Valen wanted nothing more than to put this city behind him. He could feel something brewing on the near horizon. A more opportunistic follower may seize the chance to have an army of undead to conquer a city, but his mission was much more humble. Still, if seeking Jaiko kept spirits from rampaging across the lands, Valen was in favor of it.

(Let's go see the bumbling Necro! Starting to wish I had played one of my more alignment-flexible characters lol)

The night is silent but for the splash of the oars and the beat of Aio's wings as she leads you through the sunken streets. Alerted now to what lies below, you occasionally glimpse movement in the windows of the drowned dwellings you pass. Haunted, empty, dead eyes follow the boat's progress, necks turning stiffly as they mark your passage above them. 

After about ten minutes of travelling which leaves Valen and Haseren slightly out of breath from their work at the oars, you catch your first glimpse of the glowing brazier described by Aio. The remains of two buildings stand near each other, the other dwellings and shops around them having crumbled to beneath the waterline. The wooden western wall of the eastermost building has collapsed, or been collapsed, westward, forming a wide bridge of wood to the westernmost building about two meters above the waterline. 

A brazier glowing a strange green fire burns on this platform, just before a hut visibly built from scavenged materials from adjacent buildings. The platform is too high to be reached from the boat, even by Haseren at full stretch, but the frayed ends of a rope ladder can be seen pulled up on the platform. The supporting buildings, while barricaded and impassible directly, also have enough protrusions and bumps that they could be climbed by someone with determination. 

As the boat approaches to within sixty feet of the platform, you can see ahead of you strange shimmer in the water. The shimmer forms a line which runs around the entire structure, an oval circumference for the two buildings and the platform between them. 

Erdan looks over the scene. 

"Dahme'dre, my dear, I don't suppose you could bring that rope ladder down?"

"Absolutely" Dahme'dre reaches out, yet at the length of her arm the hand emerges and continues. She grasps the rope and pulls it down.

"Haseren would you lead the way?" She'll follow him up once he reaches the platform. She steadies the bottom of the dangling ladder as he climbs.

Aio landed at the top of the platform and waited for the others to ascend, looking around for any sort of trouble or magic as she did.

Perception: 19

(OOC: And was suddenly overcome with blindness. Man, that's a brutal roll.)

((PSA: Haseren hasn't been active since the 26th of April. I'm going to give him one more day to appear and then I'll start reaching to replacements. ))

(( Update: I've reached out to a replacement to test their interest. If they say yes, we'll add them in. If Haseren comes back after that, we can play with a party of 6 for a while.

In the meantime, if anyone has any questions about the world, their character, future plans etc. Feel free to ask. I'll answer anything that wouldn't be a massive spoiler. ))

(( Ok, and we're back. New player sorted, will join us at an opportune moment in the story. ))

Dahme'dre, you reach out with your arcane fingers and seize the room, causing it to tumble downward. The rope ladder unspools rapidly, falling within easy reaching distance should the boat approach. 

Aio, you land lightly on the edge of the platform, flapping your wings several times to steady yourself. Looking around, you are able to survey your surroundings. The platform is littered with crates and barrels, primarily salvage and flotsam picked up from within the Flooded District. Boxes, some empty and some still sealed block line of sight or simply passage, depending on their height. 

Looking around, you see that the shimmer on the water just before the boat extends all the way around the platform. Gazed at from a certain angle, it appears to extend above and below the water too, a shimmering haze as if of an ephemeral  soap bubble. The haze rises up and then bends inward, coalescing at a point above the center of the platform and then spiraling down in a largely invisible siphon directly into the green-glowing brazier. 

You see two figures by the brazier. Closest to the flames stands a thin human in a tattered black robe bedecked with a huge assortment of bones and mystical-looking accouterments. He stands, bowed in concentration and intones in a slightly nasal voice while concentrating on the fire. Two steps away, a massive female goliath looms, a sword of unimpressive craftsmanship but almost the size of her own body strapped across her back. 

As the boat approaches Dahme'dre grabs hold and climbs onto the platform with Aio, her spectral hand Steadying the dangling end of the ladder. As the party joins her she grips her staff as she hums her Guidance.

She steps onto one of the crates and calls out, but prepares to Dodge any threats. "Jackiro! Its time for this to end! May we speak?" 

Aio looked at the two curiously, her head cocked to the side. 

"Your minions have freed themselves. They are dangerous. They gave us a coin." Aio said to the necromancer in her strange, halting way of speaking. 

Does he know his creations hate him and plan to destroy the city? How could he possibly regain control over them? If he doesn't have some sort of protection or fail-safe set up, this whole city is a sitting duck.

Valen hangs back for a moment, intrigued by the glowing ring. His attention is cut off when he notices that others are already up the ladder, "And they say I'm brash. Yes, let's run into the home of a necromancer with a glowing magic circle outside."

