Gol’den Chile has been sorely hurt by Brother Bother’s frenzied attacks and is forced to duck aside and drink his healing potion. Bother now switches his attack to the imp, at which point Aric – who had been playing dead – leaps up and also attacks her with his sword, although she moves too fast for him to hit.

Somewhat recovered, Gol’den Chile rejoins the fray with a new mode of attack – grab her! She flits about annoyingly but he is soon able to get hold of her and manages to keep her still. This enables Aric to land a heavy blow which clearly hurts her. However, as Chile wrestles the little demon into the central pool Bother switches his attacks to the half-elf and nearly kills his friend.

While Aric flees up the stairs to the pulpit Chile manoeuvres himself so that the demon is the closest thing to Bother. To Aric’s relief this tactic works as – mad with rage – the big monk starts battering the pinned creature. Aric moves to help Chile hold the demon under the water and although she almost breaks free several times and manages to hurt Chile a little with her claws, under a constant barrage of blows from Bother she eventually loses consciousness.

Any relief is momentary however as Brother Bother is still gripped by madness; as soon as the demon passes out he starts attacking Gol’den Chile. He and Aric decide to try running away, with the agile Chile interposing himself between Bother and the badly-wounded half-elf. However Bother is extremely fast so Chile is forced to confront him again; he is unable to grapple him and barely dodges a pummelling.

Perhaps seeing the frightened faces of his friends in front of him has an effect, or perhaps the madness was wearing off anyway, but a glimmer of Brother Bother’s sanity flickers in his mind. With great force of will, he is able to push back the rage and hold the blood-lust in check for a moment …

Experience: 400 each.

The huge rat and vile mound of quivering flesh that the tiny flying demon had summoned surge forward but Aric holds them in the doorway. He disables the rat with a single blow, then Chile springs past him and lays into the flesh-thing. As Aric finishes off the rat the monks team up to do the same to the fleshy abomination.

The summoned minions dealt with, this leaves only the flying imp. How much trouble can such a tiny creature be? An awful lot.

She is fast, she can fly and she attacks the party by throwing a dagger that magically returns to her hand. This is small and barely does any damage, but she is incredibly accurate with it and despite the group’s best efforts they can barely hit her back. Even when they do so, she seems all but immune to the damage caused by their weapons and fists. Brother Bother’s tiny lightning bolts seem to hurt her but it becomes apparent that she is healing very fast even from the wounds caused by these.

The dagger is not her only means of attack. She casts spells on both the monks that cause significant wounds. Although she needs to touch them to do this she does so almost with impunity, as she is so small and fast that they can barely strike her in return. At one point she belches forth a vile-smelling wad of phlegm at Gol’den Chile but luckily for him he is able to dodge it.

Aric realises that his arrows are having virtually no effect so he uncharacteristically switches to his sword; this is little better.

Thinking that while he can’t really hurt her, conversely she can barely hurt him now that she seems to be out of spells, Bother decides to investigate the bubbling orange pool by washing his hands in it. The effect is immediate and drastic: its freezing waters hurt him greatly and he is seized by uncontrollable wrath, attacking Gol’den Chile who is standing near him. The glowing waters dim slightly.

The imp unleashes a burst of terrible fear, but the adventurer’s stout hearts resist this and they are merely shaken. As she flies about the room throwing her returning dagger, Chile attempts to subdue the raging Bother while Aric continues to try hitting the demon. Things are not looking good. Maybe a new plan is needed …

Experience: 178 each.

Session maps:

The party decides that the ape/wolf thing in the fire-pit room must be the ‘Malfeshnekor’ that Nualia was seeking. However it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and after their encounter with the shadows they are all too weak to confront either it or the giant crab inhabiting the golden helmet in the pool. In fact any kind of danger could prove too much for them so they forgo further exploration and head back to Sandpoint and Father Tobyn.

The priest is saddened to hear of Nualia’s fate but is happy to help with healing, although he does not have any spells ready that can restore drained strength so the group head back to the Rusty Dragon for some rest while he prepares.

On the way they are approached by a woman clearly in a panic, clutching a baby to her chest and holding on to an older child. In a hurried tumble of words she explains that she is Amele Barrett and ever since her son Aeren saw a goblin set a cat on fire during the attack on Sandpoint he has been waking during the night in terror, claiming a goblin came out of his closet. They told the boy to stop telling tales until finally, last night, they decided not to go and comfort him when he awoke howling. But then they heard their dog cry out in pain and the boy started screaming. They burst in and saw a goblin sitting on Aeren’s chest, the dead dog beside it.

Her husband Alergast went for the goblin but it fled into the closet; as he started tearing it apart to get to the creature she grabbed the boy and ran.

The party are moved to investigate and Amele shows them to her house. As they creep in it is ominously silent. They find the boy’s room and see a man lying half into the closet; turning him over shows that his face has been half eaten away. Before they can react a hunger-crazed goblin ranger bursts up out of a hole in the cupboard’s floor and attacks. In their weakened state the goblin gives them the run-around but he is no match for three heroes and soon he is killed.

Amele is grateful to hear this but when told about her husband she breaks down completely. Used to dealing bravely with tangible threats the group are unsure what to do but luckily Sheriff Hemlock arrives on the scene, alerted by the commotion. He thanks the adventurers for their help and says that he will arrange for the remains of the Barrett family to stay at the cathedral for a few days.

The party rests in the Rusty Dragon for a few days then decides that they will investigate the caverns they tentatively entered when they were first chasing after Tsuto. They return to the passageway in the cliff and enter the catacombs again. As they creep in, they are attacked in the same place as last time by another Sinspawn, although this one is defeated much more quickly.

The rough tunnels become flagged passageways as they explore further and they enter a round chamber with a red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but monstrously enraged woman with a headdress of hooks and blades. In one hand is a metal and ivory ranseur but in the other is a large book inscribed with the seven-pointed star they have seen before.

Pressing on they find a small shrine with a basin of filthy water, but of more interest are the large double doors. These open into a huge cathedral-like room, the walls carved with spiky runes. A large pool with a ring of polished skulls on stone spikes is in the middle, while at the far end stairs lead up to a pulpit with another pool. This one is churning and bubbling with a translucent, steaming, lava-like liquid, although the room is deathly cold.

Hovering above it is a tiny winged demon who flies into a rage and rasps “how dare you intrude upon the Mother’s sanctum?” She slashes her own wrist with a dagger and a drop of her blood falls into the orange pool. As this happens a Sinspawn emerges from it, but the pool’s glow diminishes noticeably. A look of worry crosses the demon’s face when she sees this, but then she directs her minion to attack.

As the Sinspawn advances the demon begins casting spells and soon has summoned a monstrously large rat and a creature which appears to be a rolling wave of fatty flesh. The party backs away to the relative safety of the doorway and as the Sinspawn is the first to reach them, their combined efforts manage to bring it down …

Experience: 533 each.