Episode 84: The Lands of the Living Dead
Previously...
Arriving in Vellaria, the Wayfinders began their adventure by seeking out allies in the form of the Order of the Knight Magi and found an elderly, fading Lightning Count along with his apprentice, Zoosk. In trying to assist the apprentice, they discover how reckless he is and watched as he cracked to the pressures of Sir Reginald's standards who tried to teach him a measure of control to take his ambtions and understanding of magic. Unable to help, they hoped to do some good at the war academy and accepted an invitation to contribute to the immersive illusion technology that helped teach future war strategians about conflicts and how to control themselves in battle.General Summary
With days to wait before anything can be arranged to meet with representatives of the state, Lix, Reylan, and Vasya decided to meet with Sir Reginald to see if there was something they could take on as Zoosk was still missing and hadn't returned since he had walked Reylan to the war academy. After sorting through the stack of papers, the aging knight offered them the choice of three assignments: assist with tracking down the heiress Belakisst Thorne for a monetary award, assist with an undead in the Temple of Ishii and receive a blessing and some gold, or assist with finding a woman's husband who had been hired to scout the lands near Darthin and hasn't returned in two weeks. While the pay was the least of things, the group unanimously decided to help find the missing man near Darthin.
Journeying hours out north, the party met with the woman who asked for aid. However, it was revealed that the couple were in fact followers of Kasari tradition as the woman recognized Vasya's fletching style. After taking on the task through traditional Kasari custom of a contract, Vasya led the group to the northern border of Vellaria and Darthin. As they approached, they trio noticed that they were coming across more and more dead patches of ground. While Reylan spoke to a tree that revealed that "the winds came and everything died", the others investigated the area. Eventually, piecing everything together it was clear that something arcane and necromantic affected the lands and still did.
Meeting the tower guard after a two day journey, they were told that the group of scouts most likely got greedy and began searching for a "Black Flower of Darthin" rumored to keep the undead away and had most likely died in their efforts. Undeterred and eventually allowed passage, the trio journeyed on though Lix left her mech behind in the effort to be stealthy.
With almost everyone able to cross the bridge into the lands, Reylan- who had nearly fallen victim to a charm but was saved by Lix- recognized the danger of the structure and cast Remove Curse lifting eerie, echoing laughs that thundered from the chasm below of "the Laughing Bridge" before all went silent. A bit shaken from that experience, the group quickly moved on to the town of Pigs Hollow and were met the skeleton guard (Bosch) who seemed to be in somewhat of a loop retreading old ground and memories as the group spoke to him, revealing bits of what life was like the day that life ended in the kingdom.
In a moment of realization, the group saw that the sword Bosch held was unnaturally impeccable. After a quick Identify and realizing that there was a curse, Lix distracted Bosch while Reylan again removed a curse setting the skeleton's soul free. However, when someone touched the sword, a telepathic bond and autoattunement occurred opening the bearer's mind to a rather demanding weapon. The blade was such a sentient and annoying dick that the group threw it down a well to be rid of it for now... though before leaving, they heard faint singing and saw a ghostly reunion of Bosch and his young daughter.
Traveling on the path that had been suggested to them, the trio crossed paths with a troop of rather sentient undead some well-armored and rather equipped to deal with them. One undead was a caster that demanded them to bow and when Lix refused, the group launched their attack. At one point, while each party was dealing with their own undead, the undead mage reached into the guts of the ogre that Vasya had felled and used its innards to form whirling, necrotic spirit guardians. Not to be undone, Reylan sumoned spirit Nyxes in return to combat him. Off the in distance, Vasya recognized a familiar whistle and looked up to spot archers making their way to them.
Though it was a rough and nearly harrowing fight, the trio was able to vanquish the threat before attending to the couple of archers that had meant to come to their aid and had ventured out from their haven. Following their directions, Vasya discovered a group of ten total scouts and a plucked black flower in the center of them. One of the scouts revealed that they were all sick and dying and unable to journey forward with the flower being the only reason they survived for so long.
Realizing that lesser restoration could not heal them nor was any other healing magic and seeing how weak they were, Reylan gathered everyone before ritually casting teleportation circle sending them all into the safety of the Trinity Temple in Rilynnmitore with the hopes that the clerics could figure out what she and the others could not.
Hours later and with the group tended to in circle's hall which had been turned into a makeshift hospital, the scout's leader, Artrin, the man the trio were tasked to look for, recovered enough to give a report. Detailing their journey and the weeks they had spent there, he warned them that the undead were living and thriving in Darthin and they had come across something rather horrifying. Amongst the undead they had fought and killed, there was one in particular that had promised to return as they wore other forms "like a glove". While unable to give any further information on the matter, he had let it slip to Vasya's notice, that they had been "sent" in. Having heard that, Vasya kept secret the fact that she had taken the flower which lay tucked away in her bag of holding (later protected via Gentle Repose).
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