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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 863366" data-attributes="member: 5675">Yvgeny's second letter home:To His Eminence Pietr Orik,Temple of Ilmater,King’s Palace Square,Heliogabalus. Your Grace, Hoping this finds you in good health. Health has been playing on my mind as of late, probably due to close encounters with the accursed living dead. Ilmater! I've never had such dealings since my days clearing the last remnants of Zhengyi's army from our borderlands. No pleasant reminiscences, I can safely assure you! But I get ahead of myself; let me return to where I left off my last missive. I shall regale you with an unabridged version of events, as most of my previous adventures pale in comparison with this. Please forgive my complete lack of brevity and modesty in any of the following. I am not perfect! Our journey to the village of Clearwater was eventful to say the least. According to my good friends, several trips up and down the road between Clearwater and Dagger Falls had been made in the last few months, but adventures and battles occur every time they make the journey. Portals to other lands (common enough in these parts I suppose, I've seen some myself) and werewolves (glad I missed those!) have now been joined by some hybrid man-dragon abominations! We were merrily tramping through the rain (Miles, poor thing, complaining all the while - he should try northern Damara at this time of year) when a flock of these half-dragons decided we were fair game. I can't help thinking these things were summoned in some way by the troublesome Gran'rath: One of them at least could breathe fire! I realised that we would need to shoot these creatures from the sky, so immediately leapt to the defence of Rand, who had been laid low by the flames. Indeed, on being revived Rand threw his usual bolts of electricity at those beasts who refused to fight on the ground, and eventually the rest were bested, although Khondar came close to death too. I think the saving graces of Ilmater were much appreciated, especially after I further salved the wounds of my comrades when we made camp that night. The remainder of the journey to Clearwater was dogged by a shadowy figure. I will refer to him as he, but this is by no means certain. He followed us for some time but I was unable to observe him for long enough to note any methodology to his behaviour. On arrival in the vicinity of Clearwater, Rand offered to scout forwards into the village, as he knew the locations we would need to visit (the Van Cei mansion) better than the others. He took longer than expected though, but we waited until his owl familiar raised the alarm, then we went left the camp en masse to locate him. He was laid out unconscious, and in another few minutes may have been dead. Ilmater be praised, I was again able to prove my worth by bringing him round with a prayer of wound closure. Apparently, another of the half-dragons we encountered earlier had beset him: It took diverse magical items, but not his life it seems. Thank Ilmater the greed of these beasts outweighs their cruelty. Our persistent shadower decided to show his mettle on the night before we were to enter the village. Appearances suggest the shadow was some form of guard for the village. However, it did not simply observe us: When challenged by Miles it promptly filled him full of crossbow bolts. Judging by the skill with which they were fired, I knew on the instant we were dealing with an accomplished sniper, not just a scout. Now, what would a deadly sniper with the ability to mingle with shadows so utterly that even my night vision could not pick him out be doing in the backwaters of Daggerdale? The only deduction I can make from this is that the Clearwater Crusaders have made some more enemies in high places. Our previous encounter with the dark rogues in Lord Morn's demesne might have been construed as a failed attack on that great personage. That opinion may have to change; I suspect the Clearwater Crusaders themselves were the target. Thank the Triad I have joined them, as if any of the politics of the Dales are to come to the attention of the King, I am sure they will occur in the presence of this group! I digress! Speeding up the narrative a little, we made a plan to enter the village involving as little collateral damage as possible. Specifically: we hid in a cart until we were inside the walls. Naturally, this was totally against type for me! Rand however provided the greater wisdom: Many of the villagers were dominated by the incumbent vampires and therefore innocent. Indeed, he was very forthright about the protection of the villagers, proving that not all sorcerers are evil and uncaring demon-spawn. So, we entered the village. Stedd and I set about us with our fists and Khondar used the butt of his great axe to subdue the villagers. Rand took no damaging action at all, and Pharaxes was absent as usual. The villagers eventually massed at certain buildings, indicating the places