Waystation Izbir

## The Crossroads

The party was becoming more tense as they now followed the Pyramid Roads again. It wasn't the roads that were the problem, rather the impending Dark Days in the middle of the month. Everyone save Freya was now feeling their divine and arcane magic dwindle so it was becoming imperative to seek refuge at *Waystation Izbir,* the hostel-like shelter that travelers used during the Mid-Days to band together against whatever Dark Aspect foes might be encountered.

Fortunately, the trip to the Waystation was uneventful, save one more episode with Tindora's visions. Tindora suddenly began attacking something, though nothing could be sensed. After a close inspection from Aterean, it was determined that Tindora was actually taking damage from something as well. The party attempted to sense what was going on and help out, mostly healing Tindora when necessary. Tindora had exclaimed that she had killed one of the shades that the *Nether Bird* had sent after her, yet neither bird nor shade was perceptible to any save Tindora. But then Brocktharian raced up and started swinging wildly, until his sword quixotically struck true and ended the last of the shades facing Tindora. Tindora was disturbed, but safe, and hopefully no more of these episodes would occur soon.

Finally, the party arrived at the perimeter of the Waystation. There was an Inn-sized dwelling surrounded by a wooden palisade, where some of the wood was freshly bound and others had been there for some time. Prior to direct arrival at the western gate in the palisade, there were a couple signs posted indicating "*State your name and business. It's for the safety of us all. Lower weapons when approaching.*"

The party approached in accord with the sign's request and hailed anyone near the gate. Peering over the top of the palisade appeared the cloaked head of a humanoid, who called down to ask their business and then hold while one of the other inhabitants performed some sort of magic to check them out. The party checked out and Siddian, the gate's guard, opened the gate for the party to enter.

There were a few other horses stabled near the western entrance to the building, but Siddian indicated the riding spiders would be free to wander anywhere within the palisade as the owners liked. The spiders could probably take care of themselves fairly effectively. Inside, there was a well-apportioned knight, Azalbwain, seated at a table with an unarmored huntsman, Dalterio, and a heavily tattooed, light armored female traveler, Trinian. Another huntswomen, Meela, tended the fire, cooking some sort of stew.

After some conversations, it was discovered that there were four separate groups present at the Waystation. Meela and Dalterio were both solo hunters who spent most of their time by themselves in the deepest parts of the jungle. They crossed paths at various times, but they were also the most familiar with the Waystation and what they all could face.

Then there was Azalbwain and Siddian. The noble knight was a bit obnoxious, and loud, but was a fine orator and quite pretty to gaze upon. Other than the outward appearances, however, he had contempt for his guide, Siddian, who Azalbwain had deemed incompetent for having lost two other guards to the visions of She Unspoken during their travels. These two were heading south to Uthenegar after their brief stay at the Waystation during the Dark Days.

Lastly, there were three women adventurers heading north to Koda'Gaht. Trinian, who was present at the tables, indicated they were continuing work on spell research regarding lava and that there were a couple casters, with whom they were meeting, who were quite familiar with particular phenomena in the Great Rift. The others in her group, Ulliana and Stracia, were out on guard duty at the time.

The question did arise as to what would the party probably face. It was Meela and Dalterio who responded with the most useful content. They had been at the Waystation during attacks in the past, although it was never certain if there would be an attack. Much was dependent on the attacking group and what they expected to gain from an attack. The two related the following:

* If the attackers are really a necro group, there will be undead - almost an unlimited supply since they can just spew them forth pretty easily given the prevalence of Dark Aspect magic.
* If the attackers are ANY kind of dark group, they will have time to send divination spells wandering through - arcane eyes at least - they will probably have the time to do whatever investigation about who is at the waystation prior to truly engaging it.  And it can be possible that given some divination they may choose not to attack if they don't think it's worthwhile.
* Whether it's a necro or bandit or some other group, you can expect summonings (undead or whatever) to just noise up the attack and keep defenders off of the real serious folks
* They, too, will use silence - probably darkness - maybe blindness or deafness - to further diminish any magical casting capabilities.
* They will have Counterspell and Dispel Magic - and potentially lots and lots of them.  If it's possible to remove their ability to react, it will be beneficial.
* It has been heard that many of the necro groups fly or levitate.  Not their undead hordes, but it has been purported that some groups summon flying beasts of the night.
* Some of the necro groups have anti-paladins who will have enough spell slots to be able to Smite every attack.  Hopefully we won't run into any of those.

After enjoying a bit of the stew that Meela put forth, the party selected their quarters and discussed with the rest of the inhabitants who would take what guard positions during the night.

## On the Eve of the High Dark Day

The patrol assignments were set, and an inhabitants of Waystation Izbir attempted to sleep through the tense night which would make the Dark Aspect completely ascendant. The first several hours were uneventful. Shifts changed and people took their posts with diligence. Just after midnight, the guards would need to be alert. Brynda was at the West Gate and Brocktharian watched the East. Dalterio covered the northern perimeter outside the palisade, while Tindora watched the southern perimeter. Wubba and Aterean walked inside the palisade, waiting patiently for anything to disturb the night.

Suddenly, Brocktharian thought that he heard something out of the ordinary sounds of the jungle; just a bit to the southeast of the waystation. Brocktharian couldn't see anything, but was trying to notice if anything emerged. Aterean used his *Wild Shape* to turn into a giant eagle and helped Brocktharian peer into the dense jungle to discover if there was anything amiss. It could have just been the wind, or perhaps lizards or monkeys, but it wasn't. A few moments later, Brocktharian believed the sound was clearly some group of humanoids moving through the jungle - and now all would have to prepare.

