Trying to break free. Studiyng my opponent.
Caesare tries to break free, but fails!
Round 3:
The giant claw tries to squeeze Caesare! , dealing a further damage! The other claw scrambles at Sonny! for damage and a !
Sonny is hit and grabbed by the claw. He shouts out, "Sarenrae, destroy these undead creatures!" as he channels her power.
36
The positive energy flows over the claws and seems to shrivel them. They seem smaller somehow, but still fight on!
dropping his spear Caesare grabs his aspergillum and hits the claw.
16 normal damage and 2 holy
With a hellacious smash, Caesare drops the grasping giant claw, destroying it!
Round 4:
The remaining claw tries to keep ahold of Sonny! If it does, it deals a further damage!
Sonny grunts as he is further squeezed and cries out to his goddess again, "Dawnflower destroy this foul beast!"
42
With Sonny's burst of holy light the remaining claw dissolves into foul smelling goo!
Not knowing what exactly happened to Risbeth and the Professor, Sonny channels to heal everyone.
He then goes to Risbeth to see if she can be saved with a inflict spell.
Try as he might, Risbeth and the Professor are dead, despite the worrying lack of wounds on them.
As Sonny checks the corpses, a ghostly figure appears over the corpse the dead necromancer. The figure is dressed in fine noble's clothing and has a sad look upon his face as he gazes down at the necromancer. A moment passes, then he looks to Sonny and Caesare. "I thank you for this service, strangers. You have slain a man who tormented the souls and corpses of my former friends and neighbors. I owe you a debt, and this much, I can repay." He stoops over the necromancer's body and reaches into the dead man's head. He pulls something out, all glittering and strange and tosses it into the air, where it begins to play the memories of the dead necromancer, as if you were watching a film in midair!
The visions open with a furiously darting ink quill that dashes out of a stream of words reading, “My Master, I shall stay in Feldgrau and build an army of corpses for our risen lord...” The sentence fades, and after a brief flash, hands place the letter in an envelope and strike it with a wax seal. The seal is that of the Whispering Way!
Another flash comes and the scene changes. You see cultists scurrying around in the town square, exhuming bodies and raising an army from the corpses of Feldgrau’s dead. After another flash, Vrood’s hands place three strange items into a chest— an iron-and-glass vial containing a swirling gray mist, a bloody heart inside a glass bottle, and a fragile skull composed of hundreds of bone fragments. Into a second chest he places a strange statuette of murky green stone depicting a grotesque, tentacled creature.
Another flash. The chests are given to two riders in dark cloaks on pale horses. “Ride to Thrushmoor,” You hear Vrood’s voice speak. “Our agent will exchange the Effigy for the relic we need.” After a final flash, the visions fade.
The ghost looks down at the dead man, still saddened. "I can do no more for you. Now I must go to my rest. I thank you for your service today. I mourn for your friends' death, but I rejoice that you have laid my friends to rest. Farewell my friends. May your road take you where you need to be..." With this he fades away.
"Well, the heart and other items have moved on to Thrushmoor. We need to go there. First however we need to see to our friends. Let's see if there is anything helpful here. The necromancer may have had something." Sonny then begins searching the dead necromancer.
Taking his time caesare cleans the professor and prepares for all eventualies."They are dead, aren't they? If it was a death spell, it wil be quite hard to do more than offer them a safe burial!" And with that Caesare begins to collect wood.
On the body of the necromancer you find the following: lesser silent metamagic rod, wand of animate dead (10 charges), +1 quarterstaff, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +2, ring of protection +1, spellbook (contains all prepared spells, all 0-level spells, plus arcane eye, create undead, mirror image, and 1d6 random spells of levels 1–5), spell component pouch, Whispering Way amulet.
There is also the tent. You search around and discover a locked chest in Vrood’s tent contains 50 pounds of silver dust (worth 250 gp), 2,000 gp worth of onyx gemstones, and a scroll of control undead in a plain leather scroll case. A DC 20 Knowledge (arcana) check recognizes the silver dust and onyxes as material components for desecrate and animate
dead spells.
There is also a leather satchel beneath the table, which contains several pages of cryptic notes and an elaborately carved bone scroll tube. The scroll tube contains an enigmatically macabre poem.
It reads:
"Upon the ashen pathways tread
Softly, as the whispered dead.
As mortal flesh doth rot and fail
To leech and maggot, ebbing frail.
Unhallowed words cannot be spoken,
With whispered oath, death lies broken.
Shed fear, shed life, shed pain, shed time,
Eternity seized shall soon be thine.
First spirit torn from Grave-Lady’s grasp
Be rent and sown as soured ash.
Soft the spiral song reverses,
Judgment lost, damnation surges.
Keeper of the damned’s soul take,
With packlord’s heart the beast shall wake
And flesh be wrought in disarray—
Stillborn cocoon, to blessed decay.
