Kythorn 4 - Middle of the night:

Tonight was a huge victory for Kelemvor!

But let me start from the beginning. Two days ago Kate took us on a short tour of the town of Red Larch. She's been here before and performed at the tavern many times. After seeing Velsharoon's temple, I knew we couldn't leave without doing something.

That evening we sat around discussing our plans.

"I know we're trying to catch Eldora, but I can't let Velsharoon's temple stand," I said.

"I do understand what you are saying Zira, but in the eyes of the people of Red Larch, the temple is a place of good where anyone, especially the less fortunate can go for free medical care and burial services. We can't take that away from them," replied Swift.

"Maybe we don't have to," Israel uncharacteristically added to the conversation, and we all paused to look at him. Israel continued his face a slight shade of pink, "We could investigate the place. Once we know more and find out how it's run, we make a plan to clear out the unwholesome elements and turn the place over to the Allfaith's church."

"My brother, always the researcher. Well, I guess I'll need to be my charming self and see what we can find out," Elisha said.

"Why you?" I asked.

"Well because Adrala and Val stick out as foreigners here. Israel is too shy. And no matter what you do Zira, you will always look like a cleric of Kelemvor. Plus I am the most charming one of the group," Elisha answered with an easy smile.

I lowered my voice and asked, "Do you plan to charm them into telling you they're necromancers?"

"Personally, I doubt they are all necromancers. But regardless, I plan to chat with the folks running the hospital. I'll play it off that I'm interested in joining them. After I get some answers, I'm hoping to slip off somewhere unnoticed and take a peek around the rest of the place," Elisha answered.

"It sounds like a good plan. But what if you get caught? Shouldn't at least one of us be nearby to help?" I said.

"Don't worry so much Zira. This is not my first rodeo. And I'm excellent at what I do," he said and winked at Israel.

We solidified plans for Elisha to nose around the church buildings the next day, including an escape/rescue if he was gone for too long. Afterward, we would meet to discuss our next steps in the privacy of my and Swift's room.

True to his word, Elisha met the rest of us at the appointed time. I was anxious to hear about what he found out.

"I was correct. Most of the congregation has no idea of the evil that is behind the good face of the church. It's only those higher up in power and those they want to recruit who know about the necromantic practices. I was able to do some sneaking around and found that along with the hospital building and temple, there is a morgue with a locked door that I didn't have time to pick, an office, and a couple bunk rooms for clergy. Let me draw you up a map," Elisha said.

He didn't stop talking as he drew out a map for us, "I'm certain the head priests are necromancers. I did some poking around their rooms and found some church pamphlets and a brooch with Velsharoon's symbol. I also found a spell book in an end table drawer. And before you ask, I left everything the way I found it so they wouldn't know I was there."
Israel looked over the map and said, "They don't know we're here, so we should use that to our advantage and surprise the head priests. We could slip in while they're sleeping and attack."

"We should do it tonight," I said.

Later that night, Elisha snuck us through a locked door in the back of the building leading into the basement.

"Follow me," he whispered.

And we followed him down the hall and up a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs, we split into two groups. Swift and I went to deal with the necromancer in the room to the left, while the others headed to the room to the right. Before the other group went in, I saw a glimmering sheen encase Israel's body like armor.

I pulled on my silver mask and whispered to Swift, "Ready?"

He blurred for a second and then shook out his fur as he shifted into his full weretiger form, "Let's do this," Swift said and pushed the door open, his short swords at the ready. Swift silently made his way to the sleeping necromancer's bed, once there he quickly attacked.

I stepped into the room and pointed my mace at the necromancer. It lit up the room as a streak of radiant light hit its target seconds after the last swing of Swift's sword. The necromancer sat up in surprise!

I couldn't believe it! Our attacks had barely damaged him!

The necromancer, still glittering lightly from my spell, mumbled a spell under his breath and a black sphere of negative energy swelled out hitting us both with necrotic energy. Again I was thankful for my aasimar lineage helping me stave off some of the necrotic damage.

I heard Israel call out from down the hall, "Where did she go?"

And Adrala answered, "I don't know, but go see if Zira and Val need help."

Suddenly a mote of fire flew past me, barely missing the necromancer and setting the chest at the end of the bed a flame.

I shivered at the sight of the fire.

Swift attacked the necromancer again, leaving behind two bloody stab wounds. Then he looked at me and said, "Zira, you will be ok. Focus on the task at hand."

I felt a bolstering strength from his words and cast again, "Cinnos!"A flame-like radiance descended upon the necromancer. Then I stepped further into the room to give Israel a better view from the doorway.

