Topic: Session Summaries
Further excerpts of the Fitzpatrick Tales, from Buttertramps "Interviews with Famous Adventurers, Vol. 3"
The group, not knowing what to expect but sure that their nemesis lay ahead, prepared for the final battle against their long time enemy. Axel opens the door and reveals the manor’s crypt, which clearly is the source of most of the undead in the area. The room is guarded by a squad of several skeletons and two ghouls, who seek to interpose themselves between the group and the true enemy, a dwarf of decrepit appearance who stands at the far end of the room.
With the obligatory scathing comment from their nemesis the battle is begun in earnest. Axel speeds across the floor, dodging and weaving to avoid a series of defensive attacks from the enemy. He comes up on one side of the Dwarf and is quickly followed by Patrick, who adopts a flanking position on the other side. The other party members pile in, with Marcellus and Riley holding to the back in order to provide magical support. [Editor's Note: Marcellus de la Fuente's "Bardic Inspirations for Crypt and Choir" now available in most Haven's Hold gift shops]. The group endures some small damage from the mage who strikes the Halfling with his staff, while the undead and his bat familiar have no luck trying to attack the group. Riley, calling upon her god to remove the “loot obstructions” calls down a mass of divine power and destroys the skeletons while sending the ghouls to cower in a corner. Jour attempts to do the same but has no luck as the area of the crypt seems to be befouled by the necromancer-dwarf's efforts.
What follows is perhaps not what the Darkstride in this document, either expected or wanted. Flanked by ever-increasing numbers of the enemy, Darkstride casts a series of spells, blinding many in the group with Glitterdust, paralyzing Riley with a Ghoul’s Touch spell from a spectral hand, and attempting to but failing to use a Vampiric Touch also in his Spectral Hand [Editor's Note: Other accountings of the tale showed that he probably imbued the hand with the spell, but failed to send the hand to a target before he died. In retrospect, Darkstride should have double checked about whether the Spectral Hand could deliver spells at range the same round they were cast. But most accounts show that Darkstride was indeed, an idiot of the highest caliber, so it probably doesn't matter]. Marcellus hastes the group (save Riley who is too far away) and the dwarf becomes the focus of a party hack-fest the like of which has not been seen to this point. The bat sustains minor injuries, but Darkstride meets his end at the hands or axe as the case may be of his sister’s barbarian rage as she delivers a series of fearsome blows which completely shatters the mage’s Stoneskin shield and takes his life.
With its master dead, the bat flies off; however the battle is not over. As his last dying action, showing a laudable dedication to vengeance, Darkstride’s final action is to use his ring to summon two wraiths from the manor.
Riley, now free of the mage’s paralytic spell, is able to send one fleeing before her divine power, but the other is brought to battle by the rest of the group as it stands solid in the face of even the archer priestess’s best efforts. Axel goes seeking the bat’s whereabouts while the wraith is dealt with by the rest of the group and finally killed (again) by a mighty blow from Patrick’s hammer.
As the group watches, the wraith is filled with rays of light and it is determined that he and the other wraith, now fled, are the last remnant of two people that Marcellus and Golda encountered in a dream while off getting the horses earlier (Patrick seems to have predictably forgotten the specifics of this information, perhaps because at the time it didn’t relate to the loot he hoped to find on Darkstride’s body.) [Editor's Note: Loot-obsessed Patrick of course has gotten this wrong, sadly overlooking some key elements of the actual, ongoing story his party stumbled into during their adventures. Although the Editor wonders if the readers are interested in the plot, in the interests of storytelling, according to other historical accounts, she shall note what happened, and even kindly include some background information:
A few days before, the party had been attacked by a rather powerful, oddly female looking wraith along with some more ordinary wraiths, while camping within the manor walls. The dread-ish wraith had managed to drain a great deal of life force out of Golda Stoneforge/Godstone and Marcellus de la Fuente. When they went to recover horses fled from the wraiths, they found themselves overcome with exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep. They dreamed of two individuals, a human female bard named Amaryllis and a dwarven warrior named Ivar, who were assigned by the renowned wizard Sarothane to investigate some tunnels leading to the Hrifgard. Ivar and Amaryllis died in an ancient chamber, covered in dark ritual etchings, with an altar in the center, topped by a simple jar. They were killed by a drow sorceress claiming to be of the "Ebon Serpent," a group dedicated to the destruction of Sheenosek but not taking kindly to the Empire's interference either. She trapped them in the room, and the dark necromantic energies in the chamber sucked the life force out of them and transformed them into the hellish wraiths.
