Evil from Above, Trouble from Within Report

General Summary

The heroes have found and safely returned Skalnaedyr's grandson Etephyr to the city, and have made a public disgrace of the Cult of the Dragon. While Etephyr is currently safe at the Tower of the Blue Thunderbolts, reports of strange falling stars and farmers' families being attacked at the extreme eastern outskirts of Skalnaedyr give cause for our heroes to investigate. After our heroes return to the city of Skalnaedyr on the 21st of November, and receive a hero's welcome for returning to the city with the heir of Skalnaedyr himself in tow, the party rests for a bit before deciding on their next course of action. As the result of their great success many plans have been set into motion, both by the Order of the Blue Thunderbolts and their enemy, The Cult of the Dragon. On the 24th of November, the party is asked to meet with the leader of the Blue Thunderbolts, the wizard Zjackam Sorabald. He once again congratulates the party for a job well done, and asks if he may request for their assistance yet again. While our heroes had been out in the desert finding Skalnaedyr's heir, reports of a strange meteor shower far to the east near BrightStar Lake had occurred about five days prior to the party's return. For the last couple of days reports of attacks on the farmers and their families living on the extreme eastern border of Skalnaedyr's lands had been reported. Zjackam informed the party that the city had responded to the attacks by sending out an increased number of guards to protect the farmers and their crops, but inquired if our adventurers would be willing to investigate the cause of this new problem, and if it was related to the starfall recently observed. Our heroes agreed to undertake the task and would depart the next day. Osa took this opportunity to request the leader of the Blue Thunderbolts to assist her in contacting her new aunt Bargala. Zjackam agreed and Osa was able to magically communicate with Bargala and give her an update on her recent adventures. During the magical conversation she inquired if there was any way Bargala might be able to assist her in acquiring better armor than she currently wore. Osa’s aunt informed her that she would see what she could assist with, and would contact Osa as needed. Zjackam also provided the party with a stock of healing potions for any dangers encountered with their upcoming expedition. On the morning of the 25th of November our heroes departed, and by late evening found themselves at the very eastern edge of the farm lands of the city of Skalnaedyr. One of the local families, recognizing the heroes by their appearance as the party who had recently found Skalnaedyr's heir, offered their home for them to stay the night as well as share a meal. The friendly family confirmed the reports made by Zjackam, and let them know that the city had been doing its best by providing additional guards for the families living on the eastern border outside the walls of the city. Our heroes slept in relative comfort, and departed bright and early the next day. The party travels east, following the course of the river Rauthenflow. While traveling, Eldred came up with the excellent idea of taking advantage of his ability to fly, and took a high look at their surroundings about once an hour as our group traveled towards the lake. On the 29th of November, about late afternoon, Eldred's plan paid off, as he saw a strange scorched circle in the grass not too far off north of where the party currently stood. When they arrived at the scorched mark they found a strange black stone the size of a man's fist in the center of a crater. It was very apparent to all that the stone must have been incredibly hot when it had first landed, because all of the grasses around the crater showed signs burning or scorching. Eldred carefully examined the strange stone, finally working up enough nerve to use one of the wooden stakes he was carrying to pry underneath it and move it from the center of the crater. The group was surprised to find that the stone had strange root-like growths coming out of the bottom and attaching it to the ground beneath it. These "roots" broke like fragile glass when the stone was moved. The party discussed the strange object at length, and all of them noted a sense of unease while in its proximity. Their discussion of how to handle this strange object went on for quite a while as the sun slowly crept towards the horizon. As the sun finally set, and our adventurers continued to discuss what the stone might be, or whether or not it was related to the attacks, Eldred took note of an unnatural group of shadows rapidly closing in on the party. His warning cry came just in time to prevent his companions from being caught off guard by the attack of three undead shadows! Osa raised up her arm to ward off the blow by the shadowy figure standing in front of her, but it's shadowy clawed hand struck her directly in the face! Osa staggered backwards as she felt her life force directly attacked by this creature's touch, and a terrible weakness began to spread through her body. Her warrior reflexes took over, and she brought her magical longsword down hard into the shadowy form that had assaulted her and was rewarded by feeling the resistance of her magical blade striking deep into the shade-like foe. Despite the weakness still spreading through her body she quickly reversed her blade with an upward stroke and the unnatural creature before her dissipated into wisps of nothingness. Eldred, quick as ever, stepped forward to another one of these monsters and dispatched it with a flurry of strikes. The