We wrapped up our dragon and spider situation back at the Dragon’s Den and made the journey back to Trondkan. Momen decided he needed to focus on processing all the monster parts we’d collected before they went bad - apparently necromancers have standards about fresh ingredients. Can’t say I blame him. Better he handles that stuff in his lab at the Fief while Spesof and I tackle something simpler for a change.
Speaking of simple, there was a notice on the adventure board about the town’s water supply getting fouled. Some sour smell coming from the river. Figured it’d be a nice break from dragons and magic dungeons - just find whatever’s polluting the water, deal with it, collect our reward. Easy.
I was standing there reading the board when I nearly got run into by some dragonborn who was apparently trying to walk straight through me. Forgot I still had my cloak’s hood up - whole invisibility thing. I dropped it and introduced myself. Turns out his name’s Silvanus, local hunter from these parts who wanders between towns looking for work. When he realized I was one of the Cedar Combe Monster Bashers, he got pretty excited. Apparently we’ve achieved “some level of fame” up here. News to me, but I’ll take it.
Silvanus mentioned he prefers fighting up close with his glaive, though he’s got a bow for backup and some kind of breath weapon from his draconic ancestry. Figured having another sword - or glaive, whatever - would be useful, so I invited him along. Better than just me and Spesof stumbling around trying to figure out water problems.
Found Spesof at the tavern nursing an ale, probably still trying to get spider webs out of his brain. His face when I walked in with a new friend was priceless - apparently me making friends is “a new development.” Fair enough. I introduced Silvanus and we headed out to investigate the river.
Turned out the water situation was significantly less simple than advertised.
We got to the riverbank and immediately rolled into combat. The rocks along the river were these tall twenty-foot formations, and I scrambled up one to get a better vantage point. Good thing too, because there were skeleton minotaurs, skeletons, flame skulls, and shadows crawling all over the place. Not exactly your typical water contamination source.
Silvanus handled himself well right off the bat. He ignited his glaive - which apparently he can just do - and charged into melee with the nearest minotaur. Between him and Spesof working together, they made quick work of it. I posted up on the rocks and started picking off targets with my bow. Got a good hit on one of the minotaurs early on.
Then the shadows showed up. Nasty incorporeal bastards that drain your strength with every hit. They went straight for Spesof and Silvanus in the melee, and I watched both of them get weaker with each attack. Silvanus took a particularly brutal hit that dropped his strength by four points at once. Asked him what it would take to reverse that kind of drain - apparently just rest, which was a relief.
The flame skulls were the real problem though. They kept blasting Spesof with fire rays from range while he was trying to deal with everything else in melee. I managed to take one down from my perch, but there were more where that came from. Then we spotted ogres approaching from the southwest.
Silvanus pulled out some kind of lightning spell - not sure what it’s called, but it dealt a solid hit to one of the zombies and arced to nearby enemies. Then he switched to his bow to start shooting at range. Good tactical sense for a guy who says he prefers melee.
The skeletons were using bows too, which made them surprisingly dangerous. One of them got a hit on Silvanus while he was repositioning. I tried to thin their numbers from my vantage point, but the directional vision made it tricky to track everything happening below.
Then things got worse. Much worse.
I was taking shots at a flame skull when this ghost just materialized next to me. I saw it coming with my blindsense - apparently it had been watching me the whole time, waiting for its moment. It tried to possess me, and despite my best efforts, I failed the save.
Next thing I know, I’m watching my own body move without my control. The ghost is piloting me around, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. The worst part? We don’t have Rary’s Telepathic Bond active, so there’s no way to warn Spesof or Silvanus that I’m compromised. For all they know, I’m just still up on the rocks providing cover fire.
So much for the easy quest. The water’s definitely fouled - there’s undead and worse all over the riverbank - but dealing with it is going to be significantly more complicated than we thought. At least Silvanus seems solid in a fight. We’re going to need all the help we can get to clean this mess up.
Assuming I survive being possessed, that is.