where the vampires were hiding: The first building was fairly close and turned out to have two vampire spawn hiding within. We let light into the house, disabling one of the vile creatures and allowing us to smash its coffin. The other fled upstairs and I was the first to pursue. I then got my first taste of the draining ability of these foul things. It felt as if my soul had turned to smoke, and was leaking through a hole where the accursed thing had touched me: An awful, awful feeling. I returned the touch with a good sprinkling of holy water and I hope the scum felt the same way I did! Certainly, I swung the aspergillum so hard it connected with the beast, so now it has a dent to prove that it has seen use! Finally, Stedd, Rand and I eventually bested the spawn, and with its coffin already destroyed this spawn and the previous one was no more. The next stop was the Inn, which was populated with wights and villagers. The villagers immediately began approaching the wights, offering themselves up (under the command of the vampires) and thence becoming wights themselves. Clearly the choices were stark: Destroy the wights (villagers were in the way), kill the villagers (Triad forefend!) or attempt to turn the wights. I preyed with all my will, begging Imater to favour me and He did! Though I am but lowly in the eyes of the Crying God, He saw the need and I forced the two wights to flee from my god's aura! Only a few of the villagers had been drained, and these were quickly dispatched before they had a chance to rise up as wights and affect more villagers. This left the remainder of the villagers in the tavern to act as 'human shields' for the two turned wights, but they were swiftly knocked down. Only Miles spoiled the show. He and Stedd had gone through an upstairs window with a view to forming a pincer. As it was, one of the wights and its associated crew of villagers had fled upstairs. The problem with fighting with short swords is that there is very little that can be used to subdue the innocent. This is Miles' excuse. Personally, I find the attitude to human life Miles has to be wholly abhorrent, but I was true to my word, and did not waste breath beseeching him to avoid bloodshed. As it was, one of the villagers died upstairs, but Stedd did assure me that Miles did not actively seek to kill him, and called for me as soon as was practicable. Fortunately, I arrived in time to promise the villager that Ilmater would ensure he suffered no torment on his way to Kelemvor, and he willingly accepted Ilmater's blessing before he died. Scant comfort for me, but some for a soul that had been twisted by the foul touch of the wilfully evil vampires. This brought me back to my duty: To rid this village of the rest of it's unwelcome guests. The cellar of the Inn proved to be the place where the next spawn would crop up. Although we descended with all due care, the foul creature still surprised us, managing to charm Khondar into not laying axe on it. The rest of us, boiling down the cellar steps with a vengeance, immediately surrounded it. I brought my wand of curing to bear; knowing as I did that a simple touch would suffice to damage the vampire's connection with the plane of negative energy. After a short melee it was dropped and became a cloud of noxious fumes, which disappeared into one of the casks. We promptly broke open the cask, and proved the wiliness of these creatures: It was indeed using the barrel as a coffin, which we would probably not have guessed had we not seen the vampire enter it with our own eyes. The cask was dragged upstairs and out into the sunlight and destroyed, the vampire with it. So, our battle continued, mostly with the charmed villagers, until we reached the Van Cei manor. Being now wary of traps, I followed Rand and Stedd over the rooftop to the far side of the house (via a potion of spider climbing), leaving the rest (by which I mean Khondar and Miles, Pharaxes being invisible as usual) to battle their way in from the front door. On making our entry, Stedd returned to the other two, initially to aid Miles, who had navigated the traps in the entrance and was now beset by a well-armed and armoured fighter, now doubt the vampire lord himself. I decided to aid Rand, as it appeared that a ghost had possessed his mentor, the elven lady Alliandre, and the best way to ensure her survival was to cast the ghost out. Unfortunately, the ghost was exceptionally stubborn, using the lady's magic against us and laughing at my attempts at exorcism. Eventually Rand, who was using spells to weaken Alliandre, cast one more spell. In typically perverse fashion, knowing it would be bested, the ghost threw its possessee face-first into the volley of electrical orbs, killing her on the instant. It then promptly left the body and departed our presence through the ceiling. Rand and I rushed to Alliandre: We both knew it was too late to save her, but both sharing the thought that her child might be saved if we were very quick. With Ilmaters forsight, I had prepared a