The necromancer began casting again.

Then I heard Aldrala say from the hall, "Umm, we have a problem. One of them summoned zombies and they're coming up the stairs." I could hear the sounds of fighting from the hall, and I knew I needed to stop him from casting another spell.

"Fire!" Israel shouted hurling another mote of fire at the necromancer. It connected this time and the necromancer desperately tried to pat out his flaming clothing. Then Israel disappeared from the doorway, probably to go and assist Adrala and his brother.

"Sorry Swift," I called out and then whispered, "Sarn." Swift looked over in shock and horror and I knew my spell had silenced and deafened the two people in its sphere of influence. Then I searched deep inside for the spark of radiant light within me and let it burst out. Radiant light erupted out of my mask from my eyes and mouth!

I don't know if I'll ever get used to this feeling, of touching my celestial side.

The now silenced necromancer looked around in panic, then jumped out the window closest to him. Swift took a swing at the man and missed, putting him off balance. Swift then turned his head, looking around, trying to orientate himself without the help of sound.

Then the craziest thing happened!

"Not so fast," Kate said climbing through the window, dragging the necromancer with her. She turned to me and waved with her free hand, "Hi! Sorry, I couldn't continue to just watch."

She dropped the injured man on the floor and kept moving into the room just behind me.

Despite being rattled from my spell, Swift raised his short swords and let out a silent roar. He fiercely attacked the necromancer, who at this point could barely stand from his injuries.

And I hoped to finish him off quickly so I poured the radiant light from within me into my spell, "Midir," I called out holding out my badge of Kelemvor.

I don't know how, but the man was still alive! Barely holding on.

Behind me, Kate yelped in pain. At the same time, I saw Swift's silent cry of pain. I realized I was too close to my friends, but I still held onto the light. And despite her pain, Kate finished the necromancer off with an arrow from her bow.

Behind me in the hall, I heard a door open. I was immediately thankful to be in a room when I saw the void of necrotic energy fill the hall. That's when I knew the second necromancer had returned to the fight.

From the darkness, Adrala called out in distress, "Zira we need your help! Elisha and Israel are down."

True to his name, Swift raced out of the room, across the hall to the kitchen to go after the missing necromancer. And I rushed out into the hall. The scene before me filled me with horror. Elisha and Israel both lay on the floor on either side of the stairs. Zombie bodies lay still in a pile at the top of the stairs. Adrala stood protectively in front of Israel fending off skeletons flooding up the stairs.

I knelt down, touched Elisha, and said, "Kelemvor help me heal this warrior sworn to your cause." I knew I couldn't get close enough to Israel to heal him, so I prayed to Kelemvor to spare him from death, stabilizing him for now. Then I backed away from Elisha so as not to injure him with my radiant light.

Adrala drug Israel's body down the hall away from the amassing undead. She carefully cradled his head as she poured a potion of healing into his mouth. His eyes fluttered open and she leaned in to whisper into his ear. A weak smile appeared on his face.

For a moment everything became chaos as more summoned undead pushed their way up the stairs and attacked with swords.

"Burn Them" Israel pointed and called out weakly. Three rays of fire flew down the hall and obliterated the skeletons on contact.

Swift called out from the kitchen, "I could use some help in here!"

I moved into the kitchen while casting my spell, hitting the necromancer with light bolstered from the radiant light within me and she fell dead. And the skeletons fell to the floor into lifeless piles of bones. It was over.

"Kate! What are you doing here?!" Elisha exclaimed.

"That is an interesting story," Kate said, "I heard you talking about getting rid of the necromancers and I wanted to watch your fight first-hand. So I followed you and I was just going to watch from the window until one of the necromancers tried jumping out the window. And well I just couldn't let him get away."

"Well that doesn't really explain why you're here," Elisha said, "So what's the rest of the story?"

"It's a pretty long story. And we need to take care of these bodies and get out of here first. I promise I'll tell you the entire story once we're back at the inn," she answered.

"Alright. But we expect the whole story. From the beginning. You're joining us is beginning to seem planned," I replied.

So I hadn't planned for this chapter to become so long, but it did. And I still have Kate's story to tell! But the chapter is already so long. Then I realized if I wasn't writing journal style, I would just turn Kate's story into another chapter even though it's happening later that night before Zira writes in her journal. So that's what I decided to do. Plus this will allow Kate to tell her story like the storyteller she is, instead of me trying to shrink it down to keep this chapter from becoming a really unwieldy read.