Session 1 Part 1

On one seemingly uneventful night the lives of four individuals would be changed forever.

Cheng bowed to his master, it was sad gesture. He had spent all his life in the monastery.  His parents were very poor and one cold winter they had nothing left to eat, fearing that they might not survive the winter they brought their only son who was still a toddler back then to the monks and left him there. Cheng trained, prayed and worked  between the walls of temple and the monastery for twenty years, but now he had reached a point in his life as monk where had to leave and travel in search of enlightenment.

“Do not be afraid, young Cheng.” The old master said.

“Master, what should I do?”

“Travel, experience, learn. Make choices and see where they lead you. Enlightenment is  something that can take years to find and one lifetime may not be enough. But one thing is for sure- you will not find it in these walls. I taught you everything I can, now life will be your teacher.”

“I will do my best. Master.” He bowed one last time.

So he left the only home he knew. Bringing nothing but the clothes he wore. Jack leather pants and vest with a for cloak gloves and shoes. His head shaved except for the one braid of blond hair at the top of his head going down to his shoulder.

Nihala had everything one could possibly want- being born a high elf.  Her parents were not the richest but they were wealthy merchants who could provide their daughter with everything she needed  and wanted.  Arts and culture, fine clothes and the magical arts, but she was never quite interested in that. On moon lit evenings she would slip away into the woods or the tavern in the human town and converse with woodland elves, listen to the stories of the wandering rangers of their adventures.  Most elves were drawn to magic but not her. Nihala had the curiosity and wanderlust of a forest elf despite being a highborne. She was the fourth child so her parents were not too disappointed when she declared she wanted to travel  and find her own big adventure. They hired a sword instructor to train her, and while she was not particularly skilled at fighting she was good enough with   a rapier to defend herself.  So they bought her  some light leather armor  gave her some gold and saw her of.  Her light blue hair shining in the rising morning sun. 

It was on the third day of her journey when a group of bandits attacked and it was then she learned at just how lacking her skills in swordsmanship were. She quickly found herself disarmed and at the mercy of these masked human robbers. When suddenly one of them was sent flying . A hooded figure emerged from the bushes. It resembled a heap of fur and the bandits looked terrified thinking that it was some monster.  The man removed his fur hood and  with a single punch sent another bandit flying.

“Are you alright, miss? He asked.

Finally overcoming her surprise she replied.

“Yes, thank you.”  Picking up her sword she took a battle stance.

The bandits soon realized they were overwhelmed and fled.

“Thank you, kind sir.” She thanked him again once the bandits were out of sight.

“Please, call me Cheng. I am merely a wandering monk.”

“I must say, that was quite amazing, the way you handled those robbers.  Could you perhaps teach me how to fight like that?”

He request caught him by surprise.

“Monks train for many years and we don’t use swords, but I suppose I could teach you a few things.”

He wondered if this was one of those experiences his master spoke of.  Having been a student his whole life he now found himself in the role of  teacher to a strange woman  he just met.

Prudence was happy living her parents manor near the woods. While it was small manor, inherited from a time their family was much wealthier , it was a nice place to live. She read books and went for walks in the field by the woods. That was how she met Regis- a wood land elf. She was just a young human child  but was nice to her. The two would meet and walk in the forest for many years. As she grew Prudence decided on becoming a mage and left her home to go to the city where there was an academy for wizards. She went to say goodbye but she could not find Regis anywhere. She feared she might never see him again. But after a few years her training was over and she sought out and elderly wizard close to home to continue her magical training. One evening while gathering herbs she met him again only this time not as a young girls but as woman.  He recognized her and the two talked for a long time, deciding to continue their friendship from where it left off.

One evening as they were walking she noticed Regis was looking very concerned, so she asked him what was wrong. He said he was worried because there was something wrong in the forest. Animals from the deep woods were fleeing to the edges of the forest, copses of animal were found horribly mutilated as if by some trap and he feared the might be poachers that moved into the woods. It was spring, a time when many animals gave birth and raise their young, hunting during this time was very limited. As a ranger it was his duty to make sure they got punished. Prudence realized that he was going to go away for a while, so she said:

“I’ll come with you. I can help. I’m sure my master will not mind, he is about to leave on a journey himself.”

Having permission she left with Regis the very the next day.  They had walked thought the woods for hours and she was amazed by how he didn’t lose the way when to her it all looked the same. It was late evening when they stumbled upon some people that seemed very strange. One of them was a human dressed in strange animal fur; the other was a female elf.   There were some rabbits roasting over a fire. They had no bows or arrows, one seemed to have no weapons at all, and woman had a rapier. They did not look like hunters. Regis approached them.

“Hello, fellow travelers I take it” the man greeted them.

“I am a forest ranger, we are looking for poachers. Have you seen any suspicious activity?”

“I am sorry to say but I’ve been here for a week and you are the first people I’ve laid eyes upon.”

“You spent a week here? What are you doing?” Prudence asked.

“I am training my apprentice, I hope that’s alright” he said.

“During spring time hunting isn’t allowed. Only sick and elderly animal can be hunted.” Regis warned them.

“I see, thank you, I will remember that.” He said apologizing.

“ But surely you must be tired, care to rest for a bit?” he invited them.

Regis looked at Prudence, she was struggling to keep up with his elf agility and night was about to fall so they would not be able to do much in the dark.

“We kindly accept your invitation.”

They sat by the fire, ate and told stories of how they met each other.

“You’ve been here a week and you haven’t noticed anything strange?” Prudence asked.

“We came in from west, mostly walking along the edge of the forest. I don’t know what would qualify strange in this place, where I come from there are no forests. ” Cheng explained

“ Other than some wolves and a bear we didn’t encounter anything.” Nihala said.

“ That’s good. The forest had gotten dangerous lately. “ Regis said.

“How bad can a few poachers be? Nihala who spent most of her time around rangers knew a deal about their affairs.

“We fear it might be something more. Two rangers that were in charge of the forest depth were looking into it but we haven’t been able to reach them for a month now. No one has seen them, they haven’t replied to the message birds and half the birds didn’t even come back.”

“A month? This was going on for so long?” Prudence was surprised.

“It was probably happening long before that- two months ago we began to notice things , but since they were scattered all over the forest it took some time for all the outposts to start reporting the same thing and then sending someone to look into it.”

“So what are talking about in terms of beasts?” Nihala asked

“The forest is home to all the usual creatures.”

“What about monsters? Any chance one could be involved?”

“There is a forest spider colony far to the North West, but the outpost there reports no activity from them outside the usual. “

“So then, a wild one wandered in from somewhere. It’s happened before, I’ve heard stories.” The female elf said.

“That might be, but it seems the animals were driven into some man made contraptions, but we could not find any trace of them. The bodies were ripped apart in  a cruel way- only small bits of flesh taken. When an animal’s kills it eats all, even monsters do. They were likely killed for sport.”

“I understand killing for food, but what sport is there?” Cheng said.

“Some men feel pleasure in chasing down and killing a creature  that is tired and weak and defenseless. “

“I had no idea such cruelty can exist.” He said saddened.

“For your own safety, I think the two of you should leave the forest. “Regis said.

“Do you perhaps know any mountains around here? “ the monk asked.

“To the east, we can take you to the eastern edge you can find the way from there.” He offered.

“Yes, that would be great. We should all get some rest now.” Chen said.

“I’ll stay on guard” Regis said.

“I’ll help you” Prudence volunteered.

“Get some rest” he said.

“I’m not in the least tired, I can stay up” Nihala said eager to talk to Regis about all his adventures as a ranger.

The night passed uneventfully and morning came. The four set out east to the edge of the forest.  The forest got less and less dance. More single trees than groups of them.  They found a small lake  and  Regis went fishing, with Nihala tagging along . They managed to catch enough fish to last a while.  As they are traveling along the main path. Regis looks into the woods a feeling of unease settles in his chest. As his eyes spot a narrow dark path leading back into the woods and possibly into the very depth of them, a chill runs down his spine and he stops. Prudence stops sensing something isn’t right.  He gaze follows where he was looking and she guesses his thoughts.    Cheng and Nihala turn around they seem to have felt something too.

“The road to the mountains is straight ahead. Once you reach a crossroad turn left and the n walk straight for a couple of days.” Regis said.

They both looked at the path leading towards the small black shadow of mountains in the distance then back at Regis and Prudence.

“You know, master, I’ve always wanted to go on a great adventure.” Nihala said looking at Cheng.

“I suppose it would be a good opportunity to train. So why not?” He agreed.

Regis looked at them surprised.

“You want to come along?”

“You don’t know what’s in there and there is power in numbers. We can help eachtoher. “

So the four of them left the wide main path and went on the narrow dark, hardly visible path.  It was colder, much darker almost straight away.  The whole place had a bad aura surrounding it.  There was dampness in the air that made it feel unpleasant.  As they walked it was  silent, no birds or animals, nothing moved and the silence continued for hours.

“This is unnatural” Regis said looking around.

“It’s like all life left this place.” Prudence pulled her cape around herself.

“Night should be approaching soon.  I hardly see anything now, I doubt we will get far in the dark.”

“I see something up on the hill, looks like old ruins” Nihala said pointing to black structures up on the hill.

“That place gives me the creeps” Prudence stated.

“Let’s camp there” Regis pointed to spot half way up the hill in the shadow of the ruins.

“The height will give us a vantage point and if need to we can escape in to the ruins.” Nihala noted the advantage of the camping spot.

“I haven’t noticed any traces of the ruins being inhabited by anything. No prints on the ground” Regis said.

They sat up a camp, the wood was damp and didn’t want to burn but they managed to get a fire going. Regis found some eatable berries and they made tea and roasted fish.  As night fell it got pitch black.  The darkness didn’t seem natural.  Prudence had a hard time falling asleep so she stayed up with Regis. Leaning her head on his shoulder watching the fire flicker even though there was no wind the flame swayed  in a hypnotizing dance. A branch cracked, she dully noted, feeling exhausted but unable to sleep. She felt Regis tense and rose her head, shifting her gaze up from the fire. There between the trees something white, moving. Fear gripped her. A white skeleton stumbled into the camp, it had half decayed remnants of cloths on its body and  held a half rusted sword.  Regis shot and arrow at the creature and it pierced it’s skull but it didn’t stop moving. Prudence channeled her magic and  froze it in place.  Nihala awoke and came rushing along with Cheng, from a hit of her rapier the skeleton shattered into small bits of frozen bones.

“A skeleton!” Nihala was exited.

“I think it might have come from the ruins.” Prudence said.

They all walked up to the ruins holding torchers that flickered and didn’t want to burn.  They found a door in the old falling apart tower. Prudence tried to open it with magic it she felt an enchantment was placed on the lock that her spells were too weak to undo.   Cheng walked up to the door holding a small  bronze key.

“I found on the ground when the ice melted. I think our attacker dropped it.”

“It is too small to fit this door. I looks like it could be from a chest or something like that” Nihala stated.

“A chest? We are in the middle of the forest, where would we find something like that?” Prudence argued taking the key and giving a closer look.

“Undead and powerful magic. This place is dangerous. Whatever is going on in there is too much for us. Let’s go to an outpost and tell them about our findings, then come back with more of us.” Regis said.

“A wise decision” Cheng agreed.

Nihala was slightly disappointed the adventured seemed to be over so fast but left along with everyone.  They did not wait for morning, not wanting to spend any more time in that place.  and as the ruins are left behind them the forest atmosphere begins to change. The air isn’t as cold or dark anymore. Birds chirp in the branches as the sun begins to rise.  The walk until noon. Stopping for a break to eat. The nearest outpost is a day away according to Regis but it the one they had lost contact with.  As they are preparing to leave Cheng notices tracks on the ground.  They look like they were left by a Skeleton but there are many of  them going both ways and  pressed on top of one another. They go into the forest opposite of their destination and don’t seem to follow a path.

“It hasn’t rained a while. They are not fresh” Regis notes

“So the undead have been moving through these woods for a while now?” Nihala says

“It might be connected to everything that has been happening for the past few months.” Prudence realized.

“Likely so” Regis admits.

“We might find answers if we follow, but there might also be danger.” Cheng said.

They decide to follow the footprints. Waling without a road is difficult and takes them a long time. Unsure if they are still on the right path since there are no more patches of mud only dry leaves. They spend a night in the depth of the woods. For safety they decide to not make a fire. It cold and uncomfortable. Owls make sounds, branches crack. Regis listens to the familiar sounds of the forest. But then there is something unnatural. A light, not fire, a blue light floats above the ground few feet away from them.  Uncouncoisly they hold their breaths until it passes, then Nihala whispers.

“ Let’s follow it.”

The  loose the light soon, but keep walking at the same direction it was going. Soon the forest ends. There hills and meadows . the landscape leads down. They notice there is dirt all around. Smoothing is sticking out from it.  A chunk of rock, but upon further inspection they realize it’s a tombstone.  The dirt seems to have come from up on higher.  They soon notice a hill side that is barren of grass and  seems to be missing a chunk of its mass.  A broken metallic fence and some  crosses and gravestones are on top and around the hill. Empty coffins sticking out from under the ground.

“A graveyard. “ Prudence is surprised, never having heard of people living in this part of the woods.

“I recall there being an ancient one . It seems that the last rains have disturbed the ground and caused it to slide down.”

“You think that is why the dead are roaming the woods? Because their rest was disturbed” Chang wondered.

“Their rest was disturbed, but not by rain.” Regis said.

“Maybe we can get some answers there” Prudence pointed to the chapel in the middle of the graveyard.

The building was made of stone brick. Mossy and obviously abandoned for a long time. As they approached it they noticed tracks similar to the ones they saw before.

“It seems like they are moving thought the woods, from the tower to the graveyard.” Prudence said

“But why?” Nihala wondered.

“I have feeling we find out if we go down there” Regis stated

“ Wait” Cheng  stopped him .

“ I know you elves don’t tire as fast as humans do but  we spent two nights with hardly any rest.  Since we are more than likely to get into a fight down there I think it would be better to get some rest and regain our strength first. Besides the undead only seem to come out night, its day still.”

Regis looked at Prudence. She was pale and had dark circles under her eyes.

“Very well, we rest here and advance at night.”

Finding a nice spot in the sun away from the graveyard   they laid down on the grass. Sleep came fast and easy.

Prudence awoke feeling a thirst. Sleeping in the sun seemed like a good idea, but the heat made her clothes stick to her body, sweaty. The sun was setting, the heat was gone and coldness crept in. She remembered seeing a well near the chapel and decided to go and check if there was some water.  The mage bent down to the see if there was water in the well. The small stone hit something wet. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to look.  There was a skeleton, different from the one before. It was taller and had heavy armor and a longsword. It swung at her and Prudence barely managed to dodge the blow. From behind it Nihala attacked, attempting to stab it with her rapier. The tip of the sword barely pierced the surface of the armor and got stuck in it. The Skeleton turned around and the elf lost her balance falling to the ground.  Prudence cast a frost spell, freezing the skeleton in place then blasting it to pieces with another spell.  Nihala took her sword back .

“I guess it can’t do much against heavy armor.” She sighed

While they were getting water the others came looking for them.

“Are you hurt?” Cheng asked looking at his apprentice.

“Nothing to worry about, just a scratch” she replied as energetic as ever.

“I’m fine” Prudence said looking at her friend, replying before he even asked the question.

“The dead are awake, so let’s get going.” Nihala said marching into the chapel ahead of everyone.

The room was small and nothing out of the ordinary. An altar, some candles scattered around to light to place, some seats for the mourning who wanted to take time  in saying their goodbyes . This chapel was used only for burial ceremonies; no worship of any gods took place here. On the right side there was a an iron grated door and some stairs going down into what looked to be a crypt.

“I think that’s where we need to go.”  Prudence said.

Regis nodded.

“It’s dark. We should take some candles” he said.

The narrow stairs lead into a hallway. The walls had niches in them, some had bones, decaying unmoving. Others had remnants of coffins along with the bones, in a few intact coffins.  It was cold, much colder than outside and damp; it smelled of mold and decay.  Nihala marched ahead of the party, Changed right after her, Regis walked behind the two, Prudence was last.  She seemed to be contemplating something. He turned to see her a way behind everyone.

“Pru, what’s wrong?” he asked.

The coffin to  her right let out a small growl noise.

“Nothing.” She said.

“Did you hear that?” she looked  around .

“The wind? Let’s go, we should stay close just in case.”

He turned back and started walking after the others. Prudence followed. The coffin creaked and the lid rose slightly, opening revealing two rows of sharp teeth on the bottom of the lid and the edge of the coffin.  Two flesh like tentacles slid out from the bottom part, they moved quickly. One wrapping around her waist locking her arms in place, and the other binding both of her legs together. Before she even realized it she was pulled back. Regis quickly turned around , bow in hand ready to shoot, trying to aim at the creature but the tentacles   moved and wiggled  making it hard  to hit it without hitting Prudence. Giving up he took his whip and lashed at the creature.  Cheng and Nihala came running back.

“ What is that?” the monk asked

“A mimic” Regis  said.

More tentacles came out blocking the hits and the creature began to pull Prudence towards it’s mouth.  Cheng jumped over one tentacle and punched the one holding  prudence. The mimic growled. Nihala stabbed the one that was trying to block her from getting close to the body. Stabbing it multiple times until the creature retracted the injured appendage. Regis beat of the other one. Prudence could not cast her spells because her hands were bound and pointed down, anything she cast would just hit the people trying to save her.  Cheng landed a particularly strong punch to the creature’s body and  it dropped its victim.  The coffin exploded, with bits of wood, bone , flesh and undigested  metal . Regis caught Prudence as the creature dropped her.

“I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything I could do.” She said.

“You’re safe , that’s all that matters.” Regis said.

“Here, maybe this will come in useful next “Nihala handed her a small knife.

“It was among the things the fell out from the thing. Next time one grabs you, you can just cut yourself loose.”

“Next time?” Prudence shuddered.

“None of this stuff looks useful” Regis said looking at armor pieces with holes in them and half corroded weapons. The knife Nihala found was the only useful ting, that and some gold coins.

“Safe to say, no one has been thought here recently. No alive that is.” Regis said.

The hallway slit into to two. One section went straight while the other went even deeper down.

“You boys can have that one all to yourselves” Prudence said.

The party split up with Cheng and Regis going down into lower levels of the crypt while Prudence and Nihala looked around  upstairs in what seemed to be the living quarters of the undertakers that used to reside in this place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2: session 1 part 2

The stairs went down, winding as they did. This part of the crypt seemed older than the previous. It was damp and the droplets from the ceiling threatened to put out the candles, not that two small candles would have helped in the situation the two of them found themselves in.  The room at the bottom was massive, the darkness made it look infinite. There was no way to tell it’s actual size. Lines of symmetrically aligned pillars divided the room. One pillar on each side, every eight steps, obscuring the sight and making room even eerier.  There could be anything in the room with them and they would not notice it behind a pillar.  They stood back to back peering into the darkness, trying to see if there was any danger approaching.  Moving slowly forward, stopping to look around every few steps.  Finally they made it to what could be the middle of the room.  Cheng pointed to the left, he noticed something. Regis turned his head. White, pale, something on the ground and the ceiling, like rags. They move closer. Not rags, he realizes- spider webs. They hear a hiss, somewhere close.  Regis signals to be careful. Cheng has a different idea. He holds the candle to the webs and soon enough they burn lighting the room.  They see a giant spider dandling in the wed right infron of them. It shoots wed and Regis rolls to the side dodging.  This spider is different from the forest spiders that are mostly greenish and brown. This one is black and grey- a crypt spider. 

The burning web drives the creatures down .  Regis uses his whip, arrows are running low. The whip wraps around two of the spiders legs, keeping it from moving.  Cheng leaps into the air and aims a fist coated in a red glow at the spiders head. The insect tries to break free and hit Regis with its free leg, aims to wrap him in its silk. Cheng lands a punch before it can.  The spider is dazed. Regis shoots, another punch from Cheng and it goes down.  The fire illuminates a small niche in the wall about the size of one brick. There is a small chest seated in there.  They examine it.

“Do think the key we found could open it?” Cheng asks.

“Prudence has it.”

“The we better go find her.”

Meanwhile Prudence and Nihala are exploring the upper part of the crypts.  They found the living quarters of the undertaker that usually oversee places such as this. Abandoned a long time ago. It held no answers to the many questions of what took place here.

“So, you and Regis, what’s going on with you two? Nihala asked

“What do you mean?” Prudence said.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“No.We’re just friends. I’ve known since I was a little girl.”

“But you like him, right?”

“I don’t know” she sighed

“Elves can life for a really long time, much longer than any human.  Besides I’m not sure how he feels about me. I don’t think he sees this as anything romantic.”

 They had reached the last room, a small study. Shelves with old scrolls that held information about the dead that were buried here.  On the old wooden table, sat a small wooden chest.  Nihala noticed it.

“Hey, do you think you can open that with the key?”

Prudence looked at the key and then back at the chest. The keyhole seemed to be just the right size.  She walked towards it, slowly reaching the hand with the key towards the chest.  Two yellow eyes opened at the front of the chest looking expectantly at the hand. Prudence pulled away just before the teeth of the keyhole bit down on her fingers; it just grazed her a little bit.  She was still very annoyed about the coffin mimic.

“Don’t even think you can get me twice.” She jumped back away from it and cast a bolt of lightning that struck the chest and set it on fire.

The mimic hisses and growled but could not escape.  As the flames died down. Nihala approached the scorched table.

“It’s a good thing the whole place didn’t catch. We got lucky.” She said.

Prudence noticed something on the floor. It was a silver necklace with a large black onyx, the stone was cracked a bit.

“It’s pretty” the elf said.

“You can have it”

“You don’t want it?”

“Onyx has some magical properties, specifically to absorb dark magic. it is often used in dark rituals. I would rather not that have that thing.”

“Well if you really don’t need it.” Nihala put it around her neck.

“ It will be a reminder of this adventure once it’s over.” The elf said.

They headed back to the stairwell and soon ran into Cheng and Regis . Going back down to the lower level they traced their steps back to the chest.  Nihala poked it with her sword a few times to make sure it was not another mimic.  Inside the chest was a key with a skull and a purple gem inside it’s forehead.

“There is magic cast upon it. It feels like the same kind of magic on the door of the tower. “Prudence said.

“So what now? Do we go back and see if we can get inside?” Nihala asked.

“Maybe we should go get some back up first.” Regis disagreed.

“We were able to take of everything up to this point fairly easy.” Nihala argued.

“What do you think, Pru” he turned to her.

“Well, I might be easier to convince people to help us if we have more information. We still have no idea about what’s going on here. “Prudence said.

“Two for and one against. “ Nihala said happily

“What about you? Are you alright with going back?”  Regis looked at Cheng.

“Information could be useful, then again so would back up.” The monk pondered for a moment.

“We can pass by the tower and check on the way to a settlement for back up. So we kill two birds with one stone.” He said.

By the time they left the crypt it was light outside. It took the party about a day of traveling to get back to the tower. This time they took the road instead of walking through the woods. Cheng and Regis stayed on guard for the night.

“Pardon my rudeness, but what is your connection to miss Prudence. ” Cheng asked

“ I met her as a child. Sometimes I forget she is human though .  Humans are interesting, like flowers they only bloom for one season and wither. Pru sees things differently, because of this. Her insights can be valuable.”

“ I see. So you are not romantically involved.”

“I’ve never considered it. I still sometimes forget she is older, it has been that long since we met. I still think of her as the child I met sometimes. Elves reach physical maturity around twenty, we stop aging around then. But mental maturity comes after one had lived over one hundred- it’s a short time for an elf.”

“I see. And how old would you be?” Cheng did not know much about elves.

“I am two hundred and thirty currently.”

Cheng looked surprised.

“Your partner however is still very young. I guess not much older than fifty or forty. “

“You can tell?”

