Campaign VI: Chapter One, Mission Eight

Recap
XP
DM Notes

Recap
12th of Davor, 1329 Avard: Zap and Xennith awoke at the Temple of the Trees, somewhat groggy and still smarting emotionally from their ordeal. Their physical wounds had been healed in the night, and a pack of Mother Tia's peppermint springs had been placed inside each of their bags. From the private altar to Barith and Whalin, they could hear prayers from a hoarse, tired voice.

Inside the private altar room, they found Gabriel laid out on the altar, with Ethos deep in a healing trance, giving every last bit of his energy to Gabriel. Father Thomalis was passed out in a chair beside his wife, while one of Mother Tia's accolytes aided Ethos in his prayers. Blood had drenched the altar-stone and the floor of the room, and it covered all the healers.

Unable to give Ethos more than a dribble of water into his mouth, while he prayed with cracked lips, Xennith and Zap quietly and efficiently set to cleaning the room as best they could with buckets of fresh water, scrub brushes, and elbow grease. Father Thomalis finally roused, and immediatly went to relieve Ethos, who had to be physically removed from Gabriel's side by Zap, whereupon Ethos passed out in exhaustion.

Mother Tia, rousing, explained that Gabriel was very close to death, and the nature of the wound made them suspect magical poisoning of some sort, or perhaps the death of Gabriel's familiar, Ash, had caused the physical wounds to become spiritual. Whatever the reason, it would be touch and go for some time. The matronly woman had already stolen a portion of Zap's heart as a mother-figure, but reinforced that role with her concern for Gabriel, and Ethos, even as she made sure the Zap and Xennith were well-fed and taken care of within the Temple of the Trees.

Zap and Xennith, unable to do more within the temple, went out into Takanal as they reformed their plans. They knew that the Doom would be hot upon their trail to kill them, for their role in his mate's death. They also knew that they had to get back to the Bat to find out what would happen next. Gabriel, they felt, would be perfectly safe within the Temple of the Trees -- but neither the Wolf of Rahne, nor the Agent of the Bat, could simply sit idly by and wait.

They enlisted the aid of the practical jokester and barkeep of the Rabid Plant, and hired a messenger to take a message to the Marksmen that would surely be at the Blue Tyven: They wanted a meeting on the 19th of Davor, to talk things over in the public tavern of the Blue Tyven.

Zap's incautiousness with his mouth and his money had a young pick-pocket cut his purse off and run. Xennith, a professional thief, tried to hunt the youngster down -- but because Takanal was not his town, he lost the kid in the back streets, twists, and turns of the rough-and-tough town. Zap, however, learned his lesson.

The two of them resupplied throughout the day, and managed to get orange-bearded Barl Wirebeard to examine the small gemstones they had taken from the Marksmen. Barl noted that the gems were ogran-cut rubies, used as currency in the lands of the ogremai. The gems were also used to capture the souls of crusaders and paladins during the First and Second Crusades, although their use fell off after that. Whomever had the ogran-cut rubies on them, was in the employ of the Ogre Nations.

In return, they also told Barl of the salt mines not too far to the north of Takanal, although the way Zap presented the story led Barl to believe that they were yanking his chain or into some funny business.

Around noon, they said their goodbyes to Father Thomalis and Mother Tia, and said their prayers for Ethos and Gabriel. Then they headed out, aiming for the very salt mines they had told Barl of.

Their intent was to take an indirect route to Lok Magius and the Bat, rather than go straight there. The time they spent taking the circular route would buy them seven days, and hopefully keep the Doom and his minions from finding them quite so quickly. The Doom had considerable resources, and they wanted to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs. Their route would also take them by the salt mines that the Bat had originally sent Zap and Ethos to investigate, and thus Zap and Xennith would be able to do a more thorough investigation of the mines. Zap also wondered if perhaps all the food that had been stolen from Kashin and other places, might have been stored in the salt mine.

Zap, a Wolf of Rahne, and Xennith, the Agent of the Bat, had plenty of time to talk and get comfortable with one another as they went up into the mountains. That evening found them somewhat lost, but around noon of the next day, after a decent night's guarded rest, Zap managed to find the remnants of Grunden. Leaving the horses hobbled some way back, they both slowly approached the remains of Grunden, watchful for roc-hawkes, orcs, or worse.

Cautious as always, Xennith approached the mine entrance from an oblique angle, with Zap as overwatch. Unknown to either of them, one of the Doom's minions had already caught up to them. The assassin -- one of the Scorpions -- had fresh venom on his arrows and a wealth of stealth as he slowly hunted them.

Zap and Xennith managed to retreat to the mine entrance after several brief battles, near-misses, and a lot of poison. Luckily for both of them, Mother Tia had insisted that they refill their waterskins from the holy fountain of the Temple of the Trees -- and that water, twice blessed by Whalin and Barith, was an antidote to all poisons and many diseases.

Working into the mine shaft, and wary of traps that their hunter had apparently set, they found an older, magical trap. Runes engraved in the support beams of the mine entrance flared to life, and Xennith had a split second to help hurl Zap forward, deeper into the mines, before acid exploded out of the runes -- consuming the supports, and collapsing the ceiling almost on top of the two of them.

