August 18th, 951 to August 21st, 951
Kyra looked over the common area of The Daring Goblin Tavern and Inn. The place looked like it
had seen lots of use. The floor was waxed, but dark with age and dirt deep in the wood grain.
Everything was in good repair, but it was obvious that most of the furniture had been repaired.
From the look of the patronage, fights were frequent. It wouldn’t be wise to drink too heavily.
Kyra imagined several of these people would be happy to relieve her of her purse.
All the same, this was the best Morvale had to offer traveling adventurers like herself. The
party had wandered into more than 1 nameless place only to be rejected and finally sent here.
Glowing reviews of “not too many murders” and “thieves there usually leave a calling card”
didn’t inspire Kyra to want a private room. Instead, the party all squeezed into a 3 bed room.
“Red” was the odd man out. He planned to stay up all night praying after Tathel offered to
cast Vigil on him.
Before retiring for the evening, the “Red” treated the party to one of the house specialty brews,
rumored to be made with real Sphinx Tears. It was glittery gold with deep metallic swirls.
The clear glass caught the light and made the drink seem an odd piece of beauty in this otherwise
lackluster place.
It wasn’t until the dwarfs had nearly finished the obviously alcoholic Sphinx Tears that either
Tathel or Kyra braved a sip. It was surprisingly refreshing and had the taste of grapes. Despite
being very nervous about the clientele, Kyra decided to go alone looking to make friends.
Several people were playing card games. One group was not playing for money, so Kyra asked to
sit in on a few hands.
The game was 3 Dragon Ante and it was strange no money was involved. Kyra learned that these
were local tradesmen and merchants from the area. Their rough exteriors belied a harsh lives,
but not the hard lives of well-traveled men. Oddly enough, the men took little interest in
the comings or goings of the strange elven archer sitting at their table. Not even Kyra’s
elven beauty sparked any interest in the men.
The next day, Tathel made use of Thania’s hair ribbon and cast magic to find her. Within
100 miles now, the party boarded big dwarf, Morel, after they got far enough outside of town to
avoid crushing anything important. Within an hour, Tathel called Morel to a stop claiming Thania
was within a mile or 2.
The trail finally stopped when Tathel told the group she was straight down 100 feet. There must
be an entrance to an underground complex somewhere close. Underground often means dark, so Kyra
prepped a pebble to act as a torch before starting her search. She knew that Morel would likely
go charging in and she’d not get a chance to recover from her exertions if she waited until later.
When the cave entrance was found, Morel was happy to lead the way using his head lamp. Tathel
was in the rear and held the other light source. It wasn’t long before the cave narrowed and
dead ended into a steel door with no handle or key hole. Morel gave it a push, but it didn’t
move.
Kyra waved off Morel as he prepared to bash the door down. She didn’t want anyone getting
advanced warning. After using Mage Sight to check for magical traps, she unsuccessfully tried
using magic to unlock the door. Tathel was next to attempt bypassing the barrier. He blinked
to the other side of the door and discovered it was barred with a heavy piece of steel. It was
more than he could manage, so he used Levitate to lighten the bar and move it so the door could
open.
After all the magical exertions, Kyra and Tathel needed a rest. Fortunately, the passage on
beyond the door was lighted and enemies would have a difficult time surprising the party.
Morel wondered why clerics and mages were always so tired, but resisted his urge to simply
continue on without them. As they rested in silence, “Red” heard the sound of something solid
scraping across stone. He thought his ears were playing tricks on him when he gestured to his
party to listen and only got confused looks.
Tathel prepped Kyra with Haste before ending the break. He wanted to make sure she could get
into position easily. After resting for 10-15 minutes, the group was finally ready to act.
And so they moved, Morel in front, then “Red”, Kyra and Tathel.
Morel rounded a corner and across a wide room found himself with the choice of the door on the
left or the door on the right. That and which of 3 patrolling skeletons to shatter first.
Surprisingly attentive, the skeletons wasted no time moving towards the well armored dwarf.
Morel was happy the animated bones close enough to attack so quickly.
