Bat Men

Faewen'il says absolutely nothing as she dismounts from the black horse she has decided to name Dannara; a pet name that Luud had given her long ago. Though she never knew what language it had come from, he had told her it meant "stubborn". Perhaps when she had time, she would look it up at the temple of Kitry. There was more to the name, but she couldn't remember it at the moment as she stared at the tower that seemed to tug at her.

The setting sun seems to light her hair on fire and make the green of her eyes a deep jade as the scowl on her face softens to just solemnity.

"We should make camp an come at it in tha mornin so as I can have a chance ta better prepare meself." she finally says as she continues to stare at the tower; her hand absentmindedly running itself over the cover of her spellbook as she speaks.

Yaz stops to regard the Tower, the worgs and wolves gathered around him uneasily. He shivers violently as a chill takes to his spine:

"Bleah." He looks around. "Do you smell it, Jihan? Undeath."

The sight of the tower sends a chill down Jihan's spine as his elven blood reacts to the great evil that once existed in this part of the land:

"Yes, Yaz, there's definitely something here. I can't say whether it's but a piece of lingering evil Boscobelous' presence left here, tainting the land, or whether it's something stronger... something more immediate..."

He shivers as Yaz does, hugging himself in apparent coldness.

Yaz then turns back toward the Tower, making a face:

"There is no life in there. Nothing grows, nothing lives... except in twisted torment, suspension from the Cycle. It tastes cold, and dry... and it sticks to my skin."

He shivers once more, then puts a hand on Viirin's massive neck. Although having learned much of the worg language over the past number of days, Yaz casts a spell to ease their communication:

"Viirin, that tower's no place for you. But it's no place for me, neither. I'd like you to come in with us."

'If you wish me by your side in there, Master Charaz' replies Viirin, 'then I will go with you. I have no experience with undead and am also not used to wandering through buildings, but I shall go with you.'

Yaz turns to the other wolf-types:

"But... the rest of you, you're free, for now. But stay in the area. When we come out of there, I'll give a call... and I want you available. Arright? Go, off."

The worgs look towards Viirin in order to get his approval. The winter wolf barks his acceptance and the worgs pound off away from you, trying to find anything to eat in this desolate place.

Yaz sits on the ground, leaning against the resting flank of Viirin:

"I figure we could use a night of rest before going in. I gotta talk to The Lady... Gotta find out what She thinks about all this. Too bad there isn't a more concealed place, but... who'll be looking for us here? Nobody, I figure."

He lights up, and offers some all around.

Will holds a hand up in declination as he takes the cannabis in his hand and looks at it curiously, making designs in the air with the smoke by bouncing it around:

"No thank you Yaz, I have smoked a pipe now and again, but I don't think I care to try this stuff you roll. I've been told that it increases the scope of the mind, but I have personally observed somewhat of the opposite effect on those partaking. No offense, but I must pass. Besides, as silly as I act now, if I ever drank or smoked enough to feel the effects, I don't think that anyone would be able to abide with me."

He laughs and passes the smoke on to anyone else who wishes to partake.

Jihan pulls out his carved deerhorn pipe and thumbs it full of the sweet smelling herbs he occasions to carry around with him. Looking at the tower, he gives Yaz a look and procures some of his 'holy plant' which he thumbs in on top. He then sits back, like the halflings who taught him the ways of smoke, and puffs rings of various sizes towards the fire, his eyes anxious and disturbed at the same time. He passes the pipe over to Yaz after a bit without a glance, and continues his staring.

The elf agrees wholeheartedly that the party should make their assault on the tower in the morning:

"The night is the time of strength for many evil spirits, and I'd rather face them in light than fall to their withering embraces in darkness..."

As the rest set up camp and then settle down, he carefully walks around the site, sprinkling a thin line of powdered silver first, then moving in a short ways and sprinkling a like circle of salt.

"Do not break these," he asks. "Perhaps they are only old wives' tales, but you can never be too certain when such evil burns so closely," he says, looking at the tower's looming silhouette in the moonlight.

