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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhael" data-source="post: 379964" data-attributes="member: 5269">Player's Perspective (011)Now that’s just damned inconvenient.I spent the next few minutes confirming that my fallen comrades had not woken from their undead-induced stasis, and they were becoming colder to the touch.  I prayed that Terj would hurry up so we could get them to Longstride – hopefully he knew of a way to wake them up.After what I guessed to be about ten minutes, I heard the familiar clinking sound of Terjon’s halfplate armour.  He stepped through the door with the strange dwarf.  It was only now, in the light of three torches that I got a good look at him.  He was about average height for one of his race, brown hair and beard (which was cut much shorter than most dwarven beards I had seen).  Other than that, only the longsword at his belt seemed out of place – the stereotype of dwarves weilding battleaxes and warhammers too strong in my mind.  The dwarf was carrying Ulric’s body in his arms, bloody from the spikes that had pierced his body in three places and with his head slightly crushed from where it hit the floor of the pit.“What happened here?”  Terjon asked, rushing over to our fallen colleagues.I pointed at the body of the undead creature lying on the floor.“We fought that thing.”  Terjon had started doing all the same checks on Chade as I had a few minutes ago.  “It had some strange power in it’s gaze that made them just drop to the ground.  I figure they’re in some kind of weird stasis.”“They look dead to me.”  Terjon said, holding up Chade’s wrist to feel for a pulse.“They can’t be!”  I protested.  “How can they just die like that?”“I don’t know.”  My paladin-friend responded.“They look dead to me too.”  An unfamiliar voice sounded from behind me.  I realised this was the first time I had heard the dwarf speak.“Okay, they look dead,” I acquiesced.  “but how can that be?”The dwarf didn’t answer, other than a slight shrug.“Come on, let’s get them up and get out of here.”  Terjon grunted slightly has he hefted Chade and Reikon onto his shoulders, with some assistance from me.  “Oh, this is Taklinn.”  He nodded his head in the direction of our new dwarven companion. “He was tailing Ulric for the halfling’s family, and found his way here, just in time to find out he’d died.”“Oh.”  That was the only response I could think of.  “Hang on for a moment, Terj.”  I said, as he headed for the door.  Realising that none of us would be able to carry a torch, and remembering Chade’s light-enchanted coin trick I used the divine power of Hieroneous to similarly enchant my helm. After gently placing Uiric on the ground Taklinn helped me to get Warra and Mareth onto my shoulders. We set off for the entrance to the tomb, my helm glowing strongly.  The trip is a relatively short one, but climbing all those stairs with two bodies slung over your shoulders is no easy task.  We were both puffing and red in the face by the time we emerged into daylight.  Tired as we were, we willed ourselves onwards to Longstride’s village.We headed for the area we had used as a camping ground and carefully lay the bodies on the ground.  “Stay here, Terj.  I’m going to find Longstride.”Leaving Terjon and Taklinn to watch over the comatose bodies of my companions and Ulric’s corpse I jogged off towards Longstride’s hut.  I spotted one of the centaurs I recognised as one of Longstride’s personal guards – usually not far from their chief – and obtained Longstride’s location.I found him not far away, praying at a small shrine to Skereth the centaurs maintained near the edge of their village, where it met the forest.  I stood off to the side and waited respectfully for Longstride to notice my presence.  Fortunately, the jingle of my scalemail and the occasional slap of my scabbard against my leg as I moved meant that Longstride became aware of me after a short amount of time.  He looked at me questioningly.“Yes, Rhael?  What is it?”  “I need your help, Longstride.”  I blurted.  “Something happened to some of the others down in the tomb and I can’t tell what’s wrong.”“I will take a look at them for you, Rhael.  Lead on.”On the way to our camping ground I told Longstride of the undead creature we fought, the circumstances behind my companion’s falling and Ulric’s unfortunate accident.  Longstride listened intently.“I fear your prognosis may be incorrect, young Ranger.”  Longstride said, with a concerned look, once we reached my companions and he had had time to look over them briefly.  “I believe that your friends are dead, killed by the power of that undead creature you met in the crypt.”I was stunned.“H-  How can that be, Longstride?  How could anything have the power to kill with a glance?  Even dragons and demons do not have that power.”“I do not know what I can say, Rhael.”  Longstride was obviously troubled by the situation.  “There are strange beasts and strange powers in this world.  However, I do not believe they are beyond my reach.  