Quest Journal #5

The Missing Ward

By Ralsu

I joined Shayalyn and Aloyce for breakfast in the Leaky Dinghy the morning after thwarting Emmerick Carlsbad's clan as A Matter of Protection for Carberent d' Deneith. We had seen no sign of Calten Slyfox since returning to the tavern the day before. Perhaps he had joined a different party and continued his own quest.

Aloyce was voraciously clearing the eggs off of a large wooden platter, dropping his fork occasionally to use a piece of dry flat bread as a scoop instead. Shayalyn appeared to be finished with her meal.

“Did you enjoy sleeping so late, bard?” Aloyce teased me as I sat. I responded by waving over a serving wench and asking for a plate of my own. When I tried to proffer some coins, the woman pushed away my hand. She said my meal was already paid for this morning—paid for by my new employer. I glared at my companions. Shayalyn wore a self-satisfied grin.

“Kensellen d'Jorasco,” she said, nodding at a man doubled over on a bench near the back of the room. “Jorasco is an important house, and a member of his family is missing.”

Images of kobolds, spiders, and hobgoblins raced through my mind. I was not eager to attempt another Sewer Rescue. I started to protest, but Aloyce cut me off by raising his hand.

“Kensellen has cause to believe that some sort of dark magic is involved,” he said to me with a knowing nod. Aloyce and I had spent some time arguing over the purity of the Church of the Silver Flame a few days earlier. Though he was certain that my view of the Church in Khorvaire was biased, I was intrigued that I might be able to prove to the misguided fool that the Silver Flame's leaders sponsored an evil sect of necromancers on Xen'drik as well.

“Can I at least eat my eggs?” I demanded as the wench dropped the plate in front of me.


The warehouse Shayalyn led us to was rumored to be haunted, but I felt confident that the dead who roamed the edifice were driven by sinister arcana. The three of us exchanged glances and headed for the door. Shayalyn led the way, eager as always. I came in right behind her.

Aloyce did not join us.

I stared at the door for little while before moving over to inspect one of the massive bookshelves in the room. Shayalyn moved to the shelf on the opposite wall.

“Interesting that a warehouse would store books,” she noted. “Seems like a library would be a better choice.”

I didn't say anything. I was too busy reading book titles and speculating about what kind of cult we would find deeper into the warehouse. Where was that paladin?

“The Apprentice's Companion I: First Level Arcana,” Shay read aloud. “There's a whole series here by Darkgolem.”

I countered with a find of my own. “Monsters of Xen'drik. Also by Darkgolem. I wonder who this--”

The door from the street flew open, the hinges protesting with a cacophony of metal scraping metal.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Aloyce boomed. “A priest from the Church came by and wanted me to help him with something. He must have recognized my affiliation with the Church by the emblem on my shield. It took a bit to explain that I was busy. I had to promise to come see him immediately when we leave here.”

I grunted and moved to the door at the opposite end of the room. Without waiting for the others, I threw the switch. A gust of dusty air met my nostrils, carrying with it the stench of decaying flesh. My eyes watered, and I felt bile rush up to the back of my teeth. I swallowed hard. My throat burned in objection to the acid.

“Zombies,” I croaked. Aloyce moved to take the point. Paladins are a useful sort, I thought. I felt stronger with him standing beside me.

We moved only a few feet before we spotted the missing ward, Alisandra Ashentouched. She paced behind the door of a cage. We rush over and called to her, yet she did not respond. Aloyce rattled the door but found it to be securely locked.

Not wanting to waste my time explaining that the girl was surely under a spell, I moved off down the hall to the left. The others ran to catch up.

“You might want to exercise a little more caution here, Ralsu,” Shalayn took her motherly tone with me. It was a tone I'd heard a little too often of late for my liking.

“Look! I've seen this before,” I growled. “If we don't hurry, the girl will become a sacrifice in a dark ritual.”

I continued walking at a swift pace. The hallway was illuminated in an eerie red glow. I paused to let the cleric and paladin reach my position. As soon as they did, two gates crashed from the ceiling to the floor—one in front and one behind us. The red glow intensified.

