"Thank Goodness," Dervek replied. "It was just a matter of time before they came for me."
Dervek explained that others before him had been taken by zombies, never to be seen again, presumably sacrificed. He also explained that he had been captured on the road about a week ago, and Jude had already been there.
"We should put Jude in a safe place in the caves," Vernim suggested, "because it is too much of a risk bringing Jude back to the keep with us, and Tymora was very clearly shining down on us and was giving us good fortune bringing Prynhawn back. I wouldn't count on Tymora being so merciful every time. Tymora clearly favored Prynhawn."
"Tymora clearly favored Prynhawn?" Jess asked, incredulously. "The one who just got killed?"
"I would say so," Vernim replied, "I mean obviously...it's a tough call—"
"Didn't you just say yesterday how Tymora didn't favor us?" Jess challenged.
"Um, it's entirely possible," Vernim explained. "I'm just saying that, because we were very lucky not to run into anything on the way home—"
"We did run into things on the way home!" Jess argued.
"We didn't run into a lot," Vernim reasoned. "We could have run into—"
"Yanliz almost died!" Jess maintained.
"I'm aware," Vernim replied. "It could have been worse, I guess."
"Is that the criteria for Tymora looking favorably on us?" Jess questioned. "That things could be worse?"
"I'm just trying to find the silver lining here," Vernim whimpered.
They decided to bring the bodies to Sapphira's room and then head back to the keep, going back through the labyrinth to the bandit cave. As they were gathering their things, light spilled in from the alcove across the room.
Jess drew her bow and Valeria drew her wand.
Brother Martin cast cure wounds on Lawrence.
A woman in fine black robes, surrounded by swirling fiendish spirits, emerged from the alcove. An incandescent blue sphere orbited her head. She pointed at Brother Martin.
Jess released her bow, and Valeria shot an eldritch blast, but the high priestess side-stepped both as a flash of light streaked from her finger and blasted Brother Martin in radiance.
Yanliz took cover behind the portal door, and cast hunter's mark on the high priestess, molly-whopping an arrow into her chest. She screamed, and Yanliz chunked his next shot.
As Philip rolled toward the priestess, the fiendish spirits swarmed him, hindering his momentum and scraping away at his life force. As he launched a flurry of punches, she swatted most of them aside with her forearms, only getting hit by one of his blows. The monk rolled back, but was still swarmed by the fiendish spirits surrounding the priestess.
As a familiar man in fine red robes entered the room, Philip felt his muscles begin to seize, but he shook himself free.
A woman in black acolytes robes entered the room as the world around the group went silent.
Vernim shot his crossbow at the high priestess, but missed and stepped to the back of the room, near the portal.
As a man in red acolytes robes entered the room, a spectral mace appeared next to Brother Martin, but was deflected by his shield. He then heard the sounds of bells in his head.
Jess caught the priestess with an arrow.
Valeria missed the priestess with another eldritch blast.
Lawrence retreated just outside the secret portal and was no longer in silence, cast scorching ray, blasting the priestess twice, and the high priest once. The fiendish spirits disappeared. Then he hit the high priest with a fire bolt.
Brother Martin followed Lawrence beyond the secret portal, cast spiritual weapon, hitting the high priest with his spectral mace, and sacred flame, which the priest avoided. A second spectral mace appeared next to Brother Martin and smashed into his head.
Yanliz landed another arrow into the high priestess, and began to lead Dervek toward the portal.
Philip dashed up and landed a jab-cross combination on the wounded high priestess, and she began to stagger and fall. He then grabbed Dervek and led him quickly from the room. One of the spectral maces disappeared.
The high priest quickly grabbed a chain around his neck and touched the falling high priestess. She immediately rose, appearing sure footed once again.
Brother Martin felt his muscles seize, but was able to resist the effect, only to have the world around him go dark, as he was blinded, and then burned by radiant flames.
Vernim also retreated beyond the portal and cast scorching ray. The high priest evaded two of the rays, but the high priestess was blasted by the third.
Brother Martin fell as a spectral mace smashed him in the head.
Jess landed an arrow in the high priest's leg, and retreated to the back of the room.
Valeria ran through the portal and revived Brother Martin with cure wounds.
Lawrence cast scorching ray, missing the high priest with two rays, but hitting the black robed acolyte with the third. The sphere of silence disappeared. He tried to hit her with a fire bolt as well, but missed.
Still blinded, Brother Martin cast cure wounds on himself, and hit the high priest with his spectral mace.
Yanliz transferred his hunter's mark to the high priest and dropped him with an arrow in the chest before taking cover again behind the portal door.