“She is reckless still only very young elves behave this way. Maturity brings a peace of mind and stability, she lacks that.”  Regis said calmly

 The key opened the door like they thought it would. The floor of the tower had collapsed long ago, only the stairs leading down to the basement remained. With some torches they made their way down to what seemed to be a wine cellar. There were old wooden barrels and  it smelled strongly of moldy wood and slightly of alcohol.   One of the barrels rolled off from the pile of other barrels. Sounded like there might be something inside it. Everyone stopped and looked around, waited for a bit but nothing happened. They kept on moving and found a hatch in the floor leading to the lower cellar. While Prudence was trying to unlock the hatch with her magic the monk decided to take a drink from one of the barrels.  The barrel came to life and tried to bite him. Regis tried to shoot it but the mimic rolled off and started rolling  around the room trying to knock everyone over. Prudence got knocked down  and the mimic tried to bite her but she froze it in place.  Regis managed to hit it with his arrow and distract it. Nihala stabbed it’s  side and  Cheng smashed  it to pieces.

“I’m getting tired of these mimics” Prudence said.

“They love to inhabit places such as this and undead don’t really make a good meal now.” Nihala said.

They decided to hurry up before anything else attacked them. Prudence got the hatch opened and they  all went down to what seemed like an empty cellar.  Prudence got suspicious and decided to use her magic to see if there were any hidden doors. The wall to the right vanished revealing an eerie hallway lit by torches. all the walls of the hallway and the ceiling were bones, human looking bones sometimes still attached to skeletons.  The looked on in surprise before deciding to enter crypt.  The walls looked very much the same and the halls were constructed like a maze.  After they looked around for a bit and realized the scope of the place they decided to leave  only to realize they are lost. 

“Let’s come back with backup, this place is too big.” Regis said.

“I agree.” Cheng said

“Does anyone else have a feeling that all those bones will come to life and….” Nihala began

“Don’t you dare jinx us” Prudence said.

Cheng tried to pass thought the wall only for it to turn out to be real.

“Which one was it?” He asked looking at Prudence.

“I don’t know, something is interfering with my magic.” She said feeling her spell bounce of the walls and vanish.

“You  mean we are stuck here?” Nihala said.

“For now. I guess we are. ” Cheng said.

“Silence, I hear footsteps.” Regis said.

They quickly hid behind a corner of a branching off hallway. Two figures dressed in purple and black robes walked by. They heard a sound of something heavy sliding across the floor- like a door or something. They moved from the hiding spot and turn the same corner they saw the cultists turn.  But it was a dead end. The very end of the hall stood a stone sarcophagus with a small round indent in the middle. It looked like something should be placed there.   They heard footsteps again and decided to do an ambush. Regis hit in a narrow crack in the wall and everyone else just stayed close the walls ready to jump and anyone who rounded the corner.  It was only a couple of skeletons patrolling the halls so they didn’t have a key on them. The fight was quick. Regis tried to shoot an arrow from his hiding spot but his bow got him stuck so he had to wait for the others to come and pull him out of there.

They explored the right side of the crypts, hiding and avoiding most patrols. Eventually they reached a large stone door the seemed to be  much older than the crypt  itself.  Thinking it might be a way out they decided to take a look . Inside was a room with walls that were a natural cave and black onyx tiles on the floor some of rickety wooden furniture and an onyx altar in the middle.  They did not immediately notice the sole inhabitant of the room. It was a tall figure with long white thin and worn out robes that were transparent and it’s bones were visible. It was a skeleton at first glance but it had an aura of power about it. It was floating slightly above ground and its bony hand it held a staff with a sharp blade like edge at the top.  They did not notice it until it moved. They the party turned to look upon it realizing what they have stumbled upon- a lich.

“Intruders, you have not gone unnoticed.” It spoke

“But know this the Crypt Lords have allowed you to make it this far. So you could die by my hand and join them as their new fighting force. If you kneel I will make sure your deaths are quick. “

“Never.” Nihala stated.

“Yeah, we will fight.” Prudence joined her.

“Then you will suffer until your realize how meaningless your resistance is.”

The lich sent a blast of energy that hit Prudence sending her back a few feet.

“Pru!” Regis turned to her

“I’m fine.” She got back up.

Nihala tried to stab the lich but he floated out of the way. Regis tried to lash it with his whip but it failed to hit. Prudence attempted to freeze it but the frost only partially stopped it – he could still use his staff and spells . Cheng jumped in the air dodging a blast and punching the lich with an aura of heat. It melted the ice releasing the lich, but did some damage. But he did not look hurt; he just laughed and pointed to Nihala.  His staff glowed and a strange aura surrounded her, he made a becoming gesture with his hand and the glowing aura shot out of her and into the lich. She knelt down suddenly feeling weak.

“I’m alright” She said looking at her master. 

Cheng charged again landing a few punches. Regis managed to put an arrow in and Nihala landed a slashing attack but the lich didn’t seem dazed by it. He sent them all back with a spell.

“ I have a spell that might work” Prudence said

“So why don’t you use it?” Nihala said

“I don’t have very good control over it yet.” She admitted.

“It can’t be worse than the lich.” She said.

Prudence attempted to focus while the others attacked the lich trying to distract it.  Purple energy focused into three orbs above her head and each one went flying , spinning to gain momentum. One hit the wall and vanished, the other knocked Cheng down mid jump, the third one hit the Lich.  

“I’m sorry. I told you I don’t have a good handle on it. Let me try again. “Prudence said.

Everyone turned to her .

“Maybe another time.”

They managed to defeat the lich eventually. Prudence attempts to freeze it again and Cheng melting the ice with his fire aura only to have Prudence cast lightning on the water while the lich was standing in it. Meanwhile Regis and Nihala were keeping the lich distracted and wearing it down.  The lich crumbled into bone pieces and something rolled out on to the floor. It was vial full of some strange green liquid, it didn’t look drinkable, Prudence picked it up.

“We won” Nihala said panting

“Not quite” Prudence said

“What you mean?” Cheng asked

“If I recall my magic studies: a lich cannot die until it’s phylactery is destroyed. “

“A phylactery. What is that?” Cheng asked.

“Could be anything, it is an item that keep the lich bound to this world even in death.”

They looked around the room but could not find anything that could be a phylactery so not wanting to wait for the lich to resurrect himself they left in a hurry, eager to get away from the place and wondering what awaits them  next.

 

3: Session 2 part 1

 

The party wandered around the crypts that were like a maze. Encountered several skeletons patrolling the halls but found no signs of a way out.  Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching accompanied by several voices.  Deciding it was better to hide than to engage a large group of cultists they brew back further into the hall.

“In here” Prudence whispered pointing to slightly ajar door.

They closed the door behind them and looked around the room. It was and old dusty bedroom and it looked like the upper floor of the castle that once stood there has collapsed into the crypts, the ceiling being made of dirt and debris from the stone walls. There was a bed, a table, an old suit of armor missing it’s helmet. A strange lantern with blue fire hanging on the wall Everything was covered in dust and spider webs.  Then Prudence noticed a shiny golden chalice on the table, it was clean and looked out of place in this room. She took it but the moment she did the suit of armor came to life grabbing a huge weapon that looked a meat cleaver but was much bigger and the strange lantern.

Prudence was facing the other way and didn’t immediately notice that it was approaching her. Regis made an attempt to trip the armor by binging it’s legs.

“Pru, look out.” He yelled.

But the leather whip didn’t hold well against the smooth metal and slid to the ground almost the moment it wrapped around the armor.  With a swing of it’s sword it cut the thick oak table in half, Prudence dodged that hit barely. Nihala tried to attack the suit of armor from behind. Her sword pierces the armor but became stuck.  As she was trying to pull it out of the armor Cheng jumped into the air and punched the armor but it turned around and hit him with the arm holding the lanterns sending him into the wall. Prudence managed to throw a fire ball into the armor through the hole stunning it for a moment as the leather and cloth parts caught on fire.  Nihala managed to get her sword unstuck. Regis shot an arrow at the joints where the arm connected the shoulder and knocked it clean off. Nihala attacked it’s leg and the armor fell to the ground shattering into pieces. Nihala looked at her sword, it was bend at the tip and no longer for stabbing.

“Of all the times to break my sword.” She sighed.

“I suppose it wasn’t very good against armored enemies anyways.” Tossing it aside she picked up the giant cleaver that armor was using.

“This will do nicely.” She said barely able to hold it with both hands.

The others burst into laughter but the joy was short-lived as a horrid screech echoed thought the halls. Before they could thing of what to do the Lich burst into the room glowing with a more powerful aura than before.  

Prudence was ready with an ice spell that had worked on it before, partially freezing it so it didn’t float out of reach. Regis attempted to shoot the staff out of its hands but only managed to deal it some damage.  Nihala tried to attack with her new weapon but could barely lift it so she tried to do a spinning attack and barely grazed the ice holding the lich. It used a necrotic blast to send her flying into a wall temporarily knocking her out.  Cheng used the distraction to land a solid  hit on the lich. Then it cast another powerful blast shattering the weakened ice and breaking free.

“Now you will die and join the Crypt Lords in their glorious conquest of the world above.” He began casting wide range spell.

“Not going to happen” Prudence said, her hands staring to glow purple and three orbs appearing above her head, growing bigger.

The others looked around for a place to hide remembering the last time she tried this spell and it didn’t go so well.

To everyone’s surprise all three hits landed perfectly hitting the Lich. Cheng used this as a chance to land the final  blow with a charged aura attack, knocking it’s head clean off.

Everybody was feeling tired.

“We can’t rest yet” Prudence reminded everyone.

“We need to destroy the phylactery or it will keep coming after us.”

“It could be anywhere.” Nihala said.

“No, the Lich came in here really fast, I think it’s close by.” She said.

They looked around but there were no doors to rooms or anything. They encounter some more skeleton patrols , wining the fight easily.

“There is nothing here. We might not have much time left before he comes back” Regis said sitting down on the floor.

As he leaned against the wall a skull fell out from inside the mass of bones that made up the walls revealing a switch that lead into a hidden room containing the phylactery. They destroyed it and decided to stay in the hidden room to rest for a bit.

“We have been fighting undead since we got here with no sign of a way out” Cheng said while sitting of the ground in a lotus position.

“I can try to find the wall we entered through with magic but it will take time.” Prudence said.

“That’s good. We can get out of here and tell people about this so they can come and deal with it An army would be of more use than us.. “Regis said.

“Wait a little bit. Since we have our way out, I said we dig for some information. We still don’t know what’s going on here.” Nihala said.

“We do. “ Prudence argued.” The crypt lords are raising an army of undead to take over the surface. “

“Yes, but who are the crypt lords and … and… there is still so much we don’t know. Who would even believe us?” the elf argued back.

“We can just take them back here as proof.” Prudence said.

“Now, now , Nihala calm down.” Cheng motioned for  her to sit down next to him.

“More information would increase the credibility. Knowing the names of the lords might help  as well, there might someone who can  recognize them. “Regis said.

“I think we should leave now. The longer we stay here the more aware of us they will become.” Prudence insisted.

“We have dealt with them fairly easily. We defeated a lich heaven’s sake, that not an easy feat. You know people who succeed in such a thing are legendary.  We are stronger than anything they can throw at us. “Nihala said, confidence radiating from her.

“It’s going to be alright, Pru” Regis said putting a hand on her shoulder. “Just a while longer. I have a plan on how we can get some information.”

They set up an ambush near the sarcophagus at the main passage. The party ambushed a pair of cultists that were exiting from the secret passage. After dealing with the male they managed to capture the female. Removing the hood of the back and purple robe they saw that it was drow woman.  Her skin was ash coloured, in contrast with the snow white hair and amber eyes. Pointed ears made it obvious that she was of elven lineage.    They knocked her unconscious and brought her back to room where lich kept his phylactery hidden.  Prudence bound her with an ice spell. As the woman came to they began asking her questions. [1]

“Who are the crypt lords?” Regis asked .

The woman smiled back at him. She wasn’t frightened by this, not in the least. She said something a language none can understand.

“In common, please” He said.

“You’ll soon find out for they will be your new masters.” She said.

Prudence made a move to slap the woman but Regis caught her hand and shook his head.

“How many forces?” Nihala joined in.

“Legions.  Lord Alhd’ rehdch alone commands legions; the other two have equally as much.” 

“So there are three of them!” Nihala said.

“What are they after?” Cheng asked.

“What has been denied to them, to us, our right- the world above.” He face becomes more malicious and threatening, she hisses in the strange language from before and Prudence knocks her out with a heavy metallic staff that was in the room.

“For all I know she might have been casting a spell.” She said shrugging her shoulders.

“She was lying thought her teeth by the way” Nihala said.

“We should kill her, quickly” Prudence said.

“No, we let her go.” Regis said.

“What? She will alert the others, they will be on our heels in no time and I still need time to find the exit. “

“I’m with her on this” Nihala said.

“She might be an enemy but, I agree to letting her go” Cheng said.

“Master?!”

“Compassion can be more powerful than any weapon.  A lesson, I hope you will in time learn.” He said looking at the young elf woman.

Nihala walked over to Cheng and Regis leaving Prudence alone on her side of the room.

“It’s three against one. Pru, we are letting her go. “Regis said in a calm but commanding voice.

“Fine” she said throwing her arms in the air.

 They had left he unconscious woman out in the hall. Returning the sarcophagus, because Nihala wanted to inspect something.

“What if this thing leads outside?” She said”there might be another exit there.”

“I do feel a wind coming from down there.” Regis agreed.

“But how do we open this thing? Nihala said poking the circular indentation with her finger. “ is it magic?”

“No. But I have an idea.” Prudence took out the golden chalice she found in the armor room. “Looks about the same size. “

She placed in but nothing happened.

“Wait I know what this is.” Nihala said. “ It’s like an altar and it requires a sacrifice to open.”

“You mean blood?” Regis said.

“Yeah.”

“They are going to great lengths to protect whatever is down there.” Cheng noticed.

“Because it’s something really important and we might need to know about it if we are going to tell people about this.” Nihala encouraged.

Regis cut his palm with one of his arrows. Filling the chalice a quarter way. Nothing happened.

“Does it need more blood?” Nihala inspected it not sure.

“Maybe from all of us?” Cheng suggested.

“Or we can try this?” Prudence found the vial of green gelatinous liquid she found in the room of the lich.

Pouring all of its contents into the blood it began to crystalize and expand weighing the chalice down and with a click the stone sarcophagus sank into the ground revealing stairs down. 

“Come on , I want to find that exit and get out of here” Prudence said storming ahead .

As soon as they reached the bottom the stone lid shut behind them.  They had found themselves in an extension of the crypt, walls were still full of bones.  They had found a giant gate with no way to open it. It was metallic and metal frame was full of skeletons, with blue flames glowing in their eyes.  Footsteps could be hear from the other side of the gate. [2]

“Let’s get out of here” Prudence said backing away from the gate.

The others agreed and they all hurried off in the opposite direction picking up the draft from before. But sadly it didn’t lead them back to the surface. The crypt ended, the floor turned to regular stone, no more bones in the walls, just regular rock. The passage led into a cave that in turn leads to an entire system of caves.

“It would take us weeks to find our way out of this.” Prudence said.

“I know you’re tired. We can rest here. “ Regis said trying to calm her down.

“ No, I don’t want to stay here.” She said. “ I can’t explain it. I feel something, deep, deep down, bellow us. It’s bad, whatever it is, it’s probably worse than the undead. “

“I can sense something as well” Cheng admitted “ and I find  it deeply unsettling.”

“The under dark is a dangerous place, full of many strange creatures. I’ve heard stories about it. Even I am not too keen on encountering them.” Nihala admitted.

They went back, taking the one path down they had not taken.  It had led them to a small stone  door, with carvings of ancient symbols on it . Carefully approaching it they listened. Silence from the other side. Then Nihala felt a small draft coming thought her legs.

“I think this door might be a way out.” She suggested.

They entered the room and immediately regretted that decision.  The original purpose of the room was unknown, but now it was lit by blue flame torches and large stone throne in the back. A wooden table covered in books and scrolls.  Sitting on that throne was a being that resembled the lich they face but had a more regal presence to it.  It was also taller. While it floated above the ground it had black robes still on its form, looking a lot more corporeal. The metallic helmet covered it’s face completely and metal pieces were welded on to it in something that resembled a crown. Black cape flowing behind as  it moved.  A great staff with ghostly purple flame   resembling a scepter. There was no doubt in their minds- this is Alhd’ rehdch .

 

[1]  And everybody failed  their interrogation dice rolls

[2] Anyone would think that was the boss room , right?

4: Session 2 part 2

Session 2 part 2

As the realization sank in the group was quickly overwhelmed by fear. Regis was the first to snap out of it and the first to act. Aiming his bow he shot at the creature only for the arrow pass by without grazing it.  Nihala was the second one to rush into action. She swung the giant that she could barely lift with two hands and missed completely. But now she was in front of the creature. Prudence charged a lightning spell sending directly at the Lord and the heat of lightning setting it’s robes on fire for a bit. But once again it didn’t seem fazed by the attack. Cheng leaped into the air preparing punch it but it moved aside, just barely, but enough to dodge it.

There was a voice that drifted to the air, but none understood what it said. Looking around the room they all paused.

“What is he saying?” Nihala asked looking at Prudence.

“He’s casting” Prudence realized.

Looking up they all saw a dark miasma above their heads and dark orbs of fire began to fall on the room. The dark miasma clung to the spot it had touched on the body. Regis was knocked down to  his knees along prudence and Nihala.

“What is this stuff?” the female elf asked looking at the black mist coming off of her leg.

“Necrotic magic. It’s daring out strength. We need to finish this quickly.” Prudence said.

Cheng channeled his aura and moved in for another hit, this time hitting the creature, but the aura went out almost immediately on impact. Alhd’ rehdch aimed his staff at Cheng and purple light from it extended forward towards the monk. He jumped back moving out of range. Regis had gotten back to his feet and shot again. The arrow moving straight the the target but just before it hit he once again moved just a bit dodging it.

„My arrows are useless against it. Only magic seems to have effect. „ Regis said.

„This thing is getting on my nerves. It worked on the lich so here goes nothing.“ Prudence channeled her energy casting arcane missiles. Two of the three purple orbs hit, with only one missing.

Nihala managed to slash Alhd’ rehdch with the giant sword.  Her cheer and confidence soon turned to dread when she looked up and realized he has about to attack. A dark black of energy sent everyone in the party flying to the walls of the room. Nihala dropped her sword upon impact. Everybody felt the dark miasma on their bodies.

„It hurts“ Prudence complained garbing her arm where she was hit before.

Orbs of pale blue light came floating out of the miasma and flew into the Crypt Lord.  Prudence, who had managed to stand up, collapsed to the floor again.

„He is draining us of our power."

„Can‘t we get rid of them?“ Nihala asked

„No, we can‘t only a cleric can. Holy magic is then only thing that can combat undead. I told we should have left when we had the chance.“ Prudence said angrily.

„Let‘s put all we've got into this. We can win.“ Regis looked at her reassuringly.

„It‘s not like we can run. I don‘t have enough in me to teleport out of here.“ She said.

Not waiting for anything Nihala charged. Just waving her sword at the creature who managed to evade all her attempts.  Using Nihala as a distraction Cheng leaped in for an attack from the side, managing to hit. Regis aimed to shot. Prudence put all her reaming power into another volley of arcane missiles. Alhd’ rehdch blasted Cheng into the next wall and the monk lay there un-moving. Nihal still stood there.

„Move you idiot.“ Prudence yelled. But it  was  too late  the orbs had already taken off towards Alhd’ rehdch  and her.

Regis ran towards Nihala pushing her out of the way. The spell hitting him in the back, the archer fell to the ground. Alhd’ rehdch  moving it‘s hand towards Regis and a bright golden orb came out of his chest into the Crypt Lord.

„Regis, no.“ Prudence didn't have the strength to scream as the miasma sent another jolt of pain trough her and she passed out. Nihala lost conscience soon after.

 

When Prudence opened her eyes it was dark. Her hands were chained above her head and she was not alone.

„You‘re awake.“ Nihala whispered.

„We‘re alive?“

„For now. They captured us for some reason.“ Cheng said.

„And Regis?“

„He‘s dead“ Nihala said.

„Maybe not, you can‘t be sure...“

„You saw what that thing did to him!“ Nihala said.

„Why didn't you move?“

„My sword got stuck in the floor. I felt so weak i couldn't get out.“

There was a sound of a door opening and very faint light  came from the hall outside the cell. A cultist walked in. She took down her hood and they recognized the girl from before.  She said nothing, looking around.

„Where is the archer?“ she asked

„He died“ Nihala said

„I.. see.“ She said leanving the cell.

Time passed by slowly. Cheng meditated to conserve strenght so he could eventualy break the chains. Nihala slept for real. Prudence was awake, thinking.

The door opened again.  The same cultist walked in.  Cheng immediately opened his eyes and nudged Nihala to wake up.

„Go“. She gestured to the door.

„You‘re letting us go?“ Cheng said surprised.

„You are insignificant, there are many stronger than you. So go, tell them about this place, bring them here, return with an army if you want. We will kill them all and raise them into undeath and bolster our ranks. That is your purpose. Go now and tell the world about us.“ She snapped hr fingers and the chains fell off.

Black smoke surrounded them  and the trio found themselves outside of the tower in the ruins. It was a bright sunny day outside. All their weapons and items still there. They said nothing, walking down the hill and out of the woods. A local farmer that was heading to the town offered to give them a ride for a few coins. Most of the journey passed in silence.

„I think we should get a priest or a cleric- a holy person.“ Cheng said. Once they sat down at a local inn.

The three of them sat in the far most corner of a rather crowded inn at which they were staying.

„I agree“ Nihala said.

„You want to go back there  right after?“ Prudence mocked her sarcastically, drinking her third beer.

„No, I mean we train- get stronger, but i think a cleric might help us. You said holy magic can  negate necromancy effects and kill undead, so wee need someone like that in our group.“ Nihala said.

The conversation was interrupted by a young looking muscular man with ginger hair and a crew cut.  He ignored Cheng and Nihala, walking up to Prudence.

„Say, you‘re quite pretty. Why not have a drink at my table.“ He gestured to a table where similar looking men were sitting.

Prudence ignored him.

Then he grabbed her hand and tried to pull her out of her seat. Pulling her arm away Prudence glared at him. From how she swayed trying to remain on her feet it was clear she was drunk.

„Go away stupid idiot.“ She raised her arms up channeling arcane missiles at the man. Everyone at the inn turned their heads at them. Instead of impacting the spell exploded above her, leaving scorch marks and the walls and floor. Th man had been close enough to get his clothes dirty and eyebrows scorched.  Before anything else could happen Cheng and Nihal dragged Prudence upstairs int their room.

In the morning while the group was out asking for a cleric they noticed someone was following them. It was man in a dark hood . Cheng noticed it, Nihala aimed her sword at the shadows, Prudence was in bed with a hangover.  A man walked out of the shadows.  He removed the hood. It was half elf with long crimson color hair. From the black leather clothes and daggers at the belt he was obviously a rouge.

„Why are you following us?“ Nihala asked.

„I just wanted to give you little warning. That gentleman your friend humiliated just happened to the grandson of the master of the assassins guild. „

„What are you saying?“

„Well, if i were you i‘d leave the city as soon as possible. And you‘re not that difficult to track down, being the only people in the city searching for a cleric.“

„But we really do need a cleric.“ Nihala said.

„A day east from here there is a monastery. You‘ll find someone there.“

„Why are you helping us?“ Cheng questioned.

„Let‘s just say that Derik and me don‘t see eye to eye.“

 

All the way back to the inn the two debated whether or not it was a trap. Prudence was downstairs having breakfast.

„Hey, i found a cleric“ she said.

„You did?“

„Yeah, there‘s a monastery in the east from here“

„where did you hear that?“

„From the inn keeper.“

„That settles it. Two people can‘t be lying.“ Cheng said.

They told her about Derik being from the assassins guild.

„Oh, great. He‘s an assassin, really?“

The trio left the town in early afternoon and reached the  monastery by evening, catching a ride on a cart half way. The priest there, named Vincent, was a man in his late thirties. At first the group tried lie and made up a story about simply needing a healer to go adventuring.

