aftermath

[cellio]

February 28 (Saturday)

Arrgghhh! We have made things much, much worse. I knew we shouldn't have listened to Prolix, that over-confident, arrogant idiot. If I ever see him again, I'm going to give him an earful.

We spent much of the morning preparing for the fight, while Prolix scried Garrett once more. The scry was successful, and we were able to teleport right to his throne room as a result. It probably would have been better if we had teleported to the hallway outside, but that was not an option.

We got thoroughly beaten. Turok almost died, Garrett now knows about us, and he's mad. He's also more powerful than I feared, and he has at least one vampiric minion. When the lesser vampire can cast walls of force, I worry!

Prolix has Weeping Wounds, but I don't know where Prolix and Turok are or if they are even alive. For all I know, they're dead, they've given up all our secrets, and Garrett will pay the rest of us a visit tonight. Or they're alive but possessed, either by Garrett or by the dagger, and they will try to do us in. I just don't know. Eeek. Charlos is also missing, and I could really use his counsel right now.

I should have known better than to listen to Prolix. I only did because Turok agreed with him and Turok usually knows what he's doing, but this time he erred. I should have refused to go. If I had done so, maybe Liandra would have. If the two of us had, maybe Kyle would have. I don't think the two of them would have gone on their own. And if I had succeeded in preventing this astonishingly-stupid fight, we wouldn't have blown our cover and we could have made a better attack in the future. Now, Garrett is on his guard. I doubted myself and thought maybe I was being a coward, but it was a legitimate worry.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself; I don't know. It's true that I have also been struggling with my new obligations to Agondre -- specifically, interpreting them. I have a holy sword that is clearly meant to strike down undead; was that a sign? Of course it was, but it wasn't necessarily a sign to attack now. I just don't know.

And we might have had marginally better results if we had stuck to our plan. So long as we kept open the option of teleporting out together, we had a chance. But when Prolix dropped the reduction on Turok (to give Turok a better chance to break free of Garrett's hold), that option was lost. When did Prolix stop carrying an extra reduce spell, or a scroll?

In case we do not survive the night, I will record what happened and what we know of Garrett.

Garrett is extremely nimble. He seems able to climb not only walls but also tapestries, and he has an excellent sense of balance. He is incredibly strong, and had no trouble locking Turok in a grapple (even when Turok was enlarged). He is able to turn to gas and seep through walls; walls of force are useless in his keep. He has speedy boots like Turok's and a wand that emits stinking clouds. In his throne room, there is a hidden trap door in the floor right in front of the throne, and the walls and floor of it are covered with a very cold mold.

Garrett has an associate named Melisande who is a spellcaster, probably a wizard. We saw her create a wall of force, do a short-range teleport, and dispel magic. From the way she reacted to us, she might have been able to see us despite our invisibility spells.

So we teleported into Garrett's throne room, and he noticed us right away and produced a cloud of noxious gas (which also obscured vision). Kyle was overcome and spent several seconds gasping for air; the rest of us escaped from the cloud, but I was overcome by the overwhelming fetid stench of disease in the room. I presume that this came from Weeping Wounds. All I could do for several seconds was to retch. It was awful.

Garrett seemed to be injured by holy water, Liandra's healing spells, and my sword, but we did not do nearly enough damage. He might have been healthier at the end of the fight than at the beginning, in fact, given all the blood he sucked out of Turok.

Turok was able to disarm Garrett, but Prolix magically picked up Weeping Wounds and moved it right past Garrett, so he grabbed it and Turok had to disarm him again. Before Turok could do anything else, Garrett had him in a hold and was sucking the blood from Turok's neck. I could see Turok weakening in front of our eyes, but the two of them disappeared into the pit so quickly that it was hard to intervene. Kyle got the door open and Liandra and I flew down to rescue Turok; when he passed out Garrett dropped him and I was able to grab him and fly out while Liandra guarded our escape. Liandra is very brave.

We closed Garrett in the pit -- a temporary measure, because we saw a grate on one of the walls, but it gave us a few moments to renew the protection spells that were running out. Prolix told us that we could no longer teleport as a single group, so we decided to try to run (well, fly) for it. This proved a challenge; when we got out into the hallway we met Melisande, who began to dispel our magics. Kyle and Prolix became visible. Turok charged her, but we called to him to run with us. As we ran, Prolix erected a wall of force behind us. We saw Garrett emerging from the throne room at about that time.

We ran the only way we could, and when the hall turned we found ourselves facing Melisande again, along with two large spider-people. Melisande then put up her own wall of force in front of us, trapping us. Garrett seeped through the walls and Melisande teleported into our midst.

I told Prolix that we had to leave -- separately if not together. I took the teleport scroll, and Kyle and Liandra and I escaped to the sanctum. Meanwhile, Prolix and Turok left by a shorter-range teleport, and I have no idea where they are or what happened next. I suppose the earliest we could learn anything is tomorrow, when Prolix might be able to cast teleport again.

I'm scared. If we see them again, will they be friends -- or foes under Garrett's control? What if Prolix attacks us with Weeping Wounds? Will Prolix and Turok be able to resist Garrett now that their protection spells have worn off?

I have turned my thoughts now to our own defenses. We are currently ten: -- Liandra, Kyle, Viggo, Olver, Slade, Tasha, Brennan, Delyan, Hrolf, and myself. We ought to be able to manage a 'round-the-clock guard at the teleport circle so long as everyone agrees to help. Attackers could appear at any time.

We need to figure out what kinds of traps we can lay -- or if not traps, at least alarms so we get a moment's warning when people enter the outer chapel. At least we have Prolix' large scrying mirror; if mirrors really do repel vampires, that will help our guards at the circle, maybe.

I think it's time for a group discussion.

Comments

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

Kyle: "Hey! I was puking, not gasping for air! Oh, by the way, your lock needs a bit more work."

[cellio]

Hey! I was puking, not gasping for air!

Since Larissa was busy puking at the time, you'll have to forgive her imperfect perceptions.

Oh, by the way, your lock needs a bit more work.

Make 'detect trap' and 'spellcraft' checks, please?