Around the fire, he wraps himself in his dark cloak and relates more of the lore of undeath that he is able to recall, his face looking oddly disembodied among the black folds of the cloth. The firelight seems to flicker eerily in his eyes, and the shadows dance across his chiseled elven face as he speaks softly and grimly:

"As I said before, I've read books on these abominations, mostly from the far east about the Dread Army of Jasckus, who was the former councillor turned evil rebel against the lawful emperor of a Shoung province. It was said that he was able to raise the bones of the least of creatures to his dark service, or even the fresh corpses of his fallen foes."

At this last, he shudders again, pulling his cloak tighter about himself:

"We will be blessed indeed if only these remain, as they are mindless and will only be following orders set long before. These were the feeblest of his dark powers... It was said that around him, as a personal guard, he kept creatures of the very shadows themselves, who could leech the vigour out of any one opposing them with but a touch. And there were more foul, stench ridden beasts with barbed rasping tongues that could paralyze the muscles of the races of men, though we elves, through Prirodna's graces, cannot succumb to such. These he used as an elite striking forces, leaving behind the stiffened soldiers of Emperor of Shoung's troops for the mindless ones to finish off... those that they did not mutilate and devour themselves..."

He pauses, looking around at the features of the rest of them and drawing a trembling breath before he continues:

"It is said that Jasckus himself became an abomination at his death...haunting his crushed stronghold even to this day and scaring the years out of any that even looked upon him..."

Shaking himself like a dog out of cold water, he looks up at the stars:

"I don't mean to scare any of you, but we must be prepared for anything that we may face. Jasckus was only using a tainted artifact to create his armies... one which the Emperor himself cast into the crack of a fiery island mountain to destroy it. I can not say what a true master of the dark arts would be able to do with his... creations...When we go in, we must stay together at all costs and let Hrust lead the way with Blesk's divine hand warding us from any creatures of undeath while some of our warriors ward him. As we approach doors, I will come from the middle to investigate then as we did in Dvur. We will also need a strong rear defense, as many of the dread creatures are not hindered by many things we are and may attack from behind in the least expected places. Above all things, we must be very observant and at the same time, we must prepared for almost anything, for Boscobelous was a wizard of great prowess. Remember, though these creatures do not live as we do, the dark enchantments binding them to animation or this place can still be severed."

He then draws from his back the strange scabbard that Pavlichek once owned:

"Those of undeath will not be influenced by venoms or enchantments of sleep or charming, nor will their cold flesh suffer under the ravages of winter's breath," he says.

They see him carefully pour out the remaining black sleeping venom from the secret reservoir into the flask containing the rest of it. The magic of the scabbard ensures that no trace of the poison remains within when drained. He then fills the reservoir with holy water until he can fit in no more. The remaining water he stashes in a special thick felt lined holster on his harness, a few others of which you notice empty.

Gesturing towards the mace at Xavier's belt, he adds:

"And that may proved more useful on the bones of any such creatures than ever a light blade would, though a heavy blade would suffice as well. I may not be of much use in a fight against such bony things, though those of flesh can still taste the the promise of beyond from my steel."

Very solemnly, he looks deep into the fire, eventually speaking without raising his eyes:

"Will, my brother, sing away our worries..."

He then lifts his head and pierces the man's eyes with his own multi-hued ones:

"A dark day looms before us..."

At the request, Will plays softly upon his harp, a song of spring hope and gladness to whisk away the evil air hanging about the party.

Jihan then sits in reverie into the night after everyone is done talking, his eyes still open and his mind still in that semi-alert state of deep meditation of the elves.

Tired after the long journey, they then decide to get some rest early so as to be able to start their assault upon the tower at first light, thinking that they may need the entire day in order to investigate the tower fully. Although the chances of anyone disturbing them in this desolate place is unlikely, they decide to keep one of them on watch throughout the night, just in case any of the tower's denizens decide to go for a nocturnal wander.

All is quiet until the early hours of the morning and then they are all awoken by a large number of echoing, loon-like screams that seem to be moving towards them. Fast.

Shaman Hrust is on watch and he starts growling excitedly, although they have no idea as to what he is saying. Grabbing their weapons, they are up and out of their tents in seconds, just in time to see a dozen giant velvet colored bats with evil glowing red eyes bearing down upon them. They just have time to raise their weapons before the bats strike at them.

