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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7291690" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 03: FLOWER-PICKING FOR ADVENTURERS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Galen Thorne, human paladin 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> "Wizard-Pants" (actual name TBD), elf wizard 1</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 29 November 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"These are the flowers I need you to fetch," said Skevros, holding up the book in his hand to show an illustration of two different types of flower, each of them with blue petals. "I require no less than three of each type." Orion examined the page with a quiet intensity, as if burning the images of the plants into her brain.</p><p></p><p>"Tell me again why we're going flower-picking?" complained Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"The flowers are reagents necessary in the brewing of a magical compound called <em>osteovox</em>," replied Skevros. "Once I have a sufficient quantity brewed, it will enable me to learn more about the sword Galen found in the chamber below the cave."</p><p></p><p>"I've never seen flowers like these before," remarked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"That is not surprising, as they're relatively rare. However, they can be found in a place called the Azure Glade, about three days' travel to the east of Durnhill. The place is a nexus point of ley-line energy; you will likely find them growing in a graveyard, where pools of necromantic energy are common. You will find they glow slightly in the dark, as a result of the energies they have absorbed. I will provide you with a horse and wagon, as well as provisions. With luck, you'll be back within a week with the flowers - a minimum of three of each type - and I can begin brewing the <em>osteovox</em>. Now then, any questions before you set off?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, I got one," replied Syngaard. "What's a 'reagent'?"</p><p></p><p>"I believe that's when you hire an agent, then fire him, then hire him again," suggested Galen.</p><p></p><p>"Um, no, actually," corrected Skevros patiently. "A reagent is merely a term for a substance useful in transforming one substance into another."</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute," said Syngaard, frowning. "I thought Leornic was our reagent."</p><p></p><p>"That would be 'regent' you're thinking of," submitted Skevros. "And no, Leornic is our king, not our regent. The regent just fills in, on a temporary basis, for the ruler when he is not available, or not yet of age." He looked across the table at his five adventurers. "If there are no other...pertinent questions?"</p><p></p><p>"Can we take this book with us?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, of course."</p><p></p><p>"That's stupid," interjected Syngaard. "Just rip out the page with the flowers we need on it and leave the rest of the book behind."</p><p></p><p>"I'd really rather you didn't," replied Skevros. "I trust, Miss Nightsky, you'll be good enough to ensure the book remains in one piece?" Both the king's adviser and the halfling rogue looked over at the bald fighter with a look of distrust; Syngaard just shrugged. "Whatever," he grumbled.</p><p></p><p>As they exited the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, Syngaard was muttering to himself that sure enough, as soon as the halfling chick got assigned to one of their missions it involved picking flowers.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Three days later, Syngaard was in no better of a mood. The travel had been uneventful, but the scarred fighter didn't necessarily see that as a good thing: a goblin ambush would have at least have enlivened the boredom of trudging down the road for three days with two newbies, neither of whom he particularly liked. Galen and Kaspar had proven their worth in battle, but Syngaard couldn't see what use a halfling chick no taller than a three-year-old was going to be in a combat situation. And as for the elf wizard, he was being all silent and "mysterious," refusing even to tell them his name again.</p><p></p><p>"I told you once, when we first met," the wizard rebuked.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, and I forgot what you said, so tell me again," prompted Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"So you can forget it again? That's a game I doubt worth the playing."</p><p></p><p>"We do need to call you something," pointed out Galen.</p><p></p><p>"And you paid no attention either?" demanded the wizard. "You humans are pathetic. I heard each of your names but the once and had immediately committed them to memory."</p><p></p><p>Irritated by the haughty elf, Syngaard and Galen exchanged a look. "Well, we pathetic humans will have to come up with our own name for you," decided the bald fighter. "How about 'Foofy'? Or 'Turtle-Fondler'?"</p><p></p><p>"'Wizard-Pants'," suggested Galen.</p><p></p><p>"'Dick Flimsy'," offered Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Your childish antics merely serve to demonstrate your own immaturity," sniffed the wizard. "Call me what you will; I would not grace you with my real name in any case."