Session 40: Back in Action

March 27, 118

This evening, in order to celebrate their newly-forged alliance, Chief Aurimach orders a huge party throughout the entire village. All of the characters participate, except for Ellyanna, who instead observes the proceedings from the edges of the party, taking notes. Also, Calannon fails miserably to fit in with the White Elves.

March 28, 118

The next morning, Aurimach summons the party to the great hall and presents his gifts to the party. He gives them a map of the area to the north and assigns one of their best trackers, a man named Belech, to help them in their journey. He resupplies them with food and gives back their dogs and sleds, all pre-prepared for the journey. Finally, he tells the party that they have retrieved the possessions of one of their ancient heroes in order to give them to the party. He presents them with several potions, a spell scroll, and the following magical items: the Cloak of the Manta Ray (allows the wearer to move and breathe underwater), a Periapt of Health, a Cloak of Protection, and a Stone of Good Luck.

As they are preparing to leave, Ash-Daughter tells the party that she has decided to stay behind with the White Elves, in order to help with their struggle and act as the party's representative. They bid her farewell as they head out to meet Belech.

Outside of the great hall, they discover that Belech is a short and eccentric White Elf. He tells them that the lands to the north are generally considered to be cursed. No one has returned from them for generations, and the stories of those who have are quite ominous. They are said to have returned strangely changed - either mentally, with unexplainable personality changes and mental issues, or physically, with strange marks or growths on their bodies. In order to combat the curse, he gives them quite a few strange rules to follow, like always wearing something red, only eating meat at most every second day, and a variety of others.

Belech also explains that he is not a fighter, so he will not help them in combat and will only defend himself if he cannot get away, and that he will only take them as far as the Cursed Mountains, a mountain range beyond which no White Elf has ever been known to return from.

After Belech is finished with his introduction and explanations, the party head out on the next leg of their journey. They soon discover two more things about Belech. First, he really does know what he is doing, and with his advice, they are making excellent progress and avoiding hazards and difficult terrain. Second, he has a never-ending stream of strange advice and superstitions that he demands they follow as they go. Since he seems to know what he's doing, the party go along with his demands. Although he seems somewhat gruff and paranoid, the party make the effort to get along with him as best they can.

That night, Belech finds a defensible spot for the party to set up camp and rest. Since they are basically traveling through a flat plain, he can only do so much, but he does find them a somewhat sheltered area to sleep in. As usual, they tie up Dark Star and keep watch over him during the night. His nightmares still seem to be steadily worsening, but apart from that, nothing unusual happens overnight.

March 29, 118

The party head out after striking camp, and initially, the travel continues exactly the same way that it did the day before. It's not until afternoon that anything unusual occurs.

In the afternoon, a flying shape appears in the distant sky, and the party assumes it's just a bird of some kind, which are rare but not completely unheard of in their current location. The party pay it no particular attention as it gets closer and closer, larger and larger. It is practically on top of the before they realize that it is no bird, but a large beast carrying several riders!

The beast lands nearby as the party scramble to prepare their weapons and spells, and they see that it appears to be some sort of zombified white dragon. Its riders include six skeletons, armed and armored in matching ancient equipment, and a single black-robed wight, all of whom begin to disembark.

The party attack, and before the riders have a chance to get far from the dragon, Elvish hits them with a Faerie Fire spell, illuminating them and making them easier targets, and Calannon blasts them with the Necklace of Fireballs before advancing. The fireball instantly incinerates the skeletons and seriously damages the wights, but the dragon does not seem to be particularly hurt. Dark Star attacks with beams of dark energy but misses, and Ellyanna casts Haste on Kaplan, allowing him to approach the wight with superhuman speed and finish it off with the Hammer of Saint Alessia.

With all of its riders having been killing nearly instantly, the dragon, rather than attacking, disengages from Calannon and Kaplan, turns around, and simply starts flying away. The party give chase, pelting it with spells and missile weapons, but it is much faster than them. The only party member who can keep pace is the Hasted Kaplan, but the dragon is flying higher and higher, and soon reaches a height such that Kaplan can no longer reach it with his javelins. The dragon escapes.

Regrouping after the fight, Belech is outraged by what he just saw - the zombified dragon clearly must have been one of Ferelon's children, corrupted by the undead. Since the dragon got away, the party assume that it is going to retrieve reinforcements or notify their enemies of their location. Belech suggests that they could try moving more stealthily for the rest of the journey, but that will be much slower, and since they don't know how far they need to go, he can't guarantee that their supplies will hold out. The party eventually decide that sneaking in the open plains against aerial enemies is a lost cause; their best course of action is simply to continue on as before, but keeping a closer look on the skies.

