Agyr Catacombs not as Near to the Docks
After searching the area for 3 hours, following trails and noises, you finally encounter an organized horde of highly disciplined and warlike undead.
They are led by an undead champion, an evil creature with more power and intelligence than the usual lot.
Because you are close to home and familiar with the lay of the land, you are able to use the terrain to your advantage.
The battle rages, you against the undead. Your blows land true, shattering them to dust left and right.
The champion makes you sweat; he is quite the opponent. But in the end, he is just a pile of bones, too.
Among what is left of the champion, you find treasures worth a total of 4 gold, 8 silver.
Jacinda's first attempt on the small chapel had gone...Middling. She had destroyed a warband that was moving out to gather (and create) more corpses, but the noise had attracted too much attention and she had barely managed to escape from the whole horde that charged out.
But a small group stumbling into the dark had been drawn into the conflict. Their distraction had given Jacinda time to studied the area and find another entrance. Hiding her flickering torchlight as a final hound stalks past the secret entrance, she'd passes into the sanctum of the dead things to cornered the champion.
The mad woman smashes through the rotting attendants with flashing steel. The shambling remains of ancient Valentic martyrs that wordlessly surge toward her at the command of the baleful champion far at the back. Mail blocks the rotten nails, letting the adventurer cut a swath toward the imperious death knight clad in black steel and sporting a cloak.
It looked almost elegant. Its bones were picked thoroughly clean, and shone in the lamplight. There was a silken cape covering part of its form, a knife covered with dried blood in its hand, and a large gemstone set in its forehead. As they circled each other, making occasional feints, she watched how it moved, seeing that it was not quite how a human with that form would be able to move the joints. So when she brought her mace in and shattered a few ribs, she was not completely surprised when the rest of the ribs lashed out at her. She managed to dance out of the way in time, and while there were some dicey moments, she methodically crushed bones until it could not evade well enough, and a final crack destroyed the gem, removing the animation from the dry bones.
She paused a moment, gathering her breath, before gathering the knife, the cape, and everything else of value that she could find, before using a small keg of lantern oil she found to cover everything and light it on fire as she made her way out. The glowing fire behind her threw shadows across her face, and the red light danced in the tide, as a satisfied smile made its way across her face.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
She looked down at the knife, the blood black in the night.
"Athame crack from ruin and rust."
She strode away as smoke filled the air, remembering another smoke-filled night she had been unable to prevent. |