curing spell to use against the negative energy of the ghost. I could now use this for a better purpose, which was to heal the child the instant after I performed the caesarean. Clearly Ilmater was guiding my hand: Between us, Rand and I saved the child, which Rand named Braddoc after a member of the Clearwater Crusaders who had been lost in a previous adventure. There was barely enough time for swaddling, however: I wrapped the babe in my winter blanket, as Rand strode through the door into the room where we could hear sounds of combat. I left the babe on the table and went to a defensible position, only to see the vampire fall into the room, shoving Rand aside as it came. My first thought was: Use your holy symbol. I took this as a message from Ilmater, for I knew I could not hope to turn this damned thing, so strong was its evil. I presented the symbol of the Bound Hands to the accursed beast and lo! he cowered down. This was exactly the opportunity Rand needed. He loosed lightning bolts at the ceiling, blowing a large hole all the way to the roof and letting the scant sunlight in. Fortunately, it was enough. Once again the light trapped the vampire lord, and this time it was destroyed before it could move away. Again, we searched the manor to find the vampire's coffin. In the search, the ghost possessed first Khondar, then Miles. In both cases, it attempted to keep the rest of us at bay by threatening the life of the person it possessed. Both times Stedd and I were too quick, and leapt at our possessed friend, knocking him unconscious before the ghost could carry out its threat. Bereft of easily possessed foes, the ghost was vanquished before it could cause more trouble. Hopefully, with its reason for return also vanquished (the vampire lord) the Clearwater Crusaders will not see it again. Then, just as it seemed that most of the work was done, and I was enjoying visions of a joint church of Ilmater and hospital, a large object appeared out of the clouds. It was clearly heading straight for the mansion, so we vacated very rapidly, and just in time. The balloon (for such it was) promptly reduced my vision to a cloud of dust: Such is the will of Ilmater. The balloon had been punctured by pieces of debris from the roof of the mansion when it had been opened up by Rand spells, but the flier of the balloon (a gnome, as you may have guessed) was not killed in the blast. He was saved by a parachute, which is like a single wing that you dangle beneath by ropes (?!). I must try and enlist this gnome in creating some designs for our secret service. I'm sure they would be useful, although putting your faith in technology and not the Triad would be a little tricky (especially after having a look at the abovementioned parachute!) The gnome's name is Halbrinn, and his job is cartographer, currently working (or not: he's lost his vantage point!) on a map of Daggerdale. Anyway, back to the tale. With the worst of the vampires slain, the lady Alliandre's body to preserve, a baby to care for and Khondar to return more fully to the land of the living, it was decided that the rest of the Crusaders would finish the vampire-hunting job, whilst I would set up a makeshift hospital in the Inn. There I tended Khondar, his amazing dwarven constitution shrugging off the shroud of death with very little prompting from myself. I then tended to the villagers who were suffering the most. Some time spent in the thrall of such despicable evil does more damage to the mind and soul than to the body, but I helped as much as I can. This village could certainly use a church of Ilmater, and I will suggest as much to Sir Dundragon on our return to Dagger Falls. My friends have returned, and have described the battle to clear the remaining undead from the rest of the village. Apparently, the smith and one other villager had been turned into wights, and the mayor and the sheriff had become vampire spawn (now full vampires, with their master killed). Halbrinn had joined Miles, Rand and Stedd in battling these creatures, which says a lot for a cartographer (could any doubt his bravery, given that he flies a large sac of explosive gas about the skies!) I congratulated them and healed their wounds, then we settled down for some well-earned rest, safe in the knowledge that the night would not bring horrors, other than our own dreams. Only one final thing of note: Pharaxes has disappeared. He never seemed comfortable in our presence. To be honest, I don't think he liked the idea of mixing it with a well-known group: He certainly did prefer to keep a low profile. He did seem to have a furtive, hunted look. I wish him well, but currently have many other things that now require my attention, so cannot spare extra consideration for another lost soul. Ilmater! I can't save them all! This concludes the Saving of Clearwater, with the loss of two souls. I hope Ilmater judges this a success. I will write anon, your grace.Yvgeny. Ilmater save the King.</blockquote>

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