Cool! 

Yes you're right. He is actually a bit older, 24 or so, but it seems I've made Cedric a few years younger.

Olan, would it be ok to turn him into an 18 or at most a 20 year old instead? It would seem to suit the new Cedric better. 

As the discussion went on between Davina and Cedric’s companions, the young cleric lay on the ground with his eyes shut and tried to summon some strength from within to be able to get up and participate. This wasn’t the first time he’d drained himself by channeling so much of the power of Solanis through his mortal form that his physique simply couldn’t take any more. Not the first time as such, but certainly the first time in a situation that was so wearing also mentally. The lack of sleep, the fear for the lives of his friends and to a certain extent his own as well as the incomprehensible hideousness of the ghouls and the zombies also added up to the level of exhaustion the young cleric felt. It really was overpowering to him.

Next time he would hopefully be better prepared and well-rested. Next time he would know what to expect. Next time… Cedric really hoped there would not be a next time quite like this one. Having seen what had been done to the woodsman’s wife and almost to Kith as well had hurt the priest deeply inside. He was a deeply empathetic person and the joys and the sorrows of others touched him much more than the next man. Cedric couldn’t even begin to understand what it must have felt like for either of the women, but he suffered with their suffering.

Since Aranwen was their appointed leader and the cleric certainly didn’t wish to take any role in the conversation, he kept his eyes shut and just concentrated on his breathing and listening in. Hearing a shrine for D’hurgen mentioned, Cedric listened more closely than before. It was not a surprise to him. From his studies, Cedric had learned that the craziest of followers always seemed to follow the most evil of the Gods. But the tomes and the teachings of his teachers had never spoken anything about something as terrible as what they had witnessed in the last few days. Although the young priest’s yearning for knowledge on the matters divine and undead was great, the libraries he had had access to had only had so much to share. Some of Cedric’s friends and fellow students of the Light had considered the focus of his studies strange and even dangerous,but the boy had pushed such thoughts away from his own mind. He had always been certain of his goals. Despite of his empathy, Cedric had a fairly black and white view of the World. In his mind D’hurgen, the God of Death was the original and main source of evil in the World and Solanis, though having other Gods helping him, was the sole source of light pushing back the veil of darkness that was trying to devour all that was good.

So as he lay on the ground and gathered the will and the strength to push himself up, Cedric’s thoughts wandered from one end of the spectrum to the other. He was extremely happy of the survival of their group and very, very grateful to Davina and Garn for the timely rescue. But on the other hand the timing did make the young man wonder… Why hadn’t the duo interfered before, if they were aware of the follower of D’hurgen and his little army of undead? Why hadn’t they simply destroyed the evil beings earlier? The cleric rolled the thoughts around in his head for a while and shrugged. He was pretty sure there was a very good reason for it all, so why bother worrying. They all had Davina’s lightning and Garn’s heavy weapon arm to thank for their lives. Whatever the reasons for the delay, it didn’t matter to Cerdic.

As Kithran pointed her question to Davina, Cerdic forced his eyes open and observed the woman’s reaction and answer. He had never heard or read of anything like what they’d seen during and was anxious to learn more. If the strange duo knew more, Cedric wanted to hear everything they had do say.

A note to Olan:

Rolled nwp checks for Knowledge: Religion and Knowledge: Undead about D'hurgen and the habits of his followers. Both failed miserably despite of Cedric's high Wisdom.   18 and 20 respectively.

Been busy at work too, will try to find the time to post today. 

I'm sure you meant to say Solanis, friend Gib.

Thanks! 

Nooooo!!! I'm terribly sorry! Seems like I accidentally hit edit instead of reply and destroyed your post, breebles.   

Never happened to me before and now it happened again. Didn't even realise I could edit other people's posts, although as a Mod, of course I can.

I'm really sorry.

