The Dead and the Quick

Eleasis 11, 1373 DR, Yartar

The night was uneventful, and at dawn we went back to the fortress, taking care to make sure there were no additional occupants before heading back to the enormous crypt. That turned out to be lucky, as we found some footlockers in one of the first rooms we’d fought in, one of which in turn yielded some rather nice gems and over a thousand gold pieces. And, lest I forget, an insignia with three red slashes on it. I’m told it’s “The Chill” who are a mercenary band of hobgoblins. Was, I guess, would be more accurate.

We checked a few more rooms and found nothing alive (or dead and moving), though Tyan found some magical arrows that Areon is now carrying, and we found a stockpile of barrels of cheap wine— Deitricha and I quickly filled some flasks (and found Glitch was suddenly shimmying up our arms to get his fill) and began to discuss how to best take the remainder with us. Then, almost as one, we decided it was time to go put an end to the large abomination on the far side of the fortress.

The hydra was still dead (though moved out of the corridor) and the holes were still in the roof. We decided that sunlight might be a good thing to defeat the vampire; however, Areon pointed to the overcast skies— sun was not going to be with us today, and likely not the next either. Deitricha couldn’t tell us much about vampires, but she had divined that the silver tiger was with the undead giant, so without further ado, we began to break a hole through the stone top of the sarcophagus. I really hoped we could just make a hole over its heart (Ebin suggests that is a vital spot when trying to defeat undead) and vanquish it without ever having to face it, but one spell from Tyan through that crevice enraged it so much that it threw back the lid— fracturing the lid into dozens of shards that hit my friends and me.

Ebin then said, “This is going to hurt!” and rushed headlong into the creature, while Deitricha attempted to turn it with divine power; and then damage it with some sort of holy light. Tyan tossed spells at it as well, while Areon and I attempted to do some (unfortunately minimal) damage with our bows. My wand that normally enfeebles our opponents did nothing to this creature! First it grabbed Ebin and snapped him in half, tossing the corpse aside, and then it reached out and killed Deitricha with a touch.

Tyan finished the foul creature off with a spell, and I made some desperate attempts to revive Deitricha to no avail. I had no idea how hard that would hit me. I didn’t even find any joy in looting the tomb, though I was somewhat relieved to see that, at long last, we had the silver tiger in our possession. While Areon looked it over, and Tyan checked over some scrolls and potions found in the sarcophagus, I took some small pleasure in removing the fangs from the hill giant vampire’s skull. I also placed a silver necklace we’d just found around Deitricha’s neck.

At least she looked peaceful— poor Ebin was on the verge of being in two pieces. I realized that whatever he had been, his sacrifice was definitely not what I consider Zhent-like behavior.

We also had collected a statue of a lion, some gems, and a very large sum of gold. It would be a three-day trip down the river on the raft that Areon was fashioning from wooden doors. We could easily carry all of the treasure we’d found in our bags of holding, and we realized we could carry our deceased companions in them as well, and maybe we’d have enough to get them raised. I had to ponder that one for a long while. Elves don’t tend to do that, but our companions are human and deserve as much life as they can get.

This makes me wonder about Tyan. He’s quite obviously human (and male), yet seems to be holding on to this mortal coil remarkably well for one so fragile. On the other hand, he’s only traveled with us for a week.

The journey down the river was without incident, though we got to throw some half-hearted insults at several ettins along the banks at one point. Yartar seems pretty much the same; I wonder if Rosorc and his caravan companions are still in town?

I suppose we could have taken Deitricha to her own temple in Silverymoon, since we have to head that way next, but I wanted to get this raising thing done before the unnaturalness of it made us back out. Fortune seemed to be with us though as a cleric of Lathander who was visiting was willing to help us. For an awkward moment I realized we did not have enough coin for both Deitricha and Ebin, but when I told how they died and that I had the vampire’s fangs as proof of our victory, the cleric accepted the teeth as payment for half of his services.

I hope Areon doesn’t mind too much, but after seeing friends come back after being dead for three days, I need a few stiff drinks. Maybe more than a few.