Drûr 19, 652 DR: Ghûl hunting begins in earnest. Tharad’Zor is dispatched and his house secured. Dana is discovered in the basement. The company regroups in a corner house to escape the coming storm. Waves of Ghûl attackers arrive with the night, howling in the streets, bursting through closed shutters. The party withstands the first assault.

Continued from Oddo and the Bandits.

Wōdìndor, 19 Drûr 652

Bear placed a mailled hand on Mishara’s shoulder stating, “We didn’t walk all this way in the cold to let you kill everything. Stand aside.” Grinning, Mishara lowered his bow as Bear, Aren, and Vindin moved into position. Bear rose his clicking crossbow and fired at an approaching Ghûl. With a sickening slurp, the quarrel buried itself into the creature’s body. The Ghûl’s pale eyes turned skyward and it pitched backward to the cobblestones. The other Ghûls scattered into the alleyways and side streets amid the bow fire, but many remained on sprawled the streets.

Dammon led Jak into a nearby building, away from the group. Inside, they found a terrible statue sewn from Yrūn skins with distorted heads sewn into the shoulders and chest. Stepping through a door to the rotted statue’s left, Jak entered a long room with a heavy dining room table with a man seated at the far end. At Dammon’s insistence, Jak charged the seated figure, planting his spear deeply into its chest. The figure gasped and trembled. Suddenly the room was filled with a thick green smoke that burned at Jak’s mouth and nostrils. Dammon Shroudson Wove a magic breeze, pushing the cloud into a nearby hallway. Jak plunged his spear again and again into his obscured foe, keeping his mouth and eyes closed tight against the cloud that poured from his victim’s body. Weaving another spell, the magician pushed the dark poisonous vapors aside to reveal Jak poised with spear in hands, standing above the skewered and motionless form of Tharad’Zor.

Pulling his spear free, Jak raced through the house but found nothing of further interest. Dammon grabbed a jeweled staff from the fireplace mantle and settled-in to the long task of perusing the house bookshelves. In Jak’s absence, Dammon and his familiar moved about the domicile, opening locked doors and exploring all corners of the place. In a dark basement chamber, the magician heard the muffled voice of child. Unlocking the room he found a young woman, standing at the bottom of an old square well. While being rescued, the girl explained that her name was Dana. She had no idea how long she had been imprisoned. Dammon escorted her upstairs to a bedroom while he continued skimming through the books he’d found.

Outside, Alcèrra organized the soldiers and instructed them to search for Ghûls house by house. Within a watch, a large section of northern Cenotaph had been searched. Although the sounds of footsteps and creatures scrambling away through the debris of ruined houses was frequent, no Ghûls were found. Jak found Bear and other soldiers scaling a town wall to survey the surrounding countryside. Thunder boomed in the distance and Bear reported that a storm was moving through the City of Oð. Alcèrra, desperate to rout and destroy as many Ghûls as possible, commanded that they find the cemetery though none was sure where it lay among the rolling hills. Jak suggested that Dammon had been there once, but Alcèrra insisted that time should not be wasted. Soon, there were soldiers climbing over the wall, searching for headstones. Circling the north side of the town the group found vast untended farms, land that had been abandoned for decades. A road or two wandered out across the hillsides but only farms and the distant river could be seen. As the thunder and rain approached in a dark wave, Jak convinced the group to return to the house where Dammon was holding-up, suggesting that it was the most defensible location in town. Reluctantly, the priestess agreed to this and the group moved back inside the town wall.

As the rain began to fall, they were knocking on the locked house door. After a few uneasy moments, Dammon opened the door and welcomed the wet group inside. Before the door closed, an unearthly howl rose through the streets of Cenotaph. Locking the door the group assembled in the dining room and made plans on how best to defend the place. First, it was suggested that fires by started in all fireplaces and to close all shutters and windows. Soldiers were posted throughout the house. Lightning flashed through the closed windows and the rain began to fall heavily on the roof. In the dining room, Alcèrra accused Dammon of being a “thief” and suggested using the newfound books to feed the fires. Dammon replied to this by insulting Drāūn. In response, the priestess lowered her trident but he quickly retreated through the kitchen and locked himself in a rear servant’s room.