I heard the same moaning a man makes as the life force flees his body and two shadowy figures shambled from behind nearby pillars. As the red light fell across their forms, I could see the exposed bones showing from some parts of their bodies and the decaying flesh all over.

“I loathe zombies!” Aloyce announced to the room. He was true to his word, too. He and Shayalyn tore into the pair of abominations with fervor. I managed a few ineffectual swings at the zombie Shay picked, but they really didn't need my help. The moment both zombies had been hacked into enough pieces to crumple, the spell animating them ended and the gates rose back into the ceiling.

Just a little beyond the zombie trap, the red glow disappeared. We continued to a door that Aloyce opened. He walked into the new room, which curled around to the right. I heard a hiss and a ghoul jumped from the shadows and began clawing mercilessly at Aloyce's face.

I jumped into the fray, but it was difficult to hit the ghoul; it kept hopping about like some sort of nightmarish frog. I heard Aloyce cry out again and again as the ghoul's claws hit home. Before we could dispatch the foul being, Aloyce lay slumped against the wall. Blood trickled from a huge gash on his forehead, and his skin had lost its color.

Shayalyn moved to the paladin instantly. She uttered sacred words and held his shoulder. A light shimmered around her—a brilliant aura—then transferred from her hand to Aloyce's body. The blood stopped pouring out of his wound and instead began coursing through his veins to restore color.

Aloyce coughed once. “Thanks, m'lady. I saw death himself!” The paladin reached out both arms, and we helped him to his feet.

On around the corner, we found and pulled a lever. “I sure hope this frees the girl,” Shayalyn told us. We returned to Alisandra and found her cage still securely fastened. She continued to pace but showed no other signs of consciousness.

We headed down the other hall, mindful of traps. This hallway held skeletons that moved to stop us, but we dispatched them in short order. We found another door at the end of the hall, which I pulled open.

A zombified elf ambled out. Shaylayn intercepted it and cut it down quickly. Aloyce, meanwhile was busy in his own fight with a foul caster. The apprentice necromancer wore a robe decorated with indistinct runes and glyphs that glowed with each spell cast.

I suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation of weakness—like my weapon weighed as much as a bugbear. “Our strength is being drained!” I called out though it seemed I was yelling underwater. Aloyce had slain the caster and went to a knee in front of me.

“The feeling will not pass until we have had a proper rest,” Shayalyn informed us. “Take a moment to settle yourselves before we press on.”

After we regrouped, we activated a lever at the rear of the apprentice's chamber. We heard a loud click coming from the direction of Alisandra's cell and raced back down the hallway. As we approached the central chamber where the girl was held, we spotted the source of the kidnapping, a necromancer.

“You dare interrupt Gerti's plans?” the halfling challenged.

Aloyce answered by charging. “May Tira Miron guide me!”

Gerti was not alone, however. The necromancer's pet illustrated the skills of the foe we faced. A skeletal warrior that stood a head above Aloyce came at Shayalyn and me. The cleric jumped in front of me and engaged the skeleton.

I moved around to try to find the necromancer. I saw darkened globes of magic crash into the paladin's chest and he cried out in pain. I wheeled back around to find that Shayalyn had somehow managed to crush the monstrous skeleton. I faced the necromancer again and employed my magic. I told of a peaceful cemetery undisturbed by foul magic. But Gerti did not listen to my story; the paladin was a more dangerous foe for the necromancer.

Aloyce cleaved the spell caster's head from its shoulders, ending the battle abruptly. Shayalyn saw to his wounds while I went to the girl. With Gerti dead, the trance was broken. She warned me of abominable monsters roaming the warehouse and bade me follow her to safety.

Once outside, Aloyce declined to return to Kensellen d'Jorasco at the Leaky Dinghy with us. Despite my passionate protest, he insisted he must keep his promise with the priest he'd met outside the warehouse. I rapidly remembered the problem with paladins: they're too self-righteous to break a promise.


That night, Shay and I dined on stew—courtesy of Kensellen, of course. He'd promised to alert the entire House Jorasco of our service to him. Shayalyn mentioned her eagerness to find more work with Aloyce and me. I chugged my mead and punched the table. After thwarting the necromancer, I just knew we'd never see never see Aloyce McLowen again.

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