Requiem For An Adventurer

We were making our way toward the graveyard, and myself verging on doubling back to warn Lord Padrag of the traitor in the town when the goblin Grimshaw came running up yelling that traitors had captured the lord and were holding him, his family and their staff hostage in the town. That settled it for me and I turned around and headed back toward town. Farol continued toward the graveyard and the lurching undead. There was some discussion about whom to follow but in the end, it was decided to head back to town. Farol didn't seem to register that the rest of the party had headed back to town, as he waded into the hoard and started hacking away.

We got back to town and observed that Lord Padrag's manor had been taken under seige. The traitor, Ninran, the elf we met back in the tavern when we first entered the town who told us about the kobold cave. She was standing on the second level of the manor and I could sense some kind of Arcane working coming from the area. She demanded the blood of 10 innocents or 20,000 gold pieces. We reasoned her down to 10,000 gold pieces. I even asked if we could offer her the blood of 20 innocent children, being that they were smaller then adults but easier to catch. I'm pretty sure Weedy silently agreed with the pragmatism of that plan, but Ironarm seemed to have a problem with it, so we made our way to the cover of some market stalls to get a better view of manor. After some discussion, Ironarm was worried and rather peeved that the elf had taken hostages, we decided our best bet would be to try and get inside and to her. We managed to bluff our way in, saying we had the gold, and managed to bluff our way to her.

We had to hold Ironarm back while we traded barbs and spoke of what was taking place, but in the end it devolved into combat. Ironarm raged forth and attempted to bash her with his shield, while Weedy covered his flank and took out the minion that was in the hall. Myself, I teleported into the room, attempting to surprise her from behind and managed to miss her entirely with almost all my attacks. Another minion came down the stairs and I did manage to hit him, an overpowered magic missile fried his body to ashes, while, after being alerted by the elf, more minions came up the stairs from the lower level of the house. Weedy took point over the stairway to block their advance and managed to hold off the attackers quite well. Ironarm rushed the elf again, this time knocking her so hard that she flew out the window and fell 20 feet to the ground below with a somewhat wet thud. He then took leave of the room to assist Weedy with the minions coming up the stairs.

During this time as we took out more minions I could feel a surge in the Arcane energies that I felt surrounding the house, seeming to build to a point, but at the time I was too involved leaning out the window and trying to hit that traitorous elf with some spells, missing completely each time. Memories of pelicans and open wounds began to resurface. Ironarm and Weedy had managed to knock the oncoming minions down the stairs and Ironarm, still enraged at the elf, leapt out the window to confront her. Using a fetherfall spell, I helped him not hit the ground too hard, and went back out to help Weedy finish off the minions on the stairs.

Once all the minions had been finished off, I felt the Arcane energies build to a crescendo and speed off toward the north and then dissipate from around the manor. Ironarm continued to attack the elf and I managed to get a good shot at her and finished her from above.

We took some time to search the manor and free the hostages and found the remnants of a ritual in the manor. We couldn't do more then that as we still had to rush to the aide of Farol who was still fighting the undead, or so I hoped. I knew from past experience, that the paladin can withstand much assault. We spent a short time to heal and then rushed back to the graveyard.

When we arrived, we found a terrible sight. Many of the undead had been returned to the dead status as well as a couple of liches, but in the end, it cost the holy warrior his life. Upon approaching his blackened corpse, we saw a column of white light.

So, one of our number is dead, because we abandoned him to fight the undead alone instead of trying to get him to come along back to town with us or to stay and fight with him. Was it my fault? If I hadn't turned away and headed back to town when I had, would the others have followed Farol instead? I don't know. I hope he is met in the halls of Lord Bahamut as a hero because he died as one. Farol, I'm not sure I was the most easy person to travel with but your presence during our travels before we met the others in Brandenburg gave me some confidence. When we deal with Calaral, I will see if the priestess of the town knows the funeral rights for a follower of Bahamut and if she will perform them over your remains. I will also say a prayer for you when I next pass a temple to Corellon. It is only a small service that I can do for one who saved my life and the others as you did