The Daughter of Urgathoa

The party stood guard outside the elevator through the night, but no one emerged from the Temple of Urgathoa hidden beneath the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. As they waited, Wren studied the notes they’d recovered from the body of Dr. Davaulus. “We need to get these to the Temple,” she said when she’d finished. “They’re incomplete, but I think they could help more experienced healers develop a cure.”

“But not until we’ve finished with the Urgathoans,” Erin said grimly. “According to that vampire, Lady Andaisin is still down there somewhere, and she’s the one behind all this.”

As the sun rose outside, the party gathered their gear and descended once more in the elevator. When they emerged into the entryway below, the corpses of the cultists and Queen’s Physicians were where they had left them, but the huge double doors painted with scythe-wielding skeletons were shut tight. “Didn’t we leave those open?” Jax asked, and the others exchanged looks – no one was really sure.

Not wanting to risk the trapped doors again, they chose to skirt them through the rooms to the north. They pushed their way into the physicians’ locker room (which they’d blocked with a cabinet from the other side the day before) and then into the cultist dormitory. The doors leading back south into the glass-walled room full of undead were also closed. They exchanged more looks – they were all but certain they had left these open. Everyone who could began casting protective spells. Then Jax and Grizz positioned themselves at each of the two doors, Tomas standing behind Jax with his bow drawn. “Let’s do this,” he said, and they threw their doors open.

The room was much as they had left it, with most of the former undead now motionless behind their glass coverings, with only a handful still clawing futilely at the glass. But three new inhabitants shuffled around the room. They each displayed the bloody pox of Blood Veil, and they looked like they had succumbed to the disease days before. Now these plague zombies turned to the opened doors with breathy moans. Tomas’ arrows flew, struck the nearest zombie full in the chest. As it died, its body exploded in a gruesome rain of blood and pus, but fortunately no one was close enough to be exposed. “Be careful!” Tomas cried in warning. “They explode when they die!”

Grizz wasn’t concerned. He was wearing one of the Physician’s masks they’d appropriated yesterday, and Nat had assured him it would protect him from any disease known to man (at least that’s what he recalled). Confident in his invulnerability, he charged into the room, slashing one of the zombies. Shadow hammered it with a volley of Magic Missiles, and it burst as it fell, coating the wererat with a slimy coating of vile fluids. Jax fired a Force Missile at the lone remaining zombie, but it continued shuffling towards him, clawing at his throat. Nat also hit it with a Force Missile, then Wren fired her crossbow. The bolt caught the zombie in the forehead, and its skull exploded with a rain of brains and blood that sprayed Jax full in the face. The rogue coughed and sputtered as he desperately wiped the gore out of his eyes, praying he hadn’t been infected.

The door to the south was ajar. They’d never explored this area, and Tomas pointed with his bow. “They came from there,” he said, and the group gathered around the door. With everyone in position, Jax pushed the door open and stepped back, giving Tomas a clear line of fire.

But there was nothing to shoot at, only eight unpleasant-looking beds. Their sharp iron frames were threaded with worn manacles and stained leather straps. Three were empty, and one held a corpse clearly dead for a couple of days. The others also held dead bodies, but these poor souls had had their throats slit within the last few hours, the blood still wet on the filthy sheets. Between the beds stood several small tables strewn with gore-soaked pans, flasks of mysterious fluids, and all manner of cruel-looking cutting instruments. A sizable brown-crimson stain covered much of the eastern wall, as if all the blood from a body once held there had exploded forth in a single violent eruption – an eruption very like the ones they’d just witnessed.

There was a closed double door in the southern part of the room and Jax started to move forward to investigate, but Grizz grabbed him by the arm. “The clock’s ticking,” he said, meaning the group’s protective magics. If they paused to explore now, they risked having their protections expire before they met up with Lady Andaisin. Reluctantly, Jax and the others retreated back into the glass-floored room and opened the doors leading to the blood vats.

And again found themselves facing unexpected company. The leukodaemon they’d killed yesterday stood before them, Tomas’ arrows still protruding from its body. And today he’d brought a friend, another leukodaemon zombie, sans arrows. “Again???” Jax moaned in frustration as the undead daemons let out a collective roar.

