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

The Temple of Nergal, Part One:
Undead Everywhere

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster,  Priestess of Apsu, and Artificer
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Thea, Dax's red Faerie Dragon familiar
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
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.

***** Thrimidge 3, 480, Gnoll Hills

       We spent about five hours in the morning sorting through the gnoll camp, looking for anything useful. Taryn randomly flew off while we were sorting and KlikKlik followed. Xara and I shrugged and kept working, I knew if they needed us, we'd know.

       Taryn had spotted a figure on one of the hills a few hundred feet away and went to investigate. It was a kid who had been traveling with a merchant caravan, and came to investigate the noises they'd heard- Taryn and KlikKlik's gunshots during the battle. They brought the kid back to camp, with the plan that the party would bring the kid with them to Lakeview, where he could catch up with his caravan. 

       The kid that Taryn and Klik brought back to camp was very helpful, and shaved some time off of our search of the gnoll's belongings. When we finished up, we took the kid to Lakeview as promised, and met up with his merchant, who was pretty dang awesome.

       We departed for Crossroads after meeting with the merchant, taking five hyenas with us- the ones Klik had managed to tame. She dropped them off at Kelani's barn for training when we arrived.

       That evening Taryn emerged in her "Madame" guise for the stupid circus, Paerus Al'Kai.

***** Thrimidge 4, Crossroads

       We were summoned to the Mage Guild in the morning to discuss what transpired in the Gnoll Hills. Major General Mavha Trak'len, the leader of the Special Forces, met us in the memory room where we'd had our trials so they could review our memories of the battle. She thanked us for our service to the country, and said that even though we're not part of the military we're still doing good things for the realm. Trak'len said the military was impressed by us and they paid us a decent reward for our service.

       After our meeting, we discussed our plan for what to do next, and decided we'd check out the ruins in the Demonsclaw Mountains next. We'd head out in the morning.

***** Thrimidge 5, Bandit Woods

       We traveled through the Bandit Woods on our way to Silverton, so that KlikKlik could look for the herbs I need to make healing potions. It took a little extra time, but she found a decent amount of ingredients for me. Along the way we were attacked by a group of wolves, which we had to kill; Klik couldn't dominate them.

       When we arrived in Silverton, KlikKlik headed straight for the Temple of Apsu, while the rest of us went to the tavern to get more info. In the tavern we learned the general location of these ruins from a group of rangers, who said one of their hunters was already out in that vicinity. Finding him would be our best bet to find these ruins.

       After flying through the mountains for a couple of hours we found the hunter we'd heard about in the tavern; Fred was his name. He said he could lead us to the ruins, and Klik loaned him her broom so we wouldn't be stuck walking. As we flew, we saw a large form in the distance- a giant eagle. Klik went to talk to it, and it was looking at Tick as if he was food; I hoped we wouldn't have to kill this eagle for going after TickTick. KlikKlik asked it about the ruins, offering it Apsu's blessing in exchange for information... it cocked its head at her and gave her a blank look. We flew for a few more hours before setting up camp.

       During KlikKlik and Taryn's watch, they caught a lone wolf trying to sneak into camp, it looked starving. They scared the beast off. 

***** Thrimidge 6, Demonsclaw Mountains

       Fred told us he could probably get us to the ruins by the end of the day, but his estimate was way off. A couple of hours into our travel, he realized we were on the wrong side of the fucking mountain, and by the time he got us to the right area, it was nearly dark and we had to set up camp.

       While sitting at our campfire that night, Xara asked Fred if he'd ever seen any duckbears before. He seemed confused at first, until Klik elaborated on the duckbear search of Xara's... then he seemed to understand the joke and joined in. Xara is now completely convinced that duckbears are real, and I just don't have the heart to tell her they're probably not. I'm curious to see how long Klik can keep this gag running.

       Wolves approached their camp again tonight, and Taryn attempted to scare them off on her own, but she fucked up her intimidation attempt and they attacked her instead. KlikKlik helped her scare them off. 

***** Thrimidge 7, Demonsclaw Mountains

       Fred found the correct path for us this time, and got us almost to the ruins, showing us the landmark that would get us the rest of the way. He didn't want to come with us to the ruins, so he left to resume his hunt; Klik was nice enough to let him borrow her broom.

       We reached the ruins just before dark, and camped down the hill from them. We set up traps along the path to make sure we'd have warning if anything came out of them during the night. There were no animals here, and I didn't hear a single noise that would indicate wildlife. It was quite unsettling and downright spooky.