„I‘m afraid all of our apprentices have left on their pilgrimages or have been asingned to temples.“

„Well that didn't work.“ Nihala said

„Then perhaps the truth.“

They began telling him about the crypts and the crypt lords.

„I see. If what you are saying it true then we are all in great danger.“

„So you‘ll come with us?“

„I‘m afraid I can‘t do that. Your story will need to be confirmed. I will write a letter to the High Priest and ask him to send someone to investigate. If it proves to be as you say then the council will gather and decided what to do. „

„In other words a bunch of old geezers will sit around the table talking about nothing while the Crypt Lords gather more forces.“ Prudence  interrupted.

„ I could go?“ came a silent voice.

Everyone turned to the door.

There stood a girl with blond hair, reaching down to her chin and bangs covering her forehead. She wore white and gold cleric robes, looking about fifteen years of age.

„Out of the question. Go to your room ,Nora.“

„But..“

„Now“ Vincent looked  at the girl.

Bowing her head she left.

„Come on, we‘re just wasting time here.“ Prudence walked out not even looking back.

Disappointed the others followed.

„We could try a temple.“ Nihala said.

„Do you know where one is?“

„No.“

„Then shut it, elf“

Nihala was about to say something but Cheng looked at her and shook his head. So the group went back towards the city, now in complete darkness.

„Let‘s stop for the night.“ Cheng said.

They stumbled upon a spot where several logs have been placed in a square, perfect for a small camp. The made fire and ate the left over food they had, when suddenly there was crack, like someone had stepped on a branch, only it came from a tree above their heads. The group rose looking up and then masked men fell from the trees and surrounded them. There were four of them and one more emerged from the bushes- Derik.

„Oh, look the idiots back for more“ Prudence scoffed

„You‘ll blow your self up again?“ Derik restored

„No, but i‘ll blow you“

„Oh , i‘d like that“

He began approaching Prudence while the other assassins moved on Nihala and Cheng.

Cheng punched the approaching assassin and this encouraged the others to fight back. Prudence froze Derik with an ice spell. Nihala charged , slashing one assassin with the giant sword. The other moved back. All as one they thew smoke bombs and the group was enveloped by a cloud of smoke.

„I can‘t see.“ Nihala said

An attack came from the left, another from the right. Cheng managed to hit one while getting attacked. Derik got out of the ice. Things were looking bad for the group. They could not see the enemies but the assassins knew where they were and kept attaching them. Prudence felt a chain wrap around her waist, binding her arms as well. Derik pulled the chain towards him. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light.  As the smoke clouded dispersed –a figure with robes and a hood stood there.

„Who are you?“ Derik looked at the new arrival.

They said nothing but aimed at the party members. With a bolt of golden light the injuries began healing. Grabbing her sword tighter Nihala sliced the chain and set Prudence free. Cheng sent one assassin flying into a tree.  The others seemed to hesitate looking at Derik.

„What are you waiting for- cowards, attack them“

The rouge from before emerged from the shadows. Derik seemed to recognize him.

„Gideon? Why are you here?“

„Your grandfather asked me to find you. So here I am.“

„We‘ll settle this later“ Derik looked at the group. Trowing another smoke bomb they all vanished.

„Yeah, you better run“ Nihala yelled after them.

„I didn't think he would leave the city to come after you, to be honest.“ Gideon  said.

„But you seem to be capable of handling your selves. I‘ll see ya around.“ And he walked into the darkness seemingly merging with it as he went.

„Wow. He‘s impressive“ Nihala said.

Suddenly everyone remembered  the mysterious figure in white and turned. Removing the hood – it was the girl from the monastery.

„Please don‘t send me back. I ran away and uncle would be so mad.“

„Wait, that guy‘s your uncle?“ Nihala was surprised

„I've been living with him since my parents died. I trained a a cleric. I finished my training  a year ago but he won‘t let me leave and go my pilgrimage or train at a temple. It‘s my duty to aid those in need, so please allow me to remain by your side.“

„Sure, you‘re in ,kid“ Prudence said

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Authors Note:  I was the Dungeon Master for this. And as a first time DM I figured it would be a good idea to send a lvl 1 party into a boss fight. Yeah, turns out it wasn’t. The Crypt Lords are my own creations and I’m quite proud of them. This boss was supposed to be even stronger, but I nerfed it, and then I thought I made him too easy so they will kill him easy …and then it was almost a tpk. R.I.P Regis.

I guess I should mention that this not D&D, but a game we created, so the rules are different.

So, the original campaign was supposed to short- we go in, we kill the Crypt Lords and done. But during the boss fight when I saw how the party was nearly dead and he boss didn’t have a dent in it’s hp I realized it’s over. I had never planned for there to be an outside world other than the forest but everyone agreed they want to continue with the characters they made, minus Regis cuz he’s dead.  Everything after the boss was improvised the spot and omg … that was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I did not plan this, I was not prepared for this and it turned into something amazing. : Prudence getting drunk and my friend rolling 3 natural 1, one after the other (for the arcane missile each hit is rolled separately) it’s just something that is impossible to script- this incident that was the birth of the beautiful disaster that is Prudence.

 

5: Session 3 part 1

Session 3

After spending the night camping in the woods, the group realized that they never bought any supplies when they were in the city and that they need to go back there before heading to the mountains to train. So after stealing some laundry that was left to dry, and making impromptu disguises they walked back into the city. Prudence literary wearing a white sheet over herself to cover her face, Nihala with a pink dress over her armor and Cheng in overalls and a shirt. Nora didn’t hide since the bandits didn’t see her face.

The managed to find some medical herbs that could be used to make potions and some food, but shops that sold weapons and magical items were on the other side of town. While shopping, Cheng and Prudence noticed that people were making their way towards them in the crown. But those were no ordinary people- they were from the city guard. Thinking that it was about the stolen clothes they made an attempt to get away. Cheng noticed some boxes that could be climbed up onto a stall and then the marked wall and a roof of house. Prudence made it up despite her long robes, Cheng helped Nihala parkour up the wall to the roof. However Nora remained standing in the street, completely confused by what was happening. From up on a roof they watched the guards take her away.

“Oh…. I quests we forgot the kid her to run.” Prudence said.

“We should probably go after her.” Nihala said

“And add the city guard to our list of enemies?  I mean, do we really need a cleric that bad?”  She argued.

“Let’s get out of sight, and come up with a better plan.”  Cheng offered.

So they jumped the gap between the roofs of houses and hid under a tilted roof.

While they were debating what to do there was a knock on the roof.

“They found us already? Really?” Prudence said disappointed.

“Don’t fret, it’s just me.” Said a voice familiar to Nihala and Cheng

“Gideon!” Nihala ducked from under the hiding spot.

“Shhh, keep it down.” The half elf said

“Why are you here?” Cheng wondered

“I came to warn you.  Those men who took your friend were not from the city guard. They were Deriks men in disguise.”

“ That Dick” Prudence said upon hearing his name.

“I know where they’ve taken her. It’s a manor house on the outskirts of the city. “ he gave Cheng a map with two marked routes.

“You can try barge in there or you can take the stealthy approach. I’d advise taking the severs since you are low on numbers and the manor is well guarded. “

“Why help us again?” Nihala asked

“Derik has gotten on the bad side of many in the guild, with his behavior ruining our reputation. Let’s just say I would like to see him put in his place, but he is the grandson of the guild master, so while I cannot take direct actions against him – you can. “

“Alright, but we expect some compensation” Prudence said

“What are you doing?” Nihala whispered

“It’s only fair, we didn’t ask for this Dick to start bothering us, or to kidnap the kid.” She said.

“I’m sure once they hear of what you did, the others in the guild can be convinced to put together some money. I will see you at the manor” Gideon said vanishing, leaning a small  cloud of smoke where he was.

“Cool, how does he do that?” Nihala said looking around

“Let’s go save the kid.” Prudence said.

They jumped from one roof to another. Nihala nearly fell because of the giant sword pulling her back.

“Loose the sword, will ya!” Prudence said annoyed

“I can’t fight without a weapon and it’s the only one I’ve got” Nihala retorted.

They managed to hide from some guards who were on the roof behind boxes. Prudence decided to push the guard of the roof when he wasn’t looking and to everyone’s surprise and horror succeeded.

“You killed him?!” Nihala yelled horrified.

“For all we know he was an assassin in disguise. Besides, he’s not dead “she said as an pained groan came from bellow.

“See landed on a hay stack, he’s fine.” Prudence said

Eventually the gaps between roofs grew wider and wider. Jumping between them was no longer an option. They could see the manor from the roof they were on. It was on a hill, had a high fence and there were no other houses around it.  Getting down from roof: Cheng just scaled the corner wall down, Nihala dove into a hay stack and Prudence landed on top of her.

They made their way into the sever, managing to squeeze in thought one of the places where a grate was missing. Nihala took her sword down from her back and lowered it in before climbing down. She turned to give Prudence a smug look. While walking in the sever Prudence felt something slimy drip down from the ceiling.

Looking up she saw a large slime on the ceiling. It dropped down, trying to envelop her but she moved away just enough to avoid it.  The group began to fight the slime.  Cheng tried to punch it but his punches only made it giggle and didn’t seem to damage it.  Nihala could not even attack because the ceiling was too low for the giant sword. Prudence froze the slime and Cheng finished it off by coating his fists in an aura of heat.

They had made a turn the would lead them straight to the manor. There was a side tunnel connecting to the one they were in. Something moved inside it. A giant rat emerged and the party prepared to fight. It was a quick fight since Prudence roasted the rat with a lightning spell. Then she approached the dead and cooked rat, shrank it down with magic and put it into a small leather bag and put that inside her pocket.

“What are you doing?” Nihala asked

“I killed- it’s my battle trophy. I’ll keep it.”

“But it’s a rat, a dead rat.” The elf insisted.

“So what? You have that sword”

“Because I need a weapon!”

“Well I need a rat!” Prudence said and walked on ahead tossing her hair back.

They got to the manor, the sever lead into the yard and came out under the fence. They waited and counted the minutes  it took the guard to walk behind the corned and back past them. They also saw an open window on the second floor and decided to use that enter, but the wall smooth and there was no way to climb up.

Cheng broke the grate loose so they could remove it and get into the yard. Prudence and Cheng made it, but Nihala forgot the giant sword on her back and got stuck. Cheng spotted a ladder, leaned against a half painted gazebo.

“We could use that to get inside.” He pointed

“Master, help me.” Nihala tried to get out of the sewer

 Prudence just stood there and face-plamed.

Trying to pull Nihala out took too long and the guard came around the corner. Prudence and Cheng knocked him unconscious, got Nihala out- leaving a sword shaped hole in the brick work. Cheng grabbed the ladder while the girls tossed the unconscious guard into the sewer and prudence froze the grate back into place.

Once inside they pulled the ladder up so no one would notice it and closed the window. They were in a hallway. It was a large circle shaped hall, with a double door to the left, a path that lead into another hallway and on the other side there were stairs leading down. In the middle there was an open space where one could look at the first floor. Beneath was a room with white tiles, pillars and peach coloured walls.

“He’s probably thought there” Prudence pointed to the double door on their left.

They entered a room full of bookcases and large desk. On the opposite end there was a fireplace. The decided to look around the room But when Nihala tried to open a drawer in the desk there was a sound of a mechanism triggering. Bars fell blocking the door and windows. The fireplace lifted up revealing sharp wooden spikes. The group sought cover as the spikes shot out towards them. Cheng jumped up and dodged most of them, only getting a few scratches. Prudence hid behind a bookcase. Nihala flipped the desk and hid in the hollow of it, the spikes pierced the desk but she managed to avoid major injuries.

“we need to get out of here, before they all come rushing” Nihala said

“How? The door is still blocked?” Prudence argued

“A switch! There has to be a switch to disarm the trap.”  The elf said.

Prudence cast a spell to see hidden things and found the switch. The group got out of the room and began to wander the manor trying to find Nora. They stumbled into a bedroom with a sleeping guard and managed to get information out of him. Also found their weapons and supplies room and took some healing potions, Nihala refused to abandon her sword for daggers. Cheng got some throwing knives.

It was a room on the third floor. A large party room, judging from the piano and the bar, but any other furniture had been cleared out- replaced with a single chair that held a tied up Nora. Derik stood behind her surrounded by his goons.

“Hey, kid, we’re here to save you” Prudence looked at Nora who had her mouth tied and couldn’t respond.

The girl looked happy to see them.

“I’m gonna kill you. And I’ll make it hurt” Derik said approaching Prudence.

“Whatever, Dick”

“I’ll start with your friends” he said and removed a whip from his belt, lashing at Nora.

The four assassins that were in the room made a move on them. They were different from the ones before When Cheng ran to Nora two masked assassins blocked his path.  Derik kicked the chair with Nora down to the ground and laughed.

“These are some of the most elite assassins of the guild. You’re dead.” He turned towards Prudence and aimed a whip lash at her. As She tried to dodge two assassins appeared behind her and grabbed her hands placing something on them. She tried to call her magic but couldn’t.

“It’s no use, these anti magic cuffs. Struggle all you want it won’t make a difference.” He whipped across the chest, making her fall down. The two assassins then engaged Nihala who was trying to help Prudence.

While no one was paying attention Nora tried to get herself free, since the whiplash had weakened the ropes and caused them to slip lower. Cheng and Nihala were struggling, each fighting two elite assassins, while Derik whipped Prudence around. Nora finally broke free, before getting up she cast a healing spell on her injured comrades, then launched a bolt of light at Derik to distract him. Cheng managed to knock out one assassin and break thought towards Prudence, breaking her cuffs off. Derik had a terrified look on his face as she cast arcane missiles at him. Each orb hitting an assassin and knocking them back a little bit. Nora rushed to help Nihala, while Cheng finished his remaining opponent. Prudence cast another round of arcane missiles this time aimed at Derik, hitting him three times and nearly sending him out the window. The four stood over their defeated adversaries preparing to deal the final blow.

The door opened and three figures emerged. The center one was and elderly man in black, next to him was an assassin with half mask over their face and Gideon.

“Grandfather!?” Derik looked at the elderly man with fear.

“Silence.” The man spoke in calm but stern voice.

“You are a disgrace. If you took to your training as you did to drinking and whoring you may have been have been a worthy heir. But this the last straw!. Taking the elite force without right or permission and for what- Kidnaping people! I hereby disown you. Take him to the dungeon”

The assassins the were on the floor suddenly got up and grabbed Derik, dragging him out of the room.

“As for you four.” He turned to the group

“My idiot of a grandson had caused you great deal of trouble. For that I bask your forgiveness and I would like to offer you compensation. I do hope you will not speak of this matter, to anyone. I would not want rumors to tarnish out reputation. “ 

“Alright, we’ll keep quiet.”

So after receiving money from the assassins’ guild the group went to buy supplies. Cheng got himself some metal gauntlets to better protect his hands when punching. Nihala bought some new armor and conveniently “forgot” to buy a new sword. They bought Nora a shield and some light armor to wear on her robes and also a mace.

After a nights rest they were sitting in the tavern and talking about what to do next.

“Should we still train?” Cheng asked

“I don’t know how about you, but I’m feeling lucky.” Prudence said

“Why?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s a good luck charm?” she patters the bag containing the dead rat.

“More like a curse, we nearly died back there.” Nihala said.

“But we didn’t” Prudence argued back.

“We have her now.” She motioned to Nora.

“Good job, kid.”

“Thank you?” Nora said uncertainly.

“Alright, I suppose we can train on the way there.” Nihala agreed.

 

 

 

 

 

AUTHORS NOTE

This was supposed a session focused on training in the mountains. The party was supposed to fight griffons and manticores. Instead Nora rolled a 1 and we ended up parkouring on rooftops and snaking around assassin’s creed style. After this I decided I’m not gonna plan my sessions anymore.

So… the rat….WTF! My friend who plays Prudence was  like :

“Can I cook the rat?”

“You have lightning a spell so technically yes”

“I cook it…. With lightning… then I put in my bag.”

ME: “Why?”

“Because I want to.”

“But it’s dead…. It will rot.”

“I don’t care.”

That’s how that went. I still don’t know if I regret letting her keep the thing. But it’s a thing now.

Also if anyone was wondering about the alignments of the characters. :  Nihala is Neutral Good. Cheng is Neutral Good, Nora is Lawful Good, Prudence – Chaotic Neutral ( Formerly  Neutral Good). Regis was Neutral Good .

6: Session 3 part 2

Session 3 part 2

After the encounter with the assassins in the city the group felt confident enough to go back to the crypts.  It took them about a day to reach the forest.  Some wolves attempted to steal their meal in the dead of night but Cheng and Nora scared them away.

“What was it like?” Nora asked.

“The crypts? Well, like crypts ,I suppose.  They don’t bury the dead in crypts where I come from. So it was really my first time in a place like this.”

“I meant...”

“No use in worrying about it, we’ll get there soon enough and you’ll see. “ Nihala said getting up from her spot against a tree.

“I guess” she said bowing her head and looking uncertain.

As the sun began to rise and push the darkness away from under the trees, creating a visible path- they set our once more. Reaching the tower to which Prudence still had the key.  Once more they descended into the familiar damp cellar that smelled of mold and decaying wood.   As they approached the hatch,  a sound came from within the room and  everybody went silent and still. A barrel rolled from a stack of old barrels and they seemed to relax for a moment until a pair of yellow eyes opened and the barrel grew stubby legs and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth.

The barrel mimic began running towards them. Cheng tried to attack it but was surprisingly knocked flat on the ground at the creature began to roll in rapid pace.  The group tried attacking the mimic as it rolled around the room and managed to dodge most if their attacks just by a hair. Prudence and Nihala getting knocked off their feet.  Nora was cornered by the mimic, looking terrified by it, and managed to set it on fire with a fire ball.  The now flaming mimic began rolling to put it out, squealing in a pig like fashion, slamming into other barrels and sending them into all directions. Unfortunately the content of the barrels was alcohol l and it caught fire.  Cheng and Nihala attacked the mimic while Prudence and Nora froze the wine on the ground to keep the fire from spreading and the water from the ice eventually put it out.

“Well, we can forget about sneaking in. Everybody downstairs knows we’re here after that little fiasco.” Prudence said.

“We should comeback another time.”  Cheng said.

“Yeah. I told you that stupid rat would bring us bad luck.”

“You and your stupid sword can stay here. I’m going….He killed Regis” she bend down to open the hatch.

A moment of silence passed between the four of them. Prudence descended down into the second cellar. Nora followed after her, then Cheng and Nihala.  As they reached the bottom, Prudence had already removed the illusion of the wall.

The hallways were surprisingly empty as they walked along them.  No skeletons or cultists patrolling, no sound aside the echoes of their footsteps.  Once they reached  the passage leading to the lower levels, it was left open.

“They are expecting us.” Cheng said disappointed.

“Of course they are. So let’s not keep them waiting. “Prudence walked down the steps first.

They were standing before the door that lead in to the chambers of Alhd’ rehdch.

„Ready?“

„As ready as we‘ll ever be, I suppose?“ Nihala said.

Nora just hid behind Prudence not sure what to expect.

Prudence slammed the door open.  The creature turned to them.

„So, you return – good.  I will feast on your souls and raise you as champions for my armies.“

Prudence responded with a blast of arcane missiles. Two shots managing to hit Alhd’ rehdch .  The entity  let out a hissing laugh

„Fool‘s, you cannot defy death.“

„But we can defy you!“Nihala  ran in for an attack, but he easily dodged her swing.

„Not this again“ the elf cursed  when the sword stuck the ground.

Cheng dowe in for a double punch attack. Managing to land a small hit.

Alhd’ rehdch laughed  and sent a shock wave at them. Nihala was knocked down, Cheng  was sent pack to the wall and Prudence managed to dodge it along with Nora who was still in the doorway and out of sight of the lord.

„Your turn kid“ Prudence whispered

Nora looked terrified, clutching her holy symbol  but walked into the room . Alhd’ rehdch aimed  the heavy staff at Nihala and sent a bolt of blackish green energy at her. Nora rose her hand and a bubble of light appeared around Nihala  causing to attack spell  to vanish. She then sent a bolt of light at Alhd’ rehdch who for the first time sounded like  it was in pain.

Prudence followed up that attack with another arcane missile. Two out of three hit one again. Nihala got up, taking her sword and  slashed at the stunned creature.  But Alhd’ rehdch was not stunned for long and soon pointed the  staff at Cheng who was approaching for a new attack.  And purple light from the staff  hitting Cheng and wrapped around him then  it looked like  it was sucking  light out of him and the small fragments of light flowed into Alhd’ rehdch.  Nora cast a healing spell on Cheng but had little to no effect.

Alhd’ rehdch began chanting and the  Prudence recognized the  spell.

„Run!“ she pointed to the door.

A dark flash shot towards her  and the dead body of Regis appeared  before her.  The world seemed to stop.  The rain of black flames fell from above. Cheng managed to dodge it, along with  Nora. She sent another bolt of light  at Alhd’ rehdch, managing to hit him.  Cheng focused his aura and attacked, since Nihala was clutching her stomach in pain from getting hit by the black fire and Prudence was down on her knees  and staring into the darkness in the corner as if it the most terrifying thing in the world.

The aura attack hit. Nihala attempted to get up despite the pain and  slash Alhd’ rehdch but she stumbled and missed.  The being reached out to her with a smoky, skeletal finger and the black on her stomach shot out of her body and back into it. Nihala fell clutching her stomach again.

„I can taste your fear, your pain... it‘s delicious.“

„Prudence?!“ Nora attempted to shake her ..

„Leave her, we can finish this.“ Cheng said.

Nora cast a bolt of light but Alhd’ rehdch anticipated the attack and dodged it.  He then aimed at Cheng to leech  more energy of off him.  But Chen's body began to glow with aura and the purple beam  lost it‘s hold.  Using this as  distraction Nora attacked again, landing a hit. Cheng went in for some punches.  Nihala got up and slashed the creature from behind.  Prudence snapped  out of the illusion and sent another arcane  missile- only one orb hitting this time and with Nora dealing the final blow the entity turned to smoke and evaporated.

„How did you do that?“ Nihala asked Cheng

„Well, if i concentrated enough i can will myself to not be hit by an attack but it only works on very rare occasions. I am far from mastering the art.“

„You have to teach me that!“

Prudence looked around the room. There were no traces of Regis, none of his belongings or his body. However there was something- a book, placed on a  special holder. Old, dark brown leather cover  and  darkened pages . She reached out and touched it, the book felt smooth and cold.

„Hey, we found a lever!“ Nihala said.

Prudence took the book and placed inside her bag before turning to her friends.

„Should be pull it?“ the elf asked?
„Do what ever you want.“ The human said walking out of the room.

Nihala pulled the lever and there was a heavy sound of a door opening. The large door that had been full of skeletons was now open. A path leading into a cave like hallway was open.

 

7: Session 4 part 1

 

The giant door was now open .  Beyond it was a cavern, no more crypts, just wide open  space with a ceiling that vanished in darkness. Something resembling  a path  went past the door.  The left was a tunnel in the cave wall while the right side was a lot more open.  Small sandstone brick houses stoodfurther away, but they looked decrepit, just walls and doors, like somebody had begun  building  but never finished- there were no roofs.

“Did the undead built those?” Nihala asked , noticing the structures.

“No idea” Prudence said walking past her 

A skeleton patrol emerged  from the tunnel  but before anyone could panic, Prudence reached out her hand. With a purple flash it turned into a sheep*.

“Quick, let’s kill it!” Nihala reached for her sword.

“No” the mage stopped her. “ If it takes any damage it will change back. Just leave it.”

“Why didn’t you do that before?” Nihala asked

“Because I couldn’t get to work. Since this whole mess started  I’ve been getting better  at controlling my magic , so I can cast spells that were too difficult before.”

“I noticed it too.” Cheng said “Maybe because I ‘ve gotten used to fighting, but my releases have become  faster  and I fell like I have more  endurance**.”

“Really?” Nihala said looking at the group “ I don’t feel any different.”

“Maybe if you lose that sword?” Prudence  teased her.

“No way.” Nihala argued.

Nora walked along the road away from the group.