The rest of the day's travel is uneventful. Once again, Belech finds them a defensible resting spot for the night, and during the night, Dark Star is still getting progressively worse.

March 30, 118

Another day of travel, the day begins like the previous day. However, at around noon, the party, who are being much more watchful of the sky, do indeed spot something out of the ordinary. Off in the distance, they spot not one dragon, but six! They immediately pause to consider their options. They could hide, but the size of their party, the presence of the dogs and the sleds, and the fact that they're hiding on an open plain against aeriel enemies make this unlikely to work. They could use Ellyanna's Rope Trick spell to hide in the small dimensional pocket that it creates, but they have no way to get the dogs and sleds inside quickly. They could fight, though six dragons and their riders will likely be a very difficult challenge. Or, since they know that (as of a few days ago) the undead are trying to capture them, not kill them, they could simply surrender and hope for the best.

After a short discussion, they decide to fight it out, but first, they send Belech, along with one of the dog sleds, to safety. That way, even in the worst-case scenario, at least half of their supplies should survive. Belech tells them that they passed a decent hiding spot about five minutes back, so he heads in that direction. Meanwhile, the rest of the party prepare for battle as the dragons approach...

Session 39: Four Guys and a Cleric

(Apparently I had this written out and sitting on my computer for this whole time, so here it is, finally posted to the blog)

March 27, 118

The four White Elf commoners, along with Feyrith, head out from the party's camp towards the White Elf village. They are Nuptup, a career criminal, Greg Mendel, an acolyte of Soloneth, Snowflower Sunshine, a hunter and outlander, and Sue Persmelly, an ex-hermit.

After an hour of walking, they arrive at the outskirts of the village. Their initial impressions are that everything is normal and the villagers are going about their business as usual. The village isn't all that large, with a population of around one thousand, so they decide to start by walking through it, getting a sense of how everything is going, and possibly hearing the party's dogs somewhere.

Their investigation confirms their initial impressions - everything appears to be fine in the village. Near the center they hear the sounds of dogs, and when they approach, they find that the source is indeed the party's dogs. The sixteen dogs are being held in a wooden pen, watched over by three White Elf guards. They catch a glimpse of one of the sleds in a nearby tent as well.

Walking up and talking to one of the guards, they learn that, as far as the guards know, the adventuring party are "honoured guests". Their orders are to watch over the animals until the party return for them. They convince the guards to let them look at the animals, which all seem to be in good health and have not been mistreated.

Soon, though, the guards tire of the party's questions, telling them to go talk to the Chief, since the guards are only doing their jobs and don't really know that much. The group agree with this suggestion, and head towards the great hall.

There, they meet another guard who bars their entrance and demands that they state their business. They tell him that they represent the adventurers and have come to retrieve their dogs for them. Since they don't have any hard proof of this, the guard is hesitant to believe them, but eventually they convince him to at least inform the Chief of their presence. He does so, and returns a few minutes later, telling them that the Chief will see them in an hour.

While waiting for the Chief, the party split up and pursue different ends. Nuptup produces a gambling set and heads out to try to make some money off the villagers. Sue heads back to the dog pen to keep an eye on it and see if anyone goes in or out of the tent where they saw the sled. Feyrith and Greg, with Snowflower accompanying them, head to the Temple of Ashes, the main temple of Soloneth, to talk to the High Priest Delenoth.

The Temple of Ashes is the largest building in the village, a roughly circular, wooden building consisting of a central, private Inner Sanctum, and the Outer Sanctum, where the general public can come to worship. Greg and Feyrith explain to Sunflower that the temple is named after a legendary miracle. In ancient times, the humans from the south were attempting the conquer the White Elves' lands, and their armies were too large and too strong for the elves to fight. But, in the climactic battle, where all of the elves' forces were arrayed against the humans in a hopeless battle, Soloneth himself took to the field, destroying the entire human army by reducing them to ash with a flurry of lightning bolts. The temple is built on this location, and the Inner Sanctum contains the ashes of the destroyed army, which the elves view as a holy relic.

Greg worked at the temple before he was taken to the king, so when he arrives, he's immediately recognized by one of the other acolytes, who is shocked to see him and asks where he's been for the last few weeks. Greg brushes off the question, and asks to speak with Delenoth. The acolyte tells him that, shortly after Greg disappeared, the High Priest declared that he needed to commune with Soloneth and locked himself in the Inner Sanctum. He has not come out since, and the acolytes were ordered to not disturb him for any reason.

