April 7, 2012

All Vampires Do is Run Away
Managing to retrieve the Scepter of Anubis from two demons, the Motley Crew encountered the same three vampire followers of the Oblivion King. With them are many undead creatures that the group easily dispatches. Seeing this, the vampires run away again. The group prepares to follow the fleeing vampires and skeleton wizards, but before they can do that, Brecaryn feels an unfamiliar tug from the magic Mirror of Thought.

A human female wearing the robes of the Chumeran Mages Guild steps out of the mirror. Her name is Candalaria, and she was sent from the battlefront in South Luka. Three hours ago, the undead rose up. Aten's forces broke through the barricade to engage them. The barbarians are no match for the undead and are being slaughtered. With the magickal barrier down, the undead will be able to get past their forces into the heart of Chumera.

As the others are listening to Candalaria explain the dire situation Phantar's forces are facing, Klute starts skulking around the group, trying to hide in the back.

Candalaria: (sighs) Klute, I know you're here.

After some discussion, it's decided that Malouf and Klute will go lend a hand. The remaining party members get back to chasing down the vampires.

Halfway down the stairs, they're halted by the sight of the vampires each holding a halfling by the throat. The halflings have the darker skin of the desert tribe, their hair streaked with white from the life draining inflicted upon them by the undead. Surprised by the group's strength, the vampires offer a deal - in exchange for their freedom, they will release the halflings and relinquish control of Lieralyn and the skeletons.

Flerm demands their belongings, as well. Snow agrees to the deal, but actually intends to kill the vampires once the halflings are out of danger. Unfortunately, the vampires turn to mist and escape. Snow destroys the skeletons in frustration as Flerm gathers up the dropped loot.

Oh My! What a Lovely Hat!

Moving on, they come across a beetle pit and a locked door labelled "Chamber of Competency". Examining the door, it's apparent that the Scepter of Anubis would unlock it. As soon as the door is opened, the beetles start swarming out of the pit. The group looks back for a split second, horrified, before pushing each other through the door and slamming it shut.

Disembodied Voice: Are these all to be graced with competency, Madam?

As with the previous Dragonkin Chamber of Compentency, the room brightens and everyone feels more skilled. Looking around, they notice the six suits of armor lining the room's perimeter. On the floor is a painted dragon.

They go through the door on the opposite side and head north down the corridor. The heavy door slams shut behind them. Ahead is the narrow corridor they encountered the last time they had been this way, the walls covered in acid. Careful to avoid touching the walls, Snow leads the way.

She is attacked by mummified cats. Blinded, she lashes out with a kick, killing one. Flerm takes out the other and leads Snow out of the acid-lined corridor. Spotting more undead, Josy holds up her holy symbol turning three mummies. Unfortunately, behind those mummies are more undead - wights and zombies this time. Brecaryn easily takes them out with a fireball.

Before they can catch their breath, they hear someone cackling up ahead. Sending Nightshade to investigate, the owl discovers there are more wights around the corner plus two undead giants. And crouched on the ceiling like a scuttling insect is a man wearing a green hat. He must be Zartan, Zarana's brother.

Brecaryn quickly shoots off another fireball. It flares around Zartan, leaving him uninjured.

Brecaryn: (mutters to self) A shield. I knew there'd be a shield. There's always a shield. I'd like a shield.

Zartan gestures towards the owl, hurtling Nightshade towards Brecaryn. Brecaryn grimaces in pain as she carefully places her injured familiar in her robes. Josy and Lieralyn barely dodge the wights as they run up to attack. Josy wields her holy symbol, channeling her faith, and miraculously turns not only the wights, but Zartan, as well.

Taking advantage of this windfall, Snow runs up and kills Zartan. His hat floats attractively to the ground.

The wights are easily dispatched. Lieralyn attacks a giant, cleaving through its knee, shoving the femur up its torso. Flerm finishes it off while Snow and Alana take care of the other.

