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[Nice description, the image is good too ]

The group leaves the village and restrains the hostages. Ke'Sha lays out the plan and Allikhain nods, It will be less risky to teleport to the site where the fire Elemental was summoned, but we can walk to the other clearing from there in time to prepare the site before you arrive.

The Athasian Halfling undergoes his horrendous transformation, the zombies stare blankly while Drommacus' murmurs, his bone-thin fingers and claws wiggle and click against each other as he watches with wicked glee. Yesss... truly thisss isss a wooorthy assssocciate.... Allikain observes the ordeal a studious curiosity.

Tom easily stacks the victims and mounts the Dracolich, holding himself tight against the body and pinning the helpless but fully aware humans down with his putrescent rotting flesh.

Allikhain stands near the other trolls and with a brief incantation she and the hulking undead vanish in a blink.

With a lurch, Ke'Sha's monstrous form takes flight into the night, trailed by the quasits and Varrangoin like some arial caravan of Evil. The dark forest below passes swiftly, and in mere minutes they reach the midnight meadow. Landing with the crush of underbrush the undead form of the Cleric arrives. Allikhain and the two trolls stand ready

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[Undead alacrity can be used on 1 undead per level. Did you want it on all 3 trolls?
Ke'Sha casts Undead Alacrity on Tom the Zombie Troll
Base move based on caster (Trolls already faster),
init and save as caster
The effects will last 47 minutes (10+37)

Ke'Sha casts Assume Undead Form and transforms into a Juvenile Amber Dracolich!!

Flying to the clearing takes about 7 minutes
Binky, Gur and Drommacus arrive a few minutes later

While Ke'Sha soars to the sky, an excitement and all powerful feeling fills him. If he were not an undead, a rush of adrenaline and dopamine would course through his veins. He spreads his tattered wings and feel the enormous power of this new form. His eyesight and all his senses are so greatly sharpened, and the ease to glide and consume vast distances, seeing the village, the camp and the trees from great height, he feels amazing and that this is the best way to serve the lord of the undead.
After the swift flight, Ke'Sha lands, contrary to his huge bulk he makes a graceful land, gently touching the ground. He folds his wings, waves his long neck and his tail, and enjoys this powerful form for few more minutes until his company will arrive.
He waits for Tom to climb down and already prepares his plans for the tasks at hand. 'Busy night... but a glorious one...'
When Allakhain arrives with the trolls, and Drommacus joins with Gur and Binky, Ke'Sha demands their attention and explains the next steps in their work.
"These people are to be ascended and serve our god. The older woman will be turned into a wight. The guard and the younger female will become ju-ju zombies. In the process we will rid them of their unneeded souls. They are yours, Drommacus, as we agreed. For the ju-ju zombies, I'll drain their life power completely, then raise them as ju-jus. The older woman will be turned by a more complex ritual. Drommacus, we have to be coordinates so you get what you desire. Punctuality is of essence. Allakhain, you can help in the rituals if you like, and if you see fit, we can create in the future more minions for you as well.
Don't forget that we don't finish this glorious night with these three, we are merely starting, so save your strength and keep sharp mind." Not expecting any questions, Ke'Sha, somewhat regretfully assumes his own form again, only to immediately change it into a Spectre. Since the body form is much similar to Ke'Sha's own than the draco-lich, he suffers less anguishing spasms, but this time great cold flows through his body and he seems to fade as if part of him rips away and transported to a parallel dimension. He sees the world in shades, very similar to the sensation being in the ethereal plane by Allakhain's magic, and the voices around him are not clear, requires his concentration. On the other hand, he can see threads of pure life force flow through his comrades... Well, some of them... The trolls look like huge dark blobs... But Allakhain is glowing. With every heart beat these threads shake and glitter, and he craves for this light, find it hard to resist touching it... consuming it. The demons life force looks completely different. Glowing red but weaved with black lines, flows slowly but strongly. Yet he craves it too. He feels great hunger... He looks around and now turn his gaze to the ground. Seeing the three humans bound, and they too, like Allakhain have blinding threads of wight light flowing through them. His mind focused again and what a pleasure... Killing two... birds... in a single stone. "Come Drommacus. It is time." his voice sounds like a whisper passing through great obstacle. Barely heard, eerie, yet can't be avoided. He kneels between the guard and the young woman and moves his hands close to their bodies. Their life force starts to pull toward his hand and his face twists with a mixture of pleasure, envy, and greed. He looks sideway making sure Dromaccus is ready to reap their souls and then he touches them.
Immediately his mind explodes. He sees vision of their lives. Their mundane boring life, yet it is full with joy, joy he would never feel, he would never know as spectre. Through the process he learns their names and knows he will soon have to use it. Their life force current is so fast, as if the negative plane is a black hole sucking it with never ceasing strength. He feels it flow through him only to immediately vanish and waste. And in a moment, it is done. He can see their life force no longer. As the trolls. Dark blobs.
Barely feeling his body, he rises again. Every inch of him chills, and again, his service to his god is the ultimate one. He assumes most powerful undead shapes only to create more undead. His mind is clear, he whispers few words, hugs himself and in moments assumes his own form for the second time within minutes.
Even completely transformed back, Ke'Sha keeps his eyes closed for a moment, contemplating on the sensations he just passed. It's overwhelming. Yet, as he told his friends, if one can call this gang friends, their work has just begun.
With a quick look at Drommacus, verifying he got their souls, Ke'Sha raises both bodies, but knowing the great secrets of necromancy, and since their life force was drained and they touched the negative plane only moment ago, Ke'Sha uses a changed ceremony. It takes longer as he moves around the bodies using incantations and oaths, the air around the bodies shimmers and it seems as if shadows of the people float back a forth above the bodies, each time Ke'Sha grips the shadows, saying more incantations and releases the shadows again. Each time it seems as if the bodies spasm more and more. Dead, yet moving and gaining mobility. Repeating this circling over and over, the ritual almost comes to an end when Ke'Sha binds the anti-life force to the meat using these people names that he came to know while draining their life. "Juher!" he commands the guard, "Tagna!" he commands the young woman, "Rise and serve the lord of the undead! Your lord and mine!"

