Megadungeon B (IC) III

[Sliver]

Scarecrow

If Eleanor wishes so, Scarecrow will attempt as many dispells as needed. The successful one will deal damage, and it is as high as 2!

If Eleanor and Doldor don't mind, Scarecrow wants Doldor to cast a spell on Eleanor, and for Scarecrow to try Area Dispel on her. That way, they will learn if the mind flayer is a stronger caster than Doldor.

[Malimar]

Lawful Plane of Earth

Namia and Eleanor consult the village's shamans, but none of them turn out to be powerful enough to cast remove blindness/deafness or dispel magic or panacea or anything along those lines. Eleanor will have to wait for Doldor to prepare panacea (or else endure the pain of Scarecrow's voracious dispelling).

On the other hand, one of the shamans happens to have resurgence prepared, and tries it on Eleanor! ...But it doesn't work (she doesn't make the re-save).

Then, if Eleanor permits,

Spoiler: Iff Eleanor Permits

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Scarecrow tries to area dispel Eleanor, and [rolls some dice secretly] in the end dispels Doldor's water breathing on her (dealing Eleanor 3 damage). Then he fails to dispel anything, fails to dispel anything, fails to dispel anything, fails to dispel anything, fails to dispel anything, then successfully dispels the blindness (dealing Eleanor another 3 damage).

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor then puts on his Belt of Healing, restoring Eleanor (and anyone else who took damage).

Spoiler

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(2d8)[13] (2d8)[7] (2d8)[10]

He'll use three charges, or less if they're not needed.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

If there is nothing else to be done, Doldor will rest the night and re-prepare his spells. He gathers the group together, but before Plane Shifting he looks around. "Do we want to go to the monastery, or to the city to check out the contracts? I'm interested in taking care of the undead-infested town or ending the influx of fiends into the interconnected dungeons."

[RCgothic]

Eleanor

"Thank you Scarecrow, that's much better." Eleanor blinks as her eyes adjust to their renewed sense.

"I'm all for clearing the town. I believe we have plenty of experience with wights at this point."

[Sliver]

Scarecrow

"I am more inclined to take care of the demons, but they tend to be stronger than undead. We should try to handle both quests, and in that case dealing with the undead first will allow us to be better prepared... I believe Doublebridge is closer to the monestary."

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor nods at the assessment. "There are fewer Druid spells that are especially good against undead than, say, Cleric spells, but I should be able to properly protect us. Protection from Evil, Sheltered Vitality, Death Ward. I can't cast many of those last three, but if I use most of my high-level spells I should be able to protect the four of us from the worst of what undead can do. I could also Call up an Outsider to help, though I wouldn't be able to get an especially strong one."

Doldor then motions for the group to join hands. "I'm going to try something different today," he says with a smile. "I liked our raft, but it isn't practical to keep it around."

He uses his Plane Shift ability.

If the group appears over the water, he'll use Deep Breath on himself (if it's even necessary), then cast Teleport to the Monastery of Numiel.

[Malimar]

Lawful Plane of Earth, Namia's Village

Rest! A new day! Preparation of spells! Plane shift!


Material Plane, Ocean

Naturally, the party does, in fact, appear over water.

Doldor casts deep breath! So it doesn't much matter if the weight of Scarecrow and Eleanor's armor immediately pulls the party (all holding hands, naturally) under the waves or if they make their Swim checks to stay afloat, because six seconds later Doldor teleports them to the monastery.


Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

The party appears in the courtyard, completely soaked with salt water but alive!

It is raining medium-hard, so the party soon exchanges their salt water soakedness for fresh water soakedness.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor shakes his long hair and beard, a habit he seems to have picked up from Brutus. "Well, that was refreshing. I won't need a bath for weeks." He grins, though it's not clear if he's joking or not. Doldor is a great guy, but he's always been a bit... earthy.

Once the group is in from the rain, he lays out his plan. "There are a decent number of simple magic items I could make to help with killing undead. I'll pick one that just takes a day; don't have enough crafting supplies for anything more than that, anyhow. Tomorrow I'll prepare a big pile of spells to hurt undead and protect us from negative energy, I'll Wildshape into something with claws and teeth, and we'll go clean out an infestation."

