As the ice-bound creature frees itself, and lets out its mournful wail, only Phoebee, Wei Tchak, and Uliyara manage to move fast enough to break the ice that forms before it can hamper their movements.
Masym, who was nearest the creature, tries to dodge past it to make room for those behind him, but the ice drags at his heals and he can barely make the move, much less do it without provoking a response.
The revenant lashes out one wicked claw, grasping the man about the neck . It's black hateful eyes hone in on him and you hear it speak again. "Where?!" It whispers. "Is it you?" Despite the question, it becomes quickly clear it is more talking at you then to you. You're not even sure its listening.
Masym is almost lifted off his feet by the undead creature's unnatural strength, and he desperately jabs at it with his spear as its grip tightens on his throat and he finds himself having trouble breathing. He manages to stab it, but his spear does not do nearly as much damage as he had hoped.
Malusha yells a warning about getting too close, as he finds himself barely able to move. He reaches out and gives a small blessing to Wei Tchak as the tengu moves quickly into the room and out of the doorway while the creature is distracted. The magus slashes at it with his blade, but can't quite get a strike through it's tough desiccated hide. He does however now realize what Malusha was warning him against, as the air around the revenant starts to freeze in his lungs!
Nella too feels the unnatural cold, and can see runners of frost spreading out around the dwarf as the cold intensifies all around it. It is all she can do to move a few steps and activate her wand, before she too feels her flesh freezing on her bones.
Phoebee starts up a rather long and complex song about the cold in hopes of inspiring her allies, and after a moment you realize it is supposed to be a duet, and she's singing both parts. Still, Jones finds it heartening to listen to, and after concentrating a moment, fires a single arrow through the open doorway at the undead within. As with Masym's spear, the missile does not seem to have as much effect as it would on a living person... but the shot was powerful enough that it does a fair bit of damage anyway.
"You have hack it apart, to stop it!" Uliyara calls behind him, as she manages to avoid the entangling icicles and quickly reaches for her own bow. "It will not feel pain like you or I, but slash it up enough, and it might cease!"
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Back in the room, the revenant suddenly stops and turns its head slightly, as if listening.
"Yes..." It whispers, almost sounding excited. "I hear you, child of the Witch Queen. So near!"
With an almost casual indifference it tosses Masym aside and turns towards the doorway. Then, with sudden unnatural speed, it rushes out into the hall beyond screaming. "Finally! Revenge will be mine!"
It races outside the room, apparently not hindered by the frozen ground at all, and heads straight for Phoebee, who can barely register it coming, it moves so fast. She only barely manages to dodge out of the way as it moves past and heads directly for Uliyara.
"Now I will destroy you... as you destroyed me!" It snarls with hate, as its long bony claws reach out towards your guide, grasping her around the throat.
Uliyara screams with fear, a scream that gets cut off suddenly as it clutches her around the neck, it's claws ripping at exposed flesh.
- Round 2 ------------
Revenant (-14, grappled)
Wei Tchak (-2/-4?), Masym (-12, entangled), Phoebee, Jones (entangled), Malusha (entangled), Nella (-4/-8?, entangled) <------- We are here!
Uliyara (-16, grappled)
Group Buffs: Bless (+1 to hit), Inspire Courage (+1 to hit and damage)
The party is up!
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Malusha gasps and flinches as the revenant rushes past him. Fortunately, for him, the frozen beast has eyes only for Uliyara. As the monster rips into their guide Malusha flips his cure light wounds wand from the wrist sheath. He taps Uliyara in hopes of restoring some health.
Icy cold floods into his bones and he realizes that he can't stay this close to the dwarf. He steps and quickly as he can away.
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Masym sees stars as the undead begins choking his life away, only to stumble to the ground gasping for breath. He stumbles back on his feet and croaks out, "Fire! We gotta burn it!" He then drops his spear and staggers out of the room, drawing his sword as he moves, waving it as he directs his companions in their attacks.
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Nella flinches as the revenant's cold aura washes over her but she manages to weather the worst of it, somehow. As the strange creature suddenly barrels after Uliyara, the priestess struggles to make her way over to Tchak.