***** Thrimidge 8, Demonsclaw Mountains

     There was an eerie fog blanketing the area when everyone was got up in the morning, made even spookier by the dead silence of the forest around us. Not a single bird could be heard, nor could we hear animals rustling in the brush beyond our camp. This was also the first night we hadn't had wolves approach in the night. I had a bad feeling about this place.

       We followed what remained of a path until our way was barred by berry bushes. Taryn started hacking at the bushes to no avail, then shot them in frustration. KlikKlik stepped in at that and had them cleared in about half an hour. On the opposite side of the bramble was a large stone door with some odd markings on it. To my surprise, Xara recognized the symbols as having to do with the dead gods of Unther, and told us the head of the pantheon was Gilgeam. I have no idea how she knew this, but I was impressed she did.

       Taryn found a trap on the door, but couldn't tell what it would do, so she gently pushed on the door. A few projectiles flew out, but they all hit KlikKlik's shield, leaving us all untouched. We walked into the ruins with caution, going down a gentle slope that eventually opened up into a room with four stone statues of men in armor with weapons, and a large set of double doors. We figured the statues were probably a trap, and prepared for a battle Taryn pushed a button on the door.

       The moment Taryn pressed the button, the walls to our left and right began to lower, revealing zombies; then the statues animated. Great. Xara moved to square off with one of the statues, while three of the zombies came at me. Taryn and Klik began shooting the zombies, and splorted a few right away, and I destroyed about half of them with the ability granted to me by Eilistraee that turns zombies to dust. Then the statues lunged for Taryn, TickTick, KlikKlik, and Xara. Everyone but Xara went for the zombies, but we couldn't get rekill them quickly enough. Four of the undead ripped into me, hurting me badly- Taryn killed two of them, and Klik killed the other two, though she also hit me in the process. There was only one zombie left and all four of the statues.

       We continued exchanging blows with them, while I frantically tried to keep my party alive, having Thea ready to deliver potions as needed. Klik went down twice and Tick once in the battle, but I revived them as soon as they fell. Taryn killed two of the statues, KlikKlik killed one, and Xara dusted the final one.

       As the final statue crumbled, the gears on the doors began to spin, and they sprung open, revealing a long, dark, creepy hallway that had another set of double doors at the end. We barricaded ourselves in the room we were in to take a brief rest before proceeding into whatever waited in that hallway.

       There were a bunch of side passages down the hallway, so we decided to check them as we went; we didn't want anything to get the drop on us. Since Xara and I aren't great at being stealthy, Klik and Taryn went down the hallway first, we waited at the mouth of it to assist if need be.

       Zombies greeted them in the first room, and as Xara and I got there to help them more zombies poured out of the other rooms in that passage. I heard a crackle of lightning as Klik tossed her javelin at a group of them, but then I felt the pain of zombies hitting me, and blacked out. I came to to Thea pulling a potion vial from my lips, and Tick was standing over me, protecting me from the zombies. Since I could shoot at them from under Tick, I stayed where I was and blasted at the zombies. These zombies were different than others we've fought, they seemed to have retained some of the abilities they had when they died. I've never seen anything like it. We beat them, of course, but it certainly wasn't easy by any means.

       After that battle, we decided that Klik and Taryn would check the hallways on their own, with silence cast on themselves, so they could just kill the zombies quickly. I had Thea go with them, since she can communicate with me telepathically, so that Xara and I would know if they needed help. For some reason, Taryn and KlikKlik decided to instead of zigzag the passage, they would just go down the right side, then the left. It turns out that was a big mistake.

       At the first passage on the left side we checked- which was the one closest to the double doors we hadn't touched yet- we found some zombies that were even more supercharged. These zombies  had some sort of holy power, like clerical or possibly paladin. Taryn and Klik took out the first one, with some difficulty, but they did it, but before it went down, the others in its hallway were alerted. Xara and I saw other zombies coming out, and thankfully I'd had the foresight to send Thea with Taryn, she was able to telepathically alter her to the danger.

       We surrounded the next paladin zombie to come at us, while their cleric had to back out of the silence before he could touch us. I think this may have been the first time I was grateful that there were no clerical spells that didn't require some sort of prayer. The paladin hit Taryn hard before going down, but we did manage to drop him before the cleric got up to us. He had set up a huge Spirit Guardian circle, and had summoned a spectral Shield- Nergal's favorite weapon. Great. Once the paladin was down, we all backed away from the cleric as quickly as possible, but doing so kept me in the silence, and therefore pretty much useless.

