Come close, little ones. I don't feel well.
I refreshed my memory on remorhazes, and we decided we weren't quite ready to take it on yet. We did have an idea where I could try charming it, then use my conversational skills to convince it to go away, but unfortunately they only speak jotun, and while Aunold is good at learning new languages, I just don't have the knack.
So we took a short break at the enchantress's mansion. Vared made some magic things in her lab, while I decided to immerse myself in magic and see if any new spells showed up. I can create stinking clouds now. No! Why would I do that? That would be rude.
Then we headed for the port, since we'd heard there was more trouble going on there. Lord Vexil wants to build some warships, and I thought that having him sail off somewhere in a warship would be quite a good thing since it's not like you can sail a boat into the Greenwood. They were glad to see us when we got there, as apparently they had an undead problem. We agreed to try to sort it out.
Ironic, really.
We followed tracks through the tundra, until we spotted a bothy. Normally bothies are quite welcoming, but this one wasn't. I felt quite scared just going near it, and Vared wouldn't approach it at all. But we were definitely in the right place, and I could see tracks that told me the place was in regular use. So we decided to wait and see who showed up.
I turned into a tree, and the others hid in my branches until someone showed. Two men, and two large zombies. Vared and Turgut approached them. Aunold and me hung back. Oh yes, I did stop being a tree. We both flung fireballs. One of the men opened some kind of doorway and disappeared. Vared and Turget engaged with the others.
It didn't go well. We dropped a couple more fireballs, but they were still there. The man cast a spell to blind Turgut. I sent in a gremlin to help out, and the giant zombies were dealt with, but the other man disappeared. Vared started running away from the fight, and we realised that he'd been possessed.
I tried to fascinate everyone, to calm everything down until we could figure out the best thing to do. But it didn't work on Vared, and moments later I felt my mind being invaded.
He used my gremlin to attack Turgut, who could hardly fight back while both blind and attempting to restrain me, until he lay bleeding on the ground. I fought back as he tried to take control of my arms, but he was too strong for me and I could only watch as he used me to fire lightning bolts at Aunold and Vared.
It was a relief when Vared's arrows and Aunold's spells finally connected and I slipped into unconsiousness. I didn't expect to wake up again. Killing me would have driven out the phantom. But Aunold found another way.
A while ago in the Greenwood we'd found a barrow, occupied by a barrow wight who'd been tasked with a responsibility. Turgut agreed to take on that responsibility so that he could rest at last.
So Aunold killed Turgut, who rose again as a barrow wight. And his presence was enough to convince the phantom to leave.
I feel sick. This is all my fault. If I'd been just a bit stronger I could have kept him out of my head. Now I've hurt my friends and Turgut...
Thank you, Mittens. It helps.
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