Bokrug Arrives

Chaos reigned as all the party goers started moving in random directions trying to get away from the sickly green, frog faced humanoids.  The creatures attacked from above flying down to and killing several party goers.

On such creature touched Ursina and she felt wracking burns and a wave of doom that quickly passed.  

Armania moved slightly toward the center of the party, which was spread out across the room.  She found moving difficult as the randomly running party goers impeded movement.  She finished by using her wand of Scorching Ray at the closed creature.  It seemed to do minimal damage.

Paullus fired his bow at another and though it seemed to hit the ghostly figure, it did no damage.  Ursina backed away and cast Ghostbane Dirge to cause the seemingly incorporeal figure to coalesce to a semi-physical state.  Unfortunately the spell failed.

Gavril moved as quickly as he could but could not reach one of the creatures.  Ciprian identified the monsters a Ib Shades, undead with a Doom Ability.  He moved into a pocket of party goers next to Armania and cast Good Hope on the party.  Erevel then moved to the nearest enemy and found that even her greatsword did half damage.

All the time the battle was raging the party goers were headed mostly away from the water running down the stairwell and also trying to put distance between themselves and the Ib Shades.  Unfortunately a few more of them fell as the shades were furiously seeking vengeance.  

One of the shades touched Erevel and she was left with deep bruises as the doom ran down her spine and she became shaken.  The shade's body was limber and lithe, with a sunken belly.  Armania cast Greater Invisibility on herself and fired magic missiles at the nearest shade.  Paullus moved next to the shade attacking Erevel and pulled out the Vorpal Scimitar which bit the creature, but again at lower damage. Ursina tried Ghostbane Dirge again but again its affects did not take.  Ciprian started a Bardic Performance against the Shades and Contagious Zeal on Gavril.  Gavril met up with ta shade and Red Destiny bit deep but the creature brushed off the critical and the damage was still half.

Erevel used her one action to hit the creature again, though in response she was touched by the Shade and felt damned.  She became so haunted by the certainty of her imminent destruction that she was dazed.  The other Shades continued enthusiastically killing party goers or rendering them shaken.  Gavril was targeted by one shade that missed him entirely with its webbed feet.  Its ears were long and tapered to two distinct points and protruded backward from the skull.  A third point descended downward to the shoulders.

Armania cast magic missiles and Paullus continued attacking with the Scimitar.  Gavril continued to swing Red Destiny with determination again successfully hitting the frog faced monsters.  Ciprian cast vanish on himself, hoping to avoid the Shades notice.  Erevel stood dazed as the creature began to attack Paullus.  Erevel felt some of the dread drain and she became staggered.

Now the Shades began to ignore the party goers and focused their attacks on the party.  Paullus became shaken but all the other heroes managed to avoid the doom.  Soon the various Shades began to fall to Ursina's Holy Book, Gavril's Red Destiny and Erevel could finally attack with her greatsword.

After the last Shade was destroyed, revelers from the upper palace calmed down sufficiently to explain the source of their fear to everyone in the feasting hall: the lake waters had risen to the top of the sea wall, threatening the entire city. 

"There are ghostly forms are atop the sea wall, one of which holds aloft an ominous green lizard statue," one shake woman announced. 

The revelers from the upper palace feared these ghostly apparitions and worried that the entire city would be inundated by the surging waters of the lake.

"Join me if we get the idol, I can D door 4 of us together back to this hall.  Let's get going we need to keep my invisibility alive," Armania ordered.

Erevel led the party up the stairs, the water made the steps slippery but there were no creatures on the way up.  At the top of the stairs they entered a thin green mist composed of very fine particles. These odd particles clung to skin, hair, and clothes, imparting a slick, waxy sheen that was unusual but harmless. The mist restricted visibility along the top of the sea wall to only a few hundred feet. The top of the sea wall was 20 feet wide and made of smooth, worked stone. Narrow, decorative crenellations along the north and west sides of the sea wall rose 5 feet high every 15 feet apart. The lake’s water had reached the top of the wall, and was now pouring into the city.  A wall, about 5 feet high surrounded the stairwell. On the way up Ciprian cast mirror image.  

Armania stepped out on the parapet first and rounded the wall of the staircase, even using the top of the wall to stand out of the water.  At the far end she still had not seen any Ib Shades or a green idol.  Gavril followed and just rounded the wall on a double move.  As he stopped he felt a shock of electrical damage.  Turning he saw a faintly glowing green ball of light, the nebulous image of what might have been a skull visible somewhere in the depths.  

"Will-O'-Wisp, watch out there may be more," Gavril called out.

Paullus moved to the top of the stairs to shoot arrow at the new enemy.  He then felt the same shock of electricity behind him.  Ursina followed up and attacked with her holy book.  Erevel followed and also felt the shock of a Will-O'-Wisp.  Finally the seven Ciprian's topped the stairs and cast haste upon the party.

Armania crept forward sloshing in the water on the parapet until she could see four Ib Shades and another who looked more like a priest with robes on.  The priest was holding a green statue of a lizard in the air, waving it back and forth.  The sea was churning as the party took on the Will-O'-Wisps.  Gavril was especially effective with Red Destiny as his attacks continued to be decisive.  

The Ib Shades all moved toward Gavril as they only saw him as the enemy.  Armania cast Swipe and stole the green lizard idol right out of the hands of the Ib Priest, who stood shocked.  She then moved back toward the party.  The party continued to whack away at the Will-O'-Wisps, killing two.  The third blinked out and then the group was no longer seen.  Ciprian began a Bardic Performance against the Shades.

At this point the party spied a vast, heaving bulk off in the lake.  A wave of despair swept over them and they felt less effective in all their attacks, damage and checks.  The Priest moved forward and cast Horrid Wilting upon the party, who felt the water evaporating from their skin, causing flesh to wither and crack.  Some even crumbled into dust.

Armania quickly darted between the Shades and backed Gavril, Ursina and Erevel.  "Grab on to me we will D door.  Paullus and Ciprian run for the stairs.  The group took their final attacks as Paullus headed down the stairwell.  Before Ciprian could move a great reptilian lizards with a beard of tentacles and a sting-tipped tail rose up out of the water and hit the real Ciprian with a critical claw.  Ciprian disappeared from sight as the group thought he had died and they would find him on the Sellen Starling.

Armania D doored to the large ballroom where the group met up with Paullus.  They attempted to wake up from the Dreamlands but were stymied by the Despair Aura.  They determined to head further into the hall with Paullus running to save his life.  A great tsunami of water came crashing down the staircase, filling the stairwell with rubble from the seawall.

At the far end of the hall the group finally was able to successfully wake up as the water rushed at them and arrive on the Sellen Starling where they saw Ciprian shaking his head as he awoke.

DM's Notes: The party earned 3,600 XP for the night.  They now have 54,454 XP, the next step for 9th level is 75,000 XP.  The party received full credit for the Will-O'-Wisps, second set of four Ib Shades and the Ib Shade Priest even without defeating them.  The use of Swipe was an inspired choice for this encounter.