October 27-28th, 2012 – Onsallas Outpost Event
With the recent betrayal of Clan Whiteoak, Pack Longfang is apprehensive about visitors and has increased the number of warriors in the village. This has reduced the Longfang presence in the outpost itself to a small skeleton crew.
The outpost was a host to a number of factions such as the Watchwolves, the new Vandregon, and the Order of Arnath’s Fist. These groups had come together to discuss the undead reaching Mardrun and to search for ways to find and destroy the Lich. The Lich was rumored to be hiding in the Dirge Swamp somewhere and the watchful eyes of both the Longfang hunters and the Order’s Eagles were scouting the area.
A group of Vandregon soldiers searching the woods found one of their members, a cleric, who had been missing since his convoy was attacked by the lich a couple weeks ago. With him was a wounded, infected, and delirious man who claimed to be a Vandregon Ranger. Once healed and given time to rest, it was discovered that he was a survivor from the boat that landed earlier in the year. He confirmed that the boat had been attacked by humans and that he had been on the run from the Mordok in the woods and the swamp ever since. The news he brought of Faedrun was not good, stating that he was part of the Southern Army during the Fall and had been on the run doing guerrilla attacks on penitent and undead forces for the last several years. Contact had been lost with the Northern Army and the pockets of resistance in southern Vandregon and Aldoria were being surrounded and massacred. The Ranger had companions with him that carried a blade and a magical item known as a “Key”.
Later that evening, the undead attacked in an organized group and almost overran the outpost. Resources were exhausted in repelling them and healing the wounds and bites, but the outpost held. The size and organization of the zombie horde was proof that the Lich was nearby.
A battle cleric of the Order of Arnath’s Fist researched the item and discovered that the Key could be used to power magical items. The Ranger described the blade and the adventurers went out to search for it. When the group found the location where the other Ranger had fallen and was killed by the undead, the blade was missing. Roving bandits had picked the corpse clean and hid in the swamp. The adventurers had to split up and track down the bandits in order to retrieve the blade. When the Order’s cleric returned to examine the blade, it was discovered that a traveling healer and her companions had stolen and hidden the blade from the adventurers and demanded money to turn it over. What almost escalated into a bloody encounter was talked down by Raskolf, representative of the Watchwolves, who paid for the blade and promised the healer could leave safely.
With the blade finally in the hands of the order, it was discovered to be a May’Kar Paladin blade. With the Paladin most likely long since dead, the blade’s magical qualities were dormant. Scrolls and ancient texts detailed that the Key could possibly power the blade, but it could come at a terrible price… the willing sacrifice of the life of the wielder would be required to channel the magic of the blade into a weapon that could defeat the Lich. More research was needed to understand the ritual and would take time and resources from the Order.
A message reached the outpost that a Gravestone had been sighted in the Dirge Swamp in an area crawling with undead. With the Gravestone discovered, a squad of Battle Brothers of the Order were going to attack the Lich to draw it away from the stone and buy the adventurers and Vandregon soldiers time to destroy it. With the Lich away from the stone, the adventures attacked it to perform a ritual and destroy the undead. The battle was long and brutal, resulting in several of the adventurers being killed and several more bleeding out in the swamp. The Order Cleric accompanying the adventurers sacrificed himself to keep the undead at bay long enough to drag out the wounded.
With the adventurers bloodied and in need of healing, they returned to the outpost. With the Gravestone destroyed, the Lich was confirmed to be on the move again and messenger hawks were sent to all the factions of it’s destination.
Photos from the event!