Shadi clutches her holy symbol and channels. The rest of the ghouls turn to ash.

Garril's wounds heal a little, but he does not move.

No more ghouls come through the broken seal. The sound of flowing water fills the room.

Over to Garril. Is he still bleeding? The channel should have stabilized him, but you don't just assume, that's how you get pointless deaths.

Garril is not bleeding. His eyes are open but they don't move.

Oh good. That would just be the ghoul touch, then. (It seems it has been too long since she was reminded of the frailty of humans.)

"Looks like he's paralyzed, give him a few seconds and we'll see if I'm right. This seems like the source of whatever is you were looking for, then? Are we continuing on, or is that enough to report back so they can make a new plan?"

He leans down to the river and fills a vial with water. "This is the source of the rumored undead. We still don't have a direct cause for the otyugh problems, but we can come back later for that. The broken seal will make a good report."

After around half a minute, Garril's paralysis wears off. He stands up. "Those things are quite dangerous... and they just kept coming!"

"We're lucky it wasn't more. Sometimes they travel in packs of ten or twelve."

"That would be quite a threat. The light was your Burst of Radiance? It was impressively effective, I thought long-distance spells that hit multiple targets like that couldn't both hurt and blind at second circle."

She follows on the way back, keeping her eyes as well as the shadow's sense out for reefclaws or anything of the sort. She's been somewhat useless here, and she's almost looking forward to landing a solid Color Spray if they come. Still better that they get out safely, though, and her senses were consistently helpful.

"Burst of radiance only harms evil creatures. Undead are evil, so I often prepare it."

Ah. The judgy sort of spell. Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise, with a Pharasmin cleric.

Navarro leads them through the sewers back the way they came. The water ripples with creatures, but none are hostile, and most don't notice them. They climb up the ladder in the cylindrical room and up the second ladder out onto the street. The Shingles hang above them. It's a little later in the day, perhaps mid-afternoon.

They walk across the bridge out of Old Korvosa, though North Point and down to south Midland. Citadel Volshyenek looms above them as they enter. Navarro leads them back into the planning room.

Squad two has already returned. They were attacked by beasts too, but no undead. They were unable to discover anything conclusive about the otyugh problem.

Navarro faces them at the table. "Good work, everyone! I would like to make another expedition down tomorrow, if that works with you two." He looks at Shadi and Tencednil. "We did not manage to cover the entirety of our search area today."

"Tomorrow works for me. What was that seal intended to cover?" If he didn't want her asking around the other team, he should have told her not to before now.

"A particularly dangerous section of the lower Vaults. The tunnels supposedly lead all the way into the Darklands. Lots of horrible beasts and monsters live down there."

"Will a further expedition enter the lower vaults? If so, I may need to search for additional gear." She turns to Shadi. "If you have any suggestions for counter-undead methods, I would welcome them. As you saw, my current spells are not ideal."

"I hope not! Ideally, we go back down, speak with more of the otyugh, and cover the rest of search area to narrow down the problem. Then the guard will send a larger force to repair the seal. Or just hire a wizard to do it, if we can afford to not risk a construction crew down there."

"My advice to a wizard would be 'prepare different spells'... but you're a sorcerer. Sorry."

"Indeed. It has its downsides. Tomorrow, then."

She spends her day actually spending some of the remaining ring money. A silken under-layer for her spidersilk robes will be slightly uncomfortable, but this one comes with some well-placed metal reinforcements. Not enough to make casting harder, they say, but it can catch a few blows which would have struck true without it. Some rope harvested from the webs at home, another few bags of marbles... Tomorrow, she should be better-prepared than she was today. Except for her spells. Those will be just as useless next time ghouls come up.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
FIREDAY, SARENITH 5th, 4708

IS CRIME ON THE RISE IN SOUTH SHORE?

The weather continues to be pleasant. Summer has arrived! Old Korvosa is restless, and the Guard increases street patrol density in Bridgefront. The Bank of Abadar continues the search for their missing clerics. House Grey's scandal finishes settling down. The Acadamae holds its graduation ceremony. Seventy-one of the hundred students in this cohort lived to become journeymen wizards; a few more than is typical.

The newspapers on this day were different in Tencednil's first vision. There's a conspicuous absence of red dragons.

When Tencednil wakes up, she has a new first circle spell! It's illusion and feels like her imagination. 

A lack of red dragons is, all things considered, just what she was hoping to see in the newspaper today.

And a new spell! Not the best time to test it, but that certainly feels like a general-purpose first-circle illusion, and that means Silent Image! Which can actually help against the undead! That makes this plan far less suicidal.

She's somewhat bouncier on her feet as she goes down to the guard station today. No reason to hide it.

The receptionist at Citadel Volshyenek recognizes Tencednil from yesterday. He leads her back into the planning room.

Navarro and Garril are at the table, talking quietly as they peer over some maps. Shadi has not yet arrived.