Drûr 1-4, 652 DR: Night brings a terrible battle with Heedar. Dammon, Mishara, and Tressta are dragged off into the darkness by the winged demons. Alcèrra raises a small army of hopping winged skeletons as Jak returns to Eldarkar for help. Deep within Kry Moradem the captured assess their fate.

Continued from From Avahrlyn to Kry Moradem.

Alídor, 1 Drûr 652

The cold bite of autumn was in the air. As Jak peered into the dark woods he knew that winter would not be far behind. The night was filled with the sounds of nothing. Somewhere nearby a brook gurgled as it found its way down the hillside. A slow drizzle tapped its fingers on dry leaves of the trees. High above Wōd’s blue face glowed faintly through the low clouds. All was peaceful. It was the kind of night when those on vigil found themselves drifting off for just a few seconds, and then minutes, and then hours.

The night’s peace was sundered by the sound of Jak’s voice, calling his friends back to the Waking World. In the distance the woods were filled with the sounds of snapping twigs and branches, followed by the unmistakable flap of wings. The group reached for its weapons and armor as the grotesque monsters descended upon them. The Heedar had the proportions of Urdar but with clawed hands, curled feet, and wide membranous bat wings. Their faces were contorted with rounded mouths and pointed teeth protruding from black gums. Opaque gray eyes turned in their sockets, searching the ground through pin-hole irises. Most disturbing were their bloated bellies which opened as they drew near, disgorging a mass of hooked entrails which sought to latch and bleed their prey.

Mishara reached for his bow only to find the string broken and all his fletchings in small pieces about the ground. Stringing his spare bow, he reached for his ravaged sheaf arrows and began firing wildly into the trees. The Heedar descended quickly among them, raking with their sharp claws and grabbing with their abdominal tendrils. Dammon summoned a wind to smash several of the creatures to the ground, while Alcèrra rose her voice in spell and caused four of the foul creatures to flee. Tressta, Jak, andAlcèrra closed to fight as a unit.

Growing more and more weary, the group fought on and on but the demonic torrent did not relent. Dammon was the first to fall and was immediately seized by the ankles and dragged away. His body was too heavy to lift completely, so a number of the beasts joined in the effort and soon he was gone. Tressta fell near Jak who tried to stop her captors but was met by a rush of more creatures and was unable to wrest himself clear. Mishara moved himself into the briers to avoid being surrounded, while firing as best he could with his damaged arrows. The Heedar descended on him him again and again, darting through the branches as he withdrew. Other Heedar circled behind him to meet him as he exited the thicket, and felled him quickly when he emerged. Alcèrra meanwhile, having animated two of the creatures from death used them to defend herself and slash at those dragging Mishara’s body from the bushes. After pulling the Eylfāe free of the briers, others descended and hoisted his body into the air. As the last turned to leave, Alcèrra and Jak took stock of their situation. The ground was littered with the small gray corpses. In the distant, the remaining undead walked unsteadily back to the campsite. Despite the gore that lay puddled around the lifeless piles, no scavengers or wandering creatures dared near the unsettling scene.

In the morning, Alcèrra healed Jak and they talked at length about the fate of their comrades and what could be done, if anything. The peasant warrior was adamant that they should check the tower they had come from the day before, where they’d first spied the winged monsters. Alcèrra reluctantly agreed to this. After resting and tending to wounds during the day’s course, the priestess of Drāūn made reluctant preparations for their return. That evening, Alcèrra picked through the dead monsters, setting aside those least injured and created a small group of mindless undead servants to accompany them. The undead Heedar slowly circled the camp on legs unused to walking, their knees and joints cracking with each step, their torn and ragged wings trailing behind them like rotted capes. Though most unpleasant to look upon and now buzzing with flies, this was their army.

Kændor, 2 Drûr 652

The next morning, they marched north along the road. When they reached the keep, Jak went ahead to spy on the ruins but detected no activity within them. Traveling the rest of the day, camp was made hours outside the Village of Eldarkar. The undead escort were sent to stand and patrol at a further perimeter for they’d begun to smell and the insects that swarmed about and inside them were becoming substantial. A number of them now wore seething vests and hats of flies and worms.

Malídor, 3 Drûr 652

In the morning, Jak went ahead into the town and asked for aid and information about the keep a day’s travel south. He was introduced to an older man who’d stood on the hilltop at Kaithah’s funeral, playing her flute. The man introduced himself as Tarawyn and after sitting for a while explained that he had been Kaithah’s mentor, when her parents could teach her nothing more of the bardic arts. In exchange for bringing his old protégé home for burial, he agreed to accompany Jak to the keep he knew as Kry Moradem. Tarawyn explained that he must put his affairs in order, and they agreed to head out in the morning.

Meanwhile, Dammon and Mishara awoke upon a wooden disc suspended by three chains over a deep well. Dammon spoke for some time with his “Conscience” and sent it to find salamander bones in the waters below. Tossing his Conscience to the staircase, they listened to its small footsteps racing down the stairs and the sounds of splashing below. After an hour or more the footsteps returned up the staircase. After a miss and retrieval a salamander carcass was thrown onto the disc. Dammon chewed, gutted, and fashioned the small body into a bracelet using a strand of the Eylfāe’s hair. With this makeshift fetish, the magician grabbed Tressta’s unconscious body and rolled it off the wooden platform using his magic to gently deposit it into the shallow water below. Mishara then began to swing the chained disc back and forth in the darkness, and on Dammon’s command, leaped into the darkness grasping blindly at a stone platform which he barely reached. Climbing onto the stairs, he heard the echo of his efforts and knew his demise had been close. After the magician managed to cross the gulf, both traveled through up through the chambers and hallways above. Soon they found stairs leading up and into the central tower of Kry Moradem. Instead of exiting however, the night was again approaching, they decided to retreat into the darkness and lock themselves in an old and empty armory.

Amdor, 4 Drûr 652

As the night wore on, the armory door was assaulted by clawing and rattling beasts. For Dammon, Mishara, and Tressta, there would be no resting tonight.

Continued in The Restless Army.

Characters

• Alcèrra Nàdrelan
• Dammon Shroudson
• Jak of Cænden
• Kaithah Argentale: dead
• Mishara Mythdaras
• Tressta Drynsval
• Familiar
• Tarawyn Mistvale

Played: 18 Sep 1998