Ceol grimaces for a moment as he notes the wraith's flail -- and then, for a ssecond time, as the flail pounds into him.
He then steels himself, and prays, in Rohirric, "Eonwë, guide our blades," as he presses his assault on the foul abomination.
(I agree with Elendil's Heir...great description!)
Deor will ready a Magic Missile in order to finish off the wounded Wraith if possible. Otherwise, he'll use it on the other Wraith.
Bitur shivers almost imperceptibly before letting out a battle cry and charging at the wraith engaged with Ceol and Theogrim.
The Vampiric Wraith facing Thoroncir is actually staggering as Cirist drives into its dead flash yet again and Rorimac with the blade of the far north made for such horrors of the past cuts the rotting tendons of the right knee. It goes down to the ground and Kkósal’s bane strikes again from Rorimac’s hand and Thoroncir uses Cirist to behead the monster.
Gilraen casts another light spell into an area unlit. This time no specters are revealed.
Deor fires 4 magic missiles into the last Vampiric Wraith as Theogrim misses. Ithilneth races closer to the fight as Ceol strikes true and swift and the monster shudders and collapses with a horrid foul stench. Ceol can barely hold down his gorge and Theogrim cannot. Ceol and Mulligan see a wispy spirit fleeing from the body. Mulligan sends a Blessed Skull Stone through the fleeing spirit but to no avail. The field appears to be all but clear. A few specters are retreating from the battle incorporeal. A larger group has already been fleeing for a round or more.
Sala looks around and let’s lose a cry, “Gratham! Victory! Life shall always triumph!”
Ceol staggers back a step as the wraith disintegrates, fighting back the nausea.
He turns to Theogrim. "Well fought, my friend...well fought, indeed."
He then glances around the battlefield, and, seeing no other threats, drops to one knee, and begins a prayer of thanksgiving to Eonwë.
"A good strike my tall friend, that one will bother us no more." Rorimac smiles as he wipes the ichor from his blades. "But you should get those gouges seen to though, it seems this battle is done."
Mulligan looks around. "I can't see any more of the wraiths around. It seems that even though this ring would have no effect and may even attract their presence, I can see them coming as well. Prestolwen, would you know anything which would settle a stomach. Those wraiths were quite foul."
Peering down the hillside, how much of the treasure that was scattered has been moved or taken by the undead?
"Thank you, Rory," says the Sea-knight, stanching the flow of blood from his wounds, "but I prefer not to rest until the job is completely done." He lifts his sword and calls, "Come, my friends! Let us pursue and destroy the last of the fleeing specters, that they might not trouble others in the future!"
Stay, Sir Thoroncir! Before we rush off all full of the thrill of hot pursuit, let us make sure we have the tools for the job. Is anyone badly hurt? Do our spellcasters have enough magic in reserve? Remember the story of the old bull, the young bull and the field of heifers. ;)
Prestolwen, having shot all her arrows, has spent her time prepping poultices and bandages. She offers her aid to Sir Thoroncir and all the others who may need it.
Ceol stands, and accompanies Theogrim back to the rest of the party.
"I hope that, by killing those two wraiths, we have, at least for now, defeated the driving evil here."
He then turns to Prestolwen.
"A poultice would be appreciated, good lady. The wraith caught me across the shoulder with that foul flail it wielded."
"Sir Thoroncir, its the middle of the night, you can't see them without help and we know where they are coming from. We could always just wait for a day and they will probably come back to us." Rorimac shakes his head. He thought he was impetuous on occasion. ;)
Mulligan heads a bit further down in the glow of the Light spells to examine the hillside where the spectres were gathering. Anything missing or are all the items still there?
Some of the items are missing but not many. Many have been moved around but not far.
Gilraen calls out to Ceol and Thoroncir, "Thoroncir really needs his wounds seen to as the risk of disease is high and the wounds are ragged. Ceol I believe you are immune to such."
Sala asks, "Can a spell caster put up a spell to help find all the magic arrows, bolts and stones that flew out."
Sir Thoroncir grumbles a bit to himself at having his impetuosity reigned in, but recognizes the wisdom of his companions. As his battle-fury ebbs he realizes the true pain of his wounds and willingly submits, as always, to Princess Gilraen's healing touch.
Theogrim stands respectfully as the knight prays, then rejoins the party.
Ceol nods in assent to Gilraen. "Eonwë's favor protects me from disease, but not from simple injury such as this." He smiles a bit, as he rubs at his shoulder. "With both Theogrim and Sir Thoroncir for you to look after, milady, I shall ask Lady Prestolwen if she might favor me with one of her poultices."
Lady Prestolwen works at cleaning the wounds and binding them. As she does this Gilraen uses the Healing of Estë to see to Theogrim first. She cures 20 of the 26 and Prestolwen’s work cures another 3 and Drindoleth offers up 3 Goodberries to complete the healing.
