1st of Bonfires
Most of the party was incredibly creeped out by the skin book, but Adom felt obligated to do something about it. At the very least, he felt that the party should inform the clergy of this room. He was also suspicious that the texts in the room had something to do with the ritual raising the undead.
Adom decided to skim some of the books while Leith and Tanythe stood far away in the other room and Aurent stood nearby just incase. Starting with the book that appeared to be a diary, Adom learned the following: scratchy handwriting, hard to read, written in high arissian. Diary of Valerinus Betier. She is frustrated with the slow and ponderous nature of being a Juk-shaab acolyte. "Seems like the acolytes approach religious faith as a wizard approach learning spells, without passion." Seems to regret joining the temple. "If only I had gone with them when the acolytes of Cthulhu called upon me." At some point her writing changes and she seems to no longer be a follower of Juk-shaab and starts talking about the way of L'rog'g. She writes about the way in which L'rog'g will bind the old cults of the empire and create a faith truly victorious over the heresies of civilizations (become a sort of monotheistic deity). Blasphemes Ornn on several occasions and calls him a false god. Calls the people who pray to Osgathoth (patron of trade) fools. Ends with a disquieting passage: "Oh to be new again. Oh to have luxurious yards. I wish, I wish I could be that. I wish I could replace every yard of my skin."
Another book contained information on the Old ones. Another appeared to be a hand scribed history of Saint Borenzolar, the patron saint of sacrilege. Feeling content that the texts did not appear to be directly related to the undead issue, Adom stopped there, though he still felt somewhat compelled to read the Psalms. The party exited the catacombs temporarily to let Vincentius know of the room and ask if he knew anything about the Psalms. Vincentius was unaware of the room but informed the party that Valerinus Betier was a former priest of the temple when it was first built. He also informed the party that he had heard of the Psalms before and said that reading them would supposedly drive you mad, but he didn't rememebr them being associated with L'rog'g (Adom was thankful he had decided not to read them).
Vincentius also filled in some more information about the cult of Mr. Skin. Gostra is a fishing town where nothing ever happens but there was supposedly a cult there that had embedded themselves in civil society. By the time they were discovered pretty much every one of importance in the town was under their influence. The last to fall was the mayor. All of townsfolk who were part of the cult are still there. Soteris heard a rumor that the folk seemed to consider what they were doing was something wrong. The cult tried to do some kind of virgin sacrifice ritual but were caught and they were burned by the inquisitors. There are rumors that the cult was associated with L'rog'g. It was not the first time cults have been associated with him.
Feeling satisfied with the information they received, the party agreed to continue with the job, but they needed to rest first.
2nd of Bonfires
The party re-entered the catacombs and explored a few more rooms, encountering no more zombies but discovering a magic wand of "shield arm". While descending another set of stairs, Aurent almost fell through another sink hole, but managed to catch himself. Before the party could turn back, they heard a muffled voice down the halway "Oh my dear Paulanus, I wish you were here to council me. You were taken too soon."
TLDR: L'rog'g followers are into some freaky shit, probably a good idea not to read the skin bound book. Poor Paul's anus, we barely knew ye.
Radical quote of the session: "Hopefully I don't get cursed, but I figure someone's gonna do it eventually."- Adom
Fame: 12 EXP: 205