Session 89: We Brought Out the Dead

The following is from a journal entry from one Feno Adris, a member of the “The Saviors of Orlane”

Day 19 of Wealsun

I had that dream again. We were being chased through the forest by a band of orcs hired by the king. Fires burned around us. They caught up to and killed most of my family and friends, but I was able to escape. My father sacrificed himself in order for me to make that escape. When the flames began to touch the sides of my face I awoke. My heart was beating hard, as it usually does with this dream. Touching my scars along the sides of my face and neck, while cleaning the beads of sweat that had formed from the dream, it is no wonder people give me looks of disdain. People often look at me, and conclude I’m not handsome enough for them, not understanding how these scars came to be. Ever since that night, I have vowed never to be so helpless, and I have fortunately been able to train into a half decent fighter. But that is a story for another day.

After getting ready for the day, the group and I discussed over breakfast what we should do in way of adventuring today (after some spent a week or so training in Orlane). After much discussion, I put forth that we should go to the barrow marsh and explore more of the tombs that outline the barrow maze, as perhaps there are more treasures to be found therein. Lhoss, who is often the leader of our little group, agreed. So, following some last-minute shopping in town, we headed out towards our goal of the untold riches in the barrow marsh.

Maybe it was the vividness of the dream the previous night, but passing through the fields, like they had so many times before, reminded me of home. A home that doesn't exist anymore I had to remind myself. The smells of the freshly planted and harvested crops, as well as the unusual amount of sunlight, were very familiar sights and smells. As we make our way through the not so dim forest (it is lighter than normal today), Lhoss notices something and signals the party to stop. I signal to stop as well. Lhoss, Gnorcia, and I then quietly go to investigate this mysterious thing that was seen about 80 or so yards off. As we quietly travel through the brush and vines, I can’t help but have flashbacks to when I was a young wood elf and explored similar woods with my friends. We would climb trees and practice hunting with poorly constructed bow and arrows. It was at that time I discovered I had the ability that I could communicate with the woodland creatures of the forest. I push those thoughts aside and focus on the task at hand. As we make our way to where the creature should be, we discover no marks of any kind; it appears the creature disappeared into thin air. It must’ve been a ghost or dryad or another creature of the forest, I think. We make our way back to the rest of the group and inform them of our finding nothing. We resume our quest back towards the barrow marsh.

The barrow marsh is dimmer than normal with steam coming from the pockets of mud and water throughout the area. We decide to dig on an area of the map labeled #9 (we haven't figured out who labeled them or what the numbers mean yet). It is an ancient burial mound, undisturbed for quite some time. Lhoss and I begin digging while the rest of the group eats their rations. Once finished, we switch, and Tatania and Gnorcia trade places with us so we can attempt to eat our rations. I say attempt, because they are apparently noisy diggers, because no sooner did we sit down to eat than an army of skeletons appear out of the mists of the marsh. They rushed into attack, targeting Gnorcia and Tatania first, followed by the rest of the party. Armatzi did his cleric thing and made several of them turn around and run away in fear. Being forced to use my morningstar, I struggled with these skeletons, destroying only one, and missing several others. Fortunately, the group destroyed the remainder of this batch of skeletons, and we attempted to dig and eat again. Once again, the noisy diggers Tatania and Gnorcia attract the attention of another group of skeletons. This group again attacks Tatania and Gnorcia first, followed by the rest of the party. Armatzi does his thing and makes many of them run away, and I do a little better with this batch: I destroyed three of them and only missed one. Armatzi heals the cuts and bruises of the party before we settle down to eat and dig once more. Lhoss and I are able to finish our rations this time before, yet ANOTHER set of skeletons attacks us. Armatzi works his cleric magic and makes several of the walking dead run away. I destroy one, and the party destroys the rest. Having grown frustrated by this constant onslaught of skeleton mayhem, I take a defensive posture and the party is able to finally dig out the entrance to the burial mound. We discover that it is a dark cavern that leads to downward to a chamber that contains four sarcophagi. Struggling with patience today, I move towards one of the corners of the chamber with a sarcophagus, and apparently trip a floor trap: poisonous centipedes drop from the ceiling. They attack the party. One hits me, but miraculously I am unaffected by poison or injury from the attack. I kill 3 of them in a sweeping motion, using my more familiar and more balanced long sword to attack. Finally, Lhoss kills the final centipede.

I am Feno Adris. I am weary of writing. Let this entry be sufficient for the day's accounting.