Bring Out Your Dead

Dragon's Graveyard, Part II

Reece is being held by the vampire as we start.  The vampire is interested in talking but Deuce thinks he can hit the vampire, holding Reece.  In the dark.  With multi shot.  After hitting Reece both times, and Reece having a few things to say about it, Deuce stops trying.  However, the group isn't talking to him, so the vampire knocks out Reece and takes him away.  He comes back and essentially forces the group to agree to get something for him from the same tomb where they are going.  Reece is returned and they are given ghoul and wight scouts to take them to the tomb.

They have to rest during the day for their scouts, so they do.  As they travel into the hill further, the place is covered in grey dust with no vegetation.  Any wind at all creates a mini dust storm which covers them.  Soon, even Reece has given up trying to keep clean as they rest and sleep.  Marcus has a vision that he will die, by Deuce's hand, with his wand of mass healing he just created.  No one is sure what to make of that.  That night, they keep traveling toward the tomb. 

They reach the tomb and the ghouls and wights hold back as they enter.  Underneath are some puzzles and traps which the group, especially Reece, has heard before and they manage to side step them.  They soon find themselves in the main area with the tomb.  Marcus readies everyone.  Lisha stands watch while the rest of them positions themselves around the sarcophagus.  Soon, Marcus casts the spell and the spirit is back, fighting to get away.  It is tough for all of them to contain the spirit and force him to talk but Marcus manages to do it and they find out the Dragon's Graveyard is accessed through the Well of Dragons, which is itself near Ladydove.  However, they need a piece of a dragon to enter as it is on another plane. 

They ask about the item the vampire wants.  It turns out he is bound to the area through the amulet, which is why he wants it back.  With Reece geased and Marcus unable to lie, they figure it is going to be a fight.  Marcus recognizes this room as the place where he will die.  He burns all of his mana into the wand and gives it to Deuce.  Reece tries to regain some mana by absorbing the energy from the demon conjuration wand.  The energy wasn't controllable and enters Marcus, turning him into a vampire. 

The group has to fight one of their own. 

Marcus comes close to defeating them and then getting away.  However, at the last moment, Deuce manages to activate the wand and destroy him before that happens.  However, they still have to get out and the shock of what has happened, how they lost Marcus and then had to fight him, still haunts them.  During this time, Marcus was connected to the vampire outside.  It now knows they are done and are waiting to think of something.  They aren't sure how long before he tries to enter the tomb to come after them. 

Finally, they have a plan on how to escape.  They use up all of the invisibility to undead scrolls, sneak out past all of the undead, contact Tabra who says she will make a portal, and get to their horses.  The portal appears.  Unfortunately, it is ten feet away from the edge of the bluff they are on and a few feet up.  All except Deuce are able to get their horses to jump into the portal, landing safely. 

They take Marcus' body to Suzail and the temple there to be buried. 

Notes

• Reece geased to help the vampire but it worked out. 
• I skipped the puzzles and traps.  I never liked them.  In my experience, either the party gets them right away, because they have heard it or something like it, or they take an hour before giving up.  That's not fun so I skipped all of the riddles.
• After reading the Iliad, I never liked Speak With Dead being easy.  Even in DND, I made it into a very big ritual where a lot can go wrong.  I think it adds a lot more flavor to the event. 
• It was like playing clue with Marcus.  "I will die in this room by Deuce with the wand."  It was good but I had to fake it so that it come out something like that! 
• The player had decided to leave and wanted his character to go out in style.  We completely faked the whole thing, with just a vague idea of it.  I was thinking it would only take an hour but managed to have it last the whole session, so we ended on him leaving.