The Death Of Boscobelous

24 OKTOBER 3460

The day starts as usual, with Faewen'il sat in her tent learning her spells while the clerics make their morning devotions. The warriors check over their equipment one last time. Jihan applies his battle harness and checks over his array of daggers, knowing that a hail of daggers could be the way to stop Boscobelous casting at them. Winnacer also goes off alone in order to make devotions to Spravedelna. Bennett goes alone to Zsolt's cairn and swears to the remains of Zsolt that the day will bring vengeance for his death.

Once all are prepared, they say their goodbyes to Robert, and he says his goodbyes to them also. He knows that they are going to face the Necromancer and he shakes them all by the hand as they depart. It is obvious that he is worried that a number of them may not come back and so he wants to say goodbye properly in case it is for the last time.

With that, they start to climb up the hill for what they all hope will be the last time. An hour and a half later, they stop outside, as they did on the previous day, in order to warm up the Holy Goulash of Prirodna that Yaz prepared earlier once more.

While they are eating, Winnacer speaks to all of them:

"Knowing that Boscobelous is a mighty magick user as well as a fearsome warrior, no doubt, we should plan our attack carefully. I think that us four warriors should try and rush towards him and engage him in combat while the four spellcasters should keep as far back as possible and provide whatever aid they are able to. Will, once you have unleashed whatever spells you have at your disposal, then you should try and assist us warriors."

Will nods and Winnacer reaches into his sack for his last remaining vial of holy water. He looks to Bennett, Xavier and Jihan:

"We should give our remaining Holy Water to the spellcasters, then they can use them from a distance to assist us while we are fighting them as it does not matter if we are hit by the Holy Water contained within."

The young lord looks at Yaz:

"However, please try to avoid hitting any of us on the head with the vials."

The four warriors hand over their vials to the spellcasters. Now Faewen'il, Yaz, and Hrust have two each and Will, one.

"We know that we have just one obstacle before us to get through in order to get to Boscobelous. We cannot expect to gain the element of surprise during our attack, as his invisible little demon will probably be keeping an eye upon us the whole time that we are in the Tower. Even if he is not, then we will certainly alert us to the fact that we are coming when we set off the firetrap. We should pause momentarily outside the entrance to Bosco's quarters to bring forth the different blessings from our various gods. I know that the effects do not last forever, and so, once they have been brought upon us, then we should make all haste to find the necromancer and engage him in battle."

All nod their heads in agreement and then make for the Tower. As always, they start off by investigating all of the lower levels of the Tower just in case Boscobelous has arranged a nasty surprise for them, but all is as quiet as it has been in the past.

They walk up to the top level and stand once more before the huge pair of cast iron doors. Yaz immediately starts casting while molding a piece of clay in his hands. Once the casting has been completed, he applies the form of the clay to the side of the door and peels away the stonework to separate the hinges from the stone.

Once this task has been performed, Winnacer takes another of the spears and pushes it against the door while the rest of them hide a little down the stairs. As the two doors separate, the firetrap around it explodes with a loud 'BOOOMMM!' and the left-hand door falls to the ground landing with a tremendous 'CRASH!'

"If he didn't know that we were coming before, he certainly does now" says Bennett, stating the obvious.

With weapons drawn, they wait for the smoke to clear, anxious to see whether Boscobelous is waiting for them on the other side of the door, but he is not. They look through the smoke to see what is revealed.

They can see that there is a short corridor that runs for 20', which leads into a large room. Along the corridor, there are a few chest of drawers and other pieces of furniture lining the walls with a row of pictures above them. The pictures are portraits of a number of people, dressed in clothing from some 500 years prior. Looking into the room at the end of the corridor, they can see that it is some kind of a lounge and is richly appointed. From their current position, they can see a large desk before the far wall and a couple of sofas in front of it. As opposed to the lower levels, the whole area seems to have avoided the decay of the ages and the whole area is in good condition.

However, they have little time to admire their surroundings as all of the spellcasters have much work to do.

Will bursts into song. During the past few days, he has been working on composing a rousing song that speaks of the party's conquest of the dread Necromancer along with the help of their respective deities. He sings of how they are going to avenge the deaths of Zsolt, Kesryk, Viirin and Raaka, plus all of the other adventurers that have been doomed through their contact with the abominable sorcerer. As they hear the words of the song, their hearts begin to pound and all that they can think of is vengeance and the slaying of their adversary.

