NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sniktch" data-source="post: 465306" data-attributes="member: 7704">A difference of opinionThe tension stretched for long moments as everyone waited to see what horror Jack had unleashed.  Finally, the dwarf snorted, “See?  That’s what ya do with evil glowin rocks,” and stomped off.  They searched the room but found little of value and no other exits, so they headed back into the hallway and continued to the next pair of doors.Eldred examined the doors with his keen elven senses and declared them to be safe.  They opened onto a great hall, once the dining area of Duernfast.  Apparently a large battle had once been fought here, and many shards of bone and scattered skeletons lay intermingled with remnants of long tables and many chairs on the floor.  Jack and Welby crossed the threshold first, to be greeted by a loud booming voice that resonated through the room:“Even in death you are still bound to the will of Nast’yrrh!”At the sound of the voice the various incomplete skeletons animated and began hopping, crawling, and dragging themselves across the floor toward the party.  They saw hands scuttling through the debris like weird spiders, skulls that chattered their jaws as they rolled across the floor, and strange detached ribcages that clacked toward them like nightmarish centipedes.Jack, Quinn, and Artimas pulled forth their holy symbols and called upon their faith in the face of these abominations.  Waves of holy energy rolled out from the two dwarves, turning the undead they passed through to dust.  Artimas’ prayers had an entirely different effect, however, and three of the scrambling hands and one of the skulls came to a halt and awaited their new master’s command.The dwarves made short work of the mass of tiny skeletons, although they would be unable to influence the undead for the rest of the day.  Artimas strolled over to the surviving pieces of the horde and the skeletal hands sprang onto his robes and disappeared beneath its folds.  He scooped up the skull and regarded it thoughtfully as it continued to click its teeth together in his hand.“Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well…” he started, turning to face the others with a wide grin on his face.  It died as he saw the looks of shock and concern directed toward him, and the terrible, terrible scowl Jack now wore.“Necromancer!” Jack accused with a pointing finger.  “Now I ken why yer always pokin yer nose where it don’t belong.  Yer probly in league with them Trembers what we already kicked outta this place!”“That’s ridiculous!” the mage replied.  “For one thing, as I told you, I am primarily a scholar – when it comes to magic I am a mere dabbler.  For another, where is the evil in this act?  Was it I who animated these bones?  No, I merely follow the teachings of Arawn and bring them under my control, to be used as tools and nothing more!”“Bah!  Ya defile the dead by continuin their unholy life!”“Not so, Jack,” argued Artimas.  “Their life is not continued; the spirits of these dead rest in Arawn’s realm at the bosoms of the Gods.  Or do you honestly believe that the soul of this dead man is somehow tied to this stupid, chattering thing?” He held the skull in front of Jack’s face as he spoke.  “No!” he continued.  “This warrior is departed.  This skull is not animated through the binding of the man’s spirit, but by simple magic infusing the bone.  As Arawn teaches us, it is a tool for the use of the living, nothing more.  A tool is only evil if used for evil ends.”The veins in Jack’s neck were beginning to bulge again.  He took several steps in the direction of the mage but found his path blocked by the halfling.The barbarian shook his head solemnly at the dwarf, “Nice man Welby friend.  Like rat, too.”  The Crow stepped up and laid his hand on Welby’s shoulder.  “And the friend of Welby is my friend, too, no matter how creepy they are,” he declared.Jack turned to Quinn, but if he was expecting help in the argument he was sorely disappointed.“While I believe the different viewpoints are fascinating, I hardly think this is the proper place or time for philosophical debate,” she stated.  “Anything living within a mile of this chamber has now been alerted to our presence.  Let us settle our differences when we get back to the Foaming Mug; we have other tasks to concentrate on now.”Eldred nodded in agreement.  “Jack, I, too, find the presence of undead to be anathema.  They lie outside the boundaries of the natural order and so I will always strive to destroy them where I can.  However, Artimas does present valid arguments concerning the nature of death and undeath, so for now I must side with Quinn.  Let us continue this when we are removed from immediate danger.”Frustrated, Stumpwater growled and headed for the only other exit to this room, a door that was bound to lead to the kitchen.  Artimas ordered the skull to remain quiet and slipped it into a deep pocket in his robe before following.</blockquote>

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