Journal Entry 9

Backstabbing, Lying, Creepy, No Good Pile of Kobold Excrement

Shade, Lodi, Vosh and I spoke amongst ourselves about our next course of action to continue with our fight against the evil denizens of this cursed place. We had heard and seen nothing from the other side of the double doors although the presence of such an elaborate set of traps, we could only conclude that something or someone didn't want company. Our discussions led us to the observation that rash action would only endanger us further. Vosh then decided she had enough talk out of our party. She claimed to have remembered another passage and was determined to examine it and rid it of any further evil. Before any words of protest could be offered up, she had risen up and stomped out of the room. I suspect her pride was wounded when stumbling into the dragon trap and felt the need to redeem herself. This left us now at a disadvantage as we were back to only three combatants in a hostile place.

Fortunately our choice of action was made more clear once Krova and Zar'za came into the room. We exchanged our tales of adventure and filled them in on our current situation at hand. The only real option appeared to be through the doors. Everyone got up and prepared themselves for whatever lie on the other side. Shade performed an examination of the doors and determined them to be neither locked nor trapped. I do suppose filling the room with water would be a sufficient lock and anything further would be redundant.

The adjoining room was dark. A putrid smell of death and decay hit us like a hammer to the face. I covered my mouth and nose with my cloak and cast a light into the room. It lit up to show us that it was not empty of inhabitants. Moaning dead creatures in various stages of rot began to creep towards us. We moved to our defensive positions and readied our weapons to remove this evil blight. I caught the sound of wings flapping in the room between the moans of the undead. Two other figures also caught my attention as being more dangerous than the animated corpses now closing with us. They moved faster and had sharp claws on each of their hands. These three creatures would indeed justify priority in combat.

Krova took the lead and began to engage the evilness. His faith and armor proved to be more than a match as the zombies were laid to rest once again by his hand. I cast forth a scorching orb which exploded in the corner, burning several of the reanimated corpses to the ground in seconds. Lodi and Shade rained down arrows into the undead horde with brutal efficiency. Zar'za's blade swiped again and again laying low the vile creatures. One of the sharp-clawed beasts closed with Krova and struck a blow that sent a shudder through his body. All at once, he seemed rooted to the ground unable to move from his position. The party shifted our attacks onto these nasty ghouls and brought them down before much more damage could be inflicted. The flapping noise was now quite loud. I can only describe it as a lump with wings. Shade took aim and let loose his arrows. Clay bits were dislodged from the thing as it attempted to attack my mind. I saw horrible visions enter my mind and was stunned. I focused my concentration and fought back the attack retaking my thoughts for my own. By this time, my friends had cleared out the room and began to take the fight to this flying lump. It crumbled under our withering attack as I joined in with my magic missiles. Once the room was secured, we began to examine our options available to us.

The room was oddly shaped. We discovered a set of stairs down to a large set of double doors and a smaller hole in the wall on the opposite side of the room. Valthrun took to his journaling as we thought about our next course of action. Shade put forth the idea for Lodi to crawl through the hole and have a look being as he was the smallest of our party and most likely to fit. Lodi put forth some protest but eventually determined that it was worth our time and effort to ensure the hole was safe. I cast forth a light into the room allowing him some sight. He reported back to us that there was a putrid pile of bodies in a small room. Nothing came at him so he entered the room and discovered a very nice short bow amid the rot and muck.

He shimmied back through the hole and rejoined the group. Shade and Lodi better examined the bow. Then suddenly Zar'za noticed Valthrun was now moving down the stairs towards the doors. His demeanor had certainly changed as he cast a scornful look back at us. Krova was quick on his feet and closed the distance with Valthrun in no time. Shade was close behind. Zar'za put dark fears into his mind causing Valthrun to cower in the corner. This was the break we needed. Shade and Krova capitalized on this to put themselves between the sage and the doors. The look on Valthrun's face changed from scorn to hatred. As I approached the top of the stairs, he began conjuring. A million thoughts of anger and betrayal ran through my mind as I brought forth my own magics. A fierce battle occurred as Valthrun's body absorbed blow after blow. He finally was brought down. "About time," is the only thought I had as I felt a satisfaction at finally having a clear opportunity to put an end to him.

We examined Valthrun's pack to find some clue as to his true intentions. His journal was filled with nothing but blank pages. The cloak he wore appeared to have some defensive properties. I donned this as I was the last to wash it anyway and figured I'd be able to use its protection. The crowning discovery was the Sinister Third Rib stowed at the bottom of his pack. We had labored so hard to ensure that this not fall into the wrong hands and had nearly brought it to complete whatever abominable ritual was to occur. I took the rib and placed it in my pack. In my hands I could feel it vibrating and humming. Something had begun and time was running out.

Blood Running Thick

The doors were the only alternative to halting whatever despicable plans were developing. We cast them open. A huge room filled with bluish crystals and a large dais at the opposite end met our eyes. A dark priest had just spilled the blood of an innocent and cast aside the body onto a pile of corpses. The blood of the victims ran in a river from the dais into a hole at the center of the room. The priest instantly looked up after discarding his last victim and yelled out a cry to his minions to stop us from interrupting the ritual.