"Here...this might...help...!" she gasps as she struggles to focus on calling forth a spell.
Unfortunately the chill in the room is still too much and she loses the magic she was trying to conjure.
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As the revenant moves to attack Uliyara, Masym manages to jab at it with his spear, but the weapon proves even more ineffective then before, barely scratching it. Wei Tchak does not manage to connect at all, as it moves too quickly for his blade to make contact.
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Malusha quickly draws a wand and desperately tries to heal Uliyara in the grasp of the undead monster, his efforts only managing to stem the worst of it. He then tries to move away, as the unnatural cold spreads all around the creature, but the ice and frost prevent him from moving farther then the nearby doorway... which is not nearly far enough to avoid it.
Realizing his spear is not going to do the job, Masym tosses the weapon aside, then stumbles out of the room drawing his sword. The ice seems to clutch at his feet as he moves, and he can't quite reach the fight, though the potion he drank earlier continues to keep him safe from the biting cold.
Nella attempts to hurry over to where Wei Tchak is, to cast a spell on his weapon, but she can barely move with the ice encasing her feet. Worse, the unnatural chill distracts her enough that her spell fails as she is unable to concentrate! She is, however, finally able to break her feet free of the clutching ice.
Wei Tchak, his feet unhindered, doesn't wait and hurries out of the room to reach the revenant where it tries to strangle Uliyara. He hacks at it with his katana, scoring a wicked slash despite it's tough skin, but by doing so, he exposes himself to the cold, as his feathers start to freeze painfully.
Phoebee stays where she is, drawing a wand of her own... but instead of using it's magic to heal, instead reaches out to send the positive energy into the revenant. She manages to touch it, though it resists the worst of the damage. Unfortunately, her hand near freezes from the contact, trailers of ice run up her arm, painfully freezing flesh as they go, before she has a chance to pull it away.
Jones stands his ground as well, taking advantage of the creature's distraction with Uliyara to unleash a pair of arrows at point blank range. One of them is deflected harmlessly aside, but the other he sends right through it's neck until the head of the arrow bursts out the other side and the revenant head snaps to the side from the force of the shot.
It does serve to draw it's attention though, as suddenly it's head swivels around, arrow still protruding from its neck, to turn it's baleful glare on Jones. Frigid cold washes along with the look, and Jones' skin begins to freeze as well.
"You would deny me what is mine?" The revenant hisses, as it releases its grip on Uliyara to turn towards the archer.
The young jadwiga collapses to the ground, gasping for breath, tears of pain and terror streaming down her face, and blood down her neck... but all of it freezes before it can fall far, as the cold aura surrounding the revenant washes over her and her skin starts to freeze as well.
"They laughed as they sealed me in!" The revenant cries, as one long bony claw slams into Jones, thrust up under the edge of his breastplate, penetrating his abdomen.
It pulls him close with immense strength, until it stares at him with its rage-filled eyes. It howls again, as it jabs it's other claw in, thrusting it up under the edge of the armor as well, before lifting the man entirely off the ground as it screams.
Jones goes limp, as his bow clatters to the icy ground. The revenant pulls both it's claws out, accompanied by a fountain of blood, and he collapses motionless to the ground, only Jones' armor keeping his insides from spilling out as he falls. Ice slowly starts to form across his unmoving form.
The undead creature's onslaught is not done though, as it then turns its attention towards Wei Tchak! One blood-covered claw flashes around with barely a glance, the bony digits impaling Tchak through the shoulder, before it's head swivels around to glare at him.
Behind him, Uliyara stumbles and nearly crawls away, trying to get out of the bitter cold, frozen tears and blood forming long icy lines down her face and chest.
The dwarf doesn't even turn its dark frigid glare from the tengu as it hisses to the woman behind it. "There is no more running for you, witch-child."
"I will have my vengeance..." Its eyes bore into the tengu impaled in it's grip. "... Once I am free of those who would keep me from it."
