The Northern Menace Adventure #18

 

Welcome to The Northern Menace Adventure – Letters from Trilith! Join us as we adventure through the Northern Reach, through the eyes of our Wizard, Trilith, as we continue our adventure! Click here to read the backstories of the party! 

 

Oathday, 26th of Rainmoot, 1267

Report to the High Magus Rurik Vikstrom,

Having defeated the gargoyles, we headed down the hill, Antinua in the lead. We reached the bottom with no problems and headed into the trees. Quenya looked ahead while Teleri caught some quail for her dinner. Otherwise, the day was uneventful and I felt warm and comfortable thanks to Geldion’s Endure Elements spell. It really is the most wonderful spell. Can we start teaching this at the tower?

We set up camp under a half moon. Geldion and Antinua spotted a large buck in the shrubs. It took Antinua two quick shots to drop it. It looked like we were having venison again. Yum.

Robi and Geldion said some prayers while dinner was cooking. (You’d think they could find something more useful to do.) And we were off to the land of nod figuring we would be at Relgard on the morrow.

During my watch, three 9-foot centipedes squeezed from a rock face and headed straight for us. I shouted to wake my companions then shot the first one with a scorching ray. It fizzled and burned, its legs curling beneath it, but the other two kept coming.

Antinua stepped closer and shot twice at one of them and it flailed before falling dead. The last one charged toward me. I tried to dance out of the way, but it bit my calf. Fire shot up my leg and I felt queasy. I couldn’t seem to move very well. Damn centipede poison.

Geldion lit his mace, swinging mightily, but ineffectively. Robi lit his shield as well, so the camp was as bright as day. All the better to see how ugly and how big the centipedes were. Robi swung, but also couldn’t hit the squirming thing.

Another damn centipede crept from the hillside and attacked Geldion, but he danced around it. I stepped back carefully and cast mage armor on myself – a little belatedly.

Antinua shot point blank at the closest one and the arrow sank deep. Her second shot went wide.

Since the first one couldn’t get more Trilith on the menu, it settled for Robi. It snapped at him, biting deep, but at least he wasn’t poisoned. Geldion swung his mace again but couldn’t seem to connect. Robi slashed his longsword and the one that bit me oozed ichor to death. The final one bit Geldion, but he too managed to not get poisoned.

I stepped over to the one biting Geldion and cooked it with burning hands. Antinua drew and fired into this centipede as well. Geldion finally connected with his burning mace, crushing it. Thank goodness.

Antinua and Geldion filled up the crevice that they had crawled from so we could get some more rest. We dragged the smelly corpses away from camp. Geldion and Robi healed us all up and we bedded back down.

It was a beautiful morning, but I still felt clumsy from the centipede poison. In the morning Geldion said a loud restoration prayer and drew a figure of a bird on my head. The poison left me, and I felt less clumsy. I sincerely thank him, and successfully bit back a bit of a wry smile at the theatrics, which I’m pretty sure he’s doing for my benefit. Robi did the same for Geldion, without the show.

Telari took a look and told us what direction the ocean lay in. We headed out for the day. Travel was thankfully uneventful for a while.

I started to get the scent of the sea on the breeze and think of home. But Antinua smelled something foul that reminded her of the island. We all suspected that couldn’t be good. On the other hand, we had left more than one ogre rotting behind us, so there could have been nothing to worry about. I sent Quenya up to take a look, and he came right back saying “road!”

Something didn’t seem right, so I cast Mage Armor on myself (having made the mistake of not casting it too many times) and Geldion cast Protection from Evil on Antinua and Robi. Antinua also mentioned dark clouds coming in from the west. Robi didn’t detect evil exactly, but he did feel that there was something wrong going on.

We picked up the road to Relgard. Quenya went up again but suddenly bee-lined it back saying, “Dead, dead, dead!” We saw zombies headed our way from the direction of Relgard. At first, I worried maybe someone had killed the nice folk from Relguard and raised them, but these zombies looked old, not recently deceased. So at least on that count, my worries were assuaged.

The zombies spotted us and headed in our direction. Geldion cast Spiritual Weapon and a mace appeared and swung at a human zombie, smacking it, though doing little damage. He trotted forward on his horse.

Robi rode up on one of them, plunging his lance into it. The thing was eviscerated, and nearly fell, but caught itself.

I rode closer and shot one with 2 Magic Missiles and it reeled but didn’t go down.

A little kobold zombie tried boldly to scratch Robi’s horse, but the horse just shook him off. The zombie facing Geldion’s spiritual mace pawed at it, confused. Another zombie tried to claw Robi’s horse as well, but it pranced away.

Antinua shot a zombie bugbear in the side, but it kept heading toward Robi. Geldion’s Spiritual Weapon missed but kept an annoyed zombie busy. Geldion charged up next to Robi swinging his magical flaming mace and connected. He cracked a zombie in the head, and it fell face down, brains oozing.

Robi slashed his longsword at a human zombie cutting him open, but it didn’t seem to care. And the smell! Ugh! I rode up and shot a Scorching Ray at the zombie bugbear, but I missed as my horse jostled me. Damn. I do hate wasting spells.

The poor little kobold still couldn’t hurt the disinterested horse. Nor could the human zombie. The zombie bugbear trudged right up to Geldion and hit him a glancing blow. Geldion’s horse panicked and tried to flee. Geldion whirled and barely kept it under control.

Antinua said “Galad” and shot a magic arrow into the side of the bugbear. It flailed about as the positive enemy did its damage. She shot again but missed as it lurched toward Geldion. Geldion dismounted, letting the panicked beast flee, and swung his mace at the bugbear. He staggered it, but didn’t drop it.

His Spiritual Weapon, meanwhile, was in a tickle fight with an angry and confused zombie. Neither hurting the other.

Robi swung the longsword chopping the human zombie in half. Did I mention the smell?  I shot the bugbear again with Magic Missile, lighting it up, but it fought on. In return, it tried to claw Geldion but got nothing but shield. Antinua rode up swinging her sword at the bugbear, slicing into it. Guts came out, but still, the dead wouldn’t die.

The Spiritual Weapon finally hit but didn’t kill the zombie. Geldion cracked the bugbear a good one, but it was still on its feet. Man, that thing was tough! Robi finally took off its head.

I looked around for any other enemies, but the coast seemed clear. But Quenya, checking from above, again bee-lined it back to me so I’m guessing there’s more bad news.

Antinua sliced open the little kobold zombie, though I was almost rooting for the little guy. Robi charged the final zombie slicing it open. It collapsed in a heap. We regrouped as we turned toward the new threat.

More as the situation develops.

Your servant,

Trillith

 

Want more of The Northern Menace Adventure: Letters from Trilith? Click here for the of this series, and get your own copy of the Dungeon Chronicle here! 

 

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