Chapter Five: Death in Saragost

On the morning of March 30 the heroes set out to learn what the can about the drow leaders in Saragost. They have reasonably good information that they are on the Barrowghast, a smallish merchant ship that has been in the harbor for about three weeks. Neil had used Locate Object and Fly to investigate the harbor and discovered that the Barrowghast has both mithral and drow sleep poison on board. The Knife also asked around the docks and discovered that cloaked and hooded people have been seen coming and going from the Barrowghast during the evenings; in fact, one fellow indicated that he had heard that Count Crastic has been seen around the ship a couple of times.

Before lunchtime the heroes array themselves around the dock in the Drunken Sailor tavern and the Blue Rain Inn to keep an eye on things as the Knife takes a dip in the harbor. With Water Breathing active he is able to scout out the dock and the sewer outlets around the Barrowghast as well as the underside of the ship itself. It appears that the drow do not have any means of egress from the ship except via the gang plank leading to the dock.

In the meantime, Rumus uses Clairaudience/Clairvoyance to spy on the innards of the Barrowghast. He discovers that there are three drow: one female and two males, one of whom is obviously a warrior type. He listens in on a bit of conversation and discovers not much of use, but he definitively confirms that the drow are on the ship.

The party spends the rest of the day planning and advising the Council of the situation. The Council agrees to send three elite guard troops to the docks on the morrow at ten o'clock in the morning to aid the heroes as needed. Furthermore, Grandlord Yomah provides a writ which the heroes can use to get on the dock which grants them permission to search the Golden Mariner, the ship docked adjacent to the Barrowghast. The heroes intend to use this writ to get past the mercenary guards who are posted at the end of the dock.

On the morning of March 31, the Starborn strike. They approach the dock well prepared for battle with a wide array of offensive and defensive buff spells active. They present their writ to the two mercenaries and make their way onto the dock. One of the mercenaries moves to the gang plank onto the Barrowghast. Alev casts Stone Fist and the battle is on!

Tilk pushes the mercenary off the gang plank and into the water. The rest of the melee warriors storm the ship and surround the ship captain, cutting him down, but not before he sounds the alarm. The heroes move quickly to the hatch to the lower deck and peek inside: a lone drow warrior in full plate armor bearing a long sword and shield stands ready. The spell casters pelt him with fire and electricity and the Knife slings a dagger into the dark elf's throat.

Rushing down the hatch, Tilk prepares for more battle. A door in the cabin below opens and a pair of large scorpions tear into the cabin. Tilk manages to land heavy blows on them and shots from Casey and Rumus bring the beasts down. The rest of the party drops into the hatch to aid Tilk who has spotted another drow . . . this one appears to be a wizard.

A blast of icy energy (Fireball - cold) confirms his arcane ability. As Tilk and others prepare to charge into the cabin a female drow steps forward healing the wizard who was severely wounded by fire from the spellcasters. Tilk steps up to do battle with the dark priestess and feels compelled not to attack her (Santcuary). He instead moves to the wizard. As the spell casting heroes attempt to kill the drow they see that their spells are ineffective; some force (Minor Globe of Invulnerability) protects them. The dark priestess stretches out her hand and touches Tilk. For a moment he can feel his lifeforce slipping away (Slay Living), but he manages to overcome the dark magic.

Others rush into the room surrounding the enemies and work to lay them low. The drow wizard speaks a word of magic and the drow are whisked away (Dimension Door).

The heroes set to rummaging through the place. They find a heavy chest, a locked coffer and some important looking documents on a desk in the third cabin. While Casey and the Knife search the place and stow the loot in Neil's haversack, Alev has gone above decks to investigate. The town guards have gathered at the end of the dock to see what is happening. As Alev talks with them a blast of fire and unholy power pours from the sky (Flame Strike) knocking Alev unconscious and killing many of the guards.

Hearing the commotion on the dock the rest of the party rushes above decks to see what's going on. They arrive just in time for Neil to see the drow priestess, who is invisible to all except Neil, cast Animate Dead. Alev's corpse and those of several guards shed their flesh and stand as animated skeletons. They set to killing the remaining guardsmen.

The Starborn leap into action. Neil casts a Web spell from a scroll he had and entangles the drow cleric. In the meantime the the melee warriors rush forward to engage the skeletons. Whilst the melee rages the drow wizard, who was hidden across the way, drops another Fireball of the cold variety in the middle of the fight. Rumus falls unconscious and many of the heroes are near death, while the skeletons appear unharmed and most of the rest of the town guards fall dead.

For about thirty seconds the battle rages as the drow priestess struggles to reach her arcane compatriot and the party tries to push past the skeletons to reach their enemies. Rygorh heals Rumus only to see him fall to near complete ineffectiveness as the drow wizard blasts him with negative energy (Enervation). Eventually the priestess wins through the web, reaches the wizard and the pair of them disappear around a corner and vanish from the battle. Rygorh calls upon the power of Firinna to dispatch the skeletons.

The heroes quickly take stock of the situation: Alev lies dead and descecrated as do many of the town guards. Most of the party members are badly wounded and drained of their spells. The Starborn make a hasty retreat to the Node in order to tend to Alev.

To be continued . . .

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