Arcadayn Journal: Session #34

Arcadayn Journal, Session #34

Game Date: 14-16 Harvestmonth, 994 KC; Play Date: 10/14/2000

14 Harvestmonth (continued): Taroq's forces consisted of human skeletons and zombies (a half dozen of each), a pair of human mummies [superior zombies], and four undead Mynars (two being skeletal, two still with rotting flesh). These Mynars were escorting Taroq as he climbed to a rock shelf directly below the Mouth of Klur. He seemed to be looking for something here. The human undead milled about below, between the shelf and the river. Al-Zaki proposed flying the women to the shelf to fight Taroq, while their Mynar allies dealt with the mob of undead near the river. He could engage at least some of the undead Mynars, allowing the women to concentrate on Taroq. Laylah decided to cross the river herself instead, to reduce his burden. Darra loaded her crossbow with the bolt that she had been using to track her enemy.

Ruqayyah shapeshifted for the flight. The dragon took off, as the Mynars charged the river. One of the mummies fired a crossbow at the dragon, and hit. Taroq saw them, and produced a Mynar skull, which at his command turned into a ghostly form [a Skull-Spirit] that flew towards the dragon. Laylah prayed for help against this thing, and was answered by a flash of light that weakened it. The dragon's flame weakened it further, but it managed to lightly wound him before his second blast destroyed it.

The Mynars closed with the mob of undead, roaring challenges and Klur's name. Al-Zaki was nearly to the ledge, so the women were no longer able to follow that other part of the fight. (Laylah had reached the river by this point.)

The dragon landed to one side of the ledge, and the women and cat dismounted. Taroq cast Death Vision on Darra, stunning her (with a vision of his scythe impaling her). The undead Mynars immediately engaged the dragon, who fought back with his flame. Naima hit Taroq with a throwing knife, but he stunned her with a Death Vision as well (also of Taroq striking her down).

Ruqayyah attempted to sneak behind Taroq and cast Itch on him as a distraction, but she failed, and collapsed from the combined fatigue of this and her shapeshifting. She continued to try her spell, in spite of the injury she caused to herself in doing it [fueling the spell with HT].

Darra shook off the Death Vision, cried, "Kuldor!" and fired her crossbow. The bolt plowed into Taroq's gut, knocking him backwards a few feet. He stumbled, but still stood. As he advanced on her, she drew the magic sword Helledoth, which burst into flame. Her first attack crippled Taroq's leg, and he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Al-Zaki had downed one Mynar, but was taking serious wounds from their battleaxes. Laylah saw him reel from the blows, and prayed for light to blind his opponents so he could retreat. The undead seemed to become a bit more clumsy after this. With Darra between her and Taroq, Naima started targeting the undead, but her knives were too small to do any noticeable damage. She drew her sword and moved to help Al-Zaki, who soon destroyed his second opponent.

Darra pressed her attack, but fumbled her sword, which fell--and then magically returned to her hand! This gave him time to rise to his knees, but then Ruqayyah finally succeeded with her Itch spell, distracting him. He soon recovered and attacked Darra with his scythe, but she managed to parry the blow. She shouted, "You will die!" and struck him to the ground again. This time he stayed down. At about the same time, Al-Zaki finished off the last two undead Mynars.

Darra thrust Helledoth through Taroq's heart to make sure he was dead. At that moment, a rumbling began deep within the cliff above, and the Mouth of Klur breathed another jet of flame. Darra then started prayers of thanks that lasted several minutes.

Laylah reached the ledge just after this, and began checking Al-Zaki's wounds. With the fight over, he could barely move, and just muttered to himself in an unknown language. As Laylah tended his wounds, tearing apart her bedroll for bandages. He fell asleep soon after she began. She was utterly amazed at just how much damage he had taken and survived--some of his injuries would have killed a human outright. Her arms were soon covered with the dragon's blackish-red blood. She was curious about whether dragon blood was poisonous (or gave special powers), so touched her tongue to her bloody hand. The taste was a more intense version of the smell (blood and spice and something she couldn't identify), then her tongue went numb.

After her prayers, Darra went to Al-Zaki and prayed for healing for the one who had helped her reach Taroq quickly. His wounds sealed over, but were still severe. She then went to go check on the Mynars, who had finished their battle:

All of the undead had been destroyed.
Birkum and one other Mynar had died in the fighting.
Dorg's two sisters and Umok were unconscious, with serious injuries. Umok's were the worst, but he had somehow escaped being crippled.
Nargis and Dorg were badly injured, but still conscious.

Darra prayed over the survivors, which helped to stabilize them. She then helped Nargis and Dorg tend to their comrades' injuries.

Ruqayyah had no obvious wounds but could barely move. She rested until she had the energy to magically heal herself. She then finally let her shapeshifting spell lapse, as she had no energy to maintain it. When had recovered a bit more, she went to look at the injured dragon, and used a healing spell on him. Laylah had finished bandaging him by then (a bit past noon), and saw that Darra was nearly done with the Mynars, so washed off in the river. The dragon's blood had stained her arms red to the elbow.

Meanwhile, Naima had been trying to figure out what Taroq was looking for, but searched the shelf to no avail. She left Taroq's gear there for Darra to look through.

The women retrieved their packs from where they had dropped them just beyond the last bend, while the Mynars dismembered the undead and threw the pieces into the river. (They soon saw ravens gathering down-river to feast on the remains.) They built travois to transport the wounded to the higher ground near the Mouth. The women began gathering dry brush so that Darra could burn Taroq's body and destroy it for good. While they did so, Laylah found an animal warren nearby. They smoked out and snared four mangy-looking things that looked like a cross between a weasel and a rabbit, and dressed them for dinner.