As Will's song is about to end, Yaz starts to chant, beseeching Prirodna to give the party her blessing which increases the determination within them to see an end to their nemesis.

Hrust concentrates upon Winnacer, knowing that it is he, with the aid of the 'Belt of Yaromir', that is the key to bringing down the abomination. The bugbear casts twice upon him. As the first spell is cast, the young lord begins to shimmer with sparks of purple energy in a similar fashion to Hrust's holy rod when he is attempting to turn abominations. As the second spell is cast, Winnacer eyes seem to glow with fury. The young lord's mind is filled with nothing but seeing the death of Boscobelous and he can think of nothing else but that task.

His eyes flash as he grits his teeth and advances purposefully down the corridor:

"Come" he beckons. "It is time to avenge our fallen colleagues and rid the Tower of its evil master."

The others all follow after Winnacer, their resolve to see an end to Boscobelous no less than the young lord's. As they reach the room at the end of the corridor, they see that it is a large room some 30' long by 20' wide. Boscobelous is not there. It is, as they saw from the doorway, a luxuriously appointed lounge with more pictures on the wall similar to those in the corridor. There are various pieces of furniture in the room, with a number of chairs and table plus chests. From the room there are three doors, with one each in the east, west and north walls.

Winnacer goes up to the door in the north wall, next to the corridor:

'He must be through here' he says. 'It is the only one that can lead to the room above the trapdoor.'

Jihan quickly investigates the door while the others get into position. There is not time to make a full investigation, as the blessings of Prirodna and Blesk are not going to last forever. Yaz has already checked from traps and so Jihan offers a quick prayer to Prirodna before he pushes the door open.

The doors is unlocked and untrapped and swings open quickly.

They all look inside and see that the room is obviously a bedroom. It is as well appointed as the lounge and is of similar dimensions to the lounge in that it is 30' long by 20' wide. A fire burns in a fireplace on the west wall, and they can see the trapdoor in the northwest corner. Along both east and west walls are a line of skeletons, six along each wall, each of which are dressed in the outfits of servants. None of them seem to be animated, however. At the far end of the room is an enormous bed, bigger than any bed that they have ever seen before, with sheets made from black silk.

Lying on the bed is Boscobelous.

He takes the form of a hideous creature, looking not unlike a wight or mummy, being gaunt and skeletal in form. His eye sockets are black and empty save for the fierce pinpricks of light which serve for eyes. He is dressed in black silken pajamas. He is lying on the bed, casually stroking the zombie like form of what was once Raaka the worg.

'Welcome' he cackles as he sees the door fly open, seemingly not surprised in the slightest. 'Let the games commence!'

As he says this, he immediately starts casting.

Hrust, Yaz, Faewen'il and Will start casting also in response as the warriors surge forwards, fury burning in their eyes.

The visage of the Necromancer is terrible to behold. Despite the blessings of Prirodna and the rousing effect of Will's song, it is still too much for Bennett, Xavier and Will, and they start to run off in terror.

Immediately that he sees the warriors' resolve break, Hrust starts casting and points towards the rapidly departing trio. The effect of Blesk's renewed blessing has a great effect upon Bennett and Xavier and they stop in their tracks, control themselves and rush back to rejoin the party. Will was too quick for Hrust, however, and was already running down the corridor before he had a chance to cast.

Winnacer and Jihan rush forwards in order to get into combat with Boscobelous before he has a chance to cast upon them.

"It is time for you to pay for your sins, Boscobelous!" shouts Winnacer as he launches towards the lich.

However, as they start running towards him, it is as if the floor and their hands are covered in oil as they start to slide across the floor and have trouble keeping their weapons in their hands, Winnacer drops 'The Educator' but manages to pick the weapon up without too much problem. It has, however, slowed him down and he fails to get through to Boscobelous. Jihan has less luck as he trips up and drops both Makanuru and Todtaenzer and cannot seem to pick them up.

