Name: Windra (11th level female elf sorcerer)
Location: A Gathering of Winds: The Falling River
Cause of Death: Hacked to death by the advanced Wind Warriors.
Well, that and being foolish enough to follow Vandar the fighter/rogue down the waterfalls of death know as the Falling River and leaving the rest of the party behind in doing so.
Earlier in the adventure, Windra had been captured by the shadow plane hopping spider known as Flycatcher. In exchange for returning Windra (and exchanging a sizable chunk of treasure for collateral) the party agreed to follow the River of Blood to find and kill a ghoul lord that Flycatcher had wanted dead for some unknown reason.
Upon descending the Falling River from the main tomb of the Wind Duke Icosiol, the party encounter a group of six wind warriors, elemental beings that some of the party had encountered before in the Whispering Cairn. The wind warriors fired crossbows while the party returned fire with a returning trident, scorching rays and fireballs. Eventually, the wind warriors retreated further down the cave after their supply of crossbow bolts was exhausted.
With Windra levitating and Vander tied to her and hanging from a rope, they both descend deeper into the caverns that ran followed the Falling River. (The reason that they left the rest of the party behind was due a communication break down. Vandar was 50 feet deeper than the rest of the party and only Windra made a listen check against the roar of the water fall.) Upon arriving at a large basin of water about 150 deeper than the rest of the party, Vandar and Windra has a choice. Levitate backup and rejoin the rest of the party or continue. Vandar told Windra “Let’s go down one more ledge. Just one more and then we can levitate back up.” So they did.
Vandar and Windra descended another 125 or so feet and were attacked by the Wind Warriors. Although Windra fought bravely (she did manage to kill one of the Wind Warriors with a scorching ray) she died on the blades of the elemental guardians.
Vandar fell deeper into the cavern, taking Windra’s body with him. Using tumbles and the use of a ring of feather falling (ironically borrowed from Windra before they began their descent), Vandar arrived at last at the chamber at the bottom of the Falling River known as the Star Chamber.
As Vandar made his way to shore, dragging Windra’s body with him, he heard a voice behind him say “Greetings. May I be of assistance?” Vandar turned to be face to face with Lord Moreto, the vary ghoul that Flycatcher the spider had commissioned the party to kill. Vandar realized that Moreto wasn’t alone as two undead monstrosities where accompanying him as well. This being the most polite ghoul that Vandar has ever encountered, (and fearing for his life) he engaged Moreto in polite conversation, even admitting that Flycatcher had sent him and the other party member to kill Moreto. Vandar noticed that Moreto keep on looking a Windra’s corpse as if to say “are you going to eat that.” Still fearing for his life, Vandar offered Windra’s corpse as good will offering. Moreto graciously accepted the gift. So far, Vandar has rolled well on both Bluff and Diplomacy checks and when we wrapped up, Vandar was inquiring as to what was the source of the trouble between the ghoul and the spider. All the while, Moreto has been enjoying this unexpected treat. (After all the falling and sword cuts, Moreto did find Windra a little gamey but to admit as much to Vandar wouldn’t have been very polite. If Moreto is anything, he is civilized….
