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(I use KS)
A deafening sound emerges from his ghastly maw, a cry far louder than the noise of the thundering storm. The force of this unholy roar drags you to your knees and fills your head with blinding pain.
Suddenly you realise that you are not being subjected to an audio attack. The noise that fills your head is the effect of a powerful psychic assault on your senses. You call upon your advanced Discipline to erect a Mindfort to shut out the unbearable noise, and your swift response saves you from sustaining any permanent impairment to your mental faculties.
Howling with frustration that its psychic attack has helped and not harmed you, the ghoulish figure leaps towards you brandishing his black staff. In the blink of an eye, the staff transforms into a hissing serpent. It is disturbingly similar to the snake that emerged from the mouth of undead Anseng. You reach for your weapon and pull back as the serpent’s venomous fangs strike out for your throat.
Xaol the Necromancer (reconstructed undead, with Serpent Rod): COMBAT SKILL 50 ENDURANCE 50
Xaol is a powerful undead adversary. If your chosen weapon provides you with a bonus when used in a fight against an undead foe, be sure to calculate and add the bonus to your COMBAT SKILL before this battle begins.
If you possess the Kai Weapon ‘Spawnsmite’ or ‘Valiance’ you may add the bonus that you gain from its unique properties during this combat
(I lose one CS and swap over my new weapon. I get a 59 with MB, so a +9 swap. I toss a 4 and he takes double damage - 22. Then I crack a 7 and he dies from the damage. I took 2 and have 11 damage taken thus far)
Your final blow decapitates Xaol and sends his decayed head arcing away into the tempestuous waters of the Tkukoma Estuary. His crippled body drops to the deck and rapidly decays before your eyes. The necromantic spell that raised Xaol from the dead and restored his sundered body has been broken, and now the years of rot and decay that were held at bay rapidly consume his diseased corpse. His serpent rod reverts to its spherical form and lies beside the putrid remains, smoking and hissing intensely.
You have consigned the necromancer’s head forever to a watery grave, but you need to dispense with the accursed weapon he wielded. Drawing upon your Magnakai Discipline of Nexus, you focus on the smoking sphere and will it to rise up from the deck. Slowly it ascends. When it reaches chest height, you halt it in mid-air and concentrate a burst of mental energy that sends it flying over the gunwale of the ship. It hits the raging waters and explodes, showering you with foaming spray.
You are wiping the foam from your face with the back of your hand when your eye catches some movement on the quayside. The Doomgah are slowly and nervously returning to the stone pier. They are very wary but they are also very curious to discover if Xaol has been triumphant. You crouch low to avoid being spotted and shuffle your way towards the door of the wheelhouse. You resolve to get below deck and find a place to hide before the Doomgah muster enough courage to come along the pier and board the Silver Virixe. When they find the ruined remains of Xaol’s corpse, they will likely come searching for you.
Your basic Kai Discipline of Mind Over Matter deals quickly and easily with the padlock on the wheelhouse door. It snaps open and you slide back the door and enter. Swiftly, you tug the door closed behind you and use the padlock to secure it from the inside. A set of wooden steps lead down to the lower deck where you discover the crews’ quarters. There are two cabins notably larger than the others: the Captain’s cabin and the Purser’s Cabin.
(Purser)
The door to the purser’s cabin is locked, but it presents no challenge to your basic Kai Discipline of Mind Over Matter. It takes merely moments for you to unlock the door and slide it open. The purser’s wood panelled cabin is comfortably furnished with a bunk, an oak table, an ornately carved high-backed Mythenian chair, and a toa wood chest of drawers. There is a large iron safe positioned next to the oak table. Its lockplate has a keyhole but there is no sign of the key that opens the safe.
(I leave it)
A loud shriek rips through the constant rumbling of thunder and your senses tingle with apprehension. This chilling sound is neither the cry of a Kraan or a Doomgah; it is something much larger and far more sinister. You peer out through the cabin’s porthole but all you see is the stone wall of the pier rising and falling with the sway of the rough waters. As you step back from the porthole, you are hit by a sudden wave of weakness that makes you shudder and drop to your knees, gasping for breath. Again, the Eye has activated and it drains you of 4 ENDURANCE points.
(What made that cry?)
With trepidation, you climb the wooden steps that ascend to the wheelhouse. Through the rear window you see a huge winged creature perched on the end of the stone pier. It is an Imperial Zlanbeast. Astride a grand saddle embellished with Darklord icons, you see a slender man-like figure swathed in a hooded grey robe. The raised hood of the robe hides the figure’s face but at once you know who this is: Nadziran Zashor! Klüz and Xaol have both been slain by your hand, and so Zashnor has now been forced to show itself and finish the task they failed to accomplish on its behalf.
In the Nadziran’s right hand is a short staff that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Claw of Naar. The head of the staff looks like a petrified vulture’s foot. It is cast in pure Kagonite embedded with specks of a shimmering scarlet mineral. Its shaft is twisted like a length of gnarled tree root and perforated with myriad pea-sized hollows. In a moment of sudden and terrible realisation, you know that this staff is not a replica of the Claw; it is the Claw!
Zashnor detects your presence in the wheelhouse and swiftly it points the Claw of Naar at the window. The Eye starts to vibrate and move in its satchel. It becomes rapidly colder and frost forms on the satchel’s leather surface. The movements become stronger and now you are being tugged steadily closer to the window. Zashnor has unleashed a spell that is drawing the Eye inexorably towards the Claw. If you allow the two evil artefacts to be reunited, the consequences will be disastrous. The only way you can prevent this calamity is to slay the vile Nadziran.
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