Episode 10: A Symptom of Man's Failure

**Act I.**

As Uriah watches Vladeska chopping away at the giant hand made out of zombies, he notices that Hildi is no longer standing on the roof where she was earlier. But several windows of the house have been broken, and the door is cracked. There is screaming and chaos in the streets on all sides as the undead have begun coming over the wall. Casting Protection from Evil on himself, Uriah goes to see if he can help. As he gets closer to the house, he can hear Hildi shouting from inside for something to stay back. When he goes inside, Uriah sees she is facing off two zombies. He casts Sacred Flame on one. Hildi shouts to him that she can’t leave her father. Uriah puts himself between Hildi and the zombies. But as he’s focused on them, Uriah doesn’t see Hildi’s zombified father come up behind him and bite him. Hildi is shouting at her father not to bite Uriah; she doesn’t understand that he’s turned. As Uriah casts Sacred Flame again, Hildi takes out her golden ticket to remind her father that he promised they would go to the Carnival together. He turns on her, and Uriah casts Sacred Flame on her father, telling Hildi that he’s gone. The house is on fire now, and more zombies file in from the street. Uriah channels divinity to Turn Undead, and Ueber the wereboar crashes through the wall to save them. As Hildi reaches for her father, Uriah sweeps her up and follows Ueber out into the streets.

**Act II.**

Valentine sees Uriah exiting the burning house with Hildi, who’s trying to run back inside. Seeing an explosive barrel on the far side of the house, Valentine casts Firebolt on it, thinking that Hildi can’t get back inside a house that’s gone. The house erupts in a pillar of flame, getting everyone’s attention, and Vladeska shouts, “No!” (as in ‘it’s too soon’)

Nahara and Fen join Valentine on the roof of the governor’s mansion. Fen sees that not far away from Desmond and Tatyana, a group of commoners is trying to escape through a crack in the wall, but they don’t see the endless zombies waiting for them on the other side. She flies down to warn the people trying to escape. One of them runs anyway and is immediately killed by the undead, who begin pouring through the crack in the wall. Fen calls Desmond and Tatyana to come help her shore up the crack. As they run to help, Jaeger shows up to assist also.

Fleeing with Ueber and Hildi, Uriah uses his Eyes of the Grave to find a clear path for them to run, but his senses tell him that the undead are beneath the city. He tries to shout this information to the others, but they’re too far away. Uriah keeps going, persuading Hildi that what happened was not her fault and calming her down as he carries her through the streets. Valentine is watching this from above, and Tregrum comments that it’s adorable. They also tell Valentine that the city has no chance, the undead are in the sewers. Valentine tells Tregrum this is not a city she wants to lead, whether there’s a vacuum of leadership after this or not. It advises her to stay on higher ground until they find a way to escape the city, and asks if Valentine wants her companions to survive. She says yes, and Tregrum says they have to recalibrate their tactics. It tells Valentine to stay close to Fen and Nahara, because they can fly her to safety if necessary. Valentine Messages Fen to tell her the zombies are under the city and recommends Fen bring Desmond and Tatyana to the roof of the mansion as well. Valentine says if the three of them get away from the wall, they could detonate the explosive barrels and leave. Fen wants to kill Vladeska first, and Valentine proposes that they stay somewhere safe until morning and then kill Vladeska. Fen agrees and Valentine Messages Nahara to tell the others what the new plan is.

On his way to the governor’s mansion, Uriah notices that the gates to the bastion ward are open and unattended. He gets Hildi to the roof with Valentine and asks Ueber to warn the others about the undead in the sewers. Fen lands on the roof and takes Hildi from Uriah. Hildi overhears Valentine telling Fen the plan and objects, saying the city will never fall. Valentine uses Suggestion to make Hildi fall asleep. After a brief back and forth where Fen makes sure Valentine’s spell didn’t harm Hildi, Fen agrees they should barricade themselves in and wait until morning. Valentine refuses to close the gate before Desmond and Tatyana reach them. Just then, Uriah’s undead sense tells him something has gone wrong at the hospital.

**Act III.**

Nahara uses Message to relay the plan to Desmond and Tatyana. Desmond wants to keep fighting, but he understands they have to stay together. Tatyana takes Katze to free the Carnival workers so they can get to safety with the party, leaving Jaeger to hold the temporarily shored-up wall.