Arguments ensue over the lovely hat sitting on the ground so prettily. Eventually, they agree to let Snow hold onto the hat for now, deferring the decision to destroy it or not for later. Flerm's talking sword Keagon thinks the hat should be destroyed, but Flerm keeps this tidbit to himself.

With Zartan's body stowed in the mirror, they continue forward. In an alcove, they discover another Scarab of Protection, like the one Josy acquired in the temple in Altar. Flerm takes it in case they meet up with more undead (which seems entirely likely). Amid glares from his teammates, he swears he intends to return it before they leave the tomb.

The Endless Parade of Undead

Deciding the Oblivion King's phylactery is most likely hidden in his throne room, they start heading towards it. At the top of a flight of stairs await six skeleton champions. Behind them is a corridor filled with undead.

A champion casts lightning at the group. Without thinking, Josy holds out the scepter, catching the lightning bolt. Using the magick she's captured, she Blesses the party. The skeleton champions are rendered much less dangerous what with the scepter neutralizing all of their magickal attacks. With each spell captured, Josy is able to cast more healing or protection spells on her party members.

Peeking around the corner, Lieralyn sees a black portal at the end of the corridor. Undead are pouring through it.

Lieralyn: Oh, Josy...

Moving to the front of the group, Josy holds up her holy symbol once again. As she turns the undead, Snow notices the portal pulsing in reaction. Making a guess, Snow grabs Josy, running her through the horde of undead to the portal. Josy is able to shrink, but not close, the portal so that only 1 undead creature at a time can come through.

As Josy continues working on closing the portal, Snow eats one of the disks Brecaryn gave her, gaining control over Vain. She easily plows through most of the undead. Flerm jostles Snow as he attacks more of the undead, breaking her control over the construct. But by this time, Josy's manages to close the portal and the last of the undead are killed.

About to open the double doors to the Oblivion King's throne room, they hear a voice from inside one of the cells.

Prisoner: I say, would you mind letting me out?

Curious, but suspicious, the group questions the prisoner through the locked door. His name is Rafiq. He is the son of a wealthy merchant. As a magick user, he had been recruited to join the Oblivion King. Rafiq accepted the offer, but instead of working for the lich, he ended up a prisoner. He offers to help them defeat the Oblivion King if they will free him.

Flerm uses one of his innate abilities and determines that Rafiq is not exactly a trustworthy character. He strongly advises the group against dealing with the prisoner any longer. Instead, Alana settles in to have a bit of a chat with Rafiq. Exasperated, Flerm decides to use the time to return the Scarab. Snow goes with him. When they get back, they see Alana is still speaking through the door to Rafiq. Flerm quickly puts an end to this by threatening to kill Rafiq if he continues to respond to his "idiot friends".

Alana: (calls over her shoulder) We'll come back for you.

Flerm: (glares at Alana)

Alana: What?

How Come These Vains Don't "Do Nothing"?

Entering the throne room, they first notice several white Vains. Shelves fill most of the space, loaded with jars of strange things. In a far corner, a humanoid creature is enclosed in a glass case. An uncomfortable looking throne and crystal ball sit on a dais along the north wall. Circling the room is a floating ball of lightning - a will-o-the-wisp.

Vain charges towards the white Vains, but falls through a trap in the floor before he can reach any of them. Silence follows. Vain never reaches the bottom.

In a corner beyond the dais, a pile of rags start forming into a body. The Oblivion King is trying to rise again. The white Vains straighten to attention, focusing on the Crew.

As he did before, Flerm teleports inside the lich's shield, stabbing at the rags with Keagon in an attempt to slow down the Oblivion King's regeneration. Although, it feels as if he's only stabbing at cloth, a chill runs up his arm as Keagon passes through. Bones start to form. Flerm is expelled from the shield into the waiting arms of a white Vain. He easily teleports out of direct harm and rushes to aid Snow.

Just barely able to dodge them even while using her Speed technique, Snow manages to explode one white Vain before another grabs her. While Snow is thus engaged, Josy runs up to attack with her mace, but is instead critically injured.