A hundred slain lie innocent,
Grind bone and marrow to cement.
Craft now a skull of splintered graves,
Unmake life, unmake the slave.
Where history churns dream to blister,
Necrophagous secrets whisper
Through chronicles of Raven’s tongue—
A legacy of fear unspun.
Blood spilt atop the Iron Thorn
Invokes that which cannot be born.
Arise the Tyrant now unbound,
Bearer of the Carrion Crown!"
There is also strange notes, which may require some decoding.
"Yes, unfortunately they are dead. It will take some powerful magic to bring them back, but depending on what we find, we may be able to afford it, especially if we can get to a temple of Sarenrae. We should gather everything we can find in town, including anything on the bodies of the other ones we dispatched, but be on the lookout for more werewolves. If we can get a horse or two we should be able to bring the bodies back with us." With that said, Sonny takes Risbeth's body and lays her out neatly next to the Professor and when Caesare is ready goes out with him to check the other bodies.
Sonny prepares the bodies of his friends and collects the silver dust. The next morning before dawn Sonny takes his friends bodies and the silver dust to the hill in town and lays them out facing the coming dawn. When the time comes he prays for his spells.
He makes two vials of holy water and consecrates the area. He then begins to pray, "The dawn brings new light! Oh Healing Flame, let the light of this dawn bring new life to these slain defeating evil and putting the undead to rest! I ask you Dawnflower to let the light of this new sun bring my friends back from the evil perpetrated upon them."
He then awaits his Goddesses response, arms outstretched and facing the sun.
Sonny makes his plea, praying for aid. For a long time, almost long enough that he begins to doubt, nothing happens. Then as the sun emerges fully over the horizon to burn off the lingering fog from the poor doomed village, a ray of that fiery sun seems to break off and resolves into a beautiful dove that is as bright as the sun and the size of an eagle, surrounded by an aura of blazing white flames. It hovers without flapping its wings in front of the cleric.
"Good morning, servant of Saranrae. What need bids you to call for her aid?" The voice is clear and resounding, despite only sounding in your mind. It fills you with a sense of peace and contentment, of warmth and summer days.
The being's light falls upon the bodies of the slain. "Ah, I see. Do you vouch for these souls? Do you stand by their purity and devotion?"
Sonny bows low to the yhohm. "These friends have been devoted to stopping the Whispering Way in their attempt to revive the Whispering Tyrant. I believe this speaks of their character better than I can, servant of the Dawn."
The yhohm seems to nod with its being. "Very well. Let us summon the spirits." There is a shimmer and the pale ghostly form of the Professor stands in front of you. Risbeth is missing, though. "The child of blood and night has chosen to seek the Boneyard's embrace. Her soul will continue upon its journey."
"Altering the natural course of life is not simple. I see your path is not swift nor easy; dark tides do you swim against. Evil rises in the shadowed places and you have been chosen to stand against that flood. It will not be a simple path if you choose it, and the price may be more than you know. I can return this soul to life, but the cost is thus: each of you must agree to redeem the soul of a single evil being. A soul returned from death for a soul returned from evil. That is the cost."
"Do you accept?"
The ghostly figure of the prof nods very slowly, as if he had aged a little more. He remains silent, however.
Caesare looking at the Professor speaks."A fair request. I accept!"
"I accept as well, though there was no doubt in that. I thank you and our Lady Dawnflower for your gift."
The dove seems to expand suddenly, becoming brighter and brighter until the light causes you to cover your eyes. When you open them, the corpse of Risbeth is gone, leaving behind her things, while standing beside her is the Professor, whole and unharmed. You realize each of your wounds has healed as well!
The prof blinks a few times, barely realizing the miracle he just lived.
"Amazing! I should write a paper about that!" is all he says, though you sense that he's really grateful to be alive.
Sonny smiles at the professor, "Welcome back! I'm glad you rejoined us. We need to gather up the things we found here and head to Thrushmoor to follow after the carriers who have the heart and other items that are to be used to bring the Whispering Tyrant back."
"Thank you, Sonny. And thanks to Sarenrae!" says the prof, wiping his glasses to his shirt.
He also takes his time to analyze the note found on the necromancer.
Suddenly the sense doom is broken by the appearance of a dove made of sunlight itself. The world goes warm and white and when you blink, the flaming dove hangs in the air in front of you.
"Hunter of the night, I see you. Fate reaches for you, hunter. Fate beckons you to your destiny. In a distant village the fate of this world stands upon the point of a dagger. The choices of mortals may doom or save you from misery and undeath. But I see your thread there, hunter. You are needed in a distant village, where the blood of the ocean and the blood of men mingle. Your strength may be the missing piece."