It was useless. They were all going to die and they knew it. But at least they would die fighting… fighting for a better world, for a world with less evil in it. Each walking dead they managed to cut down was an accomplishment it itself. Each zombie destroyed was one threat less for all of the innocent people across the land. So Cedric allowed a smile on his face as he cried out to the Radiant Father and the God responded with another wave of his immeasurable power. He would be walking the Morning Halls soon with pride in the direction he had chosen for his life some time ago.

As the healing power of Solanis flowed into the furred body of Ch’day, Cedric turned his gaze at the rest of his companions. Kith had already fallen down under a zombie corpse, Gib took another blow to the side, Midge was futilely trying to stave off three of the shambles and… Before he had time to check out the rest, a decaying hand with rotten nails struck the priest hard in the back. Falling to his knees, he blindly swung behind him with his oaken staff. The desperate attack gave the cleric enough time to push himself to his feet before the next strike threw Cedric’s trustworthy weapon off his hand.

Despite of his resolution to do his Lord’s bidding and die destroying the monsters, a feeling of panic had began to take hold of the former farm boy’s soul. Death itself did not scare him, but the thought of being eaten alive by these abominations really shook him to the core. Calling out to the Radiant Father, Cedric felt the warmth of the connection right away. The panic subsided even if only for a few heartbeats as he took a few steps back and prepared another healing spell. Before the zombie managed to reach him and send him on his way to the Blazing Star, he heard a familiar roar, though noticeably weaker now, as Ch’day powerful clawed hands ripped the thing’s head off. No time to thank his saviour, Cedric reached out to heal the fallen Bladesinger. But it was not to happen. Two of the shamblers standing over Gib’s immobile form turned to Cedric instead and immediately he knew this was it. His time had come. With no weapon to drive off their attacks and too weak to summon more of Solanis’ miraculous power, the priest fell on his knees and raised his eyes to the black sky. 

His feeling of pride was gone, replaced by another of inadequacy. The Radiant Father had never lost his faith on Cedric. The almighty God had stood beside him all the way, trusting his faithful servant to do his part. Even when all was lost, Cedric could still feel the power of Solanis inside him urging him to turn the magical force into spells of healing. But the young man couldn’t find any strength inside him anymore. He was too weak; spent. He had failed the Radiant Father. The Omnipotent Lord should not have wasted his attention and energy to one as worthless as Cedric who had foolishly considered himself strong enough to stop the waves of undead with the borrowed power. 

As Cedric closed his eyes and waited for the final blow to come, he began to hear chanting. In his weakened condition, the cleric first thought the chanter was himself. He thought he had still somehow found the strength inside of him to pray for another spell. But as he forced his heavy eyelids open again, Cedric realised the sound came from somewhere else. And that was when the lightning struck down from the heavens!

Blinking… rubbing his eyes… trying to shake off the ringing in his ears… Cedric’s breathing was nearly as fast as the beating of his heart. Blinded by the flash, he couldn’t see what was going around him. Is this what it’s like? Is this what the entrance to the Morning Hall looks like? Then his hearing started to return gradually even if his eyesight did not. There was some shouting, some moaning and groaning going on around him.

“Destroy them all!”

A female voice… Cedric blinked again and gave his eyes another rub. He wasn’t dead! Maybe his companions were still alive too. On all fours Cedric made his way to where he remembered seeing Gib fall. Little by little the blind spot in his eyes got smaller and smaller and in the light of his fallen staff he could see his fellow priest’s unconscious face half a feet away. He could not hear any shambling of feet or see any flailing arms aimed at his head, but Cedric didn’t dare to risk a look around right now. He took a couple of deep breaths and concentrated on pouring out the healing power from his last prayer still locked inside his body into Gibs still form.