He pauses, then reconsiders. "Actually... how close is Doublebridge from here? It would be really nice to know what to expect. I could turn into a dire hawk or an eagle and scout things out. The kind of spells you want to fight a horde of skeletons are very different than if you're trying to kill a coven of vampire sorcerers or a bunch of wights."

[Artorias]

Namia

Namia moves her long, wet hair off of her face and smiles "Well, so long as my hammer can hurt them it should not be a huge problem....it can hurt them, right? Last time we fought it went right through them....or are they not the same thing? I am somewhat confused..."

[Malimar]

Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

Somebody, perhaps a cenobite, offers that Doublebridge is about 10 or 15 miles from the Monastery.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Unless someone can come up with a compelling reason for him not to, Doldor will Wildshape into a Dire Hawk and fly to Doublebridge for reconnaissance; given the prodigious speed of the Dire Hawk and its ability to fly, this should take no more than about fifty minutes. He'll start at an altitude of about 1000 feet, well out of the range of spellcasting, and will fly in circles around the outskirts of the town. He'll attempt to get the lay of the land before deciding whether or not he should fly lower.

[Sliver]

Scarecrow

Scarecrow will join as a winged elf.

[Malimar]

Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

If Scarecrow joins Doldor, he'll slow the task down by a lot. Doldor can virtually get there and back before Scarecrow even gets there. Still, it doesn't matter all that much either way.

Doldor (and Scarecrow) flies to the river, and follows it to Doublebridge!


Doublebridge

Doublebridge is easy to identify, built on a fork in the river, with the two broken bridges out of town, one north, one south. To the west, from river to river, the Crown has built a sturdy, high, defensible wall and populated it with crossbowmen.

Spoiler: Rough Map

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Each square is 100'x100'

Main street is a circuit of the town, connecting to the main road over the broken bridges north and south. A variety of smaller roads lead to a variety of houses.

To the east, almost at the fork, is a semi-fancy mansion that was probably the mayor's. To the north, a boathouse with some small docks projecting out onto the river, no boats. In the village, like three inns, a bunch of houses, a couple grocers.

Doldor (and Scarecrow) has to get close to spot details, because he didn't acquire the dire hawk's keen raptor eyesight.

People, like ants, wander aimlessly within the town. He gets closer, all the people are kind of withered and corpsey and their clothes are a bit tattered. One shoots a hunting bow in Doldor's (and Scarecrow's) general direction, but they avoid the arrow, and the creature doesn't bother to fire a second time.

Doldor and Scarecrow don't recognize the creatures as anything other than probably some kind of undead.


Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

When they get back to the monastery, Eleanor and Namia and Abbot Waxter and Malasavuulael and Brutus and all the monastery's cenobites also all have no idea. (Waxter's the only one who even made the 10 that would be necessary to Aid Another.)

Shian flutters by, explains that the creatures are probably wights and they suck your energy out by punching you and then you turn into a wight if they kill you. And then he flutters off, returning to his Mysterious Urgent Birdy Business.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor recalls the last time he tussled with wights, and the trouble the had afterward getting rid of the draining effects of their touch.

He gathers the 'war council' together, including Abbot Waxter and Malasavuulael the Lantern Archon. "Well, we've got a problem," he begins with a slight frown. "If a wight hits you, you become weaker in a bunch of different ways. Spellcasters lose their strongest spells and cast more weakly, things like that. And the wight itself gets stronger; and if they hit you enough, you die. We learned all that when we fought them on the mountain top (except that last bit, Shian told me that himself). Their ability to drain your energy can't be resisted; if they hit you, it happens. If you can't shake it off a day later, it's permanent."

He gestures to himself. "Yet again, I'm slightly the wrong kind of spellcaster. From what I understand of my own magic, I only have one way to stop this: a fifth-level spell called Death Ward. It's a damn good spell, mind you; makes you totally immune to the nastiest necromantic and negative energy effects. But I can only cast two, and then we wouldn't have any emergency Teleports. On top of it all, they'll only last nine minutes."