The dove seems to dim slightly, as if its light was fading or it was moving away from you. But its voice still rings. "Hunter, see the sage, the priest and the chemist. Seek them by my sign. Tell them that the yhohm has sent you to them." The image fades, but you awaken the next morning rested with the words of the sun bird still fresh in your mind."
You rest, regaining your strength before you ride away from the ruined village of Feldgrau upon spectral mounts. Toward Thrushmoor, you ride, knowing that you ride on the trail of the Whispering Way's dark riders, burdened with the knowledge that these dark riders carry components to waken the Whispering Tyrant himself from his dark slumber. If you can catch them, perhaps you may yet avert the end that he promises.
Bjorn awakens, he is rather disturbed to be having such livid dreams. He raises a hand towards the sky and watches the beams of light streaming through his fingers. He sits up slowly and pushes his wolf off him.
He sighs slightly and stands up slowly, it seems the voices in his head have given him a new job. He stretches and checks his supplies on his sled. The last bandit troupe he took out was plenty to fuel his needs for the next while. He patted the wolf and slipped the ropes over his friend and started to move. He knew if he wanted to change, to grow stronger as the voices command that he would have to challenge himself. He had found ways to challenge himself in the past, helping others like himself in the process. But perhaps this will be the biggest challenge of his life, it will be interesting to if he can rise to the challenge of this voice's request.
He patted the wolf's side and let out a low growl. They began to move, he made sure to rest when his friend needed it, hunting when they needed food more then rest.
Bjorn stops outside the village unsure how he would best approach this. He had been thinking about it for a long time and every scenario did not turn out well. He sighed, he would have to try to control his rage if this did not work and not kill the poor villagers.
He took his blankets from his sled and told Arrrooo to stay put. He covered himself from head to toe and tail with his blankets.
He heads into the village and attempts to squat near the place he saw the most traffic, such a noisy place...but probably the best place to stay and listen and wait.
After days of riding the Professor, Sonny and Caesare arrive at a small sign pointing toward a rustic village before them: "Welcome to Thrushmoor."
On the shores of Lake Encarthan, the town of Thrushmoor squats where the Danver River flows into Avalon Bay. The county seat of Versex, Thrushmoor enjoys some prosperity thanks to trade on the lake. The town sprawls along the lakeshore and upon a handful of soggy islets, its buildings weatherworn and rugged. A handful of Drumish mercenaries armed with crossbows look down from the towers of a decrepit fort near the town as you approach. They don't hassle you, but they do watch you suspiciously.
"I think the first think we should do is find an inn and have a decent meal. Then we can find out what temples are in town and start asking our questions there. We don't want to throw the whole town into a panic. What do you guys think." Sonny winces a tiny bit a the second to last word.
"Agreed Sonny. I wouldn´t mind some real bed for a change!"
"You're right, friends. Plus I need some time to copy spells." states the prof.
An inn is easily found. Just inside the city's limits on the road from Feldgrau sits a stone and wood inn called the Hook and Candle. For 2 gold a night the innkeep will provide you a single room with a dusty wooden bed and breakfast and dinner. Dinner proves to be a stew that looks questionable but tastes pretty good, along with a thick black bread.
Watches the three carefully and begins to stalk them to see if they are indeed the people the voices in his head told him of.
He is most likely very obvious in his stalking but does his best to hide his presence and his face with the blankets as best he can till he is sure of them.
The next morning dawns misty and cool. The people in the inn's common room seem surlier than you remember from the night before.
After a decent meal Caesare checks the room for any unwanted night guest and then returns down and works the crowd trying to get rumours.
Caesare is able to hear a few rumors of note in the tavern.
Two riders matching that description came through town a day or so ago, but they didn’t stay long.
Illmarsh is a little swamp town that lies down the coast from Thrushmoor. Its residents are strange folk, and natives of Thrushmoor call them “musties” on account of the distinctive unpleasant odor Illmarshers carry about them.
Two taciturn, dark-cloaked strangers swapped their horses for fresh mounts at the livery stable a day ago. One of them headed out of town down the coast road toward Illmarsh. The whereabouts of the other rider are unknown.
Illmarsh is just a little fishing and logging town. It’s nothing much to speak of, and doesn’t even have a legitimate militia—just a local sheriff and a few half-trained deputies for handling the town drunk or the occasional vandal. The House of Undiomede used to rule the town, before that line died out. Now a mayor runs it, Greedle by name, appointed by the count to make sure the taxes come in on time.
If that rider headed down to Illmarsh, it’s the end of the line for him unless he takes a boat or grows wings. Beyond Illmarsh is nothing but the near-impassable swamps of the Soddentimbers and the deep and swift Detstach River.
The prof puts back his glasses on as he hears the news from Caesare.
"Well it looks like we have to go to Illmarsh, then! I wonder if I recall some things about the place... Let me check in my notes!" says the academician to the other two.