With a similar commitment of a diamond on your part for each individual, I can attempt to raise your friends from the dead, if you can stay with us for another twenty-four hours.”  He looked at me, questioningly.I looked briefly at Terjon, who nodded.“Anything you can do would be greatly appreciated.  We commit to provide the replacement diamonds for your ritual for each of my comrades which you can bring back from the dead.”“Very well, Rhael.  I am able to deal with two at a time, who would you like to go first?”“Ulric  and Mareth.”  I said, after thinking for a moment.  Nothing against the others, they were just the two names that came to mind.  I heard Terjon’s sharp intake of breath when I said the name of the Halfling, probably wondering why, since I was obviously not fond of the little guy.  I turned to Terjon.  “Sir dwarf,” I indicated Taklinn, “has travelled far to bring Ulric back to his parents, “I do not want to hold him up any further.”Longstride nodded and signalled for two of his guards to take up Ulric and Mareth and take them to the same hut where Terjon returned to life.  Longstride departed wordlessly with his guards.“We’re getting pretty far into debt, here.”  I remarked to Terjon, thinking about the half-dozen five-hundred gp plus diamonds we had to source from somewhere.“Yeah.”  Said Terjon, distantly – probably distracted by something shiny.We sat around for about a half-hour, Taklinn telling us how he came to be tracking a halfling bard across the countryside.  We were interrupted by one of Longstride’s guards who came up to us requesting my presence in the hut.  I excused myself and followed the guard back to Longstride.“I have bad news, Rhael.”  He started.  My heart sank.  “Ulric is beyond my reach.”  My heart resumed it’s previous position.  “His soul has departed this world, seemingly voluntarily.  He cannot be brought back to life.  Some say that the act of raising someone from the dead acts like a gate keeper on the way to the other side.  The soul is given a choice – go back or continue on to explore the netherworld.  Based on that theory, perhaps your little friend chose the latter.”“Very well, Longstride.  Is it too late to substitute Chade into Ulric’s position?”“It will delay the process by about an hour, the preparatory stage was completed and that is required for your cleric friend.”  Longstride signalled to one of his guards to accompany me back to our camp to retrieve the cleric’s body.Time passesThe next day was relatively uneventful, with Longstride completing the raising of Mareth and Chade and then Warramayl and Reikon.Terjon and I spoke with Taklinn at length, us describing our quest and our lives and he reciprocating with stories of his life.  We told him that we had recently taken on a quest from Longstride to remove a clan of orcs from the forest, he grinned and a glint appeared in is eye.  The dwarf’s voice took on a steely edge and he commented that since Ulric was dead and all that remained was for the halfling’s body to be returned to his parents.  Once that was completed, he would very much like to join us in that venture.  We discussed the timing and he came to the conclusion that he would have to pay a courier to return Ulric to his parents if he was to join our little group.We decided that Terjon and Taklinn would journey back to Taureth with Ulric’s body, find a courier and send the halfling home while I stayed and waited for the others to be resurrected.  They would return to Taureth today and then come back to the centaur village tomorrow.I warned them both to give the orc compound a wide berth and to make sure that they got out of the way of any orc patrols.I must admit I was a little concerned about Terjon, I had thought him dead once and the pain was excruciating, I couldn’t bear the thought of him dying at the hands of some lowly orcs and not even making it back.We constructed a makeshift stretcher from a pair of saplings and a couple of sacks.  I asked them to buy some replacement sacks and a few more torches while they were in town.A short while after Terj and the dwarf departed, Ulric on the stretcher, I decided to do a little bit of hunting and gathering.  I took off my armour, leaving it with my shield and other gear, grabbed a couple of pouches my quiver, shortbow and longsword and set off into the forest.I returned a few hours later with the ingredients for a relatively tasty dinner of rabbit, wild mushrooms and some root vegetables which grew all over this region of the Freeholds.  I settled down to make a stew.  It was quite tasty.Chade, Warramayl and Reikon all woke from their deathly slumber with a mark resembling a tattoo on their upper arm.  The mark appeared to be a ring of leaves, wound together by their stems.  Longstride explained that this must be a mark from Skereth, for his own divine reasons.  Only Mareth was unmarked from his experience, which I found curious and was going to put it down to his being an elf, before remembering that Reikon is also of the same race.  I also noted that Terjon was not branded by the god upon his resurrection.  Maybe one day the god’s reasons would become apparent.</blockquote>

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