"GAH!" Rath shouts, fighting every instinct to flinch away from Longshadows' cold grasp. He stares wide-eyed as the vampire drops back, dead at last, and then catches his breath with ragged heavings of his chest. "Well. That won't give me nightmares."

"Well done Rath, he is dead so long as the stake remains in his heart.  Can you imagine how evil these things are, if the stake is removed, even a year from now, it could rise again.  We should complete the job, the next part is rather grisly, although, given what you've already done today...anyhow, we need to cut of its head, without disrupting the stake.  I should be able to do the rest, if I can make my next spell do what I want it to, I've never heard it tried before, but that should be interesting".

Galadel will step away from the coffin to let the others figure out the first part, and after praying and meditating for awhile to the Goddess of Knowledge, and Tactics, he leans heavily on this last part, and then prays touching into the spiritual magic she provides.


ooc: Cast, Create Food/Water, he is praying to create holy wafers.

Rath holds the stake in place. "You heard him, Inas. Take off the head."

Feeling like the end has been slightly anti-climactic, Ben backtracks to check and see if this 'revenge' is moving towards then as they speak.

Galadel is gifted with a bountiful harvest of holy wafers. Meanwhile, Ben scuttles up the stairs to see if any enemies are en route. The thief reaches the top of the stairs and sees the tunnel under the door. He listens for a while, hears nothing, and then peeks through the tunnel into the caved-in crypt. There is no stirring within, but the thief does hear faint, mournful sobbing, somewhere out of sight, and perhaps not too close.

Saliq follows Ben, his expression turning from triumph to saddness as he realises the source of the sobbing.

"Madam Drucilla," Saliq says quietly. "I will go speak with her."

The tired looking prince begins the long walk back towards the portrait room. If he sees anything untoward he will return to his companions but otherwise he heads directly to where they met the lonely ghost.

Rath throws a sharp glance at Saliq. "Don't trust that thing, wizard!" he warns.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:19, Fri 01 Jan 2016.

Once the head is removed, Galadel fills its mouth with holy wafers, saying prayers as he does so.  He seems calm, and moves gracefully in his actions, he knows however, if they ever get to safety again, he's likely to have a complete breakdown of some sort.  He then takes water and pouring first onto his hands, he blesses it and sprinkles it on the body and on the dirt around the body, in acts of purification and cleansing as he was taught in training.  With the last the drawing of a eye with blessed water on the forehead of the skull.  It is done.

Ben follows Saliq, just to make sure nothing untoward happens to the good prince. Inside he exulted at the defeat of the Lord Myron, though a tiny piece of him feels that things had gone too easily...

Saliq, followed closely by Ben, picks his way through the caved-in crypt and ascends the staircase leading back up to the gallery. The illusionist's hunch proves correct. The wailing and sobbing appears to be coming from Drucilla's portrait.

Madame Drucilla is visibly shaken as Saliq and Ben approach is sobbing heavily.

"Something terrible has happened, hasn't it?" she chokes out through bouts of wailing.

Saliq looks very sad and solemn.

"My lady," he says, voice tender and full of pity. "Longshadows... the vampire who haunted this tower is no more. Your great grandson's spirit has been freed from the curse of vampirism, and can now dwell in peace in the hereafter. I am truly sorry he has gone from you, but the man you knew of recent years was but the shadow of the true Myron. The dark creature is dead and your great grandson may take the journey to the far country we all must go some day."

After a moment of hesitation he reachs out a hand to touch the portrait and wipe a tear from the woman's cheek.

Madame Drucilla wails loudly upon hearing the news her great grandson has perished. Hers was a lonely existence, her only companionship the boy she hardly knew, who had grown into a monster she barely recognized. How she ended up in this state, she does not know, but she could barely fathom the loneliness that she would now know.

When she composes herself, she weakly says, "You are a kind man, of this much I am sure. Please do not leave me here like this. Take me too to that far country you speak of..."

Saliq was silent for a long moment. "Lady Drucilla... I promise you that if you wish to stay you will not be alone. We will return light and life to this place and make it a home again and I should be honoured to have you stay as a friend."

He looked at Ben, imaging how the thief would feel about that before returning his attention to the ghost. "If you do want to go however, my dear friend's sister is a paladin of the Raven Queen and would surely know some of the rites."

"Please, don't leave me alone," she implores, her lower lip quivering.

"I would very much like your companionship, should you be so willing," she says softly.

