Post by Dead Greyhawk on Oct 21, 2007 20:59:28 GMT -5
Watching Flen fall is heartrending. Wave after wave of undead boil out of the darkness against the city walls. While the weaker undead, the skeletons and zombies, are held back by the stout walls, the stronger are not. Ghasts and ghouls, directed by shuffling black-clad creatures scale the wall, their talons finding easy grip on the wall. Spectral creatures float through the air over the battlements to land behind the walls and wreak havoc. The screams of those found by the undead cut through the night air, easily audible to the Company as they ride scattered in the darkness.
The Company does what it can, wheeling and fighting smaller groups of undead, but it is clearly a futile gesture. Separated from one another, their efforts make little impact against the horde of undead. As more and more of the undead arrive from the west, it becomes apparent to all involved that Flen can not be saved. Hours of skirmishes and battles have done nothing to help the now-burning city. Flenmen flee the city from the eastern gate, bolting with only the goods on their back into what should be the morning light. Instead, dawn arrives with only a slight increase in light. A black cloud hovers over the city of Flen, a combination of soot and ash from the burning buildings and the foul umbra that earlier alerted the Company to the undead horde's presence.
The individual members of the Company spend many a day rescuing and guiding refugees eastwards, towards the Kingsway and eventually to Niole Dra. In the process, they hear many a rumor. The most common is an uncomfortable one: that a mage of power threw open the gates of Flen, incinerating the guards with lightning and thunder from a clear sky, and laid bare the city for the undead to ravage. They also hear of a turbaned man in billowing clothing who has bestowed hundreds, if not thousands, of gold eagles on Flenmen as they head eastward to an uncertain future. Finally, some rumor that a group of Flenmen, cultists of the Earth Dragon, escaped into the mines, barricading themselves into the potentially defensible mine shafts.
The Company slowly locates each other, following rumor, tracks, and scent to a secure cave east of the city. The last to arrive are Dell, his turban and long cuffed shirts oddly clean and well-maintained, and his apprentice Antonus, who is now clad in a blindingly bright white robe. They weigh the options before them and try to assess the best route to take. After some debate, they opt to not travel east to Niole Dra, assuming that the Flenmen will quickly alert the King's Men that Flen has fallen, but instead decide to head west to Karmuck's Tower. This, they convince themselves, will allow them to determine what happened at the ford of the Javan River where the Keoish Army and a squadron of the Knights of the Watch were supposedly blocking passage.
The area around Flen is distinctly unsafe, and, rather than run the risk of encountering wights, spectres, or other fleet, difficult-to-spot unlife, the Company takes the long way around Flen, swinging north of the Kingsway. This detour costs them many days of travel, but likely increases their safety. Herbert, Eig, and Otto all spot an intermittent dust cloud that follows some distance behind them, approaching from the east. They fear that something is tracking them, but despite borrowing Winthrop's spyglass, Eig, the most keen of vision of the three, can not determine the origin of the dust cloud. Suddenly, one day, the dust cloud dissipates and does not reform. Some complex math on the part of Dell and Winthrop confirm that the cloud would be due east of Flen at this point. Perhaps aid has arrived for the Flenmen.
Having cleared the city of Flen and approaching the Javan River, the Company becomes more alert, setting more frequent watch. Late one night, a prickling between his shoulders alerts Otto that the camp is being watched. A gray, man-like shape flickers in and out of sight to the south of the camp, and, as Otto wakes the others, it turns and flees further south. Otto, Raven, Jasper, Winthrop, and Pfiffwin go to investigate this strange watcher, leaving Alouicious, Oaklock, Dell, Herbert, Eig, Adrienne, Hugh, Antonus, Diego, and Eats Salmon behind. Winthrop opts to scout in the form of a Gargoyle, flying above the others, to gain further vision and greater mobility.
The grayish shape seems to have realized it has been seen, as it flees southward. The scouting party, now chasing the form, is able to slowly close the gap, Otto choosing not to accelerate to his maximum speed and leave the others behind. Several minutes of chasing the figure results in the scouting party being well separated from the others. The grayish shape stops fleeing and instead turns and bangs some weapon upon his shield, a sepulchral beat that echoes in the night. The grayish shape has the form of a dead man with glowing red eyes clad in armor of an archaic bent and wielding a shortsword and shield. From all around the scouting party come the repetitive sounds of ghostly arms on ghostly armor, as more of the gray creatures surround the scouting party.
While the scouting party is drawn away, the rest of the Company is confronted by more of these gray shapes, only their red eyes visible in the night. The Company quickly forms a defensive circle to try to fend off these ethereal beasts, but the strange wraiths do not immediately attack. Rather, one steps forward and asks in a hollow, haunted tone, "Which one of you is the leader?"