</p><p></p><p>"I like 'Wizard-Pants,'" repeated Galen.</p><p></p><p>"Fine," agreed Syngaard, who was tiring of the game at this point anyway. "'Wizard-Pants' it is."</p><p></p><p>The sun was already most of the way down when they approached their target graveyard. A fine mist was rising up along the ground, obscuring the smaller of the headstones scattered along the hallowed grounds inside the fenced enclosure. Galen pulled off his backpack and passed sunrods to those desiring them. Syngaard and Orion each took one; the elves demurred, Kaspar because he wanted his hands free, and "Wizard-Pants" because he wasn't going to take anything offered to him by one of the irritating humans who couldn't be bothered to remember his name.</p><p></p><p>"Cheer up," replied Orion, using the wizard's real name - or at least the one he had used when first introducing himself to the others - while Galen and Syngaard opened up the gates to the graveyard and Kaspar tied the horse's reins to the fence in such a way as they could be released with a quick tug.</p><p></p><p>"I notice you didn't remind the others of my name."</p><p></p><p>"Nope," agreed the cheerful halfling. "It's funnier this way."</p><p></p><p>The gates now open, Syngaard and Galen approached with weapons drawn: the former with his traditional morningstar, the latter with his masterwork longsword whose mysterious nature was the cause of this current mission in the first place. Kaspar followed just behind, his elven ears alert to danger.</p><p></p><p>Just ahead in the graveyard, three forms materialized from the mist. Syngaard raced ahead close enough to see they were animated human skeletons, then stopped where he was and braced his heavy wooden shield in a defensive posture, forcing the enemy to come to him for once. (This was a lesson he had learned the hard way while dealing with goblin bandits.) Galen stepped up beside him, mirroring his stance.</p><p></p><p>The skeletons complied as the heroes had hoped, by sprinting up to them with weapons readied - in this case, ceremonial-looking daggers of excellent craftsmanship. But Syngaard and Galen each got in a good whack with their weapons as the enemies approached. Syngaard's immediate foe managed to duck away from his blow at the last moment, but Galen's longsword not only struck his opponent but caused the bone where it struck to blacken and crumble. Despite the skeletons' innate ability to shrug off the effects of most strikes made by slashing weapons, Galen's new longsword seemed to be an exception to the normal rule. Thus, rather than switch to his warhammer to fight off these skeletons, he maintained his grip on his longsword and gave it his all.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar managed to slay the skeleton Syngaard had been fighting with a well-placed blow to the neck, which snapped off the creature's skull and caused the rest of the bones to fall in a heap on the ground. Syngaard hit another with his morningstar but the blow failed to destroy it; a <em>magic missile</em> spell cast by the elven wizard finished it off. Galen's undead foe crumbled away into blackened ashes when he finished it off with his sword. "Quite impressive!" he remarked, then looked over at the piles of bones from the other two slain skeletons. The bones of these weren't burned away as his was, but they were covered in streaks of blood - and not the heroes' blood, judging from their lack of wounds.</p><p></p><p>Ahead, the heroes could see two rows of stone mausoleums, one row on either side of the central path to the back of the graveyard. "I'll go this way and start looking for the flowers," offered Orion, sneaking off into the mausoleum shadows to the west, holding her as-of-yet-inactivated sunrod in one hand and carrying a goblin morningstar in the other; despite Syngaard having failed to destroy any skeletons by himself with his own, much larger morningstar, it was a logical weapon to use against animated skeletons.</p><p></p><p>"Be watchful for undead," cautioned the elf wizard. The halfling favored him with a smile before slinking away.</p><p></p><p>There was a rune of some type carved into the ground just ahead, surrounded by a dozen piles of discarded flesh and robes. Galen strained his senses and announced there was evil just ahead, a mere moment before another four shapes shambled forward towards them out of the mist. It was a quartet of more animated skeletons, armed the same as the others had been. The wizard cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself and, having used up his daily quotient of his most powerful spells, pulled the light crossbow from his back.</p><p></p><p>The other three men surged forward into battle. Syngaard soon found himself surrounded on three sides, but Kaspar's deadly hands managed to destroy two of them seemingly in as many seconds. Galen's sword scored marks of charred bone across the ribs of the skeleton he fought, and while Syngaard managed to strike his own foe, his morningstar always seemed to just barely skim the surface of his enemy's bones. A crossbow bolt hit Syngaard's foe in the skull, but bounced off without doing much in the way of damage.