Interlude - Scene 5 (of 11)

After an uneventful night, the group packs up and heads off further into the desert.  This time, Dante is made point man as he claims to be a better spotter than Scrag.  However, several hours into the journey and he appears to be having similar problems keeping to any kind of trail.

Dante does, however, spot a group of four men off in the distance.  They appear to be wearing long, raggedy white robes, and are heading on a perpendicular path to the group.  Vector and Berend decide the most prudent course of action would be to meet up and talk to them.

As they get closer, Berend can tell they are nomadic tribal dervishes.  The men greet them, with the leader announcing himself as Momar Salid.  He explains that they are out on a pilgrimage to the old obelisk.

Vector is happy to hear this, as the obelisk is identified on their map as being located at the Da-Kahl-ub Oasis.  He negotiates with the men to have them lead them to the oasis, in exchange for a small donation for the less fortunate (using the money they just took from the orcs).

Once they get near the oasis, Berend has Scrag and Dante make sure the area is safe before letting everyone in.  The dervishes immediately head over to the obelisk and begin performing their chants and religious dances.

The oasis has a small area of fertile ground, a few trees, and an obelisk with one partially remaining wall from the old palace.  The wall appears to be an incomplete mural of famous events in the king's life.  

The obelisk has sections of stone figures carved out in the sides.  Vector, giving it a closer look, notices that one section of the carved figures looks just a little bit different than the others.  He attempts a partial translation, and says it discusses a hidden temple under the mountains where the gods watch over the throne of King Nekekharan.  

There is, however, one carving that doesn't appear to belong, that of a scarab beetle.  Vector and Dante go in for a closer look at the carvings while the others wander off to do other things.  

Vector tries to move the carvings, and can tell that the scarab seems like it should move, but Vector can't get it to do anything.  Dante notices that one of the beetle's legs is pointed the wrong way.  Vector snaps it into position and hears a clicking sound; along with feeling the scarab is looser now.

Vector decides to turn the scarab clockwise.  A burst of poison gas sprays out, hitting him and Dante in the face.  They take a minute to recover, but suffer no long-term damage.  Vector then turns the scarab the other direction, and a secret panel opens in the base of the obelisk.

Inside the secret compartment is a scroll of papyrus.  Vector quickly grabs it, noticing that the others aren't really looking and that the dervishes are not paying any attention to them either.  He unrolls the scroll and sees it is some kind of map.

Vector and Dante look over the map, but don't show the others.  It appears to show the four levels of the underground temple of Nekekeharan.  Neither man really notices that it has been constructed as an upside-down pyramid.

The map is filled with hieroglyphic symbols.  The first symbols Vector determines to refer to the secret entrance.  Then, the map shows a set of stairs with the symbols of a jackal (which Vector isn't sure whether or interpret literally or not) and a twisted wick.  Beyond that appears to be a boat with a wavy line over an eye next to some kind of bird (which Vector believes to be an eagle).

Some kind of hole with a ladder appears to lead down to the next level.  There appears to be a door leading to a room with jars (which Vector believes to refer to canopic jars).  After that is another door with a long room with symbols of another twisted wick, two kinds of snake symbols, and a symbol that looks similar to the "god" symbol but holding some kind of cross.  Beyond appears to be a hole leading to a sloping passage leading to the next level.

The third level of the temple has a door leading to a room with a scarab (again, Vector wonders if it is literal), a throne, an eye over a square, and the god symbol.  Beyond it is another door leading to a room with another hole and sloping passage.

The final level of the temple appears to have a door leading to a small room with the throne symbol, some kind of jar with a cross, a symbol that Vector has no idea how to even describe, and what looks like a scroll.

Vector puts the scroll away in his scroll tube along with Beni's map.  He then looks for similar symbols on the obelisk and tries to get Salid to interpret some of them.  The most he learns is that the twisted wick is simply an emphatic modifier (i.e., an exclamation point) and the bird is actually a vulture not an eagle, representing the guardians of the dead.  They also discover the scarab signifies "transformation", but aren't sure how to interpret that on the map.

Vector elects not to show the map to the others at this time.  Instead, he and Dante rejoin the group and everyone decides to replenish their water supply then Berend leads them out to make camp a fair distance away.  Being the only known oasis in the area, Berend believes the Slave Lords are bound to come here from time to time.

