2nd of Flamerule:
We decided it was no longer necessary to hide within Wilavor's caravan since both the necromancers and the town's people were expecting us. When we emerged in town the people greeted us in the streets, calling out my and my companions' names and waving in excitement. It was surreal to receive such a greeting from strangers and to see how our reputation has really preceded us.
Before heading to Velsharoon's church, we met with the mayor at Town Hall. The board of directors of the old Velsharoon church, Sarria Loudstone, joined our meeting.
She excitedly told me, "The whole congregation, well despite the ones who are necromancers or actual followers of Velsharoon, is so happy you're here. We're all excited to become members of the new temple dedicated to Kelemvor."
"Indeed. How can we assist you?" the mayor asked me.
"We plan to attack at dusk tonight. I need you to set up a perimeter around the church to keep the collateral damage to a minimum," I said.
"Absolutely. I'll speak with the Captain of the guard," he replied with a nod.
"And we're ready to help you clean the place out, so we can truly be rid of this foul necromancy," Sarria said.
At dusk, we gathered with Wilavor and Pyre in front of Velsharoon's church. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked, but it was no obstacle for Elisha. He quickly pulled out his lockpicks and fiddled with the lock until it quietly popped open.
"Who would have thought those years exploring the dwarven ruins with Amnel would give me the skills to break and enter into a church," Elisha chuckled as the door opened.
He gestured for me to lead the way, so I went up the steps, Swift right on my heels. Before I could even step through the doorway, Elisha threw his arm out in front of me, stopping me dead in my tracks.
"Wait. I didn't see it before, but see right there… That's a tripwire. Let me try to disarm it before we go in," he said.
"It would seem they don't want us to come in. We'll need to really be on our toes in there. Who knows what other traps have been laid for us," Israel added.
"Got it!" Elisha said with a smile and gestured again for me to lead.
This time Swift stepped in front of me, going through the door while shifting into his weretiger form at the same time.
"Your tale lacks bardic finesse," Wilavor said, suddenly appearing behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin, then turned to her and said, "Well, I'm not a bard,"
"Oh, I can tell. I think we both know a bard that would be more than happy to help."
"Kate?"
"Of course Kate, who else?" Wilavor responded a bit annoyed.
"Does it ever get confusing, talking about yourself like that?"
"No. This is how I was raised," then taking on Kate's voice and mannerisms, she begged, "Please let me write the tale of our battle with Arwemena."
"Why?" I asked.
"It deserves a proper and epic telling," Wilavor answered in her voice again.
I shrugged, "It's just my journal."
Wilavor gave me a shrew look and said, "You and I both know it's more than 'just your journal'. This book. This tale. It's YOUR legacy Zira. Please give me the honor of telling this part of your story."
I nodded my assent, "Alright."
"YESSSS!" she shouted and jumped up and down with joy. Then Wilavor composed herself, "Thank you Zira."
Reclaiming Yartar from Necromancy
It was dusk when Zira and her companions gathered in front of Velsharoon's church to face the evil that resides within.
Elisha expertly unlocked the front door, saying with a chuckle, "Who would have thought those years exploring the dwarven ruins with Amnel would give me the skills to break and enter into a church."
He then gestured for Zira to lead the way, with Swift right on her heels.
Suddenly, Elisha threw his arm out in front of Zira, stopping her before she could even step through the door, and said, "Wait. I didn't see it before, but see right there… That's a tripwire. Let me try to disarm it before we go in."
"It would seem they don't want us to come in. We'll need to really be on our toes in there. Who knows what other traps have been laid for us," Israel added.
"Got it!" Elisha said with a confident smile and gestured again for Zira to lead.
Swift shifted, his face taking on the more feral look of a weretiger as he valiantly slipped through the door before Zira, saying, "I'm not taking any chances."
Zira followed her protector inside, drawing Kelemvor's mace and illuminating the large open meeting space.
"Watch yourselves. There is something close by," Wilavor warned the others just before their attention was drawn by sounds coming from the atrium ahead.
Zira opened her awareness to sense for undead and silently pointed out the locations of seven undead, helping her companions prepare themselves to fight the evil all around them.
Pyre held out his hand and a fiery blade materialized while he drew a scimitar in his other hand. A shimmering magical force surrounded Israel. Adrala pulled out her handaxes, prepared to throw them when the undead showed themselves. Wilavor wielded a short sword with a blade that glimmered in the light.
"I don't know what, but there's someone hiding just inside the doorway," Elisha whispered loudly, pointing with his rapier.
That's when an armored corpse stepped into the doorway and took two shots at the genasi with the flaming sword. Both arrows bounced harmlessly off his armor as one of Adrala's handaxes flew by slamming into the walking corpse and lodging itself in deep. The undead creature howled as it stepped out of the doorway and a second armored corpse replaced it. This undead also sent arrows flying harmlessly at Pyre.
