Session 23: The Undead Hordes

A wise man once said, "Never trust a death priest.  Unless your choice is between a death priest and a horde of undead."

Our heroes had two options:

1. Head directly into the Temple of Myrkul and turn their back to the oncoming undead horde, or
2. Stay and fight the undead horde with Arlew and his minions

With some prodding by Stevil and Velocitor, the team chose plan B.  After a short tactical discussion with Arlew, they began battlefield preparations by spreading out bundles of torches to pierce through the suspiciously pitch-black night.  Suddenly, a warrior charged into their midst shouting at Arlew to prepare for battle.  Yinda was her name, and she came bearing dark tidings of an oncoming zombie onslaught.

Arlew, Yinda and Dog

With little time to prepare, our champions formed ranks behind and to the flanks of Arlew's undead minions.  Blumpkin, Typhus and Merkin took the high ground in hopes of raining death upon the horde, while Stevil and Pog reinforced Arlew's zombie infantry.  Within minutes our heroes began to see the first signs of the enemy... zombies, ghouls, and two hulking giant zombies to the north and south of their formation.  The only way out was straight ahead.

Our heroes began to rain death on their enemies as undead grappled with undead.  Stevil summoned the thunderous fury of Kord, further amplifying his considerable power with lightning from the maelstrom above to electrocute packs of zombies and ghouls and leave their corpses as smoking husks.  Blumpkin and Merkin fired arrows into the undead masses, while Typhus seized control of a hulking giant zombie through his Crown of Madness.  Turnabout is fair play my rotting friends.  Silde and Velocitor probed the enemy defenses from range, while Yinda dove headfirst into the fray with her greatsword.  The advantage seemed to lie with our heroes, but little did they know this was merely the enemy's vanguard.

Ghoulsteed

The site of this pitched battle was made all the more horrifying by the arrival of a Ghoulsteed and a pair of ghasts.  Enemy forces began to make headway through friendly lines, as the forces of evil attempted to make their way to their intended target:  Arlew Finn.  Zombie giants began pelting Arlew from afar with boulders and his health was quickly depleted.  Meanwhile, our heroes continued to hack and blast away at their enemies.  Unfortunately, the enemy had not played their final trump card... until a Necrophage and a Zombie Lord appeared.

Zombie Lord

In a desperate attempt to stem the tide, Velocitor eschewed his cowardly ways to wade into the fray of melee combat with his mace Lightbringer.  Unfortunately, intent does not always lead to results, and his swings mostly connected with empty air.  Merkin was equally unlucky with his bowmanship, and it was only Typhus' barrage of Eldritch blasts and Blumpkin's hail of arrows that kept the north flank from collapsing.

On the southern flank, Pog sliced through zombies and ghouls while Stevil continued his electrical onslaught.  Drawing upon the might of Kord, scores of zombies and ghouls were deep-fried.  Silde held the center line until a handful of ghouls broke through making their way toward Arlew.  Even his flurry of blows could not keep these undead from their quarry.  It soon became obvious that their foes will stop at nothing for Arlew's blood when the Necrophage launched a ball of fiery doom into their midst, scorching friend and foe alike, badly wounding Silde and sending Dog to his grave.  Arlew fell unconscious... the first of many times.

Meanwhile, our heroes on the northern flank were assaulted by the vile aura of the Zombie Lord.  Velocitor began to choke on his own vomit and continued his futile flailing.  Blumpkin's 9 intelligence led him to believe that the real threat was the largely stationary giant zombie, whom he continued to pelt with arrows.  Merkin's attacks sometimes found their target, and Typhus continued to blast away chunks of rotting zombie flesh with his beams.

Pog flew into a rage at the carnage and waded into the thick of battle to unleash his barbarian fury.  Stevil, doubly channeling the might of the mightiest god Kord, continued to blast undead with vicious bolts of lightning while simultaneously reviving Arlew with his ranged healing.  Poor Arlew didn't even have a chance to rise before he was besieged on all sides by undead and brought down once again.  Yinda and Silde tried to form a perimeter to protect Arlew but their foes were too many.  Like clockwork, Silde was beaten unconscious by a pack of ghouls.

Necrophage

Just when things looked bleak, our heroes rallied to turn the tide.  Typhus, Blumpkin and Merkin focused fire on the greatest threat, and Velocitor put aside memories of childhood trauma long enough to resist the Zombie Lord's aura, smiting him with the fury of radiant energy and sending him to the Nine Hells.  Pog's furious energy allowed him to annihilate multiple enemies simultaneously, slicing through zombie after zombie and leaving their parts for the vultures.  Stevil maintained his concentration through ghoulish wounds long enough to unleash another blast from the sky while once again bringing Arlew back from the brink of death.  Yinda charged through the ranks to unleash the power of her greatsword on the helpless Necrophage, releasing his bond to this world in a flurry of mighty swings.  Immediately after the Necrophage's demise, the evil horde crumbled to dust leaving our heroes and their friends victorious on the field of battle.

After stabilizing Silde, the group took a brief rest to heal and regroup.  Over a score of enemies lay smitten on the battlefield.  Arlew, grateful for having his life saved not once, not twice, but three times by Stevil, provided the group with information about the evil within the Temple of Myrkul, including a detailed map.  Bruised but not broken, our heroes prepared for their descent into the temple to face this unspeakable evil.  What horrors lie in wait in that vile den of undeath?