The area we encountered the 'little amazons' was a craggy valley filled with a three ancient tombs. At my insistence, we did some tomb raiding while clearing the minor threats along the way.
Scouting revealed that the first tomb housed a ghoul. It wasn't ideal to encounter a ghoul in close quarters. So it was better for someone to run in, run out and keep running from the lumbering foe while the rest pelted it with ranged fire. The coffin in this tomb had 81 gold in it.
Near the entrance to the next tomb, we heard someone screaming for help. Wild dogs were chasing after a man who was running towards us. As he ran past us, Khalid and Jaheira moved in to engage while the rest provided volley fire.
After a short skirmish with the dogs, we checked back with the man. His name turned out to be Hentold.
"Are you okay?" Imoen asked, checking Hentold for bites.
I examined Hentold's gear. Pickaxe, shovel, rope, thief's tools. Looks like he was a grave robber. Not that we had any right to tell him off, ha.
"No, no I'm not!" Hentold declared. The danger was past but he was still in a state of panic. "My death is replaying in my mind! I canna concentrate, my mind is... my mind... I didn't mean it! I'll give it back! You!"
Hentold drew out a dagger suddenly. All of us stepped back, drew our weapons.
Hentold flipped the dagger around, holding it by its blade and handed it to Khalid by its handle. "You can take it to him! Here! Give it back!"
"Uhhhh, to who, exactly?"
Hentold explained fearfully that he had opened a nearby grave. The creature which slumbered there haunts his mind, his sleep.
As Hentold left us, Khalid handed me the dagger, but gestured for Imoen to take a look instead.
"Not cursed, since everyone is handling it without a problem," she said. She gave it a few experimental swings. "Definitely magical. Powerful, I'd say."
I frowned. I actually remember this encounter. Unfortunately, we were running out of appropriate spells for it. I should have gotten everyone to rest right after fighting Mulahey so we'd be back to full spell slots. I asked the rest, "Do most undead usually demand their belongings back?"
"Normally they just go 'uhhhhh, braiiiins'. Not 'giiiiiive it baaaaack'," Neera said, mimicking raised zombie arms.
"Vampires, revenants, mummies, any of the advanced undead retain signs of intelligence," Jaheira said.
"If it's a lich, vampire, mummy or anything else that's too advanced, we give it back and retreat," I said. "Ghoul, ghast, revenant, anything weaker, we grant the poor soul its deserved eternal rest. Everyone fine with that?"
The party begrudgingly accepted my terms. Imoen in particular peered at me with suspicious eyes.
I knew what it was, of course. When I reported back with the results of my scouting, no one seemed too surprised we were facing a revenant.
A revenant was a very hard hitter which could also take hits like a champion. Beating it didn't require any special tactics, though some brute force tactics would help. Ideally I would want to Doom and Blind it, but at our current levels, I figured we could simply tank its damage and kill it before it killed one of us.
For an undead creature, revenants were surprisingly well-preserved. Although the tell-tale signs of pale and inhumanly shrunken indicated its undead state clearly, it was otherwise perfectly preserved like a vampire. When we entered the tomb, it walked forward with hands reaching towards us. "Dagger! You have the dagger. Give to ME!-"
"Fear not, noble soul! We have come to relieve you from accursed undeath!" I proclaimed quickly and loudly.
Our tactics here were very simple. Khalid and Jaheira led the charge. The rest supported with ranged fire.
The revenant's inhuman eyes flashed with malicious intent. "You will not give dagger. Then you DIE."
The undead creature did not so much as bother avoiding our attacks as its fists clobbered Khalid's small shield+1, knocking him back. The first real sign of trouble was when Jaheira's club bounced of the revenant's head harmelessly.
Ohhhh, right. It's immune to non-magical weapons. Hey, I can't remember everything! Pity Jaheira didn't have any more casts of Shillelagh after the fights with the gray oozes.
The second sign of trouble was when our magical ammunition barely hurt the thing.
Oh, I forgot it's very resistant to missile weapons too! "Switch to melee magical weapons!" I gave the order.
Meanwhile, Khalid was being pounded right through his magical shield. So we had to switch him out with Jaheira as main tank. Then when she was taking too much of a pounding from the revenant, I had to face tank the thing myself.
"I know, this'll help!" Neera said, and began casting a spell on Khalid.
That must be Strength! A good choice under our current situation, we need the extra firepower!
Except the spell whizzled into bright lights and did… absolutely nothing?
"I'm really really really sorry!"
I was tearing up. I had to keep fighting, swing my Quarterstaff+1 as well as I could, but I couldn't keep the tears from flowing. Damn it, Neera!!!
The revenant went down, but not before leaving me, Khalid and Kaheira bloody and blue. My face ached, my stomach ached, my right arm hurt. Khalid and Jaheira were about the same.
Health is a resource, I consoled myself. We may not be playing Magic: the Gathering, but the principle was the same. By not using our health as a resource, we were wasting resources we could be.
I sighed to myself. I didn't really believe my own reasoning.
Well, it was true that we haven't been getting injured thus far, so we're not used to this kind of beating. I wasn't anyway.
At least the tomb had nice potions. A Potion of Invisibility and a Potion of Freedom (immunity to various movement disabling effects and paralysis).
