23rd day, evening, 4th moon, 26AF
We are going to be going back into battle against the evil at the corrupted dwarven crypt. So I went out into the woods with Kip again today to gather herbs for more coagulation packs. We even found some of the juicier roots needed to make a healing draught, so we picked those as well (something of a rare find). This of course took us most of the day, so we picked some other herbs to justify our spending so much time out of town where we probably should have been trying to support the town. We managed to make three packs, I gave two to Andrew and one to Dermond. They both are untrained as healers but they can probably figure it out enough to not waste the packs egregiously.
When we got back into town, there was a lot of vagueness about the possibility of Dermond having done something a bit left of center. I hope he learns to control his improper urges, he can either be an asset or a problem.
More importantly than Dermond sneaking around, though, is that some of the other children in the town have gone missing. We think they may have been intrigued by Andrew's stories about the crypt and gone to watch. Stannis and I got permission for a search and rescue mission, and we have brought Throth along. I imagine at some point Throth will want to settle down in the town, but we can use him now. We are leaving at first light.
24th day, evening, 4th moon, 26AF
We reached the burial site in the mid-afternoon, but the children from town were not here. Jovvi was very worried, and kept insisting that they had been kidnapped by the water gnomes. We split up - Cilmo and I stayed with Jovvi and Dermond in the clearing, and Andrew, Kip and Stannis went to the river.
About 2 hours later, Andrew, Kip, and four of the five missing children from town returned to the camp. Stannis, apparently, had been sent to relay the message that Kip had found the children's tracks down by the river. He had run off very quickly and nobody had seen him since.
| Name | Age | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Kory | 16 | fighter, shortsword and staff |
| Thera | 15 | |
| Tessa | 14 | |
| Diaz | 12 | Tessa's little brother |
One of the children, Tessa, has a twisted ankle (apparently that slowed them down enough for Kip to track them and catch up to them). I bandaged this for her, so if she needs to walk, she can.
We are going to discuss now what to do about Stannis.
24th day, 1st watch, 4th moon, 26AF
Jovvi and Kip were understandably upset about Stannis being missing. I know I am no good at dark searching, so I was not terribly surprised that Kip didn't suggest me as an assistant. (Dermond might have been a good idea though.) In any case, when they were about to just go off by themselves, I suggested they take Cilmo as well. Andrew, Dermond, Throth, the children and I relocated to the clearing in front of the stairs.
Throth and I equipped the children with some wooden weapons (I've altered the table above - Kory can use a staff) in case anything bad happened. Nothing has yet. I believe we're still a day early for that.
In any case, the searchers just returned with Stannis. Apparently he had gone off in totally the wrong direction and then turned back towards town. I'm sure Kip will have his hands full mocking Stannis behind my back for weeks over this one (because whenever I see the rest of the Blades mocking each other in my presence I put a stop to it)
25th day, mid-afternoon, 4th moon, 26AF
This morning, the other children (Kory's group) castigated Andrew for leading them on a bad path with his story about the clearing (Andrew said they misheard the directions) and asserted there probably wasn't anything there anyway. Accused us all of lying. I was somewhat annoyed by this, but Andrew took control of the situation and spun it such that the children then went home - which was the overall goal anyway. We can correct their version of history if we care later. We can't bring them back from the dead.
Stannis has been at Jovvi's beck and call a lot recently. I hope that it doesn't interfere in battle with good judgement - she is fragile, but she can take a scratch or two, if i dare say so myself. I will be displeased if he lets another member of the Blades go unconscious (or Thoren forbid, die) to heal Jovvi of a non-life-threatening injury.
