The hills ringing Almas, capital of Andoran, slope gently toward the harbor cradling the Hornet’s Nest, the red sun rising behind them. This morning the ship’s activity rivals its namesake as Pathfinders and their agents bustle here and there inside the ship’s hastily constructed command post.
After a short wait, Venture-Captain Dennel Hamshanks rolls into the ship’s galley, his face scowling and dark eyes bloodshot. “You lot again? The Decemvirate promised better, but I suppose we have no time to waste. You have likely heard the rumors—which, unfortunately, underestimate our danger.
“The Society’s lodge in the former Cathedral of Aroden here has thrived of late—they say thanks to Venture-Captain Brackett’s grand parties, which seduce the weak-willed leaders of this so-called ‘democracy’ into permitting the Pathfinder Society unfettered access to the resources in the nation’s interior. Not likely you lot were ever invited, though. Needed to be of the presentable sort, after all.
“Last night, Brackett threw one of his most extravagant fetes yet to celebrate the recent return of a team of Pathfinders up near Falcon’s Hollow on a diplomatic mission to the region’s fey. Fillian over there claims that all the sparkling light made the Cathedral’s windows a stunning sight. Everyone was having a grand time until the trouble started. At the stroke of midnight, a dozen guests drew their swords and methodically massacred the others—poor, drunk fools. A moment later the lights went out. Fillian had been admiring the windows from the dome’s walkway and ran upward, to the belfry. Says he hid there until daylight and then crawled out to my ship here. He heard many others flee underground, followed by screams of agony.
“Shortly before dawn, several bands of what looked to be hulking, cloaked hobgoblins left the Cathedral, taking off in different directions into the city. Not only do we need to retake our lodge and rescue any survivors, but whatever those monsters plan to do in Almas, it’s got something to do with the Cathedral. I imagine even you understand how that might look for the Society if something bad were to happen to the city at large, centered on our local headquarters.
“You can probably guess who’s behind this—the Shadow Lodge, source of endless trouble this past year. We need that Lodge back, and we need Brackett alive. Time is not on our side here, and I fear it may already be too late for whatever those monstrous brutes left the Cathedral to do.
“According to Fillian’s tale, the best way in is the belfry. So your job is to get in there, kick the Shadow Lodge out, and keep Brackett alive. And put a stop to whatever ongoing plot you manage to uncover.
“Good luck. You’ll need it.”
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"Presentable!" Maximo huffs, about to give Dennel a piece of his mind. However, before he can form a proper retort the Venture-Captain has detailed a fascinating plot of intrigue and betrayal more interesting then what must have been a poor attempt at sarcasm.
"Bells and massacres! It is Cassomir all over again!" Maximo exclaims with an over-dramatic flair. "Sir, you have the right Pathfinders for the job. Alie, Fear not, if the belfry posed an insurmountable challenge I am certain it would not be proposed as the best entrance." Looking to Fillian, he arches an eyebrow. "You didn't fly, did you?"
"How are we supposed to get to the belfry? I can't fly, unfortunately."
“There’s lots of ways to approach without being seen from any of those narrow grimy windows. I’d scurry across the plaza from the northwest. It’s easy to climb up to the roof, and there’s a loose grate partway up the belfry—should be easy to slip inside there, even for big folks like yourselves.”
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"Peering into someone's nature is to me like staring at a woman's backside. Rude without justification." Maximo strokes his beard with a faint smile. "Er... or permission. Ehem! If the Venture-Captain trusts the man then that is good enough for me."
Regarding the purchase of scrolls to fly. "I don't think that will be necessary." Maximo says to Alie. "I have a rope and grapple, and an immunity to fear of heights!"
Hamshanks speaks up, "We haven't been able to contact anyone inside since the incident. I imagine you can get up the outside without being heard. It's an old sturdy building."
The Cathedral of Aroden is a massive stone structure overlooking central Almas. Two solid towers flanking a pair of enormous bronze doors dominate the facade. The doors, with their glittering bronze carvings of Aroden’s ascension to godhood, welcomed the faithful in times past, but they now lead into Telfyr’s massive library. Above the doors stands a roughly circular stained-glass window with delicate looping stonework, a style known as a rose window.
The northwestern approach is concealed from those inside, so the party makes the recommended climb up the 40-foot wall there. The numerous carvings peppering the wall make it a relatively easy climb.