- Round 3 ------------
Revenant (-69, grappled)
Wei Tchak (-16/-19?, grappled), Masym (-12, entangled), Phoebee (-3/-6?), Jones (-30, prone, dying, entangled), Malusha (-6, entangled), Nella (-4) <------- We are here!
Uliyara (-12)
Group Buffs: Bless (+1 to hit), Inspire Courage (+1 to hit and damage), Precise Strike (+1d6 damage when flanking)
The party is up!
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Malusha continues to move away from the revenant. As he takes a slow step he feels himself warm up as he passes out of range of the freezing aura. Once clear Malusha utters a quick prayer and calls on the power of Sarenrae. He channels a burst of positive energy. Normally he uses this power to heal his allies but in this case he directs the energy to damage the undead monster that is ravaging his friends.
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Masym knows this fight is a tough one, but he also has an advantage since he knew what the revenant would do next...should it kill Wei Tchak that is. He slides around the undead creature, interposing himself between Uliyara and it. "Yer gonna have to go through me first!" He grunts as his sword cleaves into its icy flesh.
Partially impaled on it's bony claw, Wei Tchak slashes out with Oblivion, sinking his sword deeply into the dwarf's side, as the creature seems to be having trouble keeping its grip. He tries to weave in a spell for a second slash, but the revenant manages to recover, squeezing painfully, and he can't quite finish the incantation. All the while, the cold starts to work it's way from where the claw pierces his shoulder, radiating outward painfully as it freezes all it touches.
Masym, still hobbled by the ice and on unsteady footing, moves in close enough to harry the undead dwarf from the far side, but the intense cold seems to be hindering him greatly, as he can barely bring his sword around. Behind him, Uliyara manages to utter a quick spell and at the last moment Masym finds the strength to break through the cold and bring his weapon down with surprising accuracy.
Nella moves in, huddling in the corner, just on the edge of the revenant's frigid aura, and sends healing energy into the severely wounded Jones, bringing him back from the brink, and closing the worst of his wounds. Though it can't protect him from the cold and ice that's forming over his prone form, almost as if the ice on the floor were trying to encase him... as the undead dwarf was so recently encased.
Malusha finally manages to stagger out of the icy hallway into the room from where this all started. The irony of him considering the cold room, in the eternally frozen Irrisen, warm, is not immediately lost on the man more at home in the desert. One hand goes to the ankh around his neck, as he calls on the holy fire of the Dawnflower, flooding the room and the frozen hallway beyond with positive energy. The Revenant's entire body starts to convulse, almost like the glowing energy is disrupting whatever negative force holds the creature to this existence.
It lets out a horrifying shriek, and you hear it whisper "Thank you..." before the holy light bursts back out of the creature and it slowly slides motionless to the floor, its claw sliding out of Wei Tchak's shoulder as it falls.
You find yourselves staring down at the dead body of a dwarf, the twisted deformations you saw only moments before, gone.
"What in the hells was that about?" Uliyara manages to gasp out, as it finally stops its assault.
"Is it dead?" She adds, uncertainly a moment later.
The icy tendrils that claw at your limbs seems to fade as the revenant does, as does the unnatural chill.
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Wei Tchak (-22/-25?), Masym (-12), Phoebee (-3/-6?), Jones (-12/-14?), Malusha (-6), Nella (-4), Uliyara (-12)
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Tchak collapses to one knee with a gasp as the dwarf releases him and drops to the ground. "Oh... ow... that was freaking cold..." He shudders slightly and slowly pushes himself back to his feet, using Oblivion like a crutch... He mutters softly, "Oh shut up... You won't break."
Once on his feet he mutters "Well, I didn't deliver the death blow, but I helped, so you're welcome." And with that, he severs the dwarf's head [coup de grace], just to be sure.
Then he taps himself with his healing wand, granting him fast healing 1 for 1 minute.
Uliyara smiles wanly at Malusha's concern. "I will be alright." She responds. "It certainly didn't seem to like me very much, did it."
You are able to search the remains and inside the backpack, that the dwarf appears to have been wearing when he was frozen in the ice, you find a journal, all of it written in Dwarven.