       Taryn dropped his Spirit Guardians quickly, and Xara rushed into melee with him, managed to strike him, and then bolted. Glad she had the foresight to stay out of melee with the fucker, I really don't want her to die. Tick and I were hit with a pillar of radiant fire- a Flamestrike- and it burned. Taryn shot him with a silence bullet, the idea was to keep the silence pinned to him, and it was pretty fucking genius. Xara and I both zapped the cleric and backed off- I stayed on Tick's back, since he could move a little faster than me. Then the priest set his sights on the drow who'd shot him with silence, and Taryn went down.

       To make matters even worse, another cluster of paladin zombies came pouring out of the next hallway we passed. Great. This was just fan-fucking-tastic. I saw KlikKlik revive Taryn, and we all began a strategic retreat to get behind the barricade we'd made earlier- glad we'd made that thing. Taryn shot at them as she ran, and as soon as we were all behind the barricade, Klik breathed ice breath at them, fucking up a bunch of them. Taryn kept shooting the cleric, while KlikKlik breathed acid next; I followed up by dropping a fireball on the cluster, but I only managed to drop one of them. I heard Xara grumbling about being stuck behind a barricade instead of being up in their faces, but I was glad she was being sensible and staying behind the damned barricade. I really don't want to lose her.

       KlikKlik and TickTick coordinated attacks and dropped that fucking cleric, and if that wasn't enough, Klik then dropped one of the paladins. That kobold is fucking formidable, I'd hate to get on her bad side. One of the paladins struck Taryn over the barricade, and she went down again; I took a little pleasure in reviving her, since I know she hates accepting the healing magics of Eilistraee. Klik, Taryn, and I dropped one more paladin each, and we collectively took out the final zombie. Whew, that was a trying battle.

       We decided to make a second barricade about halfway down the long hallway, using the bodies of the zombies we'd just killed as the material for the barrier. It was short enough for us to get over quickly, but not so short that the zombies could follow. Taryn found a secret door in one of the small corridors that contained an altar and a shield amulet, which appeared to be the key to the next set of large double doors.

       After that fight we were tired, so we settled down to take a rest. During the night, wolves showed up, and we had to scare them away again.

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

The Gnoll Hills

Dramatis Personae:
KlikKlick BoomBoom, the Kobold Platinum pint-sized Dragonborn Beastmaster and Priestess of Apsu
TickTick, KlikKlik's Giant Bat animal companion
Taryn Al'Maera, the Drow Assassin and future Ralliakkan
Niss'RizDax Kenarn, the Drow Sword Dancer Priestess of Eilistraee, "the Moonlit Dancer"
Thea, Dax's red Faerie Dragon familiar
Xara, the Dorc Circus Eldritch Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Sonitri, the Samsaran Arcane Prodigy Sorcerer- went home
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.

***** Thrimidge 1, 480, Crossroads

       During my prayers in the dead of night, Eilistraee granted me the power to summon a fey spirit in the form of a red Faerie Dragon. I named her Thea, which means gift of the moon goddess, and she is very sweet. I think she'll be helpful in my attempts to keep people alive.

       We decided over breakfast- Xara was still asleep- that we would head to another inn in town to find out if there were any rumors that we could attempt to deal with. The inn keeper told us that people who enter the Fairie Forest never return; the gnolls in the hills are getting restless; there's been some disappearances in Riverside; there's some odd ruins in the Demonsclaw Mountains- we could probably get more info from Silverton about those ruins. We decided that we would head to the Gnoll Hills in the morning.

***** Thrimidge 2, Lakeview

       We went to Lakeview first since it's near the Gnoll Hills, hoping to get a little more info on the gnolls before going in. We learned from an inn there that gnolls had stolen their grain all winter, killing their livestock, and their people. That was enough to prove to Klik that the gnolls were evil.

       We decided to fly about 500 or so feet above the hills while we looked for the gnolls, to keep us out of the range of most spells the gnolls might be able to throw our way. Eventually we spotted a group of four gnolls riding giant hyenas; they vanished into a gorge, and we assumed they had seen us and were going to ambush us. As we reached the gorge we saw the hyenas, but no sign of the gnolls, so Klik flew down to try to talk to them, while we set ourselves up in range to assist as needed.

       KlikKlik started calling out to the gnolls, who popped out and started shooting at her. She told them to lay down their arms and take us to their war chief so we could speak to him- they responded by shooting at her more. At that, Taryn shot the gnoll who seemed to be in charge, and blew his head off- she really loves that gun. Xara lit up the bushes the gnolls were partially concealed in with faerie fire, outlining two of the gnolls. I shot at them with bolts of force energy.

