Zoom 2022-01-18 21:00

As we get about 50 foot beyond the edge of Vendor, Caradoc is assailed by a volley of darts – 3 of which hit him.
In front of the party, arranged in a rough semi-circle, are 6 blurred shapes – they seem to be concealed by some chameleon effect that almost totally hides them unless they move – and even then they are still well camouflaged. The party reacts (ie attacks) as they continue to be peppered by darts (each assailant can throw 3 darts a round, at +5 to hit!).
However, the dice are friendly and they allow the party to get initiative – and a combination of prayer, chant, faerie fire, stuns and holds allow the party fighters to close, engage and defeat the attackers without too much trouble (only Hamish had to disengage when things got a bit too hot for him.)
Meanwhile, behind us, infravision observers at the back of the party see a cold patch at the end of the path out of Vendor – and Twoo (who has Detect Invisibility up) sees it as a humanoid figure. On hearing this, Garaf dumps a stinking cloud on top of it.
As the fight draws to its conclusion, our attackers are revealed as Lizardmen (of the ‘Fred’ variety) – they look very emaciated, and their scales are heavily tattooed all over. The first Lizardman to die is killed by Francis in a big hit that kills it outright, but as the second one is brought down to low negative Hps, it doesn’t just die – the scale tattoos flare up and something emerges out of its body – it is a Wraith.
However, as soon as this happens, with amazing speed the ‘cold patch’ comes zooming out from the village towards the emerging Wraith and shreds it to bits. Having done it’s stuff, the cold patch starts to return to the village, but as it passes Wun it goes towards him – and disappears into him. Wun turns ‘frosty’ - but seems quite comfortable.
The fight concludes with two Lizardmen being killed, and two being purposefully knocked unconscious and taken prisoner. The two dead Lizardmen also have Wraiths start to emerge from them – but Wun simply says ‘No’ to both of them, and they each dissipate in the non-corporeal equivalent of being turned to dust.
Wun turns to Garaf and tuts at him, and then suggests to the party that we get at least a quarter of a mile away from Vendor. Then the cold patch separates from Wun and heads back to Vendor.
When questioned, Wun says that he feels he was joined by a Universal worshipper who was a friend. Wun believes that ‘they’ (ie a group including his friend) are trying to stop ‘him’ from coming back. The ‘him’ is the man with a torn-out throat.
The party heed the advice and head away from Vendor towards the treeline. However, during the battle, Caradoc had scouted around behind the battlelines and seen at least six more camouflaged figures behind – and they had retreated as soon as Wun’s friend demolished the first wraith. We are therefore wary and Caradoc spots at least five or six of them in the woods ahead.
The party discuss what to do, and it is suggested that Wun should try to ‘turn’ these Lizardman given their close connection to undead. He agrees to do so – so he presents himself at the front of the party with holy symbol raised and voice booming – and gets a hail of darts in his face for his efforts. So the party respond with entangles and stinking clouds. However, we can’t do much to actually attack the lizardmen within, and they can’t do much to us once we get out of dart range – so we have a stand off.
A lizardman emerges waving a white flag and approaches us. We make peaceful motions, but there is a problem – he appears to only speak Lizardish and we don’t. He allows Twoo to touch him with a ‘Comp Lang’ spell, and is understood to say “We fight, we die, you die.” The party start discussing what to do, and how to reply given that he doesn’t understand us. We obviously take too long deciding, because:
* The lizardman draw a knife and attacked Twoo, and misses. He then tries to run back to the woods.
* Twoo trips him up as he turns to run. Twoo then hits him with his sword (7 damage)
* The Lizardman gets up, and puts the knife to his own throat.
* Twoo backs off.
* The Lizardman runs off to the woods.
The party decide they have had enough of this game – we can’t do anything about the Lizardmen, so we head off towards The Forge. Vendor is glowing quite brightly by now – the UV light gives Khurak a nasty headache, and Brokev is disquieted by seeing lots of things he ‘likes’ and lots of things he ‘doesn’t like’ moving around within Vendor – as if a battle is going on. Wun feels that he should be helping in this ongoing battle – but knows he is totally outclassed.
We camp without incident, and are met in the morning by Manuel the clan scout. He knows nothing. He certainly has not heard of any of the phenomenon that we observed in Vendor – ie disappearing/reappearing humanoids or time-slips etc. We pass on our news to him, and hopefully people who know something will be around at the Forge when we get there, and we will be able to hand over our Lizardmen prisoners.
For next time: party to send Darrell actions/activities at the Forge, and any topics of discussion etc.
There will be no session next week (25th Jan)