Erdan will head up as well. 

"Jackiro I presume. We met a.... project of yours. He was not very happy. As Birdy said, he gave us this coin and wanted us to throw it at your feet." Erdan will flip the coin and catch it, not actually throwing it to him. 

"I believe you need our help to solve this problem, before the dead over run you and then the city." 

At first, it appears that Jericko doesn't register your presence. He continues staring deep into the brazier, muttering words of arcane power and undertaking jerky but unmistakably arcane motions with his fingers 

At Dahme'dre's pronouncement, he turns with a twitchy motion, gazing over his shoulder. "Who in the rattling hells are you people?" he asks in a whiny tone, his invocations stopped for a moment. 

When Aio speaks, he throws up his hands in desperation, "Thank you, Wing-Commander Obvious!" he exclaims sarcastically. "There I was utterly confused by the horde of bloated dead beating on my necrosis repelling shield, but here you are to clear things up."  

Turning back to Dahme'dre, he says, "You there, legs," he orders in a tone of voice which suggests this may be his first ever interaction with a female, "you look like you have some middling arcane talent, for a woman, get over here and lend what pathetic aid you may.." He indicates the glowing brazier with an outstretched finger. "Raidok and his zombie friends are biding their time until they can overwhelm the city, but I'm not going to give them the luxury. With enough juice, I can expand this shield over the entire district, push Raidok and his monsters out into the light while there's still few enough of them for the guard to cut to ribbons."

Erdan's comments he takes with a start. "You spoke to that monster?" he asks, incredulously. 

Dahme'dre approaches, examining his spell. (Arcana: (4)25) "I'd sooner not. You've lost control, yet you continue to raise more forces to oppose you..."

Dahme'dre disguises her disdain. This man is an opportunist who's in over his head. He claws for power and exercises no restraint; no subtlety. He's risked too much, and the whole of the city will pay his debt.

(Is it Jericko or Jackiro?)

"The man brings unholy war and slaughter against an entire city, but for what?" Valen steps forward, sword and shield ready. He can't help coming back to the goliath trying to attack.

Aio stared at the necromancer with her head cocked to the side. 

He's rude. He thinks he's the cock of the walk out here, but he's the one who started this whole mess. Why hasn't he flown the coop? Is his shield something that can't be moved? Would pushing the undead back even help? My companions don't seem inclined to help him. Maybe they know best, but helping him seems like the only way this city survives. 

"What is your plan? What of the coin given us?"  Aio responded to Jackiro.

"Yes, we spoke to it. It told us to throw this at your feet," shows the coin again " and walk away. We, on the other hand, do not want innocent blood on our hands. Can you undo whatever magic you did to raise them? That would be a quicker solution."

"Of the hundreds you've risen, Raidok keeps his will, his mind. Why is he so special that you hold him apart?" Dahme'dre asks.

Jackiro twitches his head left and right like a cornered animal under the barrage of questions and accusing glances. 

Dahme'dre, you reach out with your mystical senses and probe the ritual. Two strong sensations flood back almost immediately, inversion and repulsion. You quickly discern that Jackiro is somehow tapping into the stagnant lake of necrotic energy that is the Flooded District and using that power to fuel a gradually expanding aura antithetical to the undead. It does not strike you as anywhere near potent enough to slay a risen dead, but would be unbearable to enter or remain within. 

You also detect something strange in the fluctuations of the immense magical energies which make up the spell. An intrusion or flaw, as if something were disrupting or bleeding off the spells energy. A subtle sabotage, but one which appears to be gaining in potency and impact.  

Jackiro scoffs at you, "don't be a fool witch,  the dead are rising of their own volition now, I'm no more raising than you are." 

Valen, as you step forward sword and shield at the ready, Jackiro cowers back, slinking behind his brazier to keep it between himself and you. "You're attacking the one person who can stop this plague, you cretinous god-botherer?!" he asks incredulously. 

Aio and Erdan, as you flourish the coin, Jackiro blinks at you from behind the flames. "Coin? What coin?" he asks incredulously.

He then repeats your other question back in a reedy, mocking voice, "can't you just undo what you did to raise them" he mimics. "Oh yes, brilliant idea. Why didn't I think of that. Great thinking, really." he rolls his eyes, movements slightly frantic but still dripping with sarcasm, "I didn't call forth this power, I just channeled it a little. I can no more undo this than the aqueduct's architect can put all the water back in the lake."  

"If there is, but one person who can stop this plague, Jackiro. It isn't you. Your ritual is being sabotaged... Maybe you're right. The architects can't put the water back in the lake..." Dahme'dre turns to the party. "Maybe we should see how well the architects can keep the water in the walls. Lets take a different approach. Let's cleanse this district. We'll destroy the city wall and wash away this filth." She turns back toward Jackiro. "Should we cleanse this filth first?"