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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8468889" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 20: THE MISSING DREAMER (PART 2)PC Roster:Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 4             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 1             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 2/paladin 2             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 4             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 4Game Session Date: 20 November 2021 - - -The corpse shuffled slowly as it meandered over towards Zander Quilson, its rheumy eyes never once dropping from the elf's direction.  "Guys...?" the sorcerer repeated, not sure if his friends had heard him the first time.But they most certainly had.  Stepping out of the small Shrine of Delphyne - a completely different one than the one they'd stood in moments before, until the correct passphrase teleported them across unknown miles to this new location - Thurloe saw the zombie staggering towards Zander, its rotting teeth snapping as its gaze refused to leave the elf's neck and the life-blood coursing beneath its surface.  Casting a quick protection from evil spell on himself as he stepped forward and unsheathed the bastard sword from his back, Thurloe readied himself for the zombie's approach.  He had plenty of time before it would reach them.Zander wasn't willing to wait, however.  Saying the words to a magic missile spell, he pointed at the approaching undead form and a pair of glowing darts burst from his fingertip to streak across the distance and explode into the zombie's chest.  It didn't even seem to notice, although there were burn marks where the missiles had struck its undead flesh.Xandro Silverstrings saw the zombie and while he had full faith in Thurloe's ability to cut it down with his bastard sword, the bard knew where there was one zombie there was likely to be more and he also realized the group he was with tended to dislike fighting the animated remains of dead beings - not that he could blame them!  As a result, he pulled the Dardolian Lute from his back and started strumming the strings, beginning the words to a song he'd use to magically inspire courage in his friends, that their blows would strike true and their determination remain strong.Alewyth took a step outside the Shrine of Delphyne and stood transfixed at the sight immediately before her.  Not the combat with the zombie; the others seemed to have that well in hand.  No, it was the other open-air shrine directly across from that of Delphyne, Goddess of Magic.  If there had ever been any doubt the statue before her, carved as if wearing dwarven armor and gripping a dwarven warhammer in one hand and a raised shield in the other, had originally been a depiction of Aerik, God of Earth, Stone, and Protection, the caption carved along the front face of the platform upon which the statue stood left no room for disbelief.  The legend "MAY THE GOD OF PROTECTION PRESERVE THIS CITY AND ALL THOSE WHO WORK AND LIVE WITHIN IT" was carved in the Dwarven runic alphabet for all to see.  However, the statue had been defaced - quite literally - in the days since its original erection in the shrine, as evidenced by the pile of gravel on the floor before it; somebody had taken a hammer and chisel to the statue and carved away Aerik's beard and facial features, leaving the semblance of a crude skull in its place.  Whoever had performed this act of vandalism had no doubt intended to repurpose this shrine to the worship of Akari, God of Death and Undeath - and he likely didn't read Dwarven or he'd no doubt have defaced the inscription at the bottom as well.Wakuren ran forward to aid in fighting off the zombie, noticing his paladin ability to detect the auras of evil beings was being overwhelmed by a miasma of evil covering the entire area.  He slammed into the bloodthirsty zombie with his shield held before him but while his impact pushed it back a step or two, the half-orc's attack didn't seem to do much to the undead flesh holding the corpse creature mobile.  Then Thurloe stepped up beside Wakuren and brought the blade of his bastard sword crashing down on the zombie's head, splitting it open like a ripe melon.  It collapsed to the street and moved no more.But just as sudden, another zombie stepped out between two buildings, perhaps attracted by the noise of the fight against the first one.  It bit at Thurloe's arm but the fighter twisted away at the last moment and the rotting teeth merely clacked noisily against each other.  Deciding he had no idea how many zombies might be about in this strange city and he'd best conserve his spells for as long as possible, Zander pulled out his wand and activated it, sending a single magic missile streaking into the zombie's chest.  He could send two missiles by casting the spell himself, but he had many more charges left in his wand than the number of spells he could cast in a single day.Having started his song and hopefully filled his friends with enough combat assistance to let them "coast" for awhile, Xando drew his rapier from the scabbard at his belt and stabbed at the zombie.  Alewyth, in the meantime, had stepped away from the makeshift Shrine to Akari and saw an abandoned potion shop across the street.  