The first bat swoops down upon Viirin. The wolf, taken by surprise, does not have time to duck before the bat bites him and then stabs him with its dexterous, triangular shaped, razor sharp tail. Viirin gives a howl at the pain and then blasts at the bat with his ice cold frost breath. The frozen form of the bat goes plumeting down to the ground.

The second bat goes for Faewen'il. With no armor to protect her, the lass is easy prey for the creature and she reels back in agony as she is bitten, clawed and stabbed by the beast, leaving her close to falling unconscious. Trying to keep her wits about her, she starts to utter a chant and then brings her right hand up towards the beast and unleashes two bolts of magickal energy towards the creature. There is a flash as the two bolts impact with the bat, but it does not go down.

Jihan cries out as he sees Faewen'il damaged so badly. With Diamond Stealth in one hand and Langzhan in the other, he lashes out at the beast. He hits the bat with Diamond Stealth, inflicting some reasonable damage, but misses with the knife.

Two of the bats go after the shaman. The first hits the shaman with a claw and rakes him with its tail, the second bites him. With no weapon to hand, the shaman starts to cast and a fiery blade emerges in his hand. The bodyguard, seeing the shaman in difficulty, lashes into the bats. He misses the first, but slashes at the second.

For reasons known only to the bats, the bulk of them go after poor Yaz - five of them in total. The first inflicts a nasty bite upon him, the second is even more damaging, as it rakes him with both claws and stabs him hard with his tail. The third is equally as damaging as the second, clawing the druid and once again stabbing with its tail. Yaz can take no more of this damage and falls to the ground, leading to panic amongst the rest of the party. The other two bats bank off in search of new targets. Xavier wades into the bats, trying to pay back Yaz for all of the times that the druid has assisted him. He hacks into one of the bats, but the damage is slight.

Winnacer is also about to come to the druid's rescue when another of them targets him. Somehow the bat manages to find a gap in the young lord's armor and nips at him. Winnacer strikes back and cuts into the bat.

Bennett also has a bat to face and is raked by one of the beasts' claws and is stabbed by its tail. Bennett slashes back, but the bat is away from him before he has a chance to retaliate.

Will is also subjected to an attack and is bitten by the creature. He tries to retaliate but the bat is too fast for him.

Awoken from their drowsiness by the savagery of the bats attack, they are more prepared for their defense as the bats wheel round for their second attack.

Viirin bites at one of them as it comes in to attack. His jaws connect and the bat flinches a little. The bat retaliates and bites and stabs into the wolf with its tail.

Faewen'il sees two of the bats coming for her. The one that attacked her previously and one of the ones that was going after Yaz. She fires another bolt at both of them. The first sends the first bat crashing to the ground but the second carries on. As the bat bites into her, she collapses to the ground.

Seeing Faewen'il fall by his side again, Jihan reacts with fury - so much fury that he sends Diamond Stealth flying from his hand and he fails to hit with Langzhan. Cursing his luck, he draws his second shortsword from his back as he watches the bat wheel round for another attack.

Shaman Hrust attacks one of the bats coming for him with his fiery magickal blade, but the bats dodge him. Zsolt is similarly unsuccessful. The bats' revenge is deadly. The first bites into the shaman and also rakes it with its claws. The second claws and bites at him, and stabs its tail deep into the shaman's side, leading the bugbear to roar at the pain. It is obvious that he cannot take much more of this damage.

Xavier tries to take out one of the bats, but his blow misses. The bat is not much more successful, just cutting the Saxon's brow with one of its claws.

Bennett, furious at not striking the bat yet lunges at the beast for all that he is worth. Once again, the effort is too much and he sends the bastard sword flying from his hand. He reaches behind him in order to take out the heavy battleaxe behind him. As he does so, the bat bites him badly on his neck.

Winnacer now has two bats to contend with. Trying to rid himself of the first, he rips into it with 'Old Bohavia', but the bat somehow survives. That bat is stunned and so does not attack, but the second cuts into Winnacer's side with its claw.

Will also has two bats to contend with now. He lunges at the first of them, but sends his longsword flying from his hand. As he stands weaponless facing two bats, he realizes that he is in serious trouble and is bitten and stabbed by the first, although he ducks and avoids the second of them.

Viirin again snaps at the bat that he is locked in combat with and bites into it, injuring it badly. The bat pulls up sharply at the pain and avoids damaging the wolf.

