As the party started to circumnavigate the skull they came upon a courtyard with haphazardly piled rubble walls. In a stone pool at the center were skulls and shattered bones strewn. As the group moved forward they beheld two robed figures moving amongst the rubble. Mara suggested trying to avoid these characters but Demin, remembering seeing this type of mage before fired his crossbow at one of them.
This action got the Blackfire Mages attention and they joined the battle with ranged Death Bolts. The party moved forward towards the Mages and the pool. As Gofin approached the edge of the pool she saw amid the rubble of the pool, a blackened humanoid heart within a nest of shredded flesh. She also heart a faint and erratic heartbeat and was subject to an attack by the heart.
As the battle moved forward four Wrath Spirits flew up from behind the walls, each holding with a flaming head which were hurled amongst the adventurers. The damage was quite extensive as Gofin almost fell but quickly used her Liquid Shadow to reduce the damage and move next to the Wrath. The entire party was bloodied after the Wrath attack but they pressed forward. Melisana cast Written in Fire and Mara moved up to invoke earth shaking rend. Two wraths and a mage were damaged by the burst but the worst was saved for the heart which happened to be within the burst. Massive critical damage was administered to the heart which was destroyed.
Alhellara used Battle Surge to support the party by allowing them to heal and attack with fervor. Demin kept firing bolts while Pretis was using her crossbow as she was immobilized. Lythandar threw magic missiles and area attacks against the enemy. Soon the Mages fell and the Wrath Spirits did not seem able to reproduce the exploding heads (for which the party was grateful.) Gofin attacked a Spirit that had not marked her and she was dazed. The Spirits all died and the party took a short rest and healed up. Then a search began which did not reveal any magic but Mara inspected the pool and found 200 platinum pieces, and opal necklace (6,000 gp), a jeweled dagger scabbard (4,000 gp) and a mithral holy symbol of Acererak (12,000 gp).
Then the party continued around the skull. They came upon an area filled with undead nests (rags, bones, desiccated skin). On the far side of the skull was the down slope of the great hill that the skull stood atop. The slope was littered with blackened trees and stone shelters and tents around which the party saw undead moving and an occasional live being. Far to the south the party could see the walls of the city. Not wanting to disturb these beings the party continued around the skull. They came upon a ruined market area. This area was filled with former magical and mundane shops in which the hearty troopers found nothing of interest. Since they saw some mindless undead patrolling the area the party moved on to the north.
They next came upon collapsed and shattered ruins of ramshackle huts and low stone buildings. These were filled with shattered furniture, personal effects and well gnawed bones. As the moved into an area where black rubble seemed to hem them in the group heard a staccato din coming from beyond a wall that broke the silence of the streets. This sound was unmistakably that of combat, but no voices could be heard.
Moving stealthily the party peered around a high wall and beheld four zombies in battle with the same number of skeletons, flailing at each other with rotting talons and battered broadswords. To the south was a sinkhole or vent in the ground from which lightning strikes could be seen. Melisana moved somewhat closer to observe the vent.
More footsteps approached and another force of skeletons moved through the shadows into the fight, led by a human in silver robes. He raised a staff over his head which exploded in black flame as the skeletons lurched forward. As the battle turned against the zombies, two maroon robed creatures led more zombies into battle. The language was unknown but Alhellara used her helm to reveal that the silver clad human was encouraging the skeletons to destroy the enemy that held that Acererak was alive. They were the infidel as it was well known that Acererak had died when the tomb fell. The maroon clad humans know that the demilich is alive and they worship him zealously. His abandonment of the tomb merely shows his wrath against unknown transgressions.
The battle was swift and furious as the zombies and maroon clad humans prevailed. They then marched off to the southeast. The party moved into the battle zone, where some zombies and skeletons in a death grasp. The group looked into the vent which was around 20 feet deep but crumbly along its edges. Mara tossed a zombie body into the vent where it fell to the bottom. Alhellara recorded the characteristics of each side in the battle and the group marched on.
After passing another battle site they came upon an area with two vents. As they moved toward the vents four figures emerged from various places, weapons at the ready. Each was a living humanoid, but none looked like those you've seen before. Alhellara noted another difference, they appeared resigned, rather than malevolent, though that did not slow them down as the moved toward the group.
Scorecard: The party received 3500 XP for the night and now have 81685 XP needing 1315 more to reach 17th level. The jewels and platinum were pooled for the party.
No comments:
Post a Comment