Sorry for my own silence, folks.  I'm at the beach this week. 

No breath held.  I'd love for someone to take him over, but I get that it's a long way into a game.

Who to trust?  I mean, they DID save the party - you guys are dead without that intervention.  But why did they save the party, that's a fair question.  A third question might be does it really matter?

They could have killed the alleged priest, tried to avoid the horde, came back when they heard the sounds of battle.  Or maybe it's an elaborate trap!  Or maybe something else is going on! 

Are they chasing the undead, are the undead chasing them?  I like the way you think!  Just because you're paranoid does not, in fact, mean that they aren't out to get you. 

Cheese whiz.  Now they are using natural disasters as excuses for not posting.  Players, amirite??? 

I do have a big family, that helps.  And I did pick up multiple bonuses this month due to redeeming a lot of offers.

I have posted here before about Ibotta, an app that gives you cash back on groceries and such.  Would you believe that I have saved $121 in August alone?  To date - going back to March of this year - I've done $331.66, and have cashed out $300 of it to my bank account.

I mentioned before that there are other apps and such out there; while none of them hold a candle to Ibotta (in my book, anyway), there are several that are useful and do add up.  If you put back, say, $20-$40 per month, leave it in an account, and withdraw it once it's enough to feel... isn't that worth taking a few seconds to scan your receipts or whatnot?

At any rate, I did a full writeup on the subject, covering eight different cash back apps.  I hope that it's helpful to you!

Mages require an uninterrupted eight hours of rest to restore their spells, so Midge will be down a bit unless you guys give him extra time.  Clerics need to be well enough rested to still cast, but their spells are granted prayers - not just arcane skill, so they will be able to regain their spells as long as they continue to pray and worship as their religions dictate.  Both Therassor and Solanis grant spells to their clerics at dawn, so they should be fine. 

Agreed re: Midge.  I think that he will go down as one of the biggest disappointments in a group I have DMed, at least in terms of what he COULD have been verus what he actually HAS been.

I did a small update here.  Was really hoping for a Blackthorn post.

Some housekeeping:

You can assume that you will recover your gear with a little searching (it is dark, after all).  That falcatta is going to take some effort to pull from the tree, but it is doable. 

If the plan is for the priests to burn all of thier healing, you can assume that no one is worse off than moderately wounded... I'll make an official update to this soonish.  You may all be no worse than lightly wounded.  Of course, you're also basically out of divine magic, too.

As much as it pains me to do so, I am removing KDXart from the game.  It just doesn't appear to be happening.  Cest la vie. 

Davena chuckles at the suggestion that the party was concerned for her well being.  "Thank you for your care, Brother Moreno, but Garn and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves."

At the mention of the other victim, she nods.  "I assume that you are speaking of the priest of D'hurgen?  The one leading this horde of the living dead?  We slew him ourselves in the hopes of dispersing this lot.  As for your equipment and rest - I would suggest that you see to your gear, then let us find a defensible spot to heal and recover your magics.  Agreed?"

Davena makes no reply to the quip about her smallclothes, though in better light, you might have sworn that a smile touched the corners of her mouth.  "Truly," she speaks, "Garn and I are happy to see you all still alive."  Truth be told, Garn's expression suggests that he could not care less either way, but in your lmited experience, the man has always been either stoic or angry; he may possess no other actual emotions.

She does pause.  "Wait... did you not travel with another young man?  A thurmaturge of some stripe, was he not?"

"Aye," Midge answers huskily.  "Young Atharis was killed by one of the giggling bastards back in Crandel."

Davena nods slowly.  "I see.  I am... sorry for your loss.  The death of a companion is a difficult thing."

She glances sideways at Garn, who frowns, before she continues.  "Garn and I are looking to find the source of this evil.  We have heard that a shrine to the death god may be hidden in a cave system nearby.  We plan to explore there on the morrow.  If it is well defended, we might may find greater favor in numbers.  Would you be inclined to investigate with us?"

So I do need to post. 

Alacrity is only the greatest DM I have ever known. 

We will have to convert this stuff to actual Audalis pages.  Most everything here has been discussed in depth, and can absolutely be considered canon.

Ibotta tho.  I'm at >>>$96.72<<< right now.  I cahsed out a hundred bucks at the beginning of this freaking MONTH.

I've cashed out $200 this year in part time use... gotten serious of late, about to cash out ANOTHER hundred. 

I expected Eol to be super slow to post, seeing as how he's out of town.  I expected a little more reaction all around.

Then again, Brom did mention being buried, himself.

KDXart - are you in or are you out?  Please check my PM.

Sily, silly, silly.

Where the heck **IS** everybody?  Things were rolling along, several other games seemed to be updating regularly, as did my own. 

We just hit a majorly anticipated spot in the story in Hidden Corruption, and I don't think all of the players have even READ it.  My threads I posted to yesterday are still int he top five. 

Hello?  **taps mic**  Is this thing on?

Too much dilly dallying.  Post coming!

No worries.  I'm sure that I shared it at some point, but that was umpteen Q&A pages ago, and I haven't stuck things to the front page of the Q&A like I do for Trek.