From the atrium's other doorway, a third armored corpse popped out sending two arrows flying towards Swift. But, like his name, he swiftly dodged out of the way and the arrows flew harmlessly past him.
And once again, as one armored corpse disappeared another replaced it in the doorway. Two more arrows flew out from the atrium, hitting Zira squarely in the chest. Thankfully her armor protected her and they also fell harmless to the ground.
Before anything else could attack them, Pyre rushed into the atrium attacking an armored corpse with his flaming scimitar. Wilavor quickly followed him in and heard the sizzling as Pyre's sword burned the corpse's flesh. Then Wilavor jammed her short sword into the closest walking undead.
"These are wights! Don't let them touch you!" Israel cautioned.
Thanks to Israel's warning, Pyre dodged out of the way as the wight grabbed at him, but it was too late for Wilavor.
The wight drew its longsword, cutting the half-elf before it grabbed hold of her. Then the wight's eyes glowed like white-hot embers, and Wilavor felt its cold touch drain away her life force. The undead creature pulled away, leaving Wilavor weakened and barely able to stand.
Pyre looked at Wilavor and paled, saying, "My god! Get yourself out of here girl."
Taking advantage of the half-elf's severely wounded state, another wight rushed at her from across the room. The undead creature slashed at her with its long sword before reaching in with its life-draining grasp. Lucky for Wilavor, the wight missed with both attacks.
"I've got her Pyre!" Elisha said, rushing in and standing protectively next to Wiavor while stabbing a wight with his rapier.
Adrala's handaxe flew back to her awaiting hand. Then she moved protectively in front of Israel, and said with worry in her voice, "Did you see what happened to Wilavor?!"
"I'm ok. And we'll help Wilavor," Israel replied reassuringly.
Wilavor briefly looked at Elisha and said with astonishment, "I can't believe you stayed."
Elisha shrugged, "I wanted to give it a target other than you."
Wilavor stabbed into the wight again before disengaging herself from the fray. Then she limped out of the atrium, and hopefully out of harm's way for a moment. As Wilavor leaned against the wall she felt the healing abilities of her Ring of Regeneration and thought, I'm glad I kept this magic item for myself.
Swift looked back at Zira and growled, "Let's get that one over there."
Then he ran through the atrium's right door and quickly stabbed the wight just inside. But despite connecting solidly with both of his short swords, Swift barely hurt the undead creature. Zira followed Swift into the atrium brandishing her glowing mace. She swung and hit the wight, connecting with a flash of radiant light.
The wight roared from the pain and retaliated with its longsword. Thankfully, Swift was quick to react, knocking the wight's blade away with his short sword. Undeterred, the wight grasped at Zira with its cold touch, attempting to steal her life spark. The undead creature hissed and quickly released her upon touching the aasimar's celestial skin.
"Hey guys! We've got company!" Adrala yelled as a group of zombies shambled in surrounding her and Israel.
Three of the zombies attempted to slam into Adrala and Israel, but the fighter and wizard easily dodged out of the way of the attacks. Israel quickly retaliated by hurling a mote of fire at a zombie who attacked Adrala. The flames caught its tattered clothing on fire, and they could smell the burning rotting flesh.
Left as the wight's only target after Wilavor disengaged, the walking corpse turned its attention to Elisha and slashed the human with its longsword. Then the wight's dark eyes glowed with white-hot embers as it grabbed Elisha, draining his life force right through his studded leather armor. The attack left him struggling to stand and Elisha slumped against the pillar next to him.
Elisha wasn't out of the woods yet, a second wight rushed the already injured human, grabbing at him with its life-draining touch. Luckily for Elisha, the walking corpse only scratched him with its claws. Then the wight's longsword bit in deep, leaving a heavily bleeding wound and Elisha sagged to the ground.
Groaning, the rogue disengaged himself from the fray and crawled out of the atrium, stopping just outside the opposite side of the door from Wilavor. He pulled a healing potion out of a pouch on his belt and uncorked it with his teeth before drinking the red liquid.
"Now there's a smart lad!" Pyre called out.
The fire genasi then stepped up and engaged Elisha's foes attacking with his flaming sword. His fiery sword sliced through first one wight and then the second one. Next, Pyre attacked with his scimitar. He sliced into the undead creature but barely even made it bleed.
"Well shit! Normal weapons don't do as much damage!" Pyre called out.
Elisha cried out, "Zira, we could use some healing over here."
Swift stabbed the wight in front of him twice with his short swords, slowly whittling away at the armored corpse. Then Zira's radiant glowing mace slammed into the wight, destroying the undead creature, and leaving behind a pile of ash.