The party defeated Amaryllis's shade during that first encounter. The shade of Ivar, accompanied by another lesser wraith, was destroyed by the party during this battle accounted above, after Darkstride was killed.
Before Ivar's essence was made free, he transformed briefly into a torment-free ghost, and addressed the dwarf berserker Golda:
"By killing that," he pointed to Darkstride's remains, which Ivar himself had absorbed to nothingness after Darkstride was killed, "Know that you have avenged your clan, the Godstone clan. But know also, that you have killed a servitor of the Black Serpent, and that you have therefore avenged me as well. My thanks to you."
With that, century-old warrior smiled and dissipated in a burst of golden light, doubtless his soul at last returning to Tria's womb.
We now return to the more important details of the adventure, as expressed by Fitzpatrick:
As always, the group now loots the area, including the remains of Darkstride. They find:
Darkstride:
+1 Cloak of resistance (Riley)
+1 Ring of protection (Jour)
+2 Amulet of Natural armor (Patrick)
MW staff
Ring of Command Undead
Spell components, including 250 GP worth of diamond dust, enough for one casting of Stoneskin.
10 onyx stones worth 25 GP each (probably also prepared for use in spells)
A necromancer's spell book, 81 pages filled with spells (i.e. a number of cantrips, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells, and a handful of 4th and 5th level spells).
A Haleward Family signet ring, used to open the manor vault.
A flickering serpent badge carved from ebony
2 Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds
2 Scrolls of Animate Dead
1 Scroll of Acid Arrow
1 Bottle of blackmarket Drakkbrann, good for giving a dwarf a mild buzz or for giving a human a good several days' sleep.
After dividing up the loot, the group searches the nearby store room (not in time to prevent the escape of the injured bat familiar.) They find several vials of holy water and enough sundry ritual items to remove the defiled ground of the crypt once the proper spells are prepared. Further investigation of the manor reveals (as the vault is opened):
A gold platter in need of mending; as it is it's worth about 106 GP.
2 statues of warriors worth between 70 and 100 gp each
997gp
65pp (worth 650gp)
A Jar of Restorative Ointment with 3 uses left (can be used as Neutralize Poison, Remove Disease, and Cure Light Wounds), worth approximately 2500gp
Wand of Create Undead, specific command word, 6 charges, worth 4050gp
The group decides to spend the night recovering and then return to a nearby town for exchange of goods and restocking of resources. While Marcellus and Golda indicate their intentions to separate from the group (possibly maintaining the manor after the tower is cleared) Jour is sent on alternating missions of diplomacy and peace-making.
He is able to convince the worgs to agree to a non-confrontational withdrawal to the woods outside the manor grounds (gaining Axel possible access to a worg mount which he summarily names Foamy and Fluffy.)
Jour also convinces Nurse Nevka to agree to possibly relocate back to the manor and assist in demi-human tenant farmer/staff recruitment (pending clearance of the wizard’s tower).
The evening begins with Axel and Patrick completing a reconnaissance of the main manor building (using mirrors and an open window to obliterate the last of the wraiths with reflected sunlight). Although the goblins looted the manor well, they find some fine bottles of 40+ year old Neen Red and Bevane Sweet White in the wine cellar, and find that a number of books in the library are still usable. [Editor's Note: For those readers interested in quantifying things, the Library will provide a +2 Circumstance bonus to "Knowledge: History," "Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty," and "Knowledge: Local (Empire and Andorras Plains)" checks. ]
Though people are tired, life looks good for the group of adventurers (save Jour who has not come to the realization that he is now traveling with a priestess of rogues, a Halfling rogue/avatar of rogues, and Patrick, who is just roguishly chaotic).