Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads), the Next Generation: Book Two, Chapter Three

Saving Seaside Part Two:
Big Badda Boom

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Beastmaster
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Nyneve, the Water Genasi Druid of the Fountain- eaten by zombies


NOTE: Things will be mostly from Dax's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the priestess can't be everywhere at once.

***** Astron 4, 480, Seaside

       The gnome with the bombs approached us, I learned later that her name was Pinkerton, and she told us we needed to get to the mayor's compound, it was the only place safe from the undead. As we headed toward it, Taryn heard a rattling noise coming from the direction of the basement and realized it sounded like a living person, not a trapped undead. A few moments later, Taryn emerged with another drow; a really tall drow, who was very muscular and had a peculiar under bite, with what appear to be small tusks.

        The poor dear was so frightened by the undead that she couldn't really speak, but through some peculiar gestures, she conveyed to Taryn that she needed her weapons. KlikKlik told us to get to the compound, she'd grab Taryn and fly the two of them there when she came out again. Sonitri, myself, and our newcomer ran toward the compound with the undead hot on our tails. Sonitri and I managed to make it through the gate, but our new friend had a ghoul right on her tail, and it barely missed grabbing her as the gates swung closed.

       Taryn found a ton of stuff in the closet of the barracks where Xara's stuff had been left. She gathered what she could, and was met by KlikKlik the moment she emerged. They decided to stop at the Temple of Apsu before going to the compound, hoping to find holy water, only to find it locked. The person in the Temple was convinced to let them in moments before the undead near that area reached them. They convinced the priest there to give them a cask of holy water before flying back to the compound for the night. 

       When the drow had finally calmed down enough to be able to speak, I learned her name was Xara, and she had been arrested the night of the initial attack for bar fighting. She was a peculiar drow, in general, and I just wasn't sure what to make of her. When I prayed that night, naked under the moon as Eilistraee intended, she watched me- it was a little creepy. Didn't help that some of the guards were also staring.

***** Astron 5, Seaside

       There were too many people who thought they should be in charge in this compound, and none of them could agree on what we should do to finish the damn undead off. While everyone argued, KlikKlik approached the mayor and asked if he had any guns that she could use for the fight, and he did, but tried to extort her into paying far more than she had on the weapon. The kobold was pissed, and began ranting about the lord being nothing but a coward... it was really funny to watch.

       Taryn took KlikKlik's rant as an opportunity to sneak into the lord's house and steal the gun for KlikKlik. She slipped back to the group as KlikKlik was finishing up her rant, and snuck the gun into KlikKlik's bag of holding. 

       Finally we came up with a plan of our own, because we were sick of the jackasses arguing over how to solve this. If we let them continue, we'd die of starvation, or boredom. Our plan was this: Taryn would draw the undead to the barracks, and when they were all there Pinkerton would set off her bombs. KlikKlik and TickTick would shadow Taryn from the air, and get her out of there before Pinkerton's bomb went off. Sonitri, Xara, and I would follow the others on foot, and deal with mopping up what was left of the undead.

       Once everyone was in position, we heard Taryn yell "dickbags" at the undead, which I guess was the signal to the others to prepare for the bomb. Taryn and KlikKlik began picking off what undead they could, being as loud as possible to keep drawing in the undead. It felt like forever before the airstrike was in range to blow the fuckers up, and just like we planned, the three of them got away right before it happened. Most of the undead died in the explosion.

       Sonitri followed the explosion up with a fireball of her own, killing another good chunk of our foes. I unleashed a moonbeam on the undead, using it to mop up the ghouls, and Xara ran out to try to get in melee with the undead. We all unleashed fury on the undead, but it seemed like it was Sonitri's fireballs that made the biggest difference in this fight. Since most of them had been badly damaged in the explosion, we finished all of them off easily.

       There were some stragglers here and there, and probably some hiding in buildings, so we went to go check on all of the buildings. KlikKlik and I took one side of the street, Taryn and Xara taking the other. After the first three houses, we ended up switching up our teams, I was now with Xara and KlikKlik was with Taryn. The next two houses weren't too difficult to clear, but the sixth house- third with Xara- was a different story.

       In the basement of the sixth house were six ghouls. I attempted to scare them so we could pick them off easier, but it only worked on one of them. Seeing this, Xara backed partway up the stairs, leaving me standing alone, just inside the doorway. They were on me in an instant, and pain bloomed throughout my body as everything went dark. The next thing I knew, Xara was kneeling over me, removing an empty vial from my lips. Then the ghouls swarmed Xara, and I bolted up the stairs so they wouldn't drop me again, stepping over the corpse of one ghoul- she must have dropped it while I was down. Xara followed me, and I think she intended to use the stairs as a choke point; I confess I wasn't paying too much attention to what she was doing, I was busy healing myself. She killed a second ghoul before the others hurt her so badly that for a moment I thought she was going to die. We were both drenched in blood and badly injured, so we ran out of the house and to the street, calling for KlikKlik and Taryn; they killed the other ghouls with ease.

***** Astron 6, Crossroads

       We got back to Crossroads later in the day, and reported in. They told us to come back tomorrow afternoon, and to just take the rest of today and tomorrow morning to rest.