Jihan lashes out at the bat that caused Faewen'il such pain, and hits the bat with his shortsword. Jihan is saved from most of the bat's retaliation from his magickal armor, but is still clawed badly by the creature.

Hrust strikes out again, desperately trying to rid himself of one of the creatures before they kill him, but his blow is wide. Zsolt, however, is furiously trying to defend him. In one slash of his bastard sword, he takes out one of the bats, and slashes deep into the other. The bat bites deeply into the shaman before flying off to make another run.

Xavier lashes into another of the bats with fury. With relief, he manages to hack the beast into pieces. Looking around, he sees Will in severe trouble and rushes over to assist him. Weaponless, Will quickly casts his spell in order to provide him with better protection from the bats. It is effective in saving him from some of the bat's damage, but one still manages to stab its tail into him and Will falls to the ground.

Now VERY pissed off, Bennett hacks into the bat with Sorrow and manages to hit the bat, although not sufficiently hard to take it out. He manages to avoid any additional damage from the bat.

Winnacer too tries to take out the weakened bat before him. As he lunges at it, however, he loses his grip on 'Old Bohavia' and it drops from his hand. Winnacer feels the leather strap tugging and quickly gets his grip on the longsword once more. The action distracts him, however, and he fails to dodge as one of the bats rake him with its claw and the other both rakes him and stabs deep into his thigh, leading him to cry out with the pain. The bats are certainly fearsome adversaries.

Viirin lunges again, desperate to finish off the bat that brought down his master. He grabs the bat firmly between his teeth and rips it to shreds.

Shaman Hrust is also successful, and the bat shrieks as the burning blade burns into its wing. Zsolt, however, fails to hit the beast and it rakes into the shaman once more, although the damage is not severe.

Jihan tries again to finish off the bat that brought down Faewen'il and brings it down with a blow from his shortsword that cuts it in two.

Xavier finds himself facing the two bats that felled Will. He hacks into one of them,almost killing it in one blow, but not quite. He manages to avoid the bat's retaliatory strikes.

Bennett manages to strike the bat again with the battleaxe, but the blow is just a glancing one and the damaged bat lives. Once again, Bennett avoids any further damage from the beast.

With 'Old Bohavia' once more in his hand, Winnacer strikes at the weakened bat and cuts it neatly in half. His armor protects him from any damage from the other.

Finally it looks as if the party will prevail over the bats as a number of them fall. They summon up the last of their energy in order to finish the beasts.

Shaman Hrust hits the bat he is facing full force with the burning blade and the bat crashes to the ground and burns. Seeing that the bugbear is safe, Zsolt runs to where Xavier is fighting off two of the bats and lashes into one of them. He inflicts some horrific damage upon the bat, but not enough to fell it. The bat lashes out at the Pannon, but his armor saves him from the bat's attack.

Bennett cries out in rage as he hacks into the bat before him and he finally cuts it in two.

Winnacer also manages to take out the bat before him with one well-aimed blow from his noble sword.

Xavier is not so successful, and misses the bat before him. In retaliation, the bat stabs him, although the damage is not severe.

Both Viirin and Jihan dash in to aid Xavier and Zsolt finish off the last two bats. Viirin catches the bat weakened by Zsolt and tears it to pieces in his powerful jaws. Jihan catches the other with his shortsword and it too falls to the ground.

All of the bats are now dead, yet there is no time to relax as three of their number lie on the ground fighting for their lives. Seeing the others' predicaments, the shaman brings his aching body up to first Faewen'il and casts a healing spell upon her. Her eyes flutter and she breathes again, but she is far from well.

He then rushes over to Yaz and casts first one spell upon him which has a good effect upon the druid and he comes too with a start. Knowing that the druid's healing spells will be needed to help, he then casts another spell upon the half-elf which also takes good effect and the druid is able to stand up, not feeling great, but in pretty good shape for someone who narrowly avoided being hacked to pieces by bats.

As soon as he sees that Yaz will be able to carry on the healing work, the bugbear stumbles over to where Will is laying on the ground in a comatose state. He casts his final healing spell upon the bard, and his eyes too begin to flutter.

Totally spent of energy, the shaman slumps to the ground and begins to bind his wounds with bandages, grimacing with the pain as he does so.

