Mask’s Assault on Assam – The West Coffin

• Characters: Forkbeard, Jebeddo, Roywyn, Sentalial, V.L, Vexander, Wicasa, X-Requinn
• NPCs: Julbin Cometstrike, Assam heckler, Uljary Blackshore
• Synopsis: Jebeddo appears in Threshold frantically searching for allies in their battle. The gnome’s name and honor are at stake, as he has yet to even begin negotiations with the City of Assam. The wayfinder finds his way to Julbin Cometstrike’s hut and drafts Vexander the cleric and the breathtaking Roywyn to his cause. Julbin also provides the means to aid the party by repelling the magic surrounding the coffins, as well as freeing Forkbeard from his petrified status. Stuffing the items into his pouches, Jebeddo grasps his new allies and teleports back to Assam. As the party’s resources continue to dwindle, Bixtbie, Cromwell and Zaytheon return to the coffin that has trapped Rog and Dak. Their sheer brutality will be needed to win this engagement. The rest of the party fly after the departed Sentalial, only to find him undecided in his approach to the coffin on the west side of the city. Standing atop of the landscape’s intruder is a knight in black ceramic armor. Whispered advice escapes the helmet as it repeats “Do not listen to her. If you do you will die.” The parlay is worthless as the herald continues spouting his warnings. As if plagued by singular, unrelenting, and impossible to kill gnat, Wicasa is hounded by the heckler atop the city wall. Accusations hurl from the safety of Assam. But luckily the words are drowned by the pending combat. Surrounded by his allies, Sentalial leads the group, pressing the attack. Whomever or whatever the herald is, or what woman he bellows about, he is at the wrong place at the wrong time. Blows are delivered but not returned, but the melee triggers the lid of the coffin. Immediately surrounding the frontline warriors are undead creatures summoned from some barren wasteland of dust and dried-up seas. A swirling mist of gray envelops the adventurers, and Sentalial and V.L. quickly find themselves in a bad way. Jebeddo’s reinforcements arrive to prevent the murder as the gnome wizard dispels the mist. Even more undead join the fray, a pair of embalmed corpses and a walker of graves coated in spider webs. Vexander presents his holy symbol and sends two of the attackers away in fear. Sentalial and V.L. work quickly delivering righteous blow after righteous blow, sending chunks of salt and debris showering the ground. The exchange of attacks is epic, as the slams against Sentalial seem to suck his breath from his lungs. And the paladins belief is greater than his enemies; they are smited and Sentalial’s sword sends the salted adversary screaming to the soil. Only a fraction of time expires before the salted mounds reform into their former bodies and begin attacking anew. X-Requinn grabs his decanter of endless water to test his theory. True the the hypothesis, the water douses the creatures forming puddles that seep quickly into the disturbed ground surrounding the unholy coffins. Weary of previous attempts, Jebeddo cautiously investigates the coffin finding that permanent spells are in place making the chamber unhallowed with Mask’s authority. But more disturbing is the gate effect still in place, somehow allowing for interplanar travel. Despite their accumulated knowledge the group can only derive that the source is from one of the outerplanes. The group recuperates, quickly assessing their resources. Before they march onto the last coffin, the outlandish heckler once again scolds Wicasa, blaiming the secretive adventurer for the cities woes. In a burst of rage, Wicasa Wakan shouts back, “Will you not fight for your own city, will you not?!?” As a retort builds, the man is cut off by Uljary Blackshore, one of the city’s commanders and one of the four horsewomen that initially greated the adventurers. Seemingly the heckling stops, but not before Sentalial rides off to the last of Mask’s coffins. Moving after their ally, the group simulataneously floats to the ground. The warriors immediately feel weaker and less mobile. The spells put in place before the battles have been exhausted. Now they must face their last, and greatest encounter with but their swords, wits, and what little spells remain.
• Encounters: three salt mummies, two mummies, webbed zombie
• Achievements: defeated the attackers from the west coffin, and admonished the cowardly troops behind the walls of Assam