Philip rolled back into the room and launched a sloppy flurry of punches at the black robed acolyte, all of which were blocked, before rolling away from her.
The fallen high priest grabbed a chain around his neck, and reached over to the high priestess, healing her once again with a touch. He then jumped up and tried to grab Philip, but the monk was too swift.
Yanliz, used to the dark, suddenly found himself unable to see.
Vernim missed the high priest with a crossbow bolt and cast healing word on Brother Martin, who then evaded the floating spectral mace and resisted the sound of bells in his head.
The high priestess screamed as Jess sank an arrow into her shoulder, and then fell when Valeria hit her with an eldritch blast.
Brother Martin cast bless on Yanliz, Valeria, and Jess.
Completely blind, Yanliz drew his bow and listened for the sounds of his target, as he had done for much of his life before he was able to see in the dark. He soon heard the satisfying sound of his arrow hitting the mark and the high priest falling.
Philip rolled into the fray with a high kick that was blocked by the black robed acolyte. Then he stomped on the high priestess and kicked the high priest while they were down. Clutching at something around her neck, the acolyte drew her scimitar, screaming, "Erishkigal will take you!" and slashed a deep gash across the halfling's back that felt like a touch of death. She was then stuck by Vernim's crossbow bolt and an arrow from Jess.
The red robed acolyte, also clutching at something around his neck, yelled, "Die in the name of Nergal!" and smashed Philip with his mace, draining the remaining life from the halfling.
Valeria helped stabilize Philip with healing word, and missed the red robed priest with an eldritch blast. But Lawrence then hit the red robed priest with three scorching rays.
Unable to see any targets to transfer his hunter's mark to, Yanliz focused on the sounds of the red robed acolyte that soon turned to a short gurgle, confirming he had made the shot, which he was then able to see as his sight returned to him.
Dolorous bells filled the air as both Brother Martin and Lawrence felt a bit of their life drain away.
Vernim helped stabilize Philip with cure wounds.
Valeria revived Philip with a healing word, and shot an eldritch blast, but the black robed acolyte was too evasive, also avoiding an arrow from Jess and a fire bolt from Lawrence.
In the corridor beyond the portal, Brother Martin's sight returned to him.
Yanliz transferred his hunter's mark to the last acolyte, and shot her in the leg, slowing her down. Philip then knocked her out with an overhand punch in the mouth. He pinned her prone form to the ground and beat her with a barrage of punches.
Yanliz gathered his sticks, and peeked beyond the alcove from where the priestess had come, spotting a door at the end of the ten foot deep alcove. Peering out, he saw a wide corridor made of the familiar blood-red stone.
Jess also looked for her arrows, but they had all broken.
Brother Martin began a prayer of healing.
When Philip was done, he took a drink and started on the others.
 |
| Symbol of Erishkigal |
On the high priest they found, half plate armor, a mace, a shield, necklace of prayer beads, another ring of twisted red gold and blackened silver, and a backpack.
Examining the pack, Valeria saw that the central pouch and two side pouches were all much bigger inside than the back itself. Reaching inside, she found that it contained a book, a sling, a waterskin, a horn, as well as vestments and other mundane items.
On the black robed acolyte, they found a chain shirt, a scimitar, black and silver hairpin set with a black opal, and a belt with a jeweled gold clasp.
On the red robed acolyte, they found half plate armor, a shield, a mace, a garnet studded ring, and a copper bracelet inset with three red pearls.
Brother Martin gathered all their holy symbols, as well as the necklace with the heart-shaped gem.
Valeria took the new backpack, in which she gathered all they found, save for the armor and shield.
"Are we going back to the keep now?" Yanliz asked.
"Don't you think they were in charge?" Jess hinted. "Shouldn't we just keep going?"
"We were going to bring Dervek back," Valeria pointed out.
"We can put him in Sapphira's room and keep adventuring," Yanliz suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that," Jess agreed, "We can give him some food, and he can hang out on the other side of the labyrinth."
"Okay," Valeria agreed.
"What do you think," Dervek?" Philip asked.
"I thought you were bringing me back to the keep..." Dervek replied.
"That's the plan," Vernim confirmed.
"But we might not be able to do it right now," Brother Martin corrected. "We still have some things to take care of."
"There's only the black knight and two archers," Yanliz mentioned.
"If we fight the black knight in our state now," Brother Martin worried, "I'm not exactly confident..."
"Maybe we can take a short rest," Yanliz conceded.
"This fight seems like it's been really valuable," Philip said, wiping the blood off his fists and taking a drink. "In a way, time is on our side now. They don't have all these necromancers."
No comments:
Post a Comment