The cleric of Kelemvor turned to look out into the meeting room. She saw Adrala and Israel surrounded by zombies. And Elisha and Wilavor, both barely standing, leaning against the wall on either side of the other atrium door. Zira also knew Pyre was behind her fighting off two wights.
"Kelemvor, help me heal your warrior and my friend," the cleric prayed. Elisha watched as most of his wounds closed up.
A wight swung its longsword at Pyre and then reached out to grab ahold of the fighter, both attacks just missed the fire genasi. The second wight snatched at Pyre with its icy cold grasp, but he easily dodged out of the way. However, this left the fire genasi open for a slashing longsword attack, cutting him deep.
"We need to help Pyre!" Swift said and slipped in behind one of the wights attacking his friend and mentor.
The weretiger-shifter stabbed the undead creature twice in the back. Zira followed, slamming her glowing mace from Kelemvor into the wight, destroying it on contact.
Pyre, eyes wide, exclaimed, "Wilavor told me you could destroy them with Kelemvor's mace, but I didn't truly believe it until I just saw it!"
Surrounded by undead, Adrala dropped her handaxe and reached out, placing the palm of her hand on the chest of the closest zombie. Lightning sprung from her hand, spreading across the zombie's body, delivering a life-ending shock. Then the dwarf fighter held out her hand to catch the handaxe as it flew up from the floor. Trying to protect Israel, she sliced into the zombie between the two of them first with one hand axe and with the other.
Israel took a second to admire his impressive girlfriend before he hurled a mote of fire at the zombie between them. The undead creature fell to the ground.
And then it stood back up!
The zombie tried to slam itself into its attacker but completely missed the wizard. Unfortunately, while Israel was focused on the undead attacking him, another one came up and slammed into his side. The remaining zombies continued to surround Adrala and Israel. The couple stood back to back and managed to dodge the rest of the zombies' attacks.
Suddenly a ray of sickening greenish energy went hurling across the room at Elisha. He could feel the sickening energy poison his body.
Wilavor turned, searching for the spell caster, who she assumed was one of the necromancers finally showing themselves. She caught and held the necromancer's eye and whispered a discordant melody that only the woman could hear. The half-elf smiled when the woman grabbed her head in pain.
Then Wilavor called out, "I found one of the necromancers!"
"Yeah, me too," Elisha grunted in pain.
Zira had sent more healing energy his way, closing most of his wounds, but it did nothing for the poison still flowing through his body.
"Elisha, you can endure and overcome this. Believe in yourself because I believe in you," Wilavor said, trying to inspire him.
Elisha gave Wilavor a faint smile before he pushed himself off the wall and moved to flank a zombie attacking Adrala. The human stabbed deep into the zombie with his rapier, but it stayed standing. So, Elisha pulled out his dagger and shoved it into the zombie dropping the undead creature to the ground.
"Thanks!" Adrala said with a smile as she dropped her handaxe, to deliver the final shocking blow to another zombie. Then she held her hand out to recall the dropped handaxe.
Israel shouted to the dwarf, "Just throw it!"
Adrala hurled her handaxe at a zombie next to Israel, dropping the creature to the ground.
"That's not the one I meant," Israel said to her.
Adrala just smiled back at him, "Can't a girl protect the man she loves?"
The final zombie slammed its arm into the dwarf woman. Dropping her handaxe, Adrala grabbed its arm delivering a shock of electricity. Israel then hurled a mote of fire at the zombie, which sizzled when it burned the walking corpse. Adrala recalled her handaxe, pulled back, and threw it straight at the zombie, splitting its head open.
Israel smiled at Adrala and said, "That is the one I meant."
She gave him one of her gigantic smiles.
Then they heard a rattling and clattering sound coming from the dining room as a group of skeletons shuffled out. Most of the skeletons rushed at Wilavor, practically surrounding the still wounded half-elf. But two of the skeletons broke off from the group and joined the undead attacking Elisha, Adrala, and Israel.
Upon hearing the incoming undead, Pyre wasted no time slicing into the last wight and killing it with his flaming sword. Then he looked out the door to assess the situation before making his next move.
"Girl, how do you get yourself into so much trouble, so quickly? You'll be the death of me one day," Pyre said when he saw Wilavor surrounded by undead.
The fire genasi slipped in next to her and hit the closest skeleton first with his flaming blade and then with his scimitar. The attacks sent smoldering bones flying, severing the necrotic magic holding them together.
The necromancer called up the stairs, "Zira's brought extra friends!"
From up in the tower another voice shouted, "Keep fighting!"
The necromancer turned and lashed out at Wilavor with another ray of sickening greenish energy. Wilavor grunted in pain when it hit, sagging against the wall behind her.
