PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN DIARIES 59 - GUARDIANS OF THE TOMB

10 Uktar - Day 133 - 11:45PM - Entrance to the Tomb

After obtaining the sphere of annihilation from the Tomb of Reluraun and K'ronk's acquiring the sentient dragon-hating sword Dragondoom, The League knows they must go to The House of Long Silences to stop the invasion from the undead army of Thay by driving the sphere into the ground near the rear of the building.

Immeral asks The Balenorn - guardian's of Reluraun's tomb, if they may rest in a corner of the room until the morning. The undead elves look to each other, and the female, 

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 8:00AM - The Ardeep Forest

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 10:00AM - The House of Long Silences

While trying to think of some plan that could somehow get them close enough to the House to use the sphere of annihilation and not get overrun in the process, The League hears the flapping of great wings above. To their additional horror, it is Baazka, the pit fiend flies to the undead red wizard at the southwest of The House. He steps over to the wizard and they start a dialogue. Little can be heard from this distance, but Baazka's deep voice keeps rising until he can be heard exclaiming "I want it now!"  The dead red wizard appears unready to give the devil what he wants.

Nowhere says "I am ready to charge in with the sphere of annihilation."   Dain nods.   

Orryn states "It has been a pleasure journeying with you, but that is suicide."  His companions settle down.

Seraphina says "I could maybe take control of one of the death knights, but then what? Have him order the zombies back in the zombie hole?"

Shalendra says "Unfortunately, the portal is only one-way."

Serafina adds "we have to make sure that even if we use the maximum range of the sphere control ring, if Immeral is knocked farther away, he will likely lose control of the sphere and it will just stay still."  

Immeral states "120 feet is the maximum range of the ring from what the baelnorn stated."

K'ronk says to Seraphina "could you have the Raven Queen intervene?"

The Owlbear League moves deeper into the trees to consult on a plan.

K'ronk says to Immeral "I could cast fly on you, it lasts 10 minutes. With the ring, you would be invisible, they would only see the sphere."

Immeral says "yes, and potentially shoot me out of the sky to fall into a sea of undead."  He shivers, but says "It's not a bad plan." Immeral looks and figures "maybe two minutes to get to the roof, flying slow enough for the sphere."

K'ronk says "I think we still need a distraction."

Seraphina says "I am going to pray for guidance" and she settles against a tree saying a quiet prayer "Raven Queen, the Sword Coast is in peril by hordes of undead. I need your wisdom or help."  She is blessed by visions that are not comforting. If the Sword Coast falls, the Raven Queen and her cadre could shepherd any amount of dead to the afterlife. Death is the next chapter of life. Ravenkind escorts the dead to their next world, but undead are an abomination and should be destroyed as best she can. She is also reminded that she was gifted a rod of security a short time ago.  "The Raven Queen is not of any assistance in this matter."

Atlas prays to Mizar but gains no guidance or boons to their cause.

Immeral even prays to Tymora for some good luck in the moments ahead.

Dragondoom says "swing me as a sword and use me against evil, that's what I do.  I can kill you later.  It looks like you guys are screwed anyway."

K'ronk walks over to the sphere of annihilation and brings the sword within inches.  "Will you help if it is an ultimatim?  Do you stand by your justice or kneel to your hatred?"  The sword exclaims "Wait, what is that thing?"  K'ronk replies "It is the end of you. I don't give a fuck who you are. I will destroy you."  

"Stop!" the sword cries out. "What do you want me to do?"  "You will do your god-damned job." K'ronk says. "My job is killing dragons - it is literally my name." K'ronk responds "You will let go of your hate, you will help us fight evil, and you will drop this obsession with dragons."

Dragondoom responds "It is not my choice to let go, it is how I was made, I am what I am.  I will help, but I don't know how."

Orryn says "I don't think you are going to get much more than that."

Dragondoom responds "Quiet you - you know what smells worse than a dirty goblin?  You!"  