He crosses his arms, brow furrowed. "So I can protect myself, a theoretical animal companion, and one other person. The other defense is to not let them hit you, but we're talking about scores and scores of wights, here; they're going to get lucky eventually. So we need a better plan than 'buff up and charge in', and that plan might involve choosing a different target. Or, I suppose I could Death Ward Eleanor and Namia and Scarecrow and I could provide magical support from the sky, but that isn't without risks. You two could get swamped with no way to escape, and they can still kill you the old-fashioned way, Death Ward or not."

[RCgothic]

Eleanor

"Could we perhaps buy a scroll or two of this Death Ward to augment Doldor's capabilities?" Eleanor asks.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor shrugs. "Sure, but they'll cost about 700 gold each; not ideal for a mission that's supposed to improve our cash on hand. Though, having thought a little more..."

He looks to Scarecrow, his expression mischievous. "Did the contract say anything about leaving the town intact? The buildings, and all that? I can think of a few ways to even the odds, but they'd do a number on the town."

[RCgothic]

"Also, so we need an emergency teleport? Surely plane shift should be enough."

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor nods. "There's always a chance that Plane Shift could dump us somewhere dangerous, but sometimes that's a risk you have to be willing to take. But the more I think, the more confident I am that we can do this. I have several spells available that can make large areas of terrain very dangerous and damaging to walk through. Between Scarecrow and myself, we could also probably destroy most of the structures in the town, leaving them nowhere to hide. And we don't have to kill them all in a single day; we can just destroy as many wights as we feel safe doing, then retreat to the crossbow range of the wall. We'll obviously go talk to whoever's stationed there and let them know our plan so they can be on high alert."

[Sliver]

Scarecrow

"Wights are easy, I have natural immunity against their drain, and they have no real offense besides that. Just keep your distance and let me clear them, and it will be fine." Scarecrow says. "It's undead such as wraiths that can be problematic. At least they are weak to sunlight, so if there are any, they'll be hiding inside buildings. But we had that problem before, unless we destroy all buildings, they will move from one to another, unless we enter the building to fight them. I'm fairly sturdy, so I'll be able to resist most of these attacks, but we will need Restoration sooner or later."

Scarecrow asks the Abbot if he's capable of providing Restoration for them, before turning to Doldor.

"No, the bounty only mentioned extermination. However, if there are any wraiths there, if they have no house to hide in, they will simply flee, using the ground to hide."

[RCgothic]

Eleanor

"I doubt there'll be any wraiths. A wall and crossbowmen would not be effective containment against such a foe. So Scarecrow is naturally immune. Death Ward myself and Namia. Doldor can either fly out of range or also be warded. I can provide some healing as we fight... I think this is doable!"

[Artorias]

Namia

"How many undead are we talking about here? We fought quite a lot, but if it is a town full of undead people, having them swarm us might be a bit hard. Then again...if they are dumb we might not need complicated tactics other than fighting for a bit, then pulling out if we see things getting rough, and then attacking again the next day, after we have rested." Namia says as she sits at the side, on the floor of the location the assembly is taking place at.

[Malimar]

Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

Abbot Waxter shakes his head to Scarecrow's question, "The Archbishop of Shell could maybe cast such a spell, but it's well beyond my powers. The Archbishop might have a scroll or two of restoration that I could request, but such a scroll would be expensive."

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor considers everything a minute or two more, then steps back from the table. "I think the next course of action is to walk there and have a conversation with the defenders of the wall. We'll clarify if they've seen anything other than wights, we'll clarify whether or not I can destroy all the buildings, and we'll find out if anyone has given a serious attempt to wiping the undead out before, and what went wrong with those attempts. Sound reasonable?"

If no one objects, he'll go take care of his other planned task for the day: casting Scrying on the sahuagin priestess that the party fought but didn't manage to kill. He'll go down to the small pond/pool that he's previously used near the monastery.