The Company, having been split in two, stammers a response that their leader is in the other group, and the odd creatures, likely some form of unlife, seem to grudgingly accept this as fact. Antonus though, rashly steps forth towards the hesitating unlife, brandishing his glowing staff at them. "Get thee hence, foul creature! You shall not pass a magus arcane! These folk are under my protection!" he cries. Dell and the others are taken aback by Antonus's actions and fear the worst.
Indeed, the unlife do not take kindly to this aggressive mage. The ghostly speaker steps forth and guts Antonus, his short, stabbing sword poking through Antonus, and the others quickly beset the fractured Company. Diego's shafts, unsurprisingly, prove little deterrent to the unlife, though Oaklock and Dell's magical bolts are more effective. The Company shouts loudly for the others to return, as the odds look long.
The scouting party hears the sounds of battle and certainly wishes to come to their comrades' aid, but they find themselves equally beset. Once combat has started to the north, the unlife surrounding the scouting party has wasted no time in pressing the Company. Winthrop, flying high in the air, hears muttering and cursing from the east, off in the darkness, but is unable to see a target. Instead, he sends a powerful barrage of magical bolts down and into the creature before Otto. Combined with Otto's strong blows, the unlife is unable to maintain its form and dissipates like dust blowing on the wind.
Winthrop's success is notable and noticed. A skeletal form, clad in heavy, archaic armor and wearing a Keoish tabard, sails up before him, strange winged boots holding the skeleton aloft. "Where is he?" roars the lungless thing. "I'll have it if I have to take his head first!" Winthrop is momentarily agog, and that is his downfall. The creature swings a rune-carved greatsword in a blurred pattern through Winthrop's body, and Winthrop falls to the ground in chunks. "Bring him to me, and you may yet live!" cries the flying unlife.
The Company, as a whole, shows a notable lack of ability to slay the unlife. Eig falls to the ground, pierced, and Herbert narrowly avoids being run through himself. His attempts to use the surrounding grasses to grab hold of the ghostly undead are unsuccessful. Eats Salmon is doubly perplexed at the undead and begins to whine and shuffle back and forth, unsure what to do. Dell and Oaklock combine with Diego and Adrienne to attack one of the ghostly warriors, but it seems well protected and able to withstand their attack. Indeed, the attacking undead, seeing Dell clearly for the first time, yells with a surprisingly strong voice, "I've found him! I've found the half-elf!" Dell blanches at the cry and takes several steps backwards, beckoning to Oaklock.
Otto and Raven succeed in opening a path through the unlife and try to lead the others back up to the Company. Overhead, the sound of small wings, flapping like a hummingbird's, speed by them. As they crash into the rear of the unlife surrounding the Company, Oaklock makes a series of complicated gestures. "I'll see you in Gorna!" shouts Dell as he and Oaklock fade from sight, swallowed up by an amber rift in space. Raven and Otto are agog at Oaklock and Dell's action.
The undead, noting that the half-elf has fled, turn as a unit and march towards the northwest, their fell leader apparently flying overhead, out of sight. The Company contemplates pursuing, but instead opts to tend to the wounded. Antonus and Eig, who have fallen during the fight, are found to only be unconscious and are quickly awoken. However, their annoyed colleague, Winthrop, is quite dead. The Company collects the parts of Winthrop's corpse and piles them together. The dwarven rod that has restored so many of the Company is in the possession of Cedrus, somewhere far to the south. No high priest is nearby, the closest being in Longspear, on the other side of the fallen city of Flen.
Hugh searches through Winthrop's belongings, carefully avoiding touching the books he finds in the backpack, certain that more protective wards have been woven upon them following the incident with Antonus. Deep in the blue dragon hide backpack, wrapped in cloth and then in leather, is a ceramic flask, a trefoil knot raised on one side of the flask. The last of the Waters of Life, Hugh pulls it from the backpack and prepares to pour it over Winthrop's chunky remains.
"Hold on a moment," says Raven, looking at the butchered meat that was Winthrop. "He'll need all the luck he can get." Raven reaches into his pocket to pull forth the lucky stone he has carried from the Pomarj, where he took it from the warrioress Genevieve. The others watch Raven as he paws at his pocket, his pouch, and then starts rifling through his backpack, increasingly frantic. "I must have dropped it!" exclaims Raven, as he runs back to where the unlife was fought. Raven, a glowing stone in his hand, searches the ground, flipping over every stone he can see.
"When's the last time you had it?" inquires Otto, a sudden inspiration occurring to him.
"Before we camped. I'm certain I had it before we camped," exclaims Raven.
