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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2334871" data-attributes="member: 5808">Hey omrob!  And the multi-media extravaganza continues.Part the One-Hundred Twenty-SeventhIn which: guess who’s coming to dinner…Petros gives the party a rough description of the inside of the keep, and reiterates his advice not to go during daylight hours.  “The skeletons begin their dance at midnight.  They leave the keep and spend close to an hour wending through the villages and surrounding countryside.  During that time, you can sneak into the keep and destroy their masters.”“And who are their masters?”“Several ghouls, and at least three wights.  There would be four now—I suppose—but  I believe their leader to be incorporeal.  Some kind of specter, or ghost.”“Incorporial?” Eva asks, “As in, it doesn’t have a body?  How are we going to fight something that we can’t touch?”“Sir Cyrus’s sword has enchantments that allow it to damage such creatures.  You may take it with you if one of your number has the skill to wield it.”Anvil nods.  “I do.” He indicates Thatch’s greatsword, “I can also enchant your weapon.  It will not be as effective, but it will allow you a chance of hitting your foe.”The rest of the evening and the next day are spent in preparation.  Eva and Kiara both fashion crude maces, in case they encounter skeletons that do not participate in the nightly dance.  Lira and Reyu both prepare magic stones for Kiara to use in her sling, for added potency against the undead.Kiara is also given the task of holding the gem containing Petros’ soul.  As she is far and away the most mobile member of the party, they trust that she will be best able to reach Petros’ body once they locate it.  And—in the event that something goes horribly wrong—if Kiara is carrying the gem when she shifts into swallow form, Petros’ soul will be protected.At last, at midnight on the 17th, they are ready.###Midnight finds the party once again inside the city of skeletons.  The hypnotic drumming begins, and despite her knowledge of the danger, Lira finds her foot tapping unconsciously along with the clattering rhythms.   The skeletons dance by within meters of the party, once again hidden from undead.Lira isn’t the only one entranced by the macabre music, but thanks to the magic circle against evil surrounding the party, no one leaves their huddle to join the dance.The skeletons dance off into the city, and as the drumming fades, the lingering itch to join the procession goes with it.The main gates from the street to the keep’s courtyard are still open from the skeletons’ exodus, and the party pauses just beyond them to invoke last minute spells and blessings.  Anvil, in addition to bless casts magic weapon on Thatch’s sword and bull’s strength on the fighter himself.  Reyu casts barkskin on herself and Eva.  Lira finishes last, putting her four cat’s grace spells on whoever can best use them, and then casting a shield on herself for good measure.Finally, she nods to Anvil, who gives the go signal.  The tight knot of adventurers sprints through the gates and across the courtyard, heading not for the main doors of the audience chamber, but for a side door on the East Wing, where Petros fell three months ago.**********Above the courtyard, a skeleton on sentry duty remains.  Perhaps he is sad not to join the dance of his fellows.  Perhaps he feels nothing at all.  Perhaps he was, in life, a she.  With the party hidden from undead he cannot see, or hear, or smell their dash across the courtyard.  He does however, notice the East Wing door open of its own volition, and then, equally without assistance, swing closed again.Skeletons are not, as a rule, intelligent.  However, this one does know that doors do not move without someone or something pushing them.  He clacks his teeth at his partner, who gives a sharp nod in return, and climbs down from his watch-post to check the door.When he reaches it, the door is locked.**********The interior of the East Wing is, like its twin on the west, a large open rectangular building subdivided by paper walls and sliding screens.  The party moves quickly and quietly, checking rooms as they go.Whatever the rooms’ former functions might have been, they are now in complete disarray.  Tables have been overturned, books scattered from shelves.  However, the party finds all of them empty of occupants, living or undead.Until, that is, Anvil slides open the door of a dining room at the end of the corridor.  Four ghouls crouch around a low table, as though gathered for a midnight meal.  A fifth ghoul serves as the main course.Annika swallows back rising bile.  The others pressed in behind him, Anvil raises his holy symbol and cries out, “Back foul things!  Kettenek’s Justice demands it!”  And his holy symbol of Kettenek begins to glow…One can only imagine the scenario from the ghouls’ perspective.  One minute they are having a comrade for dinner, and the next minute a group of men and women have mysteriously appeared in the doorway.  And although the ghouls may not know where these intruders have come from, they are at least sure that they do not want to be anywhere near the bearded man with the holy symbol.  They flee.No longer hidden from undead after Anvil’s attack, Thatch draws his sword and cuts down the first cowering ghoul where he stands.  The second ghoul does manage to run past the party, making to escape through the main audience chamber.  The third runs for a side serving room, pursued by Anvil.   The fourth can do nothing but cower uselessly in a corner and Benedic and Thatch close in for the kill.  Running several steps behind the fleeing ghoul, Anvil just catches a glimpse of the creature leaping into a pit that has been knocked out of the floor in the adjacent serving room.  That can’t be good Anvil thinks, but best we finish here before going after him.  Decision made, Anvil leaves Benedic and Thatch to the room clean-up, and leads the charge into the main audience chamber.</blockquote>

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