Luckily, the reanimated daemons were slow on the uptake. Grizz charged into the room and sank his rapier to the hilt on one of the leukodaemon’s guts, while Nat hammered the other with Magic Missiles. Erin’s crossbow bolt went wide, but Shadow sent his Spectral Hand into the room then launched a pair of Scorching Rays that badly scorched the one facing Grizz. Jax followed up with Magic Missiles of his own, then Tomas feathered it with still more arrows. The creature was staggered, but still on its feet – until Wren stepped into the doorway and cast Channel Divinity. The holy power swept over both daemons, and the one in front of Grizz collapsed for the second time in 24 hours.

Its partner was still up, and it took two steps and snapped its horse-skull jaws at Grizz. They’d seen this move bite the head clean off one of the cultists yesterday, and Grizz just barely managed to duck out of the way. He slashed at its legs as he ducked, cutting to the bone. Erin raced to his side, and stabbed the thing with her longsword, while Nat and Shadow both filled the air with Magic Missiles. Jax took careful aim and fried it with his own Scorching Ray. With an unholy shriek, it fell in a mass of smoking flesh and feathers.

“How many more of these things are there?” Wren asked, remembering the tanks they’d seen yesterday. Jax held up two fingers, and Wren shuddered. Expecting the worst, they threw open the doors to the room where they’d first encountered the leukodaemon yesterday. But nothing charged to meet them. All four of the tanks had been shattered, but the two remaining leukodaemon corpses lay motionless on the floor amid broken glass and pools of green liquid. The double doors to the east were still open, and the group approached cautiously. They could now see that the doors opened to a long hallway, descending at a noticeable angle into darkness. Once again, they refreshed their magical protections; Shadow cast Vanish on himself and Grizz, while Wren cast Bless, hoping that Lady Andaisin was nearby. Using Dancing Lights to light their way, they began to follow the corridor down.

It continued for 100 feet before they could see it opening into a circular chamber rising into a high dome. Seven basins jutted from the walls, ensconced within evenly spaced alcoves that circled the room. Each was filled to the brim with a unique liquid — blood, bile, milk, or other unidentifiable fluids. Each filled the air with its own distinct reek, creating a noxious, eye-watering bouquet. At the room’s center, rising from a wide pool of crystalline water, was a golden statue that was at once both erotic and horrifying. The statue depicted a beautiful nude woman who was human above the waist, but below this, the figure was nothing more than a skeleton.

Wren immediately recognized this as a shrine to Urgathoa. The basins were fonts for Urgathoa’s seven scourges - seven fluids believed by her faithful to eternally leak from the Pallid Princess’s necrotic body: bile, blood, milk, phlegm, pus, sweat, and tears. These revolting fluids spontaneously generate within Urgathoa’s shrines in specially prepared basins deep in her temples, serving as foci for her servants’ worship, components in a variety of obscene rites, and mediums for the creation and spread of diseases.

A phalanx of juju zombies stood guard just inside the room, protecting a woman who stood beside the pool surrounding the statue, a giant scythe held carelessly in her hands. Her blue-black hair spilled down around her beautiful pale face as she surveyed the party with an icy smile. “And so you have found your way to me, hopeful heroes. Know that you stand before the architect of your city’s death. You call this sending Blood Veil, yet I know it as the gentle kiss of the Pallid Princess. Your reward shall be great — choose of the seven scourges to become one with the goddess. Those who drink I shall only cripple, leaving you alive to enjoy her as she quickens inside your flesh. Those who abstain are fools, not fit to house the divine gift. You may prostrate yourselves at my feet, and I shall make your end all the more swift for it. Swifter, in any event, than this delightful end your lovely queen has enjoined me to create!”

Nat was never one for sitting still for flowery speeches. From his position at the back of the group, he sent a spark flying from his fingertip that exploded into a Fireball in the center of the room. When the flames died down, he expected to see five dead zombies. Instead, they seemed to have been barely blistered by his magical flames (although Lady Andaisin’s hairdo was definitely singed).

Lady Andaisin sneered at Nat, then waved her hands in an arcane motion. As she did, a vertical curtain of flashing, whirling blades appeared, blocking the end of the corridor. With a laugh, she walked up into the air, moving to the northern side of the room and out of direct line of sight from the party.

Jax moved up to the edge of the Blade Barrier, but wasn’t willing to test his ability to pass through it. Instead, he fired a volley of Magic Missiles at the nearest juju zombie. The Missiles flew true, but simply evaporated as they reached their target, doing no harm. “Well crap!” he muttered. Tomas moved to his side; from this vantage point he could just barely see the cleric of Urgathoa, and he fired off an arrow. It may have been clipped by one of the blades of force, because his shot went wide.