"Dell would never have opened a rift like that without added assurances," declares Otto. "I'll bet you he swiped it from you when you slept." Raven grinds his teeth as he thinks the matter over. Indeed, Dell had set his bedroll remarkably close to Raven's ever since the fall of Flen. Raven assumed it was for protection, but perhaps a more nefarious purpose was the true reason. Now without his luckstone, he can not aid Winthrop in his return to life.
Hugh slowly pours the Waters of Life onto Winthrop's corpse, making certain that none of the precious elixir dribbles onto the ground. Before their eyes, Winthrop's body knits together, the various arms and appendages reconnecting and sealing. It is a miraculous sight and both Eig and Herbert take the opportunity to call out to their god and goddess, celebrating the power of Nature. After a long pause, Winthrop sits up, gasping for breath. "I'm very, very annoyed," are Winthrop's first words.
The morning light provides no new answers. The Company decides to continue on their trek westward, now to travel through Sterich itself, on to the capitol of Geoff, Gorna, rather than merely to the Javan River. "Do you think that was Kay-Tarn?" asks Eig, having heard of the captured letters from Longspear. The Company heartily debates whether the flying undead is the aforementioned creature, or if it is yet another dangerous enemy the Company will have to face. The fact that it did not linger to battle the rest of the Company is somewhat heartening to the others, as it might easily have been the doom of several more of the Company.
As the Company approaches the Javan, the scene becomes bleaker and bleaker. The dead litter the countryside, almost all wearing the red and black of the Keoish militia and army. None of the Knights of the Watch are found, a curiosity given their widely reported presence in Flen. Small bands of ghouls and the occasional zombie or skeleton roam through the dead, feasting or wandering aimlessly. They are easily handled by Hugh and Adrienne, especially during the daylight.
The Javan though, is covered with gloom. As the Company rides down to where the ferry that connects the Kingsway in Keoland to the Kingsway in Sterich would be, it is plain that something unnatural is occurring. Bodies, white and bloated, clog the river, unmoving even though the Javan normally pulls a strong current. The great chains that cross the river, providing grip for the ferry and keeping it from straying, are missing, but the dock still exists. The Company rides down to the shore, hoping to find some conveyance to get them across to the far shore.
No boat sits tied to the pier; only the floating corpses, their blank eyes staring up at the Company, lie tangled in the rope that dangles from the thick tree trunks. Eig, keen-sighted, peers across the black expanse. "I think the ferry might be on the other side," he says. "I can see some sort of boat over there."
Antonus walks to the end of the pier, the foul, fetid wind whipping down the river, and raises his staff high. With a circular motion and a quick jerk, he indicates to those across the river that the Company is at the docks and wishes passage. The wind increases with an audible howl, and the stench of death comes with it.
A great black boat, wide enough to carry horses, approaches the ferry's dock. A single figure, clad in a sweeping, black, cowled robe, works the scull, sending the boat arrowing through the water towards the apparently waiting custom. "I don't think that's the ferry," mutters Antonus, as he draws what meager wards he can summon.
The Company backs away from the boat, giving the dock some distance as the boat arrives. It slides up alongside the pier with nary a whisper, any sound it makes drowned out by the howling wind. The ferryman stows his scull and stands in his boat, patiently waiting his custom. As the great sweep becomes secure, the wind dies down, and the stench of the Javan retreats to its former self.
Eats Salmon whines as the Company approaches the boat, and Eig has to equally cajole and comfort the brown bear. While the others talk to the creature, Eig murmurs reassurances of sheep and large fish on the far side of the stinking river. Eats Salmon wants nothing more than some honey and warm spot in the sun; all of these horrible beings that taste and smell foul are anathema to his forest soul. Eig pulls forth berries he has enchanted for this purpose and slowly feeds them to Eats Salmon, distracting him from the horrors around them all.
Raven, Winthrop, and Otto approach the ferryman, slowly and carefully. The body of the ferryman is fully covered in a deep black robe, and, as they approach the dock, the gloom over the river seems to deepen and the air grow chill. "We wish to travel the river," shouts Winthrop, keeping a long distance from the boat. "Do you take passengers?"
The ferryman seems to consider the Company for a moment and then strides the length of the boat, into the bow, in a sudden movement. A pale hand emerges from the robe and beckons the three of them closer. "Well?" asks Winthrop. Raven grunts an assent, and Otto readies Giantslayer. The three of them slowly approach the boat, keeping a good ten feet from it. "What do you take for travel?" asks Winthrop. "We have coin."
The ferryman considers them again, cocking its cowl, and then nodding slowly. The pale hand, visibly tipped with deep black nails at this distance, emerges again and beckons them on. Raven tosses a pouch of Keoish eagles onto the boat. The ferryman picks up the pouch and opens it, peering at the coins within. The cowl moves from side to side, and the ferryman pours the gold coins onto the pier, several rolling off onto the pallid bodies trapped against the pilings. "Picky, isn't it," mutters Winthrop. Digging deep into his pouch, Winthrop pulls forth a handful of coin of different mints and values that he has collected along his journeys. "Here, which of these then? For us and our mounts?" he shouts.
