Summary
Kythorn 26
The party has left Milvarune and is travelling through southern Thesk on their way to Mulsantir in Rashemen. They are planning to infiltrate Thay and attack the Red Wizard that Thorn believes has the Obsidian Fang. Kiri also needs to report to her church in Mulsantir that her god's harp artifact and the paladins escorting it were lost at sea. Mirag is looking for more information on the demon stone, and Rashemen has lots of wizards and is close to the former demon empire of Narfell, so he may be able to get more information there. Risa's quest will take her further north, but her home and monastery are on this route to Rashemen. Caeli is just trying to lay low from her enemies back home in Rashemen and help the party, maybe they won't think to look for her so close to home.
Flamerule 3
The party has several days of good weather and easy travel but then hit a bad rainstorm which delays them several hours. The storm breaks and they are able to reach the town of Tioka at sunset. When they enter town, they notice the locals are staring at them. With a giant purple dwarf, a tabaxi, and a bearfolk, that's not unusual. But all the locals are staring, either angrily or suspiciously at Kiri… The party ties up their horses at the local inn, the Drunken Duck, and goes inside to inquire about rooms. The inn is small, so Andre and Mirag are already concerned about the beds. The innkeeper tells them he has no stable; he gives them a token for a discount at the blacksmith's stables and will have food ready for when they return. Coming back from the stables, they are stopped by the sheriff and four guardsmen. They question Kiri's identity as a real cleric. Andre vouches for her as a paladin and Caeli cuts herself so Kiri can heal her as a demonstration. The sheriff accepts their word and proof and explains that someone pretending to be a cleric of Lathander visited neighboring towns, supposedly to check on the welfare of plague victims who had been cured with the medicine. But several people in each town that he spoke to disappeared and seem to have been kidnapped.
The party goes back in to the inn and has a decent meal and some better ale. But they are interrupted again by screams and sounds of fighting. They run out into the street and see group of almost two dozen zombies and four wights has come into town and are attacking people. The zombies are pulling people from their homes and bringing them to the wights to be killed. They will come back as more zombies!
The party leaps to the attack. Mirag moves towards them, preparing his hammer. Thorn casts Spike Growth, filling the street to hold back the zombies. Risa dashes to get in to attack, passing through a house and diving out a window. Caeli moves close to the edge of the spikes and tries to kill a zombie holding a victim with Magic Missile. Kiri blesses Caeli with her Godly Gospel and shoots a Guiding Bolt, but misses. Andre summons his warhorse and casts Divine Favor as he moves forward. The wights kill more townsfolk and the zombies move towards the party.
Risa reaches a wight and unloads on it with her staff and a flurry of punches, then dashes away from its retribution. Mirag reaches a zombie and slams it with his hammer. He is curious if the demon stone will react to the undead, but it remains inert. Caeli steps out and unleashes a Lightning Bolt, killing two zombies and wounding two wights. Andre follows Risa through the house and smashes out the window she dived through and finishes the wight Risa beat up with a Divine Smite. Thorn draws his bow and kills a wight that survived the lightning. Kiri starts attacking zombies with Spiritual Weapon. The zombies are starting to surround Mirag and Andre, hitting them from every side. More stupidly try to skirt the spikes, but are still wounded. One wight attacks Risa, the other shoots arrows at Caeli.
Mirag continues to slam zombies with his hammer. Thorn fires more arrows at Caeli's other wight victim and drops it. Caeli casts Shatter behind the zombies attacking Mirag and Andre and blows them to bits, covering her team mates in zombie chunks. Risa ducks and spins through the zombies, smashing them down. Kiri has gotten close to the zombie pile up on the other side and turns them, destroying a half dozen zombies. Andre finishes the last wight. His horse and the town guard join with Caeli fighting the zombies that squeaked through the spikes and Thorn cancels the spell. The town's Silvanus priest comes from her temple and rushes to help. But a group of specters, led by a wraith, swoop down on Caeli and the defenders around her. They kill two of the guardsmen.
Thorn rushes into help, casting Hunter's Mark and stabbing a specter twice to destroy it. Risa continues smashing zombies. Kiri helps the unconscious guards and her team mates with Mass Healing Word and directs her Spiritual Weapon at a zombie. Caeli attacks the wraith as Mirag and Andre fight their way through zombies to help.
Kiri helps with Cure Wounds and her Spiritual Weapon, Risa finishes with the zombies. Thorn stabs another specter, ripping it to ethereal shreds. Caeli continues to hurl spells at the wraith, Mirag helps with Healing Word and his hammer. The sheriff, priestess and guards are grinding away at the last undead.
Mirag continues smashing with his hammer. Kiri helps with Healing Word again and Sacred Flame. Thorn destroys another specter. Caeli hits the wraith with Magic Missile. Andre throws two javelins at the wraith and misses, hitting Caeli with the first (Botch!) and then hits the wraith with another, killing it, but the javelin passes through its ghostly body and hits Caeli again!
All of the undead are destroyed and they tend to the wounded. The local priestess, Janda, says the bodies of the dead townsfolk need to be Blessed and laid to rest properly so they don't rise as zombies. Kiri assists her with the prayers. The party helps the sheriff gather the undead into a funeral pyre. The sheriff examines the wights' weapons and armor and declares them to be Thayan made. The Thayans like to send undead as harassment and behind the lines attackers. These probably walked across the river underwater and snuck past the border forts and started killing people to raise a zombie army behind the lines. If the party hadn't stopped them, they might have wiped out his village and led a zombie army to attack a border fortress from behind and opened a path for invasion. Some of the dead villagers had children who are now orphans, the guardsmen gather them and bring them to the church for care. The innkeeper returns their money for dinner and lodging.
Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
I showed them a giant map from Dyson.
Jack "Jim, I think you're confused. This is clearly a circuit diagram for a calculator.😆"
Nick "HOooly"
Then I showed them another, that they printed out on a giant roll of paper
Katya "When the map is big enough for you to LARP on the map itself"
Jack "What did we say about summoning evil?"
Jim "You called?"
There is a well in the town square
Brittany "Well, well, well"
Nick "Gah"
Jim "It's the Pit of Despair"
Evan "Maybe if you saw three wells"
The locals don't trust Kiri
Sam "Burn the witch!" and "Banned from another town"
Sam "Is it obvious Andre is a paladin?"
Nick "My knuckle tattoos of "Honor" and "Justice" didn't give me away?"
Sam "They asked somebody else to verify me <as a cleric>"
Jack "That's how religious wars start"
Nick "This is why you should carry pamphlets"
Caeli kills a zombie with Shatter and Andre is covered in zombie bits
Nick "I have never felt more like a paladin"
Chmiel <off Brittany's mike> "It's raining men"
Mirag is going to multiclass from Druid, into Fighter, then Barbarian
Sam "The most interesting bear in the world"
Jim "BarBEARian"