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Orion had moved towards the back of the graveyard. Her halfling ears picked up the sounds of a struggle and a muffled whimper; silently she snuck even further back, noting another wave of three animated skeletons heading towards the sounds of combat behind her. But there ahead of her was the source of the sounds of struggle she had heard: a robed figure, a human by the look of it, was pulling a bound and gagged elf woman into place. The female elf looked terrified at the two other robed figures who helped pull her into position, in front of a wooden barrel.</p><p></p><p>As the wizard's back was to her, Orion targeted him as her first victim. She dodged from shadow to shadow, moving through the mist to her designated target.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Syngaard was getting irritated by these skeletons. They didn't seem able to deal much damage to the heroes, but that wasn't the point. Galen had dropped a few of them into blackened heaps of ashes with that fancy sword of his, and the elven monk - who didn't even use any weapons, for pity's sake - had slain more than any of the rest of them. Syngaard's morningstar had dealt damage to more than a few of the skeletons, but he never managed to make the killing blow; it was always Kaspar or Galen finishing off his foes for him. "Wizard-Pants" kept hitting Syngaard's foes with crossbow bolts, but they just clonked off the skulls and didn't seem to have any effect. That was definitely a good thing to Syngaard; bad enough his companions were dealing all of the lethal damage to these undead foes, but he didn't want to owe his life to that annoying elf wizard!</p><p></p><p>Still, one by one the skeletons were felled, until only two of the seven from the second and third waves were left up and about. Kaspar, Galen, and Syngaard left them behind with "Wizard-Pants" as they rushed forward into what sounded like a more interesting battle at the back of the graveyard.</p><p></p><p>As Orion had snuck ever forward, the human wizard cast a spell that caused his hand to glow with an eerie blue light. Not waiting to see what that was all about, the halfling rogue struck out with her weapon, but while the spikes of the goblin morningstar tore gashes into the wizard's robes, it didn't seem to hurt him in the least. It did, however, reveal her presence to the wizard - who commanded his two robed minions to "Deal with her!"</p><p></p><p>Orion skipped back a few steps, dropping her goblin morningstar for her short sword - a weapon with which she had had much more practice. The robed minions advanced upon her...and as they got closer, Orion could see the skulls visible behind hoods of their robes. "Aw, crap!" she complained, sorry now that she'd dropped her goblin morningstar.</p><p></p><p>But by then her companions had arrived on the scene - all but "Wizard-Pants," who was still busy dealing with the two animated skeletons in the middle of the graveyard. Kaspar dealt a deadly flying kick to one of the robed skeletons, causing it to fall apart in its robes and collapse to the ground. The human wizard touched his elf captive with his glowing hand, causing her to swoon to the ground, unconscious. But Orion only barely dodged below a dagger-strike from the other robed skeleton, tumbling out of the way at the last possible moment.</p><p></p><p>Galen dropped out of combat once he saw a bound elf maiden in distress, running over to cut her bonds with his longsword. Syngaard stepped in to deal with the robed skeleton who had tried to kill Orion and once again managed to hit the thing with his morningstar yet still fail to bring it down.</p><p></p><p>"Get out of here!" demanded the human wizard. "You're ruining everything!" He cast another <em>chill touch</em> on his hand and struck out at Orion, catching the nimble halfling by the shoulder. She immediately winced as negative energy coursed through her body, staggering her on the spot. Instinctively, she pulled away from his grasp and backed out of his reach, pulling at one of the <em>potions of cure light wounds</em> at her belt as she did so.</p><p></p><p>The wizard had no time to deal further with Orion, though, for Kaspar was upon him. The monk hit the wizard like a striking cobra, pushing his extended fingers straight into his breastbone and hearing it shatter, then using the side of his other hand to crush the mage's throat. The evil spellcaster fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. He tried getting out a final spell, but died before able to finish it.</p><p></p><p>Galen finished cutting through the ropes binding the elf and saw that she was not only unconscious, but far on the way to dying herself. He pulled out his <em>wand of cure light wounds</em> and restored the young elf's vitality. She fluttered her eyes and woke back to consciousness, finding herself in the arms of a well-muscled paladin of Hieroneous. "You're safe now," he smiled at the young woman, as she removed an obsidian ring from a slender finger and flung it away.</p><p></p><p>"Well, I'm not!" griped Syngaard, still fighting with the last of the robed skeletons. They'd each managed to hit their respective foe several times, and each was close to being out of the fight permanently.