“Hey. Look at this”

The trio only now noticed the cleric a good distance away.  The path curved along the walls of the cavern, the ground was uneven and different in heath  in places.  Nora stood there looking at structures in the distance. They were larger than the houses, made of wood and complete.  From this angle they could see at least five of those and yet there was no end to the cavern.

“You can fit an army in here” Nihala said.

“That is what they are trying to do.” Prudence reminds the elf.

“Maybe we shouldn’t stay out in the open like this” Cheng said looking around to make sure another patrol didn’t sneak up on them.

“Let’s check the houses.”

The group began investigating the area with ruined buildings. All the houses were connected to one another like a wall with doors in it. Some were half buried in mud and didn’t open, others had the doors replaced with bards. The metal of the bars was clean, smooth, definitely newer than the brick of the structures.  What they had first assumed to be houses were actually just small rooms. Most had nothing inside them.

“What were these used for?” Nora looked confused.

“Prison cells?” Nihala said looking at the bars.

There was a sound of a door slamming close by.

“Hide, fast.” Prudence said.

Each person his in one of the rooms a wooden door.  There were three rows of their structures. One facing the main entrance, one behind it and the third in front of the second.  Nihala, Cheng and Nora hid  in the third  row, in the rooms next to each other. Prudence was in the second row alone.

Nora saw a stick on the floor of the room she was in. It began to glow.  She put it in her pocket when heavy steps were heard from  the end of path.  At the end of the path was a heavy door, set into the cave wall. It had opened sometime before- the being the sound they all heard.  Now a creature was walking towards it . it was tall, almost as tall as the houses, but enough to look inside thought the top. It was mage of bone, with places of metal of various stages of rust nailed directly onto it. It’s head was covered a metallic hood and it had a leather apron on its massive body. Behind it, the creature dragged a cart, it was empty. But its wheels squeaked and whined as they turned.

Inside her hiding spot Prudence prayed for one thing – that Nihala wouldn’t decide to suddenly attack this creature and blow their cover.  When the creature was gone and  the metal door slammed behind it  she let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, only to feel something  cold  drip on the back of her neck. Looking up she  noticed water dripping from the ceiling and relaxed, but then there was something else. Something moved  in the dark, two glowing orbs,  moving closer, moving down, a light mist trailing  behind.  The creature dropped down  into the room- it was a ghoul. A shrived, dried up looking thing with hollow eyes that had two tiny dots glowing in them and mist trailing from it’s body. Sharp claws reaching out to strike.

Prudence began so back away, but the room was small and she hit the door.  Freezing in place  she opened the door and began to back out. The others were approaching her but the noticed the creature in the room .  They managed to take out easily.

“What was that thing?” Nihala asked

“Undead most likely. Be careful, those things climb walls. It dropped from the ceiling.”

Everyone looked up.

“We’re good for now.”

Nora showed the wand she found.

“I can sense holy energy from it. I think it belonged to cleric.”

“ You found it in one of those rooms?” Prudence asked

The girl nodded.

“Alright. I’m going to look.”

“Hey, I want cool stuff too.” Nihala said running to the other side and started opening doors.

After some searching , Prudence found a cloak that emitted a mist similar to a ghoul and her seem like a cloud of  fog to others. Cheng found some coins and a potion of  health. Nihala found ha half buried torn page from a letter.  The blued haired elf eyed prudence with jealousy.

“You don’t need that!” she said “ stealth  for rouges not mages”

“Well then I’m a rouge mage “ she said shrugging. “ I knew my rat would bring good luck”

“You still heave that thing? That is seriously disgusting.” The elf said.

“I’m not throwing it away!“

“Please keep your voices down, there’s echo in here.” Cheng interfered in the argument.

“What does the letter say?” Nora asked  pointing to the paper in Nihala hand.

“Haven’t read it yet.”

“Let’s find some coved first”

This time all four of them crammed into a small room as  she read it.

The letter mentioned an expedition send here to see the mountains had any valuable resources.  This was not the first page of the letter, so some of the context of missing. It also mentioned a group of miners going deeper down to the mines and not coming back.

“Mines?” Nihala said surprised

“I see. So this was just a base they set up to start a mine from.” Prudence  said.

“Who set’s up mines deep underground?”

“Dwarves? Besides, we are probably not that far from the surface level. This place looks a cave there must an entrance above ground.”

“Dwarves, here?”

“We have a natural border with the dwarven kingdom, what’s was it called gain ? Part of the mountains belongs to them.”

“We traveled that far?” Nora was smooched

“I supposed being underground makes it hard to tell where we are  or  what the distance is. “ Cheng agreed.

Their discussion was interrupted by a couple of ghouls dropping down. The fight was quickly resolved and the group decided to go and investigate the larger buildings.

One was full of mining equipment, leathers, cloths, iron and hammers and other material for crafting. Everything was beginning to wear down, some cloths and leathers were moldy. The group took some of the ones in good condition to make use of later.On the way to the other warehouse they encountered a skeleton patrol. Prudence hid around the corner and polymorphed it into a sheep.

The next building was some kind of dinning or meeting hall with tables and chairs, but it was dark and dusty and not used in a while.  The small sizes of the chairs and some carvings on the tables were definite indicatorsof a dwarvish presence.  

The other house had a light in it, a couple of cultists could be seen thought the open door.  Surprisingly the group managed to sneak past them.  There was a lot more patrols around the warehouses and the group worried they won’t be able to keep avoiding them.  There was a path leading away  from the warehouse area, connecting into the tunnel  from the gate area. 

The tunnel opened up to a different part of the cavern. It was on a lower level than the warehouses and looked dark from their level. As the path went down slightly they could see more of the cavern floor.  There was a pit full of scaffolding and undead mining away at the rocks. The path was still above it,  so they didn’t seem to notice .

“What are they mining?” Nihala wondered

“Armies need weapons right? So probably metal” Prudence said continuing to walk. 

“Wait, Whats that?”  

There was something white in the pit, it was large too.  as the path curve they got to see it from a better angle.

“Hell no, I’m not setting foot down there.”  Prudence protested as they all noticed the path was slowly coming down into the pit. At the end of it, half unearthed were the bones  a large dragon. The path branched off, another part of it going into another tunnel.

The group chose to go into a tunnel instead of a pit full of skeletons and  other undead.  After another curve  in the road, a strong putrid small hit their noses.  The stench seemed to be coming  from up ahead. Everyone prepared for ambush but the road was empty.  The wall had an opening in it and next to it was another door built into the wall made  of the same bricks at the small houses.  The smell was coming from the opening in the wall. Looking in was  not a great idea since it was full  body parts, and flesh and skin and organs and blood., slowly rotting away. All the parts were torn, cut open and bones removed.  As Prudence saw this there was a sudden voice ringing in her head “ He’s in there, you know.” And all she could see was Regis, every ripped of face turned into his  face and she couldn’t look any longer. But turning away did nothing to take away the mental image in hear head.  Taking a few steps to the side she threw up. Nora had stayed in the back  and seeing  Prudence unwell went to help her out.

Meanwhile Cheng and Nihala managed to keep it together and began inspecting the door.  The suddenly as Nihala was inspecting it,  the door opened. Inside was a room covered in blood and a creature like they had seen  back at the houses was inside directing a body- in the middle of removing.  the spine . The creature turned around  noticing them . Nihala and Cheng diretly in the doorway, while Prudence was still trying to calm down  with Nora gently rubbing her back.

 

 

* So, did anyone else expect it to be a rat? 

** After the fight in the last one the party leveld up ( exept for Nora ) and are now level 3. Yes, we took down  Alhd’ rehdch at lvl 2.... 

I think we can all agree that Prudence is a rouge mage..

 

8: Session 4 part 2

 

 

Author note: So I had lost my campaign notes, and wrote the last one from memory. But good news I found my notes. So now I can continue this.

Nihala charged at the corpse collector and managed to hit it. It retaliated by swinging it’s cleaver at her. The sword was heavy so she couldn’t get away and took the hit but it wasn’t too bad. Chang channeled his aura into his fists and punched the monster. Nora fired off a bolt of holy light from the doorway. Prudence was still not feeling well and missed a turn.

The Corpse collector hit Chang when sharp bone spikes suddenly drew out off its arm. It lifted the impaled monk and breather greyish smoke from under the metal covering it’s head and dropped him do the ground, spikes going back into it’s body.  Nihala hit again, and got knocked down with a punch. Nora landed another solid hit a spell. Prudence joined into the fight in a really foul mood and decided to put an end to it by casting Arcane Missiles.  One spell hitting Nora, the other heading for Nihala but changing direction and missing at the last minute. The third one hot the monster. 

Nihala got up and slashed the monster. Spikes stopping the sword from doing much damage. Cheng noticed that the wounds from being impaled were turning black around the edges, but not bleeding like they normally do. Nora cast a healing spell on Cheng. The wounds closing but the black marks remaining. He tried to attack from behind by jumping into the air for a surprise hit. Spikes grew out of the monster’s back, but with some aiming he managed to hit right between them. Prudence cast another round of Arcane Missiles and this time only missed once. The piles of bones rattled and fell to pieces.

Nora used the wand, that she found earlier and identified the magic inside as holy purification magic, to cure Cheng.

“ It doesn’t have much magic left in it.” Nora said “ I think I  can only use it a couple more times”

“We should avoid getting into fights with those things” Nihala said.

“First time you something smart” Prudence remarked

“Hey, not true!” the elf argued.

“Well this is a dead end. We should go back. Unless you want to investigate the pit?” Cheng said

“No. Not going into the pit” Prudence said walking off.

Everyone else follow after her. They encounter some skeleton on patrol but easily deal with them.

They get back to area above the warehouses and notice there is another path that is completely in the dark. So they decide to take it. It leads them to a purple glowing aura that surrounds a boarded up entrance of what looks to be a mine.

 “ So this is the mine the dwarf wrote about.” Nihala said. “What’s that purple stuff?”

“Why don’t you go in there and find out” Prudence suggested.

“You go” the elf argued back.

Nora went closer and extended her hand but it couldn’t get through.

“it’s like a wall” she said

“A barrier to keep people out” Prudence said

“Can you remove it?” Cheng asked.

“I don’t think so. Too advanced for me. “She said.

 Since there were no patrols coming to this part of the cave the group decided to have a rest. Prudence took out the book and tried reading it. But the symbols were not in a language she could understand.

“ Hey, what are you reading? “ Nihala noticed the book in the dim purple light.

“A book. “ She said

“What kind of book? Can it lift the barrier?”

“No. I don’t think so.” She said holding the book closer to her chest.

Nihala pulled it from her.

“What is this stuff?” the elf said confused after looking at it” no of it makes sense.  What’s it about?”

“I have no idea” Prudence said. “Now give it back”

“Why you can’t even read it?” Nihala argued

“Neither can you stupid elf!” She pulled the book from Nihala.

“What is your deal?” the elf looked at her.

Prudence hugged the book.

“I found it. It’s mine. My own. My precious”

The remainder of the group stared at Prudence for a moment.  Nora approached her after a moment.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. No. Leave me alone!” she pulled away from Nora shocking her.

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just tired.” She quickly apologized.

“Maybe we all need a longer rest.” Cheng agreed.

So they decided to sleep. Chang and Nihala staying up for the first shift.

“Do try to be nicer to her.” The monk said “Regis was a close friend of hers.”

“I’m trying. It’s just. I was there too. It’s not easy for me either, master. I … he tried to save me.”

“I know, but don’t blame yourself. I’m sure he would have done it for any of us. He was a kind person. Get some sleep, I’ll finish on my own.”

Prudence didn’t wake for her shift and nobody dared to wake her up. Nora spend her watch alone, mostly praying for protection and safety the whole time.

After their rest the group went back to inspect the warehouses they haven’t been to.  Found some old materials like leathers and cloths, ropes and some smelted ore that they decided to divide and avoiding the patrols due to Prudence turning most of them into sheep while using the Cloak of mist to stealth.

They made their way to the other side where the road continued opposite of the pit and towards a giant gate, like the one they had opened to enter this area.

“Well, we found the exit” Nihala said.

“Yes. But it won’t be easy. There are guards.” Cheng pointed to a walkway above the gate where robed figures were walking.

“I think I saw some chains back in the warehouse.” Prudence said.

“How’s that supposed help?” Nora asked

“We need some robes” Prudence said. 

“Didn’t we see some cultists living in there a while back?” the elf remembered.

“We should check” Prudence said.

Nora and Cheng exchanged glances

“Did those two just agree on something?” Nora said surprised.

“I think so.” Cheng said happy.

Back inside the warehouse transformed into a living area they encountered a bone golem wearing cultist robes.  They beat it with some difficulty but in the end prudence morphed it into a sheep.

“Hey, won’t anyone notice all these sheep walking around? “ Nora asked

“Well, they might, but technically they are still undead so they don’t register as living things. Nobody sounded the alarm. Skeletons can’t see so as long as they register as undead no one will no one will attack them either. The only problem we could have the cultists that are alive.” Prudence explained.

“Those two from before were alive. You think those at the gates will be?” Nihala wondered.

“Let’s hope so.” Prudence took out her dead rat and petted it. “You’ll help me, won’t you?”

“How is that thing not rotten yet?” Nihala wondered.

Nora just shrugged.

Prudence and Nihala put the chains on Cheng and Nora. They put on the cultist robes and started leading them towards the gate.  Several patrols walked past them and ignored them.

“I think it’s working” Nihala said.

“Leave the talking to me” Prudence said.

The guards at the gates were two golems and one male drow.

“Open the gate” Prudence demanded

“What business do you have with the master?”

“Are you blind? Open the gate idiot!”

The man fell silent, looked at the two chained up and motioned for the golems to pull the heavy chains. The gate opened. They entered and it shut behind them.

“Can’t believe that worked.” Nihala sighed with relief.

“Where are we?” Nora asked looking around the place.

The whole place unnatural. Walls, floor and ceiling made of stone blocks.  There were large tranches from all sides, surrounding the walkway and huge pipes coming from the floor and ceiling that lead into the trenches.

“What are those for?” Nihala wondered.

“No idea.” Prudence said.

“They’re clean, no blood, nothing.” The elf noticed.

There was only one way to go. The part in front of them was a dead end. The hallway turned like a “u” and the new area had large metal bars in the walls covering round openings that could fit a giant.

“This place looks like a giant sewer.” Nihala remarked. “Why do undead need a sewer?

“It’s probably for something else” Prudence said.

There was a moment when she stopped and put a hand to her forehead.

“Are you alright?” Nora asked

“Just got dizzy for a moment.” She said.

In truth Prudence hear a voice in her head. It didn’t speak but it laughed.

The path ended with a closed door. A large wooden double door.

“What are the chances that that the exit?” Nihala wondered

“Probably zero” Prudence said.

“We made a bad turn. You think those guys would let us out?” the elf said looking back

“Could they even hear us through the door?” Cheng was skeptical.

“So the only way to go is forward? Great.” Nihala sighed.

They entered the room. It made up of the same materials as the hallway. The room was very long and surrounded by a huge trench and had pipes opening to it from all sides. At the very end of the room was a wooden throne like chair placed on a podium. Sitting in it was a skeleton. It wore dark blue robes and was a little larger than the ones they encountered before. Bone spikes came out of its head in a circle, forming a strange crown. It pointed to Prudence. She approached. Contemplating what to say.

Before she could even speak he pointed to her again and bone spikes came out of the ground. They didn’t hurt her but completely ripped the cultist robes.

“Screw it!.” Nihala took of the robes, grabbed her sword and charged.

Cheng and Nora stood there with their hands chained up.

“Does anyone have a key for those?” Nora asked.

 

 

End notes: Yes, Nihala had her sword on her back while wearin the robes, they were big.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9: Session 4 part 3

Session 4 part 3

The skeleton pointed again and bone spikes surrounded Nihala, trapping her. Prudence was preparing to attack but Nora and Cheng yelling seemed to reach her and she moved back, casting a frost bolt and freeing the skeletons robes to the throne.

“I can break out. Help Nora” Cheng said.

Using a simple unlocking spell Prudence removed Nora’s handcuffs. Nora cast a bolt of light on the skeleton. Cheng struggled with the chain but it snapped eventually. The prison of spikes vanished when Nora’s spell hit. Nihala attacked, attempting to pierce the skeleton with the giant sword. But as the sword pierced the robes it bounced off from something solid. As Nihala stared in surprise the skeleton surged of the shredded robes, revealing that it was no a regular skeleton, it resembled a bone golem more as shards of bones covered it’s body like a suit of armor. A piece of the bone shot out at Nihala and began to extent into a spike that hit her in the arm.

“Freezing it in place didn’t work” Nihala yelled out to Prudence.

“So? What do want me to do about it?” Prudence prepared a round of arcane missile. One of them hits Nihala on the way, while the others hit the target and shattered the ice keeping it in place.

“You did that on purpose?”

“How could I possibly do that when I can’t control the spell yet?”

Cheng ran at the Crypt Lord, and then jumped up, trying to confuse it and land an attack from behind. As his fist was about to connect sharp spikes came out of the skeletal shell from all directions. Cheng rolled in the air barely avoiding getting impaled.

“The defense it has is too strong” the monk said.

The skeletal being didn’t say anything, its dead eyes sparing at the group. The spikes shot out of its body covering 360O of the room. Cheng took a few to the side, Nihala got hit in the leg, Prudence and Nora got injured in several places. Despite her injuries Nora got up and sent a bold of light flying at it, then reached out towards Cheng and cast a healing spell. Nora’s holy spells seemed to be the only ones really hurting the creature as it moved its hands to cover itself when it hit. Nihala used this as an opportunity, moving back and passing one of her health potions to Nora. The skeleton aimed another spike attack at Cheng before the monk could move out of the way.

“I have something I want to try” Nora said.”

“Go ahead, kid” Prudence reached for her own health potion, several bleeding wounds on her body staining her purple robes.

Nora reached for her holy symbol, with one hand. It was a circle with a cross, the quarters of the circle decorated with plant patterns.  Chains of pure light wrapped around the Crypt Lord, holding it in place.

“Wow. Nihala said amazed.

“I can’t hold it for very long” Nora said.

“That’s enough for me.” Prudence sent more purple orbs flying, hitting the chained monster.

Cheng and Nihala attacked it together. This time the attacks hit, but the enemy didn’t look defeated. Prudence cast another round of Arcane Missiles. Another group attack from Cheng and Nihala, Nora cast a light spell and the bones began to fall to the ground, the chains vanishing.

“We did it. We killed another one” Nihala said.

“Yeah, that wasn’t as hard this time.” Prudence said.

“Why won’t the door open?” Nihala asked.

“Is there a lever?” Cheng  asked looking round the barren room.

There was a loud clattering sound, coming louder and stronger. Like hail hitting metal.

“Whats that sound?” Nihala said frantically looking around the room.

“It’s coming from the pipes” Nora said.

“I have a bad feeling about this” Cheng said joining the group by the door.

 The holes in the walls were indeed the source of the noise it got stronger. Something white began pouring out of all the pipes.

“It’s bones” Cheng said leaning over to look at the large ditch.

“They want to drown us in bones?” Nihala wondered.

“The bones are gone” Nora pointed to the spot where the Crypt Lord had been.

“Oh, hell no” Nihala slammed the sword against the door.” Let me out of here”

The bones of what looked to be a dragon poured into a pile. Then the mass of bones from began to rise and melt together forming a large centipede like creature that was a giant ribcage with a head of a dragon and several pincer like appendages on it. 

“I don’t think I can hold this one” Nora said.

Prudence felt a chill run up her spine and a voice echo in her head.

“They’re going to die down here. You don’t have to”

Shaking her head Prudence saw that the battle was underway without her. They were grouped together trying to avoid attacks from the monster as hid in the darkness of the tall ceiling.

“I can’t hit it” Nihala complained.

“Neither of us can, we can’t see it. “

A giant swiping tail came down from the ceiling hitting the group and knocking Nora and Nihala off their feet. Cheng dodged it. The bones of the ribcage moving like spider legs and grabbing Nihala. The sharp bones digging into her and the force of the grip crushing. Prudence aimed the attack at the visible apart. A bolt of lightning coursing along the creature’s body and lighting it up for a moment. Nihala got electrocuted a little.

“Are you trying to kill me?!” She yelled

“Maybe.”

“Just follow the noisy elf “Prudence said

Nora cast her holy light spell.

“Keep making noise, we’ll get you out when it’s dead. Probably” Prudence yelled out.

“Gee, thanks” Came a reply from the left.

Prudence launched a frost bolt at that direction. There was a thud and Nihala fell from the ceiling. Cheng ran up to her.

“Are you alright?”

“Been better. Ribs broken” she groaned trying to get herself up into a sitting position. “Luckily, my potions aren’t” she said drinking one.

“How much do you have left?” Prudence asked

“Just one.”

“It figured we were using noise to track it’s movements.” Chang said. “Prudence, can you do the lightning again?”

“Yeah, but I would have to aim blind.”

“That’s all we got.

Another sweeping attack came towards them. Prudence and Nora aimed their attacks at it and got send flying, backs hitting the door. Nora looked over at Prudence.

“I’ll heal you”

“Save it, kid.” She took out a bottle of red liquid.

Cheng got knocked back into the ditch that surrounded the room. Now it was full of skeleton soldiers. Nihala was looking between him and Prudence and Nora, wondering if she should jump in and help him.

“I’ll be fine” Cheng said.

Prudence shot a lightning spell at the ceiling it briefly illuminated a shadow of something big moving to the left. Nora aimed her light spell at that spot. Nihala waited for an opportunity to attack and swung sown as it went down to try to grab them. The giant sword hitting the bones just barely, as despite it’s size the creature was fast.

“He’s waiting, for us to tire ourselves out.” Nihala said.

“You mean, you just figured that out?” Prudence remarked.

Chang was fighting skeletons but getting tired as well.

“We can’t give up. We just need to keep hitting it.

A few more round of lightening and holy light it was looking pretty hopeless.

“It has to be weakened as much as we are? Nihala said 

“I don’t know.” Prudence said.

The head of the creature emerged from the darkness and the pincers closed around Nora, grabbing her. Prudence shot a lightning spell, hitting Nora in the process.

“Sorry, kid”

The other pinchers covered Nora’s mouth to keep her quiet. Nora made channeled the holy chain, focusing on her holy symbol in her mind, unable to physically touch it. Nihala and Prudence saw the lights appear I the darkness. Prudence drank a potion to recover some energy and launched a round of arcane missiles. The pincers let go of Nora, but she was still chained to the creature and remained in place.  Prudence shot another round. The large skeletal form began descending from the ceiling towards the ground. Nihala swung her sword, hacking away at the side of the creature. Nora fell unconscious and the chains began to fade. The creature remained on the ground not mowing, and then the bones began to come apart.  The skeletons in the ditch crumbled to just piles of bones. Nihala and Prudence sat down on the floor.

“It’s over.”

“I sure hope so.” Prudence said.

“Can somebody toss me a rope?” Cheng shouted from the ditch.

“Right away, master.” Nihala dug around her bag for a rope, then tied one end to the giant bones and tossed the other to Cheng.

Prudence went over to Nora, who was on the ground motionless but breathing.

“Hey, kid, you alive?”

Nora stirred a little. Cheng finished climbing out.

“You won.”

“Yeah, thanks to the kid” Prudence said.

“We weren’t able to do much” Cheng said apologetically.

“Well, we can’t hit what can’t reach.” Nihala said and the began saying” an arch…”

Prudence shot her a look that said” you don’t want to finish that sentence”

Nora got off the floor.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t much help.” She said.

“You’re joking?” Prudence said “You won us the fight, again.”

“It’s just, that my goddess doesn’t really approve of fighting.” Nora said.

“Your goddess? Oh yeah, I guess we never ask that. But what are you the cleric of?”

“Meliten- the goddess of peace and love and protection.” 

“Don’t think of it as fighting then; think of it as protecting the world from undead.” Nihala said.

Nora nodded.

The group began looking around the room. Hidden in a box under the throne was a light purple crystal that gave off a pulsating glow. Prudence looked at it intently for a moment.

“That’s the barrier key.” She said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, same energy coming off of it.”

