Taking Stock
We entered town shortly after the murders started and were tasked to investigate and stop them. Our investigations found a pair of creatures were killing citizens, so we set out to kill or subdue the creatures. We set one loose and killed the other, but almost immediately afterwards we released a third in to the wild after we entered an ages-old temple. Feeling a pang of responsibility about this, as well as investigating the possible plot to end all life on the planet by a cult, we task ourselves to explore the temple fully, at which point we awaken what appears to be a demi-god. Everything we've touched has turned to gold so far.
The demi-god is placated for now, allowing us safe passage through the temple to look for the marrowbreaker and some clues as to the cult's plans. We find what we work out to be the charred and quite dead body of a cultist, leading in to a room that is missing what can only be a vital text or two. This means we are lagging behind the Red Hand Gang in their efforts to raise the Blood Angel and must gain pace quickly if we are to interrupt their ceremonies. We also find the released marrowbreaker, not entirely by surprise, and manage to defeat it. This is good news, as it brings the total of loose marrowbreakers back down to one!
With some more searching some clues are uncovered as to the purpose of the temple and how the acolytes were free to interact within it. Tal the tattooed volunteers his body to receive an extra piece of skin art to test a theory, which pays off when he is able to pick up the book without encurring the wrath of the demi-god. This book gives us some interesting and most useful information regarding the ritual of summoning we suspect is close at hand, and what is required to interrupt it. The tattoo also allows Tal to enter rooms we found that have even more statues of marrowbreakers. We test whether another member of the party, acting as an untattooed companion of Tal's, also has immunity, but this turns out not to be the case and ends up causing another marrowbreaker to be freed.
We started with two marrowbreakers terrorising the city. We killed one, found another, killed the other, and found yet another. With two marrowbreakers killed from the initial two at large we've reached the enviable position of having two marrowbreakers loose and aching to crunch in to bones. As we are pondering this position the demi-god declares that we are weak and will be enslaved, and by 'we' I mean 'all humans'. When he asks us to lead him to the outside world so that he can begin to subdue humanity we take the popular view of scarpering out the way we came, down passages and tunnels that the construct can't squeeze through. All except Tal, who feels some responsibility to his new-found metal friend and helpfully gives it directions on how to find and slaughter us after we escape.
It is a mixture of luck and judgement that two other marrowbreaker statues encountered in the temple remain as statues, but even so we will have some explaining to do to the authorities who hired us, particularly with a demi-god on a rampage, who we may well have helped find his way to the surface. With any luck the Red Hand Gang will cause the end of the world before we are asked to give the next status report.