</p><p></p><p>"Hang on!" called "Wizard-Pants," having snuck by the two other skeletons he'd been left with, to have them taken care of by Orion and Kaspar. He raised his light crossbow and took careful aim at the robed skeleton in combat with the scarred fighter.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, like that'll do anything!" scoffed Syngaard, dodging another dagger-strike from his undead opponent. He'd seen the elf wizard bounce crossbow bolts off of skulls all night with nothing to show of it. But he ended up having to eat his words for the bolt struck true, lodging into the creature's skull and causing its bones to collapse in a pile.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard looked over at the elf wizard. "I softened it up enough for you to be able to do that," he said.</p><p></p><p>"No doubt," agreed "Wizard-Pants."</p><p></p><p>"So, what was all of this about?" asked Galen.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Prescott</strong> here wanted my hand in marriage," spat the elf, a young woman (by elven standards) named <strong>Tia</strong>. "When I refused, he decided he'd simply turn me into an undead creature who would have to follow his every command."</p><p></p><p>"That's pretty skeevy," announced Orion.</p><p></p><p>"He was a sleaze," agreeed Tia. "He killed off a dozen of his fellow Nerull worshippers, just so he could have undead minions." She shuddered at the thought.</p><p></p><p>"He did not seem powerful enough to animate a dozen skeletons at once," remarked the elf wizard.</p><p></p><p>"Well, he didn't do it using his own spells, if that's what you mean," replied Tia. "He had them drink out of that," indicating the barrel. "Wizard-Pants" peeked inside the barrel and laughed aloud.</p><p></p><p>"What's so funny?" demanded Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Do you know what this is?" he asked the fighter, then answered for himself. "No, of course you don't. It's <em>osteovox</em>, already prepared!"</p><p></p><p>"Really?" asked Orion. "I thought it was used to determine magical properties."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, it is," agreed the elf wizard. "But it has many other uses. Drink it down, and it will not only kill you almost immediately but also cause your bones to slide out of your skin and become animated. Prescott didn't have to animate those skeletons, merely control them after they were created."</p><p></p><p>"It sounds like we'll be taking this with us," decided Galen, indicating the barrel.</p><p></p><p>"Beats having to pick flowers," observed Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>And that wasn't all they took; they gathered up the thirteen masterwork ritual daggers the Nerullians had wielded, as well as a <em>ring of protection</em> and a pair of <em>bracers of armor</em> from Prescott's corpse. Kaspar wore the bracers, while the ring was given to "Wizard-Pants." And then, despite the darkness of the night, they put a few miles behind them before camping along the roadside for the evening, on their way back to Durnhill.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"That will definitely save a lot of time," agreed Skevros upon seeing the barrel of <em>osteovox</em>. "Well then, let us dally no further!" He brought out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick inquiry upon it. "What is special about this longsword?" he wrote, then wrapped the parchment around the blade and immersed the whole thing in the barrel of <em>osteovox</em>. "It will require about an hour," he said.</p><p></p><p>"A shame this place never got restocked with ale," complained Syngaard. But, after an hour of painful waiting, Skevros fished the blade out of the barrel while wearing a pair of heavy gloves. Unwrapping the parchment, they saw the words had changed. They now read,</p><p></p><p>"Holy crap!" said Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"That statue of the armored figure, in the chamber below the cave," said Kaspar. "That must have been Zehkar!"</p><p></p><p>"But surely he died," argued Galen.</p><p></p><p>"If a person is turned to stone, that does not qualify as a true death," replied the elven wizard in full "talking down to everybody" mode. "After all, the process is reversible, in which case the flesh is restored. The soul does not pass on to its awaited reward or punishment merely upon the petrification of the body."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well, good luck getting this guy reversed," commented Syngaard. "His statue - petrified body, whatever - got shattered pretty good."</p><p></p><p>"It sounds like his spirit has already passed on, though," pointed out Kaspar. "'I am Zehkar,' remember? I think the paladin's spirit is now part of the sword!"</p><p></p><p>Galen looked at his mithral longsword with new respect. "Zehkar?" he called to his sword.</p><p></p><p>It did not respond.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was the first time Vicki and Joey joined us for our Wednesday evening excursions, and we had a blast - it seems like it's more fun when you have more people in the game. Dan had filled Vicki in on Syngaard's "prostitot" comments, so she was already up to speed as far as "Orion's opinions about Syngaard."