Vhakizla – Chapter 15

"Summer of 67. Second Age. Ghostmire.
You gotta understand – I been to alotta dark places. Marches that’d harrow your very soul. And this one? It ain’t nothing.
Sure, it’s mud and muck and mire so thick and deep it’ll peel the boots straight off your skin. Sure, it’s midges and flies and bloodsuckers aplenty, enough to drain us dry before we catch sight of any true vampire. Sure, it’s haunted mists that whisper our darkest secrets and populate our minds with bloody visions of shames and fears we’d long thought buried.
You ask me? Ain’t so bad.
Them as fought in the Night Wars remember when were it bad. Imagine you’re marched across a necrotic land, the very soil sapping the strength from every step, the air thick with the disembodied screams of those devoured on the warpath, your very sleep stolen by dreams of decay and despair and desolation.
Imagine that with sixty pounds of armor on your back, your commander barking orders in your ear and every corpse you leave behind joins their ranks.
You endure that, you’ve earned the right to complain to me. This? A cakewalk."
 – Beholder's Log, Gnoson 32 67 2A

Once they'd crossed the small lake, the Menagerie was now faced with the dilemma of Akiz, a ruined palatial city, now swamped with hallucinogenic mist. Should they dispatch scouts to search the city or should they simply march the full strength of their host into that murk? After some debate, Chimera convincing herself that her son was dead, the company decided to damn the consequences and march in.
No sooner had they than what should rise to meet them but a phantom army, the spirits of those who fled the Thanasian invasion and merged with the Ghostmire's mist. Battle was joined.

BATTLE STATS:
The Menagerie:

• 2 Menagerie Foot (medium standard veteran infantry)
• 1 Menagerie Artillery (medium standard veteran artillery)
• 1 Mummified Clergy (small light undead clergy)

Phantom Army:

• 2 Spectral Host (large light undead infantry)
• 1 Exsanguinated Ambushers (small light veteran guerillas)

On the streets of Akiz, our mercenary heroes did battle against a host of phantoms, capable of draining the strength from their sword-arms with a mere touch. More than once, Umber, Mouse and Vulture came achingly close to death by their undead hand but the timely intervention of Remorhaz and his lesser restoration saved them. Meanwhile, the larger army faced not only legions of phantoms but also exanguinated guerillas that sprang from the bloody water to attack. Overall, thanks to the mummified clergy, the army fared somewhat better than their heroic counterparts, though one unit of infantry was cowed and forced to flee, shrieking from the illusions the mist planted in their mind. 

BATTLE STATS:
The Menagerie:

• 1 Menagerie Foot (medium standard veteran infantry)
• 1 Menagerie Foot (medium standard veteran infantry)
• 1 Menagerie Artillery (medium standard veteran artillery)
• 1 Mummified Clergy (small light undead clergy)

Phantom Army:

• 2 Spectral Host (large light undead infantry)
• 1 Exsanguinated Ambushers (small light veteran guerillas)

When that mist cleared, however, the Menagerie won the day. Now nothing separated them from the grand Summer Palace that loomed ahead, the epicenter of the rivers of blood. From within that palace, they each heard a familiar scream – Griffon alive.

Campaign: The Menagerie
Game Date: Gnoson 32, 67 2A
Starting Point: Ghostmire
Player Characters:

• Mouse
• Remorhaz
• Umber
• Vulture