A flat gray stone ledge runs along the edge of the cathedral’s roof, crisscrossed with rain gutters feeding the leering grotesques that ring the building. Toward the south side, the ledge surrounds a gently peaked roof above the long rectangular nave. Two solid towers jut upward at the south end, their severe stone sides broken only occasionally by narrow, barred stained-glass windows.
At the north end a lofty dome covered with deep red copper shingles dominates the structure. The graceful edifice peaks in a twisting stone tower with a golden turret, from which the Pathfinder Society’s Glyph of the Open Road banner hangs limply in the still air. The tower has four large windows arranged vertically on each side, all protected by corroded iron grates. Through the grates hang several bells, ranging in size from large to gigantic.
The loose grate noted by Fillian is the second from the top on the east side. Two of the bolts are missing, and the grate swings upward easily.
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"It's very pretty, isn't it," Alie asks as the group approaches the building. She is eerily quiet as she climbs, using all the help the others in the group were able to give her, so that she could scale the wall. At least Fillian seems to have told the truth about his escape...
Alie plucks a wand from a pouch and uses the magic therein, which causes her to shimmer ever so briefly. "For the next hour I'm as protected as I can be," she suggests hopefully.
The belfry contains nine large bells hanging from a maze of wooden beams. Four relatively small bells hang from a beam at the tower’s top, with the others increasing in size toward the tower’s bottom. Weather and rust coat most of them, especially the seven-foot-wide behemoth of a bell at the tower’s base.
A complex network of scaffolding frames the bells, with each suspended from wooden sliders attached to a system of ropes and pulleys along the tower’s walls. These beams connect to scaffolding along the vertical chamber’s perimeter, allowing access to the bells above and a platform five feet below the giant bell’s bottom.
Taking your time entering the belfry, the party notes that the bells are rigged to ring if you step on certain parts of the scaffolding. It would be nearly impossible to descend without first disabling this trap.
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"Well, I suppose we are going to end up setting the bells off anyways, so we might as well go ahead. But first, here's a thought...perhaps one of us can set the bells off to distract those inside, then retreat, while the others use that distraction to try to head through the front door to surprise those inside.."
As soon as someone steps on the bottom ring of the scaffold, all four bells begin to peal.
There is a trap door on the belfry's bottom platform leading down.
The party drops down from the belfry onto a balcony above the congregation hall. The Cathedral of Aroden’s former congregation hall fills an enormous, high-ceilinged open space, with the rectangular nave opening into a large circular chamber beneath the building’s grand dome.
Along the dome’s ceiling, a fresco depicts Aroden’s apotheosis and his famed battle with the wizard-king Tar Baphon on the Isle of Terror. Although intricate, the fresco’s crumbling perimeter and fading colors betray the lack of recent maintenance. A narrow wooden balcony, lined by a finely carved balustrade, encircles the dome’s base and the cathedral’s nave. The balusters depict men following several different professions, while fine calligraphy graces the top railing.
Forty feet below, an enormous altar—itself the size of a small building—stands stoutly below the dome’s apex. The cathedral’s nave stretches out to the south. Soft blue light streams into the enormous space through dozens of meticulously decorated stained-glass windows lining the nave. They illuminate trophies of all sorts—from weapons to wands—hung from the hall’s many columns.
Signs of last night’s gala and the massacre that interrupted it are obvious: freshly painted sunburst decorations, tables swathed in fine cloth covered with spoiled food, a portable stage standing empty but bloodstained, and corpses littering the floor below.
Flying in the air waiting for you are two creatures of air and wind!
Alie catches both of the air elementals in a fireball!
Baz insults the air elementals. Maybe they just wanted to play but then he yelled at them to go home and now they are angry!
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The two air elementals create whirlwinds and move over the party in opposite directions!
Creatures trapped in the whirlwind cannot move except to go where the whirlwind carries them or to escape the whirlwind. Trapped creatures can otherwise act normally, but must succeed on a concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) to cast a spell. Creatures caught in the whirlwind take a -4 penalty to Dexterity and a -2 penalty on attack rolls. The whirlwind can have only as many creatures trapped inside at one time as will fit inside the whirwind's volume. The whirlwind can eject any carried creatures whenever it wishes as a free action, depositing them in its space.