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Background and Summary: Having dealt with the raiders, the
Party settles down to train and divide treasure. Before they complete,
however, a messenger arrives from the village of Grensvik. Shortly
after the Party had passed last through Grensvik, corpses started
to rise from the surrounding countryside, attack whoever happened
to be nearby, and amble towards the general area of the raiders'
base. The villagers blame the Party for disturbing the peaceful
dead, and demand that they deal with the problem.
The Party finds and enters a crypt. Besides dealing a number of
unpleasant creatures, the Party also has to defeat the original
inhabitant -- an Etruscan necromancer named Istaris -- who had not
quite achieved his goal of becoming a lich. When they exit the crypt,
they find that months have passed in the outside world and that
they were presumed dead.
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Dafan time:
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160 Quintilis 20 - Novatilis 20 (July-November) |
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Real time:
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2007 October - December (sessions 43-53) |
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Starting members:
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Mei-Peng
(N3), Vishu (Mk3), Aknot
(F3), Trafalgar (WrC3),
Beqk (Cvr3), Razzle
(MU2), Kera (NtC4), Riff
(F3), Shionna (B3), Raff
(F2), Shiannan (R1) |
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(Session 43)
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Quintilis 5-22 (July)
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Training for many in Jorvik.
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| Quintilis 20 |
Messenger from Grensvik arrives. Village has a new undead
problem, which started shortly after the Party was last there. Corpses are
rising out the ground (human and animal) and shambling west across the countryside
in the general direction of the bandits' encampment. Villagers demand that
the Party return and deal with the problem. |
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(S44)
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| Quintilis 23 |
Party heads for Grensvik. |
| Quintilis 25 |
Party heads into the hills. Finds 4 Zombies ambling
their way, and destroy them |
| Quintilis 26 |
Arrive at bandits' encampment. Explore old ruins:
about half a dozen burned-out buildings including one that likely was a
temple. Mei-Peng recognises the architecture as being Etruscan, i.e. from
Hestian empire and very out of place. Find a crypt with the name "Istaris",
surrounded by a low iron fence. Mei-Peng recalls an Istaris from her guild
history: a goodly Necromancer from about 2 centuries ago. About 40 Zombies
of various sorts are milling about, just outside the fence. Party destroys
them all, but Vishu almost killed. Overnight, 2 more Zombies arrive and
are destroyed. |
| (S45) |
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| Quintilis 27 |
Party enters crypt. All it contains is a sarcophagus with
an enscription: "To my dear wife, Lindrana, who died of the black plague".
Raff decides to open it; a noxious gas puffs out and drains him and Aknot
of some strength, but instead of any body inside, there is a staircase leading
down. |
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The party descends and finds a gruesomely painted room --
lots of torture scenes, and some priests before a deity that Mei-Peng thinks
is Dispater, an unpleasant Etruscan god of the dead. A secret door is found
leading to a large chamber with 7 exits. In the middle stands a big iron
statue of an angry mage. When Beqk and Razzle start down one passageway,
a stone wall crashes in front of them and the statue turns and fires a Magic
Missle at Beqk. The party rushes the statue, but find that it is pretty
well impervious to weapons, spells, or being knocked over. But with some
careful examination, the party figures out that they can block the statue
from turning. When Beqk and Razzle go down the next passageway, the statue
tries to turn but cannot; it doesn't shoot and nothing crashes down in the
hallway. |
| (S46) |
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The party proceeds down the passageway, comes
to a gloomy archway and two iron gargoyle-like statues. They find the statues
filled with unpleasant green slime, which they safely avoid. Beyond, a sloping
passageway leads them to a bridge between two waterfalls; 9Troglodytes jump
through the waterfalls onto the bridge, and a battle ensues. Kera kills
the cleric leader with one swing of her staff; the rest of the party deals
with the other Trogs. |
| (S47) |
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| Sextilis 1 (August) |
After retreating back upstairs and sacking out, the party
returns to the lower level. They find a majestically decorated tomb. Guardian
statues attack the party when they enter the room: 4 Gargoyles and 4 Lemures.
For reasons unknown, when Raff chargeds into battle, he is engulfed in dense
purple bubbles and is unable to see; blundering around and attacking blindly,
he strikes a critical blow into Beqk: Beqk is killed. While the Gargoyles
are destroyed by the party, the Lemures continue to regenate all damage
until Trafalgar discovers that weapons which he blesses deliver permanent
damage - the Party then finishes off the demons. |
| (S48) |
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They find that the tomb contains the corpse of Istaris, which
they clobber for good measure and then deprive of a wand; on a whim, Raff
experiments with the wand and unleashed a Fireball, much to his surprise. |
| Sextilis 2 |
The Party briefly examines all remaining hallways downstairs,
then returns to the main hall upstairs, where they find that the exit has
vanished - where a doorway lead to a staircase up is now just a bare wall.