Grizz joined the others at the face of the Blade Barrier but he was no more willing than anyone else to get shredded in order to attack. Shadow stepped up behind Grizz and tried to send his Spectral Hand through the blades, hoping that its incorporeal nature would spare it from them; instead, it was flayed into non-existence by the blades of magical force.

Andaisin’s juju zombies stepped back away from the door, inviting the party to charge through the magical barrier to reach them. With the Blade Barrier in place, that wasn’t something anyone was keen to do, but Erin had other options. Stepping forward as far as she could, she called upon the power of Iomedae, and the Inheritor’s power swept through the room, taking out two of the zombies. Wren was right behind her, and seconds later the power of Pharasma robbed the remaining zombies of their unlife.

Nat had been madly digging through his backpack, and now emerged with a Scroll of Dispel Magic. Crossing his fingers, he read the scroll, and as he finished the final words and motions, the Blade Barrier vanished! From inside the room, they heard Lady Andaisin curse, but she continued with the spell she’d been preparing anyway. Everyone except Shadown and Grizz (who were still invisible, and who Andaisin didn’t realize were there) heard a voice in their head, silently commanding them. Lady Andaisin had originally intended her Greater Command to be ‘Come to me!’, compelling them to pass through the Blade Barrier. Now her command was ‘Flee!’. Erin felt a wave of panic start to come over her, but they she felt the presence of Madame Zellara’s spirits surround her, and her courage overcame the magical compulsion. Jax was not so lucky – spirits or no spirits, he turned and fled back up the passage as fast as he could run.

Tomas now had a clear shot at Lady Andaisin, and immediately feathered her with a flight of arrows. Grizz, still invisible, slunk into the room and around the far side of the pool; Lady A was floating 15 feet above the floor, well out of reach of his rapier, and he wasn’t sure what his best course of action was. Shadow stepped into the room, and blasted Andaisin with a pair of Scorching Rays. The unholy cleric screamed in pain as her hair smoked and her skin blistered.

“I need to get to her!” Erin cried, knowing that she was all but useless as long as Lady Andaisin was flying out of reach. Wren stepped forward and cast Air Walk on the paladin, and with an Iomedaean battle cry, Erin charged into the room, climbing as she ran, longsword flashing. She drew back her sword to swing, but ran headlong into an invisible barrier that knocked the wind out of her. The cleric’s Antilife Shell prevented any living thing from getting within ten feet of her, frustrating Erin’s thirst for justice.

Luckily for the party, arrows and spells were not living things. Nat ran to the doorway, and fired a Lightning bolt that made Andaisin’s remaining singed hair stand on end. Realizing that she needed to escape the party’s ranged attacks, Lady Andaisin flew behind the statue and cast Obscuring Mist. Instantly, most of the room was filled floor-to-ceiling with thick, roiling fog that limited visibility to five feet at best.

Although he couldn’t see her now, Tomas had seen where Andaisin was when she cast the spell. Praying that she was still in the same spot, he took careful aim and let his arrows fly. From within the mist, they heard a cry, then a crash as something heavy hit the floor. Grizz began to advance cautiously into the fog. From the other side of the room, Erin also entered the fog, descending to almost floor level as she searched for any sign of the cleric. Just on the other side of the pool surrounding the statue she saw something emerge into visibility through the dense fog. Drawing closer, she could see that it was Lady Andaisin sprawled on the floor, eyes staring sightlessly upwards. “I found her!” Erin called out to the others. “She’s dead.”

Lady Andaisin had fallen, but Urgathoa was pleased with the work her acolyte had done in creating and spreading the plague of Blood Veil throughout the city of Korvosa. Now, in death, the Pallid Princess chose to bestow a rare gift upon her servant. As Erin watched, Andaisin’s body crackled with unholy power. Her sundered flesh exploded with boils and pustules, pouring forth torrents of Urgathoa’s foul humors that congealed into a sickening new body. The new thing stood, then rose slightly into the air. It was twice the size of the woman who had been Lady Andaisin. Long horns grew from her head, and one arm was not an arm at all, but a giant scythe, dripping with disease. She was become a Daughter of Urgathoa, an unliving saint in her profane church. She looked down at her new body and a look of triumph spread across her face. “Oh thank you, my Princess!” she cried. “I shall serve you in undeath as I have served you in life!” Then she swung her great scythe at Erin, slicing through armor and flesh alike.