K'ronk brings him closer to the sphere.  "I won't harm you!  You aren't a real dragon anyway, you're a shit-dragon."  K'ronk edges within millimeters of the sphere. "Stop!" the sword cries.

Nowhere says "I can use thalmaturgy for some noise."  

Dragondoom says "It must be hard to come up with a plan when you are so stupid - can't you hurry up to the fighting?"

Atlas says "if we get into combat, we have to focus on the red wizard, even if we have dread warriors nearby, then we can run off." 

Seraphina says "I can cast silence on him to hobble him right at the start."

Immeral and K'ronk come out of a whispered conversation and Immeral suggests "If you are going to take on the red wizard, you really should have a one of us with counterspell ready.  Perhaps K'ronk delivers the sphere by himself since he can cast fly whenever he is ready."  K'ronk nods and accepts the ring to control the sphere of annihilation from Immeral.

Nowhere says "It sounds like we're ready.  Orryn?"  

Orryn spends a few minutes to give an inspiring speech to his companions in order to bolster them for the battle ahead.

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 11:00AM - The House of Long Silences

K'ronk circles counterclockwise to the east of The House of Long Silences, taking care not to have the sphere of annihilation break any large branches and make too much noise. The rest of The League backtracks to the southwest and gets out of eyesight to cross the road and head north to attack the northern red wizard. Due to Nowhere's forest abilities, they move quickly into position.  They wait a bit just to ensure that K'ronk are in position, and once they get a confirmation through their message boxes they begin their attack.

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 11:30AM - The House of Long Silences

Meanwhile K'ronk has cast fly, and placed the ring of invisibility on his finger. He mentally pushed the sphere of annihilation up some 30' over the heads of the dread warriors below, and he follows it with his flight. The speed is painstakingly slow - moving at a casual walking speed above the undead army, but he seems undetected. Some of the dread warriors turn to follow the sphere, but don't leave their positions. The sound of thunder clapping across the field affects few of them.

The rest of The League faces down dozens of dread warriors, but seven of the first wave are killed running across the invisible spike growth.  This provides some protection from the spikes for oncoming dread warriors and unfortunately some get close to Atlas and two swing their swords at the monk. Both attacks hit Atlas for minor damage, but seeing the oncoming hordes Nowhere yells "Back to the trees!", confident Atlas is the fastest and can outrace the undead army.  As they run back to the treeline, Nowhere sees they may be cut off by some of the undead running from the south, so she casts spike growth again, knocking down a big section of the undead, twelve of them falling onto the unseen spikes. The death knight continues his march towards their position.

Seraphina dashes back towards the woods, slower than her companions, but she had not been as exposed. 

Orryn shoots arrows at the closest dread warrior to his companions, but misses.

Atlas disengages from the dread warriors and with her incredible agility races to her companions at the edge of the woods.  

Dain stands in the field, fighting his rage and wanting to run further into the horde of undead. Seraphina snaps him out of it and yells "Dain, it's time to run!"  Disgusted with himself he races back to the treeline, smacking himself in the face in fury for not standing and fighting and dying in a blaze of glory.

Shalendra casts Stinking Cloud to obscure the area behind her new companions, seeing most of them safely back into the woods.

Immeral runs deeper into the woods, using misty step  to beat even Nowhere who moves incredibly fast through her favored terrain (the forest).

K'ronk continues his invisible flying journey to the back of the House of Long Silences.

Nowhere yells "follow my path!" to her companions, and with years of experience in the woods - she leads her companions through the most efficient path hoping to quickly leave the dread warriors behind as they get hung up on the difficult terrain. Atlas, who veered a bit north catches up and they turn to the southwest, but Seraphina is falling behind - a dozen dread warriors on her trail.

Seraphina uses her ring of command undead and commands six of the dread warriors to defend her retreat. The lead warriors turn and immediately start fighting their allies as Seraphina catches up to her comrades, but the distance breaks the power of the ring, but it gives her the space she needed to get away.

K'ronk flies to the southwest, towards the old road, using the sphere to destroy columns of dread warriors some thirty feet below him. As he flies - dozens upon dozens of undead are annihilated as he moves, but the death knight is racing to intercept at the road.