</p><p></p><p>My attack rolls sucked during this adventure, to the point where I started setting my d20s aside as soon as they had failed me. My first three attack rolls were 5, 3, and 4, so I had those dice lined up in a "rolls of shame" row, hoping to embarrass the other d20s into shaping up. My fourth roll was a hit, so I let that die be my primary attack die until it, too, failed me and was replaced.</p><p></p><p>Joey, in the meantime, kept hitting skeleton after skeleton with his light crossbow - and then dealing exactly 5 points of damage, which failed to overcome their damage resistance. Until that is, the very last attack of the game, when Syngaard had the robed skeleton down to 1 hp, and "Wizard-Pants" dealt the thing 6 points of damage, robbing my poor fighter of his last opportunity to actually drive home the killing blow at least once during this adventure.</p><p></p><p>But Kaspar, Galen, and Syngaard all reached 2nd level by the end of this adventure, so that's good.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7291690, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 03: FLOWER-PICKING FOR ADVENTURERS[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Galen Thorne, human paladin 1 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 1 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 1 Syngaard, human fighter 1 "Wizard-Pants" (actual name TBD), elf wizard 1[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 29 November 2017 - - - "These are the flowers I need you to fetch," said Skevros, holding up the book in his hand to show an illustration of two different types of flower, each of them with blue petals. "I require no less than three of each type." Orion examined the page with a quiet intensity, as if burning the images of the plants into her brain. "Tell me again why we're going flower-picking?" complained Syngaard. "The flowers are reagents necessary in the brewing of a magical compound called [i]osteovox[/i]," replied Skevros. "Once I have a sufficient quantity brewed, it will enable me to learn more about the sword Galen found in the chamber below the cave." "I've never seen flowers like these before," remarked Orion. "That is not surprising, as they're relatively rare. However, they can be found in a place called the Azure Glade, about three days' travel to the east of Durnhill. The place is a nexus point of ley-line energy; you will likely find them growing in a graveyard, where pools of necromantic energy are common. You will find they glow slightly in the dark, as a result of the energies they have absorbed. I will provide you with a horse and wagon, as well as provisions. With luck, you'll be back within a week with the flowers - a minimum of three of each type - and I can begin brewing the [i]osteovox[/i]. Now then, any questions before you set off?" "Yeah, I got one," replied Syngaard. "What's a 'reagent'?" "I believe that's when you hire an agent, then fire him, then hire him again," suggested Galen. "Um, no, actually," corrected Skevros patiently. "A reagent is merely a term for a substance useful in transforming one substance into another." "Wait a minute," said Syngaard, frowning. "I thought Leornic was our reagent." "That would be 'regent' you're thinking of," submitted Skevros. "And no, Leornic is our king, not our regent. The regent just fills in, on a temporary basis, for the ruler when he is not available, or not yet of age." He looked across the table at his five adventurers. "If there are no other...pertinent questions?" "Can we take this book with us?" asked Orion. "Yes, of course." "That's stupid," interjected Syngaard. "Just rip out the page with the flowers we need on it and leave the rest of the book behind." "I'd really rather you didn't," replied Skevros. "I trust, Miss Nightsky, you'll be good enough to ensure the book remains in one piece?" Both the king's adviser and the halfling rogue looked over at the bald fighter with a look of distrust; Syngaard just shrugged. "Whatever," he grumbled. As they exited the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i], Syngaard was muttering to himself that sure enough, as soon as the halfling chick got assigned to one of their missions it involved picking flowers. - - - Three days later, Syngaard was in no better of a mood. The travel had been uneventful, but the scarred fighter didn't necessarily see that as a good thing: a goblin ambush would have at least have enlivened the boredom of trudging down the road for three days with two newbies, neither of whom he particularly liked. Galen and Kaspar had proven their worth in battle, but Syngaard couldn't see what use a halfling chick no taller than a three-year-old was going to be in a combat situation. And as for the elf wizard, he was being all silent and "mysterious," refusing even to tell them his name again. "I told you once, when we first met," the wizard rebuked. "Yeah, and I forgot what you said, so tell me again," prompted Syngaard. "So you can forget it again? That's a game I doubt worth the playing." "We do need to call you something," pointed out Galen. "And you paid no attention either?" demanded the wizard. "You humans are pathetic. I heard each of your names but the once and had immediately committed them to memory." Irritated by the haughty elf, Syngaard and Galen exchanged a look. "Well, we pathetic humans will have to come up with our own name for you," decided the bald