Condensed Campaign Update

As mentioned in the last post, my group has been in the wilderness travelling cross country for a few months of game time to get to the city of Pax Valis, Capitol of the Great Kingdom. They encountered mostly light fighting from monsters (thought carrying the Witchfire meant if they didn't destroy everything they killed right away, it would reanimate and start another fight), although there was an encounter with a group of undead giants, a clan of hill giants and a hidden temple of Demogorgon they tricked their way out of (especially fun because it involved some quick on their feet RP with an intelligent mutant 2-headed ape and some lucky reaction rolls).

I was looking ahead to the city. I don't normally run city adventures, they don't suit me as a referee so I was planning what to do next. Looking at my notes one night, I stumbled across an old Swords & Wizardry adventure I made 3 or 4 years ago with some of the current group's members. Low level wilderness and dungeon crawl, they inadvertently freed a Death Knight. He hung out for a few rounds while he got his bearings, fried some NPCs for good effect and put a whupping on a couple of PCs before using his Word of Recall ability to TP away. In life the Knight's religion was as a follower of the Deity of Lords and Rulers and he fell from grace not long before he died, was consequently entombed in what would have been the dungeon of the keep he was building for himself...where he had awoken as a Death Knight trapped by wards and barriers (until our unwitting heroes stumbled across him a few thousand years later).

Fast forward to now, the new group of totally different characters. They deliver the sword triumphantly to the High Priest of the Deity of Protection and Healing in the temple in Pax Valis. In the process, they find out that Alexia's uncle in the swamp city died shortly after the witch trials that killed her mother 10 years ago...that left them wondering who the good father really is since he was far from dead and no temple sanctioned resurrection was performed.

When they go to hand over the sword, one of the group's fighting-men lunges after it. She had been in contact with it and lost a contest of wills during the course of bringing it here, it decided if there was a chance, it would use her to escape the city and find a suitable wielder that didn't fight it so much. The sword clatters to the ground when she bull rushes the High Priest and the group restrains her as...

The Death Knight appears, setting off all sorts of wards and protective magic, sizzling and popping and bursting into holy flames. The group, filled with the horror of what they are witnessing, can't do anything to save the High Priest as the Death Knight reclaims his sword and slices down the man then exits out onto the street, leaving them with a sense of dread as he causes a commotion and then vanishes.

Once things calmed down (in game and around the table) the Cleric decides to seek permission to build a stronghold (he had reached 8th level) and set about building a monumental temple dedicated to his Deity. The hirelings have decided they were rich enough to retire, the fighting-man has decided to use his wealth to build an inn & tavern in one of the villages that falls within the Cleric's Barony.