“You have kept me from the hunt”, Ch’dau’s familiar voice said to someone and continued: “But I thank you for your aid… and the lives of my friends.” The Kazari was talking almost casually instead of roaring his challenges to the zombies… When Gib began to stir, Cedric let out a sigh of relief. Squeezing the warrior-priest’s shoulder softly, he allowed himself to take a careful, but wondering look around…

“The zombies are gone.”, the young man stated to mostly himself as if saying it out aloud would make the scene more real and prevent the illusion from fading away and the horde of undead returning. “They’re really gone.” It wasn’t completely true of course as there were still a great number of the twice-killed corpses spread around the forest floor in varying conditions. Some had lost limbs, others had gaping holes where their hearts should’ve been. One or two were even missing their heads. A great number of the zombies had apparently been turned in to ash by some powerful magic. In all its grisliness the sight of destroyed undead monsters and the forms of terribly wounded heroes in the magical light was strangely beautiful in Cedric’s eyes. And especially beautiful was the figure of a woman they had briefly met at the inn a little while ago. “Davina…”

Putting two and two together, the young cleric’s mind managed figure out what the blinding flash had been: A bolt of lighting! He had read of such spells during his studies. Stories spoke of magicians so powerful that they could draw lightning down to help them in battle from the skies and of magical wands that could throw similar bolts across battlefields killing scores of enemies at once. Was Davina one of those legendary sorcerers?

And there was Gam too!

But Cedric didn’t have time to thank the cavalry just yet. Aranwen still needed his help. Pushing himself, the priest felt terribly weak. He knew he had lost some blood himself even if his wounds weren’t quite as bad as those of his friends. Yet every step hurt hist back like hell and there was throbbing headache making its way deep into his brain. Cedric forced his mind to concentrate on the Bladesinger. He staggered to the sylvari’s side and repeated the prayer to Solanis he had said so many times already during the night. The priest’s relief was immense as the Radiant Father responded one last time.

Having done all he could, Cedric fell on the forest floor drained. He didn’t smell the ozone or the burned, rotten flesh. He only stared at the dark sky and smiled.

Posted I have

The balls of flame had far less effect on the undead than what Cedric had hoped for. Yes, one or two did actually catch fire and would hopefully eventually burn to the ground, but the priest had no wish or time to observe what happened to the walking corpses. Concentrating on the spell and willing the next flame to appear on his palm, he noticed Aranwen taking a heavy blow. The sylvari was still on her feet, but another hit might be the end of her. Losing one of their number now would doubtlessly spell the end of them of them all.

Cursing under his breath, Cedric closed his burning hand quickly to extinquish the flames. Dodging an attack by one of the zombies, the farm-boy rushed to the Bladesinger's side. He knew it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, so he did his best to stay behind the warriors trying to avoid being hit.

His companions hadn't known him for very long, but being brave in the face of a danger and especially in such dire straits had not always come naturally to Cedric. A couple of years or even less ago, the young man would simply have run had he been attacked by such monstrous enemies. But now, during the travels he'd shared with these fine people, the cleric had found his calling in destroying the evil abominations of the Devourer and protecting the innocent even when his own life was at stake. This realization or epiphany allowed Cedric to be calm when in all reason he should have been freaking out. As he prayed, his voice was even and controlled, but the words came out fast, very fast.

"Oh all-mighty Radiant Father, hear your child in this hour of great need. Shine your love for all the living through your faithful servant and heal the wounds of this warrior of light! Help us banish these beings of evil from this world!"

Yes! Healing our glorious leader must be first priority although Cedric has two more flame balls left. They seem pretty useless though.

Been terribly busy, but should be able to post tomorrow. 

Can't wait! 

Why you little...! Geesh! I'm still gasping for air in here. You really got me there for a moment. 

Thanks! Forgot to fix them myself. 

Zombies… So many zombies. Radiant Father save us… Was all Cedric could think of while getting up from the forest floor after Ch’dau had so very quickly and yet so very gently picked up the still body of Kith from beside him. The terrible, malformed faces of the raised corpses glared at the young priest and his companions hungrily from the darkness. The light of his staff made those dead eyes flicker with undead unholiness in a way that made Cedric shiver inside. Even though his faith in Solanis was strong and he did not fear death the way he knew some of his villagers did, the thought of being eaten by these shambling monsters really put the cleric’s sanity to the test.