Seeing the necromancer beginning to cast and the warriors in no position to do anything about it, Faewen'il draws a piece of cobweb and begins to cast towards the grinning abomination. As she does so, a giant web begins to descend from the ceiling above Boscobelous' bed. The grinning figure was prepared for it, however, and leaps from the bed before he is caught in the sticky web. Zombie Raaka was not as quick, however, and gets tangled up amongst the thick strands.

Yaz curses as he sees that Boscobelous is not wearing any metal. Having no offensive spells to use against the necromancer, Yaz tries to hurl a vial of holy water at him. However, Yaz's aim is way off course and he narrowly avoids hitting Winnacer with it as it smashes upon the ground far in front of Boscobelous' position.

With all chances of trying to stop Boscobelous casting gone, all they can do is look on as the necromancer finishes his spell by throwing a piece of multi-colored silk into the fireplace. As it does so, it causes a gossamer veil of multihued flame to encircle the fire at a distance of five feet.

Jihan becomes entranced by the flames and stands gazing at it, transfixed, incapable of all other actions. Boscobelous is not happy at the fact that it only stopped one of them, however, and starts to curse loudly.

Winnacer takes advantage of the situation, however, by charging forwards, intent upon taking out the necromancer before he has another chance of casting again. Winnacer hacks into Boscobelous with 'The Educator'. With the blessing of Spravedelna, Prirodna and Blesk all working to steady his aim, he can hardly miss, and he hits the lich twice, causing horrendous damage with each blow through the superhuman strength given to him from the 'Belt of Yaromir'.

Xavier and Bennett rush to give Winnacer a hand. As they enter the room, they too are affected by the aura of clumsiness in the room and both go falling head over heels. Bennett is quickly up and back on his way towards the lich, but Xavier dropped 'Pride of Gyor' and stumbles around trying to pick it up.

Hrust starts to cast, and then gesticulates towards Boscobelous. As the spell is released, everything inside the room goes deathly quiet and not a sound can be heard. From the expression on Boscobelous' face, he's cursing about the spell, but no sound can be heard from his mouth.

Seeing that Winnacer is doing a fine job at hacking Boscobelous to pieces, Faewen'il decides to help him along by chanting and then hurling two bolts of magickal energy at the lich. Both bolts impact upon the abomination causing it severe injury.

Yaz realizes that by taking out the fire, Jihan would be free of its magickal effect. He takes his last vial of holy water and launches it towards the fire. Once more, however, his shot just misses its target and the magickal flames burn on.

Boscobelous strikes back at Winnacer with a swipe of his hand. Although no sound can be heard from the young lord, it is obvious that he is in agony from the way in which his face is contorted. Then Winnacer freezes completely, still in the agonized pose as the lich's touch paralyzes him.

Seeing the young lord go rigid, Hrust immediately starts to cast before gesticulating at Winnacer. As the spell takes effect, the young lord is released from the effects of the paralyzation and brings 'The Educator' up to strike at the lich once more. Faewen'il casts again and sends another two bolts of energy towards the lich, both of them impacting upon him and causing him some more damage. Yaz realizes that he is out of holy water and out of spells that may be of use. Instead he starts to cast a flameblade, ready to join in if necessary.

Xavier is still slipping and sliding around on the floor, desperately trying to get hold of 'Pride of Gyor' without any degree of success. Bennett, however, is on his way to give the lich a taste of 'Retribution'.

Before either he or Winnacer get a chance to strike, however, Boscobelous starts to gesticulate. From underneath his bed comes a ghostly hand which heads straight for Winnacer. The hand punches Winnacer in the right arm and sends the young lord sprawling for the floor, out cold. A huge grin comes to Boscobelous' face and he would be probably laughing were any sound to be heard. They also notice that all of the damage done to the lich from Winnacer's blows has been healed up. In fact, the lich seems stronger than he was to start with.

Bennett attempts to strike out at Boscobelous. The lich is a tough character, however, and neither of his shots manage to get through to him.

Boscobelous brings up his hand and prepares to swipe Bennett with it. He gives Bennett a glancing blow which does little damage to him, but the lich's touch paralyzes him.

Faewen'il realizes that things are looking pretty grim. She pulls out another piece of cobweb and starts to cast once more before taking aim with her hands at the ceiling just above Boscobelous, taking extreme care not to catch either Winnacer or Bennett within its grip. Once more, a web starts to form from the ceiling. This time Boscobelous does not see it coming and he is caught within its sticky strands, unable to move at all.