third shadow reached out to Aronin with its deadly touch but the wizard quickly moved out of reach while blasting his would-be attacker with a rapid succession of magic missiles. Osa quickly stepped to her friend's aid and swung her longsword at the undead creature but missed. Eldred took advantage of the shadows' attention on Osa and quickly dispatched it with his adamantine short sword. With all of the attacking undead defeated, the party thought deeply about what to do with this strange stone still sitting in it's crater. Close reexamination revealed that the eerie feeling stone head once again started to grow "roots" into the ground. As an experiment, the party decided to try pouring holy water on the stone, and was amazed when the stone quickly evaporated into a foul black vapor when coming in contact with the holy water! The party moved away from the scene of their battle, and made camp for the night. Osa was very relieved to find her strength had returned by morning. The party continued to find more of these strange stones in craters as they reached Brightstar Lake. Using holy water seemed highly effective, but alas the party did not have an ample supply. Upon finding one of these unholy stones, and being out of holy water, Eldred decided to try the holy symbol he had been carrying with him since his days of being trained as a monk. Eldred placed the holy symbol of Selune on top of the strange black stone sitting in it's crater before him. The holy symbol began to glow red hot, but at the same time the rock underneath it began to melt away! In the end the rock was gone but Eldred's holy symbol of Selune was cracked, and no longer seemed to hold the blessings it once did. The party continued to push east, now following the northern edge of Brightstar Lake. Eldred's continued practice of taking looks from high up soon revealed a massive crater not far north from the party's current location. The party turned North and found a huge meteorite in an equally sized crater. With no more holy water, and Eldred's holy symbol ruined, the group decided that the best course of action was to return to the city with the information that they had gathered. As the night again fell, Aronin noticed far off in the distance a small point of light that seemed to be approaching the party hovering a good 5ft above the ground. As he called out warnings to his companions, the strange glowing orb continued to draw closer. A vague shape began to become visible, and the party was alarmed to see a skull which appeared to be on fire was streaking through the air straight at their group! Our wise adventures took the opportunity to spread out and take advantage of the advanced notice of the approaching abomination. Osa pulled out her white magically enchanted elven longbow and managed three direct hits at ranges that seemed impossible, demonstrating her incredible skill with a bow. The three arrows were not enough to stop the approach of the flaming monstrosity, it continued to fly closer towards our heroes and with them spread out it chose Aronin as it's target. The skull’s mouth opened and a ball of fire erupted forth, streaking towards Aronin and exploding right next to him. The wizard dove to the ground just in time to save himself from receiving the full blast of the fireball’s explosion! Even still, Aronin rises up badly burnt. The skull stoped moving and the flames around it began to get brighter and brighter. Eldred, anticipating further attacks of a magical nature from this undead abomination, charged directly towards the flaming skull. Osa continued to pepper the skull with arrows, but they seemed to have little effect. Aronin decided to fight fire with fire and cast 3 scorching rays directly at the skull. The magical streams of fire scored direct hits, but had no effect. Once again the skull’s mouth opened, this time shooting forth three rapid shots of magic missiles directly into Eldred as the Monk finally closed the distance with his foe. The skull projected out a wall a fire towards Eldred, but the monks' quick reflexes and innate resistance to fire allowed him to ignore the wave of heat. Eldred responded with a flurry of attacks of his own, his adamantine short sword and Ki powered strikes hitting his opponent, and causing massive damage to the skull still hovering off the ground. Aronin quickly deduced that fire was ineffective against this monster, and attacked with a volley of magic missiles, the bolts of energy unerringly striking home! The skulls inner flame finally went out and it dropped inert to the ground. Eldred picked up the skull while the rage of combat was still coursing through his veins, and smashed it back down to the ground. Eldred's guard still stays up, the smashed skull on the ground still emanating a disturbing aura of undeath around it. The party decides to quickly reverse course and distance themselves from the scene of this battle. The party discussed what further actions they might be able to take, and stuck to their conclusion that they should return to the city and inform Zjackam of what they had found. They travel back to the city of Skalnaedyr, with only one encounter with a lone zombie, which the party dispatches easily. Their quickened pace has them back at the city by the 4th of December. As the party returns, it quickly becomes apparent that thing's must have happened during their absence. The normally open city gates are now shut, and the guards outside the gate are doubled. Filled with trepidation, our heroes step forward towards the gates, resolved to overcome any obstacle to complete their mission for the good of the people living in Skalnaedyr.