The perimeter of the Waystation had been surrounded with many *Alarm* spells from Freya, however, there was another in the compound itself that any of the guards could use to immediately wake Freya. Wubba quickly set the alarm, and with that, Freya began waking the rest of the sleeping travelers inside the waystation. Brynda kept at her post, but Dalterio and Tindora began to move to the east to help Brocktharian and Aterean investigate.

Brocktharian prepared himself and then finally saw what group was approaching - a score of undead beings heading straight for the eastern gate. Brocktharian surrounded himself with *Spiritual Guardians* and dropped down from his post at the gate to engage the foul creatures. The *Spiritual Guardians* were quickly damaging these minor undead beings, but there were more to come.

As Tindora skirted the southern wall of the palisade, she was passed by two very strange creatures that she had never seen before. Semi-flying, dark shadowy creatures shot passed her, but gave her no opportunity to engage. These *Nazmar* were quick, fast and left agony in their wake.

The events that followed next were horrible, demonic and, at times, beyond words.  Areas of \*Silence\* spat out around the party, creating an aura of unease.  Then a terrible mist bathed the ground, imbuing poison on any who might enter - the \*Cloudkill\* mist as it was.  What made matters worse was that there were moments where necrotic fire balls would fall upon the party.  Fortunately in that case, Wubba and Kazin stood strong to dispel these heinous magicks and keep the party safe from at least one terror.

Brocktharian's \*Spiritual Guardians\* were doing well to clean up the throng of undead that were approaching the palisades, mitigating the dangers to the safety of the others.  Unfortunately, some foe hidden in the jungle was able to \*Knock\* open the eastern gate, permitting some of the beasts to enter the center compound of the Waystation.

The party and their roadside companions were all out somewhere at this point; some outside the palisades, some on the roof, some preparing, but all were throwing their dice into the mix.   Freya had put down a few \*Healing Totems\* to make sure there was something nearby which could be activate to heal those in need.  The \*Alarms\* were scattered all over the perimeter to further track the movements of their enemies.   The residents of the Waystation had done their part, but were now being tested by whatever was accosting them.

Besides the strange smoky creatures, there were dual wielding sword masters who had now entered the perimeter.  Some were outside, but a couple had made their way quickly to the roof, where they were now engaging Freya, Zak and Kazin.   Kazin had \*Hasted\* Zak and Aterian earlier, so they were set to help wherever they could, but these swordsmen were demons when attacking.  Fortunately for the party, as long as they didn't take you down in their first few swings, the numbers were still on the side of the party.  Surrounding these swordsmen was their focus and their successful strategy.

On the ground, success was also in their favor against any of these foes would would dare melee them.   The party's real worry was the imperceptible necromantic mages who floated somewhere above the ground.  The constant barrage of their necrotic fireballs was being countered by Wubba and Kazin, but they both knew there magic would run dry in the dark days of the mid month.   Aterian was healing whenever he could, and their ally, Meela, was doing the same - creating \*Healing Eyes\* and other spells to help the wounded who were facing these necromancers.

The lesser undead animated by the necromancers were gone, but there were two other devils who now approached the party.  Chaak'akh was some sort of devil who cast fire and was resistant to nearly everything, except magic most holy.  Galiminiar was another nether beast who shattered those in his path with lightning, cold and the shuddering hand of death.   The party focused their attention on these as the swordsmen were mostly hidden, and the mages were no where to be seen.

## The Darkness Lifts

The two devils which were now facing the party menaced all of those around them. The devilish fireballs continued to pound, but the defenders of the waystation held their ground - facing the devils as they approached. *Hrongmar* laughed in Freya's hands as it crushed the devil, Chaak'akh into submission. Again and again the half-giant swung at the beast. The heals from Aterean and Meela streamed out to keep the warriors alive against the onslaught of the necromantic power. Fortunately, at this point, the necromantic knights were mostly gone. Gone so much that it was noticed that their bodies on top of the roof of the waystation were now disappearing. They were not dissolving, but somehow, they were no longer there.

Chaak'akh had dropped, but Galiminiar was posing more of a threat. The strange creature lashed out with thunder and lightning at various places surrounding the waystation. First one group was disrupted, then another. Furthermore, Galiminiar would also rebuke any foe that damaged him with more of their storm magic. Progress against the creature was slow, but at least there was also a lull in the fireballs from the unknown, flying assailants; that is until a large explosion erupted inside the waystation itself.

Apparently, at least one of the necromantic mages had penetrated the western entrance of the waystation and had cast more of their fireballs into the main hall. The reason was not clearly known, except perhaps to disrupt the situation on the east side of the building. Yet the defenders of the waystation continued their battle. Little by little, Galiminiar was succumbing to the combined attacks of the defenders. The lightning lashed out, but so did sword and axe and spell. As Galiminar closed in on its own demise, a few of the defenders broke off to attempt to save the waystation from a fiery end. The defenders helped each other extinguish the flames from the water supplies present within waystation, just as the last cry of Galiminar rang out and were replaced by silence. The necromancers were not to fight any longer.

The group was able to saved the waystation from utter destruction, but there were plenty of repairs to be done. Kazin augmented the waystation by putting up stone gate houses to protect the portals to the palisade. Through the rest of the night and the next day, the group continued to repair the structure of the waystation, in hopes that they could finish before any further attacks began. Fortunately for all, no attacks were made. The jungle roads were quiet for the next two days and the darkness of the Mid-Days was finally lifting.

Now the various defenders of the waystation would be on their individual ways. Azalbwain and Siddian would remain at the waystation until the next merchant train heading south arrived, but the rest only waited another day before their departure. Everyone left on good terms and wished each other well on whatever journeys lay before them.

The party now headed into the jungle to the east...onward to the Temple of She Unspoken and whatever awaited them there.

## Links

Previous, Welcome to Haazen'Ra

Next, The Temple of An'Zhu