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(OOC: It takes long, but really fun. I'll post for making the wight later. I hope tomorrow since I think the other guys are ready to move on, and I still plan to summon animal and an undead...

I forgot the Alracity can work for multiple creatures, so yeah, why not on all the three Although for Tom I thought it is crucial so he won't fall of the draco-lich back.

Ke'Sha casted another assume undead form, and animate dead. I'm not sure anymore about the sources. In one description it says that juju zombies are created when their life is drained by energy drain spell. No mention of animating. But I recall a different source that spoke of drain [not spell], and animate. Another that requires Raise dead (5th lvl) after draining. There is also source that draining CON I think or STR to 0 creates juju... So I hope Spectre drain + animate is OK. I also have spare animate dead if you rule animate per juju is required, which is reasonable. And two Raise dead if that's the rule.

Next thing:
1. turn old woman to wight using 'Create undead minion' muhaha
2. Animal sum III, cast slay living on it (I've two in case it is lucky). Then animate dead monster on it.
3. Summon undead, hope to control it. Undeath to death on it if not and it is too formidable.

)

Once the two ju-ju zombies stand at his command, Ke'Sha carefully inspects them and commands them to run a bit along the trees, climb them and show some sword work. Satisfied with their agility which is not common among undead he commands them to keep guard near the trolls zombies and then he attends to his next project.

He goes to the older woman, still bound on the floor and cloth stuff in her mouth, and starts with sanctifying her body to the lord of the undead. He takes some Asphodel and Belladona from his pockets, crashes them together, mix with bone powder taken from dead animals. Then he commands William to scratch deep the woman arms and forehead with his foul fingernail. The woman groans in pain and he rubs the mixture into the wound, first on the right arm, then on the left and lastly into her forehead. He then ties ropes to her ankles, wrists and neck and nails them to the ground, then he sits on her chest and ramble incantation in a horrifying language. He gesture to Drommacus to come close and be ready to reap her souls. When the demon takes place Ke'Sha says in common,
"In your death
you will get stronger,
without breath,
you will survive longer,
Without warmth
you will make your enemies chill
without hesitation
any creature you will kill."
With the final word he stabs the woman in her heart and continues the unspeakable incantations.
A gush of blood sprays out, some of it on his face, and as he tastes it he cuts his forearm and bleeds into her mouth, binding her to his will. Then the blood gathers in a pool in the air, about four inches above the woman head. She looks at it, panicked and not understanding, and all the while her color turns gray while the wounds on her arms and forehead become sickly yellowish and ooze smelly liquids. She manages one look at her daughter, now a ju-ju zombie. Ke'Sha sees that look and says, "Ahhh... mother's love. You will soon join her for all eternity. Bless the lord of the undead." then with a final gasp she dies. The pool of blood above her head pulls to the center, concentrating more and more until it becomes a small ball, hard like a stone but it's surface, moves as if still liquid. Ke'Sha suddenly snap it from the air and push it at great force through the wound in her chest, into the middle of her internals, then quickly pull out his hand and holds the wound, waiting anxiously to see if the complex ordeal worked. Moments later the wound magically closes and Ke'Sha know it worked. Then she snaps her eyes open, only her pupils and iris are so bright it looks as if her whole eye is completely white.
Ke'Sha stands and say, "You shall be named Artven. Rise and join us in the service of the lord of the undead."
More than satisfied with his work so far, Ke'Sha takes few moments to clean up then he tells Allakhain, "These are rare and dangerous incantations. If you are committed to our cause I can help you. Now, two more works of art remain and we can rest a bit."