Tomas had heard Erin’s reassurance that Andaisin was dead, but then heard her voice calling out to Urgathoa, followed by a scream of pain from Erin. He fired blindly into the fog, praying he wouldn’t hit Erin by mistake, but heard his arrows clatter harmlessly off the far wall. Grizz was standing right beside this new monstrosity, and lashed out for all he was worth. His rapier slashed into her undead flesh, but the fluids that flowed out were not blood.

Those outside the fog were stymied; they couldn’t target what they couldn’t see. “Cast Haste on them!” Wren cried, pointing towards Erin and Grizz, fighting somewhere in the mist. “I can’t!” Nat replied. “Not if I can’t see them! Get back out here and make her chase you!” he shouted, but no one emerged from the cloud. Frustrated, Wren advanced to the edge of the fog bank and cast Channel Divinity; if Erin had been telling the truth and Andaisin had really been dead, then whatever they were fighting in there was hopefully undead. Tomas closed his eyes and cocked his head, listening intently to the sounds of unseen battle. Without opening his eyes, he carefully aimed at the sounds and let fly an arrow. He heard the satisfying thunk of shaft into flesh, and didn’t hear any of his allies cry out in pain.

Erin had called upon Iomedae to help her Smite Evil, but failed to connect with her swing. The Daughter of Urgathoa swung back at her two assailants, her giant scythe slashing at Grizz while she clawed at Erin, but both managed to dodge her attacks. Erin felt something brush past her cheek and heard the sound of an arrow striking flesh. She swung again, and her sword sank deep into the undead saint’s belly. Grizz slashed from the other side and his rapier sent another spray of unholy humours into the air. But the transformed Andaisin was unbowed. She lashed out again, and her claws raked Erin’s face while her scythe-arm nearly cut Grizz in half. Neither would survive long at this rate.

Tomas still had his eyes clenched shut. He channeled all his focus into his sense of hearing, shutting out everything except the sounds of combat from within the fog. Erin’s panting breath. Girrigz’s snarls. The whistle of the giant scythe slicing through the air. And at the center of it all, a point of silence: no breathing, no heartbeat. Trusting his instincts, he raised his bow and fired three arrows in quick succession. One after another they struck that point of silence, and then a cry rang out. It was a wail of surprise, and anguish, and it seemed to recede down through the floor and into the depths of the earth. Within the mists, Erin and Grizz saw the Daughter of Urgathoa dissolve into a rain of foul humours and disappear.

The group retreated from the shrine and Wren dispensed healing while they waited for the fog to dissipate. Erin went after Jax; she met him halfway to the elevator, making his way sheepishly back to the group. Once they could see, they began to search the room. Andaisin’s body was a deflated husk, but her gear was intact and was quickly collected. Nat was doing Detect Magic around the room, and spotted something under the statue; Jax investigated, and found a hidden compartment full of scrolls, wands, and other goodies.

And there was something else. Scattered across the floor in front of the various basins were two dozen small, empty metal boxes carved with images of skulls. Most appeared to have already been used: they were non-magical and their insides reeked with the scent of one or more of Urgathoa’s humours. But one was clean, and still glowed with magic. “Those must be the Death’s Head Coffers the vampire wanted,” Wren said eagerly.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to let him have it,” Nat said, picking up the coffer and examining it. “I mean, there’s no telling what he’ll do with it.”

Wren snatched the metal box out of the wizard’s hands. “We made a deal – this in exchange for Ruan!”

Wren marched back up the corridor and made her way to the vampire’s door, the rest of the party in tow. She paused for a moment, then knocked politely on the door. “Enter,” she heard the accented voice say from within.

When she opened the door, Arkminos arched an eyebrow in surprise. “I must say, I did not expect to see you again. When I heard Lady Andaisin in the next room after you left yesterday, I am afraid I assumed the worst.”

“We took care of Lady Andaisin,” Wren said with more confidence than she felt.

“I see. Then my obligation here is fulfilled. And our bargain?”

Wren held out the coffer. Arkminos took it with a slight bow and examined it closely. “Ah yes – exactly what I was looking for. I am anxious to study this in my own laboratory.” He stepped back and indicated Ruan, still strapped to the table. “As you can see, I have not touched the boy. I am a man of my word, and you are free to take him.” He moved a lever on the table and the iron straps holding Ruan in place released. “He is drugged, but the effects should wear off within a few hours,” Arkminos said as Tomas and Erin lifted Ruan off the table and hoisted him between their shoulders. “He will have no long term effects – other than the emotional ones, of course.”