All wait for a while to see if the lich has any way to get around the effects of the web, but he is simply struggling against it, getting more and more entangled as he tries to move from it.

Faewen'il then brings her hand up to her bandoleer and brings out from it a scroll which you notice was taken off the first Witchfinder that they took out in the clearing just before you encountered Jihan's village. Faewen'il begins to say the words and positions herself carefully before pointing into the room. As she finishes saying the spell, the multicolored hues of the flames dies down and Jihan regains his senses. Bennett also comes around, the paralysis having been dispelled. The silence in the room also has gone and they can now hear Boscobelous yelling out curses.

The fumbling area is still in effect, however, and Jihan and Xavier continue trying to get through it onto the other side. Jihan is through in a couple of minutes, but Xavier is having real difficulties with it. Faewen'il, Hrust and Yaz all try to get through it. Yaz gets through in a couple of minutes and immediately rushes over to Winnacer. He then casts a couple of healing spells upon him. The effects are only average in their ability, but bring the young lord round. He is in severe pain as he comes round:

'It…it was like he was sucking the very life-force from me' Winnacer says. 'There's something wrong with my right arm too. I can't feel it. It's as if I am crippled in it.'

Hrust and Faewen'il both manage to get through the area in a couple of minutes, but Xavier is having great difficulty. After five minutes of struggling, the spell in the area loses its effect and he manages to get up, feeling quite embarrassed as he comes towards the rest of the party in front of the enwebbed Boscobelous.

Talking of embarrassment, Will pokes his face round the door, having got over the terror of the sight of the lich. As he sees the lich once more, however, he starts to bolt again. Hrust casts another spell at him which finally does the trick and he manages to control himself.

With them all re-assembled, they put their minds towards the problem of finally dispatching the enwebbed lich before them.

'We should not assume that it's simply a formality to take him out now that we've got him in this position' states Jihan. 'Let's not forget how badly things went when we took the priest out. We are in no rush as the web will not subside for 45 minutes or more. We should make the best use of all of our spells and abilities that we can use while he is in this position.'

Winnacer is still in a great deal of pain as he lies on the floor:

"I don't think that I'm going to be of much use to you at the moment" the young lord says between grimaces.

"Will, you borrow 'The Educator' to use Kitry's weapon upon him. Xavier, you can borrow the 'Belt of Yaromir' to dispatch the abomination quickly upon its release."

"Before we release him, we should soften him up first" suggests Jihan. "We've still got five vials of holy water that we can pour on the bastard, that should bring him down to size."

"I've got a spell that will bathe him in acid which should do him quite a bit of damage too" adds Will.

"An I be havin a couple o more magickal missiles too" finishes Faewen'il.

"That lot could be enough to take him out without having to release him at all" grins Bennett.

They begin to attack the lich with everything that they have at their disposal. Will starts off by casting a spell which takes the form of a magickal arrow that flies straight through the web and deposits acid upon the abomination. The effects of the acid arrow are gruesome to behold as the lich's skeletal form begins to melt under the acid. Faewen'il then pumps another couple of magickal missiles into it, which adds to the lich's demise. Then, one after another, they begin to pour the vials of holy water upon the creature. Bennett asks Hrust for his vials so that he can complete his vow of avenging Zsolt's death by being one of those that killed the dread lich. Boscobelous screams as every vial full pours over him. After all five have been deposited over him, the lich looks in a terrible shape and it is obvious that he is not going to last much longer.

Will holds the newly acquired Educator ready to end the creature and speaks to it," When did you turn Boscebelous? When did you decide it were better to live as an abomination than to accept the fate of the gods? How long did it take before you began accepting living sacrifices from the town of Dobrushka? How many innocent babes have those accursed priests of Smurt given to appease you? Repent and give up the ghost or else die by our hands and go to your hellish reward!"

'F*CK YOU!" cries Boscobelous in response. 'GO ON, COWARDS, TRY AND KILL ME. I AM INVINCIBLE. ENDING THINGS WILL ONLY MAKE ME STRONGER!"

"Then die and may the gods mete out justice upon your wretched soul" says Will in response.

