Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.

We left the party in the middle of fleeing from a small platoon of zombies just south of the Wave Echo Forge. They quickly finished off the remaining zombies, most of whom were already in remarkably bad shape. After a brief discussion, Ford suggested betraying their agreement with the undead wizard who just wanted some new reading material. They retrieved the chest he had vanished into, placed it within his residence, and picked the lock. Kraygen opened it with Mage Hands, expecting the wraith to rise up from within the chest.

Instead, he rose up from behind Ford, just outside the building. “You have betrayed the deal,” he intoned, and … missed. He rapidly fell victim to a series of attacks from the party using the magical weapons they had available, some temporarily enhanced by the remaining magic of the Wave Echo Forge. And that was that. His chest contained a collection of copper and gold coins. Ford also looked through his library carefully, securing several books of scholarly interest, a number of bodice-rippers, and a hidden map. Kraygen declared his intent to return to the camp.

The rest of the group went north, finding a large cavern filled with a pool of water, one that somehow generated regular surges and waves. Although the wave action was inexplicable it held nothing else of interest save two passages heading west. The southern passage seemed familiar, and was clearly designed for water to flow, presumably leading to the forge and waterwheel. The party took the northern route, which appears to be more of dry streambed where water had once flowed.

That passage led to another large room, this one containing a ravine stretching north-and-south. A stream came from the west, flowed down the ravine into a waterfall, and out the northern end of the ravine. Creeper was in the lead and caught sight of the bugbears before they saw him. Unfortunately, Kyros was loud and was immediately spotted. The bugbears threw many javelins across the ravine, mostly at Kyros but also at the other party members as they approached. Kyros fell briefly, but managed to drag himself out of range and heal up. However, the party found their ability to return fire effectly very limited. It took several rounds to bring down any of the bugbears.

Meanwhile, from the passage behind them, a group of zombies followed the noise and approached from behind. The party was quickly caught between a rock and a hard place.

Worse, Creeper slid down into the ravine. He caught sight of a strange humanoid creature there, but miscalculated the amount of light cast from Ford’s bonfire. He became briefly visible and was suddenly impaled by a javelin from the bugbears on the far side of the ravine. The creature he had seen quickly approached and clubbed him into unconsciousness.

Shortly afterward, the rest of the party was greeted by the sight of… Creeper, returning and advising them to retreat! Confused, the party didn’t listen, but the zombies behind them continued to push forward.

Driven by the zombies, Ford took a flying leap across the ravine, planning to take out the bugbears so the party could advance. On the way, however, he caught side of Creeper’s fallen form down below, and changed his plans. Ford rushed to Creeper’s side and poured a healing potion down his mouth. Creeper revived, furious.

The rest of the group descended the east side of the ravine, barely ahead of the zombies. Their version of Creeper followed, sticking close to Splinter Paw. He was struck by several javelins from the bugbears, but strangely was not returning fire. When Splinter Paw noticed, he lashed out with Dissonant Whispers. The strange Creeper did not flee, but instead took a swing at Splinter Paw as the feline retreated. Before the imposter could finish the job, the original peppered him with arrows, and the imposter fell.

The rest of the party moved through the ravine, under fire from bugbears who had to send a runner to bring more javelins at one point, and pursued by zombies who failed to even try to climb down the ravine walls. One by one they did a lemming and walked off the injury. Ford let down a rope to allow the group to climb the ravine near the entrance to the southern passage leading east, to allow for an escape. The zombies split up; a few followed the group east, and those remaining focused on the bugbears at the top of the ravine. Neither group of zombies was able to climb the ravine walls, at least not easily.

Creeper and Jared lingered after the rest of the group fled south to rest. Jared was taking potshots at zombies. Creeper was stealthily keeping an eye on the bugbears, who threw a few desultory javelins at the zombies before retreating. Creeper tried to lure the bugbears back out, making noises and throwing rocks. It worked reasonably well, right up until the moment when one of them managed to guess where he was from the sound. And then one of the others saw Jared shooting at zombies, and starting tossing javelins in his direction too.

The final disaster came when Creeper shot the bugbear in the back, without killing him, and tried to flee. Two giant spiders revealed themselves, the first spitting webs at Creeper and the second biting at him. Creeper was caught in the webs, and despite managing to avoid the poisonous bite, was quickly beaten unconscious by the bugbears.

Seeing this, Jared fled back to camp to rejoin the rest.

When the rest of the party returned to the camp, they found a zombie eating Kraygen’s brains. It quickly fell to their arrows and spells, but alas, poor Kraygen was gone.

To be continued…

Experience and Treasure

For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp

• Wraith chest: 1100cp 160 sp 50 ep 3 diamonds (150gp each?) and a filigreed pipe
• Wraith map
• 470xp each for those present

Roleplaying moments and quotables

Dangling Threads of Fate

• A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well
• The party has found a new entrance to Wave Echo Cave