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(OOC: Ke'Sha casts Create undead minion on he woman, turning her into a wight)

"I'm going to madidate." Ke'Sha simply says and move few steps from the crown, sits and takes several minutes to thank his god for all the powers he bestowed on him this evening and calms himself towards the next challange.
"I'm sure you are as satisfied as I am. I'm now going to summon a strong beast, kill it and turn it into a zombie monster that can clear our path in the labyrinth. In the slim chance it survives my first attack, you can either watch me killing it on the next attacks, or assist so we can finish our work faster."
Then Ke'Sha starts another ritual where he spread around him in circle different samples of food, and repeats names of powers related to nature and great animals. He lits incense and waves it in circles, closing his eyes and concentrating on the animals he wants to summon. He knows he need a strong animal but such that can fit in the labyrinth. He keeps concentrating and calling in the names or the beasts that match his request.

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(OOC: Ke'Sha casts animal summoning III. This is up to 4 no more than 16HD animals, up to 8 no more than 8HD animals or up to 16 no more than 4HD animals.
Ke'Sha strongly prefers 10-16 HD and I have no problem if only one will arrive and not 4. Even 1 of 10HD is fine. I'm not sure what animals fit this description...)

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PHB p226 wrote:The caster can try three times to summon three different types of animals - e.g., suppose that wild dogs are first summoned to no avail, then hawks are unsuccessfully called, and finally the caster calls for wild horses that may or may not be within summoning range.

I think you need to specify what kind of animals you are trying to summon.

Tristan, we've been told there are large reptiles in the area. Do we know any more than that? Enough to 'name' them for summoning?

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(OOC: First I'm not familiar with what are much HD monsters and are still count as animals. Except maybe dinosaurs. Is manscorpion a monster or animal? I'd guess monster, but in fantasy world, what are the rules? They are not created by magic, or from other planes...
Second they should fit in the dungeon. So I'm not sure dinosaurs can...
Maybe sabretooth tigers... There is a spell called conjure Aurumvorax. In 2nd ed I couldn't find reference that strictly tells in the monster compendium if a monster is an animal or not, but for the Aurumvorax description they say in some section:

"Despite being only the size of a large badger, the aurumvorax, or golden gorger, is an incredibly dangerous creature. The animal is covered with coarse golden hair and has small silver eyes with golden pupils."

So if this is an indication that Aurumvorax is qualified as an animal, it would be great to summon it. It's climate is Temperate hills. Not sure if that fits.
If it DO fit, it is an amazing option as it is not big, seems to fit into dungeons with its agile body, and has 12HD.

....
Giant Trap Door Spider have 15HD they are only L size, but they have poor attacks (especially as zombies)

I found a source of 2nd ed that can filter by some criteria, so looking at tropical creatures:
https://www.completecompendium.com/table/

Squealer, 10HD. I think it can be count as animal as they have social life, and nothing too magical about them... https://www.completecompendium.com/appendix/squealer/

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The spell description specifies normal animals and their giant varieties, meaning things that do or have existed in real life. This means no Aurumvorax, no Manscorpion, no 5-armed boar-faced primate looking thing with a long tail ('squealer').

Smilodons (sabre tooth tiger) and dinosaurs are fine so long as the variant exists. The natives have names for these things, but getting the informarion requires having some way to communicate (magic) and ofc their willingness to talk.

Determining HD of a creature will be difficult without direct exposure to one or a very detailed account.

"Tanga, Juher, Artven. I'd like to summon for our service a powerful animal. One that live here and can easily face eight of your village greatest warriors. Can you think of such creatures? Descripe them to me, their size, appearance, nutrition, if they are mammal or reptiles and so on. The creature will accompany us to the labyrinth, so it should fit to move in narrows cavern, climb ladders and so on." Ke'Sha demands, then while waiting for their answers, contemplates on his own encounters in the jungle on the weeks he passed traveling to Lena's camp.