Looking over at the others, who seemed to be faring fine with their second zombie, the dwarven priestess stepped inside the potion shop and gave it a quick perusal.  The dust on every surface showed there had been nobody in here for some time; passing through a door to the back of the building, she scooped up a handful of finished potions and placed them in her belt pouch before stepping back outside.  Then, gripping her dwarven warhammer Sjondra, she sent it crashing into the zombie's head, crushing the rotting flesh and bone to a pulp."We had it taken care of," commented Thurloe as he stepped forward, looking down a side street that went from north to south.  He saw no other undead forms but he could hear their moans and the sounds of feet shuffling through the dirt of the streets and alleys some distance away.  There were apparently plenty more undead they'd need to take care of in this place."Didn't mean to imply you hadn't," Alewyth replied.  "Just figured I'd land a hand."  As she said that, another zombie shuffled forward into view from further south down the main street.  With a look of determination, Thurloe stepped forward to meet it.  Zander followed but made sure to allow the armored fighter-wizard plenty of lead space so he'd be the zombie's primary target.  Thurloe seemed to enjoy hand-to-hand combat; Zander Quilson most adamantly did not.  Wakuren followed, casting a spiritual weapon spell that took the form of a heavy mace, the chosen weapon of the half-orc's deity Cal, God of the Air and of Healing.Xandro continued the tune of courage on his lute, having re-sheathed his rapier now that his own immediate combat was over.  He moved forward as well but continued east, heading for the corner of what was apparently one ward of a larger city.  He was sure a lone zombie wouldn't cause the others too much trouble and it seemed the sooner they searched this undead city the sooner they'd eventually stumble across the necromancer who had kidnapped the dreamer they were supposed to rescue - and hopefully the missing book from the Shrine of Delphyne which would allow them to teleport back to Baron's Haven.  Without it they were screwed, for they had no idea where exactly they were or how to get back to the city they'd left.  Xandro didn't want to leave his horse White behind and he knew the others would hate being permanently separated from their own mounts, especially Alewyth, who had developed quite a bond with her new dire goat mount Pyrite.The lone zombie snapped at Thurloe, seemingly eager to chew the living flesh from his bones, but the swordsman was having none of that.  Zander fired another magic missile from his wand at the undead thing as Thurloe's blade sliced into the zombie's side.  The floating heavy mace slammed into the zombie's head and Wakuren was pleased to see a magical weapon created of pure force energy seemed to deal much more damage to zombie flesh than did his shield.  But he slammed his shield into it regardless once he'd reached the hungry undead and the shield-strike permanently took the creature out of the fight.Xandro, in the meantime, checked out an oblong building and a smaller one the size of a shed beside it.  Neither held the missing necromancer; one was a long-unused bathhouse and the other a place to store towels and various soaps and powders.  Alewyth ambled up behind him, curiosity compelling her to check it out.  There was a trio of buildings across the street from the bathhouse and she headed over that way to give them a once-over, figuring as long as everyone stayed within shouting distance of each other they should be fine.  She put an ear to the door of the building before her and heard the shuffling and moaning that hinted at a zombie inside; leaving that one be she stepped up a short flight of stairs to listen at the door at the top of the steps, another one-room dwelling for rent, it seemed, directly above the other.  This too had the earmarks of a single zombie inhabitant no longer containing the intellect to operate the door knob and let itself out into the streets of the city.  Alewyth opted to leave both rooms alone, confident that what they were looking for would not be found in a pair of one-room dwellings each with a single zombie inside.Two more zombies ambled out of a side street, heading toward Thurloe and the other pair of adventurers stepping up behind him.  He rushed forward to charge into the first zombie, leading with the blade of his bastard sword.  It ripped through the zombie's chest and stuck out its back, sending a wave of gore out behind the thing to spray upon the other approaching zombie.  Thurloe kicked his boot up against the zombie's chest to help tug his sword out of the thing's torso.  It snapped its teeth at the fighter's foot while it was within range but undead reflexes are notoriously slower than those of the living, at least among corporeal undead with bodies composed of rotting meat.Zander cast a mage armor spell upon himself, not wanting to take the chance one of these rotting zombies might manage to get up close and personal to the elf.  Wakuren managed to swerve his spiritual heavy mace into the side of the first zombie's head before it winked out, the duration of the spell having run its course.  