Having escaped being sacrificed at the hands of the Morlocks, our battered heroes holed up on the second floor of a long-abandoned building and licked their wounds. Waking the next morning (if morning it was... hard to tell under a mile of ice), Indis the elf sensed cold and death from the next building over.
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| Image from http://xxred-haloxx.deviantart.com/art/Barrow-Wight-19347748 |
The party slipped inside the ancient, crumbling structure and made their way to the second floor where they found a room piled high with rotting wood, chipped stone, and human(ish) bones laced with cuts. At that point, they heard from the floor above the sound of a metal blade being dragged across the stone. Battle axe at the ready, Indis climbed the steps to the next floor and nearly lost her head to a ghostly knight in ornate armor. Though he had no face to speak of, his helm revealed a pair of glowing, icy-blue eyes. Indis suffered only a minor cut across her forehead but at the same time felt some of her very life-force drain away.
A heated battle ensued. Just as the first wight was defeated at a high cost in life-force (CON points), two more arrived on the scene. The party fled. An unscathed Ambiorix covered their exit as the others sped down the stairs and toward the front door... where they encountered a fourth wight blocking their path. Pressed to fight, the heroes seemed to rally and quickly dispatched their assailant with a combination of spells and magic weapons. Meanwhile, the two wights from upstairs could be heard making their way down...
In the seconds following the fight at the door, Ambiorix, Fil, and Indis set up a quick ambush at the bottom of the stairs. When the last two wights finally appeared, the party attacked with everything they had. It was a short and brutal battle but eventually our heroes won out.
In all, Fil the halfling and Panope the cleric fared the worst, to the point where the latter's permanent health is now severely damaged. On the bright side, a search of the wights' 4th floor lair revealed something of a treasure trove: chests containing around 12,000 ancient silver coins, an assortment of scrolls and potions, and a magical +3 sword longsword (which was given to Xanna the thief).
At this point, the party decided to barricade themselves into the former wight lair and heal as best they could.
NEXT TIME: a new ally, apes amok, and skeletons, dragons, and ash...
