The Hireling Cleric graduated to a full fledged party member as the old clerics player decided to use her.
The Halfling now done resting rejoined the group.
Party:
Cleric
Halfling
Bard
Fighter
Thief
Wizard
Dwarf Hireling
They head back out to the undead area of the caves near the Keep.
They pass the Hermit who is now sporting a new new vest. Some shiny rhinestone boots. A silver plated spade for his garden and his hermit hut has a fresh coat of paint.
"Special deal today." He says. "Just 75 gold to look in my hut. Could be some cool stuff to see in there!"
They proceed North and eventually find a sloped passage. They use pitons to work their way up. At the top they find 4 cultists waiting for them. Spells are cast and the beefier types all run away in fear while the others get into a fight.
The remaining party keeps it a stalemate until the beefier types get over their fear and run back to turn the tide.
In a side passage that ends up in area with a sacrificial alter. Upon it are several blood covered items.
The Thief grabs on item while the Halfling grabs the other 3. Saving throws! The thief fails and is secret possessed by a demon. The Halfling passes all his saves but decides he will never part with the objects.
The group continues deeper and uncovers a secret door which leads to a richerly adorned room with a well armed and armored cleric is surprised. They attack! And Uh oh the Thief goes all Exorcist and tries to backstab the Cleric but misses!
The Evil Cleric casts Fear on them and again the beefier types run.
Now you would think an NPC with 21 AC facing off against people with +0 to hit and maybe a +2 from Str bonus would have an easy time here. Except I swear to Bahamut if it wasn't a roll of a 19 it was a nat 20.
Also didn't help that When my Evil Cleric hit he would do minimum damage
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
2D8 damage? 2 damage.
Seeing things turning to poo as the beefier types run back he swallows a potion of gaseous form to escape....
so i choose to read the potion in the book. This version of the spell is "you drop all of your gear"
What? For real? Apparently so. So woo! magic plate, magic shield, magic staff! And once they loot his room a ton of gems and coins as well.
Oh the possessed thief? Tried her hardest to kill the cleric but just couldnt land the blow. They end up dogpiling her and tying her up.
They hoof it back to the Keep and visit the lawful temple. They examine the thief and they must either return the objects or destroy them. Thats their best guess.
They also sale all their treasure except for the sacrificial stuff and make level 2! Except eh Wiz who still needs about 500xp. They earned a good 1150 xp each from treasure and monsters.
The next day with a tied up thief they go back to the alter and place the item the thief touched on it. It does nothing. The Wiz picks it up and like the Halfling doesn't wish to part with it (avoids possession though).
Well now what? 2 of the party members dont want to leave the items or destroy them. An argument ensues. Luckily everyone but the Bard is playing Neutral so his objections fall on deaf ears.
They decide to cart the Thief back to be watched by the clerics while they come up with an alternate plan that doesn't involve destroying their precious treasures.
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As DM I'll find a way to de-possess her via a quest in the undead/cult parts of the cave. Perhaps the naked evil cleric pops back up and killing him fixes it. I'll think of something.