Meanwhile, back in the ex-vampire's sanctum, the party searches the coffin and finds a considerable cache stored within the chest. All told, the party uncovers:

5000 platinum pieces
One large polished emerald (5000 gp)
One star sapphire (1000 gp)
Four small diamonds (500 gp each)
50 gp gem (50 gp)
One bloodstone (50 gp)
One potion

The now headless man is wearing a dark cloak, fastened with a silver brooch set with a dark onyx stone. He also has a dark black wand at his side. Additionally, it seems Longshadows may have dabbled in magic, as a spellbook is found within the chest.

In reply to DM Storm (msg # 720):

Saliq bowed his head. "You have my word Madame that you shall not be abandoned and as long as you wish to remain in this world you shall." He paused, thinking, before adding: "My magic is not the stuff of spectres and ghosts but I do know something of illusions and if I can use that to help you I will."

Madame Drucilla finds consolation in Saliq's empathetic approach and though she is still distraught, it has less to do with the loss of her great grandson, whom she hardly knew, but more to do with years and years of utter isolation, surrounded only by rapidly fading memories of better times. Haunted by the past, she is doomed to haunt the present and future.

Galadel helps pack up the findings, careful not to touch some of the items with his bare hands.  "Let's be careful with all these things until we've had a chance to check them out with magic first, this vampire was very evil, best to be extra careful".

He will then leave, "Eagle, can you close that hole you opened in the rock, it might be best to seal that room for all time, don't you think?".

Making his way back he listens to the discussions with the haunted lady.

Inas shakes his head.  "I'm not sure that sealing it will be for all time.  Too many rumors, too many with actual knowledge.  I fear that someone will come looking for the vampire.  Are you sure it's wise to just close him up in here?"

"Perhaps, after rest," Eagle replies. "Though for all time might be a bit beyond my ability, I can certainly make the crypt quite difficult to get to for all but the very powerful."

Eagle is quite ready to vacate the dungeons beneath the tower. He longs for fresh air and the counsel of his Circle.

"I wonder how she would feel about the sounds of children running about the place," Ben asked Saliq wondering if his mum and siblings would like to visit.

After promising Lady Drusilla they would return soon Saliq spoke with the others. "I agree we should leave and speak with Lord Mayor Eradan as soon as possible. The Thyrandas family are no friends of the Talas clan and if we can reveal one - or more! - of the the Talas were vampires it may cut off their support at the knees."

Their task complete, the party gathers treasure and exits Longshadows' crypt, passing first through the ruined crypts and then the rest of the dungeon complex and tower. The group emerges from the dilapidated tower sometime in the evening. The manors and buildings clustered atop Stormhaven Heights, to the immediate north beyond the wall, illuminate the skyline here or there. The party emerges victorious, having overcome many foes to defeat Longshadows, putting an end to his reign of terror over Stormhaven.

This was a hard-fought victory, but a victory nonetheless. Battered and fatigued from their ordeal, the group makes their way through mostly deserted city streets, eventually coming upon an inn to take a much needed rest.

There are a few unfinished threads to consider, but for the moment, the party is relieved to be back within the comfortable environs of a living, breathing city. Their coffers overflowing with the spoils of their adventure, the group arranges for accommodations befitting their status.

A very tired looking Saliq departed for the shrine Sehanine to offer prayers to his goddess and thank her for their survival. He promises to meet the others back at the arranged inn soon.

Rath, battered and disheveled,sees Musfara safely to the shrine before finding his own way to a beer, a bath, something stronger than beer, and a room with a bolt on the door and secure shutters over the window. After a few hours, he is awake. He shaves the stubble from his face, vaguely unsettled by the reflection he sees in the polished steel mirror -- a hollow reflection of an older man.

He finds his laundered clothing in a bundle outside the door, and he dresses without urgency. He considers his tokens -- the blue emblem of Pelor, Avandra's coin, and the strange shell of Melora. Without religious passion, without feeling much at all, he puts each one around his neck, one by one.

Rath unlatches the shutters of the window and opens them wide, looking out into the dim night of Stormhaven. A few of the brighter stars show in the sky. Most are obscured by clouds and the night-lanterns scattered through the streets below them.
It occurs to Rath that its a strange state of existence, to be shut off from the eternal fires of the sky by a few dim earth-bound lamps and a veil of grey mist.

His gut growls with hunger. It's an unwelcome need, and he endures the pangs until a faint eastern light erases more of the night sky. Then Rath closes the shutters and leaves his room, prowling the dim hall of the inn, to be the first waiting for the kitchen to open.