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(OOC:

Each of the company members met creatures on their way to the cave entrance, right? We went through these jungles for a time. Also the people in the camp probably talked about creatures they have to face...
Also can't Ke'Sha communicate with the ju-jus/wight and interrogate them?

Anyway Dacentrurus (10HD) seems not too large (15' length, about two heads above man height) but I don't see it climb ladders except by being cast on 'reduce' and put it in a pocket.
Kentrosaurus (11HD)
Styracosaurus (10HD)
Smilodon (7HD+2)
Ant Lion, Giant (8HD)
Rhinoceros (giant beetle) (12HD)
Slug, Giant (12HD)

in 5th ed there is giant ape which is ~12HD as far as I understand their system.

So if there is a variant for giant ape that would be great, otherwise I guess Ke'Sha will try to check with "the village people" ( ) or his memory of the journey for giant beetle, giant slug, Kentrosaurus / Dacentrurus / Styracosaurus and Drommacus / Allakhian / Jug will reduce them on climbs. Is it OK?)

[ooc]Love the detailed descriptions. I am running into a little pickle with the undead. The juju zombie descriptions imply they have some memories from life and the rationality to be strategic etc. But if their minds are basically the same but subservient, then they don't speak common and can't understand him. If they do magically understand Ke'Sha's language and follow his orders then I'm not convinced they would be able to remember their lives... you see the pickle?[/ooc]

The varrangoin takes out a small pearlescent crystal cut at irregular angles and wrapped in an intricate cage of black wire. With one dark claw he cuts the flesh of each of the tribesfolk, drawing the barest amount of blood. Raking his nail across the stone the liquid, seemingly black in the moonlight, is absorbed as the crystal glows with an eerie crimson light.

Ke'Sha's ritual complete, the guard and the younger woman rise smoothly; still svelte and lithe as they were in life. Their skin has taken on a greyish cast, but otherwise they appear none the worse for wear an exactly as they did in life.

Those in camp will notice these three. They look exactly as they did in life, and the paladin will be quite upset, among others. What is your plan for concealing them? Allikhain asks in an offhand manner.

=
just for my own record keeping:
Ke Sha casts
Assume Undead Form (turning into a Spectre)
Animate Dead (to create the juju zombies from his drained victims)
Create undead minion (creating a Wight from the old woman)

Ke'Sha looks curiously at Drommacus eyes as he draws the people blood. "So... their soul is now bounded to this stone, with only such small amount of their blood. How interesting. How is it used?" he thinks to himself, but then pressured by time, he turns to his rituals.

After raising his minions, somewhat distracted he answers Allakhain, "I thought to say I found them this way." he grins. "Or that they are friends who came to help rescue Sorril. But if you think it will cause too much trouble I'll just skip camp and enter the labyrinth with them, rest and pray to the Lord until you all come. Lena won't miss me much."

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(OOC:
Ke'Sha casted assume undead form twice. Once draco-lich the second spectre. Animate dead and Create undead minion. That's right.

About the language / memory: 2nd ed. sources say they have spark on Int and awareness of their condition. Other sources (5e, pathfinder) say they maintain memories and abilities. So I rather think they retain at least some of their former lives and that the control gives them a mental link or by the divine power of the lord of the undead they can understand each other bridging language differences. I don't see why such divine ability will disturb their memory. It is said in the 2nd ed description they follow complex instructions...

2nd ed wrote: They understand full-sentence instructions with conditions, and use simple tactics and strategies.

So they understand them I guess. There is no specific request to know their language as specified in many other spells.
In any case, if divine power won't do, maybe Drommacus/Allakhain can have comprehend languages...

Also, in the previous post I suggested other means of knowing possible creatures in the area and listed them. Of course, it would be better coming from the natives and will also be more interesting role playing.

just a reminder, the plan is to summon animal to create another monster zombie and then summon undead... then sleep and back to the labyrinth.
)

BishGada wrote: Sun Jun 15, 2025 3:25 pmBut if you think it will cause too much trouble I'll just skip camp and enter the labyrinth with them, rest and pray to the Lord until you all come. Lena won't miss me much."[/b]

Just wanted to post a reminder that, as we learned during the Fire Elemental episode, there is no access to the Labyrinth except through the camp.