“Red” soon found himself face to face with a black skeleton. It glistened, wet with some
something dark oozing from somewhere. Unsure of how strong this creature was, “Red” dropped
his ax and grabbed his silver symbol of Kord. True Faith caused not just the black skeleton
but all the skeletons to flee. This seemed to cause trouble for Tathel who suddenly was using
magic to target an enemy that was much further away.
Morel and Kyra had no trouble cleaning up the skeletons. Tathel choose the door on the right
claiming it was where the party would claim Thania. Kyra once again prepped Mage Sight and
checked the doors for magical traps.
Through the door was a long hall. On either side were iron bars forming jail cells. On the
wall of each cell were manacles that Kyra indicated were magical. As the party walked along,
they saw a variety of weak, old or dying people locked away. From the smell, some of prisoners
were already dead. Layers of dirt and excrement made it hard to tell the living from the dead.
Morel tried to engage the first prisoners in conversation, but all were either unconscious or
awake with dead eyes.
Morel was about to give up hope on these prisoners when he came to a cell half way down the
corridor. There stood a woman relatively clean with bright coherent eyes. She was seemed to
light up as more and more of the party came into view. It was almost like she was receiving
guests to a party.
Morel told the woman they were looking for a woman name Thania. This wasn’t her, but she was
more than happy to let them know a necromancer and vampire had just taken her to the far end of
the corridor. The woman claimed she couldn’t help as a guide, but the party decided she might
prove helpful if she were released. Morel wanted to try using brute force to open the cell and
remove the manacles, but Kyra was there opening the locks with magic.
Kyra wanted to rest after this, but Morel was impatient so “Red” offered some of his ample
supply to get the party moving again. As impatient as he was, Morel looked back and let
everyone know it was their last chance to do any magic before he opened the door and
potentially started a battle.
It was good intuition because the door opened to what looked like a stone altar supporting an
unconscious woman. A pale man in robes appeared to be chanting while an even paler man with
fangs looked on. Around the room were several skeletons along with Morel assumed were vampire
spawn. In the back of the room was a wispy spirit presumably waiting to be welcomed into its
new corporeal form currently lying on the altar.
Before Morel could even step into the room, skeletons swarmed him responding with
lightning fast reflexes to the door being opened. This seemed to be even before the necromancer
shouted an order in undercommon, “Kill Them”.
The yet to be named girl didn’t hesitate, she slipped past “Red” and in front of Morel. While
the skeleton’s rusty blade was still being deflected by Morel’s ax, she hit the first skeleton
with a powerful fireball. It didn’t kill the creature, but Morel was able to side step her to
easily finish the job.
Tathel launched a fireball at a more distant opponent and missed horribly nearly singeing the
woman on the altar. Kyra stepped into the room and launched an arrow at the now fleeing
necromancer hitting him in the leg. The man dropped and screamed, “protect me,” in undercommon
followed by, “please, don’t kill me!,” in common.
Morel moved to intercept the vampire and all but one skeleton chased him. He took a few random
swings at enemies as he covered the distance. Unfortunately, the vampire made it through the
door long before Morel could cover the distance. One of the vampire spawn had turned to mist
and was drifting towards the door.
With several skeletons and vampire spawn still in play, she covers the distance to the fallen
necromancer. As she does, Morel catches her intention and yells “let the necromancer speak!”
Kyra ignores him and shoots him in the head at point blank. Temper flaring, Morel steps
between Kyra and the necromancer telling her that he wants to talk to the man. Morel fumed
that followers of Corellon had no honor and would attack an enemy who has yielded. Was she
really so afraid of such a weak enemy that she had to kill him immediately?
What made him angrier is the idea Kyra completely ignored him. Didn’t she realize the
tenants of his faith commanded him to defend the weak against the strong? When he spoke up
for the necromancer, he was essentially placing him under his protection. It was all he could
do to keep his temper under control.
Kyra left the necromancer and shot her bow at the last remaining vampire spawn who was fleeing
the room. Morel came over and took a few swings at it as it left, but Kyra chased it all the
way down the hall and back into the main area the party saw when they first entered. Tathel
ran after her, but gave up the chase to explore a locked room that belonged to the necromancer.