"Before we finish him off, let's renew our blessings" Yaz suggests.

They withdraw into the lounge and Will sings the rousing song once more, lifting their spirits higher. Yaz then gives them all another blessing from Prirodna. Leaving Winnacer out of harm's way, they then go back into Boscobelous' room in order to deliver the coup de grace. Hrust casts once more and a light starts to shine from Boscobelous' skull, blinding him.

As they all stand before the trapped form of Boscobelous with weapons ready, Bennett lights the torch and throws it into the web. Immediately, the web bursts into flame.

As it does so, the 2' flying humanoid figure appears to their side and gestures towards them. Xavier, Yaz, Faewen'il and Bennett all run off in terror as it appears, leaving just Will, Hrust and Jihan before it. During the commotion, Boscobelous starts to cast, even with the burning web all around him, yet nothing seems to happen apart from the fact that Boscobelous seems to go rigid. Not wanting to give the lich a second chance, Jihan strikes into the lich with both Makanuru and Todtaenzer, Will strikes home with the magickal dagger and Hrust also manages to hit it with his flameblade. As the four blades strike the abomination simultaneously, Boscobelous crashes to the ground, his skeletal face frozen in an expression of surprise and anger.

As Boscobelous expires, the zombie form of Raaka, still stuck in the first of Faewen'il's webs goes limp. The tiny humanoid figure that scared off the four members of the party blinks out at the same time.

Xavier, Yaz, Faewen'il and Bennett stop running at exactly the same time, the fear subsiding. They come back into the room in order to see the deceased form before them. Winnacer stumbles in along with them as well.

Boscobelous is dead.

Winnacer painfully makes his way back into the bedroom of Boscobelous, a sigh of relief on his face as he sees their nemesis scattered around the floor in pieces. He makes his way over to the fragments, his right arm dangling uselessly, and places one under his foot and crushes it:

"Today is a day that you can one day tell your children about. A day when an ancient evil was twice defeated and the curse of one small village was lifted. We have all lost much, though, whether it is in health, in companionship, or in innocence. This painful price makes our victory less sweet, but no less important. All of us here have done something truly worthy of note, perhaps something worthy of catching the eye of one's beloved deity or the tongue of a gilded-throated troubadour. I would like the honor of shaking each of your hands, but I don't think that is going to happen any time soon."

Winnacer lurches forward with his shoulder, causing his arm to waggle forward like a noodle.

"While we have destroyed Boscobelous' most recent incarnation, we must not assume that our fight is over. The necromancer has cheated death once before, and we must ensure he does not cheat it yet again. I suggest we make a thorough search of the upper levels of the tower, using magical aids if possible to avoid traps and locate endweamored objects. We should also immolate all the corpses we have left in our wake. And perhaps we should remove the bodies downstairs and inter them into our makeshift cemetery."

Will takes the silk sheets off the bed and puts them on top of the form of Boscobelous and Raaka. Yaz says a few words for the soul of Raaka as Bennett lights another torch and sets the two corpses burning. They watch the corpses burning for quite a while, checking to make sure that the fire fully consumes Boscobelous' body, which it does.

Once things have been taken care of somewhat, Winnacer shows his arm to Yaz and Hrust, hoping they can do something about his limp, numbed, and fasiculating arm:

"It feels like it is still there, but it doesn't obey my commands. The muscles also seem to ripple underneath the surface for no reason and it feels a bit icky. The arm is not exactly numb, everything just feels numbed because the arm feels like it has been frozen for a decade. Ever seen anything like this before?"

Hrust comes over to take a look at it. He then casts and begins to speak:

"It would seem that your arm is crippled from the necromancer's evil touch. While I can do nothing to aid you today, you should have no fear. I will ask for Blesk's blessing in the morning and will return the life to your arm that was taken by Boscobelous."

The task of burning the corpses having been done, they start to investigate the upper floor, starting with the bedroom itself. Will looks at the pictures on the wall, and reads the plates beneath them:

'Martina Boscobelous, Lukas Boscobelous, Katerina Boscobelous…These are the same names that are on the sarcophagi in the cellar. Even though he turned into a monster, it still looks as if he couldn't forget about his family.'