fighter. "How about 'Foofy'? Or 'Turtle-Fondler'?" "'Wizard-Pants'," suggested Galen. "'Dick Flimsy'," offered Syngaard. "Your childish antics merely serve to demonstrate your own immaturity," sniffed the wizard. "Call me what you will; I would not grace you with my real name in any case." "I like 'Wizard-Pants,'" repeated Galen. "Fine," agreed Syngaard, who was tiring of the game at this point anyway. "'Wizard-Pants' it is." The sun was already most of the way down when they approached their target graveyard. A fine mist was rising up along the ground, obscuring the smaller of the headstones scattered along the hallowed grounds inside the fenced enclosure. Galen pulled off his backpack and passed sunrods to those desiring them. Syngaard and Orion each took one; the elves demurred, Kaspar because he wanted his hands free, and "Wizard-Pants" because he wasn't going to take anything offered to him by one of the irritating humans who couldn't be bothered to remember his name. "Cheer up," replied Orion, using the wizard's real name - or at least the one he had used when first introducing himself to the others - while Galen and Syngaard opened up the gates to the graveyard and Kaspar tied the horse's reins to the fence in such a way as they could be released with a quick tug. "I notice you didn't remind the others of my name." "Nope," agreed the cheerful halfling. "It's funnier this way." The gates now open, Syngaard and Galen approached with weapons drawn: the former with his traditional morningstar, the latter with his masterwork longsword whose mysterious nature was the cause of this current mission in the first place. Kaspar followed just behind, his elven ears alert to danger. Just ahead in the graveyard, three forms materialized from the mist. Syngaard raced ahead close enough to see they were animated human skeletons, then stopped where he was and braced his heavy wooden shield in a defensive posture, forcing the enemy to come to him for once. (This was a lesson he had learned the hard way while dealing with goblin bandits.) Galen stepped up beside him, mirroring his stance. The skeletons complied as the heroes had hoped, by sprinting up to them with weapons readied - in this case, ceremonial-looking daggers of excellent craftsmanship. But Syngaard and Galen each got in a good whack with their weapons as the enemies approached. Syngaard's immediate foe managed to duck away from his blow at the last moment, but Galen's longsword not only struck his opponent but caused the bone where it struck to blacken and crumble. Despite the skeletons' innate ability to shrug off the effects of most strikes made by slashing weapons, Galen's new longsword seemed to be an exception to the normal rule. Thus, rather than switch to his warhammer to fight off these skeletons, he maintained his grip on his longsword and gave it his all. Kaspar managed to slay the skeleton Syngaard had been fighting with a well-placed blow to the neck, which snapped off the creature's skull and caused the rest of the bones to fall in a heap on the ground. Syngaard hit another with his morningstar but the blow failed to destroy it; a [i]magic missile[/i] spell cast by the elven wizard finished it off. Galen's undead foe crumbled away into blackened ashes when he finished it off with his sword. "Quite impressive!" he remarked, then looked over at the piles of bones from the other two slain skeletons. The bones of these weren't burned away as his was, but they were covered in streaks of blood - and not the heroes' blood, judging from their lack of wounds. Ahead, the heroes could see two rows of stone mausoleums, one row on either side of the central path to the back of the graveyard. "I'll go this way and start looking for the flowers," offered Orion, sneaking off into the mausoleum shadows to the west, holding her as-of-yet-inactivated sunrod in one hand and carrying a goblin morningstar in the other; despite Syngaard having failed to destroy any skeletons by himself with his own, much larger morningstar, it was a logical weapon to use against animated skeletons. "Be watchful for undead," cautioned the elf wizard. The halfling favored him with a smile before slinking away. There was a rune of some type carved into the ground just ahead, surrounded by a dozen piles of discarded flesh and robes. Galen strained his senses and announced there was evil just ahead, a mere moment before another four shapes shambled forward towards them out of the mist. It was a quartet of more animated skeletons, armed the same as the others had been. The wizard cast a [i]mage armor[/i] spell upon himself and, having used up his daily quotient of his most powerful spells, pulled the light crossbow from his back. The other three men surged forward into battle. Syngaard soon found himself surrounded on three sides, but Kaspar's deadly hands managed to destroy two of them seemingly in as many seconds. Galen's sword scored marks of charred bone across the ribs of the skeleton he fought, and while Syngaard managed to strike his own foe, his morningstar always seemed to just barely skim the surface of his enemy's bones. A crossbow bolt hit Syngaard's foe in the skull, but bounced off without doing much in the way of damage. In the meantime, Orion had moved towards the back of the