The cold winds howled fiercely last night. I fear that the cataclysm may truly be as great as the strange sorcerer Hao Gin warned. She has been knocking at our doors every morning, and today, I made the decision for the clan—better to take the risk of letting her whisk us all away into her mysterious realm than the certainty of freezing to death. Unfortunately, Bardak didn’t agree. My son is far too stubborn for his own good. He ran off, and I couldn’t find him anywhere. Now it’s too late; Hao Gin spirited away the rest of the clan, and I’m stuck out here in the last few rooms that she left behind. Even worse, a giant block of ice froze over the only way out of here. I could swear I heard cackling laughter from the other side of the ice, before it grew thick enough to seal off all sound from the outside world. I can only pray to Torag that Bardak changed his stubborn mind and accompanied his kin.
Other then that, and the axe still resting on the table, nothing else of note appears to have survived the years and the cold.
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Lots of things don't seem to like you in this area comments the bard but at least we weren't more hurt as the creature took its frustration out on you and not us as she takes a look at the journal.
She will translate it for the group.
The journal says
The cold winds howled fiercely last night. I fear that the cataclysm may truly be as great as the strange sorcerer Hao Gin warned. She has been knocking at our doors every morning, and today, I made the decision for the clan—better to take the risk of letting her whisk us all away into her mysterious realm than the certainty of freezing to death. Unfortunately, Bardak didn’t agree. My son is far too stubborn for his own good. He ran off, and I couldn’t find him anywhere. Now it’s too late; Hao Gin spirited away the rest of the clan, and I’m stuck out here in the last few rooms that she left behind. Even worse, a giant block of ice froze over the only way out of here. I could swear I heard cackling laughter from the other side of the ice, before it grew thick enough to seal off all sound from the outside world. I can only pray to Torag that Bardak changed his stubborn mind and accompanied his kin.
"Glad I could help." Uliyara responds with a icy frown, to Phoebee.
You will be able to determine that the writer of the journal you found was a dwarf named Vargrim. Though whether that is the same dwarf as the one you found here is uncertain... though likely given the text entry.
This is the sort of information that might prove interesting to the scholars back at the lodge.
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Masym nods in reply to Uliyara. "Thanks. Your magic did the trick there", before he gives Phoebee a warm smile as she heals his wounds. "Thank you Phoebee." The cool exchange of words between the two women did not escape him but he wisely keeps his mouth shut.
Looking over the corpse, he points out the beard to the others. "That is a traditional dwarven gladdringgoch. A mark of status worn by dwarven clan leaders. This was indeed someone important."
He eyes the axe critically, but making no move to pick it up. "I don't trust magical weapons that have been abandoned for long periods of time. It may be cursed." He turns to look at the women. "Perhaps one of you can determine if the axe is safe to carry?"
Wei Tchak, who has a fair bit of knowledge on the crafting of weapons and magic, will be able to determine that the axe is a finely crafted +1 dwarven waraxe.
It has some runes similar to the one on the beard clasp, leading you to assume that it might have once belonged to the dead dwarf.
You can easily look into the two adjoining rooms of the main apartment as well. Both of which are long abandoned bedrooms, all of their contents long ago emptied out.
Uliyara examines the beard clasp thoughtfully, once Masym points it out.
"I think that was the rune for one of the old dwarven kings." She mentions.
She ponders for a minute, as if going through a list of names in her head. "Guthrun, I think?" She decides, finally, shrugging slightly. "We are not taught much dwarf history. From a long time ago anyway."
"Its very similar to the rune they use for the word 'king'... or was it 'blood of kings'? Something like that."
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"Yes, I'm fine, thank you Malusha," Nella smiles gratefully at her fellow priest. "It sounds like it must've been um...well, one of the witches of this land that covered this place in ice," she adds apologetically to Uliyara. "And I guess to the vengeful dead blood is blood, even though you personally didn't do anything to him or his kin."
"But that's strange...we've looked everywhere there is to look and there's no sign of anything that seems like it'd be part of the Sky Key," she frowns. "Did we miss something somewhere? Or is this it?"