They all carry on investigating the bedroom for a while, yet there is nothing else of interest in there. The skeletons that are lining both walls seem to be nothing more than skeletons. Just to be on the safe side, Bennett hacks them up with 'Retribution' and adds them to the fire.

They move from the bedroom back into the lounge. They check through all of the various chests in the room and the drawers of the desk, yet find very little of interest to them. The pictures on the wall are more family portraits.

From there, they move to the door on the west side of the room. Jihan checks it carefully, but finds nothing untoward. Cautiously, he opens the door and peers inside. It is a bathroom, a narrow room just 10' wide and 30' long. The room has been untouched for centuries obviously, but is still in a good condition. Finding nothing of interest in there, unsurprisingly, they close the door and return to the lounge.

There is now just one more door left and that is on the east wall. Jihan once more goes up to it and checks it over carefully before listening at it with the listening cone.

'All seems quiet to me' Jihan reports.

Jihan then opens the door. As they look through, Will and Faewen'il give a little gasp as they see that it is a large room that was obviously Boscobelous' study. In the center of the room is one large oaken table with three large armchairs around it. The four walls are covered in bookshelves, all of which are completely filled with books. They all enter the room and start to look at the huge collection of books upon the shelves.

The books cover a multitude of subjects and many are obviously ancient in origin. Some of them are not books at all, but are runes etched into clay tablets and bundles of papyrus.

'Father Konan is going to be in raptures when he sees this little lot' says Will, his eyes wide in disbelief.

The library is very well organized, with the books being laid out according to subjects. There is hardly a subject that it not covered in the library, with subjects ranging from 'Archeology' to 'Zoology' with everything in between. By far the largest subject, however, is the section on 'Necromancy', which takes up around a sixth of the entire library.

Will, Faewen'il and Jihan look through the tomes that are on the shelves. They see that all facets of the art of Necromancy are covered in the section. Much of the information seems to be mere superstition, but several of the books appear to be more practical in their nature.

They spend quite a while looking through the library and then Faewen'il's eyes light up as she sees five large leather-bound tomes:

'Here be his spellbooks. I knew that they must be here somewhere.'

She takes the five heavy tomes and puts them in a sack. It takes almost all of her strength just to carry the five heavy books in the sack.

A few minutes later Will too finds what he was expressly looking for:

'Boscobelous' Diary! Now THIS should give us a few answers, I'm sure,' he says with excitement.

While the others were looking through the books, Bennett returns to the bedroom where he scoops up the ashes from Boscobelous' body and puts them into sacks:

"We should bury these remains in several different spots. I've heard tales of the remains of some of the most powerful undead resurrecting themselves even after death and burning. We can't be too careful in getting rid of this guy."

Winnacer has been comparing the library and the lounge, walking backwards and forwards between the two rooms.

"I'm sure that there must be another secret room up here. The library doesn't fill as much room as it should do. There must be an entrance to it either from the south wall of the library or the east wall of the lounge."

Leaving their investigation of the library for the moment, they all start to search the walls for signs of a concealed doorway. It doesn't take long before they find it.

Jihan looks behind a picture of Boscobelous himself and sees that there is a space in the wall behind it. Faewen'il shines a lantern through the opening to see that there are many interesting items contained within. Jihan takes one of the chairs in the lounge and places it against the wall so as to provide a step up into the room. He then walks through the gap in order to enter the room. The rest of them follow him.

They look inside the room and take account of what it contains. They see that there is a fine set of clothes hanging from a hanger on the wall. Propped up against it is a spear and there is a shield which has the design of a cloud-like face blowing.

"That's the emblem of Vitur, God of Wind," says Will as he sees the design. "I don't know anything of this particular shield, however."

On a shelf on the other side of it are three glass jars, each containing a liquid of a different color. They each have emblems on them. Will investigates the emblems:

"This one here, with the emblem of an arrow pointing down. I know that means 'to make smaller'. This one next to it, with the arrow pointing up means the opposite, 'to make larger'."

He then looks at the emblem on the third of the potions, but shakes his head, not knowing what it means.

Next to the potions is a scroll. Faewen'il takes it, although has not the ability to read it and find out what it does.

In a corner of the room is a pottery vial. Will opens the top and looks inside and sees that it contains a sticky substance, one that he has not seen before.