Darra searched Taroq's body and gear. Her bolt was buried to the fletching in his corpse, so she left it there. Besides his robes and leathers, she found:

His scythe, decorated with skull designs.
Two large knives, one of which was of fine quality and decorated with Shulkor cult imagery.
A pouch full of herbs, food, a pot of face paint, and some bizarre bits and pieces of things.
A disk of black glass.

When Darra drew out the disk, she had a brief vision of a skeletal robed figure reaching out to throttle her. When she recovered, she saw that the disk had strange writing on one side, and an Asanos-like design on the other. She wrapped it in cloth to avoid touching it again. She gave it to Laylah while she searched the shelf as Naima had.

Laylah climbed the cliff to the top, and saw the plateau about them. She couldn't see far across the broken surface, but could see some scrubby vegetation, and had a clearer view than before of the mountains to the south and the twin volcanoes among them. She then asked Rashira about the disk (a translation of the writing, with some context if possible). She was told that the stone was a necromancer's tool, which the priest had thought would help him find something. The writing is the creator's name. Laylah asked what Taroq wanted. "Something that was once Ours, but is now lost and twisted." She asked if it could be found and restored. It could, but only if enough of Our servants have faith. The goddess wished it to be returned, but would not wish this burden upon Her servants. It is nearby, but she was not told where.

Naima climbed the cliff and went to a point above the center of Klur's face. Here she placed a stone that had been stained by Taroq's blood. Another flame jetted forth soon after this.

The women gathered again near dusk. Laylah related her divinations. She thought Taroq had been searching for the lost Asanos, and that it was nearby. (She wasn't certain that's what it was, but thought it a safe assumption.) She feels that Rashira wasn't asking her to find it, but that if she decides to do it, the goddess would help.

Al-Zaki woke as they talked, and Laylah thanked him for saving their lives. Darra realized that the Mouth had not erupted as often or as strongly since she slew Taroq, and was rather pleased by that. The reduced eruptions allowed them to pass a mostly quiet night.

15 Harvestmonth: Darra mediated in the morning, asking, "Is my job finished yet?" She heard the word "never," but then was startled out of her trance by Nargis asking her to go to Umok. He was awake, and greeted her warmly: "Darra honor Klur." Umok stated that they would mourn their two fallen warriors, but they fought beside Klur now. He seemed full of joy at seeing the Mouth of Klur. During the day, the two able-bodied Mynars gathered stones to build cairns for their dead. (Darra helped Naima find a rock to add to each cairn.)

Ruqayyah spent much of the morning casting healing spells on the wounded dragon and Mynars. Laylah collected more brush while Darra and Naima built a pyre and added Taroq's scythe and pouch to it. They were uncertain what to do with the disk; Al-Zaki could make nothing of the writing, but identified it as fine obsidian, and guessed that the effect Darra had experienced was a Death Vision spell (a vision of one's death--or a possible death). Darra kept it for now, refusing to let Ruqayyah touch it (but promised to let her do so before they finally destroy it).

They discussed what to do about the lost Asanos. Returning it to Krith would likely strengthen the Empire, which made Ruqayyah concerned for the desert tribes. Laylah felt that Rashira wouldn't let its return lead to war. Darra consulted with Helledoth, who wanted to return to Krith promptly, but would accept a delay for a cause as worthy as recovering the Asanos. [Ironically, the sentient sword is the only character here who is from Krith!]

During the discussion, Laylah commented on the smell of Al-Zaki's blood. He replied that she had probably tasted the magic in it. (She caught his meaning--that he was somehow aware of her test--but the others did not.)

That evening, they burned Taroq's body.

16 Harvestmonth: Darra woke just before the Mouth spat a longer-than-usual jet of flame. This blast work the others.

Darra asked for help in climbing up to the Mouth of Klur. As the only experienced climber, Naima led the ascent. They climbed to the top, just above the Mouth. They tied a rope around Darra and lowered her over the face's nose, and over a sheer drop to the mouth opening. This aperture was a cave going into the cliff face for a few dozen yards, then narrowing and turning downward. A small flame topped this shaft. Darra lit a lantern, but doused it when its flame burned disturbingly bright. She searched the cave by the light coming from outside and from the flame in the rear. She saw light glinting off of something at the edge of the shaft, licked by the flames. She carefully pulled it away, felt that it was some small metal object, and was stunned her for a second by a sense of foreboding. She just barely managed to dodge backward before the flame leaped out at her. She heard a rumbling, so quickly put the item in her pouch, ran for the cave mouth, and shouted, "Pull me up!" as she leapt out and to the side. As they pulled, a gout of flame erupted from the Mouth. Darra was safe, but smoky and gasping for breath. They all climbed back down, ignoring Ruqayyah's plea to see the Mouth, too.

Darra showed them the object, which looked like the Asanos design in Taroq's sketch. The metal was blackened, and Laylah pointed out what (to her) looked like a blood stain. Helledoth could sense something within the object--a spirit of some kind, most likely evil. Al-Zaki knows no spells to contain spirits, so Laylah wrapped it in cloth while calling upon Rashira to contain its darkness so that they could bring it home to be cleansed. It grew cool, then warm, and she heard a voice say, "Be vigilant and pure of heart." She gave it back to Darra, who wrapped it in another layer of cloth and placed it in her pack.

Ruqayyah asked Al-Zaki how soon he could move. He could do so any time now, but might risk straining his healing tissues. She decided to make her top priority healing him, as fast as her spells would safely allow.

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