He was staring at something that Glog couldn’t see. Creeping around a tent Glog got a better look and his fur began to stand up in horror.

#3

The Masked Inquisitor stood on a small wooden stage that he had some squires set up. He sat in the only chair set up on the stage so he could enjoy his work. Inspiring loyalty was an art form and the Inquisitor was an artist extraordinaire. Squire Lanpotter kept his eyes on the Mask and imagined that the Inquisitor was smiling underneath it considering how long his gaze remained upon his handiwork. Lanpotter didn’t want to look at the source of the whimpering and crying, the image already haunted his dreams and every time he closed his eyes he could see it. The Squire had no idea how the Inquisitor had managed to fuse together the bodies of twenty Paladins, he didn’t understand how they could bleed that much and not die. It was like some kind of giant had grabbed them all in his hands and smooshed them into one kind of writhing mass that shouldn’t exist. If one listened closely you could hear bones breaking and refusing, wounds constantly being torn open and then being sealed up……why couldn’t they die?
Lanpotter’s eyes burned due to the infrequency of his blinking, he at first didn’t notice the patrol returning. The Squire had no idea where the soldiers came from and where they disappeared to after arriving. They would enter a tent and then vanish, only to return at some point to leave on patrol again. No one dared to go against the Inquisitor’s orders for fear they would join the abomination that entertained the Inquisitor so much. This wasn’t a Church base, this was a crime against God. Lanpotter wondered if he would ever leave with his life……or if he did, would he even want to after seeing what he had seen. Shifting his eyes away he noticed a single Paladin hadn’t gone into the tent that they normally go into. He was staring at the evil mass frozen in place. Why would he keep looking at it? Hadn’t he seen enough of it during the time he was stationed here? Squire Lanpotter heard a chuckle escape the lips of the Inquisitor, snapping his head around he saw the Inquisitor turn his mask to gaze upon the lone Paladin, then his eyes turned away to one of the tents.

Glog was terrified, that….that…thing he saw…no one deserved to be a part of that, not even these Church scum. He turned his gaze away from the frozen Paladin and saw a masked figure on a chair looking right at him. Glog swallowed heavily, it was time to leave. He turned his head to tell his apprentices to head back to the building when he saw the masked figure standing right behind them. Before he could call out a warning to his apprentices the figure had reached out and grown claws that extended from his hand and out several feet going through the chests of both of his students. Their eyes rolled to the back of their heads and silently they slumped down the void blades slicing a path through their flesh almost bisecting them. Glog’s eyes grew in fear and an audible gasp escaped his lips as he bolted toward the window to get to the tunnel. He heard laughter and felt waves of pain as chunks of the flesh on his back was torn away by the claws. However he managed to jump through the now closed window and dove into the tunnel. As he rushed through the only thing following him was that laughter which seemed to follow him even after he emerged back onto the surface. Ol’Dollur and Ol’Darlur caught Glog as he collapsed into their arms. He was missing almost a third of his torso, they were amazed that he got this far considering the pathway of blood that followed in his wake. They sacrificed a bit of their lifeforce to keep him breathing and then withdrew from the area to evade any pursuit. When Glog regained consciousness he would have a horrifying story to tell.

#4

Lurtor’s gaze was torn away from the writhing mass before his eyes by a sharp gasp over to his left. He snapped his head to look and saw an Olgog with a terrified look in his eyes. The Olgog bolted away being pursued by a masked man whose outfit resembled an Inquisitor. The Inqusitor seemed to have claws coming out of his hands that extended over four feet in front of his and he laughed as he raked them against the back of the fleeing Olgog. The chase ended as the Olgog crashed through the window of the only permanent building in the base. Lurtor looked around and was confused by the collection of tents and shacks, this didn’t look like any Church base he had seen before. In fact the only soldiers he saw were on the walls….where did the Paladins he was following get to? The only person he could see was a young earther Squire, who was staring at him….perhaps it was time to go before the Inquisitor started asking him questions……now where did that Inquisitor get to? Lurtor turned to head back through the open base door, only to find that there was no door. Only a wall faced him, Lurtor stared in confusion, where did the door go? He had just walked through it.
“Leaving so soon? You only just arrived, I would hate to think that you thought so little of my hospitality.” The voice chilled Lurtor, it had a weird mechanical edge to it, it seemed wrong. Lurtor turned toward the voice to find the masked Inquisitor standing two feet away from him. The mask was dominated by a single eye carved into the front of it, lines had been carved around and through the eye in strange designs that made Lurtor’s eyes hurt a bit just to look at them. Lurtor didn’t want to find out what this man meant about hospitality, so he tried to teleport away, however he found that no matter what kind of leyas he tried to call upon to escape none would work. In desperation Lurtor raised his Hellforged Dagger and plunged it into the chest of the Inquisitor, sparks showered him in response, but the figure didn’t even flinch, withdrawing the blade Lurtor activated his Bone Rings bursting out of his armor, wings sprouting from his back he spun around and got ready to jump into the air to fly away. Suddenly a burning pain filled Lurtor’s back and gut, void claws had punched through his grown armor and out his chest. His vision started to blur, and as he lost consciousness he could barely hear that mechanical voice “We are going to have so much fun together my furry friend, so much fun.”

#5

Mission consequences as follows.
Glog has managed to escape being nearly killed by the masked Inquisitor, upon being healed he tells the story about the base being mostly empty with few real threats except for the Masked Inquisitor who killed his apprentices and nearly killed him. Empty tents and shacks left him with more questions the answers.
However he did manage to sabotage the bows of the archers and the base is now filled with small traps that will drive the few soldiers inside crazy and cause various injuries.

Rapi’Lal has hidden himself as a dresser using Shapeshift and will be able to hear information when the Inquisitor returns to his office, he will learn much, if he can get out with the information.

Lurtor has been captured by the Masked Inquisitor and is being kept alive within the base. He will probably learn much from his future interactions with the Inquisitor, if he will be able to tell anyone about what he will learn….that is another story.

#6

Mission Rewards

All characters involved in this mission gain

  1. A Chalice of Holy Water - This Church of One relic is used to bless and baptize. Water poured into this cup can then be splashed on Undead, Nightmares, Demonic and Fiendish targets who take 5 pts of No A.R. dmg. Counts as a healing artifact. Does 1 pt of No A.R. dmg to Vampyrs, Bandits and other cursed targets. Will instantly reveal a Brain Leech nightmare if tossed at the victim of a Brain leech.

  2. Scroll of Blessed Liturgy - This scroll when placed on the wall of a house, shack, tent or small dwelling will prevent Nightmares from entering the room in which the scroll has been hung. Healing artifact. If a Nightmare is somehow forced within the room, it takes 2 Pts of No A.R. dmg each combat round until it can escape or it dies.