Winthrop flinches as the long arm of the creature flies out and the black talons dance among his coins. He had thought to be out of range of such contact, but the creature, or the distance, is deceiving. The ferryman picks from the collection of coins first those that are made of platinum, odd ones that have a spider with a female head on one side and a mace on the obverse or that have a glowing staff on one side and a river valley on the obverse, and then those gold coins of giant size, regardless of mint. The amounts that Winthrop provides seem sufficient, as the ferryman steps back across the length of the boat, opening access through the side rail.
"Well, here we go," says Raven. He eyes the boat and decides that two trips will be necessary. Each trip must have some of the more experienced and less experienced members of the Company on board, in case of treachery, but also because of the potential dangers of the far shore. He details the Company into two parties and then orders them aboard. As each member of the Company approaches, they feel as if the ferryman suddenly approaches and stares at their face, even though no one sees the ferryman move towards another.
The Javan River appears unnatural, a flat plane of iron gray ripples the only motion on it. The dead float by, their faces agape in agony, their bodies torn and ripped in torment. The air takes on an ashen hue, the blue sky and the golden sun blotted out by a curtain of gloom and dread. Eats Salmon, who has taken the furthest possible position in the boat from the ferryman, whines and tries to hide, burrowing into the floorboards. Even the doughtiest of the Company feels oppressed and uneasy by the trip. The ferryman pushes his ferry through the water with smooth strokes of the scull, and the transit, while seemingly taking forever, is quickly done.
The Sterich shore is a haunted place, with the living dead tottering through the area. The sky overhead is gray and drear, with a thick haze blotting out both the sun and sky. Perhaps caused by floating ash, or perhaps by something worse, the haze casts a dimness over the countryside that inhibits the view. What was once a refugee camp is now a refuge of unlife. Adrienne, Diego, and Otto form a perimeter while Eig and Herbert try to calm Eats Salmon, who moans about rotting sheep. Zombies and skeletons that venture too close to the Company are quickly destroyed, but the Company does not try to push onwards, instead waiting for their fellow compatriots. After a half hour of keeping a low profile and destroying those undead that wander nearby, they see the ferry return. Raven, Al, and the rest of the Company successfully depart the boat, leading the mounts that could not ride with a hungry brown bear. All of the Company members appear somewhat shaken by their transport, but have fared none the worse.
The bear and the horses cause the footprint of the Company's beachhead to increase, and more undead are drawn to their warm, beating hearts. Rather than trying to deal with and destroy the apparently unending stream of undead, the Company mounts and rides northwest, beginning their trek to Gorna. The countryside is ravaged, a blight striking the land. The wheat rots on the stalk, fields slowly collapsing under the weight. The apple trees grow crooked and sickly, their fruit all deformed. Even the flowers are ugly. The corruption of the countryside is heart-rending and daunting to see. Halting, stilted figures stagger across the horizon, or lope with horrible undead grace through the vales ahead, reminding the Company of the fate of the men, women, and children of Sterich.
The grayness overhead limits the daylight and dusk falls more quickly than expected, and the Company must set camp. No good campsite is in sight, so the Company makes due with glowing stones and minimally impeded sight lines. Sentries are set, and the Company quickly camps. No moonlight penetrates the grayness above, and the Company huddles around the glowing stones they use in place of a campfire.
The Company is awoken by Diego's shout of panic and the sound of his horsebow. Scrambling to their feet, they see Diego bowled over by a pack of ghouls, who lope in out of the darkness. Diego's intestines spill out of this abdomen as the ghouls mob him. Antonus, quick to wake, screams in shock and then tosses a streaming handful of iron filings in a circle around him, crying out arcane words while ineffectively clutching his glowing staff. Adrienne and Hugh jump to their feet, calling on their god and goddess, thrusting their holy symbols forth while Winthrop sends bolts of energy into the writhing mass. The ghouls erupt in a blaze of holy light, their unholy flesh dissolving into thick dust and being blown from their body. It is too late for Diego though, his life's blood pouring out onto the ground around him.
"Holy water. We'll need holy water," says Raven, looking down on the archer's corpse.
"More things out there," says Hugh, pointing outward at shadowy forms that flick about at the edge of the light. Adrienne and Hugh present the might of their deities again, driving the shadowy forms away.
"Nice cluster," says Winthrop, as he summons a large ball of fire upon the now nearly invisible creatures.
