Choir of Angels was the ninth adventure released for the Covenant of Light Faction Adventure to be run as part of the Xen'drik Expeditions campaign.
Synopsis
The adventure begins with the PCs meeting on their way to consult Grave , a necromancer many of them probably know well. After coming together as a group, they travel the short distance outside the city walls to Grave's abode and come across a scene of disturbing carnage—Grave, scythe in hand, standing in his front yard with several bodies slashed apart and smoldering around him.
Once they convince Grave that they are not more enemies (a task that will be vastly easier if any of them have met him before in previous adventures), he will cautiously allow them to come inside. The corpses in his yard are all clad in Covenant tabards, explaining his apprehension when they arrived. While the tabards are legitimate in shape and appearance, none of the fallen are recognizable by the PCs. They are dressed like Radiant Hold guards but none of the PCs have ever seen them before.
No sooner do they get inside than they all have a fight on their hands. Grave is petrified by a powerful blast of magical force, leaving the PCs to deal with a strange creature trying to steal the body of the slain " angel ". The creature, a retriever demon already injured by the house's wards, must be put down before the PCs can examine the body.
After the battle, Grave's undead servant Domo comes out from hiding with a flask of ointment on a silver tea tray. This oil will restore Grave by breaking the flesh to stone spell, allowing the PCs to save him if they cannot already do so themselves. Once restored, Grave can guide them through his autopsy, work he had not yet been able to start because of the attack outside. After setting up for what appears to be a very gruesome endeavor, Grave negates the need for any of it by stripping the body before he begins.
As soon as the "angel's" belt comes off, the corded reliquary comes with it and breaks the aura of glory spell affecting the corpse. It is revealed to be a hezrou , a terrible and brutal demonic creature. The PCs will have to negotiate with Grave if they want to take the reliquary back to Radiant Hold with them but in any case, they have a very disturbing report to deliver.
Back at Radiant Hold, Lord Corvalis accepts the news grimly, not at all surprised that a deception like this has occurred. The sight of the relic necklace will shock him, however, and he immediately takes the PCs with him to the chapel's vault to check on the other reliquaries. They are all missing but this revelation comes at a cost; as soon as one of the holding crypts is opened (which Xandrin will do unless stopped), a vile trap is sprung. The greater glyph of warding inside unleashes a slay living spell at him, leaving him staggered and pale but alive. Realizing now what has occurred, he asks the PCs to seek out the other reliquaries before whatever foul creatures might have them can hurt anyone else.
Using the ability of the reliquary they possess to locate the others (a property the Voice of the Storm was not aware it possessed), the PCs find each of the other fiends in different parts of the city. Each one is despicably evil, using its newfound celestial appearance to cause its own special form of misery.
One is Shilara , a succubus with the look of a radiant angel . She has duped an entire shrine of Boldrei worshippers and has them serving her every whim. Shilara is found in the now-corrupt shrine, wielding the influence of her flock to bring new vices to the community they once served. Fighting her is an exercise in restraint since her minions are either misguided or charmed .
The second of the false angels is Kree'zash , a vrock interested only in spreading of pestilence and disease. He has gone underground into the sewer-catacombs beneath Stormreach , seeking out the city's wells with the intention of shaking his now-brilliant white wings over them and releasing the fire spores contained in his feathers. He is a straight-forward battle; any allies he might have are equally vicious or purely unnatural.
The last is the most insidious and powerful of the hidden demons - Lortakael the Vile , a glabrezu . Now visually the pinnacle of divine grace and strength, he has the appearance of a throne archon and has used this celestial seeming to dupe several innocent but prideful townsfolk into traveling with him and hunting down what it calls "traitors to the cause". These, of course, are the PCs themselves. While searching for the last amulet, they may be surprised to discover it is coming towards them instead.
Confronted in the streets of Stormreach's marketplace, the PCs have the chance to either redeem the Covenant by making sure the dozens of spectators around them know what has really happened or make the situation worse by engaging in open battle with what appears to be a group of their own. If they choose to fight, the PCs will be at a severe disadvantage against the potent demon and its unwitting allies.
The resolution of this battle may determine not only the fate of the PCs but also the future of the Covenant of Light in Xen'drik . The Choir of Angels might since for them either a grant song of victory or a bitter dirge of defeat...