That evening, tapping was heard against the shutters. It began with one shutter, but soon the rapping could be heard from them all. The group moved upstairs, believing the top floor to be more defensible. Opening an upstairs window, they saw dozens of the misshapen creatures milling and hopping in the square below. Bear and Mishara took turns firing into the crowd, until the Ghûls scattered out of view. Moving from window to window they continued sniping until the Undying retreated around nearby buildings. It did not take long for the sounds of footsteps running across the roof, followed by the sound of something slamming against the slate shingles and rolling down. The noise continued for some time. Bear suggested that something might be tearing the chimney apart so the fires were stoked as high as they could be with the failing wood supply. Looking through an upstairs hatch, an attic space was discovered. Jak volunteered to climb through to investigate. In the cramped attic space, he could see something flash past a break where the chimney and roof met. The next time it passed he thrust his spear through the break but hit nothing. Soon a claw reached in, tearing a large chunk of mortared stones from the chimney. Jak stabbed at the thing and it let out a terrible howl. The sound sank into Jak’s heart filling him with a preternatural fear. The spear-man scrambled through the hatch, pushing his way passed the Eylfāe as fled through the house. After some search, they found him whimpering in a corner, muttering about unseen horrors. Mishara, deciding to investigate further, returned to the top floor and stuck his head through the ceiling hatch. The creature was upon him instantly, its great tearing teeth gnashing at his head. The archer dropped into the room below, alerting the others that the monster was inside the house. The Lords’ Men gathered in a nearby hallway and waited for the thing to enter. Jak, having fought through the fear’s effects, joined the others in preparing to kill the creature. Soon, the emaciated wolf-like monster dropped from the ceiling and was met with a spear and trident. In short order, the Whuld was destroyed.

Outside, the wind grew stronger, throwing waves of rain against the sides of the house. The night watches advanced slowly. Toward nightsdeep, Bear announced motion in the square below, watching it as he was from cracked shutters. In the distance, a group of Ghûls had gathered to limp and hop about on the far side of the town square. As Bear’s crossbow began clicking to readiness, a sole creature emerged from the crowd and shuffled closer. Mishara called out for the Ghûl to stop, but none could hear from that distance over the falling rain. Closing, the creature asked about Tharad’Zor. Mishara was evasive, but Jak called out “We killed him!” Perplexed by this the Ghûl asked, “Why have you brought evil to this town?” The response further perplexed the Undying spokesman. The Ghûl began hopping and swearing in an old tongue, but eventually stopped as if exhausted from its venting. “You leave us with no choice,” it screamed. “We will feast on your bones this night!” In response, arrows and quarrels exploded from the window and the Ghûl fell to the street. At the far side of the town square, the Ghûls yipped and screamed as they scattering from view.

Vindin announced from the ground floor that things were moving below. People rushed down the stairs to hear the footsteps of the creatures racing from the house through an opened door. The strange smell of scorched air hung near the rear servant’s room.

Aren called from his window perch at the house front that they were gathering in the street below. From his seat in a high window sill the young archer leaned out and shot Ghûls as they tried to scale the house wall. Jak, Bear, and Mishara raced to the dining room where they saw shutter slats being ripped away from the outside. Jak rushed to the first window, thrusting his spear through the heavy glass and broken shutters. On the far side, something yipped and fell to the street. Bear and Mishara opened their windows, standing back to fire at the climbing invaders. Vindin and Alcèrra raced downstairs to help. Soon the shutters exploded inward and flailing Ghûls poured through the front windows. Jak stood fast, stabbing at the invading tide with his chanting spear. The priestess stood at the rear, spreading holy water about to create a Protective ring. Dammon emerged from the rear bedroom, slipping through a secret door into the kitchen. Wave after wave of the Undying creatures filled the room, upsetting the long dining room table. Dammon Wove a gale force Asálāyd’s Wind sending several of the Ghûls hurtling through the broken window in front of Jak. Bear shot another standing atop the overturned table, which was also blown out the window as it fell. Mishara, more cautious than normal, fired carefully placed arrow shots through the windy melee. Soon, the first wave slowed to a trickle and the remaining creatures ambled and hopped back through the broken windows and splintered shutters. Somehow, a small respite had been won, but none believed it would last long. The night was young and the Ghûls innumerable.

Continued in Terrors of Cenotaph, Part 2.

Characters

• Alcèrra Nàdrelan
• Dammon Shroudson
• Jak of Cænden
• Mishara Mythdaras
• Tressta Drynsval
• Aren Zarad
• Bear Nogrodd
• Familiar
• Dana
• Eg Dar
• Irgul
• Tharad’Zor: destroyed
• Toquis
• Vardeth
• Vindin

Played: 13 Mar 1999