Hugh pulls forth the waterskin blessed by Trithereon, made for use along with the dwarven rod now far to the south with Cedrus. He anoints Diego with blessed water to keep his soul intact and his body from rising in unlife. Diego remains dead, and much of the Company regrets the decision to go to Sterich, particularly Eats Salmon, who was promised a sheep, but has yet to receive one.
The Company does what it can, wheeling and fighting smaller groups of undead, but it is clearly a futile gesture. Separated from one another, their efforts make little impact against the horde of undead. As more and more of the undead arrive from the west, it becomes apparent to all involved that Flen can not be saved. Hours of skirmishes and battles have done nothing to help the now-burning city. Flenmen flee the city from the eastern gate, bolting with only the goods on their back into what should be the morning light. Instead, dawn arrives with only a slight increase in light. A black cloud hovers over the city of Flen, a combination of soot and ash from the burning buildings and the foul umbra that earlier alerted the Company to the undead horde's presence.
The individual members of the Company spend many a day rescuing and guiding refugees eastwards, towards the Kingsway and eventually to Niole Dra. In the process, they hear many a rumor. The most common is an uncomfortable one: that a mage of power threw open the gates of Flen, incinerating the guards with lightning and thunder from a clear sky, and laid bare the city for the undead to ravage. They also hear of a turbaned man in billowing clothing who has bestowed hundreds, if not thousands, of gold eagles on Flenmen as they head eastward to an uncertain future. Finally, some rumor that a group of Flenmen, cultists of the Earth Dragon, escaped into the mines, barricading themselves into the potentially defensible mine shafts.
The Company slowly locates each other, following rumor, tracks, and scent to a secure cave east of the city. The last to arrive are Dell, his turban and long cuffed shirts oddly clean and well-maintained, and his apprentice Antonus, who is now clad in a blindingly bright white robe. They weigh the options before them and try to assess the best route to take. After some debate, they opt to not travel east to Niole Dra, assuming that the Flenmen will quickly alert the King's Men that Flen has fallen, but instead decide to head west to Karmuck's Tower. This, they convince themselves, will allow them to determine what happened at the ford of the Javan River where the Keoish Army and a squadron of the Knights of the Watch were supposedly blocking passage.
The area around Flen is distinctly unsafe, and, rather than run the risk of encountering wights, spectres, or other fleet, difficult-to-spot unlife, the Company takes the long way around Flen, swinging north of the Kingsway. This detour costs them many days of travel, but likely increases their safety. Herbert, Eig, and Otto all spot an intermittent dust cloud that follows some distance behind them, approaching from the east. They fear that something is tracking them, but despite borrowing Winthrop's spyglass, Eig, the most keen of vision of the three, can not determine the origin of the dust cloud. Suddenly, one day, the dust cloud dissipates and does not reform. Some complex math on the part of Dell and Winthrop confirm that the cloud would be due east of Flen at this point. Perhaps aid has arrived for the Flenmen.
Having cleared the city of Flen and approaching the Javan River, the Company becomes more alert, setting more frequent watch. Late one night, a prickling between his shoulders alerts Otto that the camp is being watched. A gray, man-like shape flickers in and out of sight to the south of the camp, and, as Otto wakes the others, it turns and flees further south. Otto, Raven, Jasper, Winthrop, and Pfiffwin go to investigate this strange watcher, leaving Alouicious, Oaklock, Dell, Herbert, Eig, Adrienne, Hugh, Antonus, Diego, and Eats Salmon behind. Winthrop opts to scout in the form of a Gargoyle, flying above the others, to gain further vision and greater mobility.
The grayish shape seems to have realized it has been seen, as it flees southward. The scouting party, now chasing the form, is able to slowly close the gap, Otto choosing not to accelerate to his maximum speed and leave the others behind. Several minutes of chasing the figure results in the scouting party being well separated from the others. The grayish shape stops fleeing and instead turns and bangs some weapon upon his shield, a sepulchral beat that echoes in the night. The grayish shape has the form of a dead man with glowing red eyes clad in armor of an archaic bent and wielding a shortsword and shield. From all around the scouting party come the repetitive sounds of ghostly arms on ghostly armor, as more of the gray creatures surround the scouting party.
While the scouting party is drawn away, the rest of the Company is confronted by more of these gray shapes, only their red eyes visible in the night. The Company quickly forms a defensive circle to try to fend off these ethereal beasts, but the strange wraiths do not immediately attack. Rather, one steps forward and asks in a hollow, haunted tone, "Which one of you is the leader?"
The Company, having been split in two, stammers a response that their leader is in the other group, and the odd creatures, likely some form of unlife, seem to grudgingly accept this as fact. Antonus though, rashly steps forth towards the hesitating unlife, brandishing his glowing staff at them. "Get thee hence, foul creature! You shall not pass a magus arcane! These folk are under my protection!" he cries. Dell and the others are taken aback by Antonus's actions and fear the worst.
