Session 98

* Tiny Walled Hamlet South of Bilehall and North of the Sanctuary Temple.
* Roth's Feld Cemetery.

**Previously...**

## And Now...

### Into the Fire.

According to Gar's estimation, we have one to three hours grace before the undead soldiers arrive. As it stands, the barrier is capable of keeping all of the villagers safe, but making it mobile is going to take more energy. This is bad news, as it's taking everything from our two primary spellcasters, with assistance from a third, to maintain the shield in the first place. Dandy begins to absently fiddle with the latch on her satchel, and Leshrac, inspired asks if they could perhaps use the Star of Amplification. Dandy says she was thinking of that, but wasn't sure if we were telling people we had it or not, but hands it over nonetheless.

Using the Star's power, the barrier is expanded and strengthened and with that done, the group, with villagers in tow, heads away from the village heading South. With few other options, their goal is the Sanctuary Temple, which sounds promising... but Dandy has no notes on it on her map, and anything could be there. Still, it beats any of our current options, and it is in the direction of travel.

### When Scouting Works Both Ways.

Narrowly avoiding an undead patrol, Gar once again flies above the mists in order to spot the location of other patrol groups. He's able to spot a number of groups, but while he's intent on that, fails to notice a small group of gargoyles swooping in towards him. *(Something here about Leshrac having a vision of Gar slaughtering Gargoyles in a bloodbath of violence?)* Fluffy's able to make short work of the gargoyles, but one is able to escape. Cursing his luck, Gar returns to the group and gives them the news.

The group presses on, desperately trying to pick up speed. This is problematic as the automatons aren't designed for speed and the damaged one is in danger of falling behind constantly. Dandy does her best, using a combination of her collection of maps and accompanying notes, conversations with Chance, and her own skills at finding the quickest and easiest path while travelling overland. Unfortunately, between the maps, the difficult terrain, the fog and trying to circle around roaming patrols of undead, Dandy is forced to concede that the group is far off the course she'd plotted - we should have been at the Temple by now. This is bad news, because, even though we're not where we want to be, we're also not where the guards will be expecting us to be, so... you know... swings and roundabouts, I guess?

### A Meeting At The Graveyard.

Forging onward, Dandy discovers an ancient, ruined stone wall topped by an equally ancient rusted iron fence. Beyond the wall and through the mists can be seen a number of smaller stone structures and a large number of shambling aimless humanoid forms. Recalculating, she announces that we've veered Westward and have encountered Roth's Keep Cemetery. If we head South-East, we may be able to take shelter in Rothfeld which, although it has been subject to attacks and incursions in the past, is technically beyond the bounds of the Mistlands.

Continuing on, we see what looks like an oddly-coloured campfire around which are seated a number of travellers. Leshrac uses his magical vision to scan the scene. The whole area is swamped in necromantic magic, though that may be caused by our proximity to the Cemetery. The campfire seems to be a magical effect. There's some sort of object at the heart of the flame which, due to being kept alight, is keeping the mists at bay. The travellers - three armoured humans and an orc wearing the robes of a spellcaster - seem to be adventurers or mercenaries as one is carrying a magical shield, while another is wielding an enchanted axe.

One of the villagers travelling with us recognises one of the group and lets Leshrac know. Apparently, he's a mercenary from Rothfeld named Kaiden. We're warned that he can be a bit of a dick at times, but isn't a bad guy. Gar and Dandy approach and, after a brief exchange of information, everyone seems satisfied that everyone else is on the level. One of the travellers sees Gar in his Dragon form and mistakes him for a villager from The Village of Renewal, speaking to him in Draconian.

They explain that they were sent out to investigate strange noises coming from the graveyard but have found themselves unable to proceed due to the fog. They were considering their options when we turned up, and are quite fine with declaring their mission a bust and guiding us all back to Rothfeld. Before heading out, they explain, they've been travelling for awhile and desperately need to stop for a brief rest and some food. They offer to share their food with us... and it's Great! They've brought supplies directly from Rothfeld, so it's all still fresh and there's a lot there that you just can't get in the Mistlands. Dandy suggests Kakeru brew up a batch of invigorating tea, but Kakeru demurs. It's all they can do to keep their shield up.

### Hello, I Must Be Going.

The group's not far into their makeshift meal when a tremendous, bellowing roar splits the air from somewhere inside the cemetery. Kaiden suggests that that may be the disturbance which they had been sent to investigate, but suggests that discretion might be the better part of valour. Everyone agrees, and proceeds to pack up and depart, leaving the food. Dandy stays behind momentarily to shovel as much of the food as possible into her bag, but at another, slightly closer, roar, hurries to catch up with the group. Leshrac asks the group's spellcaster, the orc, about the group's campfire. He explains that it's a device of his own making. While Leshrac is interested, he says that most of his concentration is being taken up by maintaining the shield, but hopes that, once they reach Rothfeld, he'll have time to examine it.

