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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 606793" data-attributes="member: 96">Session Sixteen, Part Two: Lord of the Dead"...they've stopped."The words filtered dimly through Di'Fier's consciousness.  He groaned, as well as he could when most of his muscles wouldn't move."I hate it when they stop," he heard Dru say. "Whenever they stop it means something worse is going to happen.  Di'Fier, are you back with us yet?"The mage tried to nod his head.  No good.  He tried to shake it.  Still no good."Guess not.  They all headed off to the center of the village like someone'd lit them on fire.  I can't see what they're doing now.  I bet their Zombie Master went insane.""Gnuuh.""You sound just like one of them, Di'Fier.  Just wait until it wears off before you try to talk."The ice in his limbs began to soften, letting them relax once more.  He slowly sagged into a heap, aching over his entire body. "Wha-?" he asked.  "Wha' they doin'?"From the door, Shesara reported: "...they're coming back."The humans struggled to their feet, Benares picking up his staff.  Di'Fier let his blade dangle loosely from his hand, grabbing a javelin with the other.The creatures encircled the hut.  Two lines of them formed an honor guard along which a figure strode, straight and powerful, a spear clasped in his hand, bone armor on his chest.  His skin held the same greyish pallor of the others, but he walked like a man - no, like a leader of men.  He leveled the spear at the hut and began to speak in the language of the Island.  "Burowao," they recognized.  "Mora.   Tanaroa.""Either he wants to know where we're from, or he's got plans of conquest," Di'Fier speculated."FREEPORT!" Dru shouted, sending a burning brand from the fire spinning through the air at the man.  It bounced from his armor in a shower of sparks, and his hunched followers screamed and surged forward.Di'Fier hurled the javelin in his hand, seeing it sink into the man - then watched in horror as he reached up and ripped the shaft from his flesh, taking a single step forward and sending it on a return journey.  He dove for cover, but it caught him, leaving a bloody line across his hip.Light blossomed behind him, making the things hesitate, but their master was there, urging them on, and the attack continued.  Undead hands lifted the ladder, slamming it into place as the bodies clambered up it.  The Watchmen and their allies could do nothing but brace for the charge. Howling corpses slammed into them, clawing and biting, the stench of the grave rolling off of them in great sickening waves. Dru's rapier sent one to the ground, but the next slammed into her, head down, and she stumbled backwards in its clutches until her feet struck wood - and they fell into the fire.Benares leapt to cover the opening, forcing the things back with blurring blows from his staff.  Behind him, Dru shoved the creature off of her blade and rolled out of the fire, clothing and hair smoldering and ember-filled. The smell of it only added to the stench that hung over the battlefield.The mass of undead surged forward again, knocking Benares to the ground as they pushed past and into the hut. Di'Fier's blade sang, dropping one to the ground in two pieces, and Dru pierced another through the remains of its heart. Shesara's song seemed to guide their blades as they forced the attackers back or sent them crashing to the floor to die a second time.From outside the hut, they heard an eerie chanting, and they felt something wash over them like an oily black wave, turning their stomachs and making their skins crawl. And then, slowly, the corpses of their fallen foes began to twitch and move once more.</blockquote>

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