Expedition 49a - Koko's Account

Back at the keep I mourned the loss of my trusted companions for a good few hours, thankful I had retrieved their possessions from their ashes, and contemplated the future for the two rotting heroes before us, the upstart cleric had placed a magical sword in the hands of the warrior knight to keep him from decay, thus preserving him to smell better than he was alive.

We travelled to a large town to the south where a rather petulant and rigid regime held sway over the folk, their use of violence was misguided by mortal laws instead of the nature of the cosmos, but were assured here we could find salvation for our comrades and their eventual return to life.

The stench of order and my lack of an army by my side caused me to wander off the path, whilst the rest of the crew did battle with the petty bureaucrats, and led me to a number of unsavoury and unruly taverns, perfect for the hoard I wished to retain, my carousing and generous quantities of fine ale secured a number of new recruits, including a couple suitably chaotic for my endeavours, and one of them lacking at least one limb but with a sure shot.

Meanwhile, the foul regimented priests took time from their paperwork to bring life back to our comrades, and not wholly at a price of gold and sword, but a condition to slay the walking dead of the most dangerous kind, a mission of no fear as I knew my Lord Mar Nod would not forsake us when it came to dispelling the denizens of the underworld who fail to succumb to lack of life force and wander the earth.

We travelled to a high mountain where we observed a number of stele marking possible sites of condemned and unholy burial, three shambling skeletal figures came to greet us but, unusually, were unswayed by my divine dismissal, as if Mar Nod had decided, again, as is his fickle nature, to abandon us at time of need, instead the creatures were struck down by blade, and each oozing vile maggots as a result.

We spied a monolinth of great stature, our mage used magic to read the ancient runes, and we knew we were amongst the deadliest of those who dare deny death, onwards we searched and the earth opened up to us, we prepared to descend to reach salvation for our cursed comrades.