Caught in the Crossingfire

## **Synopsis:**

In Chapter 14: Caught in the Crossingfire – we hit the ground running as the scout in the lookout tower, seeing what appeared to be two Black Lion barbarians preparing to attack, took aim at Orba.  In a split-second decision Orba dropped her disguise, which gave the scout enough reason to change targets, uniting us against a common enemy.  Entering into an enraged state, the barbarian hurled two hatchets, dealing devastating damage before turning his attention to destroying a trinket that he tore from a string around his neck.  With the rest of the party charging into the fray, we were able to subdue the Black Lion before he destroyed the object, but it was too late for the maimed lookout.

The item of importance turned out to be a whistle, whose function was not yet apparent – so we covered our tracks and pressed forward into the denser area of the forest.  This stretch of road was unsettlingly quiet, and a vulgar stench was accompanied by rotting piles of flesh and bone in regular intervals along the path – a sign that someone (or something) had constructed a length of desecrated ground to amplify necromantic powers.  In this unholy place, a number of restless spirits closed in around us – and finding the barbarian's whistle to be the focus of their attention, Safira blew into it, sending the spirits cascading back before resuming their slow approach.

We picked up the pace – Safira keeping the spirits at bay and Beezaura manning the reins, and things were running relatively smoothly until a distant explosion sent the specters scattering – causing mayhem both inside and outside the carriage.  With a sinking feeling that the blast had originated at our intended destination, we did our best to soothe the horses and follow the sounds of running water to lead us to the Pucara River.  Before we left the desecrated ground, however, one of the spirits bargained for our whistle by offering a spell scroll in return – a transaction that Safira approached with great caution while hoping that it might soothe these disturbed woods.

When the road finally met up with the river, billowing smoke from the crossing (along with a steady diet of debris floating downstream) confirmed our suspicions, and we broke for the bridge at a full gallop.  A significant portion of the bridge (as well as a couple nearby structures) had been obliterated in the explosion, and while we could not bring the carriage safely across – some careful maneuvering allowed us to swing, crawl and climb our way across the wreckage to the other side.

The buildings at the crossing had mostly been reduced to rubble, but among the many bodies littering the ground we found a mean still breathing – Tatton Othmar, whose necrotic wounds were beyond our capability to heal but was able to focus long enough to explain what had happened.  Apparently a secret storeroom of highly volatile necrocylium had been detonated while the Black Lion transport was stalled on the bridge – many of the guards and barbarians were killed instantaneously, but a couple fled on horseback to the north, and two more sought refuge in a nearby watchtower pursued by some kind of undead serpent.  Regrettably Tatton's life could not be spared, but at his request we granted him a peaceful death – and set our sights on locating the other survivors.

Bashing our way through the watchtower's door, we stormed the spiral staircase to the third floor where we found the aforementioned bony snake attempting to ram its way into a locked room.  We drew its attention and began a full assault as it used every bit of power at its disposal to dispatch us – lightning strikes, skeleton reinforcements and a shower of sharp bone missiles that incapacitated our wizard briefly before Graven set his healing magic upon her.  With a great crash of her mighty flail, Beezaura executed the creature and brought stillness to the tower – allowing us time to enter the sealed chamber, where against all odds we came face to face with Jillian Kosivo.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: three natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 each by Anthony, John, and Matt.