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Lord Torath is correct, the camp is built around the entrance. They could disguise or make them invisible in some way. Even if they understood your sentences, you wouldn't understand their language responses. But as for knowing a little about creatures from prior discussions, what creature are you specifically going for? Remember, anything that cannot climb on it's own will need some alternative way to get into the labyrinth

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(OOC: I previously made a list:

BishGada wrote: Anyway Dacentrurus (10HD) seems not too large (15' length, about two heads above man height) but I don't see it climb ladders except by being cast on 'reduce' and put it in a pocket.
Kentrosaurus (11HD)
Styracosaurus (10HD)
Smilodon (7HD+2)
Ant Lion, Giant (8HD)
Rhinoceros (giant beetle) (12HD)
Slug, Giant (12HD)

in 5th ed there is giant ape which is ~12HD as far as I understand their system

If there is a version of a giant ape, it would be best. In any case, if the creatures won't be able to climb ladders, Ke'Sha will ask Jag to reduce them and then he can carry them in a bag. Maybe it would be good to bring several scrolls of reduce with us.

Oh no... there is a bug in the plan. I read the spell description once again and it should be a humanoid 7+ feet... And an animal as it is.
So it leaves mainly apes, and bears I guess, and I doubt there are polar bears (8HD+8) in the jungle, and I was aiming to 10+ HD preferably 12HD. Are giants considered animals? What did they plan when they invented this spell anyway summoning 1d4 16HD animals? Whales?

So if there are Huge Apes in this jungle or special human-similar legendary animals specific for this area (adventure) (such as huge bears), or if giants without magical or special abilities or very weird looks can be considered animals, (There are a several candidates: apparently there is a jungle giant with 11HD, hill giant (12HD), mountain giant (15HHD), Crag giant (16HD), Ogre giant (14HD) and fog giants) these are the candidates. (other giants/ettins/cyclopes I'd assume are monster without a doubt. Apparently there are Rom which are undead giants...).

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Ah, yeah the Animate Dead Monster requirements...

The area in the valley is pretty small so it probably can't accomodate too many huge predators. There are carnivorous apes though (5 HD) that ADM specifically calls out. There may be some bears as well. Polar bears would exist outside the valley in the arctic areas, but that's a level of derailment I don't think we should go down for the sake of the game

Ke'Sha recalls meeting dinosaurs and huge insects, but no bipedal animals worth the blessing of his lord comes to mind. Also interrogating the native ex-humans is a dead end as they give only confused description of what Ke'Sha manages to grasp as either more dinosaurs or elephants...
"Hmmm... Thanks for trying. May your effort be acknowledged by our lord, but such creatures will not help our cause."
Somewhat frustrated Ke'Sha tells Allakhain, "Unfortunately it seems there are no animals I can summon that will be good material for raising as zombies. I'm going for the last part of the force recruiting, and try to summon a great undead. Beware and be ready."

Ke'Sha, once again, prepares a circle for the ritual of summing a powerful undead. He marks the circle in the sand and scribe glyphs and runes around it. He sets his six minions near the glyphs representing the more powerful beings. Then he walks slowly from one symbol to another, stops near each one of them, saying a different incantation, fills the glyph with drops of his own blood, calls names long forgotten of powerful undead creatures that used to walk the earth, feared by all, dominating continents and brining havoc on civilizations. Rokhorau the king-lich of ages ago, who could control the minds of thousands people forming a relentless army doing his bidding. Uchtanth, the female giant mummy, who was known to bring epidemic and starvation, in hundreds miles radius where ever she stepped. Goorath, who drained all live from a full continent, turning it to a land of ash and shadows. Tokg-Dah, the great wyrm dracolich who fought and won against Reamar, the God of rivers, spring and waterfalls.
Once visiting all the glyphs, Ke'Sha goes to the center of the circle, continuing calling more and more names, his voice gradually increase in volume and a low faint echo comes in waves from the surrounding. He holds up his symbol. closes his eyes and manifests in his mind the image of the Lord of the Undead. Kneeling in servitude in front of the Lord he asks, "Oh great one, please send to me a lieutenant of your endless army, to guide the minions I created to glorify your name. May they all contribute to your power and add more beings to your lines."
He continues in his plead until recognizing his wish granted.

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(OOC: Yeah, I also want to conclude this and join the group in the Labyrinth. If you rule there are no giant apes (9HD+) or hill giants at al. then I guess we can skip it.
Also if Allakhain can teleport the "village people" to the labyrinth, that would also help avoiding confrontation with Lena. And apparently Ke'Sha can turn paladins )