Greg asks if the acolyte knows exactly why Delenoth is performing this vigil. The acolyte responds that Delenoth gave them only a vague explanation that he sensed some great threat to the White Elf people, and that he needed to commune with Soloneth to discover what it might be.

Declaring that he knows what the threat is, and that Soloneth must have arranged for his arrival here through divine providence, Greg steps towards the Inner Sanctum, with Feyrith and Snowflower following. The acolyte isn't totally convinced, but decides not to interfere. Greg opens the door, and he and Feyrith step in, with Snowflower remaining behind.

The Inner Sanctum is a circular room, containing the urn of sacred ashes in the center, with walls covered in paintings depicting Soloneth striking down the human armies. Delenoth is sitting at the far end of the room, wearing hooded robes and facing away from the door. He asks them to close the door, so Snowflower does so as Greg and Feyrith approach.

Greg steps close enough to Delenoth in order to catch a glimpse of his face under his hood. His fears are confirmed - the High Priest is undead, either having been killed and reanimated, or replaced entirely. Shocked, he calls out a warning to Feyrith.

As Feyrith prepares her holy symbol to Turn Undead, Delenoth rises with unnatural speed and lashes out at Greg with clawed hands. Greg is hit, and immediately the life is drained out of him. His lifeless husk of a corpse falls to the ground. Feyrith presents her holy symbol and attempts to drive Delenoth back, but he resists her divine power. To make matters worse, moments after falling to the ground, Greg's reanimated corpse rises up and moves to attack Feyrith as well.

In the Outer Sanctum, Snowflower hers the commotion and alerts the priests of what's happening. Deciding that he stands no chance in a fight against the undead, he flees the temple and heads for the Chief's hall.

Back in the Inner Sanctum, Feyrith falls back on her other magic, Turn Undead having failed. She summons Soloneth's aid in the form of ghostly, spiritual dragons that flit around her, attacking any enemy that gets close, as well as a ghostly spear that attacks Zombie Greg. Delenoth is able to get close and attack Feyrith with the same life-draining claws that killed Greg, but she does not go down as easily.

Feyrith realizes that she is faster than Delenoth and she can simply retreat, allowing the Spirit Guardians to protect her. Delenoth attempts to chase her down but is stopped by the spirits as she hits him with various spells, and the spear finishes off Greg. Finally, Delenoth gives and and flees the temple.

Feyrith emerges after the undead priest and chases him. But when she approaches too close, Delenoth reverses his direction and charges her. His attacks break her concentration and the Spirit Guardians vanish. Feyrith backs off, but Delenoth chooses not to pursue and instead continues fleeing.

With a final prayer to Soloneth, Feyrith summons a stormcloud in the sky above and directs a lightning bolt down at the escaping creature. Delenoth is struck directly, and instantly transformed to ash.

The temple acolytes and other bystanders are awed by this demonstration, which so clearly mirrors the miracle around which the Temple of Ashes was founded. Feyrith rallies the priests and they head out to the Chief's hall. By the time Feyrith and the priests arrive, Snowflower has just finished convincing the Chief's guards to see him. Sue and Nuptup have also arrived, having heard of the commotion sweeping through the village. They head in together to see the Chief.

Chief Aurimach is an ancient elf, sitting on a throne flanked by his two advisors. Feyrith takes the lead in explaining what has happened, with the acolytes and the other elves corroborating her story as necessary. She tells the Chief that he must take action against the undead that have been infiltrating White Elf society and controlling their king.

Aurimach is initially unconvinced, until Feyrith reminds him that the situation is so dire that even the High Priest of Soloneth has been directly turned or replaced. Finally convinced by her arguments, Aurimach agrees to call a council of Chiefs in order to discuss the situation.

Having secured the Chief's aid, the three remaining elves return to the party's encampment and retrieve the group. They make their way to the village and meet with the Chief. Aurimach asks that Feyrith stay behind to aid him, as he no longer has Delenoth to advise him, and she agrees. The party decide to continue their journey to the north, to try to destroy the undead at the source.

Session 38: File Not Found

It looks like I never wrote up any kind of report for this session, and at this point I've forgotten most of the details. The vague gist of what happened is that the party successfully stole the boats and made it across the lake to the White Elf village. They land some distance away from the village itself, since they assumed that they won't exactly be warmly welcomed by the Elves. They decide to send only Feyrith and the White Elf commoners into the village, who will attempt to convince the Elves to join forces with the party against the undead.