Indeed, the unlife do not take kindly to this aggressive mage. The ghostly speaker steps forth and guts Antonus, his short, stabbing sword poking through Antonus, and the others quickly beset the fractured Company. Diego's shafts, unsurprisingly, prove little deterrent to the unlife, though Oaklock and Dell's magical bolts are more effective. The Company shouts loudly for the others to return, as the odds look long.
The scouting party hears the sounds of battle and certainly wishes to come to their comrades' aid, but they find themselves equally beset. Once combat has started to the north, the unlife surrounding the scouting party has wasted no time in pressing the Company. Winthrop, flying high in the air, hears muttering and cursing from the east, off in the darkness, but is unable to see a target. Instead, he sends a powerful barrage of magical bolts down and into the creature before Otto. Combined with Otto's strong blows, the unlife is unable to maintain its form and dissipates like dust blowing on the wind.
Winthrop's success is notable and noticed. A skeletal form, clad in heavy, archaic armor and wearing a Keoish tabard, sails up before him, strange winged boots holding the skeleton aloft. "Where is he?" roars the lungless thing. "I'll have it if I have to take his head first!" Winthrop is momentarily agog, and that is his downfall. The creature swings a rune-carved greatsword in a blurred pattern through Winthrop's body, and Winthrop falls to the ground in chunks. "Bring him to me, and you may yet live!" cries the flying unlife.
The Company, as a whole, shows a notable lack of ability to slay the unlife. Eig falls to the ground, pierced, and Herbert narrowly avoids being run through himself. His attempts to use the surrounding grasses to grab hold of the ghostly undead are unsuccessful. Eats Salmon is doubly perplexed at the undead and begins to whine and shuffle back and forth, unsure what to do. Dell and Oaklock combine with Diego and Adrienne to attack one of the ghostly warriors, but it seems well protected and able to withstand their attack. Indeed, the attacking undead, seeing Dell clearly for the first time, yells with a surprisingly strong voice, "I've found him! I've found the half-elf!" Dell blanches at the cry and takes several steps backwards, beckoning to Oaklock.
Otto and Raven succeed in opening a path through the unlife and try to lead the others back up to the Company. Overhead, the sound of small wings, flapping like a hummingbird's, speed by them. As they crash into the rear of the unlife surrounding the Company, Oaklock makes a series of complicated gestures. "I'll see you in Gorna!" shouts Dell as he and Oaklock fade from sight, swallowed up by an amber rift in space. Raven and Otto are agog at Oaklock and Dell's action.
The undead, noting that the half-elf has fled, turn as a unit and march towards the northwest, their fell leader apparently flying overhead, out of sight. The Company contemplates pursuing, but instead opts to tend to the wounded. Antonus and Eig, who have fallen during the fight, are found to only be unconscious and are quickly awoken. However, their annoyed colleague, Winthrop, is quite dead. The Company collects the parts of Winthrop's corpse and piles them together. The dwarven rod that has restored so many of the Company is in the possession of Cedrus, somewhere far to the south. No high priest is nearby, the closest being in Longspear, on the other side of the fallen city of Flen.
Hugh searches through Winthrop's belongings, carefully avoiding touching the books he finds in the backpack, certain that more protective wards have been woven upon them following the incident with Antonus. Deep in the blue dragon hide backpack, wrapped in cloth and then in leather, is a ceramic flask, a trefoil knot raised on one side of the flask. The last of the Waters of Life, Hugh pulls it from the backpack and prepares to pour it over Winthrop's chunky remains.
"Hold on a moment," says Raven, looking at the butchered meat that was Winthrop. "He'll need all the luck he can get." Raven reaches into his pocket to pull forth the lucky stone he has carried from the Pomarj, where he took it from the warrioress Genevieve. The others watch Raven as he paws at his pocket, his pouch, and then starts rifling through his backpack, increasingly frantic. "I must have dropped it!" exclaims Raven, as he runs back to where the unlife was fought. Raven, a glowing stone in his hand, searches the ground, flipping over every stone he can see.
"When's the last time you had it?" inquires Otto, a sudden inspiration occurring to him.
"Before we camped. I'm certain I had it before we camped," exclaims Raven.
"Dell would never have opened a rift like that without added assurances," declares Otto. "I'll bet you he swiped it from you when you slept." Raven grinds his teeth as he thinks the matter over. Indeed, Dell had set his bedroll remarkably close to Raven's ever since the fall of Flen. Raven assumed it was for protection, but perhaps a more nefarious purpose was the true reason. Now without his luckstone, he can not aid Winthrop in his return to life.