Wakuren then led with his shield, using the edge of the metal bottom as a rather dull blade instead of slamming its flat surface against the undead flesh of his opponent.  But it was Thurloe's bastard sword that drove in the killing blow, if the term can be truly used against a foe already quite dead at the start of the fight.The other zombie shambled forward and tried grabbing Thurloe in its bent fingers to pull him in for a bite at his neck, but the fighter easily extracted himself from the creature's grasp before it could sink its rotting teeth into his flesh.  Zander abandoned the combat to go check out the door to a large building - a barracks, by the look of it - recalling their real reason for being here was not to rid the city of every wandering zombie inhabiting its streets.  The sooner they could find the missing dreamer and be about their normal business the happier the elf sorcerer would be.  The heavy door was locked and looked like it hadn't been opened for some time, judging by the dirt and leaves piled up against the door by the wind.  Zander opted to leave the barracks doors alone and cast an expeditious retreat spell upon himself, then hurried to catch up with Thurloe and Wakuren.The northeastern corner of the city ward having been a bust, Xandro and Alewyth started back the way they came and headed south down the street the others had taken.  Wakuren opened the large doors to a stable while Thurloe slew the remaining zombie with his blade.  Not surprisingly, the stables held a trio of ponies, each stinking of rotting meat and mostly skeletal in nature; they'd apparently been starved to death in the stables and remained here waiting for someone to open up the doors to their individual stalls.  Wakuren chose not to be that someone and closed the door to the stables back up.  Another nearby building held similar results, this larger construction holding eight horse stalls, half of them containing undead horses mostly skeletal with but a few scraps of flesh hanging down from their bones.  The nearest moved its head over the door of its stall and snapped at the half-orc but then Wakuren slammed the stable door back shut and moved on further south through the city."This looks more promising!" Thurloe declared upon seeing a large building just ahead, its construction of solid stone rather than the flimsy wood of most of the other buildings in the neighborhood.  The door was of sturdy wood with iron bands across the top and bottom.  Trying it, Thurloe confirmed it was locked.  "Over here!" Wakuren called to Xandro and Alewyth, hurrying to catch up.  Then, realizing he was also probably alerting the necromancer with his calls - if indeed this was the building in which he'd taken residence, a likely supposition given it was the largest and most solidly-constructed they'd seen thus far - the half-orc added, "You six cast invisibility spells on yourselves before we break in!"  Hopefully that would give the necromancer something to worry about!  Then Wakuren applied himself to bursting through the door, slamming at it again and again with his shield.  The wood creaked and groaned with each burst.The others were focused on Wakuren's steady - and rather noisy - efforts, and thus they almost missed spotting the shadowy figure rise up out of the street's surface at the edge of the keep.  The ethereal being drifted over towards the group and Zander called out a warning as the shadow closed the gap between them.  He fired off a magic missile from his wand, secure in the knowledge that force energy should affect the incorporeal shadow.Xandro had reached the others by then and still had the Dardolian Lute in hand, playing his song of courage.  He altered the lyrics, using one of the magical lute's secret abilities, allowing the bard to weave actual spells into his melodies.  A cure moderate wounds spell was infused into the lute and Xandro pushed the instrument's neck into the body of the insubstantial shadow, the positive energy of the spell firing into the undead form and weakening its necromantic structure.  Alewyth, still catching up, cast a protection from evil spell upon herself as she ran.Seeing the efficacy of force energy against the shadow, Wakuren took time out from his door-smashing and cast a second spiritual weapon spell, sending the heavy mace crashing into the shadow's weakened structure.  That was enough to dissipate it into nothingness.  "Nice job!" enthused Thurloe, then picked up where the half-orc had left off on gaining them entry into the stone keep.  He kicked at a weakened spot with his hard-soled boot and the door splintered inwards.There were two skeletons inside waiting for him, clad in rusty mail and wielding longswords.  They sped forward at once, springing to the attack, but Thurloe managed to fend them off with his bastard sword.  Zander blasted one with another charge from his wand of magic missile, while Xandro, unable to get through the broken door (there was room enough for but one and Thurloe was currently occupying that space) contented himself with hanging back and playing his song of courageous inspiration.  Wakuren likewise couldn't fit through the partially-shattered door with Thurloe in the way - but he had no problem sending in his spiritual heavy mace.  