graveyard. Her halfling ears picked up the sounds of a struggle and a muffled whimper; silently she snuck even further back, noting another wave of three animated skeletons heading towards the sounds of combat behind her. But there ahead of her was the source of the sounds of struggle she had heard: a robed figure, a human by the look of it, was pulling a bound and gagged elf woman into place. The female elf looked terrified at the two other robed figures who helped pull her into position, in front of a wooden barrel. As the wizard's back was to her, Orion targeted him as her first victim. She dodged from shadow to shadow, moving through the mist to her designated target. Meanwhile, Syngaard was getting irritated by these skeletons. They didn't seem able to deal much damage to the heroes, but that wasn't the point. Galen had dropped a few of them into blackened heaps of ashes with that fancy sword of his, and the elven monk - who didn't even use any weapons, for pity's sake - had slain more than any of the rest of them. Syngaard's morningstar had dealt damage to more than a few of the skeletons, but he never managed to make the killing blow; it was always Kaspar or Galen finishing off his foes for him. "Wizard-Pants" kept hitting Syngaard's foes with crossbow bolts, but they just clonked off the skulls and didn't seem to have any effect. That was definitely a good thing to Syngaard; bad enough his companions were dealing all of the lethal damage to these undead foes, but he didn't want to owe his life to that annoying elf wizard! Still, one by one the skeletons were felled, until only two of the seven from the second and third waves were left up and about. Kaspar, Galen, and Syngaard left them behind with "Wizard-Pants" as they rushed forward into what sounded like a more interesting battle at the back of the graveyard. As Orion had snuck ever forward, the human wizard cast a spell that caused his hand to glow with an eerie blue light. Not waiting to see what that was all about, the halfling rogue struck out with her weapon, but while the spikes of the goblin morningstar tore gashes into the wizard's robes, it didn't seem to hurt him in the least. It did, however, reveal her presence to the wizard - who commanded his two robed minions to "Deal with her!" Orion skipped back a few steps, dropping her goblin morningstar for her short sword - a weapon with which she had had much more practice. The robed minions advanced upon her...and as they got closer, Orion could see the skulls visible behind hoods of their robes. "Aw, crap!" she complained, sorry now that she'd dropped her goblin morningstar. But by then her companions had arrived on the scene - all but "Wizard-Pants," who was still busy dealing with the two animated skeletons in the middle of the graveyard. Kaspar dealt a deadly flying kick to one of the robed skeletons, causing it to fall apart in its robes and collapse to the ground. The human wizard touched his elf captive with his glowing hand, causing her to swoon to the ground, unconscious. But Orion only barely dodged below a dagger-strike from the other robed skeleton, tumbling out of the way at the last possible moment. Galen dropped out of combat once he saw a bound elf maiden in distress, running over to cut her bonds with his longsword. Syngaard stepped in to deal with the robed skeleton who had tried to kill Orion and once again managed to hit the thing with his morningstar yet still fail to bring it down. "Get out of here!" demanded the human wizard. "You're ruining everything!" He cast another [i]chill touch[/i] on his hand and struck out at Orion, catching the nimble halfling by the shoulder. She immediately winced as negative energy coursed through her body, staggering her on the spot. Instinctively, she pulled away from his grasp and backed out of his reach, pulling at one of the [i]potions of cure light wounds[/i] at her belt as she did so. The wizard had no time to deal further with Orion, though, for Kaspar was upon him. The monk hit the wizard like a striking cobra, pushing his extended fingers straight into his breastbone and hearing it shatter, then using the side of his other hand to crush the mage's throat. The evil spellcaster fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. He tried getting out a final spell, but died before able to finish it. Galen finished cutting through the ropes binding the elf and saw that she was not only unconscious, but far on the way to dying herself. He pulled out his [i]wand of cure light wounds[/i] and restored the young elf's vitality. She fluttered her eyes and woke back to consciousness, finding herself in the arms of a well-muscled paladin of Hieroneous. "You're safe now," he smiled at the young woman, as she removed an obsidian ring from a slender finger and flung it away. "Well, I'm not!" griped Syngaard, still fighting with the last of the robed skeletons. They'd each managed to hit their respective foe several times, and each was close to being out of the fight permanently. "Hang on!" called "Wizard-Pants," having snuck by the two other skeletons he'd been left with, to have them taken care of by Orion and Kaspar. He raised his light crossbow and took careful aim at the robed skeleton in combat with the scarred fighter. "Yeah, like that'll do