“Is it safe to leave?” Cheng wondered

“You see all these bones, where do you think they came from?”

“Weren’t the crypt walls full of bones?” Nihala remembered.

“Yeah. Something tells me there will be a lot less undead out there after all this.”

They left the room and re-entered the cavern. The skeletons that were on the giant metal door were gone now. So were the skeletons in the quarry and the undead dragon they were digging. They approached the mine entrance and the crystal emitted a purple bubble around them.

“There should be only one crypt lord left” Cheng said.

“Probably. If they are here.” Prudence said.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember the notes we found? The dwarves came into the mines from someplace in their kingdom, so the exit is most likely that way. But the undead were the one who locked this place.”

“So you mean there is something so bad there that even the undead didn’t want to mess with it?” Nihala asked skeptically.

“Why are we going this way?” the elf asked?

“Because. If you want to spend days traveling to the town and have to deal with the assassins again go ahead.” Prudence said. “I’m sure they will happy to see us.”

“All right, let’s go then.”

The barrier allowed them passage into the dark tunnel. Nora lit a torch they had taken sometime earlier with a fire spell.  the tunnel split into two forming a crescent moon shape.

“Which way now?” Nihala wondered.

“Left?” Prudence said.

The path went along a large crevice before going into a tunnel again. Several times the group thought they saw something moving on the walls, something that looked like eyes. The path rounded and they could see a wooden platform with a rope and pulley attached to a wooden elevator.

“This doesn’t look safe.” Nihala said.

“You want to fall the way down, elf?” Prudence said.

“We should rest before we go down.” Chang said.

We can rest once we get down” Prudence said.

Getting into the elevator they began slowly descending down as Cheng pulled the ropes moving the platform down. It went deep, much deeper than they had assumed at first. The bottom was small space that split into several tunnels. It was dark and cold and damp. Droplets of water forming on the walls and ceiling, falling down with a loud echo. Breath came out white and patches of ice covered the floor and walls in places.

“If we stop to rest here, we’ll freeze.” Cheng said.

“We should look for something we could make a fire with.” Nihala said.

“So which tunnel do we pick ?”

“Should we split up?” Nihala asked

“If you want to die” Prudence said. “Let’s go left.”

Choosing the left most tunnel they stepped into the darkness.

 

10: Session 5

Session 5

The group had entered the mines, which the dwarves from the neighboring kingdom of Mythgard had dug.  They had chosen to enter the left tunnel but soon found they were at a dead end. The path as boarded shut and the other side of the boards was full of debris. They had passed a few side tunnels that were boarded shut as well. Returning back to the area they had descended to on the elevator, Nihala pointed to the right most tunnels.

“This time we go my way” she said and confidently marched forward.

They had been tired from the fight before and had not stopped to rest, the cold in the tunnels being too much.  More boarded up passages branched off from the main tunnel.  Nihala decided to smash on passage open and see where ir lead. While the team protested the elf would not give up.

“I’m cold and tired, and so are you all. At least we can burn these boards for warmth. “

“That is not a bad idea.” Chang agreed finally.

“For once the elf said something smart.”

Moving just a little into the tunnel to make a small fire. Nora lit the pile of broken boards and everyone sat down around it to rest. Water from ceiling occasionally dripper down causing the fire to hiss and flicker.

“Do we have any food?” Nihala asked.

“A little bit.” Nora said going thought her bag. “There’s bread, and meat.”

“I’ll take the bread. “ Nihala said

Cheng quietly took a piece of bread. 

“I’m not hungry” Prudence said, taking a sip of water from her water bag.

Everyone was tired and there wasn’t much talk going on. The fire hissed and moved, occasional droplet fell somewhere in the passage way and loudly echoed throughout the place. Prudence tensed, suddenly there was something that sounded like a sigh close to her ear.

“You don’t have to sigh so loudly.” She said looking at Nihala.

The elf had a mouth full of bread and looked up at her.

“I difind.” She took a moment to swallow her food. “ You’re hearing things.”

“Whatever.”

Nihala went back to eating, but moments later her head shot up.

“Did, you hear that? Someone it coming” She grabbed her sword and walked out into the wider tunnel.

“Now you’re hearing things” Prudence said.

“I didn’t hear a thing” Cheng said.

For a moment she stood there looking from left to right into the darkness.

“I could swear I heard footsteps coming this way.” She said.

“Well, I heard something” Nora said” but was more like an animal growling. Like a dog or a wolf.”

“So we all heard different things and master heard nothing?” Nihala sat back down by the fire.

“Maybe there is wind coming in from somewhere, we could be close to the exit.” Prudence said.

“We haven’t encountered any undead” Nora noted.

“Maybe they didn’t use this place?” Prudence said.

“Why keep it locket?” Nihala asked.

“It is possible they were expecting an attack from the dwarves once the expedition didn’t return. Perhaps they didn’t want to be attacked from behind” Cheng said. “There was a similar lock on the tower door, if you recall.”

“Oh yeah, there was”

Prudence sighed under her breath

“Stupid elf”

 

Feeling a little better after their uneasy rest the group carried on. Nihala decided to go the way she believed she heard people walking. They were walking cautiously and trying not to cause too much noise. Several times they heard things.

“It sounds like distant voices” Nora said.

“I didn’t hear anything” Nihala said.

“I didn’t hear it” Prudence said 

Cheng shook his head.

The tunnel split into a two forming a “Y” shape.

“Where do go now? “Nora asked.

“Does anyone have paper? We should have made a map of this place.” Prudence said.

“I have leather. Can you draw on leather?” Cheng offered

“We don’t have ink. “ Nihala said.

“Coal maybe. We can go back and get some” Nora said. 

“Whatever. Let’s just go.” Prudence began walking forward.

As they were walking the torch went out, water drops from the ceiling putting it out.

“NO” Nihala panicked.

“Can you light it back up? “ Chang asked Nora

“It’s wet. It won’t burn. “

“Great, now we can’t see anything.” Nihala completed.

“I have some cloth in my bag. We can change it. “Prudence said.

Few minutes later the new torch was blazing. They had arrived at a dead end. There were boxes, some broken mining gear on the floor.

“Great, a dead end. I’m so sick of this place.” Nihala complained.

There was a strange feeling coming over Prudence as a voice spoke: “Look behind you”

Turning around she noticed two dwarf skeletons leaning against the wall, they had clothes on them and long bears but their flesh seemed to have decayed completely.

“We got company” Prudence said.

The group turned around.

“Are they going to come to life and attack us?” Nihala wondered.

“Let’s find out. “ Prudence approached the skeletons and waved in front of ones face.

“I think their dead” the mage said.

Nora approached.

“We should burn their bodies, so they cannot be resurrected.”

“Hold on a moment. Let’s see what they’ve got on them” Nihala said.

Prudence and Nihala searched the bodies, while Cheng looked into the creates.

“I found some healing potions” Prudence said.

“Great news” Cheng said.

“There’s two. Who needs one?”

“ I’m all out.” Chang said.

Prudence handed one to him.

“Elf said she had one.” Prudence said.

“I can heal myself” Nora said.

“I’ll keep it.” The mage said. 

 Nihala said nothing. She had been reading a leather journal she found one of the dwarves holding.

“Guys, you need to hear this” she said.

“Listen to this.” She began reading a passage out of the journal.

“It’s been a month since we came here. Most of the tunnels we were digging hit an underground river. So we started digging towards the North and South. Digging down we found something. There is a natural cavern. Prospectors wen there, said it’s full of valuable ores. That why came here, so the whole operation will be mowing down to the cavern .

As we arrived the mining had begun already. Said they found a way to make a shortcut to the entrance we dug, make it easier to transport the ores out. But something feels wrong. Been hearing strange noises. We’ve only been digging for a day or two. There’s a lake in the caver. Believe that’s where the river flows into.”

“So if we go this cavern we will be able to leave here. We should get going “ Prudence said.

“Wait there’s more” Nihala said.

“We were digging, and it’s only maybe been a couple of days but that night something came out of the lake. I have no idea what in the blazes that thing was, but it attacked us. We ran back. Tried to seal the tunnels rocks. 

I’ve never ran so hard in my life. When I close my eyes I swear I still hear that things bloody scream.

I thought we escaped, that all we had to do was wait for help. The walls can’t stop it..”

A voice echoed the last words” Walls can’t stop it” followed by a dark laugh.

“Well someone’s chatty today.” Prudence said taking out the dead rat.

The creature had not decayed and actually looked less moldy than previously.

“What are you talking about?” Nihala said

“It tells me things.” Prudence said calmly.

“It’s a dead rat.” The elf argued.

“It told me to look behind me and we found potions. I told you, it brings  good luck”

“Wasn’t it all moldy and gross last time ?” The elf looked at it closer.

“It’s special. “

“You said you’ve been hearing voices?” Cheng asked.

“Yeah, it’s my rat.”

“No seriously. It’s probably the book” Nihala said.

“I don’t know” Prudence said.

“We need to get that thing looked at” Nihala said.

“Once we get out of here” Prudence said.

There was a metallic sound and everyone jumped. Nihala looked at her feet and there, on the ground at her feet was a lantern.

“Hey guys, we can used this instead of the torch.”

 Nora lit the lanterns with fire from the torch. There was a sound of a child laughing and everyone looked around the room. The lantern suddenly exploded into pieces as the fire shot up like a pillar and began to swirl into a sphere. The laughter repeated itself as flames shot at Nora and Nihala.

“What is that thing? “the elf yelled.

Nobody replied as they readied for battle.

Nihala charged, her sword going through the sphere of flames as if it was air. A child like laughter echoed as the giant sword hit the ground with a cluck.

“What the hell?! Is that thing laughing at me?” the elf looked at it angrily

Nora’s holy spell hit the entity and it made an angry growl like sound. Prudence cast arcane missiles and it responded by shooting three fire orbs at her mimicking her spell casting. Cheng used his aura, focusing it around his hands and his attacks hit.  Nihala tried again, her sword attacks having no effect. The fire sphere floated around the group sending fire balls at them and making pillars of fire burst from under their feet. The fight only took a few rounds but was surprisingly tough.

“At least we’re not cold any more” Prudence said wiping the soot of her robes, that were ripped, dirty and had holes scorched in them.

“I couldn’t do a thing to that thing” Nihala complained.

“What was that creature?” Cheng wondered.

“I think , I know.” Nora said “I  think it was a spirit.”

“So it’s a ghost” Prudence said.

“ Do you think that was the creature from the lake?” Cheng asked.

“Does fire burn under water?” Nihala asked.

“It’s magical, so maybe?” Prudence said unconvinced. 

“Are ghosts magical?” the monk inquired

“I don’t know. I didn’t study ghosts at the academy. But undead are made by magic so they should be “

“Spirits are different from other undead.” Nora said” souls of people can stay in this world of their own free will if they have some unfinished business, or died an unclean death.”

“ A lot of people here seem to die an unclean death” Cheng said” it could be all the victims of the undead came back as ghosts and they had locked them down here with a barrier. “

“Question is, were the undead here before the dwarves or after. Because that would mean the thing in the lake is something else.” Prudence said.

“Maybe it won’t show up. The notes said that they had been mining for days before it attacked them. “ Nihala said.

“Maybe. “

After going back and taking the other turn the group wandered around for a bit. Stumbling unto the shore of the roaring river. A path was carved along it, going for a bit and then turning right, leading back into a tunnel.  The ground was beginning to tilt downwards a little. There was another tunnel the had been boarded shut but the middle boards were removed making a large enough for a person to fit.

“We haven’t gone this way before, right?” Nihala asked looking unsure.

“I’m pretty sure we haven’t” Prudence said.

“So somebody went thought here before us”

“It could have been the dwarves.” Cheng said.

“Let’s hope so. “

Nihala broke several of the top boards by getting her sword stuck and then trying to get it free. The path wasn’t as smooth as before, it seemed to be made in a rush. It was much colder there, the ground was icy and icicles hung from the top like sharp needles. Mist was floating above the icy ground and as the group rounded the corner a thick cloud of it greeted them. A sound of someone crying could be heard from the mist. Everyone tried to move as silently as possible, not wanting to attract the attention of the crying entity. A black shadowy figure moved in the mist as they got closer, but somehow they managed to get by undetected.  After a few more turns they could hear the sound of water. The tunnel opened up into a large cavern with large black lake covering half of it.

“I think this is the place.” Prudence said. “Let’s go, before anyone knows where here”

They walked into the cavern, moving further from the lake and staying close the right side. There were mine cart and crates, knocked over and empty. No traces of the miners, no tools, no ores. The cavern began to get brighter and the group stopped.

“Are we at the exit?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“There is a light in the lake” Cheng pointed.

“Let’s get out of here.” Prudence said and the group began running.

They didn’t get very far as a shape emerged from the lake. It at first resembled a black transparent could of smoke or mist. But looking closely one could see a shape of a woman, wearing a black gown and a veil over her face. Pale skin shining dimly from the smokey aura that surrounded her. She was tall, much taller than a human or an elf, but not quite a giant. She opened her black lips and let out a scream that caused the cavern to shake. It was a high pitched sound that caused the group to cover their ears. Orbs of light began to float towards the group from further in the cavern. A total of ten of them and surrounded them.

Nihala tried to attack one of the orbs, but her sword could not cut the spirit. Prudence aimed an arcane missile at the ghostly woman but the orb moved to incept the attack, taking three hits and surviving. Cheng fought . Nora tried to cast a holy spell at the orb closest to her, but suddenly she could not remember how. She reached for her goddess but only found darkness and fear. Feeling alone and abandoned by the deity she had dedicated her life to she fell to her knees.

“Nora!” Nihala called

“Kid, I need some help here” Prudence said, but Nora remained on the ground staring into the floor, hands clutching her holy symbol.

The whisps began to glow brighter and one of them shot straight into Prudence, passing thought her. Prudence clutched her chest as she struggled to breathe but before she could regain her composure another whisp attacked her.

“Leave her alone” Nihala charged waving her sword uselessly at the ghosts.

Another group of whisps attacked Cheng. The monk tried to defend using his aura but it didn’t seem to have much effect. A whisp passed through Nihala, the cold fog like dampness was suffocating, and it felt a lot like drowning as she felt breath being sucked out of her lungs.

“There are just too many of them, we can’t fight them. “ the elf thought.

“We need to take her out, no point in fighting these things” she yelled.

“In case you didn’t notice, they’re protecting. And how do you plan to reach her? Walk on water? Fly?” Prudence said sarcastically, pointing to smoky figure floating in the distance and observing the fight.

 After another round of attempts of reducing the number of whisps Nihala was the only one standing. Cheng was hunched over, Prudence sat down on the ground, Nora was still out of it. Clutching her sword Nihala prepared for an attack. The ghostly woman had been moving closer to them as her friends got weaker. Focusing all her power she took her fist and punched Nora in the face.  Nora startled as if woken from a dream.

“I can’t hit the ghosts, can you do something about this before we all die?”

Nora looked at the elf then at the ground.

“I don’t know if “

“Just do something.” 

Reaching a hand over Nihala’s blade and a golden light surrounded it.

“Thanks.” The blue haired elf took off running and kicked off into the air with a jump aiming the blessed blade at the woman floating just on the edge of the shoreline.  The blade pierced her and she let out a shriek. Ghostly hands grabbing Nihala and wrapping around her, then the woman plunged into the lake. They must have sank almost all the way to the bottom before the ghost woman vanished suddenly, returning to the surface. 

The group had managed to take out one whisp, with the help of Nora. Using the last of their potions to stay on their feet and continue the fight. They saw Nihala get dragged under water.

“Stupid elf. “ Prudence said” let’s finish this and go get her.”

Meanwhile under water Nihala was trying to swim to the surface, but the large, heavy sword was pulling her down. The holy glow on the weapon had not yet vanished and she gave it one mournful look before letting it go.  The light of the blessing shone on the ruins of a temple like building at the bottom of the lake as the glowing sword sank deeper. Another glow suddenly caught her eye.

The group defeated another whisp, leaving eight to deal with.  They were weakened, as every time a whisp past through them it seemed to take a part of their life force. It was obvious that the fight was not going end anytime soon and they too tired and out of healing items. Nora looked exhausted.

There was a splash from the lake as the surface exploded with a burst of light from bellow. Nihala emerged holding a sword that was completely different. It had no cross guards and the handle was round, plain metal, while the bottom of the hilt was a skull that and the blade came out of the skulls mouth. The blade was decorated with runes glowing blue. She had caught the glow of the runes under water and took the sword out of a gap between rocks.  Using a burst of energy from the sword to send herself up to the surface. Now she aimed an attack at the ghost woman. but just before the blade could touch her, she disappeared. Nihala fell into water. The whisps vanished as well.

“Did we win?” Nihala asked walking back to shore from the shallows.

“What did you do?” Prudence looked at her.

“I found the sword at the bottom of the lake. There’s like a sunken temple down there too. I don’t know.”

“Let’s get out of here before she comes back”

They found another tunnel at the far end of the cavern. After wandering around the other part of tunnels they group final found some wooden pathways leading up and a light coming from a distant end of a tunnel.  Covering their eyes from the light of the evening sun they looked over the vale. Despite the exhaustion they walked until night fall, wanting to get away from the place as far as possible. The feeling of the cold of the ghosts still lingered as the group glanced behind them to make sure the ghosts did not follow them.  They stopped in an abandoned homestead, with overgrown grass and broken fences it was clear no one lived in it anymore.

“We won, we beat the crypt lords” Nihala said as they sat down by the fire place to eat the last remaining food they had.

“I’m not so sure anymore” Prudence said.

“You said there was a temple under the lake. ” Nora remembered.

“Yeah, a very broken one, like in ruins.”

“Can we just address that fact that the swords is evil?” Prudence said.

“Why do you say that?” Nihala said in defense.

“Have you looked at it?”

The elf gave it a look over.

“It figures.” She sighed putting the sword up against the wall. “So what now?”

“We find someone who can figure this out. Big citys should have a mage guild or a magic academy someplace where people might know more about things like this. “Prudence said.

“We should get the book looked at too. Should you be holding onto that thing for this long?” Nihala asked.

“I’ll keep the book. You got the sword.”

“But we’ll have to give the book to people to study. “

“When the time comes, I will” Prudence said.

“I’m sorry.” Nora said” I don’t know why my holy magic just didn’t work for a moment. I wonder if all this fighting had made my goddess angry with me.”

“Well, I don’t see how we could stop the undead without fighting.” Cheng said. “ But I don’t know much about how gods work.”

“I want to help you fight the undead.” Nora said” but I don’t know if that’s something my goddess will allow.  I think I need some time to pray at a temple and reconnect with her.”

“We can do that once we find a large city. For now we should get some sleep”

AS the fire in the fireplace died down, the group fell into an uneasy sleep.

 

 

11: session 6

Session 6

 

The group spent the night in an abandoned old house they found along the road. Strange dreams plagued almost all of them. Nihala, the blue haired elf fencer who had picked up a strange blade in the lake now saw herself holding it in her dreams. The woman in black was there too, reaching out her hand that was pale and had black nails. To her own surprise her legs began walking towards the ghostly woman. She could see herself standing beside her, wearing armor decorated with runes much like the sword and buildings burning around them.  She awoke in cold sweat, the pale blue light of the sword lighting up the part of the room, night still outside the window.

Nora was haunted by the battle at the shore of the underground lake. In her dream her new found friends lay dead, as could not save them. Her goddess could not reach her, the dark figure taunted her, on how weak she really was. Peace and love had no place in the realm of undead and darkness, so she could protect nothing in the end.  

Prudence had a dream as well. Regis was alive. A dark voice spoke to her in the dream “You could bring him back. I’ll show you” . He had his back to her, he would not turn around. She called and reached for him but couldn’t reach him. “There are ways”. “He will just be undead, what the point” Prudence said in the dream. “He can be so much more, he can be truly alive again. “. Prudence just shook her head, remembering the lich reaching into Regis’s chest and ripping out his soul. “There’s no way to bring him back.” She said. “ Ah.. but there is, and you could live beside him forever, ageless.”. Prudence couldn’t speak, closing her eyes and covering her ears, waiting for it to fade. Eventually falling into deep sleep. 

Early In the morning they set out west looking for a city. There weren’t any people around or on the roads for a long while before they began seeing some signs of life.  They were few hours away from the city of Dhurim. Close to the border of the kingdom of Elesaria, from which the group had come from. The city itself was circular in shape, with tall walls for protection. There were people coming in with carts of goods to sell and one of two lone travelers. The day was sunny, with a clear blue sky- perfect day for open air market. The three girls looked tired, and dirty. Prudence gave Nihala a cloth to wrap around the sword so it didn’t bring attention to them. The elf didn’t complain for once.  The guards at the gates gave the group mistrusting looks. Prudence just smiled at them, but on her tired face it looked creepy.

“What should we do now?” Cheng asked as they stood in the large market square full of people.

“We should probably find a place to stay first and clean up. Than get some information about what we need.”

“Do we have any money?” Nihala asked.

“We, we do have things we could sell. We could make some money.” Prudence said.

“I have a little bit left.” Cheng said.

“Okay, let’s try to find an inn. “

After a little bit of wandering around they managed to find an inn and get a room for a couple of nights. After taking a bath, they still looked tired and dirty but a little less so.

“We will need a lot more money” Nihala said.

“I suppose, now that were back into the world. We’ll need some work. But first things first. “

“I can make money by healing people at the temple” Nora said.

“That’s a good option” Cheng said.

“So how do we find mages in this city?” Nihala asked.

“We ask people” Prudence said and began walking towards the magic shop.

The man behind the counter was a tall blond elf wearing green silk robes. A orange haired female dwarf was carrying stacks of crates from the back room into the shop.

“Hello, how may I help you?” the man greeted them.

He frowned slightly upon seeing their dirty appearance.

“We’re looking for someone who knows a lot about magical items.” Prudence said.

“What kind of items?”

Prudence nudged Nihala.

“The sword” she whispered.

The elf reluctantly removed the cloth. The shop keeper’s face changed from mistrust to surprise.

“If you want to sell it, I’m afraid I cannot take it.”

“No we don’t want to sell it. We want to know more about it. “Prudence said.

“Where did you acquire this item?”

“Best you not know, sir.” Cheng said.” It is a dreadful place.”

“I’ve never seen runes like these. The mages guild has a tower In the city. You’ll find up the street from here, past the temple. “

“Thank you.” Cheng said as they left the shop.

“Why did you show him that?” Nihala asked wrapping her sword back up.

“What? You’d rather I show I him the book?” Prudence asked.

After a few minutes of walking they could see a tall tower. It was taller than all the houses in the city but you couldn’t see it from anywhere else. It wasn’t just a straight up tower. It had bits and little towers attached to it, some of them spiraling and twisting in impossible ways.

“Wow!” Nihala exclaimed looking up at the tower.

Prudence knocked on the door. Nobody opened. A voice came out of nowhere, yelling:

“Go away, we’re busy”

Prudence took a few steps from the door and cast arcane missile at it. 

“What are you doing?” Nihala asked a little scared.

“Getting us inside.”

“Let us in, right now” She yelled releasing the spell.

The spell hit , shaking the tower.  The red oval door opened after a moment.  There was no one on the other side. What should have been a straight forward way up to the top of the tower, was a series of hallways, stairs and doors .

“Wow. There’s so much room in here” Nihala said looking around.

“Yeah, it’s bigger on the inside. They always are.” Prudence said completely not impressed.

The carped they were standing on suddenly began moving as they felt their feet sink into it. It rose of the ground and moved incredibly fast making turns and going up stair. Nora screamed in surprise as it took off. Before they knew it they were in a circular room with a large open window in what appeared to be the top of the tower.  There were several people in the room. Most of them wearing robes of light blue and purple.  Tables in the room were full of laboratory equipment, books, and various materials. A tea pot and a tray of sandwiches was flying around the room.  Most mages in there were dwarves; one was a human and a blond elf wearing deep blue robes that looked strangely familiar.

“Hey, didn’t we see you in shop?” Nihala said looking at the elf

“I’ve never seen you my life. Now if you excuse me , I have work to do.”

