No shrine is evident in this crypt, there are many broken bones and smashed urns which may have at one point held the ashes of those who were important to this city. Lynn sits down gathering her supplies, setting them out in a way that important to her and Shelyn. Lynn falls into a trance, her brow furrows into deep concentration. Lynn begins to do mental battle with the darkness and perversion that has a hold on this once sacred place of the dead.
After an hour Lynn finally wins out and breaks the enchantment holding sway over this place.
The others stand guard and look around the crypt, a singular item is found here, a headband is hanging from a plaque with the words "Here lays Brother Hyma of the Flowing winds, May the winds of the world blow away the taint of the World Wound"
This is a headband of Wisdom +2
As she is done with her prayer Lynn looks exhausted. "Let us collect the bones and put them back in place and then tink can dust it off with his magic to make it a crypt again that respects the peace of the dead."
She leads by example and collects bones, to put them onto the stone shelves in the wall. Coming past the headband she tries to figure out what it is. "Tink, here is magic jewellery." she calls for Tink as it resists her limited knowledge.
"It is magically imbued with the wisdom of those that wore it before. It will imbue some of that to you." Tink says as he turns it over in his hands, "But it was put here as part of a burial. Is that not a bit close to grave robbing for you?"
"I'd say putting this thing to good use according to the wishes of brother Hyma of the Flowing Winds here would be okay." Lynn replies. "I'd rather have my trusted Glaive stick in the chest of a demon again and again than rotting in my grave."
The sounds of battle can be heard outside of the crypt, they sound to be dying down. The party remains unsure of who will be victorious but praying that it will be the knights.
As the group emerges from the now consecrated crypt, you can see the knights mopping up the remaineder of the mass of ghouls.
Sosiel, Aron and Aniva ride forth to meet you.
"How do you fare?" Sosiel asks
"The enemies in this town are strong. But the power of good is victorious." Lynn sums it up in a hopefully motivating way. "This crypt is once again a place of final rest for the dead and it's corruption is broken."
"I see you too, were victorious. What did you overcome on your way here and how much of Dezren is under our control now?"
"The ghouls that we drew away so you could enter here are gone now, we control what was once called south shore. The Citadel and more of the city still lay before us." Aron Tells the group.
The sun is now high in the sky revealing it to be mid day, the purple clouds and bright orange sun make everyone feel warm but cool at the same time.
"What about that other army you approached first when we came into town?" Lynn inquires.
We should regroup and perhaps rest. Plus see where our next mission will be.
"I am a bit shaken by our latest encounters and Don's suggestion of rest is not unwelcome." Iko says wearily.
The two armies gather up and the party moves into the command tent with Irabeth, "So far we have taken Southbank, there is what looks like 2 bridges across the river bed. The issue here is no river means we cannot build boats and the second is that going down then back up the river bed will lead to us a slaughter as we try to get up the far side." Irabeth points to two bridges on the map, one on the far East and one just north west of your entrenched position. "We need to capture both of these to get across without having someone attack us from the rear."
As Irabeth is talking Sosiel and Aron come in, Aron moves to the map and looks at it as well. "We are setting up some temporary defenses so we don't get over run here." Aron points to areas on the map just around the centre of where you are.
"Are the bridges guarded? And if so, how?"Lynn asks
"There is an alternative to capturing both bridges and stretching ourselves thin. We can demolish whichever bridge we choose not to hold."
Irabeth points to the eastern bridge, "This bridge leads over to warehouses, they could still be stocked with some food and provisions since the defenders are not all demons." Horgus enters the tent at this time a grim look on his face.
"We are down to about 2 days worth of food and rations, this siege could take a few days if not longer and then we have to rebuild. If there is food and provisions in those warehouses then we need to capture them." Horgus says while looking over calculations on some papers his aides are carrying.
Irabeth nods as Horgus finishes up, "We can see from the edge of the old river bed that there is what looks like a broken bridge from the warehouse district to the Citadel proper. To the question of the defenders we are not sure but we expect more armies. We did find a horde of weapons in south shore and we are presently outfitting our knights with them." Irabeth spreads her hands a bit to open up conversation.
"To come back to my question. How are the bridges guarded? And do we know how they'd react if they notice us approaching?" Lynn asks.
While in the discussions, the matter of war more of Kynn's department, Iko silently leaves the tent where everyone is gathered, out into the fresh air, to contemplate his role in all this.
They will no doubt react like every other demon we have encountered, violently. Going for more supplies is vital since I very much doubt our clerics can conjure enough.
To spell it out Lynn explains "Are they prepared to destroy the bridge themselves if they see us approach with an army? Or is that not an issue and the problem is only, that our army is dead before we make it across?"
"They are more than likely prepared to destroy the bridges, we have no idea what awaits us across. We just have to pick a bridge and hope we can take it." Irabeth says
"Can you magically hide us to take a scouting mission first and see what awaits us?" Lynn asks Tink.
"I can use the same magic I used in the warrens before." Tink replies, "That should let us move mostly undetected. Unfortunately there are tales of demons that can pierce such magics."
Going in hidden as a small strike force can allow us to take out any forces that would destroy the bridges.
"As long as it is only a smaller force holding those area's you can yes." Irabeth agrees.
"Then let us check on the bridge leading to the warehouse." Lynn suggests. "Tink, what magic preparations do you suggest?"
"How many of us are going?" Tink asks first and foremost
I will of course. How is everyone feeling? We took quite the beating in the last fight so we should decide if we need to rest.
Night starts to fall as everyone is inside the command tent, the cooking fires are kept small and behind cover so as to not give away to much of the armies position. The group plans to cross the eastern bridge in the morning, sentries are posted.
Nurah slinks through the camp, away towards the bridge a series of signals is passed towards the Citadel with a hooded lantern.
Othirubo makes some more vials of frost for the group in case you encounter more swarms. He provides each of you with a new potion of healing
Don maintains his equipment and prepares himself for tomorrow.
Iko sits in meditation for a few hours undisturbed and then turns in for the night. Contemplating his announcement tomorrow to the group.
Hmm...Well many of us will have trouble if we go at night andd just what senses do demons have? I think we would be at too much of a disadvantage.
Lynn sleeps deeply after this exhausting day. And even on the short trip outside at night she notices nothing out of the ordinary.
Tink is too absorbed in his work to notice anything
The night passes rather uneventfully, the war council convenes again in the morning to decide on how you wish to proceed.
We certainly should scout the area leading tot he bridge. Is there anyway we can communicate with the army while we are out in the field?