Jihan sees that there is a fairly large chest in the opposite corner of the room. Before he opens it, Yaz begins to cast, to check if the chest is trapped in any way, but it is not. Jihan opens it and sees that it contains five gems and a large quantity of coins.

He looks at all of the gems in turn:

"A large green Tourmaline, that's worth about 1000, an excellent blue Spinnel, that's another 1000, an average Aquamarine, that's another 1000, an average Opal, that's 500."

He then looks at the last one, noticing that it is glowing slightly:

"This is the best one of the lot, a regular Emerald that must be worth around 1350, but that glowing is not natural. It must be magickal in nature."

They check around the room once more to see whether they may have overlooked something, but it appears that this is everything.

Winnacer speaks after they finish investigating the room:

"We have finished what we have set out to do, but our task here is not yet finished."

"We have not the ability to check what items that we have discovered are not magickal and none of the spellcasters have that ability today and so I think that we shall need to return tomorrow in order to perform that task. Then there is the question of the corpses in the sarcophagi. Perhaps Boscobelous' diary will give some clues as to that. Then there is the question of what to do about the giant silver skull and all of these books. I am sure that Will will not allow them to simply be abandoned, but to get all of them out is going to be a mammoth undertaking. Then, of course, we have a decision to make about the fate of the Tower itself. Should we just leave it here? Take advantage of it? Or try and destroy it in some way? Then, once we have finally finished with the Tower there is the question as to where we should go next."

Bennett interjects at this point:

"By my estimation, that silver skull should weigh about four hundred pounds. If Xavier keeps hold of the Belt until Winn gets whatever is going on with his arm fixed, he should have little problem carrying out that much weight, though I will certainly assist him. Once we get it outside, we should, as Winn suggested, construct a cart or something to carry it in, as it would be a very long walk back to Holitze carrying the damn thing."

"As for the bodies in the sarcophagi, I vote that we start interning the bodies immediately, pulling them from their unholy tombs and burying them outside with the rest. If we start on this process right away, we can most likely be done with it by tomorrow morning."

"Will is correct when he says that we must first correct the injustices and horrid practices of Dobroushka" Winnacer continues. "When we are ready, we should ride to town and free them from the shadow of Boscobelous they have withered under for centuries."

"This at least we should do" agrees Bennett, "as if we do not return for some time, the unsuspecting innocents of this village would surely be susceptible to more evils from the Death Priests."

"I do not expect the Death Priests of Dobroushka to give up without a fight" continues Winnacer, "but compared to the evils of Boscobelous, I find it hard to be overly concerned. But once Dobroushka has been settled, we are in a quandary. Kesryk must be returned to Holitze at least, if not Parbubitze. Darius may need saving, and we have a promise to Flint and Elthanor to keep."

"Hell, is it time to go back and retrieve that rodent already?" Bennett interrupts. "Seems we have got on better in his absence, but I would like to see that dwarf again. He made a mean boom."

He then turns to Jihan:

"Jihan, why you have so much love for that little monster I will never know, but perhaps such devotion and friendship should not be abandoned. Though you might travel faster without me slowing you down, if you wish my company on the trip I will go with you. I might be some help in case you meet up with resistance. I have little interest in going to a big temple and kissing some holy whosit's butt. If it be you and I alone, then many a story has been written of a warrior and his sidekick rogue wreaking havoc on the countryside and I would not be one to let the storytellers down."

He winks in Will's direction.

"Konan needs to be informed of our success and given our written reports within the month or less we may find ourselves engrossed in even more treacherous tasks" Winnacer continues. "He also needs to look at the artifacts we have uncovered and help us decide on their fate, especially the book now in Will's care. As I said before, I intend on bringing Kesryk's body to Parbubitze with due haste, but I hope they decide to hold an 'Inauguration of Saints' for his remains. If that is the case, the body will remain in Holitze for at least a month and may end up resting aside the legendary Yaromir. But only a congregation, with the blessings of the Papacy, can render such a decision."

A thought crosses the young Lord's mind and he smiles.

"In any case, I am sure that Kesryk is at Spravedelna's side, regardless of the mechanics of his interment."

