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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1234285" data-attributes="member: 1210">Swelling the RanksArmed with the precious little knowledge he has of Felenga’s familiar, Orbius casts a vision and sees a cartoonish image of a hand scrambling across some sort of span surrounded by roiling darkness.  He tries to determine more about the location; surely the Dark One’s familiar is near his phylactery!  A series of frustrating scrying attempts and divinations gives our heroes a few clues; not much to go on, but enough for the Eye of Boccob.  Orbius announces to the group that the entrance to whatever place Felenga’s familiar is at can only be found through the Bleak Academy, also called the Black Academy.The Bleak Academy... it’s almost a legend.  It’s where the strange necromancers called Pale Masters learn their weird skills.  Tales of forbidden experiments, black magic, undead walking the streets, even human sacrifice- who would give such things credence?  But this is Dorhaus, long overrun by evil, where all life that was not evil was destroyed.  How easy would it be for such a corrupt society to spring up like a boil in the hidden places of the wracked continent?“Hey,” Lester exclaims, “that’s where that hunter of the dead we were trying to recruit was!”“That’s right!  Well, maybe we’ll have better luck this time, since we’re going where he already is,” says Malford.  “Patyn.  In the morning,” Orbius states, “I’ll send him a sending, then, if he’s amenable, scry him out and teleport to him.  We can either all go to him or bring him back to us, depending on circumstances.”“Maybe he has other allies as well,” Lester muses.  “We could certainly use some, if we’re going to go attack some kind of necromancer academy.  In fact, I think I’ll head down to the bar first thing in the morning- only truly hardened adventurers start their drinking at 9!  Well, and the town drunks, but I can tell the difference.”So it is that, in the morning, the L heads down the hill and into the town, seeking worthy adventurers.  Angelfire joins him; though philosophically they couldn’t be further apart, they share the bond of the adventuring party.  As the two of them leave, Lester’s cohort sends his message to the hunter of the dead, asking to join him.  The response is disheartening.“He says,” Orbius related glumly to Malford, “that the rest of his companions are dead, and that he could use all the help he can get.” The Eye scries out the hunter of the dead, then Orbius and Drelvin greater teleport to him.  He’s on a little raised area of land in a marsh.  The air is heavy with moisture; mosquitoes buzz in the air.  A single tent is pitched nearby; a bird of some sort is roasting on a spit, over a modest fire.  Patyn, a thin man in an emerald tabard, raises his head and stares sharply at our heroes as they arrive.  He lifts a hand and seems to be concentrating in their direction for a moment- checking to see if we’re undead, thinks Malford- and then visibly relaxes.“I am Orbius,” the Eye proclaims.  “We spoke via sending earlier...”Patyn nods grimly.  “Yes.  I am glad for your aid...”  He frowns.  His eyes glisten for just a moment.  “My other companions are all dead.  I am the last.”  Through gritted teeth, he growls, “The Black Academy must fall!”Patyn relates his tale of woe.  Even the approach to the place was deadly.  Beneath the peat, in the boggy mix of rotting vegetation and muck and water, lurk undead.  They dragged one of Patyn’s companions to his doom.  The other took to the air.  “Our wizard and cleric reported that ethereal assaults were guarded against by demons- too many, they said, to even consider an assault that way.”  Patyn continues his story, telling how he and his companions made several attacks on the Black Academy and found that it’s surrounded by a small city of evil!  They fought their way in more than once, even to the steps of the Academy, but a barrage of death magic and undead was too much for them to penetrate.  “There are powerful necromancers and hordes of undead in there,” he reports grimly.  Retreating to what they thought was a safe distance, Patyn’s group found themselves horrified upon waking in the morning.  Their middle watchman had been murdered, while on watch, without making enough noise to wake anyone else!Things went downhill from there.  Now only Patyn’s left.  “And some of my friends may have become undead themselves,” the hunter of the dead groans.Malford and Drelvin exchange a worried look, then ‘port back to Var with their new ally.  “Come have a real breakfast,” Drelvin offers.  Angelfire and Lester, meanwhile, have found pretty much exactly what they’re looking for: a pair of tough adventurers.  One of them is cloaked and hooded at first, but seems enamored of the L’s bat wings.  After a few minutes of conversation, the figure casts off its robe to reveal a draconian looking form and wings of its own!  “I’m Rex,” the dragon disciple says, and he shakes hands with Angelfire and the L.The other of their new companions appears at first to be a female elf, but soon shows her delight in changing into a cheetah.  She tells our heroes that she is a master of her shape, and can turn into nearly anything.  Her name, she tells them, is Ulla.  Their ranks swollen, our heroes return to King Malford’s castle after finishing their drinks.  They find Malford, Orbius, Drelvin and Patyn eating in the main dining hall.  As the sinister-looking group full of dragon and bat wings and scarlet skin enters, Patyn raises his hand to examine them.  His face darkens.  He stands up and walks out to Angelfire.”You,” he states flatly, “are evil.”Next Time: Uh-oh!  Will Patyn and Angelfire get along?  What will Orbius summon to help the group?  How will our heroes attack?  Beware- a dozen demons!</blockquote>

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