Wren gave the vampire a bow. “You are indeed a man of your word. Thank you.” She started to turn to leave, but the vampire stopped her. “I take it you would like to find a cure for this disease?” he asked, and Wren nodded. “Despite what I am, I am not a monster. I have no desire to see a city perish for no reason. I believe that these might be of some assistance.” He turned back to his desk and began rapidly sorting through a stack of parchment notes. He kept some aside, but soon had a thick pile of papers that he neatly arranged and then handed to Wren. “I hope that you are able to make use of these.”

Wren took them with a tear in her eye. “Thank you again. We will be going to the authorities with these, and to tell them of this place. You might want to be gone before they arrive.”

“I shall,” Arkminos replied with a bow.

“Before you go,” Nat interrupted, “would you mind just signing an affidavit swearing to what you’ve told us about Blood Veil? It would be very useful in court when …” His words died in his throat. He had not seen Arkminos move, but the vampire was suddenly nose to nose with him, his hand at Nat’s throat. Nat had not noticed how long the vampire’s fingernails were, but now one pressed painfully against his jugular.

“I think we’re done here,” Jax said, grapping Nat by the collar and dragging him out of the room.

---

“You did WHAT?” Cressida Kroft gasped, the color draining from her face.

“We killed Dr. Davaulus and the Queen’s Physicians,” Wren replied calmly. After reuniting Ruan with his grateful sister, they’d gone straight to Citadel Volshyenek to let the Field Marshall know all they’d learned. But it seemed to be a bit much to swallow in one bite.

Kroft dropped her face into her hands on her desk. “I sent you to see what you could learn about the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, and you murdered the Queen's personal physician?” she moaned. “I’m a dead woman.” She took a deep breath, and looked back up at the party. “Maybe you’d better start from the beginning.”

They told her the whole story. Then she made them tell it all to her again, to make sure she hadn’t dreamed the whole thing. During the second telling, she was thumbing through the doctor’s notes as they spoke. When they finished, she was silent for a long time. “OK,” she said at last, “I understand that Dr. Davaulus and his ‘physicians’ were in league with the cult of Urgathoa to introduce and spread Blood Veil. His notes are pretty damning, and leave no question that he was up to his neck in the plot. But tell me again why you think the Queen was involved?”

“Lady Andaisin told us as much,” Tomas explained. “She said the Queen had brought them in to create Blood Veil!”

Kroft began to pace in her office. “OK. OK. We need to prioritize. And our first priority has to be to get those notes to the Temple of Pharasma and the Bank of Abadar, so they can see if there’s something there they can use to craft a cure. Those notes leave no doubt that this was a huge conspiracy, but we can’t hold them back. We have to let the chips fall where they may.

“But listen to me!” She turned to the group with a look of desperation in her eyes they had never seen before. “You can NOT breathe a word to anyone of your suspicions about the Queen. I don’t doubt what you said you heard, but all you have is the word of a dead fanatic, someone who has murdered thousands of innocent citizens. The Queen would say Andaisin was just trying to lay the blame off on someone else, and that wouldn’t be an unconvincing argument. I beg you to keep your mouths shut until I can figure out what to do, or else you’ll all end up on the gallows – and I’ll be right beside you!”

The group exchanged looks. Some were more than happy to let this be someone else’s problem, but others were biting their tongues at the thought of letting the Queen’s crimes go unpunished. From the back of the room, someone cleared their throat. It was Grizz, and Kroft turned to see what he wanted.

“My name is Girrigz Ripperclaws,” he said in an unusually formal tone. “And I am a wererat.” Everyone held their breath a bit to see how Cressida Kroft would react to this news, but she didn’t blink. “I and my people participated in the fight to eradicate this plague from your city. I bled for your people, and I want to make sure that my people receive their due credit for helping to save you.”

“It’s true,” Wren confirmed. “We could not have ended Dr. Davaulus and Lady Andaisin’s plot without the help of Grizz and his wererat brothers.”

Field Marshall Kroft crossed the room and stood before Girrigz. She extended her hand, and Grizz took it. Kroft shook his hand formally, her eyes on his. “You have my word,” she said. “Your people’s contribution will not be forgotten when this tale is told.”

As the party left the Citadel, they headed due south from the gates, towards Eodred Square and then on towards the Gray District and the Temple of Pharasma, but Grizz stopped. “This is where we say goodbye,” he said, giving a mock salute. “I have to say – this has been a lot more fun than I expected it to be. If you ever want to kill a bunch of people again, you know where to find me!” With a wave, he turned right, whistling as he strode off towards the sewer where they’d found him.