13A:Play/11 Undead Gazebo
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Starring: 📜Elistheren, 🌲 Qistis, 📚 Annalana, 🐾 Kaelon
Guest Starring: No NPCs
Challenge: Skeleton Archers and brute; Wraith and Shadow mooks
Location: Eldolan; Near Slavslav
Date Played: 2017 April 11
Surrounded by a Sea of Undead
📚 Annalana: We are back to back in the gazebo when we see that a horde of undead is descending upon us. Annalana strides to the front to suss out the enemy and starts to bark out commands. She starts shooting arrows. A giant skeleton rushes her and with the help of Elis and Qistis. After they go down Annalana goes to get Kaelon out of trouble with skeletal archers. Annalana and Qistis argue throughout the combat about the magical cloak.
📜Elistheren: Yes, we fought some undead, and this raises an important point: this should never have happened. Why do I constantly seek out the dusty, forgotten corners of the world? Because if they're remembered, they're maintained. They're concrete. Constructed. This matters. If we don't carry the past into the future, we have no future.
Wall around the cemetery
📚 Annalana: There is a dark wall around the cemetery, that fades at about 20’ above the ground. Darkly translucent. It passes through some trees and is unaffected. Qistis recalls hearing that the Lich King has the power to know and see any unclean cemetery, any location that isn’t properly maintained. When the Lich King is focusing on a certain location, it is known to those there that it is being looked at, and the descriptions of that matches what is happening. Elis conducts a ritual to help cleanse the cemetery so that the Lich King’s attention goes elsewhere. Qistis begins to chase the shadows as they appear and bursting them with light to get them to go away. Annalana identifies the different regions of the cemetery to keep Kaelon and Elis focused. As the last ritual concludes the wall vanishes without sound. In fact, there are no nighttime sounds, e.g. crickets, mice, etc. The last gravestone crumbles into dust and then moving outward the stones begin shattering. The graveyard is no more. In the center of the Gazebo a shadowy creature, a wraith, appears, yelling questions without waiting for answers.
Shadowy Gazebo
📚 Annalana: The wraith descends from the roof of the gazebo swarmed by shadow mooks and they attack us. Elis and Annalana engage the wraith while the others retreat to safety and shoot from afar.
After Combat
📚 Annalana: Elis and Qistis harass Annalana about the cloak, reminding her that she can’t wear it to coach classes. Qistis’ pet is standing on the trunk of a tree inside the gazebo. The floor of the gazebo has a tree and leaf motif that matches Qistis’ journal, though it has a lot of branches and leaves. As a reminder, this graveyard is ancient and unnamed. Elis is loud and brings to everyone’s attention that Qistis is interested in this and is obviously trying to be elusive. Annalana asks if this design is why the gazebo wasn’t destroyed and offers to start digging. Kaelon remembers seeing the symbol before in his orphanage in Shadowport (overseen by the Shadow Lord). He finds a crack with air coming out of it and Annalana starts to pound out a hole. Elis is frustrated that it is being destroyed, Qistis agitated for no known reason and begins a ritual for thundersnap to blow the hole open faster.
📜Elistheren: That cloak is problematic. Cursed, clearly, but Annalana could break most of us in half. Still, we have other problems- there's something buried here beyond just the graves. This is an archaeological find that requires the utmost care and caution to preserve the knowledge that is here… so of course everyone starts destroying it. Do you want roving bands of undead horrors? Because this is how you get roving bands of undead horrors.
Stairwell into Darkness
📚 Annalana: At the bottom of he stairs is a large wall with a large door in it.
Level Up
GM Please include your side story of level up here.
Steinar: Well, I've learned of even more stories. I've even made a few of my own. I guess being the protagonist is not so bad after all. It's a lot of work, though, and I know I'll need some training. I've done some research, and found I can now summon some of the heroes from the past; not just the side characters anymore! Perhaps, someday, there may be a book about me if I try hard enough.
I've decided to become a bit more proactive, and also help out those with me a bit more. I guess leading by example will work better than lectures did. If this fails, I'll have to move on to punishment.
📚 Annalana: According to my notes, I've been with this group for nearly a year now. Outside of battle, they are a chaotic, undisciplined mess, yet for some unknown reason, in the heat of battle, they get their shit together. I've been learning how to communicate good tactics to them so that they listen. And in return, I've been trying to adhere to their moral compass. :wraps self in cloak:
📜Elistheren: I've collected some old gods, and I've converted some to my Old Time Religions. I'm picking up some threads, and becoming closer with these deities. Garuga carries away my sins, Kstilish helps me grow, but without the hubris of reaching too far. Vili's web connects me to those around me- but her scars refuse to stay in my skin. And Epthis, of course, offers the world of potential, the words unwritten that hover between the pages of a book.
