04.3 The Grove part 2

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The Unicorn Corpse
 
Written this 2nd Day of Dilak, 211 F.A. by Barrigan Stonebeak: War-Priest of Clangeddin Silverbeard
Once again, the recorder has been waylaid by some calamity—he’s tired or perhaps has a tummy ache, I don’t know nor care—but I am once again recording the truth of the adventures of our unit.  How can I do worse than a Half-elf?
22 Watenay, 211 F.A.
We had to trek underwater to find the entrance to the Ki sanctuary (again with the water?  will it never end?).  The skeletons we encountered (mentioned briefly by the Half-elf wuss) acted as if they were hasted, but faster---perhaps doubly hasted would be accurate.  Either way, they were no match for the Mace of Disruption I wielded channeling the power of the Silverbeard through it to instantly disrupt several of the skeletons.  The Half-elf was cut off and separated as he mentions, so of course he was afeared for his fragile little self…….
We then encountered a group of black skeletons, almost shiny in our light.  As we fought them, we realized they seemed to be formed of some type of incredibly sharp glass—like black volcanic glass.  The wounds they inflicted bled for a very long time.  However the worst was yet to come.  When we slew the creatures, they exploded into shards of shattered glass, wounding all who were near and causing extreme bleeding.  We were hard pressed to slay them—not from their attacks or toughness, but from our own prowess at killing them!  For every slain enemy, we were further decimated.  Eventually we triumphed with the blessing of Clangeddin’s Twin Axes.  
Later, we were set upon by wights wreathed in flames.  Fortunately we were well-protected both from fires and from the level-draining effects of the wights.  We made fairly quick work of these foul undead.  
The last area we entered was a shrine of some sort with a book setting upon a pedestal.  Before the pedestal with her back to us was a female priestess-type.  Carinne and Galvish quietly warn that she too is spectral in nature.  As she turns to greet us, we are horrified to realize she is an undead female elf—a banshee, capable of killing by her scream alone.  We remember the words of the ghosts in the temple and do not attack.  We tell her we are here to remove the corruption and cleanse the grove.  She tells us that the corruption is caused by the corpse of a Unicorn buried below the altar in the grove and that if we remove it we can cleanse the grove and receive her blessing.  If we fail, she will slay us all.  
We return to the underwater grove (….water….grumble, grumble…….wussy Elves…..stupid water….) and locate the altar.  The mages use combined levitation spells to lift the altar stone and we indeed find the rotting corpse of a Unicorn beneath it.  We remove the corpse and properly cremate it in the woods above the grove.
 We are uneasy as we feel the beginning of an earth tremor.  The small rise the altar was located upon rises from the water, finally resting in the air, with the water forming a moat around it.  The water now flows clean and clear from the grove.  Most of the undead are released from their corrupt un-life and journey to their beyond.  
 We clean up the remaining minor undead, bury the Elven bodies we find, and cleanse such corruption as we can find.  The goddess of the grove is pleased with us.  She allows us to take the Holy Book of Ki as requested by the Druid Shearincal.  She also grants us a boon in the form of a one point increase to any attribute.  After returning to Skullport, we return any treasure that belongs to Elven temples or families and give the book to the rebels to return to the Druid.  
 We may have helped the Elves and the tree-hugger goddess, but at least we got to kill a bunch of undead!