Uriah sees lightning bolts hitting the hospital and goes to investigate. As he runs, some part of his mind realizes that they could detonate the explosives in the north ward and possibly take out Vladeska. Uriah forces the thought away for the sake of the innocents in the north ward. Valentine accompanies him to the hospital to take care of the problem there, one way or another.

While flying above Desmond and Tatyana, Nahara sees that the gate to the bastion ward is open and unguarded. She tells Desmond, who heads that way, and Tatyana, who changes her mind about rescuing the Carnival scouts when she realizes Valentine is inside the bastion ward. As they approach the gate, Freyja and Haegen step out and say leaving the gate open is part of their plan to take out Vladeska. They’re allowing the undead into the bastion ward so that Vladeska becomes overrun. When Desmond questions the collateral damage this will cause, Haegen says the strong will survive. Tatyana is disgusted, and calls out Freyja for standing with Haegen. The five of them square off, Nahara casting Eldritch Blast on Freyja as Desmond attacks her. All of their attacks fail. Tatyana attacks Haegen with her axe but is unable to land a hit. Haegen hits Tatyana with his sword, and Freyja shoots an arrow at Nahara but misses.

Fen flies ahead of Uriah and Valentine to the hospital but doesn’t land so as to keep Hildi safe. She tells them the lightning is not natural and to be careful. Vjorn is casting Lightning Bolt on the hospital as some of the injured have turned and are attacking others inside the tent. Fen tells Valentine to use fire. As Uriah yells for the living inside to look out, Valentine casts twin Firebolts that catch the tent on fire. The injured do their best to escape the fire with zombies chasing them. Uriah casts Sacred Flame on some of the zombies. Realizing not all of the living are going to make it out of the tent, Horstman falls to his knees. Uriah tells him the undead are beneath the city, and Horstman refuses to believe it, saying Vladeska has accounted for everything.

Tregrum congratulates Valentine on her good shot and informs her Desmond and Tatyana are having trouble at the gate. Valentine runs to them, and Fen and Uriah turn to see arrows being fired at Nahara. Fen grabs up Uriah to fly them there faster. Seeing they aren’t getting anywhere, Tatyana asks to parlay with Haegen. She points out that Vladeska is outside the gate and her friends are inside. Seeing Desmond and Tatyana are battling Freyja and Haegen, Uriah runs between them in order to stop the fight. Fen asks why the resistance doesn’t just kill Vladeska instead of sacrificing everyone inside the gate. Haegen says Vladeska is a powerful warrior and too many are still loyal to her. Azalin Rex possesses Uriah again to suggest that the resistance can blow up Vladeska with the explosives hidden throughout the northern district, where she’s fighting. Freyja and Haegen abandon the gate to do just that. Valentine says she likes the other Uriah. He wakes up too late, protesting that there are innocent people in the north ward. Stewart has offered Nahara assistance, telling her that the undead seem unable to enter the cathedral where her body was buried. Nahara Messages this to Uriah. He is still protesting that he didn’t mean to suggest the resistance blow up the north ward. Nahara tells him they can’t defeat what’s coming or Vladeska, they have to worry for their own safety. Uriah says they have to keep Hildi safe, at least, but she’s not the only child in the city. Nahara says she knows.

**Act IV.**

The party shuts the gates, and Fen passes Hildi over to Uriah. They discuss whether or not it will be safe in the cathedral. They wonder if Nahara’s body keeps the area safe, and if so, will it no longer do so since they buried it. With some questioning, they find out Stewart was the one who told Nahara the cathedral was safe. This doesn’t fill the party with confidence. Tatyana points out they just worked so hard to get the gate closed, but the cathedral is outside the gates. Nahara flies to the cathedral to see if it’s free of undead. It is, and she uncovers her body just enough to take a white feather and place the body taker plant seed over her chest before reburying her body. Then she returns to tell the party it’s safe. As they make their way to the temple, rebel archers fire at the exploding barrels, blowing up the north ward. As the earth shakes and the explosions radiate out toward them, Desmond and Tatyana can see Uriah and Valentine won’t make it. They pull them to safety at the last minute. As they reach the temple, Uriah can feel many undead were wiped out in the north ward, but he knows many of the living were there as well. The party mourns the lives lost but agrees that Vladeska would have done it if they hadn’t. They resolve to wait until morning to retrieve the Carnival workers from the prison in the bastion ward.