I summoned my flaming sphere and placed it ahead of us to offer a defence against anything that might come to the priest's aid. Zar'za entered the room to offer more resistance as she came within close proximity to the sphere. Shade, Krova and Lodi all cut out to the right side of the room and I was hit with the sudden realization that I was on my own in the back. Several shapes came into view and I steered my flaming sphere to engage them. Off to the right I heard a huge crash. I hoped that was one of the minions as I further concentrated on what was in front of me. My attention was instantly diverted to the doors on the left of the room as they flung open. Four vampirish creatures and a large beast of a man came through. Their stares bore a hole in me as I fought to control my fear and remain focused enough to hold the flaming sphere. As I screamed out for help, I realized I would have to deal with this on my own as I couldn't see Krova, Lodi or Shade and Zar'za was occupied with two more frenzied brutes.

I managed to maintain my composure and set off my burning hands. The vampire creatures were engulfed in flames, their bodies turning quickly to ash. Rage was the only emotion showing on the remaining brute's blackened face. I hit it with spell after spell and then began to notice a few arrows sticking out of its back. Feeling more confident that I now had some help I brought forth a brutal barrage of offensive magics which tore the life from whatever sort of man was before me. My attention was brought back to Zar'za who was still facing her own brutes. I navigated my flaming sphere and brought its intense heat to bear. After several scorching attacks, they hit the ground and ceased all motion.

Shade and Krova were at the center of the room exchanging blows with the priest and what appeared to be some sort of imp or demon. They made fast work of both servants of evil bringing them down once and for all. No more innocent blood would be spilled here today. Zar'za and I went to work ascertaining the nature of this ritual. The rib continued to vibrate albeit stronger now. Our work was not over yet. We took several minutes to regain ourselves and prepare for the next battle which was certainly nearby.

The Final Act

The only way out of this room appeared to be the hole in the center where the blood flowed. After stopping the flow, we saw four bloody chains extending downwards into some lit room below. Whoever was below would need to be stopped as we'd need to ensure whatever great evil was on the precipice of entering our realm would not be allowed to enter. We attached ropes and slid down into the room. I lost my grip on the way down but had the good fortune of recalling my feather fall spell. Each of us entered the room and took in the tactical situation at hand.

This room was as large as the room above. It had altars on three sides and a dark portal on the fourth. A large dark figure was reading from a book on one side. This must be Kalarel, the fallen son. The one responsible for beginning this course of death and madness. He finished his reading and took instant note of us. He spoke in a dark tone:

"Valthrun must have failed in his task to bring me the rib. The fool actually believed I'd grant him immortality upon completion of this task. No matter as I would have killed him regardless. You have simply saved me the time. Furthermore you have been kind enough to bring me the rib. Most excellent. Bring me the rib!"

Two muscular skeletons and a ghoul began to close the distance. Kalarel then grasped at an amulet around his neck and teleported on to a glowing symbol in front of the dark portal. This was a fight we could not afford to lose at any cost. Zar'za looked at me and shouted that if things should get bad to run from the room. I nodded my head in agreement hoping it wouldn't become that dire.

The book Kalarel was reading from gave me an idea. I thought it might be a source of power. I flung a magic missile at the book. Kalarel instantly shrieked. Lodi took note of the scream and ran up to the altar where the book lie. My attention shifted to the undead minions approaching us. Zar'za and I engaged them while Krova charged to face Kalarel. I lost sight of Shade and hoped he knew what he was doing. Zar'za and I dropped the skeletons and turned to face the ghoul. It mocked us with a wave of its hand that brought life back to the skeletons previously destroyed. I cursed in my mind as I turned my complete attention to putting an end to this creature. The skeletons scored several blows against me, each touch filling me with chills. Zar'za roared a battlecry and brought an end to the ghoul permanently. Upon its demise, the skeletons dropped and rose no more.

Weary and feeling fatigue, both mental and physical I turned to see Krova grappling with Kalarel. It appeared Krova was trying to heal him which mystified me. Must be a paladin thing is the only thought I had. I then noticed that the limp body of Shade was being drug into the portal by some black tentacle. I shouted to Lodi to grab Shade before being carried off into the darkness. He jumped down and closed the distance as fast as his short legs could carry him. He grabbed onto Shade's shoulders and pulled back with all his might. The tentacles released their grip on Shade and attacked Lodi. Fortunately he was too quick for them and stayed away from their grasp. This gave him the opportunity to retreat with Shade to safety, although it most certainly being a relative safety.

As Lodi attended to Shade's wounds, Zar'za and I closed the distance with Kalarel. Each blow Krova would land appeared to begin closing as soon as it was inflicted. We deduced that Kalarel must be drawing power from the symbol. Shade again appeared and jumped into the attack. It was just Kalarel against the five of us. Shade and Krova managed to dislodge Kalarel out of the symbol as we all concentrated our attacks. Out of the circle, Kalarel took note of me. He asked me to give him the third rib in exchange for my life. The only answers given were the magic missiles jetting out of my fingers. Kalarel, now looking fatigued and weakened began to plead for his life while attempting to strike us down. This only provided us with the determination necessary to see the task through. The final blow was landed and Kalarel's life vanished. The dark tentacles reached desperately for anything in their grasp and then disappeared. The dark portal closed leaving behind only a stone wall. The rib ceased vibrating. We had won.

Battered and bruised from the battles, we left the grisly place and headed back to Winterhaven, taking a much needed rest along the way. Upon nearing the city, we saw smoke rising up from the town. Feeling dread, we picked up our pace and entered what was left of Winterhaven. The bodies of the town's militia, along with the Lord and Captain of the Guards were lined up outside. The dwarven blacksmith greeted us with a look of sorrow and concern. He told the tale of a hobgoblin army laying waste to the city and taking many of the townspeople away.

It appears our work isn't done yet.