As the group continues hurriedly making their way through the mists, they are spurred along by a repeated clanging noise, accompanied by frustrated roars. One of the mercenaries suggests that whatever it is may have encountered the cemetery gates. Hopefully, that... but before she can get the rest of the sentence out, the sound of clanging is replaced by the shriek of tearing metal and another, triumphant roar. This serves to spur the group on further, but after a brief conversation between the Draconic-speaking mercenary and Gar, it's decided that whatever it is is moving too fast. We should be looking out for somewhere tactically advantageous, where we can either drive it back, take it out, or slow it down. Because if we let it just run us down, there's a strong possibility that we'll lose most or all of the villagers, especially with your spellcasters focused on protecting us from the fog.

### A Stand at the River.

Finding what looks like a dried-up old river, the group hurries across and up the opposite bank, deciding that this is a good place to try and slow down our pursuers. From our vantage point, we can see a mass of shadowy figures approaching, though there's no sign of whatever was making that thunderous roar. Gar sends the automatons down to block their path and offers to carry Azrah upwards, to get a better vantage point from which to fire.

She unleashes an exploratory shot with an explosive arrow. It probably won't hit anything important, but if nothing else, it'll churn up the ground making it harder for the zombies to clamber over. The shot tears up the far bank, causing several of the zombies to tumble into the riverbed. In the illumination from the explosion, the thing making all the noise can be seen; it's a massive undead monstrosity that looks like several distinct corpses kind of entwined together to make a single, mismatched, asymmetrical humanoid form. It stands approximately twelve feet tall and has a mass of zombies swarming about it.

Azrah continues to fire, scattering clusters of zombies and sending random limbs flying in an array of directions. With Azrah creating a gap, Dandy launches a sling stone at the monstrosity's legs, seeking to entangle them. Unfortunately, the magical vines are designed for a human-sized opponent and the monster easily steps out of them.

The battle continues, with Azrah targeting the monstrosity and providing most of the major offense. Dandy helps to corral the zombies while thinning out their numbers, Gar makes the occasional swooping dive, and the automatons keep them from breaking through the line and advancing. We are able to hold them at the river's edge and, in the end, drive them back into the mists and away, but it's a long, drawn-out process that costs us valuable time and energy. Also, between the roars of the massive gargantuan and Azrah's explosive arrows, we've made a hell of a lot of noise and are suddenly aware of just how in danger we are of drawing one or more patrols down upon us.

### The Turn of an Unfriendly Card.

During the engagement with the zombies, the orcish spellcaster seems increasingly distracted. Just as Azrah, Dandy and Gar manage to turn the zombies around, he lunges for Leshrac, attempting to snatch the Star of Timmoran from its hiding place within Leshrac's sleeve. He'd noticed its glow earlier on, but had been biding his time waiting for an opportunity. As he acts, he calls out, "Redirect! Target the spellcaster!"

The mercenaries respond like a piece of precision machinery. The burly woman warrior stands to his immediate right and slightly behind, while the others, who had been readying themselves to assist with the zombies, began to move towards Leshrac . The orc cast a spell of binding, which sent a volley of luminescent energy ribbons towards Leschrac, who was able to partially counter it. This resulted in the spell partially rebounding back, leaving both Leshrac and the orc bound tightly in ribbons of energy. Seeing this, the burly woman threw the orc over her shoulders and retreated, while the two others formed a defensive line, weapons drawn between the group and their comrades.

Unfortunately, the warrior carrying the orc misjudges and accidentally carries him past the mist where both of them are immediately ravaged by its effects. Seeing this, and wanting to avert a wasteful and time-consuming battle, Dandy desperately pleads with them. It was a momentary lapse, caused by the stress of the situation, she explains, there are no hard feelings, but we need to rescue your friends and we desperately need to continue on our way before something worse happens. The two defensive mercenaries lower their weapons and agree, while Felaza and Kakeru are able to slightly move the shield, allowing the other two mercenaries back in. The female mercenary drops the still-entangled orc into the ground as the other two comrades offer them minor healing. The bonds restricting Leshrac and the orc dissipate.

With the immediate situation defused, Dandy walks over to the Orc to make peace. "You just had a sudden attack of ninnyism. We all get them. My group worse than most and me worse than them. No hard feelings?" as she reaches up to gently pat his cheek, the orc suddenly and unexpectedly erupts into a fountain of gore. Horrified, Dandy immediately stares at her blood-covered hand terrified of this unwanted new power. The others, in a better position to see what's happening, spy a phalanx of armoured and mounted Death Knights. Attracted by the noise and aware that their soldiers cannot travel at their speed, they sheared off from their allies to investigate. Oh, poo.