"Anyhow, we should discuss where we are to head to next. We should think about Hrust's fate, whether he is to take up Holitze's invitation for temporary residence or if he may want to remain with us. Do not forget, we still have a few pinches of Granny's powder left, which may allow him to accompany us without raising suspicion."

Bennett speaks up at this point:

"Hurst obviously will make up his own mind about where he wishes to go, as he certainly should know he is welcome among us or anywhere we have influence. If Jihan is agreeable, it is certainly reasonable to stop at Holitze and return the body of their priest. Then if all is hunky-dory there, Jihan and I at least will head back to the fur farm, though it seems if your Spravedelna ceremony takes place the whole group could go and not be missed, then return here and head on to Pardubitze. Hopefully that is the case, as the group should not be split up if such is unnecessary."

Yaz leaves the rest of the party to their treasure and flies down the five flights of stairs to the main level. Prirodna's Holy Goulash, still warm in his belly, provides him with an extra measure of energy. He sprints to the door, and pushes it wide open, fully expecting the sun to be beaming brightly down, the birds to be singing, and the shadow of the land to have vanished.

Much to his disappointment, however, nothing has changed since the party entered just a few hours earlier in the day. Yaz looks highly disappointed, even a little depressed:

"Ugh. Not so quick, then. I guess She has some work to do yet."

He then turns back and trudges up the steps to join the others.

"Very well" states Winnacer, feeling very weary as he is still feeling very weak after the life-force draining from Boscobelous. "I think that we have accomplished all that we need to do here today. Let us return here tomorrow and finish our investigations. We may as well take all of the items that we have found in this room with us as they are easy to carry and are obviously magickal in nature. As for all of those books, however, that is going to be an even bigger challenge for us than transporting the silver skull. There looks to be more than a cartload of books there."

With that, they descend the stairs of the Tower, meeting Yaz outside. They then make their way back to camp. Winnacer has to be supported by Xavier and Bennett on the way back, as his strength is all but gone after just a short journey.

They arrive back at camp to see that Robert is overjoyed at seeing that they have all managed to return safely from the Tower. He is even happier when they tell him that Boscobelous is no more and that they will be leaving within the next 24 hours.

"I can't say that I'm disappointed to hear that" responds Robert. "I think that I've spent enough time camping here. I'm about ready to get back to a city or somewhere else, anywhere other than being stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Once he has welcomed them back, Robert sets about making a huge feast in celebration.

Winnacer is feeling very tired after his exertions. Xavier and Bennett put him inside his tent and the young lord soon falls asleep.

After greeting Min, Will retires to his tent immediately and spends the whole of the afternoon, evening and well into the night reading Boscobelous' diary, unable to put it down. Faewen'il is similarly fascinated by the necromancer's spellbooks, although she cannot transcribe any of the spells within as she has learned no spells for reading magick.

Hrust and Yaz go off in their separate directions in order to give their thanks for the triumph over the lich. Jihan accompanies Yaz, giving his own thanks to the Goddess of Nature.

Bennett takes some time beside Zsolt's grave, alone, and they can tell from his hand gestures and expressions that he is describing the victory over Boscobelous. After some time of this, he takes two pieces of wood and begin whittling them down, one until it is long and thin and another broad and wide. He then drives the first into the ground above the grave and continues working on the second for about an hour, then tying it to the first in a simple marker. He then returns to work. Those that walked over to read the marker find it inscribed with very small letters:

"Here lay Zsolt, foreign born and mercenary bred, but he fought for the cause of Bohavian independence as strongly as any native son, not for gold or heroism, but because it was right to do so. He lost his life in heroic struggle against the unnatural denizens of this place, but his story will go on. Though we never spoke, I saw him as a brother and he will always be remembered."

"DINNER'S READY!" shouts Robert and they all stop their various tasks and come to eat. After eating Yaz's Holy Goulash earlier in the day, no one is really hungry, except for Bennett who did not partake of the goulash and has not eaten for many days. It is lucky that none of the others were feeling terribly hungry, as Bennett eats enough for several of them and Robert has to go back and prepare a little more for him. Once he has finally finished eating and washed the meal down with many pints of ale, Bennett staggers to his tent and is soon fast asleep.

Jihan, Robert and Xavier keep watch during the night, but nothing stirs in the surrounding area.