Vampire Abductions

While his companions were doing their bit to reduce the population of the Curst, Sack had returned from the Grove to Elverandil's tower, and sought out his host.

With his usual mixture of signs and scribbled notes, the half-orc upbraided the Mastersmith on behalf of his people, pointing out how, despite his participation in the Kingmaker Quest and therefore part credit for the saving of Belamir, the Elves had (he felt) demanded a blackmail price from him in return for the magic he'd requested. "It just proves again what everyone thinks of you," he raged. Through this tirade, Elverandil's face remained sympathetic and understanding - he was, after all, one of the most enlightend elves on this front - his expression hardened when Sack continued to declare that, from now on, he personally would do everything in his power to oppose the expansion of the new Elvenrealm. Finishing, Sack thrust a sealed note for his companions into the Mastersmith's hands, and stormed from the hall. Gathering his ursine companion and his possessions, he departed the land of Belamir, returning to the rock that Surya's swords had been stored in to wait for his friends to join him.

On the other side of the realm, Surya and Hildraft had returned to the Grove, and were warmly thanked by Aera. Once their minor wounds were seen to, she turned to Surya, and indicated that she was now ready to perform the Awakening ritual on his steed as requested. Having thought things over, however, the Tellaran now declined, having concluded that having a sentient warhorse might be a two-edged benefit.

Aera was a little taken aback, though respecting Surya's careful thought on this issue, and pointed out that this left her in his debt. Their debt, she corrected, at a gentle throat-clearing from Hildraft. She thought for a moment, then handed each a small twig. "If you are ever truly in need," she said, "break this, and I will come to you." Thanking her, they left.

Returning to Elverandil's tower, they received the note Sack had left, which simply explained where he wanted to meet, and set off again at once. Reclaiming Surya's troublesome weapons from the new rock near Aera's Grove, they circled the edge of the Elvenrealm as night fell and a storm broke.

On the northern side, the storm lashed Sack and Billy, and they took shelter under a stunted tree nearby. All was quiet until midnight, when the bear's sharper nose alerted the ranger to the approach of a party of people. Approaching from within Belamir were four cloaked figures, two of them carrying a bundle that almost certainly had to be a body. Watching them move, Sack - familiar with elves and humans as he was - became convinced that, human-sized as they might be, they were neither.

When they reached the edge of the wards, to Sack's astonishment, a blinding flare of purple lightning erupted, delineating the dome of the wards as it had when Surya tried to carry his swords through. This time, however, an arch of darkness was cut into the energy field, and the four figures passed through; as the last one emerged, the display died and the wards subsided.

The figures moved away purposefully, passing fifty feet or so from Sack's position. As they did so, he coughed and stood up, bow readied.

Their reaction was immediate; dropping their burden into the rain-mire of Desolation ash with a splat!, they drew swords and fanned out to the attack. Sack loosed immediately, taking one foe in the arm and another through the chest. The latter dropped, but midway to the ground, dissolved into a cloud of mist and flowed rapidly away. Belatedly, Sack's Render training kicked in, and he recognized the four for vampire spawn; slain humans, raised to servitude by their vampire killer but denied the Blood Gift that would make them true Sons of Cain.

Half a mile away, Hildraft pricked up his ears; he'd heard the unmistakable sound of an arrow launched from Asildur's bow exploding on impact. Glancing at each other, the two quickened their horses' pace to a gallop, despite the storm.

Back at the stone, Sack was holding his own with the spawn, who were not as tough as he'd feared. Two were now drifting around as mist, waiting for their wounds to heal, and the others were beginning to look worried.

As his friends thundered into the clearing, he unleashed his weapon's Sunburst power, sending a wash of blinding sunlight blasting outwards to envelop the four Spawn. As they screamed, he could see the light eating into their exposed faces.

Trailing smoke, the four spawn looked far less confident, and a moment later Sack and Surya had each slashed the head off one. Sack's sword, in particular, seemed to hurt the undead creatures dreadfully, and they began to exhibit fear of it as the battle continued.

With a whistle and a thud, an object cartwheeled through the darkness and struck into the ground near the companions' feet. Crouching, Sack examined it. It was a dagger - a silver dagger! Thrown, it appeared by a vampire. The capabilities of a vampire capable of carrying and using a silver dagger began to worry the vampire hunter. Nocking an arrow, he loosed in the direction of the detected undead, and was rewarded by a lucky hit. "That was not civilized," came a mocking rejoinder.

From a wide arc behind them, the friends suddenly became aware of approaching creatures, crashing through the trees towards their position. Undeterred, Surya also managed to strike their tormentor with an arrow, whereupon a magical Darkness descended on them. Sack dropped his blazing sword, drew Bloodfang, and set out to circle around as Surya loosed again. Hildraft brought down a Flame Strike, and all three could see the outline of their foe, twisting and writhing in the roaring column of flame. Then, abruptly, it was gone, and Sack could feel its' undead presence receding more and more rapidly as it retreated. He watched it until it was out of range, but it clearly was not coming back.

The bundle on the ground turned out to be none other than Elverandil's son Dilthal, deeply unconcious and badly blood-drained. One of Sack's Restoration scrolls had him nicely recovered by the time his father thundered up at a full gallop to be re-united with his heir.

Examining the dagger, Sack and Elverandil discovered it to be intricately carved with rather disquieting heraldry, and to have a lingering miasma of evil as befitted the long-term property of a deeply wicked creature. Sack was sure the symbols on it were important, but he couldn't call their meanings to mind.