Prestolwen believe Thoroncir is in danger of disease but is amazed how quickly his wounds closed. It was the magic of his scabbard Kálthalion that could be thanked for this. Prestolwen uses her skills to heal Thoroncir 6 points and Ceol uses a Cure Disease on him. His one for the week.
Gilraen then heals the rest with another Healing of Estë.
Bitur is the easiest, a little herb help for the chill touch and 3 more Goodberries and a bit of ale and he is fine.
Ceol comes last but is quickly healed with a single spell.
Gil-Gandel is fairly sure that Rorimac's blade is a true bane to the creatures we fought. That one was destroyed but the other only losts its current body.
Drindoleth casts a Detect Magic and asks for an escort to find the magic arrows, bolts and stones shot and whatever might have been dropped by the foes.
Now fully healed, and with a warm word of thanks to Gilraen, Ceol and Prestolwen, Thoroncir will be glad to accompany Drindoleth.
Deor will help look around for new magic items from the defeated specters.
"So, everyone is getting patched up and our missiles are being retrieved.
After that, how about we try and get some more sleep and then in the morning, do a quick once over of the graveyard and then examine the two stone buildings in greater detail.
Saves trying to hunt down ghosts in the middle of the night.
Everyone ok with that?"
"It's a sound plan. We are at a distinct disadvantage fighting these things at night anyway, seeing as how it's unlikely they actually need to see in order to fight. And more investigation might give us an idea as to who or what spawned the foul creatures."
Agreed. Creatures of the Dark have little love of the Sun - and not even I or my elders here remember the Dark when it was innocent, though I have enjoyed long speech with him who does.
Thoroncir assents. Did he, Deor and Drindoleth find anything of interest within bowshot of our encampment?
Ithilneth will stay sentry until dawn and then help scout the area once it is light. "What are our plans for the day?"
Once we're done sweeping the area, I'll get back sleep.
No new items are located in the magic item sweep. The various missiles are found and 4 arrows in all are broken. Two can be repaired by Gil-Gandel and the other two could be fixed with a mending spell. The broken arrows are the elven arrows and not the Dwarven. It is peaceful through the rest of the night and the spell casters are able to be at full shortly after dawn.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...insofHatha.jpg
I believe the party was working its way to the ruined tower and ruined stone building next.
Are any of the small evil/magical items which we spread out at dusk, not still locatable at dawn? If the burial ground is now cleared, then let us proceed to the ruined tower.
Prestolwen provides the company with a hot posset to warm their blood and sustain them all.
The plan should be to swing through the graveyard, give it the once over and then head for the ruined tower and stone building.
If there are any items returned to the graveyard, now would be a good time to put them out in the sunlight again.
Mulligan and Rorimac get ready for another day's fun adventuring.
If we go to the graveyard, Mulligan will put the invisibility ring on and try to see any undead or wraiths in the area..
Ceol accepts a mug of posset from Prestolwen with a hint of a smile. "Thank you, good lady."
"I agree...I am hopeful that we defeated the evil which controlled the graveyard last night, but I would like to go through there during the daylight, to make certain, before we proceed to the tower."
Spells for the morning:
1: Magic Missile, Identify, Read Magic, Shield
2: Web, Invisibility, Long Light
3: Fireball, Fly
4: Identify at Distance
(Gil-Gandel will spell up with Entangle, Faerie Fire, Detect Magic, Speak with Animals and Stunning Discord. May as well be able to find my own arrows next time.)
DATE: APRIL 3rd.
Drindoleth's Predict Weather spell indicates a partially sunny day in the high 80s.
The party quickly goes through the graveyard with no opposition and little evil detected. They find a few of the items that were missing and scatter them about outside. They approach the tower by 9:30am.
The tower is a decrepit round tower standing only 20’ tall. It appears it was once taller. The doorway faces the town and stands largely open aside for cobwebs and debris. There is a small bush growing a few feet from the door. As the party gets close the swords that detect undead glow stronger. Bitur and Gwaelur estimate that the tower is over 200 years old and the foundation as much as 500. They believe the tower is not ready to collapse immediately at least. Though Bitur is nervous about explosive type spells going offer in or near it.
I'd like to Identify at a Distance those foul black statues.
Deor Identifies at a Distance the 3 carved figures of strange beasts of unknown black stone.
They work as a single item and may be commanded to become animated and creep and crawl out to do destruction to enemies of owners choice. They attack by sneaking up on sleeping targets and dropping them into a deeper sleep as the suffocate them. They may kill one target each night and can haul back small objects. (rings, coins, scrolls, etc.) Those they kill will then rise in the morning to commit mayhem until struck down.
Could they be simply smashed to tiny pieces and thus rendered harmless, or would Dispel Magic or the like also have to be cast on them?
Has the party not found any particular small evil magic items we'd scattered the night before?
Thoroncir also thanks Prestolwen for the cup of cheer.