“Your brother was way nicer” the elf said after him as he left the room.

A dwarf with a long luscious grey beard and a bald head, wearing light blue robes with purple trims approached them.

“Well, what business has you barging in here with such ferocity? We’re just having tea time” He motioned with his hand and several chairs appeared.

“Urgent business” Prudence said.

“Well, lass, I gather that. Names Angus, I’m the Archmage of this tower. “

“Prudence”

“Yer a mage yerself.”

“I am”

“One that hasn’t earned the robes she’s wearing” he added pointing the purple tattered robes she had on.

Prudence said noting while the rest of the group looked at her.

“I’m Nora” the cleric said.

“Cheng”

“Nihala” the elf said, grabbing a sandwich from the tray flying by.  

“We need you to look into something’s we found . But you need to know how we found them first.” The elf said.

With the flying teapot  pouring everyone a cup of tea, they began telling the story of how they ended up in the crypts and what they encountered there.. Nihala unwrapped the sword and Angus looked at it with wide eyes.

“Ye found it in lake, ye said?”

“Yeah, an there was this temple there. “

Angus stoked his beard for a little bit.

“No, it couldn’t be..”

“If you know something, tell us” Prudence said.

“Aye, I’ll tell ye. I’ve hear it , but I didn’t believe it meself.  It’s an old fairytale, one from the age o’ legends, back when the gods lived among men. Centuries before this kingdom or any other were built. Now, ye all know of the sun god Solaris?”

“Of course” Nora said.

“Yes” Prudence said.

Cheng nodded

“Heard of him” Nihala said, elves generally not being religious.

“So he had a court of lesser gods. Among those was a goddess whose job was to deliver souls of the dead to the other side.  And if the gods so allowed it, if a person was worthy, she could take them back and bring them to life. Her name is lost to history. “

“Vhan” Ashhay” a dark voice whispered to Prudence.

“That is how resurrection works.” Nora said” the gods must allow the person to return to life.”

“Aye, but this goddess, she had a lover who was mortal or so the story goes. One day he died in battle and she brought back without permission from any of the gods. People hear of this and began asking her to bring their loved ones back. The gods found out and Solaris killed her lover and cut her off from the pantheon, for getting power. He destroyed her temples across the world and erased her name form history. “

“What does this have to do with the undead?” Nihala asked.

“Well, if ye believe it, then it gives a whole new perspective on this. Some of the historical records say that the very sightings of undead to have been recorded happened in this region. One of the temples was also supposed to be around this area. The mountains weren’t there in those times when this all happened. “

“So that thing in the lake, could be the goddess from the story?” Nihala said, a look of shock and dread on her face.

“Aye, that is a possibility.” Angus said.

“So what should we do with this?” She pointed to the sword.

“A runeblade is a gift from a god to their chosen servant.”

“Servant?”

“That looks tah me like a sentinels runeblade. An ancient one, but none the less a runeblade. Sentinels wield their blades as mark of their service to a god or goddess.”

“Can you do anything about it?” Cheng asked.

“I can examine the runes and maybe find the translation for em “

“Can’t you like, unbind it so it’s just a sword?” Nihala asked.

“This magic of the gods, it’s something beyond even us.”

“Maybe another god could? We should take it to the temple” Nora said.

“Now this book you mentioned. “ Angus said” Do you have it?”

Prudence reluctantly took it out of her bag.

“Good, this could contain more information about the undead operations and perhaps even about temple. Of course we’ll need to analyze it first.”

“How long will that take?” Prudence asked cautiously looking between Angus and the book.

“Few weeks, maybe months. This is an interesting case you have presented us, normally we charge for these examinations, but considering the situation, we’ll do this free of charge.” Angus said.

“Alight.” Prudence said.” Do you know where we can get work in the mean time?”

“The town hall has requests posted for monsters and animals, if that are the kind of work yer looking for.”

“It will do.” She said giving the book one long look, before handing it to Angus.

They exited the room and found themselves outside In the street.

“Cool! So can you do that?” Nihala asked Prudence.

“Well I haven’t tried” She said.

“Maybe don’t” Nihala said.

They began walking towards the temple of Magnos the god of forges and metal smithing. But before they could even approach the door, the sword flew off Nihala’s belt and unwrapped itself from the cloth, imbedding itself into the stones of the street. People turned to look at what was happening.  Nihala quickly picked it up and wrapped it.

“I don’t think we can bring it into a temple. “She said.

“Maybe I can do something” Nora reached out to bless the sword but the spell didn’t reach the blade as if an invisible wall was pushing her magic back.

“I don’t know if there is anything we can do.” Nihala said. “he said that whoever holds this sword is basically her servant.”

“So, just give it to someone else.” Prudence said shrugging.

“We can’t just give this someone”

“Why not? You want to serve ghost queen?” Prudence said.

“Maybe I can go back and toss it into the lake” the elf said.

“And then what? She will kill you and make you into a ghost.” Prudence argued.

“We can’t keep it.” Nihala said.

“Toss it into a volcano then” Prudence said walking towards the town hall.

“You know where I can find one?” the elf asked.

“The library has maps.” She said.

Cheng said nothing, his brows furrowed in contemplation.

“Should we tell them about the notes we found?” Nora reminded them.

“Oh yeah, they might give us money for them.” Prudence said.

The human man with shoulder long black hair and round glasses sat behind a desk when the guards escorted them in. After some explaining about undead and giving the journals he gave them a small payment of 50 gold and sent them away.

“I’m surprised you didn’t set that guy on fire.” Nihala said looking at Prudence.

“Believe me, so am i.”

They went into another office where an armored dwarf with dark brown hair and short beard sat. Behind him was a board full of notices and requests.

“We need work” Prudence said upon entering.

He gave them a look over.

“Aye, we have rats that need killing in the sewers. Pays 5 silver for every tail ye bring back.”

“We mean real work” Prudence said.

The dwarf raised an eyebrow at her.

“We’ll killing rats ain’t good enough for ya. The village of Darkwood had problems with a monster that been attacking the town. You can discuss the pay with the town mayor.”

“All right. Let’s get ready” Nihala said.

They decided to get some supplies for the trip. Nihala needing a new sword, Prudence wanting new robes and all of them needing potions.  Prudence used the cloth she found in the warehouses to lower the price of her robe but the enchantments on it would need more time to finish, so he got her old robes repaired. Nihala was short on money for a new sword so Cheng paid the rest of the price.

“Are you sure, master? You won’t have any money left for your own supplies. “The elf said concerned.

“It’s kind of you to worry about me, but I’m all right.”

They returned to the inn and after an early breakfast they went to bed. Nora had found a temple of Meliten in a nearby town and decided to travel there to pray. She was leaving in the morning with a group of pilgrims. Nihala had a dream, she was In that dark and the ghostly woman was reaching out to her once again. When she awoke, she was not in her bed but standing with her hand on the sword and the other on the door. Cursing under her breath she went back to bed. He sleep was uneasy, caught between dreams and reality.

The morning light brought peace and a deep sense of relief. She sat up in bed feeling good for the first time since it all began. But that feeling was not long lived. Prudence was still asleep, Nora had already left. But there was one more empty bed in the room. At first she thought nothing but then her eyes wandered to the wall where she had left the sword. Now it was just empty space. Getting out of bead her hand touched something- a small bag. It contained some money and potions and a note:

“I can’t bear to watch you suffer any further.  These undead are a threat to all, and I hope I can help unease they threat. I hope to bargain with her, that in exchange of becoming her servant she will abandon the plans of conquest or at least delay them. In bearing this burden I hope to buy you all time to prepare and grow, so you could stop this threat once it rises in the future. – Cheng.”

“That idiot” Prudence said after reading the note.

“We have to after him” Nihala said.

“Are you sure? We might have to fight him, if he’s not dead. Maybe even if he is” 

They left the city, rushing to the mountains where the passage into the mines was. but upon arriving they found that the tunnel they had used to exit just days ago had been collapsed. Nihala tried to move the rubble out of t way but it was no use.

“That’s it. He’s gone” Prudence said.

“No. He can’t be” Nihala said as tears began to run down her face.

“Let’s get back to the city, before it gets dark”

 

 

12: Session 7

Session 7

Prudence and Nihala returned to Dhurim and spent the night there. Debating whether to take a detour and tell Nora what happened or go directly to do the job in Darkwood and tell her on the way back. Deciding to take the detour they arrived at the temple on the next day. Nora was saddened by the news. Offering prayer of protection to the Goddess on Cheng’s behalf. The Cleric decided to go with them to Darkwood, since the group was now down a member.

The town of Darkwood was about a half a days journey from the temple. Located next to a forest that emitted a strange magical darkness. No matter the time of day, it was pitch black in the forest. The town was affected to a lesser degree, being stuck in perpetual dusk. Lanterns were lit all across town to light the way.

“This place looks gloomy “ Nihala noted, looking around.

The houses were old and the darkness gave them an eerie and abandoned look. There were people out in the streets, everybody carried a lanterns or a torch with them. Soon a man with graying hair and beard approached. He looked like a farmer but had a bow with him.

“You’re outsiders.” He said looking them over.

“Yeah. We’re here about the monster.” Prudence said.

“Alright. Then follow me.” He said and began walking “Name’s Thomas. Used to be farmer, but these days I help the town watch. Now this thing showed about four months ago. Started attacking the town. It takes the sheep, the cows, pig, even people.”

He stopped at what looked like a barn.

“This happened last night.”

In the side of the barn was giant hole, the edges were covered with blood.

“Took the cow right thought the wall.”

“Has anyone seen it?” Prudence asked.

“Sure, glimpses of it. All I can say for certain is that it’s black. It comes from the woods.”

“So it’s giant monster that lives in the woods and it’s black” Nihala said.

“That’s not really helpful.” Prudence said with a sigh.

“Well, there’s something else. “ Thomas said.

On the edge of the town was another farm, it was very close the woods.

“One of the first attacks happened here. But lately it started coming deeper and deeper into the town.”

The larger log pen was broken in a place with giant teeth marks in the wood that appeared to be bitten in half.

“Okay, it’s black and has a really big mouth.” Nihala said.

Prudence stood there thinking.

“How often does it show up?” the mage asked

“It’s different every time. At first it was once a couple of weeks, but now it’s every few days.”

“What stage is the moon at now?” Prudence asked.

“We don’t see the moon much here, I’m afraid.”

“It’s the harvest moon.” Nora said.

“So not a full moon.” Prudence said.” Well, that’s one theory out.”

“What should we do? “Nihala asked “Wait in town until it shows up? Maybe set up a trap.”

“Oh, we’ve tried to trap it.” Thomas said. “It’s clever, and fast too. Dug several pit trap, placed spikes in them and it didn’t fall in. “

“Well that is strange.” Prudence said. “is there anyone else who knows anything about the creature?”

“We’ll all I know I’ve gathered from the folks who encountered it or from what I’ve seen myself.  But there is one person who might know. We call her the Mistress of the Woods, she lives in the forest and guides hunters on hunts. Lately, all the hunters been disappearing.”

“And how do we find this Mistress of the woods?”

“She’ll find you. Once you’re in the forest just call out.”

“Okay, let’s try that.”

“Wait, you’re seriously going into the forest?” Nihala said as Prudence began walking towards the woods. Remember what he said about the monster being there?”

“You can stay behind.” Prudence said.

It got incredibly dark just a few steps in.

“We seek the Mistress of the woods!” Prudence said into the darkness.

 “Something touched my face” Nihala said jumping back and stumbling into a tree.

“This forest feels really dense” Nora said.” How does a giant creature move in here?”

“I don’t know” Prudence said.

There was a rustling in the trees. The sound of something dropping to the ground.

“Hello?” Nihala said squinting into the darkness.

“Reach out your hands” came a voice from the darkness.

Prudence, Nora and Nihala felt something being placed into their palms.

“Drink it.” Said the voice.

“How do we know it’s not poison?” Nihala said skeptically

“Just drink, stupid elf.” Prudence said.

Drinking the liquid made lights flash in the eyes and eventually the shapes of trees and bushed emerged from the darkness.

“I can see?” Nihala said looking around.

“We all can. It’s a potion that does that.” Prudence said focusing on the person in front.

They wore a long black cloak that covered them, the shape of the cloak resembled a bush. Fluffy feathers made into leaf like shapes and branches on the hood and shoulders.

“Why have you come here?”

“We’re here to kill the monster.” Prudence said. “Do you know what it is?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it. I can take you to its lair. But I will need a few things first. Come with me.”

They walked thought the forest stumbling over fallen trees and getting tangled in branches. There was no path or land marks. Their guide walked easily, without any trouble. They had approached a large tree that seemed like it was dead. Taking an arrow from a log the mistress of the woods shot it into the tree, a rope had been attached to it.

“Wait here.” She said. Nimbly climbing up a makeshift rope ladder fell from the top part of the tree.

“That’s kind of cool” Nihala said. “Do you think she’s a druid?”

“ I hope not.” Prudence said.

“Druids are kind of cool. I want to meet one.”

“Tryst me I have, and they are useless for anything except getting herbs to grow on things. “

There was a hole the size of a small door carved into the tree and covered by a curtain with leaves stitched on it.

There was a little light lit and it cause everyone to blink as the light incredibly appeared bright to their eyes.

“It only lasts an hour, it should wear off soon.” Said the woman in black.

More of her features were visible now. Her skin was white. As she had the hood down it was clear that her ears were pointy. She resembled a drow elf, but unlike the drow her hair was black like a raven’s wing and her eyes were more like those of a human, with brown irises and black pupils, indicating mixed lineage.

“ So, do we just call you Mistress of the Woods?” Nihala asked.

“You can call me Raven.” She said

“So what is this creature?” Prudence asked.

“A wolf. A very large wolf”

“It’s black right?”

“It’s more than black. It’s darkness.”

“Darkness? What you mean” Nora said

“It’s like a shadow made alive.”

“A shadow wolf?” Nihala tried to remember” no, cant remember if I’ve heard anything on those.”

“You know where it is?” Prudence asked.

“I will take you. It has a lair in the forest. It is a big problem to the forest.”

“How so?” Nora asked.

“It’s howl draws in wolves. They keep coming to it’s lair. Sometimes it eats them, sometimes they follow it into battle and being around it they become stronger and more vicious.”

“So it has an army of wolves around it.” Prudence said thinking.” Yeah, that’s a problem.”

“We need to kill it before it forms a pack. There will be no stopping it if it does.” Raven said.

Taking some potions to help in the fight the group set out, led by Raven. The forest looked much the same, dense with low handing branches and vines. Somehow all these plants managed to live in absolute darkness.  The shrubbery parted as they approached something resembling structures. Pillars and stairs and a broken path. Water began to gather around their feet as they walked.

“Walk on the rocks” Raven said stepping on the broken fragments of a path.

 “What is this place?” Nora asked looking around.

Some pillars were connected by arches.

“It’s the swamp.” Raven said. “the lairs is in a cave just beyond it.”

“Ruins.” Prudence said looking around.” I think it’s fey.”

“How do you know that?” Nihala asked.

“I’ve been there.”

“You’ve been to the fey lands?” the elf said in disbelief.

“I have. “

“I don’t believe you.”

“SHHH” Raven motioned to stop and pointed ahead.

There were wolves walking across the path.

“I have an idea” Nihala said.” Instead of going to that thing and fighting in it’s home, let’s make it come to us.”

“That is actually a good idea.” Prudence agreed.

“What is your plan?” Raven asked.

“You said he eats the other wolves. So if we kill some of them we could make a fire and roast them and the smell will lure it out.”

“That might actually work” Prudence said.

“Yes, if it is hungry.” Raven said.

“Let’s hope so.”

They had hunted down a couple of wolves and began roasting them, leaving other parts and the blood around the ruins to lure out the giant wolf. While the group was waiting the effects of the potion wore off, making it hard to see in the darkness. The fire helped a bit. Soon after they found themselves surrounded by a group of seven wolves.

Raven shot arrows at them. Nihala swung her new sword, but the wolf jumped back into the darkness causing her to miss. Prudence and Nora managed to hit with their spells. With two wolves down the others seemed more reluctant to attack them, growling and snapping their teeth. Suddenly there was a heavy thud, then another. A loud howl echoed, that caused a wind through the trees. A giant wolf emerged and leaped from the great distance, landing in the camp site scattering the wood from the fire everywhere.

“It worked.” Nora said amazed and a little scared.

The other wolves seemed to regain their will to fight.

Nihala swung at the giant black wolf. It’s form seemed to shimmer and shift like mist but it was black and shadowy. The sword hit the mist but nothing solid.

“Oh, come on! A ghost wolf?!” Nihala said frustrated.

Nora landed a hit with a bold of light. Raven cast magic, making purple chains appear and bind it.

“Focus on the pack” Raven said.

Prudence sent an arcane missile at the giant wolf. Nihala angrily slashed the at two wolves that dodged her more often than not.

“That’s not fair!” she complained “I can’t hit anything.”

“Complaining about it won’t help” Prudence said.

“I know!” the elf said angrily stabbing a wolf.

It let out a pained cry as it died. The giant wolf began struggling against the chains more than before. Black smoky aura seeped out of it and onto the other wolves.

“It’s protecting them?” Nora said surprised.

The giant wolf broke out of Ravens spell.

“Great! Like hitting them wasn’t hard before” Nihala said staring down four blackened wolves.

“Suck it up” Prudence retorted.

“Easy for you to say, with your magic!”

“Please don’t fight.” Nora tried to intervene.

“Oh, like putting up with your whining is easy!” Prudence shot a lightning spell at the giant wolf.

“Well what do you expect me to do? I can’t fight them with just a sword.  If master Cheng was here he could…”

“Well, he’s not.” Prudence said blasting a wolf that was about to attack Nihala.

“I know that!. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have pull out that sword from the lake.”

“Uhm, guys, we need to hurry this up. “Nora said.” I think the forest is on fire.”

Her words went mostly unheard.

“I’m sorry.” Nihala said.

“Better late than never.” Prudence said.

Closing her eyes Nihala took a deep breath focusing. The tip of her sword went into the smokey black layer around the wolf but the tip hit something solid. The wolf yelped and jumped back. Nihala swung again, cutting off its head.

“Your sword!” Nora said.

Nihala looked at her blade, a glowing pale blue aura was surrounding it.

“Did you?” she looked at Nora.

The girl shook her head.

Taking a deep breath the elf swung again, finishing of the last wolf. Focusing their efforts on the giant wolf they managed to bring it down and kill it. After it fell to the ground the black smoke around it dissipated. It was just as giant, but looked like a regular wolf with black and ginger patches on its fur. Some bits of darkness hovered over the body. Raven took out a knife and decided to skin the creature as a proof if killing it to bring back to the town. Nihala swung her sword making the aura appear and vanish at will.

“We’ve been training for a while, but I didn’t think I would ever get it.” She said.

“I think we started a forest fire.” Nora said again.

“What you mean , kid?” Prudence said confused.

Nora pointed to something orange on the other side of the swampy part of land. It was shifting and mowing.

“Crap, we need to go.” She said.

They made it back to the village. The people gathered around to see the giant wolf skin that emitted smokey darkness from it.

“It had a bunch of other wolves, like an army.” Nihala said to the crowd.

“And I could breathe fire” Prudence said” It set the forest on fire.”

The kids hid behind their mothers, some people even drew back from the wolf skin.  They received a payment from the villagers of 500 gold.

Raven stared at the ashes of the giant tree that used to be her home. A portion of the forest burned down. The group had accompanied her to see the damage.

“Hey, why not come with us?” Nihala said half-jokingly.

“I’ve lived in this forest for ten years.” Raven said.

Nihala guiltily lowered her head.

“Perhaps it is time to move on to new forests.” Raven said. “ I know little of the outside world. So I would like to take up your offer.

“Can you show me how to make potions?” Nora asked.

“I only know a few that I can teach.”

“That’s fine.”

“I could teach you that.” Prudence said.

“I’ve never seen you make potions before.” Nihala said.

“We were never in potions lab before.” Prudence said.

Leaving  Darkwood behind and now hailed as the Heroes of Darkwood, the group set out on the journey back to Dhurim.

 

NOTE: regarding Cheng leaving the group. the player who played Cheng decided they didn't like playing a monk and wanted to switch. So Raven is the new team member and not an NPC. We had agreed that we would make knew characters and keep playing if a character died, but switching a character who is alive took some figuring out. Luckaly Nihala found the sword and the player just had an idea how to make Cheng leave the group. 

13: Session 8 part 1

Session 8 part 1

 

It was a few days later, after the group returned to Dhurim, that the new adventure found them. After claiming some things from the crafters and checking to see if the wizards had made any progress with the book, the group sat at an inn having a late breakfast.  A man that looked like he had traveled a long way, his clothes dirty and ragged approached them.

“Excuse me” he said with a slight stutter in his voice.

“What is it?” Prudence shot him a glare.

“I was told I could find the heroes who had slain the beast in Darkwood here”

“You found them” Prudence said annoyed.

People had been curious about the group that was becoming a local legend and kept coming up to them.

“You’re all women?” the man looked confused.

“Yeah” Nihala said.” Got a problem with that?”

He quickly shook his head

“No, no.  I actually came here to ask for your help.”

The group exchanged looks.

“Okay, we’re listening” Prudence said.

“Thank you.” The peasant said relieved.

“I’m form the village of Grhundheim.  Some important people have gone missing.”

“Did you ask the city council for help?” Prudence asked.

“They’re the ones who told me about you.”

“We kill monsters. Looking for people isn’t exactly out thing.” Nihala said.

“We should help them” Nora said.

Raven who had said nothing up to this point spoke up

“I can track. Animal or human doesn’t make a difference.” She was disguised as an elf, casting an illusion to change her skin from dark to human like.   

The man’s face lit up with hope once more.

“Alright, but it’s not for free.” Prudence said.

“Oh, I’m sure the village will put together some money.”

“Alright, well need time to get ready. Where is this town?”

The town was along the same direction as Darkwood, but further down to the south. Prudence got a staff to boost her magic. Nora got some basic alchemy books on herbs and potion making along with lessons from Raven. Nihala got some leather chest armor.  Prudence also got some material she needed to call her familiar.

“I need the room.” Prudence said once they got back to the inn.

“Why?” Nora asked.

“I need to call my familiar.”

“You have one of those?” Nihala said surprised.

“I do.”

 “Why didn’t you call it sooner?”

“I didn’t have what I need.  It’s probably going to be mad at me for not calling so long.”

So the trio waited awkwardly outside the room while Prudence performed the ritual.  The door opened after an hour.

“Finally” Nihala sighed.” Getting up from the floor.

The room had circles and patterns of symbols drawn on the floor in chalk. There was a bowl on the middle of the circle full of incense and ash. It smelled like incense and burning fur.

“Where is it?” Nihala asked looking around the room.

“Here” Prudence moved the hood of her robes.

A light blue fennec fox poked its head out and yawned.

“Aww, it’s so cute” Nora said. “What’s its name?”

“Glacialis. But I call him Glacie.”

“Really? I thought it would be something way scarier.” Nihala said.

“Maybe I should get one.” Raven said. “What does it do?”

“Well, I can link with it and see thought his eyes. But I can’t move or see when I do that. He can enhance my ice spells by just being out here. And he attack people.”

“So it’s not just a normal fox?” Raven said looking at the animal curled up in the hood.

“Nope. It’s not even a fox.  It’s a magical spirit from one of the elemental plains that takes the form whatever the person making a contract with wants.”

“Sounds complicated.” Nihala said.

“Yeah.  It was the graduation exam in Mage School. Surprisingly a lot of people fail every year.”

“How long did that take?” Nora asked.

“five years”

“That long?”

“Well, that makes you a mage officially. Most stay and study, some become apprentices and learn from their masters. It’s life long process.”

“Yeah. So when will you be able to do cool stuff like the guys in the tower? “Nihala asked

“In another ten years, maybe”

 After some more conversations the group went to bed. Raven sleeping on the bed with her clothes and shoes on, pulling the feather cloak around herself.  The first night she did this everyone was a little awkward.

“That’s not how you sleep in a bed” Prudence said, but Raven didn’t seem to hear her.