It flew in over Thurloe's head and came crashing down on the first skeleton, obliterating it to a pile of clattering bones.Thurloe stepped fully into the room and brought his bastard sword in at the skeleton in a sideways slash.  Wakuren entered behind him, slamming the skeleton with his shield now that he had room to do so.  But it was Thurloe's blade which destroyed the skeleton warrior with a final slice that severed its spine.  Then the fighter went south into what looked to be a kitchen, Zander following in his wake.  The elf sorcerer opened a door to a pantry and noted the foodstuff stored there was all in edible condition, with a barrel of fresh water sitting upright on the floor.  This was all a good sign that there was somebody alive in the keep, someone still taking regular meals.Xandro entered the building and headed north into a dusty living room that gave the opposite indication: it didn't look as if anybody had spent any time in here for months, if not years.  Wakuren and Alewyth went that way with the bard, crossing over to an arcane library whose walls were covered in shelves containing all manners of tomes and volumes detailing a number of arcane topics: the outer planes, various summoning rituals, and other magical esoterica.  Alewyth made a note to point out what looked to be a set of spellbooks to Thurloe after they'd done what they came here to do; maybe he could use them in his own magical self-tutoring.Thurloe passed through an unlocked door in the back of the pantry and found himself in a bathroom, complete with a privy and a small metal tub.  A door on the far wall entered into a bedroom with an unmade bed and a closet filled with a variety of black robes.  He smiled to himself at this discovery, as these were exactly the types of garment likely to be popular with a necromancer.The other three, in the meantime, left the library and entered an arcane laboratory, with several tables containing a variety of magical projects in various stages of completion.  Xandro headed toward a cabinet to take a peek inside when a voice suddenly exploded into his head.  It was Father Bones casting a message spell: <Undead creation scrolls stolen from temple.  Possible missing dreamer was involved.  If found, return immediately.  Do not allow them to fall into the hands of evil.>Before Xandro could tell the others about the message spell a door at the far end opened, but it was only Zander; the two groups had made a circuit around the keep's rooms in opposite directions and now there was only the middle of the building yet to be accounted for.  The elf stepped into the lab and opened the door leading into the center of the keep and there he found what the group had been seeking.The center of the room contained a magic circle inscribed in silver on the floor, in the center of which lay a black-clad adult male human, fast asleep.  In a corner of the room stood the necromancer Vargendraal, frantically flipping through a book he held in his hands and muttering to himself.  Belatedly, he noted the door opening and saw an elven face peering into the room from the arcane laboratory of the keep's original owner, an unknown wizard who had likely died when whatever event transformed the city into a dwelling-place of the undead."How did you get in here?" demanded Vargendraal.  "My skeletons--"  He was cut off as a scorching ray spell blasted him in the front of his robes; Zander wasn't in the mood for answering questions or asking any of his own.  Vargendraal snarled in pain and retaliated with a vampiric touch spell, siphoning off some of the elf's life energy and using it to heal up the wounds the necromancer had just received as a result of the sorcerer's fire-based spell attack.  Zander staggered on his feet, weakened by the draining attack.  Vargendraal cast another quick spell upon himself and it wasn't until Thurloe entered and swung his bastard sword into the necromancer's body that anyone learned what exactly it was: a burst of necromantic energy was channeled through Vargendraal's death armor spell, down the length of the sword, and into Thurloe's body.  It was difficult to see which of the two had suffered more from the result of the sword-strike.But Zander wasn't done with casting scorching ray spells just yet.  Stepping fully into the room and stepping around the still-sleeping body of Pietro Manicaldrian, he sent another blast of fire energy at Vargendraal.  The necromancer's stolen energy was depleted in the attack and he too found himself woozy on his feet.  Surprisingly, it was Xandro who slew the evil wizard with a quick thrust of his magic longsword; Vargendraal had turned to face Thurloe and Zander and hadn't even noticed the bard's entrance into the summoning chamber.Thurloe was quick to examine the necromancer's corpse for potential magic items, removing a ring that looked like it might hold some sort of arcane effect.  Alewyth examined the book Vangendraal had been referencing, finding a diagram of a skull-shaped pendant that matched the one the sleeping thief had around his neck.  Reading through the pages of the text, she explained what the necromancer had been doing.  "That skull pendant on our dreamer is linked to an extradimensional space," she explained.  "To retrieve whatever was placed in it, you have to touch one of the rubies in its eyes and say the command word.  