It is possible that hammer blows or chisels might break the carved assassin beasts or that a lightning bolt or fireball might succeed. Deor is not sure what will work or the dangers of trying to use a chisel.
The party is not sure if any small items or coins are missing. There was no way to really keep track of the numbers but as Gil-Gandel and a few others could tell you, a few small non-magic items missing should not be a problem.
Just throwing an idea out.
What if, under the full midday sun, we baked the figures in a large, perhaps magically augmented, fire and then quenched them in a running stream? Mechanically, such action should destroy them, and the sun and running water are excellent for cleansing evil.
Good to hear there are no thunderstorms in the area, brokwn towers and lightning don't mix.
Mulligan looks up at the tower. "Well, while you decide what to do with the statues, I'm going to take a look inside. I hope the spiders are of the small variety." She lights a torch and prepares to head inside. "Anyone else interested in a nice spooky tower, with probably plenty of undead within and hopefully something interesting to find."
"I may be along shortly." replies Rorimac, "If there are undead here, they may have been moving around, so I think I will have a look in the area to see if there is any trace of their passing or if the area is really devoid of life. Anyone want to lend a hand?"
Does Mulligan enter invisibly? Does anyone else join her? Any other thoughts on the figures as Ithilneth suggested or the mausoleums as Ceol mentioned?
Theogrim favors the "fire and water" idea for the statues, but readily concedes that disposition of evil magic is not his specialty.
The tower, on the other hand interests him more. "I would gladly go with you, friend Took."
"I will aid you, young Took. I have neither the skill for tracking nor the knowledge to be any use when dabbling with cursed magical trinkets, but I've got a well-forged axe, a strong arm, and plenty of knowledge in stonework and masonry."
Mulligan will pass on staying invisibility but will intially use the ring when looking around to see if anything unusual pops out before taking the ring off.
"The statues, I expect them Blessed, Smited, Fireballed, Bolted and Dunked. And if that doesn't work, Gil-Gandel will probably sing at them. The remorse from listening to his songs will shatter their stony hearts" :p
Let's get started building the fire. Deor will use all the skill and items at his disposal to make it as hot as possible. Hopefully, after heating them up, throwing them into water will shatter them, so let's build the fire on a streambank if we can. If they don't shatter when we throw them in, maybe one of the Dwarves can crush it with an axe. Likewise, we might get even better results by letting Gilraen work her blessings while the statues are being heated- they might be weakest then.
Ithilneth will toss a Protection against Evil on whoever is doing the handling of the figures. Would any of our Dwarves have tongs are something else to move hot objects?
Sir Thoroncir thinks the party should stick together and complete each task before moving on. Let's thoroughly destroy the evil statues and clear out the mausoleums before proceeeding to the ruined tower, in keeping with our earlier decision as to how to approach the city itself.
For ease of DMing, I agree we should stick together.
"Very well. Let us deal with these statues. Is there anything I can do to help, even if it is simply helping to move them?"
Help me gather firewood. I wonder if Gwaelur has tongs to move the statues with?
The party heads for the local stream and the Dwarves and Deor build a strong and very hot fire. The items are carefully pushed into it using long magic weapons. Gilraen blesses the fire itself. Deor's Golden Brazier regulates the heat to levels higher than the Dwarves can achieve with the materials on hand. Bitur estimates that the fire would melt gold with ease. They bake and heat up to a temperature that would crack most normal statues and then a bit higher.
The first figure is pushed into the water fast and it burst asunder. At this point the other too come to life and go for Deor but Bitur golfs one with his axe in the stream and pursues it chopping at it and Gwaelur is on the other one and bashes it hard with his shield and pushes it into the stream with his axe. This one escapes out the other side but Theogrim leaps the stream and strikes it with his great sword and splits it in two. Bitur has beaten his with a large rock into rubble.
A fairly fast search of mausoleums finds a few of the missing items but probably not all. Gil-Gandel supplying the Detect magic this time. They may well have been moved inside the old town. It is now pushing close to noon for entering the tower.
Mulligan, Bitur and Theogrim are the first three into the tower. Rorimac with Thoroncir and Gil-Gandel escorting him finds no activity outside the tower.
Tower has no stairs left, no floors except the ground floor. The tower is in terrible shape. But Bitur believe it is still safe and from the outside Gwaelur agrees and then enters with Rorimac and the rest. On the floor is rubble and in searching a moan is heard from below. In the center of the floor the rubble and debris covers an old rotting wooden door. Rorimac believes it has not been used in years. It has no handle on this side and would pull up to open. It won’t budge but could probably be broken.
Theogrim cocks his head in the direction of the door and gives a slight smile. "This, at least, is a problem with a straightforward solution. May I?"
Let's beat the remnants of all three statues into rubble, melt them in the magical fire, and then scatter the ashes. Just like nuking it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
Having found nothing of interest outside the tower, Thoroncir enters it, as well. He arrives just in time to hear Theogrim's question, bows slightly to his friend and gestures to the door. "Be my guest!"