In the meantime, the new girl had given energy to the woman on the altar and brought her to
consciousness. The dwarfs took up defensive positions around the wispy spirit who still
lingered in the room. It hadn’t shown any aggressive actions, but there was no sense in taking
chances. “Red” was hoping to engage the thing in conversation to discover what he might from
it, but it seemed to ignore him and gradually disappeared into the floor.
The dwarfs decided to question the necromancer. With the spirit dissipated, the altar room was
probably safe enough to leave the recently saved prisoners. Morel carried the necromancer to
the cell block with the idea of locking him up. Later, he’d learn that Tathel had taken the
keys from the necromancer and it wouldn’t be possible. All the same, “Red” revived the weakened
man with healing while Morel stood at the ready for any false move from the submitted enemy.
After several minutes of questioning, the dwarfs learned that the necromancer, Xander, had
been acquired by a vampire spawn and brought here. When the vampire learned of his skill in
magic, he was commanded to practice necromancy and eventually create skeleton minions to serve
the vampires. He was really just an unwilling participant in all the proceedings.
The dwarfs believed the story and offered him protection from both the vampires and their elf
traveling companions. When Tathel came around, he wondered what the dwarfs were going to do
with Xander. They told him he was coerced against his will and innocent, so he would be
returned to his home country of Khatovar to start a new life away from the influence of the
vampires.
Tathel was livid with the idea. Didn’t the dwarfs know that one of the main tenants of
Corellon was to destroy abominations against life or nature. This man created those
abominations! It made no difference to him why he acted that way, only that he did it.
Of course, Tathel couldn’t force his will on the dwarfs. They only saw an enemy yielded in
submission.
Was it time to depart the company of these heathen dwarfs? Could he assassinate Xander
while he was being protected by the dwarfs? He needed guidance from Corellon about how to
handle the problem. He needed time to pray. And pray he did until 2 hours later he got word
that everyone had been freed and was on the surface ready to leave for Morvale.
As Morel prepared to grow to enormous size once again, Tathel learned that Kyra had found $500
in silver and a couple cursed rings in Xander’s room along with several books of necromancy
spells. The books had been burned by their new friend, Gemma, using magic when Kyra expressed
hatred for the subject. At least, Gemma was sympathetic to Corellon.
As Gemma came to the surface, she seemed confused by the dwarfs as they watched over Xander.
She asked what they planned to do with him. “Red” told her that he was coerced against his
will by the vampire and would be returning to Khatovar to start a new life.
Gemma became even more confused. She told the dwarfs that he was actually the one giving
orders to the vampire and was the one in charge. Thania collaborated the story. Feeling
foolish, Morel and “Red” formally released their protection from Xander. Wasting no time, Kyra
quickly shot him in the head point blank and Thania drove a sword into him finishing the matter.
Morel carried the party and former prisoners back to Morvale. There, passage was arranged for
each person of Pelevion to return back to their home. The next day, big dwarf took the
survivors from Khatovar back to Gotham. From there, Tathel and Thania teleported to the Didela
tower in Miresus. Kyra arranged for Morel, “Red” and Gemma to travel to Miresus using the druid
trees.
Once in Miresus, Morel asks Kyra to come along to the armorer. He wants her to use Mage Sight
to see how his star metal affects magic. Each dwarf wears several pieces of magical armor and
the artifact, Orchid Malevolence, is magical of course. Kyra notices all items glow brightly
with Mage Sight. When Morel retrieved the star metal, only a faint glow remained on all items
except Orchid Malevolence, which seemed to glow just as strong as before.
Deciding this might be useful to a magic user, Morel tells the blacksmith there might be a
better use for the star metal and to wait to make anything. The dwarfs, Gemma and Kyra head
to the Didela tower and meet Kyra’s friend Gina. She helps the group make an appointment to
meet with Master Livia the next day at 9 a.m. Satisfied that the wheels are in motion, the
party decides to head across town to rejoin Tathel at the estate of Nobelwoman Burha. She
will likely have something good for the heroes that rescued her daughter, Thania.