Hugh slowly pours the Waters of Life onto Winthrop's corpse, making certain that none of the precious elixir dribbles onto the ground. Before their eyes, Winthrop's body knits together, the various arms and appendages reconnecting and sealing. It is a miraculous sight and both Eig and Herbert take the opportunity to call out to their god and goddess, celebrating the power of Nature. After a long pause, Winthrop sits up, gasping for breath. "I'm very, very annoyed," are Winthrop's first words.
The morning light provides no new answers. The Company decides to continue on their trek westward, now to travel through Sterich itself, on to the capitol of Geoff, Gorna, rather than merely to the Javan River. "Do you think that was Kay-Tarn?" asks Eig, having heard of the captured letters from Longspear. The Company heartily debates whether the flying undead is the aforementioned creature, or if it is yet another dangerous enemy the Company will have to face. The fact that it did not linger to battle the rest of the Company is somewhat heartening to the others, as it might easily have been the doom of several more of the Company.
As the Company approaches the Javan, the scene becomes bleaker and bleaker. The dead litter the countryside, almost all wearing the red and black of the Keoish militia and army. None of the Knights of the Watch are found, a curiosity given their widely reported presence in Flen. Small bands of ghouls and the occasional zombie or skeleton roam through the dead, feasting or wandering aimlessly. They are easily handled by Hugh and Adrienne, especially during the daylight.
The Javan though, is covered with gloom. As the Company rides down to where the ferry that connects the Kingsway in Keoland to the Kingsway in Sterich would be, it is plain that something unnatural is occurring. Bodies, white and bloated, clog the river, unmoving even though the Javan normally pulls a strong current. The great chains that cross the river, providing grip for the ferry and keeping it from straying, are missing, but the dock still exists. The Company rides down to the shore, hoping to find some conveyance to get them across to the far shore.
No boat sits tied to the pier; only the floating corpses, their blank eyes staring up at the Company, lie tangled in the rope that dangles from the thick tree trunks. Eig, keen-sighted, peers across the black expanse. "I think the ferry might be on the other side," he says. "I can see some sort of boat over there."
Antonus walks to the end of the pier, the foul, fetid wind whipping down the river, and raises his staff high. With a circular motion and a quick jerk, he indicates to those across the river that the Company is at the docks and wishes passage. The wind increases with an audible howl, and the stench of death comes with it.
A great black boat, wide enough to carry horses, approaches the ferry's dock. A single figure, clad in a sweeping, black, cowled robe, works the scull, sending the boat arrowing through the water towards the apparently waiting custom. "I don't think that's the ferry," mutters Antonus, as he draws what meager wards he can summon.
The Company backs away from the boat, giving the dock some distance as the boat arrives. It slides up alongside the pier with nary a whisper, any sound it makes drowned out by the howling wind. The ferryman stows his scull and stands in his boat, patiently waiting his custom. As the great sweep becomes secure, the wind dies down, and the stench of the Javan retreats to its former self.
Eats Salmon whines as the Company approaches the boat, and Eig has to equally cajole and comfort the brown bear. While the others talk to the creature, Eig murmurs reassurances of sheep and large fish on the far side of the stinking river. Eats Salmon wants nothing more than some honey and warm spot in the sun; all of these horrible beings that taste and smell foul are anathema to his forest soul. Eig pulls forth berries he has enchanted for this purpose and slowly feeds them to Eats Salmon, distracting him from the horrors around them all.
Raven, Winthrop, and Otto approach the ferryman, slowly and carefully. The body of the ferryman is fully covered in a deep black robe, and, as they approach the dock, the gloom over the river seems to deepen and the air grow chill. "We wish to travel the river," shouts Winthrop, keeping a long distance from the boat. "Do you take passengers?"
The ferryman seems to consider the Company for a moment and then strides the length of the boat, into the bow, in a sudden movement. A pale hand emerges from the robe and beckons the three of them closer. "Well?" asks Winthrop. Raven grunts an assent, and Otto readies Giantslayer. The three of them slowly approach the boat, keeping a good ten feet from it. "What do you take for travel?" asks Winthrop. "We have coin."
The ferryman considers them again, cocking its cowl, and then nodding slowly. The pale hand, visibly tipped with deep black nails at this distance, emerges again and beckons them on. Raven tosses a pouch of Keoish eagles onto the boat. The ferryman picks up the pouch and opens it, peering at the coins within. The cowl moves from side to side, and the ferryman pours the gold coins onto the pier, several rolling off onto the pallid bodies trapped against the pilings. "Picky, isn't it," mutters Winthrop. Digging deep into his pouch, Winthrop pulls forth a handful of coin of different mints and values that he has collected along his journeys. "Here, which of these then? For us and our mounts?" he shouts.