       The gnolls shot at Klik again, and she yelled at them that if they didn't stop shooting and surrender, she'd kill them all. They ignored her. We killed the remaining three with ease. Klik decided that we should take the hyenas with us, so she dominated them- but it only worked on three of them, the third started to run away, so Taryn killed it. Klik convinced me to heal the hyenas to get rid of their fleas and ticks, I totally bonded with one of them as a result.

       To keep the hyenas with us, Xara and I each rode one, while Klik and Taryn flew above us. After about an hour we saw smoke up ahead- it seemed we were getting close to the gnolls camp. The gnolls noticed Xara and I right away, we weren't skilled at sneaking around on hyenas. Our stubborn kobold told them to take us to their leader so we could speak to them; the gnoll told her the leader would speak to her corpse. We killed them quickly enough, but then Xara decided to attack one of the hyenas- even though Klik said not to- and they swarmed her. I had to heal her so she could get out of that mess.

       KlikKlik could see more gnolls coming, with demons in their midst- she said there were about things with them. Great. This was going to be fan-fucking-tastic. Taryn was trying to get a gauge on how many there were, but it allowed their archers to see her, and she got pin cushioned by them- stubborn bitch refused to let me heal her, again. Klik opened fire on the gnolls, and their archers turned their bows at her, though they seemed to do more damage to themselves than to her. Xara flew down to go for the hyenas again, and I killed a gnoll with my moonbeam, then summoned my spiritual longsword to go for them.

       We began exchanging blows with the gnolls and the manes that were with them, slinging spells and bullets, with Xara hacking at the manes as they swarmed her. Things seemed to be going well, until the manes began summoning something. Great. Just what we need, more demons. We kept laying into our enemies, until the gnoll they'd used as a sacrifice began to glow, and the ground beneath him began to cave in. The fight continued on, until a figure emerged from the ground, wreathed in flames; a fucking balor. Great.

       We exchanged blows with the balor, while still fighting his minions, and took heavy damage. It was all I could do to keep Xara alive as she got in the demon's face and taunted it, keeping the balor busy so Taryn could shoot it. I had Thea perched on Xara's shoulder so I could send healing magic through her, and having her dump potions down Xara's throat. We managed to kill the balor fairly quickly, even though Taryn and I both went down once in the process, and Xara almost went down. Taryn got the killing blow on the balor, by shooting it in the face and dropping a bomb on it- a bomb she said was "magically enhanced with magics." The balor exploded in a spray of ichor, and the concussive force almost killed Xara.

       Once we finished off the balor, we mopped up the rest of the lesser demons and the gnolls. It wasn't too difficult, though Taryn did go down two more times in the process. We decided to camp here to rest before going through everything, that had been an exhausting fight.

***** Thrimidge 3, Gnoll Hills

       We found another group of four gnolls this morning, and took care of them quickly.

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

Taking Out the Roaming Hoardes

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 7, 480, Crossroads

       We spent the morning doing some shopping before we needed to report in. Xara attempted to join the Mage's Guild, but she came back and said she'd lost miserably; she'd had to face ghouls and it hadn't gone well.

       When we reported in, our orders were to head to the Gnoll Hills to hunt the roaming hoardes. They said there was still at least one large hoarde there that had a cyclops. Great. We were leaving in the morning.

***** Astron 8, Gnoll Hills

       Once we reached the hills KlikKlik went to scout for the cyclops, and found it right away. We decided that KlikKlik, Taryn, Xara, and I would deal with the cyclops and Pinkerton, Seipora, Luth, Zashieda, and Silifrey would deal with the other undead. KlikKlik was going to try to draw the cyclops away from the other undead to make all of our jobs a little easier.

       She got the cyclops's attention pretty fast and shot at it as she flew toward us to keep it from losing interest. Unfortunately for us we also got the attention of two ghouls, a couple skeletons, and a couple zombies who followed the cyclops toward us; I dropped a moonbeam on the cyclops when it got closer to us. I noticed Taryn had grabbed the cyclops's leg and seemed to be trying to climb the fucking thing- that was going to be interesting, especially since it seemed oblivious to her presence.

       KlikKlik and TickTick took out one of the ghouls right before the cyclops reached Xara and I. She slashed at it right before its fist smashed into both of us. Stars swam in my vision momentarily and I lost concentration on my moonbeam. Then the beast lurched forward as Taryn dealt it the killing blow.

