Turn 61 -- Ranchefus and Company

While the evil priest Ranchefus begins speaking, Garth quietly pulls forth his holy crescent of Selune and calls forth, "Away fetid corpses. Let your foul, black unlife flee back into the nether pits that spawned you! By the power of Selune, know your doom!"

But nothing happens!

"Ha! Puny dwarf, your weak god has no power here," laughs Ranchefus. "I control these beasts."

"It appears we have figured out what our friend here is," says Randor before turning to the one-eyed priest. "You have kidnapped, attempted murder, and dealt with the undead. For this, I will punish you and though I cannot speak for my comrades, I will smite you down with all of my power!"

Walking past the two zombie guards, Kre smiles, "Well sir, it seems that you have led us on a merry chase, if you..."

"That's it, you desecrator of land!" shouts Kersath at the priest with a rage that nobody expected from the drow, maybe a legacy of hatred from his ancestors. "You're reign of terror and mischief ends here, at this moment! Beleg, Gnore, come with me!"

"No sense in dying quickly when there's glory to be had in the grip of battle!" Gnore screams at Ranchefus as the three adventurers rush forward, a fearsome shout of "Forseti!" following them. The look in Beleg's eye making it clear that he or Ranchefus one will not survive the encounter.

"Attack!" yells Talimar to everyone as he draws his longsword and closes with the zombie closest to him.

"Oh, fog it all!" yells Kre as he sidesteps his on-rushing companions, pulling twin daggers out as he rushes with the others.

A crossbow bolt flies past the angered companions as Druckner lets fly from the back. The shot rings true as it slams into the right forearm of Ranchefus, bringing a yell of rage from him.

Ortho finally decides the time is right to use the mysterious concoction he crafted before they stormed the keep. Drawing a flask from his pack he throws it at Ranchefus before his companions can reach him. His hurried aim is not close though as the flask flies by the priest to burst on the wall behind him. The breaking of the flask sets off the spell on it igniting the oil within and causing a mild burst of flame, heated oil, broken glass, and flame flying around. The wall hanging directly behind Ranchefus goes up in flames as well as the cloak of Ranchefus himself. The force of the blast knocks Ranchefus across the table to land in the middle of the room and causing the rushing companions to hit the deck as well. Flaming pitch landing near them all. The two zombies to the south of Ranchefus are knocked down as well.

Taking inspiration from Ortho and thinking that there may be others hiding behind the curtains, Ras lights the hanging nearest him on the north wall and then throws his torch at the largest one of the west wall. Both hangings quickly go up in flames.

Undaunted by all that is going on around him, Dain becomes a pillar of concentration as he works on a spell. A moment later he speaks the necessary word of power, releases the energy in his body and activates the armor spell to provide extra protection to himself.

Talimar swings twice at the zombie before him but is unable to land a blow as he is shook by the shockwave of Ortho's blast. The zombie misses him as well as it retaliates, as does the other one across the doorway from the party that had attacked Kuiper. The Ranger of the Thornwood takes the opportunity to rain a deadly series of blows to the sick creature before him. One lopping off the undead's arm at the elbow while the others sinks deep into it's chest. The beast quietly slides off the ranger's sword as it falls to the ground, dead once again.

Seeing that his companions have been momentarily knocked to the ground, Druckner drops his crossbow and taking up his battle-axe attacks the nearest zombie coming from the near side of the table. He easily hits the slow moving beast with a crushing blow to its side. Feeling nothing, the zombie moves forward and tries to return the blow, swinging its decaying stump of an arm at the dwarfs head. Fortunately for Druckner, the blow sails high.

In the middle of the room, Kersath, Gnore, Beleg, Randor and Kre busy themselves with trying to get up and shake the cobwebbs from their head. Ranchefus, having quickly recovered from the blast, sees the prone Kre lying at his feet and brings his flail crashing down on the thief. A sickening thud and the painful sound of breaking ribs reach the companions before Kre cries out in pain.

Garth steps forward to protect his fallen comrades and attacks the zombie already engaged with Druckner, his mace landing solidly to the ribs of the undead. Talimar regains his footing and brings his sword back to fall on the zombie before him. The blow strikes deep into the left side of the creature. No cry of pain or acknowledgement of the blow is made by the evil creature. Momentarily grasping Talimar's sword before he can pull it out of the beast, it brings its arm forward to strike Tal a minor blow to his shoulder.

Having dispatched the zombie by the doorway, Kuiper charges forward to attack one of the zombies rising from the blast. Ortho joins him with axe ready to engage the other zombie.

Back at the doorway, Dain takes the opportunity to cast a minor cantrip around Ranchefus, hoping to disrupt any chance of his casting spells. As he completes the spell, books begin flying about the priests head, bottles shatter, small clusters of glowing lights flowing about his head. Ras takes the momentary distraction for the priest to launch a pair of daggers at him. The first flies harmlessly away but the second strikes him solid in his right shoulder.

Just as he is gaining his feet with his other companions, Gnore is hit with a sharp blow to his head from one of the zombies. The world begins to spin around for the stout dwarf before he regains his balance. A splitting headache instantly springs up though. The battle-hardened dwarf fights off the nauesia though and prepares to return the blow with his bastard sword.

Having reached the zombies at the end of the room, Ortho and Kuiper begin toying with them as they try and force the beasts into the growing fire in the southeast corner of the room. Both quickly launch their final blows though, Ortho's axe digging deep into the chest of the zombie before him as Kuiper lands two blows that send the creature on to the land of the dead again.

"For Selune!" cries Garth as he swings his mighty mace again, dropping it down to crush the skull of the beast before him. Next to him, Gnore retaliates on the zombie opposite him. Bastard sword falling down multiple times to sever first the left arm and then the head of the foul beast. Seeing that the battle is theirs, Talimar increases his attack, longsword falling on the shoulder of the zombie before him, bringing it quietly to the ground forever.

In the center of the room, amid the growing heat and smoke of the burning tapestries and now the desk, Beleg rises from the floor. "You are mine now, evil priest," he grins to Ranchefus as he closes on him. The madness is clear in the eyes of Ranchefus as he snarls at Beleg and charges at him, flail flying in a deadly arc about his head. Using his shield and sword in as violent a manner as any of the party has ever seen, Beleg meets the charge of the priest and retaliates. In short order, Ranchefus is on the defensive as he tries to dodge the deadly blows from the huge paladin. Making a fatal mistake, Ranchefus overswings with his flail as Beleg deftly steps to the side of the blow. He quickly brings his massive bastard sword down to strike the back of the priest. As the priest sinks to his knees from the force of the blow, disgust and hatred to all things evil take over Beleg and he brings the sword around again, this time to fall on the neck of the evil priest. Ranchefus' ugly head falls to the ground, followed quickly by his body.