The object is some sort of fireball of black flames and K'ronk moves the sphere to try to intercept, but he only catches the edge of it as it explodes. K'ronk is right on the edge of the area of effect and he tries to fly even higher at the last moment, clearing the necromantic fire. 

The League holds their position in the woods of the road, seeing the sphere continue moving in their direction.

Relieved to have not died in the explosion, K'ronk continues the flight towards where he expects to find his friends, but the death knight marches down the road to follow just below him.  It marches down the road and leaves the undead army behind.

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 11:35AM - The Road to the House

The Owlbear League and Shalendra keep hidden in the trees as the sphere of annihilation followed by the death knight approaches. The death knight casts another spell at the sky near the sphere, and K'ronk feels the compulsion to fly to the ground and fight the undead enemy, but he overcomes the urge with force of will and flies even a bit higher, knowing that he only has minutes of flying time left in his spell. The death knight for the first time communicates to K'ronk, calling out to him in a voice straight from the abyss "come down little fly. I see you by your ring, I will make your death merciful, there is nowhere you can run from me, your flight is almost over."

As the knight approaches the position of The League hidden in the trees, they attack. Immeral starts with another lightning bolt, which catches the undead spellcaster completely unsurprised. The damage scorches the armor of the knight, but it seems unaffected as it turns and is now aware of The League.

K'ronk mentally pushes the sphere of annihilation down towards the knight, it is now some sixty feet above the ground, with K'ronk invisibly about 30' feet above that at the tops of the tallest trees.

Dain charges out of the woods in a rage directly at the knight and swings his great axe Bloodstorm. Although the dwarf strikes the knight soundly, the attack clanks off the monster's armor without even a dent.  Rather than be shocked, Dain swings again and his second slash cuts into the creature's armor and does some damage.

Atlas runs to the opposite side of the death knight and unleashes consecutive flurries of blows, battering the undead creature at points of weakness, but the damage seems minimal.

Orryn runs in, blocking another avenue of retreat, but doesn't have time for an attack.

Nowhere uses her hunters mark ability to ensure she does extra damage to the knight, then rushes in with Icerazor for the kill. She just manages to fight through the knight's parries and makes a significant cut, drawing black blood from the side of her enemy, twisting her weapon at the last second for additional damage.

Seraphina moves out of the woods and casts toll the dead, but the death knight shakes off the spell.

Shalendra casts magic missile from her position in the trees, letting 6 magical bolts fly into the death knight, and more black blood oozes from its armor. 

The death knight moves to cast a spell (destructive wave), and the ground starts trembling, but Immeral casts counterspell, disrupting the weave of magic and the death knight howls in frustration. It swings a longsword at Atlas, chopping deeply into the half-elf, and streams of necrotic energy drive into her, knocking her instantly unconscious. The knight is much faster than they thought it and swings again, this time swinging at Orryn and impaling the rogue. The damage is critical, but the gnome twists away from fatal damage, but is severely hurt.

Immeral releases more magic missiles from his robe of stars and they unerringly riddle the undead knight with damage and more dark blood leaks from its armor.

K'ronk flies lower and pushes the sphere of annihilation closer to his enemy which is now just 30' above his enemy, and K'ronk stays 60' above that, hoping the death knight has forgotten about him and driving the sphere downward. 

Dain, still enraged, wildly swings Bloodstorm and strikes the death night critically. The great axe cleaves open the death knight's armor, revealing the deep wound the barbarian has inflicted as the creature bleeds out. Dain tries to swing Bloodstorm again, but the knight blocks the second attack.

Orryn, reeling from his wounds, disengages and tries his bow. The arrow strikes true and stands out from the creature's neck.

Nowhere strikes with Icerazor and impales the creature with a critical strike, and tiny ice spiders appear on the blade and rush all over the undead warrior to add additional damage.  Blood now pours from the creature, but it blocks an additional attack from the ranger.