Raising the holy symbol of his Lord, Cedric suddenly felt stronger as if the power of the Sun itself had coursed through his veins and he cried: “Flee before the POWER of the BLAZING STAR unholy beings of death! Return to the graves you have crawled from!” Such was the strength of his faith and the miracle of the Lord, that the priest was not surprised in the least to see a number of the zombies wince as if in pain before turning around to “run” away. His joy was short-lived though as for every walking dead gone, another appeared. There were just too many.

Retreating really felt like a smart option, although deep in his heart Cedric wanted to stand and fight until each and every one of the monsters was dead… again. So when their wise sylvari leader ruled over Gib’s plea of running away, the simple village boy grinned. It was not out of joy and certainly not schadenfreude over Gib’s suggestion being turned down, quite on the contrary. Despite of his own initial thoughts, Cedric really did consider retreat the better option… or at least would have if all of them had been able to run. But the combination of poor eye-sight in the dark, difficult terrain and the ghoul-induced paralysis really made escaping quickly quite difficult. No. The grin was a side-effect of his resolution. Cedric would take down as many undead as he could and Radiant Father willing he and his friends would live to see another day. If not, then not. He just had to make sure not to fall too soon. It just wouldn’t be fair.

The grin was wiped away by another hit by another decayed zombie fist. These ones were far slower than the gigglers. So slow in fact, that it should’ve been easy to avoid their strikes. But the sheer number of the monstrosities made dodging quite impossible. At this pace, Cedric the light-bearer wouldn’t make his God proud. He needed to think of something and fast. Blocking another swing with the quarterstaff, the began to pray once again…

“Ch’dau, to the front!”

Aranwen’s order came out very military-like in Cedric’s mind. Yes, they had indeed chosen the right person to lead their little party. There was no hesitation in the voice, not even though the bladesinger surely knew she was sending the Kazari to his death; to his path on the Eternal Hunt. The next command was to the cleric himself and Midge as well. Still chanting, Cedric nodded to the sylvari and blocked another attack waiting…

… for the roar he had learned to expect in dire straits. 

“To the Hunt!”

There it was. Not waiting for Ch’dau to appear, Cedric took a few steps back and called out loud his prayer to Solanis: 

“Of Father of Light and Day! 

Show us your power again, 

give me a kindle of your flame, a kiss of the Sun. 

Let the blaze of your star burn away the evil and turn these unholy monsters to ash!”

Once again the priest felt the blessing of the Radiant Father run through his body like a wave of heat and he opened his extended left fist to allow the God’s power to turn into a bright torch-like flame on his palm. The fire was as hot as it looked, but didn’t harm the priest in any way - another miracle of the God of Light. Cedric quickly picked out a dense group of zombies and cast the ball of flame in their midst. Chanting on, another flame began to form on his open palm.

Cedric will not run in the face of undead, especially not when his friends are putting their lives between him and the shamblers. If only he was a level or two higher, but alas he'll have to manage with what his lord is willing to share with him. 

You guys really should! Or Finland in general works too. I'll be there to meet you. 

Picses:

Photos

Map link:

Syvälahti

Daaemn! Haven't been able to even read the posts let alone post myself. On the way to our Summer cottage, but took a 200 mile detour just for fun. Will enjoy going through the new posts tonight sitting by the lake (you know Finland, we've got a few) with a cool beer in my hand.

Last pit stop and should be at the cottage in 20 mins. It's warm outside in here for Finland... +28C or what? 82F at 8pm. Nice. 

No matter what anybody says, Cedric thinks Ch'dau is smarter than he lets on.  It's just that his "always" is fairly short... roughly about one post long.

Yeah, so Cedric was going to cast a CLW on Kith, will there be time for that or will the kitty rip her (pun intended) off the cleric's hands before he gets to say: "Oh Solanis"?

Don't worry Blackthorn, he's just winding you up. Right Olan?.........  ....   Olan? 

 I will be very surprised if every character survives... 

So, Cedric's plan is to cast CLW on Kith and after that, Turn Undead while retreating to the camp. 

Oh and thanks guys! It feels so good to be back.