# The Deathblade Chronicles



## Caliban (Jun 14, 2004)

The Deathblade Chronicles


It was winter on Faerun, and a late winter storm had kept the small
town of Yartar snowed in for the last week. Yartar is located on
the Savage Frontier, where the Surbin and Dessarin rivers join before
going into the Sumbar Hills. (Or midway between Highforest and
Waterdeep for those less familiar with the region.) Fortunately a
diviner had warned the townsfolk of the impending storm beforehand,
so they had plenty of food set aside. However, travel was impossible
without strong magic or extensive training in woodsmanship.

Our group of heroes has been in close company with each other for the
last week due to the storm. They were all in the Friendly Frost Worm
Inn when the storm hit, and other than a few die hard regulars and a
mediocre bard, had no one else to talk to. Rumors abounded of the
Undeath Plague that had struck the northern lands (causing all it
kills to rise again), and of trouble between two factions of the
Zhentarim in the region to the south, but those seemed like distant
problems with the storm raging outside. The heroes are Eric, an
Illuskan merchant with a talent for telepathy (Psion/Telepath),
Miralee the elven Healer (Healer), Greer the Halfling scout (Ranger),
and Hierborn and Zorival, two Uthgardt barbarians of the Tree Ghost
Tribe. These five strangers would soon be thrown together in a fight
for survival against an evil blade and walking dead.

After a week, the storm broke late one evening. The next morning
there came a muffled knocking on the door to the tavern. Opening the
door, they found a pale man with heavy winter clothing and long
bloodly gashes down his left arm. As they sat him down the frozen
blood melted and began to pool on the floor. Miralee tended his
wounds as they listened to his tale. His name was Morgan, and he and
his partner Randal were hunters who had come across the scene of a
battle in the snow yesterday evening. There were several men in
black armor, all laying dead with blood on the snow. The bodies of
two men in more typical traveling clothes were there as well. Randal
picked up something off of one of the bodies, and then dropped dead a
moment later. Then he stood up again, and stared at Morgan with dead
eyes and a hungry look. At that point, Morgan fled. The undead
creature that used to be his friend gave chase, and clawed his arm up
before Morgan was able to lose it in the woods. He walked all night
to get to Yartar and warn them.

Now that the storm had broken, it was less dangerous to travel. The
five decided that it would be best if they investigated the battle
scene, in case there were anything else dangerous (or worth
recovering). Following the trail through the snow they easily found
it after walking most of the day. The bodies were just snow covered
mounds, but they noticed that a few of them had a single hole in the
mound, as if someone had thrust a stick into it. Hierborn uncovered
one, revealing a man in a black chain shirt, black leathers, a holy
symbol of Cyric, and a longsword with a skull on the pommel. Then
the body stood up, and a moment later three more arose from under the
snow and attack. A brief but fierce fight ensued as they quickly
dispatched the zombies. Each one had risen from a snow mound with a
hole in it. The other mounds of snow were empty, showing signs of
creatures having clawed their way from under the snow, and then
falling snow covering the hole.

Greer soon found tracks of three humanoid creatures leading away, two
at a slow, dragging pace and one at a more normal pace. Cautiously
following the tracks, they soon left the snow covered path and pushed
their way through the winter woods until they came to a small
clearing with an old Uthgardt burial mound in the middle. The
boulder covering the entrance had been pushed aside. As they
considered their next move, a ghostly figure appeared before them.
It was a haggard man, dressed in woodsman's clothes. "Stay away,
death waits within! The blade took my life and now uses my body; if
you go in there it will have you too!" They quickly learn that the
ghostly figure is Randal, he had picked up a sword at the battle
scene and it killed him, and was now animating his body. His spirit
is trapped by the blade now, and to free him they need to destroy the
blade. Randal warns them against trying, as the blade is very
dangerous. Then he fades away, his energy spent.

After a suggestion to go back to town is voted down, the barbarians
lead the way into the burial mound, which is that of the Raven
tribe. A narrow passage winds around the outer edge, then turns into
a large central chamber where the dead are interred. There they
find Randal's animated corpse, attended by three zombies (from the
clearing where Randal found the sword) and two freshly animated
skeletons in decaying barbarian furs (residents of the burial
mound). Hierborn takes the brunt of the initial attack, as the three
zombies charge him at the entrance. He stands against them for
several seconds, and then gives a scream of rage as he enters into
frenzy and carves one up with his longsword, allowing those behind
him to rush past the choke point and into the room.

A furious melee ensues, in which several valuable lessons are
learned. Mainly that undead are immune to the telepaths mental
assaults, arrows are less than effective against skeletons and
zombies, and that raging barbarians deal a lot of damage. Hierborn
rushes the corpse holding the black sword, and is soon backed up by
the Halfling ranger while the others deal with zombies and
skeletons. Zorival destroys a skeleton, but soon goes down under
the combined assault of a zombie and another skeleton, with Eric soon
joining him. Miralee blasts a skeleton to dust with a curing spell,
and then find herself hard pressed by the remaining two zombies.
Randal's corpse attempts to use it deadly touch on Greer and
Hierborn, but they deftly avoid its touch, and between them manage to
hack the fell creature to pieces. As Randal's body falls, a hazy
black form is left standing, holding the blade. The creature says "I
will return…" then fades out as the blade falls to the floor. Greer
is staggered by a mighty blow from the zombie, leaving only Miralee
and Hierborn mobile. Hierborn's frenzy ends after he hacks apart
another zombie, and in spite of his waning strength, Hierborn is able
to dispatch the last zombie. Miralee uses the last of her healing
abilities to get everyone conscious and mobile again.

The black blade is lying on the ground where it had fallen. Not
wanting to destroy the evil blade in a tomb of his people and unaware
of the properties of the blade, Hierborn wraps a piece of leather
around his hand, and picks the blade up by the hilt. He falls dead
a moment later. With a cry of rage, Zorival brings his weapon down
on the black blade, attempting to destroy it there. He damages it,
but before he can finish the job, the corpse of Hierborn animates and
stands up, its eyes glowing red and a horrible smile on its face.
Eric screams in terror and runs for it. Zorival engages the corpse
of his fallen clansmen in order to give Greer and Marilee time to
escape, and strikes it a solid blow. Greer, still gravely wounded,
assists him. The creature reaches out with its unholy touch and steals
Greer's life essence, killing him on the spot and healing the damage
it had taken. The black blade on the ground also mends the damage it
had taken. Miralee runs for the exit, with Zorival passing her as he
fled. Once Miralee made it out, Zorival made a mighty effort and
pushed the stone back over the entrance. A moment later they could
hear the claws of the creature scratching at the stone from the other
side, and it was soon joined by the sounds of a smaller set of claws
scratching at the stone. Greer's corpse had risen as well.

The heroes fled toward Yartar, vowing to return and end this menace
once and for all…


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