anything!" scoffed Syngaard, dodging another dagger-strike from his undead opponent. He'd seen the elf wizard bounce crossbow bolts off of skulls all night with nothing to show of it. But he ended up having to eat his words for the bolt struck true, lodging into the creature's skull and causing its bones to collapse in a pile. Syngaard looked over at the elf wizard. "I softened it up enough for you to be able to do that," he said. "No doubt," agreed "Wizard-Pants." "So, what was all of this about?" asked Galen. "[b]Prescott[/b] here wanted my hand in marriage," spat the elf, a young woman (by elven standards) named [b]Tia[/b]. "When I refused, he decided he'd simply turn me into an undead creature who would have to follow his every command." "That's pretty skeevy," announced Orion. "He was a sleaze," agreeed Tia. "He killed off a dozen of his fellow Nerull worshippers, just so he could have undead minions." She shuddered at the thought. "He did not seem powerful enough to animate a dozen skeletons at once," remarked the elf wizard. "Well, he didn't do it using his own spells, if that's what you mean," replied Tia. "He had them drink out of that," indicating the barrel. "Wizard-Pants" peeked inside the barrel and laughed aloud. "What's so funny?" demanded Syngaard. "Do you know what this is?" he asked the fighter, then answered for himself. "No, of course you don't. It's [i]osteovox[/i], already prepared!" "Really?" asked Orion. "I thought it was used to determine magical properties." "Oh, it is," agreed the elf wizard. "But it has many other uses. Drink it down, and it will not only kill you almost immediately but also cause your bones to slide out of your skin and become animated. Prescott didn't have to animate those skeletons, merely control them after they were created." "It sounds like we'll be taking this with us," decided Galen, indicating the barrel. "Beats having to pick flowers," observed Syngaard. And that wasn't all they took; they gathered up the thirteen masterwork ritual daggers the Nerullians had wielded, as well as a [i]ring of protection[/i] and a pair of [i]bracers of armor[/i] from Prescott's corpse. Kaspar wore the bracers, while the ring was given to "Wizard-Pants." And then, despite the darkness of the night, they put a few miles behind them before camping along the roadside for the evening, on their way back to Durnhill. - - - "That will definitely save a lot of time," agreed Skevros upon seeing the barrel of [i]osteovox[/i]. "Well then, let us dally no further!" He brought out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick inquiry upon it. "What is special about this longsword?" he wrote, then wrapped the parchment around the blade and immersed the whole thing in the barrel of [i]osteovox[/i]. "It will require about an hour," he said. "A shame this place never got restocked with ale," complained Syngaard. But, after an hour of painful waiting, Skevros fished the blade out of the barrel while wearing a pair of heavy gloves. Unwrapping the parchment, they saw the words had changed. They now read, "Holy crap!" said Syngaard. "That statue of the armored figure, in the chamber below the cave," said Kaspar. "That must have been Zehkar!" "But surely he died," argued Galen. "If a person is turned to stone, that does not qualify as a true death," replied the elven wizard in full "talking down to everybody" mode. "After all, the process is reversible, in which case the flesh is restored. The soul does not pass on to its awaited reward or punishment merely upon the petrification of the body." "Yeah, well, good luck getting this guy reversed," commented Syngaard. "His statue - petrified body, whatever - got shattered pretty good." "It sounds like his spirit has already passed on, though," pointed out Kaspar. "'I am Zehkar,' remember? I think the paladin's spirit is now part of the sword!" Galen looked at his mithral longsword with new respect. "Zehkar?" he called to his sword. It did not respond. - - - This was the first time Vicki and Joey joined us for our Wednesday evening excursions, and we had a blast - it seems like it's more fun when you have more people in the game. Dan had filled Vicki in on Syngaard's "prostitot" comments, so she was already up to speed as far as "Orion's opinions about Syngaard." My attack rolls sucked during this adventure, to the point where I started setting my d20s aside as soon as they had failed me. My first three attack rolls were 5, 3, and 4, so I had those dice lined up in a "rolls of shame" row, hoping to embarrass the other d20s into shaping up. My fourth roll was a hit, so I let that die be my primary attack die until it, too, failed me and was replaced. Joey, in the meantime, kept hitting skeleton after skeleton with his light crossbow - and then dealing exactly 5 points of damage, which failed to overcome their damage resistance. Until that is, the very last attack of the game, when Syngaard had the robed skeleton down to 1 hp, and "Wizard-Pants" dealt the thing 6 points of damage, robbing my poor fighter of his last opportunity to actually drive home the killing blow at least once during this adventure. But Kaspar, Galen, and Syngaard all reached 2nd level by the end of this adventure, so that's good. [/QUOTE]
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