The problem is, if you touch the wrong eye gem, whatever's in the extradimensional space gets dumped into the Astral Plane instead.""So the wizard had a 50-50 shot of getting it right," Zander said."Must have been something important enough to not want to take the chance," Thurloe mused.  Then he started chuckling.  "That's probably why he came to fetch this guy in the first place: he was probably hired to steal something and stash it away, and then got caught up in the dream-plague before he could return with his goods.  That must have been irritating for our necromancer friend!""I wonder what's in there?" Alewyth asked."I think I know," replied Xandro and filled the rest of the group in on Father Bones' message spell."Well, let's tie him up," decided Thurloe, pulling the skull pendant from around Pietro's neck and placing it in a belt pouch.  "We'll bring him back to Father Bones, give him the pendant, and try to wake Mr. Sleepy from there.""You're forgetting: we have no way to get back until we find the Book of Delphyne," Wakuren chimed in.  So while Thurloe busied himself binding Pietro's arms and legs to his satisfaction, the others searched the keep for the missing Book of Delphyne.  They eventually found it in a desk drawer.  Wakuren flipped to the page with the statue from the shrine in Baron's Haven and read the inscription beneath it.  It read:"Make anything of it?" Alewyth asked as she packed up the spellbooks of the necromancer they'd just slain and also those of the keep's original wizard inhabitant.  Wakuren traced the letters with his finger and finally exclaimed, "Got it!  You just bounce up and down between the two lines, from right to left and then back again from left to right.  'Baron's Haven Ley One Eight.'  It must be some sort of ley-line coordinates or something.""Good," replied Thurloe, stepping into the library with a tightly-bound Pietro tossed over one shoulder.  "Let's get back; this guy's kind of heavy."There were two zombies just outside the keep but the group made short work of them.  They made their way back to the Shrine of Delphyne without any serious opposition, and then everyone touched the shoulder of the person in front of them while Wakuren pried open the secret door and placed the Book of Delphyne on its dais.  "Baron's Haven Ley One Eight," he intoned...and the group was instantly teleported back to the Shrine of Delphyne in the city in which they had started.  The homeless beggar Gilfrey was still sitting in the alley across from the Temple of Akari where they'd left him.  "Got your guy, I see," he said."Thanks to you," Alewyth answered, slipping him a few coins.Father Bones was overjoyed to see the adventurers again.  "Yes, he's the parishioner who fell asleep in our pew," he said upon seeing Pietro.  "Did you happen to find the Black Scrolls?"  Thurloe passed over the skull pendant while Alewyth explained its workings.  "I'm sure a divination spell will tell you which eye gem is the right one to touch," she advised her fellow cleric.  She then explained what all would be required for the group to rescue the thief from his dreams and Father Bones immediately agreed to stand watch over their sleeping bodies as they entered Pietro's dreams.  He had a few of the other clerics join them to ensure there were no interruptions.Alewyth placed a dreamstone headband around Pietro's brow as the five adventurers sat around him in a circle, each wearing their own similar headband and carrying a second dreamstone in their hand.  Then, one by one, they slowed their breathing and entered a dream state.  Their moogle guides were there to meet them in the Dreamlands and escorted them to the Hallway of Dreams.  "It's this one, kupo!" explained Mogo, opening a particular door.Stepping through the dream-door, the five entered a dusty plane of whipping winds.  They could see Pietro quite clearly, running across a dusty field in a panicked frenzy.  The reason for this was quite evident, for following behind him was a pile of bouncing bones.  It was a strange thing to be worried about, but by now the group understood that while inside a dream, logic often took a backseat."How do we wake him?" asked Zander.  "Defeat a pile of bones?""Look!" Alewyth said, pointing to the bones trailing the fleeing thief.  As they bounced around in a line behind him, occasionally two bones would bump into each other and remain attached.  This happened more and more as time went by and soon the loose pile of bones had organized itself into the skeleton of a giant cat."Let's go!" commanded Thurloe, in pursuit of the skeletal cat.  He raised the dreamstone in his hand and focused his will through it, attempting to weaken the skeletal cat.  The other four followed his lead and the cat, which had picked up quite a burst of speed once fully assembled into skeletal form, slowed down considerably, to the point Pietro was able to maintain his distance.  "That's better!" Thurloe said, pulling his bastard sword from the scabbard on his back.  "Now let's go get it!"  Not wanting to wait until he reached the cat he dredged up the spellcasting abilities he'd been working on and sent a magic missile spell streaking to hit the feline skeleton.  Despite it not having any vocal apparatus, it yowled in pain at the attack and whirled to face the five adventurers running its way.But then it hissed its annoyance at them and returned to its original goal of running down Pietro.  