Xennith, weak as a kitten from the aftereffects of the poison, and Zap, blind as could be in the underground mine, were an unlikely pair. Xennith, his drow eyes leading the way, took them the rest of the way into the mine. They found the switch yards of the mine, and right off to the sides, they found alcoves for various purposes. Salt was everywhere, and crystals of it crunched underfoot. The very air they breathed was laden with it, and sucked the moisture from their eyes and their throats.

Rather than explore too much, they decided they had to rest. Using rope from Zap's pack, they struck trip-lines all around them, and then curled into a corner to try to rest, each holding guard until he was too tired, and had to wake the other. During one of their watches, something could be heard from back in the mines, out of Xennith's limited night-vision.

It was slowly coming at them. A sort of step-drag pattern that was coming up out of the darkness.

They waited until it was almost on them, before Zap hastily lit his torch in the darkness and threw it forward. A hideous, dessicated human corpse glared at them unseeingly with eyes grayed by salt. The zombie moaned, and began to rush towards them -- tripping over one of the ropes from Zap's pack.

Zap and Xennith, fear prickling at them, rushed forward to put the zombie down for good, but it's salted body seemed too hard to hurt. Zap finally sent the foul undead's head flying, and the evil energy that had been animating it dissapated. The two pulled into one of the alcoves, restrung the trip lines, and trembled with fear and exhaustion.

Xennith explored a bit more, during his watch, not wanting another zombie to find them unawares. He found a desecrated temple to some god, carved out of solid salt. It's twenty foot ceiling and numerous pews would let nearly a hundred people sit in it. The statue at the far end was to a god he did not recognize, and along the base of the broken statue were the dessicated corpses of wolves, cougars, and even a bear. Xennith withdrew in a hurry, scared that the creatures would rise up from their salt-encrusted death.

That the animals had been drawn to the statue made Xennith's skin crawl. That the creatures were all dead with that vacant, dry-eyed stare made him scared.

Somewhat later, they heard something from the switch yards. Zap, easily roused, came up shaking. His hands could barely light the torch, and then he threw it out into the switch yard to provide illumination. The torch was lit for only a moment before it sputtered out -- for Zap had put it out, earlier, with his salt-encrusted boots by stepping on it, not giving any thought to the salty nature of the world they were in.

The brief flare of illumination showed half a dozen zombies coming at them. One of the zombies was different: its dry, undead eyes moved to track Xennith as he sprinted across the three wooden sets of rails in the switch yard.

A deadly game of cat-and-mouse and outright battle began. The zombie with some semblance of intelligence was a salted wight, and it hunted Xennith. The remaining zombies began to attack Zap, some trying to rip his arms or legs off much like a man would try to take a leg off of a fried chicken. With salt all over his hands and his sword, Zap's bastard sword went flying out into the shipyard after he struck at one of the salted zombies -- and then they dragged him down in a flailing mass of limbs and fists and gnawing teeth.

The salted wight struck Xennith in the face, and a trail of blood arced out from the wound -- and followed some invisible trail through the air, right to the wight's hand. The wight seemed to grow stronger, its eyes gaining a bit more life to them, even as Xennith raced backwards in fear and horror.

Zap, armed only with his dagger and his fists, could barely keep the weight of the salted zombies off of him. He finally managed to saw through one's neck, even as the others were slamming him repeatedly into the salted floor of the mines.

Xennith fought a defensive battle against the wight, and managed to get closer and closer to Zap's sword. The Agent of the Bat got one foot under the sword, and the tide of battle changed. He got the sword to Zap, and with that bastard sword in his hand, the Wolf of Rahne went from the defensive, to the offensive. Xennith's hooded lantern gave Zap all the light he needed.

In mere moments, it was over. Zap and Xennith lay panting, exhausted by their efforts, but victorious over the undead creatures that had assaulted them. The wight had managed to hurt Xennith considerably, but the Agent of the Bat was alive, and strong enough to face whatever battle might come.

So begins the 15th of Davor, 1329.

XP Awarded
3,500.   (total character XP to date is 18,700)

DM's Notes
Wow. Sam's character Xennith has 1 Strength point remaining, because of the poisoned arrows that the Scorpion assassin used. He had to take the immediate damage from each attack, when he failed his Fortitude saves, but the water-skins Mother Tia made them fill up saved him from the secondary damage. Otherwise... Well, the salted wight sucked down two levels, on top of that! Xennith is not doing so hot, right now.

Brent's character Zap isn't in much better shape. He's down to about 10 Strength points -- half of his normal tally.

The peppermint sprigs from Mother Tia contain three leaves, and each leaf works as a cure light wounds, so eating a whole sprig works as a cure serious wounds. They have plenty of healing peppermint sprigs left, but the poison damage, and the level draining, is doing them in. I worry that the two of them might not have what it takes to survive through the rest of the mines -- but if anyone can do it, these two can.

Brent's about to go on leave and see his kids, back in the States. Because of my house rule, "We all play, or no one plays," it may be over a month before we play again. I have high hopes, though, that I'll be able to 'back track' with a potential new player, and get him caught up to the rest of the group. If so, by the time Brent gets back from leave, we'll have a new member to add to the party.

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