Andrew was a big fan of just opening the stairs and trying to go in, but I don't think it would work in the day anyway and Jovvi demanded that we have a plan before we go in (not a bad call, really). We decided to split up into the following pairs:
| Squad duty | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Point | Dermond | Throth |
| Assault | Kip | Silmaire |
| Anti-Undead | Stannis | Cilmo |
| Support | Andrew | Jovvi |
Point squad's job is to move up and open the lightning-bolt-trapped door, and general scout duty. Throth is there to make sure Dermond doesn't die. Assault squad is generally going to be on the front line of combat. Anti-Undead is Stannis turning and Cilmo using his staff on any majorly nasty undead we encounter, and Support is Andrew with his theme music and Jovvi with magical and mundane archery.
We relaxed the rest of the day. When dusk falls, we are going to try to open the stairs until it works.
25th day, just before midnight, 4th moon, 26AF -- AARpt
Andrew opened the stairs to the crypt about an hour and a half before midnight, and we went up. We were expecting a battle, and we did much better than we did nearly a moon ago.
We sped through the initial rooms of the crypt pretty quickly. Dermond went in and got the personal effects of the priest of Aramyr we found in here the last time we came off of the priest's body and delivered them to Stannis. Kip and I then staged up to the room where the priests body lie and acted as cover while Dermond opened the door. He activated three lightning bolts from the security systems of the crypt, but was only hit by one of them (I was also in the blast, but was unharmed). The door is opened. I have drawn a bit of the layout of the crypt in this journal to assist in the after-action report.
The Blades advance into the cross hallway on the diagram. We hear chanting. Basically, the undead necromancer raised 18 skeletons, bolstered them, sent them charging down the corridor into us, and streaked past to other side to raise more. Assault squad held the line - Kip and I did pretty well, actually. Stannis turned some of the bolstered ones away from us, then takes the rest of the Blades to follow and kill the necromancer. Stannis destroyed 7 of the second horde on the ground - before the necromancer could bolster them. Kip and i continued to hold the line. Throth engages the necromancer - an undead foul beast that drained strength through its claws. Dermond, as point, streaked past us and goes into a large room past the cross hallway. 12 seconds later Dermond comes screaming back saying 'four large skeletons with glowing red eyes' (the necromancer probably raised them while we were opening the door, or the one skeleton that Kip and I let by us that streaked up that way alerted them). I yelled for Stannis to send one person back to help hold the line, intending to form the second holding line (on the diagram) Necromancer raises more skeletons. Cilmo beats the necromancer down with Mother Elaine's staff, taking a bit of damage in the process. Jovvi finishes him off with one of her magic missiles. Stannis then told Dermond to go scout - I think this was somewhat ill-advised, the scout already told us that we had incoming. Dermond went back into the room anyway... and the skeletons were right on him.
3 skeletal warriors move up and attack me, and nearly take me down. (One has a polearm - intelligent tactics.) I can see a fourth (the flanker) taking Dermond apart in the back room. Throth comes in and berserks on one of the warriors, and I smite it, taking it down. Throth and I are now forming the second holding line. I fall back, ready to lay on hands myself. Kip sees the hole and streaks through to rescue Dermond. Stannis comes up and turns incredibly well, driving back a goodly number of the skeletons coming up from the side (from the first holding line). Stannis then heals me and I get back into the hole. We drop another skeletal warrior and I can see Kip fighting a losing battle against the flanker that dropped Dermond.
Stannis casts an enchantment on Throth's mace, and Throth and I charge past the pole-arm wielding skeletal warrior to try to give Kip some backup. Cilmo fills in to attack the polearm warrior. The flanker skeletal warrior that dropped Dermond looses a killing blow on Throth, but Kip jumps forward and pushes Throth out of the way, taking the blow and falling down. I move up over him, and Stannis moves up and drops a minor heal into him. A few more swings (and a wild loss of my mace) later, both skeletons are down.
Throth turns to me and says "Go". He should have been unconscious. It must be a side effect of the rage - I could see him starting to calm down, slow down, and he was losing consciousness. I say "No, drink this", give him the herbal draught, and slap him with a poultice.
Momentary casualties of battle:
After half an hour of travel, we arrived at the standard camp we have been using for dealing with this crypt. I am on watch, but I need to get all of this information down on paper.