They also find that someone else has wandered in and is unable to leave;
introductions are made, and Rehkel
(T2) joins. |
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Resuming their explorations of the upper level, the Party
comes to a Necromancy laboratory. |
| (S49) |
In a magically frozen room, they find 4 frozen bodies. The
Party starts to thaw them out; they get impatient; Razzle decides to experiment
with a nifty new spell he recently acquired that generates fire, some Party
members object, but he proceeds anyway. Vishu hits Razzle in mid-spell,
provoking a dreadful magic surge: 6 people hear quiet "pings"
from magic items they possess, and find that they have been de-magicked.
Raff and Aknot are outraged, and attack Razzle. Attempts to peacefully resolve
the dispute fail. With it being obvious that he will soon be killed anyway,
Razzle attempts to take his own life, but fails; Trafalgar offers to assist,
and Razzle is executed. |
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The Party continues to explore and loot the (dangerous) laboratory
and associated secret rooms; while others get mangled, Mei-Peng does some
necromantic fieldwork on some corpses, removing Beqk's heart and Razzle's
blood. |
| (S50) |
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More exploration leads to battles with Shadows
and then Troglodytes. |
| (S51) |
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| Sextilis 3 |
Overnight, some party members have nightmares; some remember
a feeling of being buried alive. Thinking they may have something to do
with Istaris, they return to the tomb, mangle the corpse, and leave it out
of the coffin. They then continue to explore, battling a Carrior Crawler
and then giant Rats led by Mordeus the Wererat; Aknot is bit by Mordeus,
leading to concerns about what that could mean. |
| (S52) |
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Returning to the lower level, they have more exploration and
battles - a fine library is looted. An underground dock is found; they kill
a lurking Troll and then a giant Lizard on a small island. The waters about
it are still, and the Party finds that all flowing water has been stilled
in the complex. Vishu, a fine swimmer, attempts to find waterway exits,
to no avail. |
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Returning to tomb room, they find that the body has healed
itself and somehow managed to get itself back into the open coffin. The
Party mangles it some more, dumps it on the ground again, and this time
puts the lid back on the coffin. |
| Sextilis 4 |
Overnight, many party members have more nightmares, this time
mostly to do with capturing Elves and offering them as living sacrifices
to some obscure (Etruscan?) God. They return to the tomb, and find the corpse
of Istaris sitting upright in its coffin, with the lid off, looking quite
animated. As the fighter-types charge, Mei-Peng is somehow charmed by Istaris;
calmly pulling out the wand they found on the corpse, she starts to launch
a fireball at the corpse and most of the surrounding party. Shiona manages
to break the charm; Mei-Peng yells out to everyone to scatter and continues
to aim at Istaris; when the fireball goes off, most members are out of range
(but Mei-Peng herself is nearly killed by the blast). The corpse of Istaris
is incinerated. |
| (S53) |
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The Party soon notices that water begins to flow again in
the complex. Returning to the entrance hall, they find the exit has also
returned; but looking outside, they find a snow-covered landscape. It should
be the equivalent of early August, but looks to be winter. |
| Novatilis 14 (November) |
They sleep, and then prepare to trek back to civilisation
with nearly no winter gear. |
| Novatilis 15 |
They find that the first village they come to - Grensvik -
has been abandoned for weeks. They find a winter camp with some of the Grensvik
folk, and catch up on recent events: they have been missing for 3 months,
and presumed dead; serious Orc raids started in September, leading to Grensvik's
evacuation; Uvdal was sacked, and Tostig is presumed dead. even Jorvik has
been subjected to seaborne raids. The Orcs appear to be better sailors in
winter storms than even the Norse. |
| Novatilis 20 |
Party arrives at Jorvik, much to the locals' astonishment
- they were deemed dead months ago, a "fact" even confirmed by
divine sources. Beqk and Razzle are given burials with honours. Raff
leaves the Party, having had enough of team heroics. |
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| Training |
Novatilis 22-Dectilis 8: training for many. |
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Surviving members:
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Mei-Peng
(N3), Vishu (Mk4), Aknot
(F4), Trafalgar (WrC4),
Kera (NtC4), Riff
(F4), Shionna (B4), Raff
(F3), Shiannan (R2) |
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New members:
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Rehkel (T3) |
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Casualties:
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Beqk, Razzle |
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Retirees:
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Raff (later to Voyage to
Vinland) |
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Continuing party:
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Mei-Peng, Vishu, Aknot, Trafalgar, Kera, Riff, Shiannan, Shionna, Rehkel
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