Interlude - Scene 6 (of 11)

That night, Dante and Sax have the first watch.  However, they get so involved in playing cards that they fail to notice a Slave Lord patrol coming near.  By the time they hear them and get everyone else awake and ready for battle, the Slave Lord force is already upon them.

Tor and Vector are shocked by the large force before them (and wonder how they failed to hear them approaching).  There are five bandit soldiers in front, lead by a Yuan-Ti warrior.  In back are four bandit archers, an arbalest, and a Yuan-Ti incanter.

To everyone else's horror, Scrag decides to charge the incanter rather than deal with the approaching soldiers.  Sax tries to help by blasting it with his magic, but the incanter transfers the damage to one of the archers, killing him.  Sax is pissed.

Dante, meanwhile, is forced to adopt a defender role and try and keep the soldiers, particularly the Yuan-ti, from killing everyone else.  Sax manages to stay in the back and fire off his spells while Tor and Dante fight in closer battle with the soldiers.  Berend and Vector also blast away, frequently having to maneuver around the soldiers to avoid getting attacked.

Meanwhile, the archers fire on Scrag while the arbalest focuses its attacks on Tor and Dante.  Luckily for Scrag, the incanter is not nearly as capable close up, and is unable to severely damage him right away.  The incanter is forced to kill another archer after Scrag scores a deadly hit with his axe.

Between the arbalest and the soldiers, Dante comes under heavy attacks, but Berend is able to keep him healed long enough for the group to finish them off.  They then pick off the remaining two archers and advance on the incanter.

By this point, Scrag is nearly dead.  But with Berend finally in healing distance, he is able to get healed and the group takes down the incanter.  

The group finds a small amount of gold amongst the Slave Lords, but little else.  They again move a distance away and resume their rest for the night.

Interlude - Scene 7 (of 11)

The next day, the group continues through the rest of the desert and eventually come upon the crescent-shaped canyon in the mountains described by Beni.  Following the mountains south, they eventually come to the area where the tomb is said to be located.  Dante, still in the lead, spots the doors.

The large stone doors exposed to the mountainside contain the cartouche of King Nekekeharan.  The doors are old and stiff, and require a great deal of strength to move, but Scrag finally gets them open.  Once the doors are open, a small gust of wind blows dust across the group.

Beyond the door lies a large cave that has been blocked in.  There is large stone staircase leading down to a cobblestone causeway in the middle leading to a small temple building.  To either side are pits of loamy sand (likely quicksand) with wooden boats floating in the middle.

Vector then brings out his map and tries to remember what some of the symbols meant.  Berend and the others are not amused that he hasn't shown them it before, but Vector doesn't see what the big deal is.  He wants everyone to be careful because of the jackal symbol.  And try as he might, he can't remember what the "eagle" symbol meant.

Before they advance, Berend needs them to check for traps.  Dante discovers the stairs are trapped with some kind of poisoned spikes that emerge when stepped on.  He and Sax try to see if they can disarm the traps, but lacking any thieving skills, they have no luck.

Instead, Vector and Scrag jump down to the causeway and throw ropes back up that Tor ties to the door handle.  The ropes are then used as a pulley system to get the others to climb down over the stairs safely.  After a brief argument between Vector and Berend, they eventually make sure to tie the ropes to the door in such a way so they can do it the way Berend wants and close the door behind them.

Walking down the causeway, they notice the boats are filled with stone statues of people and boxes of things.  Berend knows that this was an ancient religious structure representing the soul's path down the river of life to the afterlife.  There would be offerings in the boat, and Vector briefly considers trying to get over to them.  However, Sax points out that everything on the boats, primarily food, would have long since decayed and isn't worth the risk.

Getting to the temple at the end of the causeway, Sax spots a trap door in the floor.  In the center, the handle is in the shape of a scarab, very similar to the one on the obelisk.  This time, Vector spots that the scarab's left leg is the one out of position.  He clicks it into place and correctly deduces that turning the scarab clockwise this time will not set off the trap.

The trap door opens to an illuminated hole leading down with a long ladder.

Interlude - Scene 8 (of 11)

Everyone comes down the ladder one at a time, but the room at the end is rather small, so several decide to stay behind up top.  Scrag is the first to head down, losing his grip along the way and falling.  Vector follows him, trying not to step on his prone body when coming down.