“She’s lived in a forest for a long time” Nihala sighed.

“Yeah.” Prudence agreed.

So, the group agree to just let Raven be Raven.

In the morning they set out to the village.

“You know, I just realized something” Nihala said as they were on the road. “We’re HOD.” The blue haired elf burst out laughing

“You just figured that out?” Prudence laughed too.

Nora and Raven seemed confused.

“HOD as in Heroes of Darkwood.” Nihala said” and it sounds a lot like HOT. We need to save a town that starts with a T.”

“It doesn’t help that we’re all women” Prudence said.

The cheerful atmosphere continued as the group reached the village.  There was gathering of people in the town square as they arrived.  The same man that had approached them in the tavern was there.

“You’ve come.”

“Yeah, we said we’ll give it a shot.” Prudence said.

“Oh, thank you.” A middle aged woman approached them” My husband was among the missing.

“Alright” Nihala said.” Fist tell us what happened. “

The town elder, a dwarf with a grey beard approached.

“Well. We trade with the city of Threhum, it’s the main source of income in this town. We trade our crops and pelts from the woods for other goods and sell them here. So as usual we sent a shipment of crops and pelt to trade with the merchant’s guild there. It takes a week to travel from here and another week to get back. “

“So those people went missing on the way?”

“Probably. They left a month ago. Four hunters and two farmers. The same ones as usual.  We contacted the guild but they said the shipment of goods never arrived. We searched for them ourselves, but never found any trace.”

“Did they, maybe, get lost “Nihala said.

“There is only one road. They were using a wagon to transport goods. I fear that something might have happened to them while crossing the mountains. The road is narrow and there have been incidents. But the search perty found nothing. No trace. No wreckage, nothing. “

“Interesting” Prudence said” You said there is only one road. Did anyone come by here that way after they left?”

The man seemed to think for a while.

“I don’t think so. People don’t come here often. No wait! There were some travelers, a pair of them about a week after they left. “

“And they didn’t run into them on the way?”

“Well they never said anything.”

“So, they probably went missing on the first few days of the journey. Cause it takes a week to reach the city. And if those people came from there it would have taken a week to get here so they would have seen them. “

“Being honest, they are most likely dead.” Nihala said” people who don’t turn up for this long, usually are.”

The elder bowed his head.

“Please, I know the chances are slim, but they had families here. It would mean a lot to them if they knew what happened and if possible lay them to rest with their kin.  I promise you will be compensated for your efforts. The guild offers a reward for any crates recovered. “

“How will we know those are the crates?”

“The wood has the symbol of the town burned into it. “

“I think this could have been a robbery.” Nihala said.

“Well, we don’t have bandits around here. At least we never did before. “The elder said.” Not many people travel here and there aren’t much valuables to steal. The crates had mostly food in them. “  

“So we have no leads at all” Prudence sighed. “Well let’s go.

Without wasting time the party left to search for the missing people. The road was large enough for a wagon, unpaved with mostly dirt and rocks. A large forest surrounded it and the village, Darkwood was part of the same forest, only this part was not as dark. About four days would be spent traveling thought the forest and another two crossing over the mountains according to the town people. The mountains were more dangerous, the road became narrow and went along a ravine, occasional landslides occurred and many believed that was what happened. 

“A month ago.” Nihala said thinking” we all met up about month ago for the first time.”

“Has it really been only a month?” Nora said surprised.

“Well for you it’s even less. “ Prudence said.

“It feels like forever ago.” Nihala said.

“Why did you bring that up, elf?”

“I just thought that maybe it’s connected, but I guess it can’t be, sin this all happened around the same time we found the crypts.”

“Yeah, probably not. “Prudence said.

“I don’t seen anything” Raven said. “No tracks.”

“Well it’s been a month so maybe washed away by rain or something.”

“They had to stop for rest “the drow said. “ Fire, broken branches, wood cutting. Can’t wash it away.”

“Right” Nihala and Prudence both suddenly had a realization.

“No trace of anyone going off road here.” Raven said looking around the bushes and braches.

“They had a wagon. So it would need space to go off road.” Nihala said.” The trees are low and there’s shrubs all over.

“They probably hunted too. “ Nora said.

“Yeah. So we need to find something like a camp.  For a start.”

“And if don’t find one?”  Nihala wondered.

“Then they were probably attacked before they had a chance to camp. “

“Attacked?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.

So they went on searching the sides of the road for traces of camps or wagon tracks. It had gotten later in the day and they still had nothing.

“I’m tired.” Nihala said. “This is so boring. There’s nothing here, just bushes and grass. No traces of anything.”

Raven motioned for her to be quiet.

“There” she pointed to the bushes.

“What’s there?”

“Movement.”

A deer emerged from the shrubbery.  Raven reached for her bow and aimed a shot at the animal.  It rose it’s head and looked her in the eyes before jumping away. Raven moved after the deer aiming her shot.

“Well it would be nice to have dinner. “ Nihala said” Should we go after her?”

“Yeah, maybe we should help.” Nora agreed.

Raven had gone deeper into the woods. The deer had evaded her arrows, moving between trees and bushes, hiding but staying in line of sight at the same time. Finally she had caught up to it, with the others running behind her. She lived up the shot perfectly, the deer jumped over a hill and the arrow hit it straight in the side. As Raven rushed to her pray the other caught up to her.  Leaning over the hill, where she saw the deer fall was nothing.  No deer, no blood, no arrow either.

“A vanishing deer?” Nihala said contemplating the idea.

“Did you really hit it?”

“I did. I know I did. If I missed the arrow would be there on the ground. It’s gone same as the deer.”

“Is this connected to the farmers?” Nora wondered.

“I don’t know.  Prudence said. “I don’t like this place. Let’s get out of here.”

The group had noticed they were in a grove of black dead oaks. A total of eighth giant trees growing to form a perfect circle in the middle.  A small creek divided the circle, cutting off a small part of it.  Two of the east-most trees had their branches intertwined and wines growing down them, forming an arch way. There were large rocks near each of the trees. Even strange was that the ground in the circle had no grass growing. It was just blackened soil, while on the outside grass was lush and tall.

“Now that you mention it. This place is kind of scary.” Nora said.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of late. We chased that deer for a longer then I thought.” Nihala pointed to the sky turning red.

The sun was setting.

“Can we get back to the road in the dark?”

“I can.” Raven said.

“Do we have dark vision potions? “

“I have one left.” Raven said.

“So not enough for all us.” Prudence said with a sigh. “We have to camp here. “

Searching the area, Prudence found a hollow in one of the oaks, inside was and old looking bracelet with gold and dried blood on the inside of it.  Nora inspected the arch of branches.

“Standing in front of it gives me chills” the girl said.

Nihala tried standing in front of it.

“I feel just fine.” She said. “Do you thing the deer was a ghost? Can animals even become ghosts?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen ghost before that day.” Nora said.

Dense fog began to set in from the creek, surrounding the circle of oaks and obscuring all vision of the forest beyond.

“I don’t like this” Prudence said.

“You don’t like a lot of things.” Nihala stated.

“You know what I mean.”

“It’s gonna be fine.”

“I have a feeling like we shouldn’t be here.” Nora said.

“I don’t” Nihala said.

Raven just shook her head.

“See two us are fine. It’s only the two of you that think it’s bad.”

“Yeah, well your good ideas, often end badly.”

“It’s not like we have a choice. “

“Yeah. Don’t you think it’s a little strange how that deer ended up leading us to this place exactly when the sun set. Bigger question, was that a real deer or some kind of an illusion. It could have been a familiar like Glacie. That would explain why it vanished when killed.  It’s master could be around.”

“I think if there was mage who lured us here on purpose, we would be fighting him by now.” Nihala said. “what do you think this place is anyway?”

“Some kind of ritual sacrifice spot, probably.” Prudence said showing them the bracelet.

“Could it be from one of the people that went missing?” Nora wondered.

“They were peasants and men so probably not.”

Raven and Nihala took the first shift of the night. But the others lay awake trying to sleep.  The fog grew even denser, crawling into the circle and surrounding the party. There was a shift in the wind, a foul smell carried by it.  Nihala frowned in disgust.

“Smells like something died.”

The smell of rotting flesh and blood permeated the air. Prudence and Nora got up from the ground.

“Where is it coming from?”

“The creek” Raven pointed

“It’s smell worse.” Nora covered her nose.

There was the sound of hooves hitting the ground. In the mist a shape was moving towards them. It was the shape of a deer.

“A deer?” Nihala said surprised.

The group stood ready for battle but this took them by surprise.

The shape moved closer, deer antlers visible in the fog. The stench grew stronger. What emerged from the fog was not a deer. It had the skull of a deer with large antlers, but it walked on two legs that were deer legs. Cowered in skins and lathers and scraps of fur with hands that ended with sharp claws. Symbols carved into the skull. It made a low growling sound as it moved closer. Sticking out of its side was a single arrow.

 

 

 

 

14: Session 8 part 2

 

For a moment they all stared at the creature.  Raven was the first to make a move. Casting a spell on it to bind it in place, then taking a shot at it. The arrow awkwardly stuck out of the leathers covering the creature. It didn’t bleed. Prudence send a frost bolt at it. The creature didn’t flinch. It let out another low growl and easily shrugged off the spell binding it. Nora sent a bolt of light at it but it missed. Nihala stood there frozen in fear. The deer like creature approached her and scratched her arm with its long nails. The elf cried out in pain and tried to move away but tripped over a root of a tree. 

Raven shot again but missed as the creature seemed to fade into the mist. There was a low growl from behind them as it reappeared. Prudence send a bolt of lightning at it but the spell missed. The creature clawed at Prudence injuring her.  Nora tried to set it on fire but it faded into mist again. There was a sound like a howl of a wolf and a cry of an injured animal dying. The mist began to retreat as the first light of the sun rose over the trees.

“What in the hell was that?” Nihala asked snapping of the fear.

“No idea” Prudence said.” Turning to Raven.

“I’ve never heard of this creature either.” The drow said.

“I’ll heal your wounds.” Nora said.

She approached Nihala and tried to heal her but the wound wouldn’t close. It began to close but opened up again once the spell was done.

“It seems I can’t heal this” the cleric said disappointed.

“Great, so we’re just going to bleed to death” Prudence said sarcastically.

“ Well, it’s not bleeding much.” Nihala said. “ Let’s just put some bandages on it.”

“ I think we should leave this place” Raven said looking around. “The mist is dispersing but it’s still dark in the forest. Do you want to wait?

“Nah, let’s go.” Prudence said and started walking.

“Hold on, let me put out the fire.” Nihala said.

Getting some water from the creek and pouring it on the camp fire she noticed things in the fire that weren’t there before.

“Hey!. Did any of you put these here?”

“What are you talking about, stupid elf”

Everybody gathered to look. There were small fragments of bones that seemed to be animal in nature.  Raven deduced they were bits of deer, wolf and rabbit bones.

“Where did they come from?” Nihala asked.

“No idea. Maybe the thing tossed them in there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t recall it tossing anything.  “ Nora said.

“I’ve had enough of this place. I’ll be happy if I never see it again.” Prudence said.

It took the party about half the day to get back on to the road. The walk was not an easy one as they could feel a presence constantly near them. Several times they had picked up the smell of rotten flesh on the wind, and observed something like a deer with the corner of their eye.

“I mean, that thing has to be undead.” Nihala said after they had gotten out of the woods.

“I’ve never seen undead that could turn into a living deer.” Prudence retorted.

“Maybe it’s not alive. Maybe an illusion.” Nora said.

“I think it stopped following us.” Raven said.

“Good.” Prudence sighed.

“Do you think it attacked the people?”

“Maybe.” The mage said.

“I mean did attack us because we went in the place? Was it protecting it?” The cleric wondered.

“No one had been in the clearing for a long time. A wagon couldn’t go thought the trees.” Nihala said. “So maybe the creature only attacked us.”

“That means we have no idea, what happened to the farmers.” Nora sighed.

“I think it lure us there.” Raven said. “The deer appeared to us, I could have appeared to anyone.”

“Yeah. Although I’m starting to think that we’re just magnet to all of these weird creatures.” The elf said and then paused, there was a smell of rotting and it like it was on top of her. “Guys, it stinks!”

Everyone stopped and began looking around. Nora pointed to the bandage on Nihalas arm. It looked dirty, and blood had seeped though the cloth.  Nora unwrapped it. The bleeding had stopped but the skin around the wound began to turn black and it gave of the smell of rotten flesh.

“Shit.” The elf frowned.” It got me good.”

Nora moved to check the scratch on Prudence but seemed to be doing much better and wound had begun healing on its own.

“How strange.” The cleric said” this one seems like a normal wound.”

“So it’s just me.” The elf sighed.

“We should move, night will fall in a few hours.” Raven said.

“Yeah. We should get away from this place as far as possible.” Nihala agreed and wrapped the bandage back on.

As night approached the feeling of being followed returned. Prudence decided to link with the familiar Glacie. Sitting on the ground and closing her eyes. The light blue fennec fox leaped out of the hood and rand into the forest where they heard something. The tiny fox eyes could spot nothing but leaves. The distance limit was fifteen meters and it was almost at it. Something moved, not a creature, not alive, no smell but it moved. Swinging back and forth, above ground, white.

Prudence opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Did you see something?” Nihala asked.

“I think I saw cloth in a tree.” She said.

“Cloth?”

“We should have a look.”

They all agreed to have a look, since it was getting dark and they needed to set up camp for the night.  The forest bushes were less dense here and the gaps between the trees were wider. As they walked towards the direction fog began to set in.

“Give me a break” Nihala said angrily.

There was a sound of running water. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Thought the mist they could the familiar shape of the dead oaks.  They were on the other side of the clearing from last night.

“You mean all this time were walking in a circle?”

“I’m having none of this.” Prudence said. “Were sleeping in the trees”

“If they that thing can climb?” Nora asked nervously looking around.

“Then we’ll fight.”

Raven had no problem getting up into a tree and greed to take the first watch. Nora and Prudence had more difficulty. Nihala tied herself to the tree in fear of falling out.  Despite this they weren’t able to get much sleep or recover. The stench of rotten flesh permeated the air, the mist was cold and without a fire they were shivering. Growling and howling came from bellow the tree.  Nihala felt her injury pulse and the pain kept her awake.  At the first crack of dawn everyone was cold and exhausted.  They decided to follow the creek back to the road. 

Nora remembered the wand she had found in the crypts.

“I can try using it on the wound. “

Nihala’s arm was looking worse. The blackness from the wound had spread further.  The want gave of a glow and the blackness vanished but the wound remained.  Nora closed it up with her healing magic then healed Prudence.

“Good to know we have something counter it. But the wand has limited charges. The priest at the temple say it should have around three. “

“So we have two left.” Prudence noted.

“They can recharge over time. But I’m not sure how long it will take.” Nora said.

“Well, I saw no cloth from up there.” Raven said.

“It was low, my fox is very short. It was close to the ground.”

“We probably went the wrong way.” Nihala said.

“OR we were magically teleported.” The mage said.

“Oh yeah, those things can teleport” Nihala suddenly realized.

“Do you want to try looking again?” Raven asked.

“Let’s get back to the road first.”

After getting back to the road they tried going back into the woods going at a different angle than before.

“Branches have been cut here” Raven said looking at a tree side.

“So somebody has been here.”

After some walking around the area they found something that looked like it might have been a camp.  Raven found some horse hair on a bush. Nihala spotted a broken arrow stuck half way up a tree. There were bone fragments under the same tree.

“Somebody has been here for sure” Raven said.

“They had a horse. Probably the farmers.” Nihala said.

“Yeah, but what about the wagon?” Prudence asked.

“No wagon tracks” Raven said. “The bones aren’t human.”

“So most likely the same thing that happened to us with the bones turning up in the fire.” The mage said.

 “These bushes are so thick you can be right next to something and not even notice it.” Nora said looking around the area that was full of large rocks and bushes.

“We need to search a wider area.” Raven suggested.

“I’ll take the left.” Prudence said.

“We shouldn’t spilt up.” Nora said.

“Groups of two then. Yell if anything happens.”

Prudence and Raven went to the left side. They found a piece of cloth with blood on it in the bushes.

“Was this what you saw?” Raven asked.

“No? It was hanging from a tree.”

Raven pointed to the rope attached to the cloth.

“Maybe it was cut down?”

The rope looked old and it was hard to tell if it was cut or just snapper on its own.  

“Why they would hang cloth in a tree? “ The drow wondered.

“A shelter?” Prudence said.

“It’s thin. Would not make a shelter.”

“I don’t know then.”

Nihala and Nora were looking a bit more to the North West from the two.  The found the creek again but it was a different location from the clearing. The creek made a bend here and there was a stone placed in the middle of it that had a boot print on it.  The ground was also a little bit sandy and there were small traces of prints in it.

“Somebody went that way” Nihala said pointing to the other side of the creek. “Another person went that way.” She pointed to the north.

“That way would lead to the clearing” Nora said.

“Maybe. There’s a cut on this tree. From a weapon it thing.” The elf said looking around the area by the creek.

“The people fought something?” Nora looked around thinking” the monster from before”

“The horse was much further that way. “She pointed behind her” people were fighting here. There are no traces of the wagon. The monster has no need for the wagon.”

“You think somebody took it?” Nora asked.

“It’s a possibility.”

The two groups met back up in the campsite. Discussing all the possibilities.

“I think the monsters scared them into running off into the woods at night.” Nihala said.

“They’re peasants so, they would probably do something like that.” Prudence agreed. “ it’s not like they can fight monsters.”

“The horse probably ran off and got eaten either by the creature or the wolves.” Raven said.

“This leaves the mystery cloth.” Nora said.

“Hold on. They said the people with the farmers were hunters.” Nihala said.

“So what.”

“The mark on the tree was from a sword.”

“Hunters can carry swords” Prudence argued.

“Most hunters I met carry knives or daggers and bows.” Raven said. “Sometimes whips.”

“So what you’re trying to say is that somebody else was here and attacked the farmers.”

“Yeah. It could be just like Prudence said, maybe some asshole is controlling that thing and using it to rob people. “

“Good one, elf” Prudence admitted that Nihala might be on to something.

“So the cloth in the tree was like a signal to begin the attack or something of the sort.” Nihala continued. “Maybe it was one of the people. Like a traitor or something.”

“This could get really complicated.” The mage sighed.

They set up a camp and decided to wait out the night.

 

 

15: Session 8 part 3

 

As the party sat around the small fire they managed to put together the mists began to set in once more.  Raven managed to shoot a few squirrels, Nora found some mushrooms that were edible.  Despite the warm stew and some rest everyone was still feeling uneasy.

“So, I know the town leader guy said there are no bandits in the area.” Nihala said “But maybe some moved in recently.”

“Well, if this road isn’t traveled much, they don’t get a lot of people to rob.” Nora said.

“Yeah, but a nice quiet little place make for a good hiding spot.” Prudence said.

“So the creature is protecting it.” Raven said.

“I’m not so sure on the bandits” Nora said. “Those things look undead. And not ordinary undead.”

“They probably have a necromancer working for them. “Prudence said.

“Plus we have no evidence of the undead deer using weapons. So the sword marks had to come from somewhere.” Nihala said “and those were recent.”

“We know they got attacked and ran off into the woods. But what about the bodies? We found nothing. “Raven asked.

“Maybe the thing ate them.” Prudence said.

“Yeah, I mean there ways to die that leave no body and necromancy is involved here. “ Nihala sighed.

“Yeah, and with how this place works they could be close, or maybe they got teleported to the other end of the woods.” Prudence noted.

“Yeah, the fog in this place is weird.” Nihala agreed.

The smell of rotting meat and blood was slowly becoming stronger but the group just carried on with the conversation trying to ignore it. There was a rustle in the bushes near where Nihala was sitting and the elf jumped reaching for the sword. Raven shot and arrow into the bushes. Everyone got on their feet to look. A deer with an arrow sticking out of its head lay on the ground- dead.

“Just a deer. “ Raven said taking the arrow out. “This will be enough food for a while.”

Everyone relaxed a little. Raven began gutting and skinning the deer.  Fire began to smoke, the white strands mingling with the mist and increasing in number. Soon the fire was eclipsed by the smoke as it began to seem that the fog was coming from the camp fire.  Everybody tensed expecting an attack.  A figure emerged from the mist. It had deer antlers on its head but the skull was distinctly that of a boar with large tusks.

“It’s a different one.” Nihala said surprised.

Nora shot a bolt of her holy light at it. To the surprise of the cleric the creature did not recoil in pain, it didn’t seem more hurt that from any other spell.

“Guys, my holy magic isn’t hurting it.” The girls said moving back from the approaching creature.

“What?!” Nihala turned to Nora than back to the creature. “You mean it’s not an undead?”

Prudence stepped forward and addressed the creature in elvish”

“Why do you hunt us?”

It gave no reply only raised it’s clawed hand in attack.

Raven cast the arcane binding on it and shot at it. The arrow didn’t seem to do it much harm.

Nihala was about to attack but as she got closer to land her hit a sense of fear came over her, the feeling of helplessness from back at the Black lake and she stopped, slowly lowering her sword.  Moving back further from the creature Prudence shot arcane missile at it, hitting every single time. 

“Damn it, I was aiming for the elf.” The mage said as the purple orbs flew passed the stunned elf.

Nora who didn’t move away found herself staring at the empty eyes sockets and the spell she was aiming at it missed completely. She didn’t know what it was, she couldn’t harm it. Her faith was once again shaken as fear took over.  Raven aimed a shot at the creatures leather covered torso, the shot piercing it and stinking out of it as it got stung in something.  Taking a knife and staring into the ground Prudence walked up to the bound creature and slashed the leathers   covering its torso. The leathers fell to the ground revealing a rib cage that looked human. Small leather bags were tied to the bones that were from different animals, some smaller some larger and all different in color.  Scraps of leather and rope seemed to hold the bones attached to the rib cage. Nora managed to overcome her fear and taking her mace in one hand hit the creature in the back of its head. The creature gave a howl mixed with a loud shrieking scream causing everyone to cover their ears. Once it quieted down it was gone.

Nihala cursed under breath as she sat back down. The camp fire had gone out and there were traces of bones mixed into it.  The sun was slowly coming to a rise.

“What the hell was that.” She said angrily looking back at the spot the creature had been standing in.

“No idea. “ Prudence said.

Raven went back to harvest the deer, but found that it had rotten complete. Long gashes a cross it’s body.

“It’s not and undead, but it looks like one.” Nora said.

“It seemed to be held together by rope.” Prudence said lifting up the piece she cut off from it. “Necromancers can reanimate thing and they’ll just be held together by magic. But thing needs to be held together physically. Plus, we now have confirmation it’s not an illusion. “She tossed the leather to Raven.

“This is most likely deer skin, processed roughly. Old, has seen a lot of exposure to weather. Mold growing on it. Smells like rotten flesh.” The drown examined the piece of leather.

“What did you say to it?” Nora asked.

“I thought it might be a fay from the dark side of the fairy realm. But it doesn’t seem to be intelligent, or at least doesn’t understand speech.”

“So, it’s definitely being controlled by something or someone.” Nihala said.

“I don’t know.” Raven said” it destroyed the deer we were going to use as food. That’s definitely intelligent. Trying to cut us off from getting supplies.”

“Hmmm.” The elf frowned thinking “ I give up. I have no idea what that thing is or why it wants to kill us.”

“We’ll deal with that later.” Prudence said.” We aren’t being paid for dealing   with it anyways. So let’s focus on finding clues on where the people went. “

“A cross the river will just lead back to the clearing.” Nora said.

“So we follow the other guy.” Nihala said.

Walking to the stream they found the footprints and started following. Soon after the traces of prints ended as the stream turned further right and the ground was grassier.

“Now what?” Nora asked looking around

Trees, tall grass, bushes. All luscious green in the morning sun.

“He was running away. And we know those things only attack at night. So it was dark” Raven said.” Running straight ahead seems the most logical.

The group went forward spread out in wider line to cover more area. Raven found something and so did Nihala.

