The Rushmoors, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Nine. Dawn. Monday, October 24th, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, foggy
Dawn crawls to life.
In the murky, twilight netherworld between night and day, the heroes gird themselves to brave the eerie, dismal swamp. Ingrid prays divine blessings to heal Pelias the noble paladin of Hookhill. (+4hp) They set out, Brevos in the lead, Sephus the crow sleeping in Long Bo's hood exhausted from lack of rest.
Drudging through two feet of icy black water atop thick, slimy mud, they toil slowly across the desolate melancholy landscape. (Movement is one half normal in two feet of water; one third for gnomes.)
The trees become more gnarled and twisted. The otherworldly silence endures.
The heroes make poor time for one long hour.
And then the things in the swamp are upon them.
Near Brevos, the living dead suddenly rise up out of the black water. Some still draped in rotting waterlogged flesh. Others, merely bones. All infested with algae, fungi and other unhealthy swamp blight.
They hiss and croak, lurching with malevolent intent to drag the ranger under until he drowns and joins the fell ranks of the damned unliving.
Actions?!
Map: White PC initials mark their position. PH = Pip of Hochoch. BR = Brevos.
Brevos is 60 feet away from the other PCs.
As the thick tainted water begins to bubble and swirl Brevos acts quickly from the years of honing his skills of observation. He draws Brood from its scabbard, the magical blade givies off its soft blue light and low hum.
Lifting his shield he begins working his way back towards the group coming up behind him while slashing at the nearest zombie (looks like S2)
"Brevos! On your left!" Yells Telkis. Seeing Brevos step back and to the right he focuses to the left side. Holding his bow sideways above the waterline, he fires two arrows in quick succession at one of the more fleshy dead where his missiles might find purchase (Z4):
Despite their dismal surroundings, Bo is actually happy to be outside.
As soon as he sees the hoard of monsters appear in front of their scout, he begins a common enchantment that will bring the foliage around these undead beings to life as well.
"Stand back folks.....I got this."
He aims the central area of his magic about 20 feet behind the backpedaling ranger, waiting just long enough for the creatures to group together as they advance on him. His hope is to ensnare as many of the mindless creatures as he can without also affecting Brevos.
After so much internal struggle, Grothnak finally faces a clear enemy: an evil against which he does not need to pull his blows.
"Return to the grave!" he cries. He starts running forward (as far as he can and still get a missile attack in) when he hears Bo tell everyone to hold. Stopping, he fires his bow at the monsters farthest from the ranger.
The cleric advances on the blasphemous creatures that erupt from the water. Holding her holy symbol in front of her, she yells at the undead, Tritherion commands you to begone! Unfortunately, Tritherion must not have much influence in this wretched swamp, or, more likely, he prefers the party defeat these foul creatures without his aid, as a test of their worthiness!
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
Pip advances swiftly and calmy, slipping his bag off of his quarterstaff, and advancing to defend the retreating scout, attacking one if the skeletons if necessary.
The Rushmoors, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Nine. Early morning. Monday, October 24th, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, foggy
"Living dead!" shouts Brevos.
Emerald corpses ascend from the stagnant waters; each dead body entirely invaded by an unhealthy plague of life: algae, mold, fungi, spores.
The heroes yell to each other and the macabre, fleshless corpses charge!
Three gruesome skeletons, slimy with swamp growth, descend upon Brevos before he can retreat! Two of the haggard revenants rend the ranger asunder with cold, dead talons! (-10hp)
Other unliving horrors charge past the beleaguered Brevos, hearing the shouts of fresh victims to the north. (S1, S2) Pelias' blessed shield turns back a fell attack but Telkis is brutally savaged by a ghastly green cadaver! (-6hp)
Grothnak charges forward a step and stops at Bo's words. He unshoulders his bow and looses arrows safely away from Brevos. One missile impales the worm riddled eye of a wretched corpse (Z6). The heinous thing keeps coming.
Hoom, Mouser and Urdur also hear the druid's shout and their blades whisper from their sheathes should they need to defend themselves. Each silently hopes it won't come to that.
Avril and Ingrid step forward in prayer, sacred symbols held before them to drive these unholy things back to Hell. To their shock and horror, they discover they have no power in this abominable place. More frightening, all the undead monstrosities suddenly glare at Ingrid.
Long Bo chants arcane words of power and twisted roots of gnarled trees rise from the black bog to strangle and bind the heinous carrion men behind Brevos, snaring a half dozen in the grey druid's enchantment. The captives of vine and root shriek bloody murder, their howls echoing through the silent misty fen.
Wounded and besieged, Telkis is livid that he's once again robbed of the chance to use his short bow. The dwarvish gnome wields Cranach his trusty morningstar but is too hindered by the deep water to land a ruinous blow. At his left hand, noble Pelias also swings wide.
At Telkis' right hand, Avril sees a glimmer among the malachite slime coating the ruined form of life nearest her. It's a signet ring. She recognizes it with dawning horror. It was worn by her father. For all his life. Her father, whom she came to Briarsgate in search of. Avril stifles a scream of dismay and anguish. "Father?!" she gasps at a horrid skull alive and festering with crawling maggots. (S1)
Pip of Hochoch charges to the aid of his friend Brevos, wielding his quarterstaff against one of the skinless cadavers trying to kill the ranger. (S3) The mud under the water throws the monk off balance, leaving him wide open and the grisly viridian carcass gets its bony claws around Pip's throat! (-2hp) Eerily, a large segment of green sludge falls from the murderous skeleton onto Pip's neck, shoulders and chest! The monk's eyes widen as he sees the slime writhe with a life of its own. It's alive!
Brevos staggers back a step as his enchanted blade whirls a blue arc of destruction through the loathsome living skeleton on Pip, casting ribs and vertebrae everywhere. (S3) Green mucus now ripples along Brevos' sword blade!
A hideous decaying corpse (Z4) lurches slowly toward Ingrid Esthof.
Then, with dread, the heroes see another legion of unliving terrors rise up from the black swamp of unspeakable evil! (S7-10, Z7-10)
Actions?!
Map: Each square = 10 feet. White = PCs. Red = Monsters. Green E = Entangled. Black X = Dead.
Telkis, only his head and shoulders peeking up above the water, goes for the tried and true Lateral Pelvic Strike, skimming Cranach just over the surface. (S1)
"I'll take that piggy-back ride now, Grothnak!" he yells, jokingly, though things seem less funny by the minute. He'll glance around to see if there is any sort of surface above the waterline he could stand on - a log, a stump - anything to give him some mobility.
Bo sees the other monsters rising as well and starts to get nervous. For these are the same types of creatures that nearly took the group down in the second story of the temple. The druid takes a few steps backwards as he prepares another spell.
This time he waits even longer to cast, trying to get as many stragglers in the spells effect as he can. He drops the center of his magic 30 feet in front of himself and 10 feet to his right.
"Brevos! Pip! if you need to retreat, stay to the east side of the trail as you make your way back to us. I have another magic circle ready for these things."
Pip retreats as quickly as possible, trying to stay off to the easy side, to get to Urdur and his torch, hoping that Urdur can burn the slime off of him without killing him.
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
Pelias watches in horror as yet more undead appear. He worries for the safety of the pair far away, about to be besieged by zombies. His training has come to this. He holds aloft his shield, bearing his holy symbol, towards the encroaching horde. He cares not about the skeleton in front of him.
"By the power of Heironeus, I order you to whence you came!"
