Session 122: Physical Therapy and Friendly Fire

In the aftermath of the paralyzing hug bestowed on Calbach by Roots, the rest of the party (Sergius, Niki, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Chalkboi, and Kyro) find themselves at a loss as to how to help their motionless comrade. As they stew over ideas, an eye and ear appear on the wall. Kyro, quick as lightning, fires off an arrow and strikes true. With a curse, the apparitions vanish. Still, the problem of a helpless teammate remains. Lhoss removes Calbach's boot and instructs him to wiggle his toes. He does. A little. He is also able to wiggle his fingers, but nothing else. Kyro splashes a small amount of water on the patient and he twitches, but nothing more. Lhoss ambulates his limbs, circling his arms and legs in an attempt to reanimate them. It helps. A little. Lhoss determines that the best course of action is to re-memorize her levitate spell and float Calbach to Orlane and figure it out from there. Meanwhile, in the midst of study, Calbach recovers and wearily stands back up. Wryly, Gnorcia offers a hug which Calbach declines with a tinge of chagrin. Time to get back to the task of searching the upper hallway alcoves.

In the first hallway, a skeleton lies in repose upon a slab. As Niki enters to sweep the room, it animates and grabs her by the throat, strangling her. Kyro is the first to act and fires off an arrow, but in the struggle between friend and foe, Niki shifts into the path of the arrow and is hit. Eyes already widened and bulging from the force of being throttled, are cast back to Kyro who immediately fills with shame and regret. Once again, the group is reminded of the danger of firing ranged weapons into melee. Calbach and Lhoss attempt to swing their blunt weapons to disengage the bony figure, but are unsuccessful. Niki herself uses her warhammer to shove the creature away. It falls to the ground, seemingly defeated. The group takes a collective breath, but then the undead foe jumps back up, ready for more! With deft action Gnorcia finishes it off using Vengeance. Calbach pulls the arrow from Niki's arm and the party resolve to finish searching before heading back to Orlane. The group finds a hand axe with dwarven runes that name the weapon Brilnok, which means light. There is also a dwarven shield that is claimed by Sergius. Calbach contemplates destroying the slab and pillar until it's pointed out that they're made of granite and unlikely to be damaged without great effort and is dissuaded. Additionally the party finds a sling and cloak. The hour is getting late, so they all depart for Orlane, hungry for a delicious dinner.

They arrive in town earlier than they customarily do and find the dinning room humming with patrons. Several of the townsfolk are curious and interested in their adventures, so the day's activities are recounted (with just a few flourishes to display the strength and bravery of the Saviors of Orlane) and as a treat, Niki casts detect magic on the found items to wow the crowd a bit. It turns out the sling, axe, and robe are magical. Along with the coins found, not a bad haul for a day's work.