After they get out of the way, Berend follows along with Dante, who also has a little trouble descending.  The floor of the room is tiled with onyx and sandstone, in the pattern of a large scarab beetle.  The ceiling is painted as a mosaic of the night sky.  Two statues stand to either side, each resembling a slave holding a lamp.  The lamps appear to be lit by magic.

Dante examines the room in more detail.  He can tell the onyx in the floor is trapped – trying to pry the stones loose will result in some kind of device activating.  Likewise, the lamps appear to be set to release some kind of trap if tampered with.  He spots an inscription on them.  Vector translates it roughly to "fool", but explains that it literally says "he who drools as a camel".

Deciding not to bother with the traps, Berend has Scrag open the door.  It opens to a small antechamber that acts as a four-way intersection of passages.  Directly across them, the passages lead to the left and right.

Dante takes a minute to examine each direction while Sax and Tor climb down into the entrance chamber.  To either side of the antechamber are open rooms.  

The room to the right contains what appears to be all kinds of offerings: jars of long-spoiled food and herbs, dried bunches of flowers, rotten bolts of once-fine cloth, and a small scattering of more valuable offerings such as some coins and pieces of jewelry made of gold, silver, onyx, marble, jade, and crystal.  Berend and the others agree not to disturb the room, as it is an offering to the gods.

The room to the left holds a large war chariot tied to the skeletal remains of two horses.  The walls are painted with a mural of King Nekekharan leading his war chariot into battle.  The chariot itself is largely tarnished bronze, but also has highlights of gold, silver, alabaster, and rubies.  Sax comments that the chariot alone is priceless.  But, again, the group decides against disturbing the room in an effort to quickly clear the area.

With the side passages clear, it is on to Scrag to again open the large stone doors.  They open to a long, wide gallery adorned with busts of the gods built into the sides.  Murals are painted to either side – one a large map of the Kingdom of Sind under Nekekharan's control, the other showing various important events in his life.

Dante and Scrag cautiously advance.  Dante doesn't detect any traps in the room, but Scrag isn't so confident.  Berend and the others hold back while they move towards the center of the room.

Suddenly, the heads of the statues of the gods begin to move, opening their mouths.  Out of the openings pours a horde of snakes.  Directly in front of Dante and Scrag are two large fire snakes, each of them blasting the room in an inferno of fire.  Behind them are large swarms of horned vipers.

Scrag charges one of the flame snakes while Dante takes on the swarms surrounding him.  Using their various spells, Vector, Tor, Berend, and Sax assist from afar.  They are able to take out the small swarms while Scrag finishes off one of the flame snakes.  Everyone then takes out the other flame snake.

Interlude - Scene 9 (of 11)

At the end of the gallery is another set of doors, leading to another small chamber with a hole leading to a sloping passageway.  Vector throws a lighted rock down the passageway as they travel, ultimately seeing four skeletal warriors in the room at the end.  They appear to be guarding a set of doors leading onward.

Vector can tell from the scimitars embedded in their arms they are boneshard skeletons.  Since they haven't reacted yet, he sends down a force orb to blast at them.  As expected, this activates the skeletons and they begin moving towards the group.

However, the heavy use of ranged attacks by the various spellcasters in the group quickly wears the skeletons down, eliminating two of them almost right away.  Scrag and Dante move in and easily finish off the remaining ones.

The doors are gold in color, but Scrag is disappointed to find they are only painted and not, in fact, made of solid gold.  He opens them to a long room with a large sarcophagus in the middle.  It, too, is covered in gold paint, but made of wood and stone.  Near the door, in a corner, are several canopic jars.

Before they head in, Dante once again checks the immediate area for traps.  After he announces it is clear, Sax decides to head in, only to have the floor collapse beneath him, sending him into a pit of poisoned spears.  The others get out a rope, and he is eventually able to climb out.

With the pit blocking any easy way into the room, it is decided to have Scrag jump over to the other corner opposite the canopic jars.  Dante follows by having Scrag help him across, and the others follow suit.

Checking around the room closer, Dante cautions the others about approaching the sarcophagus, as the immediate area around it is trapped.  The area with the canopic jars is also rigged with a trap, but no one shows the slightest interest in them.  He also points out an inscription on the tomb, which Vector translates as a warning of certain death to anyone who dares open the sarcophagus.  Berend and Vector agree emphatically that no one is to touch the sarcophagus under any circumstance.

On the other side of the room are another set of doors, leading to the familiar room with a sloped passageway leading down to the final level.