Desmond casts Cure Wounds on himself, and Uriah congratulates him on learning the spell before healing Tatyana. Valentine asks Fen what the consequences will be if the Carnival workers don’t survive the night. Fen thinks Isolde will forgive them if she knows they tried their best and risked their lives, given the circumstances. The party bars the cathedral doors and rest as best they can. They hear the sounds of battle in the distance but it does not reach the temple.

**Act V.**

In the morning, they see survivors going to check on loved ones. Uriah wakes Hildi and gives her his rations to eat for breakfast. She remembers too late that her father is dead. Uriah asks if she has any other family, but she doesn’t; they lived in the river ward. He asks if Fen could find a place for Hildi at the Carnival. Hildi doesn’t want to abandon Falkovnia, but she promises to visit the Carnival because it’s what her father wanted.

When they leave the temple, the party sees Haegen’s and Freyja’s bodies on spikes in front of the governor’s mansion. Tatyana is angry that Freyja came to this. She reveals that Freyja taught her Beast Speech. As Desmond expounds on the illogic of killing one’s own best soldiers, Vladeska emerges, horrifically burned, to congratulate them on surviving the night. She turns over the Carnival prisoners to them and tells them to take a message to Azalin. Gesturing to the impaled soldiers, she says to let Azalin know how she deals with treachery. With one last look at Nahara, Vladeska walks away.

Unge the wererat volunteers to lead them to the Mists. Fen and Valentine debate whether they should stay and kill Vladeska or leave. Fen wants to kill her, Valentine just wants to leave. But she says she will take on the Falkovnian army with Fen, if Fen wants to stay and kill Vladeska. Fen does, but she has to get the Carnival scouts back to Isolde. At the edge of the Mists, they can see the lights and hear the music of the Carnival. Unge gives Nahara the lyre he was playing, saying that he played it for his brothers, and he doesn’t feel like playing anymore. He gives it to Nahara so that she can use it if she ever wants to return to Falkovnia. Nahara can feel the spirits around the lyre, and plays a tune from a lost memory. Unge disappears, and Nahara uses Hildi’s golden ticket to get them back to the Carnival.

Fen tells Uriah to show Hildi around the Carnival. Hildi thanks Fen, and Uriah starts to tell her about cotton candy and fried carnival food. Tatyana runs off to Litwick Market. Fen returns the Carnival workers to Isolde, who immediately sends them back to work. When Fen tells Isolde about Hildi, she grants Hildi luck at all of the carnival games. Then Isolde offers to draw Fen a bath and wash her hair while Fen tells her all about their adventure. Desmond goes looking for a drink and finds Rose, who propositions him again. He declines, but accepts a drink from her. Rose says she won’t stop trying, but leaves for now.

Valentine finds the duergar at the ring toss with Hildi and Uriah. As Hildi wins all of the stuffed prizes, Uriah sees that one of them was a man-eating plant, another a headless horseman doll, and some evil-looking cat creatures. Valentine looks at the new prizes, seeing stuffed ghosts, two vampires–one with heart eyes and the other looking angrily at the first–lumpy round things with tentacles, and a sad bride doll that looks like Nika. She goes behind the counter and finds another bride doll, this one with stitches all over it. Valentine asks the duergar where he gets the prizes, and he says they just appear every morning. Valentine takes the bride doll, promising him that if he knows something and he’s not telling her, she will find out. The duergar Messages her that some things can’t be told, they have to be discovered, and if she doesn’t know what that means, then it must not be time to find out. He reminds Valentine he took care of the dead body for her last time. She pretends it had nothing to do with her. He tells her the bride doll is not a toy, but it’s on the house.

**Epilogue:**

Later that night, Fen and Uriah meet to talk alone. Uriah bemoans all the lives lost in Falkovnia, and Fen congratulates him for his bravery. She says more innocents would have perished if they hadn’t acted. Uriah says it’s cold comfort, and Fen tells him that’s how the world is.

Uriah asks about Fen’s gifts. She explains the difference between being a dhampir and a vampire and tells him she received the gift from her father, who was a full vampire. He hid among the drow until both of them were discovered. Then Fen left to protect the rest of her family. Uriah questions why Fen drinks blood if she doesn’t have to. She tells him he doesn’t have to be afraid of her.

Uriah asks about her second form, and Fen says it’s something her father taught her to do, to take on the more demonic side of her personality.

As Uriah learns some interesting and unsettling details about his oldest friend, B. Dave tells us it’s a good place for us to stop.

**Previous Episode**: 9 - Only Lasting Death

**Next Episode:** 11 - Return to the House of Lament