In the fury of the fight, they had failed to recognize the fact that the orc's visage had finally gone and the grizzled Saxon features of Xavier have returned. The effects of the powder are now but a memory for them all.

As the power of Hrust's healing powers bring him back round, Yaz starts to cast more spells of his own, although he is still in quite a large amount of pain as he does so.

He casts upon Faewen'il, which works well and brings her up to full health, although she still feels weak. He then casts another upon Will, but the magic is weak and does little to aid the bard's condition. Finally, he casts his last remaining spell upon Hrust in gratitude for the bugbear performing the service upon him. Hrust was badly injured and so the spell does not go too far towards getting him fully recovered.

"Good to see you back, Xav" says Bennett upon seeing Xavier back to his former self. "Kind of got used to that ugly orc face of yours. Nice to see the real one back, not that it's that much better looking."

Bennett's grin is wide, though the blood still runs down his chest and he appears a little dizzy.

Will pushes himself up to prop on an elbow and look at the hard chiseled features of the Saxon.

"Ah Sir Xavier,"

He pauses to breath deeply, mustering his strength:

"It seems that you have exorcised the magicks from your person. You are just as I pictured you. Strong and battle hardened as a sword from the fires of a smithy."

He attempts to stand and embrace the warrior, but lacks the strength, and slumps back to the ground:

"Forgive me, a little later perhaps," he whispers weakly.

Faewen'il sits up as best she can, her eyes somewhat glazed as she looks at all of blood on her blouse and realizes that it is hers. The inside of her head is nothing more than a pounding mass of pain that makes any of the rest of her injuries seem insignificant; the power of her magic once more had torn a path through her body as she lost control of it when she passed out.

"Thar never seems ta be a day without pain..." she mumbles to no one in particular.

Jihan keeps an eye towards the stars as he makes his way over to where Diamond Stealth slipped from his hands. Looking towards Winnacer and the leather thong binding the hilt of his sword he nods and looks at his own pensively. He keeps a careful lookout for any more, but the skies are mercifully empty. For himself, he chews on a bit of mint to moisten it, then applies the impromptu salve to his wounds, binding them with clean bandages.

"Evil draws evil to itself... We will have to be even more cautious of this place than before," he says as he stokes up the campfire even higher.

"These flying foes easily got past the simple wards I set down..."

He anxiously looks towards the wounded, his eyes lingering frightenedly on Faewen'il. When it become apparent that everyone will be alright, he takes a deep sigh, then draws out Langzhan and Diamond Stealth anew, their blades gleaming in the moonlight, then sets his eyes roving, not leaving them unmoving for the rest of the night. He walks around the perimeter of his circle of salt, almost seeming to be pacing nervously. Every once in a while, his eyes dart back towards where the wounded are resting, but he keeps his guard up.

Winnacer, bleeding heavily after the battle with the bats, turns to the group and says morosely:

"It seems that we will have to get away from this unholy place, immediately. Let us load the injured onto the horses and ride away towards land where the gods have hold."

"The distance should be sufficient that we can see any attacking force from the Tower in enough time to take care of business, whatever distance that may be," adds Bennett.

Winnacer, ignoring his own injuries, works quickly to help each of those laid out to the horses with the others that are not so badly injured assisting. The young lord then quickly gathers the dead bat corpses into a pile and goes to ignite all but one of them.

"Wait, Winnacer..." Yaz limps over and separates one other bat from the growing pile. Then he drags the thing by the wing over to where his owls, Heathcliff and Gertrude, might find them once they return from their night's hunting.

Yaz investigates the bat closely:

'I've heard stories of these foul creatures. The elves call them 'dragazhar', and to humans they are known as 'night hunters'.'

They journey for a mile away from the tower until they have reached a distance which they believe will keep them safe from the attentions of any other of the tower's inhabitants.

Seeing the still badly injured state of the party, Winnacer recommends that the group waits until full strength is reached. Both Bennett and Jihan nod their heads in agreement with this. He then discourages Jihan and the others from going scouting on their own, using the logic that undeath detects life - a trait not even the best scout can hide.

After the exertions of the combat and the journey to safe ground, they are all feeling very tired. A watch is organized among the least injured of their numbers and they are soon asleep