Episode 6 -- And He Would Have Gotten Away With It If Not For Those Meddling Kids!

 <--The session started in the circular room shown below. -->

The large tree shadow that seemed divorced from any actual tree intrigued Daumpney.  So he started investigating the wall at the shadow tree's base and found he was able to jump through the wall.  But to the rest of the team Daumpney just disappeared as they watched him.  Mortimer, who had psychic communication set up only with Arpina and Lumi, elected to follow Daumpney in case he needed help.  Mortimer intended to psychicly call on Arpina and Lumi if he needed help rescuing Daumpney from wherever he went.

After his jump through the wall Daumpney found himself in a verdant meadow of lush grass surrounding the tall oak.  Contrary to the appearance of the tree's leafless shadow back in the circular room, the tree here had all of its spring leaves.  He had only had enough time to walk to the tree before Mortimer joined him.  Daumpney climbed the tree and shouted "Hellooo!!!".  This caused a brick to dislodge from the ceiling and fall on Arpina back in the circular room.  Then Daumpney found runes carved into the tree's bark.  

Daumpney was going to smash the runes.  But Mortimer stopped him.  Mortimer asked Lumi to slip a rope through the wall.  The rope appeared and looked to Mortimer like it was hanging from empty space.  Mortimer tried to climb it but the air around the end of the rope felt like solid stone.

Daumpney smashed the runes with his mace.  The sky fell like large jagged pieces of broken glass as he did this.  Eventually enough of the sky was broken for the two prisoners to leap back into the circular room.

Lumi and Arpina had looted the sarcophagus while Mortimer and Daumpney were gone.  They had recovered an "Aurora - mace of dawn" and 3 red potion vials.  They had also burned the old body they had found with these items.  Lumi gave the mace to Daumpney to replace the non-magical mace he was wielding.

Daumpney reasoned the tree's leafless shadow was the key to a puzzle that meant the correct window to choose would have the tree in a Winter setting.  The team went with Daumpney's theory and chose the west window over the south window because the west window had the tree in a snowy meadow.

Mortimer brought the body of his recently deceased friend Kenny with him through the window.  He intended to give it a proper burial.  But he held out hope he might find someone who could revivify Kenny.

Upon jumping through the window the team found themselves facing the tree around 80 to 100 feet away in shin deep snow.  Two skeletons were motionlessly clawing the air while laying on their backs in the snow nearby.  A couple of dead bodies were laying face down in the snow closer to the tree.  

Near the tree stood a figure in a hooded black cloak.  At first the figure's hood obscured his identity.  Then he revealed his identity as he showed his face.  He was the head priest from Raven Brook -- the man who had confiscated a book of sorcery from Mortimer prior to helping the party escape the angry mob after the destruction of the brewery.  

Lumi and Daumpney accused him of being a apostate of Drouna.  He hautily stated that he worshipped no god.  He only pretended to be a priest of Drouna for the power.  He said his plan was to use necromancy to take over the entire continent while overthrowing Drouna.

Mortimer screamed, "You bastard! You killed Kenny and now I swear by my mother's ring that I will kill you!  I have always hated you!".  Mortimer's hate and fury was not born of the priest's religious hypocrisy.  Rather it was born of the priest's beatings and other evil mistreatment of Mortimer and all the other wards of the orphanage this man ran during Mortimer's child hood.

Mortimer laid Kenny's body at his feet near the window.  Then he unleashed a flurry of psychic blades at the priest almost as fast of Lumi  launched a magical attack on the priest.

Lumi, Arpina, and Daumpney closed within five feet of the priest and were all furiously striking him.  Mortimer stayed near the window and continued hurling psychic blades.  

The priest cast a spell that stole a portion of the life force from all his nearby attackers.  Mortimer was out of this spell's range.  But all other party members were sorely wounded.  Lumi then hurled one of the potions she got from the sarcophagus at the priest.  It's vial shattered on impact with the priest and he appeared to be partially healed by it.  Lumi then incinerated the remaining two vials in her magical flames.  The priest did not care at all.

The priest cast another spell which animated the dead bodies and skeletons.  The two skeletons immediately attacked Mortimer.  One inflicted a serious puncture wound.  Mortimer clenched his middle finger against his mother's ring and thought of her.  This triggered the ring to reveal its hitherto unknown magic of obscuration.  Mortimer now appeared blurry and spread out to all onlookers.  A bit wounded and desperate to further protect himself, Mortimer now employed his scroll of flying to get out of the skeletons' reach.  Then he blasted out of existence a zombie that was closing in on Daumpney.

Daumpney had been expending ki points as he had been delivering numerous blows on the priest.  But Daumpney had also received blows and was nearly dead.  He retreated through the window to sit and rest.

Lumi slashed apart the priest with her magical green flame blade.  Arpina finished off a skeleton. The remaining undead fell limp.

The priest's vile spirit evacuated the charred cinders of his ruined body.  He then took up residence in Kenny's corpse.  Kenny's newly animate body looked up at Mortimer with glowing red eyes.

Mortimer was shaken and indecisive.  He did not wish to damage his friend's corpse or be in range of any magic the priest might fling at him.  Mortimer retreated toward Lumi and Arpina, unwisely giving the priest a clear path to the window and Daumpney.  Fortunately Lumi's magic blasted Kenny's corpse before it descended out of sight and before it could land an attack on Daumpney.

<--The role playing portion of the session ended here.  The next session will be the Sunday after Mother's Day -->