The thief had turned to see what the commotion had been about and was amazed to see five rescuers in his dream; in his amazement, he stopped running until he saw the skeletal cat bearing down on him once again.  Turning to flee, he tripped and landed face-first on the ground and the cat pounced upon his back, raking him with its foreclaws.Zander cast a scorching ray spell at the cat, causing it to spin about again; Pietro took the opportunity to pull himself to his feet and resume his panicked flight.  "Over here!" Alewyth called, indicating he should run to them so they could better protect him; her dwarven legs were never going to allow her to catch up with him otherwise.  (How she wished Pyrite was here with her in the dreamscape!)  In the meantime, she cast a spiritual weapon spell and sent the force-warhammer flying over to strike at the skeletal cat.Xandro used a stratagem he'd just used for the first time in the city the group had taken to referring as "the Deadlands" - using the Dardolian Lute as a means of channeling a cure moderate wounds spell through his music.  The healing energy of the spell acted like acid against the undead cat, causing its bones to blacken and blister.  Wakuren cast a cure moderate wounds spell directly from his fingertips to the skeletal cat's bones, furthering the damage.Then Thurloe brought his bastard sword into play and was disappointed to see a skeleton in the dreamlands was as difficult to hurt with a blade as it was in real life.  But if nothing else it focused the cat's attention on him, for its claws scratched furrows across the chest plate of his armor and it caught the fighter's left arm in its teeth.  With the cat focused on these intruders to the dreamscape, Pietro made it successfully to Alewyth, panting from his exertions.  "Th-thank you," he gasped, bending over with his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath.Zander finished off the skeletal cat with another scorching ray spell, and this time the blackened bones collapsed back into a pile but did no further dancing about.  He turned to look over at Pietro, but the thief was already fading away like a ghost.  "That did it - he's waking up!" the elf announced to the others."Yeah, no kidding," replied Thurloe, sheathing his sword as the dreamscape started fading around them.  One by one, the dreamwalkers woke themselves up and were back in their normal bodies, sitting in a circle around the bound - but quite awake - Pietro Manicaldrian."What's happening?  What's going on?" demanded the bound thief."You have been a very naughty boy," replied Thurloe, bending over Pietro who was struggling to get out of the ropes binding his ankles and wrists.  "Stealing from a church...very, very naughty indeed.""Hey, no offense intended," Pietro whined.  "A job's a job, right?  Gotta go where the money's at, you know?""Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about," cooed Thurloe.  "The problem is, you didn't steal from me -- you stole from him!"  And he stood back up and pointed over to Father Bones.  Pietro's gaze followed to where Thurloe was pointing and he saw a skeletal being clad in black robes bending over him."I am Father Bones," intoned the temple's leader in as deep a voice as he could muster.  "You have stolen from the God of Death and Undeath!  Do you know the punishment for such a deed?""Think we're finished here," Thurloe said to the others in his group.  "We'll leave the lich to deal with his scroll-robber.""I don't envy him," said Zander, his face drained of blood."Good thing we don't cross those in charge of the afterlife," Wakuren observed.  "You really don't want to get on their bad side."  Pietro's screams of terror only emphasized the half-orc's point. - - -And it doesn't hurt getting on the good side of those in charge of the afterlife, either; Father Bones rewarded the PCs with 100 gp and a potion of cure serious wounds each.This ended up being a much shorter session than I had anticipated, in part because I had built a random encounter table for the wandering undead in the the Deadlands and then scrupulously adhered to the die rolls at the start of each round.  That gave the group quite a breather when I rolled "no encounter" like three rounds in a row.  In hindsight, I should have piled on a nice group of 5-6 bloodthirsty zombies all at once; if you're going to have a custom-made city overrun by undead you probably should take advantage of the opportunity when you have it.  Oh well, maybe later in the campaign there will be another reason to enter the Deadlands.The PCs all reached 5th level at the end of this adventure.  Wakuren took another level in paladin, Thurloe took his second wizard level, and Harry - getting a little bit bored of the "support role" of the bard - decided he'd start multiclassing Xandro Silverstrings into a bard/rogue.  Alewyth and Zander are now our only single-classed PCs. - - -T-shirt worn: My white "Walking Dead" T-shirt, as that seemed the most appropriate for the adventure - and due to scheduling constraints, it had been five weeks since we played through part one of the adventure, plenty of time for it to have been through the laundry in the meantime (as I had also worn it during our previous game session).</blockquote>

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