Cloaked

[Gwenne]

GUILIN - Warforged guardian of the Willow Tavern

Being extremely tall, Guilin had an advantage killing the bats. The last one took refuge on the ceiling in a corner of the room, but one swing of the falchion killed it. As the last bat died, Xuun reappeared. He was still clearly wounded, but looked distinctly healthier than when he had vanished.

“The bats gave the vampire time to heal. If he does it again, we should kill them as fast as possible.

[Gwenne]

DARICE - drow heiress of Olath Veldrin

The flames around Xuun were faltering. Darice cast another fire spell, and renewed the haste spell on the party, while the bard broke off fighting for a moment to sing an inspiring song. The party attacked Xuun with renewed vigour and the next time he vanished into a swarm of bats they were ready for it. Darice left the others to chase the bats who took refuge in every corner of the huge room. She knew there was a limit to how many fire spells she could cast, and she must save those for fighting Xuun himself.

[Gwenne]

VINDICAI – Secretive drow

They dealt with the bats swiftly the second time, and Xuun could only heal a little in the respite given to him. It was the same the third time, and Vindicai could see the weakness and desperation in his old antagonist’s eyes. He was wary though, for he had made the fool’s mistake of underestimating his enemy once already. They were fighting on Xuun’s home ground here, and he could still have some tricks up his sleeve. If he did, then the sooner they found out the better. It would be easy for the party to use up all their resources under the impression the vampire was nearly dead, only to be caught out badly by some last minute surprise.

Vindicai grinned at him mockingly. “Vampires are certainly tough, but are you quite tough enough?”

Xuun glared at him, shimmered, and suddenly there were four Xuun’s standing in front of Vindicai.

Vindicai cursed, knowing they could not hope to defeat four Xuuns at once, and stabbed a random one of them with his rapier. He was instantly aware of something odd. The rapier caught his opponent squarely in the chest, but Vindicai felt no resistance. The rapier passed through Xuun as if it was only hitting air.

“They are only illusions to confuse us,” he called out. “There is still only one real Xuun.”

[Gwenne]

GUILIN - Warforged guardian of the Willow Tavern

For a moment, Guilin was very worried. One Xuun was a hard opponent. The party couldn’t beat four Xuuns, and it might be even worse. He might divide again and again into an army. Four, sixteen, sixty four…. They would have no hope.

He heard Vindica shout, and the next swing of Guilin’s falchion confirmed what the drow had said. Three of these Xuuns were only thin air. The party just had to find and fight the right one.

[Gwenne]

KALISTA THULE - Drow owner of the Willow Tavern

Kalista’s daggers hit a solid target. “This one!” she shouted, and the party gathered to join her. As she stabbed Xuun again, he staggered, and each of the three other Xuun’s staggered as well, like mirror images repeating his actions.

Xuun dived aside, weaving among the illusions, to try and confuse his attackers

[Gwenne]

ARANN THULE – Drow owner of the Willow Tavern

Arann attacked a Xuun, found it was the wrong one, and then found the right target again and grimly chased it. The vampire was trying to buy himself time to heal. It wasn’t working. Some of the attacks from the party were now missing him, but the banks of fire could not be fooled.

[Gwenne]

VINDICAI – Secretive drow

For several minutes, Xuun grew visibly weaker until he reached the point where he was too badly wounded to run and dodge the attacks from the party. They closed round him, weapon after weapon hit home, and the fires constantly burned him. It wasn’t clear which blow killed him, or whether it was the fires that finished him off, but abruptly Xuun staggered and fell.

Vindicai looked round, warily, in case this was just another trick. Then he kicked the burning body on the floor. There was no reaction. It had been a long game of chess, but his opponent had finally been defeated, his king was toppled, and only Vindicai’s pieces remained on the board.

Vindicai grinned as Xuun’s body abruptly collapsed into a heap of ash. “I think we won!”

[Gwenne]

DARICE - drow heiress of Olath Veldrin

The room seemed suddenly very quiet as Darice’s magic flames flickered and died. There, where Xuun had stood fighting them through the long battle, was only a heap of ash. She stared at it, her mind in confusion, wondering if she dare believe Xuun was really dead and it was all over at last.

The others seemed to accept that fact easily. There was a ragged chorus of cheers at the victory, and then they were busy healing wounds and cleaning and putting away weapons.

Darice could not adjust so quickly. For most of the party it was just the end of a battle. For her it was the end of a struggle that had lasted her whole life. Her mother was dead. Xuun was dead. She was free of them, but it was a limited freedom. There remained the burden of her duty to her family, and in this moment of victory she felt those lifelong chains even heavier than before. She tried to comfort herself. Even if they continued in the old way, in this house, following the old laws, she herself would be Lady Olath Veldrin and there would be no more dabbling with dark powers.

It would be better than before, but even so she winced at the thought of living again that old life in this house. Could she bear to live here again, with its many memories, and the taint of the occupation of the Dark Six clinging to it? There was that other possibility that Vindicai had suggested, but was she justified in even thinking about that. It was so easy to be tempted into considering her own feelings, when she should only consider her duty to the clan.

Vindicai was calmly collecting up Xuun’s ashes to be dealt with safely. The barbarian was giving a grunt of satisfaction and pointing out the chest behind Xuun’s throne. The cleric was hovering beside Darice for some reason, and she looked at him in confusion.

“I’d like it back now please,” he said.

The cleric pointed at something pinned to her dress and she looked down at it in confusion. An unfamiliar white gemstone.

“It is a holy relic. A fragment of gemstone infused with the power of the Silver Flame. It protects the wearer from evil,” the cleric explained helpfully. “I’d like it back now please. I got it on a pilgrimage to…”

“Oh. Thank you. I didn’t realise… It was very kind of you.” Hastily she unpinned the trinket and returned it to its owner.”

[Gwenne]

ARANN THULE – Drow owner of the Willow Tavern

Arann watched Vindicai cork the potion bottle of ashes and put it away in his backpack. “I take it you are going to deal with that so Xuun doesn’t come back from the dead to bother us again. How about the other three Xuuns? Are they definitely gone for good?”

[Gwenne]

VINDICAI – Secretive drow

Vindicai grinned at Arann. “Always hard to be sure when the Dark Six are involved, but I think he is gone for good this time. Darice and I killed one of them. I gave the ashes a special treatment and scattered them over several miles of ocean. I’ll do the same with the ashes of this Xuun.”

“As for the other two Xuuns… One was killed by the other three, and I expect they wanted him permanently gone, and would know very well how to do make sure he was.”

“The final one was killed by that strange shrine. I don’t know which of the bones were those of Xuun, but all the bones there looked odd to me as if something devastating had happened to them. They were undead creatures killed by the power of the Sovereign Host, and I don’t think any of them are coming back to life after that. The Dark Six have been in control here quite a while and they don’t seem to have managed to recall any of those undead.