All players were present for this session, which began with the raising of Day and the introduction of Curtis’s new PC, the bard Simpson. Yes, that is an intentional pun made by the player. Simpson, whose last name is Pok, is a gnome. With spiky yellow hair.

The ritual to raise Day was to end shortly after midnight. Ansis invited Gullyven and Kiran to his parents for dinner and some rest before they returned to the temple. Before they left town, Ansis arranged for Sister Linora to cast gentle repose upon Galin’s remains and have them transported to the guild in Fallcrest. They returned to find Day getting dressed, but a commotion outside interrupted their greetings.

Meanwhile, Simpson Pok, a traveling minstrel in search of inspiration for the epic that would make him famous, entertained patrons at Wrafton’s Inn. After finishing his set and eating a plate of supper, he retired to his room. A commotion outside interrupted his sleep sometime after midnight. He peered out the window of his room to see guards rushing about the main gate, and decided to investigate.

The adventurers gathered around several guards who were ministering to a fallen comrade. Sister Linora took over, and Lord Padraig arrived to question Captain Kelfem. The guard captain informed Padraig that the man had just come from the town’s graveyard, where he was attacked by undead.

Just then a low moaning could be heard from over the wall and something began pounding on the gate. Everyone raced up to the battlements to see a score of zombies staggering toward the town, a shadowy figure at their rear directing them.

I modified one of the Dungeon encounters that extended Keep on the Shadowfell to create an atmosphere piece. The zombies were all minions that fell easily to ranged attacks, and I swapped the named creature for Kalarel’s Spectral Apparition from the updated version of the Dragon Burial Site encounter. The recognition on the players’ faces when the apparition sent its shadow claws to grab different PCs on the wall was just what I was hoping for.

After the waves of zombies where dispatched, Lord Padraig asked the PCs to investigate the graveyard while his men held the walls and the gate. The group reached the graveyard and headed north along the fence toward the glowing blue circle of runes.

Except for Kiran, who moved along the path toward the center of the graveyard, triggering the undead encounter. The decrepit skeletons divided their attacks among two or three PCs (I rolled 6 d20s against one PC each round), while the gravehounds headed for Day, who was leading the way toward the runes. The hounds successfully tripped Day, but she returned the favor, sweeping their legs out from under them while she still lay prone.

Gullyven and Simpson concentrated on dispelling the rune circles as Ninaran and Kiran squared off, and Ansis focused on the skeletons. By the time Gullyven and Simpson succeeded, half the skeletons were destroyed and both gravehounds were bloodied. The remaining undead dropped, leaving Ninaran by herself. She attempted to flee, but Gullyven intimidated her into surrendering. They discovered the note from Kalarel, and Day became incensed (she kicked the elf) at the revelation that ten innocent people had been killed to perform the ritual that animated the undead. Ninaran was taken back to town and handed over for justice.

The PCs rested and met later that morning back in town. Simpson introduced himself, and as they discussed resupplying before heading back to the keep, the gnome bard offered to transfer the enchantment from the +1 vicious short sword to Gullyven’s dagger. Day also spoke with Sister Linora about holding on to Galin’s body until she could collect enough money to raise him (our third, player-generated minor quest). She remembered the promise she had made to the eladrin during their conversation about raising Kiran.

The party set out for the keep an hour before lunch. They reached the ruins, ate from their rations, and descended. Returning to the second level, they opened the doors that lead to a room full of statues: a statue of a great warrior, two statues of crouching dragons, and four cherubim statues. Day lead the way, investigating the floor with her spear after having noticed the dust on the floor around the statues was disturbed. She made it only 15ft or so into the room before the doors behind her slammed shut and a bolt slid into place. Then the statue of the warrior spun into action, swinging its sword in a great arc that caught her by surprise and knocked her to the ground.

Of course, the rest of the group had waited back and found themselves cut off once again. After an unsuccessful try or two to discover a way to release the bolt, Ansis blasted the door open. The heroes spotted Day crawling toward the dais of the warrior statue and started blasting it. A few rounds saw it reduced to rubble. Day had discovered a panel set in the dais, but had not been able to open it.

Alerted to the danger of the statues, the group–Gullyven, in particular–began a closer scrutiny of the dragons, though he made his inspection from the dais of the warrior statue. The gnome sorcerer made out four runes on each of the dragon statues that granted them the ability to breath blasts of force. Enamored by the beauty of the statues, but wary of getting too close, Gullyven attempted to use his lightning to erase the runes.

I said, “Yes,” of course. Gullyven’s success would be determined by an Arcana check. If he failed the DC, Darla would make an attack roll to see if the lightning strike hit the statue and dealt damage. Gullyven managed to erase one rune, but after dealing damage twice, he gave up rather than destroy the beautiful statues.

Next up where the cherubim. Again, Gullyven spotted runes on the vases they held and deciphered the danger of the trap. The group blasted away at the vases until they were destroyed. They walked up to the double doors and we ended the session there.