       The remaining ghoul was right in my face, and I knew I couldn't take another blow, so I dashed away from it... and it fucking followed me, so I killed it. If I'd known I could just kill it I wouldn't have bolted, but those things aren't exactly easy to kill. KlikKlik and TickTick took care of two of the skeletons, and Taryn finished off the last one. Xara slashed at the final zombie, but it wouldn't go down, so I dropped my moonbeam on it to finish it off.

       We met back up with the others and took a brief rest while we debated on what to do next. There were a couple of caves that undead could be hiding in, so we decided to take one cave each, splitting up like we had earlier.

       Since Xara and I aren't the best at sneaking, KlikKlik and Taryn decided to scout the cave on their own, and told us to wait for their signal- without specifying what the damned signal was. After a little bit, a platinum glow was emanating from inside the cave- I recognized it as the light of Apsu, and assumed that was the signal.

       KlikKlik and Taryn snuck through the tunnel into the cave, and reached a Y in the path. KlikKlik reached out to Apsu, asking for him to aid her in determining which direction to go in... and Apsu's wisdom was too much for her brain to handle. The kobold's head exploded, and a large platinum egg appeared where she had been standing. The platinum light of Apsu began to glow from the egg, filling the tunnel.

       We reached Taryn and TickTick quickly, and found the source of the light to be an egg. All we got from Taryn was that KlikKlik was probably in it, before we heard the all too familiar growling of ghouls, coming from both sides of the Y in the tunnel. It seemed that Apsu's light had altered the undead to our presence. Great.

       Undead came pouring out of the tunnels, coming right for us; Taryn told us to protect the egg right before dropping one of the ghouls. As we began exchanging fire with the undead, I noticed a couple of them looked weird... but couldn't think much of it since we were quickly getting surrounded. Xara got paralyzed from a ghoul's claws, and I reached for Eilistraee's aid, hoping to make the fuckers run or dust, but I only scared off two of the damned things. I sent out healing to the group, and saw Taryn drop a bomb... that didn't go off. In the next breath Taryn went down. Great.

       TickTick began clawing at the egg, trying to help it hatch, and I got Xara up and moving again, then healed all of us. Taryn got up and attacked the egg instead of the ghouls... Xara took out two more of the ghouls, right before Taryn went down again. Before I could react, I felt the burn of a ghoul's claw and felt myself tumble into darkness.

       In that moment, KlikKlik's egg hatched, and she emerged a platinum dragonborn with wings. The burst of her egg hit Xara enough to drop her, and the few ghouls who remained. She revived the group quickly.

       KlikKlik was taller, and platinum... and had wings. What in the Nine did we miss? Taryn told us that KlikKlik's head had exploded, and apparently Apsu had decided to fix KlikKlik by changing her. Fucking weird.

       We checked the rest of the cave, and found no more undead. The little bit of treasure in the cave was disgusting, but we took it anyway. KlikKlik sent Pinkerton a message that we'd taken care of our cave and would meet her at the lake.

       On our way we saw a group of ghouls heading toward the lake, but we were badly beaten and didn't think we could take them right now. Since town was way closer to the lake, we headed back there to find Pinkerton.

       Once we got the others we all went to take out the group of ghouls. KlikKlik was enjoying her new flight abilities and she zoomed off ahead of us.

       KlikKlik found a group of farmers walking into an ambush by the ghouls, and dropped a bomb on the undead. It didn't kill any of them, so she began shooting them while she waited for the rest of the group to catch up.

       Finding KlikKlik was easy enough, all we had to do was follow the gunfire. With the aid of the others we took out the ghouls quite easily. We spent the night in Riverside.

***** Astron 9, Riverside

       We decided to check a few more caves this morning, and went to the local mine owner's house, thinking we could get some info from the guards. One of them really wanted to bone Xara, and she agreed, getting the information afterward. She said he was a horrible lay.

       The first cave we checked out was empty, and on our way to the second one, KlikKlik looted some abandoned boats that had washed ashore. The second cave had a Y in the tunnel again, and thankfully KlikKlik didn't decide to ask Apsu for directions this time. Taryn rigged an acid trap in the tunnel so that if the anything tried to come up behind us we'd be alerted. Eventually the tunnel opened up into a chamber, with five ghouls and one ghast inside. We took them out with ease.

       As we came back toward the Y, we heard a group of ghouls coming toward us, so we hid and ambushed them. They went down really fast too. We seem to be getting good at this.

       When we got back to Crossroads, we were told to come back in the morning for our next assignment.

***** Astron 10, Crossroads

       The next morning we were told that they didn't have a plan yet, apparently some of the scouts hadn't reported in. They told us to come back again tomorrow.