“There is a carving on the three. Like an “X””

“One here too.” Raven said” from a good distance away.

“Maybe they were marked for logging?” Nora said.

“I doubt it.” Prudence said.

“There are a few of those around” Nihala remarked finding more marked trees.” They don’t seem to be way marks just random marks.”

“Oh, there not random. We just don’t know the pattern.” Prudence said. “We probably need to go a certain direction from a marked tree.”

“Well we don’t need to.” Raven said. “The grass there grows differently. “It’s leaning back, as if it’s been walked on for a long time.”

“So, it’s a path. “ Nihala said.

Following the faint path in the grass they entered an older and deeper part of the forest. There was more of a path, ground visible since grass didn’t grow much, tall trees blocking the light.

Up ahead was a tall tree with a hollow.  Prudence vision linked with her familiar and send it into the hollow.  Inside was a rope extendinding from somewhere up the tree.  The fox bit into the rope and pulled it. A bell rang high up in the tree. Prudence opened her eyes and stood up.

“What did you do?” Nihala asked.

“Well see soon.”

They waited but no one came.

“Okay.” Prudence said.” Interesting.”

“Maybe no one’s home” Nora said.

She explained the rope in the tree.

“Most likely and alarm to warn of intruders.”

“Yeah. There should have been a lookout up in the tree somewhere. “

“The monster got them?” Nihala said

“If they are working with it then probably not.” Nora said.

“Let’s go the main camp should be up ahead.” Prudence started walking.

Down a tree covered hill into small area encircled by hills. They head something that sound like a cry for help, quiet as if coming from far away.

“Did you hear that?” Nihala asked.

“Yup. Probably a trap.” Prudence said.

“But somebody might need help” Nora argued.

“Oh the will” Prudence said heading in the direction of the cries.

Structures began to emerge. They were crude, built from branches and leaves, small shelters made to look like bushes or fallen trees from the distance. Under them were pits, dug deep into the ground with wooden bars placed on top of them.  In one of those pits they found two humans.

“Oh thank gods!” I never thought I’d see another living being” the old man smiled.

He had shoulder long white hair and a bear, he was thing and the clothes were filthy and tattered. His hands were tied.

He kept thanking them as they group got him out of the pit and untied him. The man fell on the ground stretching his arms out.

“How long have you been down there?” Nihala asked

“I don’t really know.” He said rubbing his writs, covered in dried blood from the ropes.

“I can heal you.” Nora said.

“Thank you. The man said. There should be another here. He’s a hunter and he was injured. He’s name is Trevor.  We’ve been shouting to each other but he had gone quiet lately. “

“Okay. We’ll find him” Prudence said. “Tell us what happened, what is this place?”

“ Well, my name id Will. I’m a farmer from the village of Grhundheim. We were delivering goods to the merchants guild in the next city.  We stopped to camp for the night  and we were attacked.“

„By a monster?“ Raven asked.

Will looked at her.

„By strange people. The hunters tried to fight them off, but there were too many. They took us, our goods. The horse ran off. We had a waggon, they chopped it and burned it.“

„That explains we didn‘t find it.“ Prudence said.

„what happaned when they took you?“

„They brought us here. But... but there other people here like us. They locked us up in those pits.“

Nihala returned carrying the injured hunter.

„He‘s still alive, but injured and it looks bad.

„did he fight the monsters?“

„Oh no. He fought the bandits. He got injured. They wouldn‘t do anything to heal him.“

„ I can‘t believe he isn‘t dead yet. It‘s been a month.“ Nora said tending to him.

„A month. „ Will paused. „ it felt like years.

Trevor came to conciousness.

„So what happaned after the bandits brought you here?“ Prudence asked.

„They kept us here.“

„ They brought more people in once in a while“ Trevor spoke.

„They kept all these people in the pits?“ Nihala asked pointing to the hole in  the ground.

„As far as i know.  There was a woman with me, not from here. She tendend to my injury, got out of her ropes in secret. But then something attacked the camp one night. From what i heard it was a horrible creature. It killed a few of those basterds then in the morning they took most people and left.  Recon they left Will behind because he‘s old and has trouble walking. I was injured. Few others were left too but they weren‘t so lucky. Some pits tend to fill up when it rains.“

„So they monster isn‘t working for the bandits“ Nihala said.

„Looks like it.“

„Where did they take the others?“ Prudence asked.

„Beats me“ Trevor said. „They were foreighners, spoke a language i couldn‘t understand.“

„Foreighners?“ Nihala said surprised.

„Well we are almost on the border with our own kingdom.“ Prudence said“ but i don‘t think people form Alerion  would be considered foreigners, considering we have a free non miletery movement agreement between the  kingdoms.“

„So, a diferent kingdom then.“ Nihala said.

Prudence paused in thought.

„Could be.“ Prudence said.

„What do we do now?“ Nora asked.

„I think we could escort these two back to the road. And then look for the others.“ Nihala said.

„We still have a monster to deal with. „ Prudence said.

„Right. „thge elf said“ So do you know anything about this forest? Like was this monster here before?“

„I don‘t know anything about any monster. We didn‘t get to see thing, we just hear it.“ Trevor said.“ We hunters generaly don‘t hunt in this part of the woods. „

„Any reason?“ Prudence asked.

„Well.“ Will said „ this part of the woods is some kind of sacret ground. Before the village, before the kingdom even. From old tales passed down, there were people living here.  Oldest acounts speak of a witch that healed the sick during a plaque, that was before my time.“

„A witch? Ancient forest people? Druids?“ Nihala tried to piece it together.

„No.“ Prudence said“ Druids don‘t make things like that. Believe me. I know a druid.“

„So that grove was sacret place.“ Nora said deep in thought.

„Looked more like a blood ritual sacrifice place to me „ Prudence said.

„Maybe it belonged some forgotten diety and we made it angry by entering it.“ The cleric said.

„No. It lured us there. „ Prudence argued.

„We don‘t know that.“ Nihala said.

„We took something from it.“ Nora said“ that why it‘s after us. Prudence took the bracelet from the circle.“

„Oh.“ Nihala said lookng at Prue.“ Shit. Maybe the badits took something too. I mean they are bandtis and not from around here. And now the thing wants it back.“

„Okey. I‘ll give it back next time i see it.“ Prudence said.“ We should hurry back to the road  before night falls. „  

 

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Authors note: so the creature as some may have figured out is inspired by the skinwalker stories. Though it's quite diferent n some ways.  The undead arc will continue in due time. But while the book is being investigated the group needed somethng else to do. This gave a chance to experiment . So i created this monster wanting to give them something scary and diferent from the usual undead. it's clasification as a construct makes it imune to the usual weaknesses of undead but allows it to have a similar appearance. It had a fear aura meaning that anyone close to it had to make a save or they will become paralyzed. Anyone whose attack misses agains it is automaticly stricken by fear. the claws have chance of inflickting a curse that will spread and prevent healing unless the wound is purified frist or holy is poured on it. And it can choose to once per encounter escape any bindings or escape the fight. However once the sun begins to rise the creature will vanish regardless ir it had used this ability. Honestly i loved dming this encounter most out of all of them so far. 

 

 

16: Session 9

Session 9

The group escorted the two villagers, they found in the bandit camp, to the area the remains of camp were.

“Thank you.” Trevor said.” I remember the way from here.”

“Right. You go back and tell the others what happened. “Nihala said. “ We’ll keep the monsters focused on us for now. And then we’ll see what we can do to find the others.”

“Yeah, about that.” Prudence said when the villagers were out of sight” this job is turning out a lot more complicated than just a rescue mission.”

“I mean we can ask for more money, right.” Nihala said.

“If they have any. That village looks rather poor.” The mage stated.

“I don’t really care.” Nihala said.” I kind of want to get to the bottom of this.”

“I agree. This is serious and money shouldn’t matter.” Nora said. “Somebody is kidnaping people.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. They said the bandits were foreigners.  This could lead into some politics bullshit. “The mage said.

“I see what you mean. Then we just need to settle this and make sure it doesn’t reach the wrong people.”

“Might be too late.” Raven said.” They were taking people from different locations not just here. You said this is near a border of another kingdom. They could have taken people from there too.”

“Why are they kidnaping people?” Nihala said. “Bandits steal money right?”

“Nothing good. Maybe for ransom?” Prudence guessed.

With some light still left they decided to finish inspecting the bandit camp.  There were more shelters, some with rags and rotten food. Nora found a strange cross made out of twigs tried together. It had a circle in the middle and the circle had a triangle in it.

“Is it some kind of religious thing?” Nihala asked.

“I don’t know.” Nora said.” I found it in the rags over there. “

“We found a letter.” Raven said, emerging from a make shift hut with Prudence.

“What does it say?”

“Can’t read most of it.” Prudence said” it’s elvish, but not quite. Must be a dialect of some kind. “

“What we could read.” Raven said.” Is that somebody was coming to meet them here.”

“Somebody was coming here? Were they here already?” Nihala wondered.

“Doubt it. The two villagers would have been found by those people.”

“What about the seal? It there a seal?” Nora asked looking at the letter Prudence was holding.

“There is, but I don’t know who it belongs to.”

The seal on the letter depicted an anchor and a fish.

“Anchor, so a port.” Nihala said.

“Doesn’t say much.  Alerion has a port.  The dwarf kingdom has no ports, the place next to it has a river port, and then there’s Alltaria who has several.”  Prudence said.” We don’t know it belongs to a family, a person, a guild. “

“But once we get out of here we could start looking. “

“I’ll hold on to it.” Raven said. 

“Fine”

“We should get ready, the sun will set soon.” Nora said looking around the forest as mist was starting to form.

“OH, yeah. We should leave the bracelet out here. Maybe it will leave us alone.” Nihala said.

They decided to climb down onto the pits and cover the bars at the top with rags. There wasn’t much room to fight down there if they got attacked. Nobody got much sleep, as the sound of something walking up above and growling noises could be heard, the rotten smell  drifting down though the gaps. But the creatures didn’t seem to find where they were exactly. Coming close to the covered pits but not spotting them.  After the uneasy night and some struggles to get out of the pits they found the bracelet where they had left it.

“Well so much for that theory.” Nihala said.

“There were wolves here.” Raven pointed out the tracks.

“Probably more monsters” Prudence said.

“What do we do now? I was so certain they wanted the bracelet back. “Nora said disappointed.

“They something about a witch. I say we ask her why those things are after us. And if she refuses to call them back we burn down the trees.” Prudence said with determination.

“We are good burning things down.” Nihala noted.” But won’t that make them angrier?”

“I don’t care, we’ve taken down a lich. These things whatever they are can go suck it.”

“Well, we can’t get much done with those things after us. “ Nihala agreed. “ And we still need to find out where they took villagers.”

They made their way to the grove of dead oaks. Investigating the place once more. 

“Hey! It looks like there is a path.” Nihala pointed to the ominous arch forming out of connecter branches and vines.

“Yeah, no way am I going in there.” Prudence objected.

“Were being watched.” Raven said.

There was a heard of deer in the tall grass and bushes surrounding the clearing and all of them seemed to be observing the group.  Nihala took step through the archway.

“I feel fine. Now come on.”

The rest of group followed. Prudence stepped thought it reluctantly.

After walking for a bit they noticed the deer that were following them, had gone away.  The grass thinned out, the ground became mushier and water seeped out the moment one place down their foot.

“Oh great, a swamp. Just what we need.” Prudence said annoyed as the water seeped into her shoes.

“You really think we’ll find a witch at the end of this road?” Nora asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s the only think we’ve got. “ Nihala said.

Raven went ahead to check.

“There is a clearing over that way.” She pointed North east.” The trees just end. “

Nearing the edge of the swampy forest they saw a small area with no trees, cliffs surrounding it from the back and the beginning of the mountains in the distance. Part of the area was flooded since it was a lot lower. The forest was up hill and the cliffs were also much higher and going up. It the shadow of the cliffs stood a ruined old shack. Cautiously the approached the old house. Part of the roof had a hole in it, the door was wide open.

“I don’t think the witch is home.” Nihala said looking at the cobwebs in the entrance.

“Let’s look around and see if she comes back. “

The group began investigating the building. There were very little in there to do with magic. Mostly old clothes, dishes, toys that seemed like they were made for a child. Some very old medical herbs and brewing books.

“I don’t think a witch lived here.” Prudence said” maybe some kind of healer. But most of this stuff isn’t magical.”

“I found a diary.” Nora said. “Maybe we can find answers.”

The leather bound diary was old and some pages were damaged by water or mold.  Most told a story of young girl as she trained under an unnamed woman she referred to as the elder.  Teaching old traditions and shamanic rituals.

“Does anyone know anything this shaman thing? Nihala asked.

Nobody in the group had heard of it before. few entries seemed less damaged as they more recent ones.

“Today something happened. The elder died and I buried her according tradition. Now I am the elder but there is no one for me pass the knowledge to as I am the last.

But out of all the times why now. Maybe it’s a sign.  There was a commotion in the woods. I thought it was hunters but I was wrong. It was carriage and the driver was dead. More importantly there was a chest full of gold completely unprotected.  I took it, I had to. I don’t want to die in these woods. There is world out there, I want to see it. Now I just need to wait until some kid gets lost and tech them to care for the grove and the spirits. “

“Maybe she really did leave.” Nihala said after reading the page.

“There’s more.” Prudence pointed out.

“Oh, what have I done? I’m in so much trouble. I looked at the chest and there was symbol with a crown on it. I didn’t notice before. There are men in the woods, I bet they are looking for this thing. I can’t give it back. What if they kill me? I’ll hide it. I’ll hide it where I can keep an eye on it. If they come here, I’ll pretend I don’t know. But what if they don’t leave? “

As the days go by the passages get a lot more sporadic and paranoid.

“They came to me in a dream. The spirits of the elders. They are angry that men are coming to their secret woods. I know they are coming because of me. But I could use this to protect my treasure until I find someone to take my place. The books the elder told me to never open speak of rituals that bind spirits to totems of bone and skin. They follow whatever order is given upon creation. I will make them protect this place, kill anyone who comes close to finding it. Anyone comes here is coming for the gold. I can’t let them take it from me.”

“Sounds like she was bit crazy.” Nihala said.

“More importantly, we know what those things are. “

“Spirits bound to totems? I’ve never heard this kind of magic.” Nora sighed” there is so much out there I don’t know.”

“None of us knew this either, kid.” Prudence said.

“So, do you think she just took the money and left?” Nihala asked. “And maybe just forgot to call off the spirits.”

“Or maybe she’s still here and so is the money.” Prudence said.

“We should find the gold.” Nihala agreed. “Does it mention where it’s buried?”

“No. Just mentions dirt. “

“This whole is dirt.” The elf complained.

“Yeah, but it’s not very big. We could dig up the whole place in three days.” Prudence said.

“Except the flooded part. Oh shit, I bet that’s where the treasure is- under water.”

Prudence found a rusty old shovel behind the house and a gardening spade and tossed it to the elf.

“Here you can dig with this.”

“I’m going in the water.” Nihala said.

“Suit yourself.”

Taking all her armor and clothes she jumped into the water. It was freezing cold and dirty making it impossible to see under water. After three minutes she gave up and got out shivering.  Prudence handed her the shovel.

“It’s a good way to warm up”

Angrily the elf took it got some of her clothes on.

The session of digging got interrupted but the start of rain. It got dark and clouds gathered. Water began to pool on the surface of the ground.  They got inside the house. Avoiding the giant hole in the roof. Using the fallen straw and twigs to start a fire in the fire place.

“I have a bad feeling about tonight.” Raven said.

“Me too. “ Nora confessed.

“What makes you say that?” Nihala wondered.

“This whole time, it feels like something is watching us.” Raven said. “And the mist is coming.”

On the edge of the forest mist was gathering. Slowly slithering downhill and towards the house. There lights in the mist, groups of them different distances and heights apart.   

“Something is coming!” Raven shouted.

“Block the door!” Prudence commanded.

Nihala helping push the large wardrobe on front of the broken door and Prudence froze it in place. Pushing some other furniture in front of the windows.  One window remained unbarred. Raven broke it with her arrow and knelt down putting the arrow thought the hole enough to shoot it.  Nihala decided to parkour up to the hole in the roof and get outside. Nora cast a lesser protection spell on her.

They were close enough now to be seen from the house window. They looked like animals: deer, wolves, a bear, and boars. And moments later they transformed into the shambling skeletal beings .Nora attempted to get on the roof, managing to pull herself up and called upon the chains to restrain the bear creature that was approaching the blocked entrance. Prudence shot an ice bolt thought the broken window, hitting one of the wolf creatures but it wasn’t frozen in place.  Raven shot twice hitting the wolf and the bear. Nihala dropped down in front the bear, focusing she channeled her aura and slashed it across the back. Meanwhile several other creatures surrounded her from the sides. The wolf making a slash at her but the protection spell Nora cast on her reduced the damage.  The bear broke free from the chains making a move towards the blocked door.  The other creatures moved closer but weren’t in range to attack yet. Glowing orbs of light radiated in the empty sockets of the animal skulls.

Nora shot a fire ball at the wolf creature near Nihala. The bear being out of her sight. Prudence cast magic missiles hitting the bear and the two wolf creatures. Raven shot at the bear. Nihala missed her attack on the bear. Fear came over her as the attack missed, her sword sliding just an inch away from creature as her feet slipped in the mud. The two wolf creatures took an opportunity to attack her, slashing with their claws.  The bear had reached the door and tried to smash the closet blocking it, but it held supported by the ice.

Nora missed her attack aimed at the wolf attacking Nihala. A strong sense of doubt came over the cleric. Maybe they can’t do this after all, maybe this where they all die. Prudence took a health potion and gave to her fox familiar Glacie. Then tossed the creature into the air towards the hole in the roof. The pale blue fennec fox managed to pull itself up and run towards Nihala. Then the mage launched another round of arcane missiles aimed at the bear. Raven focused her shots on the bear as well. The arrows were sticking out of the leather and fur but it impossible to tell how much damage it had taken. With the tiny blue fox pawing at her Nihala managed to snap out of it and take the potion.  The bear launched an attack against the door and this time it broke.  One wolf creature attacked Nihala the other moved towards the house. The deer and boar creatures had come close enough to attack. Two taking their shot at the elf while the others moved towards the house.

Nora snapped out of her panic and sent another fire ball at the first creature in sight.  Prudence was getting low on energy to cast spells and cast a shadow bolt at the bear. Raven aimed a piercing shot at the bear. Nihala focused, channeling her aura once more and slashed at the wolf creature, severing it’s spine.  The bones began to fall to the ground as it crumbled to pieces. Light blue and green smoke seeping out of it and vanishing.  Glacie ran back towards the house and sent a blast of ice at the bear from behind.  The bear focused it’s attack on Prudence and hit her with both of its claws.  The remaining wolf broke the window attacking Raven. The deer attacked Nihala and the other deer and boar were circling the house looking for a way inside, since the giant bear was blocking the entrance.

Nora sent fire at the one of the deer creatures on Nihala. Prudence moved as far back as the small space of the house allowed her to and sent another shadow bolt.  Raven broke out of the grasp of the wolf creature that had grabbed her through the window and shot it twice.  Nihala ran towards the house, blue aura surrounding her blade and viciously slashed the bear several times taking it down as it’s spine got damaged and the bones began to fall apart.   Glacie shot another ice bolt this time at the wolf in the window.

The deer and boar began to move towards the door way. Nora cast her holy spell, sending a bolt of light at the deer she could see. Prudence took a potion to gain some energy back and aimed a round of arcane missiles at the creatures In the doorway. Raven shot an arrow directly at the spine of the wolf creature that was trying to climb inside thought the window. It fell apart like the others. Nihala took out a deer, the aura fading after the attack and the elf using her sword to keep herself standing.  The remaining two deer and boar all tried to enter the house at once, getting stuck in the narrow door way.  Nora started moving towards the hole to get bank inside the house. Prudence put all her energy into one last round of arcane missile and focused it at the door. There was a purple explosion of light as the walls gave in and the roof of the house came crashing down. The remaining creatures were crushed. Getting out of the rubble with cuts and bruises but alive the group looked around. The mist were clearing.

“I think we got all of them.” Nihala said.

“Looks that way.” Raven said.

“We should get healed just in case there are more.” Nora said. “But it’ll take a while. I can only purify with the wand three times.”

Prudence had two wounds, Raven had two and Nihala only had one that was turning black around the edges.

“I can wait a day.” Prudence said.

Nora healed Raven and Nihala, while Prudence remained wounded.  They cleared some of the debris out, a small section of the roof remained. Prudence laid down on the bed.  The others gathered around the bed using the straw from the roof as bedding. After getting some brief hours of sleep the sun was up too high to remain asleep. Nihala got to looking for the treasure.  Prudence remained in bed, her side and leg injured and causing pain and bleeding. Nora looked after her. Raven went to look for something to eat.

“It had to be around here” the elf said.” Can I see that diary again?”

Flipping thought the pages she stopped at the paragraph” where I can keep an eye on it.”

“It must be in a spot you can see from outside the window.” The elf said.

“So literally anywhere within 360o  around the house.” Prudence scoffed.

“But’s if we find it, we keep it.” The elf said.” This could be like bonus.”

“Yeah, no, were still demanding more money from those people.” The mage said.

“I mean yeah. This is way more complicated than just finding some missing people. Speaking of which, we should probably get back to that.”

“Once the wand recharges.” Nora said.” But we don’t know where they went.”

“There should be another path in the camp or something we can follow.”

Raven caught some rabbits. Nihala dug around the house looking for the gold. The night passed without incident. The wand had recharged enough to heal Prudence the next day. They left the ruins of the house and headed back to the grove of oaks and set fire to the trees.  Then continued their way to the bandit camp and started searching for another route out of the camp. 

“There is a knife up in the tree.” Nihala noticed.

“So what?” the mage said walking a long something that resembled a dirt road but could have just been ground.

“I don’t know.” The elf said” we still don’t know what this thing does.” The took out the wooden cross.

“Somebody’s religious? So what?”

The elf lifted it up looking thought the hole in the middle.

“I wonder.” Then she lined it up with the knife in the tree, the little triangle part in the circle line up perfectly forming an arrow pointing south.

“I got it. We use this to find the way!”

“Big deal” Prudence said.” Let’s get this done. And go back to the city. “

The new directions they followed using the wooden cross lead them to a small rocky path leading up to the mountains.

“There were people here.” Raven pointed to the gravel where footprints were imprinted. “Recently, maybe in the past days or two.”

“So this path will take us to the bandits hide out. Great” Prudence said.

They started following the path. It was one way path along a large ravine. Several rocks fell from up above but nobody paid them any mind as large mountain goats were skipping about on the cliffs of the mountain side.  Raven was walking first, looking for tracks, Prudence was second. Nihala was watching the rear with Nora in front of her. Suddenly there were more rock falling as a giant goat slid down the cliff and head-butted Nora down into the ravine. Before Nihala could react another goat hit her of the path. Prudence and raven turned around suddenly. Managing to see Nihala fall and just before the impact hit her Prudence spotted a person, covered in furs lying flat on the goats back.

Slowly they all regained consciousness. It was cold, it was dark and very quiet. As each one slowly tried to move they realized they couldn’t. As the silence was interrupted by rattling chains and they felt the cold metal beneath their feet- a cage. They were each alone in an unfamiliar place. And I would be a long time before any of them saw each other or civilization again.

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Authors note: so yeah, that happaned. I feel this a failure on my part as a DM. The group focused on the monsters so much thinkinh that it was the main threat and my atemps at giving them hints kind of failed.   Hint 1 they were kidnaping people! Yet the group still beleived they were dealing with badits.  Hint 2 they were foreighners and had a sealed letter from sone who is probalby weathy and has influencial.

Hint 3 the letter was written in drow but Raven being a half drow who never lived among drow didn't recognize the language because the played didn't select drow as a language she could speak and i just asumed she could speak drow si that was uselles. 

They were obviously dealing with something much more than just badits, but somehow the monster became the  main focus, but the skinwalkers were part of a treasure side quest and just there to spice things up. i feel like  I failed to make the party realize the real threat and what comes next is the result.