Seraphina rushes over to Atlas and casts cure wounds to revive the unconscious monk. The spell brings the monk back to consciousness, and Atlas and Seraphina scramble out of the way.

Seeing the death knight may have room to escape from their trap, Shalendra steps forward with her sword and swings at the undead. She fails to strike anywhere vulnerable on the knight.

The death knight tries to cast destructive wave again and Immeral casts counterspell, but this fails to stop the magic of the undead wizard. Immeral reaches deep for inspiration but fails again. Luckily K'ronk is just within range and as the magical energies shake the ground he counterspells but it too fails! With a last desperate hope of saving his friends, K'ronk is reaches back deep into his power and manages to successfully stop the spell. 

"I will destroy you!" the death knight screams, and it turns to see Atlas scrambling to her feet, so it moves to stabs her in the back, but she outmaneuvers the creature and he howls with his miss.

He turns to swing at Shalendra and he hits the gold elf, cutting through some of her elven chain mail to damage the elf and she staggers back.

Immeral releases more magic missiles from the robe of stars and now the knight is looking worn down and haggard with wobbly legs and unsure footing.

K'ronk pushes the sphere of annihilation down as fast as he can and at the last moment removes his ring of invisibility and yells "hey jackass, this fly just kicked your ass!"  The death knight looks up just as the sphere reaches his head and before he can move it sinks onto him and his body drops to the ground, decapitated and spurting the last of its black blood.

K'ronk lands next to his companions and give a few high-fives and back claps.

Atlas moves to search the body for anything interesting, but finds nothing of interest, but she takes the sword.  "I wish I had the head to take." says Nowhere - giving K'ronk a smirky glare.  

Immeral says "we still have several thousand undead warriors to deal with- you can take one of those."   

Nowhere states "not as stylish.  Although there is that red wizard skull, if it's not smashed to bits."

K'ronk says "as long as the dead warriors are not moving around too much, I think I have that covered.  With that, he puts back on his ring of invisibility and walks back towards the House of Long Silences where he mentally steers the orb through the rows and rows of waiting undead that stand and start attacking the sphere as it becomes clear it is a threat to them. His journey leaves a field of undead body parts as K'ronk concentrates on disintegrating the head and torsos of the dead army. 

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 12:30PM - The Road to the House

The Owlbear League moves up the road as K'ronk clears the entrance to the glen which holds the House of Long Silences. They rest and bind their wounds, watching K'ronk decimate the undead army further out.

After about an hour of "farming", the sound of many horses can be heard coming up the road.  The League stands as Jekk, Isteval, Kelson Darktreader and his men, as well as wizard Delfan ride up along with Jidjack and his Swords of the Lords.  

Isteval says "We're here to help."

Nowhere says "You're a bit late. We're just cleaning up."

Isteval replies "Was that a headless Thayan death knight on the road?  Are you all well?  Do any of you need healing?"  

Nowhere looks directly into Isteval's eyes and says "I could use all sorts of healing from you."  Isteval can be seen blushing as he looks over the field of battle. He then looks back to her and says "I'm very glad you are well, all of you."

Kelson Darktreader dismounts and hands Orryn and Atlas a couple of healing potions.

Jidjack says "You guys really know how to throw a party don't you?"

Delfan asks Immeral "Is that a sphere of annihilation?"  Immeral says "Yes, it is, but we must get it back to the Tomb of Reluraun or the baelnorn will have our hides.

Atlas sits back on a rock and reads a love letter from Tinkerchap that came into her message box while she was battling the death knight.  She smiles and tucks it away.

11 Uktar - Day 134 - 5:30PM - The Glen of Long Silences

The League takes turns "farming" the undead until they are all destroyed around sundown. They camp with Isteval and the rest of their allies in the cold late-fall air, and it begins to snow as they huddle around a fire, telling the story of how they got here and Shalendra's part in the events that transpired. Isteval looks to her with barely controlled fury, and she keeps her head down in silence and shame.

NEXT - Campaign Journal 61 - Return to Daggerford