Interlude - Scene 10 (of 11)

Vector decides to take the lead and head down to the last chamber personally.  At the bottom is a large pile of what appears to be dust, and another set of doors.  The doors have another inscription of them, warning of a deadly curse to anyone who disturbs the king's treasure room beyond.

Vector has Tor take a look at the dust – its bone dust; the obvious signs of a victim of disintegration.  Vector also checks the doors for magic; they are clearly enchanted with some kind of curse.

Everyone is cautious about going any further.  Eventually, it is decided to have everyone else back up into the sloping passage while Vector opens the door.  But when he finally opens it, nothing happens.

The room beyond is filled with treasures of gold, silver, gems, and objects of art.  There is also a lot of sand scattered around the room for some reason.

Rather than step inside, Vector decides to use his mage hand to retrieve a single gold chalice.  At first, he thinks he's in the clear.  Then, to his horror, the sand in the treasure chamber begins to swirl around, eventually forming into a brown dragon.

Scrag immediately rushes down to help, slamming into the dragon with his hardest shot.  The dragon responds by filling the room with a blast of sand from his mouth, then clawing into Scrag.  Dante rushes down and flanks the dragon while Berend, Tor, and Sax focus on attacking from a distance, after briefly considering making a run for it.

Vector tries to get positioned on the other side of the room, but still finds himself in the line of fire of its breath weapon.  Still, with the six of them pouring on with their attacks, they manage to beat back the dragon, eventually striking it down.

Interlude - Scene 11 (of 11)

With the dragon gone, the group feels a sense of triumph, as well as being overcome by the mountain of treasure.  But the euphoria doesn't last long.  The ground begins to tremble, and the floor begins to split.  A fissure opens in the center, leading to a large pool of magma.  The treasure begins pouring in.

With the temple coming down around them, the group makes a run for it.  They all narrowly escape in time, as the mountain implodes, forever burying the crushed remains of the tomb.

The somber trip back to Asandar is uneventful.  Lord True Value is not thrilled with losing the vast amount of wealth, but is consoled by the idea that none of his enemies will get it either.  In the end, he agrees to let the group keep the entire treasure they managed to recover – the single gold chalice.

After selling the chalice and scimitar in town, and subtracting the expenses for the trip back across to Hammerfast, each man is left with a lamentable sum of 100 gold.

Interlude - Session Notes

So, this is a bonus session I had planned with the Scrag and Merend players and a couple of his friends.  It ended up being a very long, all-night kind of game and the other guys were great.  Actually, they are basically the kind of guys I'm used to hanging out with and the kind I'd prefer to play with.

Anyhow, I planned this extended one shot.  Right away, I'll just note that a lot of the adventure was heavily inspired by the Lure of the Liche Lord adventure for Warhammer Fantasy 2e as well as the Master of the Desert Nomads module for basic D&D.

The rest of it was designed by me.  There are a couple of in-jokes listed in there.

The first is, of course, the "Value Village" (a reference to a thrift store chain).  The other is the "Da-Kahl-ub Oasis", which is a slightly altered phonetic spelling of the "Dekalb Oasis" - a major rest area on the I-80 freeway from Iowa to Chicago.  The oasis in the game was based on the Gaberous Oasis in Libya (though I added the obelisk and palace wall).  Oh, and the escaped slave was named after the sleazy thief character in The Mummy (Beni).

The first and last scenes didn't actually occur in game.  The first was essentially the explanatory way to set the scene for the one shot.  The last was something I threw together after it was over to explain why they didn't end up with a massive amount of treasure.

Regular readers will also notice I do not do the usual blow-by-blow description of combat here.  That's because I wasn't taking notes like I usually do during the game, and had to write up the notes later from memory - so all I remembered were the broad strokes.

I think my favorite parts was designing the handouts.  I copied actual Egyptian hieroglyphics and made up the map of the pyramid as well as the symbols on the obelisk.  Granted, I changed a lot of meanings, but some of it ended up quite accurate.

Other than that, it was an interesting mix of combat encounters, skill challenges (the chase in the bazaar and wandering through the desert), traps, and puzzles.

There may be another one in the near future (almost was this last Friday, until some house issues prevented me from being able to run it).  I like having an alternate group that I can use to flesh out some of the areas that the primary group will never get to.