As we sat around, catching our breath after the pitched battle, Imoen said, "Eh, hold on. Revenants return to their eternal rest when they get what they want. Couldn't we have just returned the dagger to it?"
Khalid and Jaheira's mouths fell wide open. Mine did as well.
"Didn't you learn about them in your studies with Gorion?" Imoen asked further.
"I, uh, forgot," I admitted. "Actually, I forgot a lot of things about revenants. Urgh… not being properly prepared is so extremely painful."
I hung my head low. "Sorry everyone."
Khalid and Jaheira shared a look. Then Jaheira spoke, "Actually, this is the norm for adventuring. Brute forcing our way through challenges and getting equal measure in return."
Khalid and even Branwen nodded in agreement.
"In most war parties, a priest's major role would be in curing wounds," Branwen explained. "Shedding blood in battle is even considered an honor before Tempus."
"Really? Cos if that's the case, normal adventuring and battle sucks," Neera said. "I'm not even the one getting beaten up and I can feel your pain from here."
"I tend to agree. Tempus's honor aside, I shall endeavor to lead this war party to less pyrrhic victories," I said, to the agreement of all except Branwen. "I hope the pragmatic approach to reaching our goals does not displease Tempus too much."
Branwen snorted and turned away, leaving the tomb. I guess that was our cue to move on. One tomb to go.
I was, in fact, lying through my teeth. I was telling the truth that I had forgotten about the traits of the revenant. It was a pretty forgettable enemy. But I knew very well that giving the dagger would solve the encounter. I just didn't want to lose the sweet dagger +2 and 3k experience from beating the revenant.
We need the money and experience! I'm just not stupid enough to admit it to everyone at that moment. I was lucky they bought it, otherwise I'd get lynched!
Don't judge me, every gamer would do the same!
Urgh, being greedy hurts so much…
Before we reached the final tomb, we came upon a mage named Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen who was conducting some experiments out on the field.
"I believe I have developed a spell to empathically control any gelatinous creature and bend it to your will," he explained. "Slimes, jellies, oozes, all of these things that foul the cook's cellar and the adventurer's dungeon can now blah-blah-blah-blah-"
"I'm sorry, what's your name again?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen."
"Narcissistic Harbringer Weener?"
"No, repeat after me. Nar-cill-ih-cuss."
"Nar cill ih cuss."
"Then Har-will-ih-ger"
"Then har will ih ger."
"Then Neen."
"Then Neen."
"Put it altogether and that's?"
"Narcillicuss Thenharwilliger Theneen."
The mage peered at me. "… you're mocking me, aren't you?"
"Just kidding," I smiled back at him. "It sounds like a really fantastic spell. Great for adventurers, right? Care to share?"
"…"
One very angry mage and his two mustard jellies later, Jaheira caught me by the shoulders from behind, hard. "Remind me to do the talking next time. I think we've had enough of you courting death all the time."
"Okay, that's fair," I squeaked out.
Among other things, the mage had a scroll of Lightning Bolt which was reserved for Neera to scribe later.
Tactics? Eh, Narcissistic Harbringer Weener is a powerful level 7 mage, but is held back by the fact that his opening defensive spell (Improved Invisibility) is a slow and he has only 22hp. He tends to die before anything else happens. As for the mustard jellies, they're vulnerable to enchanted crushing or slashing weapons and are considered ranged so take penalties in melee. Whack 'em with enchanted melee weapons (not piercing). That's it.
I carefully pre-scouted the third and final tomb, then reported back to the rest. "Three ghasts in close quarters."
Khalid and Jaheira grimaced.
"Okay, ghasts are, like, advanced ghouls, right? Paralysing AND disease touch? In an enclosed area to boot," Neera conferred with us. "We've talked about why that's bad to engage in melee. But it looks like we don't have a choice. What do we do now?"
"We fight dirty, of course," I said, smiling.
Branwen was frowning, but kept her peace.
Three ghasts stood over three coffins in the tomb in the wall. They often went hunting outside, but there was little to hunt out here in the valley. The lack of food kept them in a persistent state of hunger. They couldn't die of hunger, only yearn, crave for living flesh.
Like the living flesh that wandered right into their tomb.
"Uh… hello?" the living flesh said hesitantly.
The ghasts salivated so much that it was practically pouring out their mouths.
"Eeeeeeeek!" screamed the flesh thing as it ran out the tomb, three ghasts trailing after it, following it outside. Night had fallen, but it made no difference to ghasts.
"Get clear! Come on," a voice outside in the distance shouted. "Aaaand… alright, go-ahead Neera! Don't wild surge this one!"
"It's never on purpose, okay?" another flesh thing said.
As the ghasts emerged from the tomb, they could see there was a whole group of flesh things outside. Food! Glorious food!
The ghasts charged forward in delirious hunger! Only, they couldn't move forward. Their feet were stuck in webbing, like that of a giant spider.
Next came pain, in the form of arrows and bullets. And then came peace.
The eternal hunger finally ended.
Dangerous melee combatants in an enclosed area? Lure them to fight outside in an open area and fight at range. Easy-peasy. Why fight on the enemy's terms?
The tombs guarded by the ghasts had a set of Chain Mail +1, five +2 arrows, a Potion of Frost Giant Strength (sets Strength to 21), a Wand of Monster Summoning (one of the best wands in the game!), and some jewelry. Score!