54th Spring 1361 D.R.
Well, since we decided it would be inadvisable to attack the undead at night, we spent the night hunkered down by the lake, and then marched straight on over to attack this morning. In we went, only to meet up with a force of undead right at the top of the stairs into the tomb! I hung back to provide some expert elven archery for my companions, and we quickly discovered how unfortunate this was; not only did my friends fail to do anything productive, but within a few minutes, Pri and Tolec were both paralyzed by ghouls, Sam had taken a nasty thrust from a skeleton, and Liss was hard-pressed as well. Appropriately enough, it was up to me to save them!
So forward I charged, using some of those secret elven combat techniques that I'm mastering, and before you could say my full name, a ghoul dropped to the ground, missing a hand and a head both! And my friends don't think I'm much of a warrior... But they're wrong about me, as was soon proven when after the dust settled a few minutes later, since I had, virtually single handedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, saving all our lives in the process. Let's see that narrow-minded cleric insult me NOW! If it's not apparent that I'm a hero, I just don't know what more I can do, except prove it to them all again by saving them when we go down further into the tomb. So when next I write, expect further details about my heroism; maybe I should write a ballad about all of this...
We pressed further on into the tomb, and were met with (surprise surprise) yet more undead. Fortunately, the skeletons and ghouls had already been dispatched, so there weren't AS many of the nasty things! Still, it was a long, hard-fought battle; that ghost was really really bad news, and we must all have been cursed or something, given how badly it went for us at first. Alamon was able to turn most of the zombies, but alas, the one he missed was Haley's, naturally. And she promptly proceeded to beat him within an inch of his life before we were able to put her poor body to rest. Meanwhile, it was up to me to help defeat the ghast while Prihelm and Dogboy fought the ghost to a standstill.
Naturally, I had problems with this particular foe; I was still tired from my heroic efforts from upstairs, and the ghast's nasty reek made it difficult to concentrate. But eventually, Sam and I were able to triumph, and Tolec, almost on his own, defeated the ghost! We grabbed the book and went straight to the Bruja, determined to get her to help Haley or else!
This was not to be. She demanded the book from us; we demanded she help us. She refused, so we did too. And things were likely to remain at a standstill were it not for one little detail; the fact that the ghost showed back up, and that my name was written in the book! I was going to die! Or so went the legends...
This pains me to admit it, but since I was already pretty well and truly beat up, and emotionally worn out, I fled in terror. The ghost might have pursued, but the others fought to stop it while, from what I hear, Bruja started writing frantically in the Book of the Dead. And no sooner did she finish writing the name "Jonathan Masters" than did the ghost vanish for good! Duly chastised, we decided to listen better to strange prophets in the future...
While she didn't bother helping Haley, I have to admit that Bruja did keep her part of the original bargain; she gave us a wand and told us that we would all be invisible for 24 hours or until the wand was broken, and sent us off to the castle. Sam and I wanted to rest first and attack at night, but we were over-ruled by the others (something about human blood makes people SO impulsive!). So we tried to go through the front gates, but of course, Sam and Pri ran into each other, and the guards heard them and promptly dropped the portcullis. We took off running, and all of us but Al made it through, but he, naturally, had to get himself caught by the gate, and the guards could see that, too. Remind me to never bring these people along with me on my scouting missions!
Fortunately, Pri and Johnethry were able to lift the gate between them, and just in time. We crept by the guards, and... Sam went and did it again! I can't believe that man has elven blood in him! But fortunately, guards everywhere are incredibly stupid, so with a quick flick of my wrists, I was able to send them running to investigate the noise created by the rocks I threw. Do these people ever learn?
We made our way into the kitchen, which was deserted; right next to us was a dining room, complete with six guards and some fat guy who must have been the infamous Lord Skol. He didn't look like much, and since we wanted to discuss recent events with him, we crept in. It's at this point that things got blurry...
The next thing I remember is that the wand was broken and the guards were looking anxious. I tried to talk our way out of this mess, but... Prihelm, the noble fool, insulted Sluggo, and the guards attacked! Fortunately for us, they were a fairly inept lot, even compared to us! I don't know how it happened, but Prihelm was the hero of the battle, defeating his opponent even as mine continued to duel with me. Tolec took quite a beating from his own foe, but gave as good as he got. And Sam? Well... Sam managed to cut his suspenders and his pants fell down (dear gods, how did the man manage that?)! I don't think I'll ever stop laughing! But despite these setbacks, we quickly routed the guards and settled in for a private consultation with Lord Skol. Funny though; I don't remember Prihelm and Alamon getting beat up quite so much in the battle; they claim I did it to them, but how could that be?!?
I can't say too much about what he told us, except this: after long debate, we were able to extract from him a way out of this cursed land, in exchange for a mutual non-agression pact. He tells us that apparently, the key to passing through the Boundary is someone with the Virus, who unfortunately dies in the process. I was all for using Sirius, but the others voted me down. They told me instead that we would be sure to find someone there waiting for us. I have NO idea what they're talking about, but... I trust my friends.
So off we went to the Boundary, near where we fought the ball of light. I got the feeling that my "friends" wanted to sacrifice me, even though I'm not even sick, so I took off; I was NOT going near that thing! But Liss talked me back, and after a long drawn out argument, I suddenly found myself assaulted by my own compatriots! I can't believe they did that to me! It all started with that snake, Alamon, but the next thing I knew, Tolec and Prihelm had picked me up! The last think I remember is being thrown against the boundary, and then... Then, from what I hear, I must have suffered an excrutiatingly painful death. With friends like these...