Session 20 - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Scrag Graveborn - Half-Orc Warden
Merend - Dwarf Cleric
Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Sa-ika - Revenant Swordmage
Mitka - Revenant Rogue
Rhogar - Revenant Paladin

Session 20 - Scene 1 (of 5)

A few days pass as everyone regroups in the cemetery.  Scrag is eager to tell the others of his wild journey with Berend, but the others are in no mood to hear about it.  Merend and Krolec stay focused on the mission at hand – getting to the crystal in the center of the graveyard.

It is decided that Al will lead Silas and Zena off on to the east part of the cemetery and try to divert as many of the undead there as possible.  Meanwhile, Krolec will lead the rest of the group around to come at the center from the north, with the powerhouses of Scrag and Rhogar in the lead.

As they approach, they spot several undead milling around the center plaza where the stone is kept.  The crystal itself is around five feet tall and set into a stone base.  One plan involving Mitka rushing in and stealing the stone clearly won't work.

The plaza area looks to be immediately guarded by four skeleton, four roaming grave hounds, a ghoul, and a deathlock wight.  Merend and Krolec immediately identify the wight as their biggest threat.  Krolec immediately fires on the wight with his bow, attempting to use a hunter's bear trap maneuver.  He fails.

Scrag yells out a battle cry and charges ahead.  The wight responds by showing a horrific visage to Scrag, causing him to run back in fear and hide behind Rhogar.

Merend blasts the nearest gravehound with his daunting light.  Two of the gravehounds quickly surround Rhogar, but miss at him with their jaws.  The other two ominously advance with the skeletons.  Rhogar strikes back at one of the hounds with his enfeebling hit.

Leigh fires out a shocking sphere, blasting the wight and the ghoul.  Sa-ika decides to focus on assisting Rhogar, moving into flanking position with him against one of the hounds, then tearing into it with her swordburst.

As the ghoul moves towards Sa-ika, everyone notices that other undead in the area have taken notice.  Skeletal archers emerge from the north; while a pack of boneshard skeletons are advancing from the south.

Session 20 - Scene 2 (of 5)

Scrag ignores the gravehound near him and charges ahead at the nearest skeletal archer.  The hounds' jaws nearly catch him, but his attack on the archer equally misses its mark.  Mitka, however, kills one with his crossbow.

Krolec is more careful of the gravehounds nearest him.  He decides to step back first before launching two arrows at the nearest hound, hitting it once.  Merend attacks another with his lance of faith.

From the center of the plaza, the wight lets loose a grave blast, immobilizing Rhogar.  The gravehounds then tear into him, knocking him to the ground and nearly ripping him to pieces.

Sa-ika focuses on the grave hound and skeleton in front of her.  With a sword burst, she manages to destroy one of the skeletons.  Rhogar, prone on the ground and unable to move, decides to rest for a moment to recover himself from the last round of vicious attacks.

Meanwhile, the remaining three skeletal archers fire their bows, sending several arrows into Scrag's hide.  The other skeletons slice into Merend and Rhogar with their sword while the boneshard skeletons continue their death march towards the group.

Thinking quickly, Sa-ika uses her dimensional warp to swap places with Rhogar.  She then hits the hounds and the skeleton with her sword burst, destroying the skeletal warrior.  However, she failed to take into account the nearby ghoul.  It approaches the defenseless Rhogar and begins feasting on him.

Things go from bad to worse as a large pack of zombies comes from behind the group from the north and east.

Session 20 - Scene 3 (of 5)

Trying to take out as many enemies as possible, Scrag uses his thunder ram assault to charge the nearest skeletal archer.  The force of the hit disintegrates his opponent, and the remaining nearby skeletal archers are broken apart by the concussive force of the blast.  Scrag, however, is then hit by another of the wight's grave bolts.
Krolec decides to focus on the ghoul feasting on Rhogar.  He hits it with a shadow wasp strike maneuver with his bow.
Mitka moves into position next to Merend, and uses his adaptable flanker maneuver to perform a piercing strike that destroys the skeleton.

Merend gets into healing mode.  He moves over to Rhogar, says a healing prayer, and then lays on hands to cure his wounds.  Rhogar is eventually able to shake off the stunning effect of the ghoul bite as well.

Meanwhile, the grave hounds go after Sa-ika; knocking her to the ground and chewing her up good.  Leigh tries to help out by blasting two of the dogs with a scorching burst.

The zombies move in and attack.  They miss Mitka but strike Krolec and Leigh.  Leigh is quite shocked by the amount of injury she receives, as she rarely comes under heavy fire in battle.