"I think I may be a bit rusty," she admitted to Pyre.
The second necromancer with light brown hair appeared in another door of the tower and targeted Wilavor with a burst of arcane magic.
This woman in green had to be Awremena, Eldora's mentor.
Wilavor let out an anguished scream as the spell hit and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Awremena let out an evil laugh and moved back out of sight.
Distraught, Pyre yelled out, "Wilavor, NO!"
Swift came out the door, saw Wilavor on the ground, and moved to position himself between the skeletons and where he anticipated Zira to be within seconds to help the fallen Wilavor.
"I can't lose you too," Pyre said upon seeing the weretiger-shifter put himself in danger.
Swift gave Pyre a confident feral smile then dropped the skeleton closest to him. Then the fighter knocked several bones loose from another skeleton. Zira slipped in next to Wilavor and touched her saying, "Please don't make me ask Kelemvor if he'll send you back."
Wilavor's eyes opened from the healing magic and she gave Zira a weak smile. Zira then stepped in front of Pyre and easily dropped another skeleton with Kelemvor's mace. She continued moving, stepping onto the pile of bones next to Swift with her mace at the ready.
The two Heroes of Kelemvor stood side by side ready to take the next wave of undead head on.
Pyre stared at the two of them in awe and said, "You're not little sparks anymore, are you?"
Before Zira or Swift could answer, two skeletons attacked Wilavor and Swift with their short swords. Pyre protectively stepped in front of Wilavor, sending charred bones flying from a hit with his flame blade.
The fire genasi turned, spotted the necromancer, and released his flame sword. Then he created a flickering flame in his now empty hand. Pyre held the flame for just a moment before throwing it at the necromancer. She screamed in pain and patted her clothing to try and put out the fire.
Israel moved in to get an eye on the necromancer, then he sent a crackly beam of blue energy straight at her. An arc of lightning briefly formed between Israel and the necromancer before she fell dead.
Arwenmena wailed at the loss of her partner. Then she released a sphere of black negative energy that exploded out from the center of the room and she retreated up into the tower.
Zira removed her silver mask and unleashed the celestial energy from within her. The necrotic darkness receded from the aasimar's radiant light.
During those seconds in the necrotic darkness, Swift felt a protective magic shield flow out from his new ring and surround him.
Zira looked around and saw her companions lying unconscious on the floor all around her. Desperate, she chased after the running necromancer, all the way up the tower turret. At the top, Zira watched as Awremrena jumped out the window.
When Zira reached the window she saw Awremena running across the roof towards an undead dragon that just landed, flapping its wings as it settled onto the roof.
"I don't know what you've done to her, Zira, but once Eldora destroys you, I'll get her back," Awremena called out.
Zira called back, "That will never happen."
"I wouldn't be so sure. She's belonged to Velsharoon since the day she accepted Sorath as her deva. But right now, your friends all lie dying while you chase after me," she let out a maniacal evil laugh and climbed onto the undead dragon's back.
"This isn't over. I'll find you after I defeat Eldora," Zira vowed.
The undead dragon flapped its wings, taking off from the roof with Awremena.
Zira turned and raced back down the tower stairs. In the church meeting room, she found Swift kneeling over Wilavor, trying to keep her from bleeding out. Swift was holding the gash closed as blood mixed with black necrotic energy oozed out of the wound around his hands.
"Wilavor needs you. She's bleeding out," he yelled to Zira.
The radiant light faded from Zira as she rushed to Wilavor's side and prayed, "Kelemvor, spare your champion from death."
Then she sat back on her heels saying to Swift, "I need to stabilize them all, then I can spend some time in prayer to Kelemvor to heal us. How did you survive?"
"My ring," Swift said with a feral smile.
"I'm so glad," Zira said, returning the smile.
Then Zira and Swift fell into each other's arms, hugging and holding each other in a moment of solace.
The pair found Pyre already stabilized thanks to his periapt of wound closure, and then they worked together to stabilize the others. Zira sat in silent prayer to Kelemvor, while Swift stood watch over her and the unconscious bodies of their friends.
When Zira and her companions emerged from the church building they were greeted by the grateful cheers of the townspeople of Yartar.
Kate
AN: I've had the worst writer's block with this chapter. I kept writing it, deleting the whole thing, and starting over. Only to repeat the cycle over and over. So I did the only thing I could do, I walked away from Zira's story until it spoke to me again. Then one night I realized there was a reason writing from Zira's view wasn't working. The story needed to be told from a different viewpoint, it was time to give Kate her turn to tell the tale.
I have reread and edited this chapter so many times because I'm not sure if I've found Kate's storytelling voice, but I could keep going and I may never feel like it's "right". So I'm just putting it out here for you all to read.