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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2350700" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-Hundred ThirtiethIn which: Kiara demonstrates that her dexterity is higher than her diplomacy score.Thatch lands the first blow, Anvil’s magic weapon spell allowing the sword to connect with reassuring force as the Chieftain attempts to glide through one foot of the arch in an effort to put that bony mass between himself and the party.The wraith snarls, but does not shift the focus of his attack away from Anvil.  Instead, he casts and scorches the cleric with a searing light spell, sending Anvil staggering backwards and causing his attack with Sir Cyrus’ sword to go wide.“Your weapons cannot harm me,” he hisses as Anvil struggles to regain his balance.Anvil grits his teeth.  “Kettenek has other methods,” he says tersely and follows his words with a searing light of his own.The wraith falls back, crying out in sudden pain.  But not before lashing out one last time with his freezing touch, sending Anvil, unconscious, to the ground.However, Eva is right there to take his place. She knows her rapier is useless against an enemy with no body, so instead she brandishes the party’s wand of cure light wounds.  She thrusts the tip of it into the air where the wraith’s chest would seem to be, and activates the wand.He shudders and hisses, dodging through the arch.Good, Eva thinks, didn’t like that much, did you?Although the party has to be careful not to follow him through the arch, the wraith finds that he is still unable to shield himself from their attacks.  Benedic picks up Sir Cyrus’ sword from where Anvil dropped it and goes on the offensive.  Although Thatch does not connect with the wraith every time he brings his sword around, he is hitting with shuddering forced when he connects.Eva is right there with the wand of cure light wounds and Reyu continues to batter away with her shillelagh.  Lira, seeing Anvil on the ground, takes a moment to convert an orison to cure minor wounds.  She sends Euro scurrying over to the fallen cleric to deliver the spell.  At least it’ll stabilize him, she comforts herself.  She forces herself to focus on the task at hand, and prepares to cast magic missile at the wraith as soon as Euro has discharged his spell.Meanwhile, Annika keeps her eyes glued on the incorporeal foe.  She’s out of magic missiles and she knows her crossbow is useless against him.  She does however, still have a dispel magic prepared.There, the wraith is falling back.  It’s hurt badly, looks like… yes, it’s going to cast.  Annika casts as well, finishing her spell just an instant before the Chieftain does.  She realizes with a sinking sensation in her stomach that it was attempting to cast inflict serious wounds on itself, likely enough to negate most, if not all, of the injury that the party has managed to cause it.But those few seconds prove to be enough.  Annika feels her spell spin out from her hands and crash into the wraith’s nascent magic.  The Chief curses in its ancient tongue as its spell collapses before its glowing, red eyes.And just at that moment, a stone comes whizzing from Kiara’s sling, striking it square in the torso.Had Kiara been using an ordinary stone, or even a sling bullet, it would have passed harmlessly through the creature, as though through an illusion or bit of mist.  But this was the last of Kiara’s magic stones, and as it strikes its target, the wraith’s form appears to buckle around the impact, leaving a small black hole in the middle of its phantom chest.  Like ripples in a pond, the blackness spreads outward, the Chieftain’s form collapsing in on itself, until—screaming in incoherent rage—it is no more.###For a moment, the room is eerily silent.  Eva uses the wand to return Anvil to consciousness, and he heals himself to closer to his full strength.  Petros clears his throat in the post-battle quiet.  “I thank you very much for your assistance, but I must point out that our work is not yet done.  The skeletons will be returning soon, unless we can stop them, they will overwhelm us.”Anvil shakes his head.  “We cannot turn them all.”Petros agrees.  “But I believe this… arch must be responsible for whatever force is animating the skeletons.  Disabling it should destroy them all.”“What should we do to… disable… it?” Reyu asks.“Does any of you have a spell-book?”Annika produces hers, but offers it with some trepidation.  “How long do you need?”“Fifteen minutes, perhaps a little more.”Anvil shakes his head.  “I do not believe we have that long before the skeletons return.  They already know where are here, and have been trying to break into the keep for some minutes.”Petros looks at Annika.  “Do you have dispel magic prepared?”“I used the last one to counterspell the wraith.”Petros sighs, “It was unlikely you could have affected the object in any event.”  He then glances back at her.  “I do not mean to impune your abilities, but…”Annika nods to show that she takes no offense.Eva notices Lira casting detect magic and squinting at the arch.  “What do you see?”“Transmutation…. And a whole lot of necromancy.”“Surprise, surprise,” Thatch mutters.  “Looks like plan B.”  The fighter takes off his pack and pulls out a coil of rope.  This would be a whole lot easier, he reflects, if I had Bob.###Cautious never to actually pass through the shimmering archway themselves, the party works to tie several ropes around the top of the arch.  Anvil and Benedic pull as Thatch hews at one leg of the arch with his sword.Sparks ring from the blade as metal strikes bone.  One.Two. The structure begins to groan as Benedic and Anvil put all their weight onto the ropes.  Thatch draws back his arm for one last strike….Three!With a mighty >CRACK< the bone arch snaps and a huge section breaks free, leaving only two uneven stumps protruding from the floor.  Thatch stands back, satisfied.A few seconds later, Lira reaches out to Euro through their shared empathic link.Euro?Yeah, Boss?When the arch broke, did you see a big flash of light?No.Ah.There is a brief pause.Are you still glowing?You bet.Annika’s torch still lit?Sure.  I think that’s why they call it “everburning,” you know Boss?Yeah, probably is.Hey Boss.  Why, do you ask?Oh, it’s just there was a really big aura flare when the arch broke… and I was looking right at it with detect magic when it happened….You okay, Boss?Actually, I think I’ve gone blind.###Fortunately, Lira’s sight begins to return almost immediately, and in the meantime Annika casts knock on the one large locked door in the basement of the keep which was never opened in the course of the battle.As Annika works, Kiara gets up the courage to ask about something that has been bothering her since she first saw Petros in his wight form.Trying to be mindful of her manners, she walks up to the archmage and asks, “Excuse me, but what happened to your arm?  Did the ghouls eat it?”Indeed, Petros’ left arm ends just below the elbow.  The rest of the party turns to look, most of them just as curious, if too wary to ask.Petros actually looks a bit embarrassed.  “No, it was… like this before.”Lira is too startled to prevent herself from saying the first thing that pops into her head: “And you didn’t think of mentioning that as a way we might be able to identify you as a wight?”Whatever Petros might have answered to that is cut-short by a whoop from Eva, who has just gotten a look into the locked room.Thatch and Benedic both reflexively reach for their swords, but the cause of Eva’s outburst soon becomes clear:The room is filled to the brim with treasure.</blockquote>

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