Down to the south, the boneshard skeletons continue to slowly advance.  The group is starting to get nervous about the large scimitars they carry.

Sa-ika pulls herself, and gives a rousing speech that inspires herself.  She then lets loose a swordburst that blasts three of the hounds.

The ghoul bites into Rhogar again.  He finds himself once again stunned from the rending of his flesh under the ghoul's sharp teeth.

A loud noise pulls everyone's attention to the west.  Moving up the hill and from behind the trees is a very large zombie hulk headed their way.

Session 20 - Scene 4 (of 5)

Using his primal energy, Scrag overcomes the wight's curse and is able to force himself to move.  He charges straight towards the wight, slamming it to the ground with an earth grasp.  He then transforms into his panther form and tears into the ghoul.

Krolec attempts to move into position and attack the wight with an evasive strike, but his arrows fly very far from the mark.  The wight picks itself off the ground and retreats to a safer position.

Mitka evades the zombies next to him and focuses on attacking the ghoul, hitting it with a piercing strike and killing it.

Merend focuses his energy on assisting Sa-ika, who is surrounded by the deadly grave hounds.  Against her protests, he says a healing prayer for her.  Almost immediately after, she is again dragged to the ground by the swarm of hound claws and teeth.

Surrounded by zombies with no one nearby to help her, Leigh thinks quickly and uses her fey step to teleport a short distance away.  She then lets loose a scorching burst, incinerating five of the zombies at once.

Rhogar tries to recover his senses, but cannot.  The pain of his wounds is too great.  The nearby zombies pummel on him and Merend as the boneshard skeletons continue to inch closer.  Across the battlefield, the large zombie hulk advances as well.

Sa-ika manages to stand herself up again and catches her breath as Scrag chops into one of the hounds with his axe.

Krolec knows the wight is close to death after the grievous injuries Scrag inflicted.  He tries to move into position and finish it off with a couple of arrows, but fails to even notch them correctly.  The wight then casts some kind of spell, re-animating the dead ghoul.

Mitka tries to run and charge the wight, but is struck by the ghoul as he passes, immobilizing him.

Merend blasts away at the gravehound nearest himself, then runs around to go after the wight.

The gravehounds bite again, missing Scrag but tearing further into Sa-ika.  Leigh attacks back with a scorching burst, killing one of the dogs.

Still stunned and lying on the ground, Rhogar finds himself unable to overcome the pain of his shredded flesh.  The zombies near him continue to beat on his prone body.

The boneshard skeletons finally close in on Sa-ika, surrounding her.  They slash mightily with their scimitars, cutting her to pieces before everyone's eyes.  Her body parts turn to dust as they fall to the ground.

The group can hardly react to Sa-ika's second death before seeing the ghoul tear into Rhogar's brain.  Before the ghoul can properly eat it all, his body turns to dust as well.  Meanwhile, the large hulk advances towards Mitka, getting within striking distance.

With two warriors down and the large hulk upon them, Merend and Krolec are beginning to call for a retreat, though they know Scrag and Mitka are unlikely to heed it.  Sure enough, Scrag drinks his healing potion, shifts into position, and chops the ghouls in half.  He then charges ahead with full fury, striking down the wight as well.

Krolec shifts to the side and fires off two quick shots, killing off two of the remaining zombies.  Leigh follows, blasting the mass of skeletons and grave hounds with her burning hands spell, and following it up with a scorching burst.  The grave hounds and skeletons are incinerated, though the boneshard skeletons are still up.

Ignoring the battle, Scrag charges into the crystal with all his might, knocking it out of its base.  With a mighty strain, he lifts the crystal up and carries it.

Krolec starts making a run for it, providing cover fire for Scrag by shooting at the hulk.  He hits it with one of his two shots.  

Merend tries to soften up one of the boneshard skeletons with his exacting utterance.  Leigh lets loose another scorching burst, but it is not enough to destroy them.

With the boneshards closest to Leigh, Mitka knows they will easily kill her if he doesn't act.  Using his cunning, he draws their attention to himself instead.  The skeletons move over and slice into him.  Barely surviving their assault, he is pummeled into dust by a mighty strike from the advancing zombie hulk.

Krolec and Leigh continue to run.  Krolec gets in a couple more hits on the hulk with his bow, while Leigh uses rolling thunder to blast the hulk and destroy one of the boneshard skeletons.