Winthrop flinches as the long arm of the creature flies out and the black talons dance among his coins. He had thought to be out of range of such contact, but the creature, or the distance, is deceiving. The ferryman picks from the collection of coins first those that are made of platinum, odd ones that have a spider with a female head on one side and a mace on the obverse or that have a glowing staff on one side and a river valley on the obverse, and then those gold coins of giant size, regardless of mint. The amounts that Winthrop provides seem sufficient, as the ferryman steps back across the length of the boat, opening access through the side rail.
"Well, here we go," says Raven. He eyes the boat and decides that two trips will be necessary. Each trip must have some of the more experienced and less experienced members of the Company on board, in case of treachery, but also because of the potential dangers of the far shore. He details the Company into two parties and then orders them aboard. As each member of the Company approaches, they feel as if the ferryman suddenly approaches and stares at their face, even though no one sees the ferryman move towards another.
The Javan River appears unnatural, a flat plane of iron gray ripples the only motion on it. The dead float by, their faces agape in agony, their bodies torn and ripped in torment. The air takes on an ashen hue, the blue sky and the golden sun blotted out by a curtain of gloom and dread. Eats Salmon, who has taken the furthest possible position in the boat from the ferryman, whines and tries to hide, burrowing into the floorboards. Even the doughtiest of the Company feels oppressed and uneasy by the trip. The ferryman pushes his ferry through the water with smooth strokes of the scull, and the transit, while seemingly taking forever, is quickly done.
The Sterich shore is a haunted place, with the living dead tottering through the area. The sky overhead is gray and drear, with a thick haze blotting out both the sun and sky. Perhaps caused by floating ash, or perhaps by something worse, the haze casts a dimness over the countryside that inhibits the view. What was once a refugee camp is now a refuge of unlife. Adrienne, Diego, and Otto form a perimeter while Eig and Herbert try to calm Eats Salmon, who moans about rotting sheep. Zombies and skeletons that venture too close to the Company are quickly destroyed, but the Company does not try to push onwards, instead waiting for their fellow compatriots. After a half hour of keeping a low profile and destroying those undead that wander nearby, they see the ferry return. Raven, Al, and the rest of the Company successfully depart the boat, leading the mounts that could not ride with a hungry brown bear. All of the Company members appear somewhat shaken by their transport, but have fared none the worse.
The bear and the horses cause the footprint of the Company's beachhead to increase, and more undead are drawn to their warm, beating hearts. Rather than trying to deal with and destroy the apparently unending stream of undead, the Company mounts and rides northwest, beginning their trek to Gorna. The countryside is ravaged, a blight striking the land. The wheat rots on the stalk, fields slowly collapsing under the weight. The apple trees grow crooked and sickly, their fruit all deformed. Even the flowers are ugly. The corruption of the countryside is heart-rending and daunting to see. Halting, stilted figures stagger across the horizon, or lope with horrible undead grace through the vales ahead, reminding the Company of the fate of the men, women, and children of Sterich.
The grayness overhead limits the daylight and dusk falls more quickly than expected, and the Company must set camp. No good campsite is in sight, so the Company makes due with glowing stones and minimally impeded sight lines. Sentries are set, and the Company quickly camps. No moonlight penetrates the grayness above, and the Company huddles around the glowing stones they use in place of a campfire.
The Company is awoken by Diego's shout of panic and the sound of his horsebow. Scrambling to their feet, they see Diego bowled over by a pack of ghouls, who lope in out of the darkness. Diego's intestines spill out of this abdomen as the ghouls mob him. Antonus, quick to wake, screams in shock and then tosses a streaming handful of iron filings in a circle around him, crying out arcane words while ineffectively clutching his glowing staff. Adrienne and Hugh jump to their feet, calling on their god and goddess, thrusting their holy symbols forth while Winthrop sends bolts of energy into the writhing mass. The ghouls erupt in a blaze of holy light, their unholy flesh dissolving into thick dust and being blown from their body. It is too late for Diego though, his life's blood pouring out onto the ground around him.
"Holy water. We'll need holy water," says Raven, looking down on the archer's corpse.
"More things out there," says Hugh, pointing outward at shadowy forms that flick about at the edge of the light. Adrienne and Hugh present the might of their deities again, driving the shadowy forms away.
"Nice cluster," says Winthrop, as he summons a large ball of fire upon the now nearly invisible creatures.
Hugh pulls forth the waterskin blessed by Trithereon, made for use along with the dwarven rod now far to the south with Cedrus. He anoints Diego with blessed water to keep his soul intact and his body from rising in unlife. Diego remains dead, and much of the Company regrets the decision to go to Sterich, particularly Eats Salmon, who was promised a sheep, but has yet to receive one.