The next morning, he'll prepare spells with the assumption that the party might attempt to assault the wight infestation head on, plus an Eye of the Hurricane. That is, of course, unless someone else has a better plan.

Spoiler

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The Will save for Scrying will be 20 (met the subject, no likeness or other connection).

[Artorias]

Namia

Namia agrees with that plan and if nobody objects she asks if there is anything she might need in order to fight them or if her magical weapon will be enough to take them on.

[Malimar]

Monastery of Numiel at Perch Hill

Doldor attempts to scry on the priestess! ...It doesn't function properly, as she makes her save.


Another night of rest!


Purple Curuk (endings) is in the Stranger (death), so it's probably a good day to go after wights.


In the morning, it's a little chilly, but not raining anymore.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

The day before Doldor will reassure Namia that, as far as he's aware, wights have no special resistances or damage reduction (beyond normal undead stuff).

Doldor prepares spells! A bunch of them, which will definitely be totally hammered out before he fights anything.

One of them is Longstrider, which he casts on himself. He'll then lead the group to the big wall separating Doublebridge from the rest of the island-continent.

[Malimar]

Gus

The party sets out pretty much due south! The plan is to ford a couple small rivers and streams and creeks, until they reach one of the main branches of the Bitey River, and then southeast along the north bank of that river until they reach the wall.

It is tough going, because it is uphill through rough, uncleared terrain! At least it remains a little chilly for most of the day, the sun hiding behind light cloud cover, so a brisk hike is not sweatingly unpleasant. (57ish degrees Fahrenheit, 14ish degrees Celsius.)


The first three miles of travel are tiring but uneventful. Overhead, a flock of baygulls circles. (Baygulls are of course like seagulls except they frequent bays instead of seas.) A bit far inland for baygulls, but not completely abnormal.


The second three miles: no encounters.


The third three miles: no encounters. A few streams to ford, so the party gets nice and damp to go with their chilly.


The fourth three miles: no encounters.


Getting to Doublebridge from the west, over rough mountain terrain, takes the whole day and well into the night. It is full dark and the stars and some of the moons are shining when the party reaches the wall.

The wall is a good-sized stone-and-wood wall, patrolled by mongrelfolk crossbow guards. This wall is probably the biggest project the Crown has done since the Inundation. Which says more about the Crown not being able to get its butt together to do things than about the wall, because it's not all that impressive as walls go. The more military-minded members of the party are pretty sure a town worth of wights could easily swarm the wall, climb it, and many of the wights would survive and be able to infest the rest of the country. No telling why they haven't already done that.

Nobody's even really looking towards this side of the wall, so the party effortlessly makes their way right into the heart of the encampment without being noticed.

The party soon finds a crudely-constructed barracks and some latrines and something smells like bacon as smoke trickles out from a kitcheny building. Out front of the barracks, a middle-aged mongrelman captain who's probably in charge of the defense of the wall warms his hands by a campfire and chats with a couple lieutenants and sergeants.

[RaggedAngel]

Doldor

Doldor still considers Eleanor the 'group leader', but he's been thinking about destroying the wights here for a while now, and he's uncharacteristically energetic. The hike wasn't as bad for him as the rest of the party, either, given his druidic powers, dwarven constitution, and the blessing of the Ranger from the dwarven tombs.

He casts Light on his club, which he's been using as a stubby walking stick, to properly illuminate the party. "Hello, there!" He raises a hand in greeting. "My name's Doldor, Doldor Wildheart. We're here about destroying all the undead in Doublebridge; I guess you could call us a group of adventurers. We had a few specific questions before we tried anything, but before that, is there anything you think we should know?"

[RCgothic]

Eleanor

"Greetings. We're the champions of the arena of Inglip and annihilated a similar host of creatures on Mount Dis when Inglip's gropagas decided to release them there," Eleanor adds, stating the group's credentials. "We are prepared to face wights - we all warded against their fell touch and have a reliable means of escape in case we're in danger of getting overwhelmed. But we thought it couldn't hurt to ask you gentlemen with direct experience of these specific creatures what sort of tricks we might expect."