Lieralyn is slammed into a wall by another white Vain. Flailing, she knocks herself out. Brecaryn puts on her phase ring and moves away from the main battle. Safe for the moment, she brings the sphinx Narasimha and the trolls out of the mirror. Narasimha flies Brecaryn over to the throne where she suspects the phylactery may be hidden. He holds off a white Vain while she investigates. Confused, the trolls attack anything that looks like a "bad guy".

The will-o-the-wisp continues roaming around the room, randomly electrocuting anyone in its path.

Flerm and Snow take out a few more white Vains together. Badly hurt, Narasimha lets out a roar, injuring everyone in the room, but also causing cracks to form in the white Vains. This weakens them enough that Snow takes out the last two before collapsing in exhaustion next to Narasimha.

Did She Just Call Us "Her Slaves"?

With a flash of intuition, Brecaryn sits on the throne. Sitting on the throne opens her up to mental domination by the Oblivion King, but Brecaryn already has an evil mystical entity living in her head: the Dragonkin Queen. The Oblivion King and Dragonkin Queen battle for control over Brecaryn's mind. Luckily, this enables Brecaryn to figure out the location of the phylactery while remaining herself. Mostly.

Brecaryn: My slaves, you must come to me and destroy this throne.

Everyone pauses to look at Brecaryn like she's sprouted two heads.

Brecaryn: What is taking so long? Come to me at once.

Shrugging, Alana runs to the throne while firing a water arrow at the throne, transforming the throne into water and dumping Brecaryn on the ground in a puddle (so that's what the water arrows do!). Opening the box under Brecaryn, they discover ancient scrolls emanating foul and evil magicks. Brecaryn is torn. She would very much like to study these scrolls before destroying them, but a look over to the corner decides the matter. The Oblivion King is almost done forming his body.

Brecaryn: I've found the phylactery, but the Oblivion King is still coming back. Be prepared to attack him while he's at his weakest.

She explodes the contents of the box with a fireball.

The trolls fall over themselves trying to get at the Oblivion King, but his shield makes their attacks ineffectual.

Seeing this, Flerm very reluctantly teleports back inside the shield to attack the lich. Fully formed, the Oblivion King faces Flerm. His spell flows through Flerm, leaving him unharmed. Flerm grins.

Oblivion King: Damn drow!

The lich expels Flerm from inside his shield once again, but this act weakens the shield to the point of failure, allowing Brecaryn to entangle the Oblivion King in a web. Through the mob of trolls, Alana expertly fires off an arrow, hitting the Oblivion King.

Pulling out the Tikki medallion, Brecaryn forms spikes out of the destroyed shelves and fires them at the lich, riddling his body with the wooden stakes.

Oblivion King: Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

The Oblivion King has been destroyed! But instead of being able to celebrate their victory, the group turns to find two of the trolls lumbering towards them with the humanoid creature close behind. Something is wrong with them. Their movements are odd.

Flerm notices that their eyes look dead. There are bite marks on their thighs. Avoiding their attacks, Flerm and Alana counter, taking out large chunks of their bodies, but the zombie trolls keep coming. Brecaryn tries her polymorph wand to no effect. Flerm is finally able to stop one by decapitation.

Snow explodes the humanoid zombie with a flying kick. The head keeps trying to bite her until she smashes it with her foot. She turns and finishes off the last zombie troll.

Vain finally manages to pull himself out of the hole, flashing a wide grin at everyone. *shudder*

Studying the objects in the room, Brecaryn discovers a wand to shut off the will-o-the-wisp. She also finds out that the zombie they just killed was one of the Oblivion King's new inventions - a zombie that could resist turning and only be stopped by destroying the brain. The lich had also been studying the mirror. This bit of information raises a concern in Brecaryn. They have been too casual with the use of the mirror. Too many people know about it and about what it does. If the information got into the hands of the wrong people, it would be very dangerous for the group. They need to be more circumspect about using the mirror from now on. Hopefully, it isn't too late.

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