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Ardan 24
Our Heroes find out from Old Tep that Mrs. Yildaray's first name was Mutellia. We talk with her spirit; she reveals that at night her husband cannot sense us; he is at his work in the secret tunnels. Our Heroes locate the triggers to open the secret door into the tunnels, and enter.
The 'cave of necromancy' smells of death. There is an altar, with a partially dissected corpse upon it; and a desk, with papers and small items. Among the items on the desk are some potions in vials:
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3 vials of anti-disease, level 12 (2 are used by us later this session)
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4 vials of healing, level 18
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4 vials of poison, level 12
along with two dozen necromantic spells, and a rather ominous "service bell". Vidan writes down the names of the spells and the first line or two of their description, and then destroys them. Some samples:
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something about a frightful minion, some kind of hiding horror that latches onto the spirit of your target
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nightmarish visions - good for waging a campaign of terror on people you don't yet want dead
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nightmarish menace - good for killing your foes in their sleep
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flesh weaving - experimental notes on shape-changing the flesh of others, apparently focusing on the practicality of turning bodies into common furniture like chairs or side tables
We push the corpse onto the floor and begin lifting the very heavy lid from the altar/crypt: a wave of sepulchral odor surges forth (not good for us). A surprisingly strong and spry corpse of a Cymrillian woman tosses the lid to the other side of the room and the battle is begun. The corpse leaps to the far wall and bounces back to land on Keja and take a bite out of her neck. We try grappling, strangling, stabbing, and chopping but finally it is the Xambrian power to dispel magic that turns the fiend back into a simple corpse. The dissected corpse arose during the fight but it too fell to the wizard hunter's power. The bite wounds on Keja and Vidan look serious so we call it a night.
Ardan 25
The bite wounds do not respond to magical healing. By morning, the wounds have become necrotic ulcers. The dead flesh is cut away and the wounds thoroughly cleaned, a process that tests the stoicism of the infected. Even after this painful procedure, the wounds refuse healing magics. Two vials marked with symbols for disease, death, and negation are used. After five minutes, the wounds respond to healing.
Ardan 26
Keja concocts a potion which heals Vidan's nasty cough; she also succeeds in attuning the Star of Solimorrion. It doesn't have an immediately obvious function. Our Heroes proceed back to the mansion, and investigate the library and garden a bit; then we proceed into the tunnels once more. Traps seem to have been placed by Yilderay, causing us some damage; Lore the necrophage is about also. A strange room, combining death-trap, moat and bedroom, is nearly the end of Keja and Aldak; a terrible worm-spitting beast in the moat/pit tries to ... uh ... worm them? A few items are snatched from the bedroom before we leave.
Further into the tunnels, we find two barred cells, one on either side of the tunnel; near each cell is a lever set into the wall. Each cell holds one dazed prisoner -- a female Mandolin in one, and a male Zandiran in the other. At the end of the hall is a room with an altar-stone. Pulling one of the levers results in the quick and gruesome death of the Zandiran; the cell is magically "refilled" with another prisoner (a male Cymrillian) afterwards. Entering the room with the altar, Our Heroes are teleported to another place -- which turns out to be a closet in the mansion's master bedroom.
But not perhaps in this time or dimension -- outside the windows, we see the village of Millhaven is on fire, along with the forest. A volcano, belching flame and ash, looms over the forest; lightning bolts continuously arc out from the ash clouds over the volcano.
Near the village is a vast stone gate (shaped rather like a tori gate); bodies hang from the top lintel of the gate. In the bedrooms of the house, large egg-shaped sacs hang from the ceiling, oozing a brownish liquid into bowls on the floor. The sight of this makes Keja quite ill!
(my last note isn't quite legible: "dirt monster answers our recvekk;" or something like that ...)
on to Millhaven - Fire and Fear