Merend, however, holds his ground.  He knows he will have to die in order to give Scrag enough time to escape.  The hulk smacks him, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.  The remaining skeletons decide to ignore him in favor of chasing Scrag, but one is destroyed by the thunder as it attempts to leave the area.

The hulk, however, pulverizes Merend's body as he steps on it while giving chase to Scrag.

Session 20 - Scene 5 (of 5)

But Scrag has enough of a head start.  Running through the cemetery, he manages to avoid several more packs of undead and reaches the temple at the caretaker's building.  He immediately throws the crystal across the red line to the guardian.

The guardian quickly activates, taking the crystal into the back and destroying it.  Outside, Krolec and Leigh notice all of the undead turn to dust immediately.

Back inside the safe house, the guardian explains to Scrag that the cemetery is now cleansed.  The red line on the floor disappears, and the guardian and the other homunculi begin to crumble to dust.  As his last words, the guardian issues a warning to Scrag that a shard of the crystal has been recently removed from it, and could prove dangerous elsewhere.

When Krolec and Leigh arrive, Scrag explains what the guardian told him.  Krolec and Leigh conclude that the only other person who entered the cemetery recently was the mysterious man in the purple cloak.  He must have taken it, and probably killed the thief Pace for seeing him take it.  However, they have no idea what the man in the purple cloak is up to.

Afterwards, they go back to the center of the cemetery and collect Merend's crushed body.  They also find a gold inlay from around the crystal statue and collect it for the group expense account.

Merend's body is returned to the temple of Bahamut, where Berend lays his temple ward "cousin" to rest.  Grundelmar also helps officiate with some prayers to Pelor.  The group briefly considers trying to resurrect Merend, but Berend convinces them that is not what his fellow priest would have wanted.  He also makes sure to preemptively declare his intentions not to rejoin the group himself.

As the sun sets, the group retires to their homes for some much needed rest.  The city is safe for now, and tomorrow another adventure will await them.

Session 20 - Session Notes

Well, there it is - the big cemetery finale.  It's not as big as I originally planned because 3 players ended up not being able to make it (luckily for me, I always plan my encounters to scale for a variable number of players - I had the setups noted for anywhere from 5 to 10 players that night).

I was kind of hoping for a more dramatic sense to the battle, but it didn't quite work right.  Part of it was having a few too minions.  I'm increasingly not interested in the minion concept.  They don't do nearly enough damage to really threaten anyone (even the wizard had to have 8 zombies surrounding her to get remotely threatened) and are way too easy to kill.

Then there was some of my placement.  With as big of a map as I was using, the boneshard skeletons and zombie hulk both just started too far away.  It took two to three turns for them to become threatening at all.

I also have a tendency to forget a lot of the special little rules in the middle of combat.  I almost always forget about creatures with special "death attacks" that happen when they die.  There's just too much going on to keep track of anything.  I would kill for a decent "Combat Manager" program from WotC.

Finally, there was the tactics of the PCs.  Frankly, they suck.  As usual, they mainly used at-will powers the whole time, no one ever uses a second wind before letting the cleric run out of healing spells, and hardly anyone used mobility on the battlefield to their advantage.  And if the poor wizard had faced anything other than a packed group of minions, she would have been screwed (I was astonished that the ranger and rogue didn't even attempt to assist her when she came under attack).

Still, it ended up working out OK.  I had to kind of soften things up a bit at the end because they were starting to do their whining about retreating and coming back later thing again.  Sometimes they really have no sense of story, drama, or even the basic concept of action/adventure (had they written LotR, Frodo would have taken one look at Mt. Doom, said "Fuck this!" and gone home).  That's more of a pet peeve of mine than anything, but it really annoys me at times.


With four of the group now permanently deceased (Rhogar, Mitka, Merend, and Sa-ika), next session will be all about denouement and introducing a band of four new characters that show up.  We've worked together an ironic backstory for that, it should be fun.

Next session will also bring on new challenges.  Since the players insist on playing the game as more of a fantasy deconstruction than pure fantasy, I decided to respond in kind.  So, next session they'll find out that rather than overflowing with adulation, the townspeople are responding to them with petty jealousy, fear, suspicion, and most of all, are really being tired of them trying to throw their weight around.

Will they learn a lesson in humility?  Or incite a riot by reacting defensively?  Tune in next time to find out.