Recap of the game on 5-26-07 (Written by Mike)

Because less than half of the group made it and it happens to be that a LOT happened/was introduced in this game I figured I’d do a quick recap.  Would probably be nice to do for each game session but I don’t think I’d keep up with it.  If any who were there have any corrections, let me know.

-The party started out questioning the two captured caravan guards.  Neither had much to add to the situation, and it was determined neither was a risk to run or cause any havoc.  They were asked to spend the night with the party.

-The next morning, the party decided to look in on the caravan leader.  He never woke up from the commanded sleep, and in the morning he was found underneath one of the wagons.  Og decided to pick him up, to see if anything was wrong with him.  The caravan leader exploded into ash, not causing harm but covering poor Og in body leftovers.  It was determined that the most likely cause was a vampiric turn in the caravan leader.

-Og decided he needed a bath after that, and headed a few miles off the beaten trail to a stream.  He noticed the forest was eerily quiet, few if any animals in sight or around.  While bathing, he also noticed far too many carcasses around as well as a strange mound in the distance.  Following the teachings of his good friend Tal(sp?), he ventured back to the group to explain what he found.  After some debate, the party decided to investigate.  The closer they came to the mound, the more the smell of death came upon them.  After a very quick peak under what seemed to be a canvas and seeing many dead things underneath, it was decided to burn the lot.  During the fire, Alphonse detected an undead presence underneath the pyre.  As he did so, it attacked through the ground at Mazur’s(sp?) foot, creating a deathly chill in his leg but otherwise doing minor damage.  After leaping into the trees and a Hide from Undead spell cast, the party decided to move on.  Before they left, Mazur checked the remains of the fire and found 3 suits of armor and 4 longswords, and the armor seemed to belong to the Baron’s men.

-Taking the short road to Sil, the party advanced nicely.  One night a battle ensued with a pack of wolves, some normal, some dire size, and one who happened to turn into a Quasit when it was near death, and escaped.

-After another day of travel, the party encountered a small camp of men.  On approach, it was easily seen that at least one of them was from the Baron’s militia, as he sat facing away from the party.  Two other men were laying on the ground, and were determined to be dead by Mazur.  The party joined this man at camp, and he consequently told a tale of horrific evil.  His tale involved what happened to his company, as they were attacked by wolves, a man wolf, and these others that looked like men but did not act like them in battle.  They swept through the company, slamming men to the ground, cutting them open with their hands, and drinking the blood of the dying.  The company was decimated, and if their were any other survivors he did not know.

-As the tale was told, Alphonse asked to tend to the man’s wounds.  While doing so, he was some able to determine this man was afflicted with Lycanthropy.  Deciding the best thing to do was rid the world of the beast, Alphonse nodded to Mazur with his intentions, told the man he would make a drink for him that would make him better, and headed into the woods.  After adding powdered silver to a wineskin, Alphonse headed back to the man.  He drank it, began to choke, and changed into a werewolf in rage.  The party defeated him with relative ease, but not before Alphonse was bit on the arm.

-After the battle, a detect undead was cast and it was determined the two soldiers laying down were not dead after all.  They were in fact a form of undead not heard of before, attached to the Shadow Plane and created by a being of tremendous power.  This being could control them as long as it was on the same plane as these undead.  Also, the only way to truly destroy them was to run them under running water for 30 seconds.  With only precious few minutes of daylight left, the party high tailed it to a nearby stream, and held the creatures underwater.  They melted away, and in the end exploded in a wave of a shadowy energy. 

-After all this, travels went fairly easy for the party.  They came across a traveling merchant, a lone figure leading a wagon.  The wagon had few marks on it, and the party let him pass and waved to him as he went by.  Wanting to make it to Sil as fast as possible, the party pushed themselves.

-Towards the end of their road, and the very end of the forest, the party encountered a HUGE wolf.  It had a silver streak running from nose to tail, and had a jet black coat otherwise.  The party prepped for battle just 400 feet from the beast.  The party charged, and tactically got into positions.  Tal got the first swing in, and before it could land the beast barked and went ethereal.  Alphonse then cast True Sight, and saw the beast for what it really was, a humanoid figure with very few distinguishing features.  The next round the beast appeared behind the party, and began barking.  Mazur then charged the beast, but decided not to swing and motioned that he meant no harm.  The others followed suit.  Comprehend languages was cast by Alphonse, and a dialog ensued.  Tal figured out it was an Avatar of Razorback, a neutral deity of wolves, and he originated on one of the outer planes.  It was discovered the being was here to investigate what was happening to his “followers”.  Alphonse, being the only one that could communicate with it, was asked to approach.  A hand, or paw, was laid on him and his entire life story was known to Razorback.  Another hand, and the being then quested Alphonse with the duty of figuring this out.  A paw print was clearly visible on Alphonse’s forehead, which he promptly covered up after the avatar left.

-The party finally reached Sil, and saw a new wall being erected.  The guards halted them, and asked to prove that they were indeed normal.  Each party member then used a silver dagger to cut themselves, and were allowed entry.  Some stayed to help with the fence, others followed one of the guards to the Temple of Heroneious .  Another horrible story was told of kidnappings and attacks, and more than half the village is dead or missing.  The party was asked to do whatever they could to help, and they agreed.  Not having any silver weapons or an alchemist, the party decided that the best option was to possibly catch up with the traveling merchant from before.

-After much debate, and thoroughly pissing off Mazur, the merchant dispensed with some quicksilver, ingots, an apparatus that will melt and keep silver liquid, and ingots of silver.  Now having the means to fight the creatures, the party prepares for battle.