I do not reveal exact hit points lost or current hit point totals, since there is no realistic way to look at something and say "that's a 3 HP wound". 

Instead, I use the following approximate scale.  Note that again, this is not an exact thing. Know that characters with more total HP have larger categories - for instance, a warrior with 26 HP can take a 12 HP blow and still be fully in the fight, while a 10 HP mage would be down and dying, even had me been unscathed prior to that hit.  I might call that a "serious" wound on a warrior, but a "mortal" wound on the mage.  Again, exact lines are fuzzy.

Undamaged / healthy / hale and hearty
Lightly wounded
Moderately wounded
Seriously wounded
Criticaly wounded
Mortally wounded (i.e. bleeding to death)
Dead

Two week gap!  I'll get a post up for whoever is gonna play. 

I'm gonna have to do another post.  I've found a couple of other nifty ways to save some cash.

You have indeed survived.  Gib and Aranwen both lost consciousness (i.e. were reduced to negative hit points) but have been stabilized by Cedric. 

Status update for the various party members:

Health:
Ch'dau - serious wounds
Aranwen - critical wounds
Gib - critical wounds
Kithran - critical wounds
Midge - moderate wound
Cedric - moderate wounds

Magic:
Midge has four mana points remianing.

Cedric is down four 1st level spells and one bonus light spell.   AKA, he can still cast one more 1st level spells (plus a light), and three second level spells.

Gib has his full compliment of divine magic.

Take it that means you approve?

In a fair world, a just world, bards would sing songs of moments such as this.  Of moments when hope was lost, when the unfeeling, unblinking hate of true, unfettered evil would grind inexorably on... only to be opposed by those of true belief, those bound in honor and friendship and courage - no matter the odds or the price. 

But instead, this true and faithful few stood alone in the oppressive darkness, surrounded by the crush of the restless dead... and who bore witness?  Did even the eyes of the gods themselves see their struggle?  If despair clenched at their hearts, who could blame them?

Ch'dau lashed out, nearly splitting a zombie in half... but did it matter?  Even as he swung mightily, another drove into his flank, cracking a mighty rib or two from the force.

Gib lashed out wildly, the strength to even hold his shield aloft nearly gone.  As his blade glanced ineffectually off of a zombie's forearm, the priest could see the Grand Halls beyond.  It was nearly time.

Kithran sidestepped, lashed out, then was driven to the ground as the walking corpse she fought tackled her.  Pinned beneath its rotting weight, she struggled, shouted, wriggled, though her strength, too, faded rapidly...

Two of the burning zombies fell to the ground... but were replaced by others. 

Aranwen slashed, nearly removed a zombie's leg.  Sidestepped another, ripsosted beatifully, laid its flank open... then was struck from the side.  Staggered, fell to a knee as the darkness of night was replaced by pinpicks of light, then gray, then darkness...

Gib cried out, bashed with his shield, moved towards his falling comrade... then he, too, was struck a telling blow.  The last thing Moreno was aware of was the ringing in his ears...

Cedric called to his god for aid, moved to his comrades' sides, knowing that whatever aid he could administer would not be enough...

Ch'dau roared in pain and frustration and anger and fury.  He dimly recognized that his dagger was gone, but continued to lay about with falcatta and claws and fangs, trying the impossible of protecting his fallen comrades. 

Midge was forced to drop his concentration on the swam and drive a zombie back with his staff, though the cidal had no illusions of winning the fight...

Kithran struggled, feeling the life go out of her body, refusing to let it slip away, stabbing, stabbing the weight above...

As he fought wearily, Ch'dau became aware of an odd chanting sound, one unfamiliar to him.  Struggling as he was to stay alive, the Kazari was unable to pay much attention to the fact that his fur was standing on end... at least, not until the thunderclap sounded, throwing him to the ground. 

As he scrambled to his feet, Ch'dau blinked several times, trying to find his bearings, trying to eliminate the green ball in front of his retinas that had been caused by the lightning bolt striking the ground mere feet away.  A woman shouted, and a half dozen of the zombies that had not been utterly destroyed by the lightning were simply... changed... to mere ash before his eyes.  Another shout, this from a man, and a large form was crashing into the rear of the drastically reduced undead. 

As the green faded away, Ch'dau realized the man seemed familiar. 

Garn!  From the Inn!

A crystal voice rang out.  "Destroy them all!"  The woman... Davena!

With the reinforcements, the tide turned dramatically.  Through the blessings of Solanis, Cedric was able to keep Aranwen and Gib alive.  Kithran stuggled from beneath the corpse of the zombie she had slain.  Ch'dau, Garn, and Davena dispatched the few remaining undead. 

Some how, some way... the comanions had survived.

...it's been a crazy week.  Was also hoping that KDXart would post again. 

Post coming.

I shall hold my update until after your post.

Does anyone else have anything to contriute?  I figure the melee fighters are gonna melee. 

Gib is not going to cast, but fight. 

Any spell strategy for Cedric/Midge?