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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Caliban" data-source="post: 1597601" data-attributes="member: 284">The Deathblade ChroniclesIt was winter on Faerun, and a late winter storm had kept the smalltown of Yartar snowed in for the last week. Yartar is located onthe Savage Frontier, where the Surbin and Dessarin rivers join beforegoing into the Sumbar Hills. (Or midway between Highforest andWaterdeep for those less familiar with the region.) Fortunately adiviner had warned the townsfolk of the impending storm beforehand,so they had plenty of food set aside. However, travel was impossiblewithout strong magic or extensive training in woodsmanship.Our group of heroes has been in close company with each other for thelast week due to the storm. They were all in the Friendly Frost WormInn when the storm hit, and other than a few die hard regulars and amediocre bard, had no one else to talk to. Rumors abounded of theUndeath Plague that had struck the northern lands (causing all itkills to rise again), and of trouble between two factions of theZhentarim in the region to the south, but those seemed like distantproblems with the storm raging outside. The heroes are Eric, anIlluskan merchant with a talent for telepathy (Psion/Telepath),Miralee the elven Healer (Healer), Greer the Halfling scout (Ranger),and Hierborn and Zorival, two Uthgardt barbarians of the Tree GhostTribe. These five strangers would soon be thrown together in a fightfor survival against an evil blade and walking dead.After a week, the storm broke late one evening. The next morningthere came a muffled knocking on the door to the tavern. Opening thedoor, they found a pale man with heavy winter clothing and longbloodly gashes down his left arm. As they sat him down the frozenblood melted and began to pool on the floor. Miralee tended hiswounds as they listened to his tale. His name was Morgan, and he andhis partner Randal were hunters who had come across the scene of abattle in the snow yesterday evening. There were several men inblack armor, all laying dead with blood on the snow. The bodies oftwo men in more typical traveling clothes were there as well. Randalpicked up something off of one of the bodies, and then dropped dead amoment later. Then he stood up again, and stared at Morgan with deadeyes and a hungry look. At that point, Morgan fled. The undeadcreature that used to be his friend gave chase, and clawed his arm upbefore Morgan was able to lose it in the woods. He walked all nightto get to Yartar and warn them.Now that the storm had broken, it was less dangerous to travel. Thefive decided that it would be best if they investigated the battlescene, in case there were anything else dangerous (or worthrecovering). Following the trail through the snow they easily foundit after walking most of the day. The bodies were just snow coveredmounds, but they noticed that a few of them had a single hole in themound, as if someone had thrust a stick into it. Hierborn uncoveredone, revealing a man in a black chain shirt, black leathers, a holysymbol of Cyric, and a longsword with a skull on the pommel. Thenthe body stood up, and a moment later three more arose from under thesnow and attack. A brief but fierce fight ensued as they quicklydispatched the zombies. Each one had risen from a snow mound with ahole in it. The other mounds of snow were empty, showing signs ofcreatures having clawed their way from under the snow, and thenfalling snow covering the hole.Greer soon found tracks of three humanoid creatures leading away, twoat a slow, dragging pace and one at a more normal pace. Cautiouslyfollowing the tracks, they soon left the snow covered path and pushedtheir way through the winter woods until they came to a smallclearing with an old Uthgardt burial mound in the middle. Theboulder covering the entrance had been pushed aside. As theyconsidered their next move, a ghostly figure appeared before them.It was a haggard man, dressed in woodsman's clothes. "Stay away,death waits within! The blade took my life and now uses my body; ifyou go in there it will have you too!" They quickly learn that theghostly figure is Randal, he had picked up a sword at the battlescene and it killed him, and was now animating his body. His spiritis trapped by the blade now, and to free him they need to destroy theblade. Randal warns them against trying, as the blade is verydangerous. Then he fades away, his energy spent.After a suggestion to go back to town is voted down, the barbarianslead the way into the burial mound, which is that of the Raventribe. A narrow passage winds around the outer edge, then turns intoa large central chamber where the dead are interred. There theyfind Randal's animated corpse, attended by three zombies (from theclearing where Randal found the sword) and two freshly animatedskeletons in decaying barbarian furs (residents of the burialmound). Hierborn takes the brunt of the initial attack, as the threezombies charge him at the entrance. He stands against them forseveral seconds, and then gives a scream of rage as he enters intofrenzy and carves one up with his longsword, allowing those behindhim to rush past the choke point and into the room.A furious melee ensues, in which several valuable lessons arelearned. Mainly that undead are immune to the telepaths mentalassaults, arrows are less than effective against skeletons andzombies, and that raging barbarians deal a lot of damage. Hierbornrushes the corpse holding the black sword, and is soon backed up bythe Halfling ranger while the others deal with zombies andskeletons. Zorival destroys a skeleton, but soon goes down underthe combined assault of a zombie and another skeleton, with Eric soonjoining him. Miralee blasts a skeleton to dust with a curing spell,and then find herself hard pressed by the remaining two zombies.Randal's corpse attempts to use it deadly touch on Greer andHierborn, but they deftly avoid its touch, and between them manage tohack the fell creature to pieces. As Randal's body falls, a hazyblack form is left standing, holding the blade. The creature says "Iwill return…" then fades out as the blade falls to the floor. Greeris staggered by a mighty blow from the zombie, leaving only Miraleeand Hierborn mobile. Hierborn's frenzy ends after he hacks apartanother zombie, and in spite of his waning strength, Hierborn is ableto dispatch the last zombie. Miralee uses the last of her healingabilities to get everyone conscious and mobile again.The black blade is lying on the ground where it had fallen. Notwanting to destroy the evil blade in a tomb of his people and unawareof the properties of the blade, Hierborn wraps a piece of leatheraround his hand, and picks the blade up by the hilt. He falls deada moment later. With a cry of rage, Zorival brings his weapon downon the black blade, attempting to destroy it there. He damages it,but before he can finish the job, the corpse of Hierborn animates andstands up, its eyes glowing red and a horrible smile on its face.Eric screams in terror and runs for it. Zorival engages the corpseof his fallen clansmen in order to give Greer and Marilee time toescape, and strikes it a solid blow. Greer, still gravely wounded,assists him. The creature reaches out with its unholy touch and stealsGreer's life essence, killing him on the spot and healing the damageit had taken. The black blade on the ground also mends the damage ithad taken. Miralee runs for the exit, with Zorival passing her as hefled. Once Miralee made it out, Zorival made a mighty effort andpushed the stone back over the entrance. A moment later they couldhear the claws of the creature scratching at the stone from the otherside, and it was soon joined by the sounds of a smaller set of clawsscratching at the stone. Greer's corpse had risen as well.The heroes fled toward Yartar, vowing to return and end this menaceonce and for all…</blockquote>

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