Mystery of Saromen Fro

Grabbing up an arm-length piece of firewood, recently caught on one end from the fire pit, in her archer's gloved hand Syrena draws her blade and moves to stand between the walking corpse and the tower. "Should have known you would not stay dead." She redirects to Igolio. "If not for that horrible item in the yon tower, your head would already be on a pike or burning in the flames."

Rising from the dead? This place truly is hell on earth. Xenophon sees Syrena wielding the flaming log and concurs with her plan - fire will be the fastest way to destroy the body. He leaves his friend to descend the tower and stand by Syrena's side.

"Back for more?" he taunts Igolio, looking at the hole he ripped in his rib cage. He hoists the spear that delivered his death blow above his head, while presenting his shield up front. He hopes to draw his attack to give Syrena an opening to light him up.

Gennadius is climbing down the ladder as the cry goes out, alerting to the rise of Igolio. The wooden rungs of the ladder creak under the combined weight of the man and four bags tied together and hanging off his shoulders by short lengths of rope.

He approaches the shambling Igolio, marveling at the grotesque scene. It is strange how one can be so shocked, so beguiled, that one's instinct of self preservation is abandoned. Observing a spectacle can strip common sense and place the observer in direct danger. This is what happened with Gennadius.

"By the god's left tit!" he mummers, watching intently as organs and offal pulse and ooze from the gaping wound. A weird academic analytical study holding him fascinated as Igolio approached.

To one side, Syrena shouts something and pulls a burning log from the fire. To the other, Xenophon is closing in with weapon drawn. Before him, Igolio lunges.

Suddenly struck by the unholy, life hating nature of this creature, Gennadius stumbles back a step. One pair of bags slides off and nearly trip him as he is put off balance by the weight of the remaining bags over the opposite shoulder. He catches his balance and slides the other two bags off, catching them by the loop of cord.

He steps back again to evade another lurch. Only now he spins, swimging the bags low and then following through to bring them up high with the momentum of the spin. The bags of silver crash onto the head of Igolio, sending the creature toppling to the ground.

Xenophon rounds the undead swordsman as Gennadius engages in his unorthodox style. When he topples the unholy creature to the ground, face in the dirt, he makes his move.

He closes, his spear held high. He slams his foot on the thing's shoulder blades, driving it flat. Then he brings the point of his spear down on the creature's rotting skull. The stamped metal tip cracks bone, and the blade slices through grey matter until it bursts through the back of its mouth. The metal trip grates against teeth as the spear drives into the ground, up to the hilt buried into packed earth.

With Igolio's face pinned to the ground, he kicks the thing's swords free from its grasp. He leaves the spear, still shaking in the ground, and avails himself to Igolio's shinier sword. As he regards its craftsmanship, the fire reflects red like blood along the blade.

Syrena moves in and severs clean the ruined head of the prone undead swordsman. Though, even as the gore slides down her own gleaming blade, the unnatural foe stands..headless. "Die! Die will you? You thrall of darkness!" She thrusts the flaming end of the firelog hard against the zombie's chest and it staggers again. The fire leaps covetously and spreads over the headless corpse. It thrashes about, accompanied by an obscene eerie bellow from the skewered ruined head, as if they are still connected.

Syrena takes a step back from the lick of the flames engulfing Igolio and casts a quick glance to Gundus and his holy burden.
"Finish it for good, Kyrazenus. This world is no place for the living dead."

With an effort born of zeal, Gundus and Galopan raise the Lusetem Türas to shoulder height. "Undead! Your presence is a stain upon the natural order. The soul of Igolio Crausus goes to face the judgment of divine Türas. Cease this befoulment of his remains! Be free of your torment!" He speaks like a judge pronouncing a sentence, his voice filled with deep power.

For a moment, the eyes of the Lusetem Türas seem to shine - whether lit by the dancing fire-light or the power of some sacred magic, none could later say for sure. The flames engulfing the undead abombination blaze impossibly high in answer. The creature writhes, straining futilely against Xenophon's spear. It screams a scream of inhuman horror as the kyrazenus set his will against the sorcery animating it.

"Damanandros! Aid me!" Gundus calls to the mage.

Baudecca comes out from the tent, axe in hand, to see the final fate of the animated corpse. She does not get involved in the assault, but she regroups among the ranks afterwards to hear everyone's immediate assessment at the first won moment of calm.

Most of Baudecca's questions are directed at Damanandros.

"Can you use your magic to awaken Aduorix? What can be done to lift this cursed stupor set upon her?"

Aduorix is still unconscious and unresponsive in the officers' tent. After the short time engaging, Baudecca returns to monitor her ailed companion.

The axebeak birds are small but anxious, and aggressive. They chop with their hard beaks and scratch with their rugged talons. In the end, their attacks are inconsequential, but the intermittent harassment they bring becomes an annoyance.

Mennic is especially hostile to the birds. Soon he works with Galopan to open the gate and run them out of the compound. He accepts the help of anyone in support, and dismisses any objections.

In a short time, most of the birds are gone, dispersed into the open area outside of the palisade walls and the forest beyond.

A few birds are seen here and there within the compound, skittering about and chopping one another in their little dominance bouts.

Galopan shows Gundus where the Lusetem Türas was once set and helps enthusiastically to restore the statue to its proper place upon the base stand near the tower.

The young soldier is well-satisfied once the restoration is accomplished. He stands there in admiration beside Gundus.

"Castellan Eramus said that Steadfast Türas would carry us through," he says to his priest. "It has been a dark time, but now a miracle has come, and I dare to hope for a way home."Gundus learns that Galopan was pressed into Legion service by Eramus only three short months ago. Before that, Galopan was a port guard in Amanuctum. He was assigned to a convoy that brought resupply out to Saromen Fro, one of the last full supply runs that was completed in recent months.

Tower Four was low on troops after some desertion, so the Castellan conscripted Galopan and another guard, named Tinemus Onstelus. Legionnaire Onstelus was one of the troops who went to the Vault but did not return a week ago.

Galopan's story explains why he has different armor than the normal Legionnaire issue.

Gundus also learns that Galopan has a young wife, who was pregnant when he left. If all has gone well, his child was born a little over a month ago.

Galopan's great hope and prayer now is to survive and fulfill his conscription obligation, but ultimately to return to his family and be restored to his guard post in the city. His wife is waiting for him, living there in his father’s house.

From what Gundus can discern, Spearman Larus Galopan was perhaps the only soldier at the fort who successfully resisted the corrupting powers of the Sorcery Device and the sexual advances of the whore Annuba Opelenean. Galopan never set foot in the third floor chamber of the tower to encounter the foreign witch and the devilish artifact.

Galopan explains to Gundus how he moved his residence out to the small tent near the stable ruins in an effort to avoid failure and to maintain his resolve. He fought tremendous temptations to succumb, but resisted by focusing on his work at post and by performing what sacrifices he knew to Türas and his own Ancestors.

In the long exchange with Gundus, Galopan is finally overwhelmed by emotion as he shares his burdens in confidence with his trusted mentor. The young soldier tears up briefly and must look away to maintain his composure.

Soon though, he recovers and puts his helmet back on, fastening the chin strap and resetting his own military bearing.

In the storage tent and in the third floor armory, the companions see a wide array of weapons, ammunition, and armor.

Legionnaire Spearman Larus Galopan, now the ranking soldier in command of Saromen Fro under the Imperial Legion Code of Military Orders, extends the invitation for the companions to take and make use of any of the supplies and armaments.