In loving memory of… Angelis. Some people just aren't cut out to be adventurers. Angelis was one of those people. At least he left no one behind to greave… his Mother is still probably still too wasted to notice he's gone, and as far as his Father is concerned, Angelis had been dead for years. However, in honor of his memory, let us exam his final hours…
      It was a short night tonight, but a busy one to be sure. After having spent another day and a half healing up, the party ventured back into the dungeon… to come across a room with several half-orc bodies chained up, but finding only one survivor - whom the cleric promptly healed. They comatose half-orc was transported back to the Derro bedchambers, and it was decided that Zarp should be the one to stay with the creature while he recovered.
      The party set out once more and approached yet another door. It seemed like any other door, no different than all the others which had nothing really terrible behind them… little did they know, this door was different... After listening and checking the door, Angelis, with his crossbow drawn and the party hold up behind him, booted open the door. Why he did this, no one knows… perhaps he was getting over confident in his skills, or losing patience looking for his equipment… now, however, no one will ever know.
      Inside, many very ugly, very smelly, very undead zombie baddies, were awaiting our fair band of adventurers. Finally finding something she could sink her teeth into, Jallarzi stepped up and had the zombies do an “about face”… or so the plan went. Of the six in the room, only three turned tail to run… er… shuffle.
      The three that remained were more than a handful for the party. Focusing on the ugliest of them all, and completely forgetting the rule of thumb - ugly means strong, the fight got into gear. First up was Jess, taking a stab at the “leader”… only to find that she was far outmatched by this gruesome bugger, and so she hastily retreated. Next up was the Paladin, who, after having his zombie kill taken from him by a wild shot, decided to go toe to toe with the one which sent Jess running for cover.
      Ike and Angelis ended up playing pickle in the middle with the third atheist undead, with Angelis scoring the deathblow from behind. That left just one who hadn't been intimidated by the cleric, so Ike decided to go over and “help” the Paladin… or so he claims… we all know he just didn't want that holy kiss-up getting ahead in the kill score!
      Seems that wasn't in the cards tonight though, because Cap'n Badass managed to take out both Jallarzi and Ike, as well as send the Old Man skittering for cover after failing to succumb to several of his disrupt rays! The tooth-tongued über-zombie even managed to land a bite on Drakheim, effectively making him a decorative paperweight, before turning to chase Angelis round the room.
      This is where Angelis made his fatal mistake. As best we can tell (this is exactly why... I should know, I play him!), Angelis had the idea in his head that fire would somehow instantly put the zombies out of commission. Keeping one-step ahead of the ugly tongued one, he managed to get a torch off the wall. Figuring it would be easier to try this on a target, which wasn't currently considering him for a meal, he approached the ones still huddling in the corner.
      The Old Man tried to warn him, even managed to kill the one on his tail with an excellent shot from the crossbow, but to no avail. Angelis lit up one of the undead, effectively breaking the clerical turning, and now turning them all on him. Combined, the three zombies plus the fire managed to make short work of Angelis. The Paladin seemed to come-to from his paralyzed state, but moments too late… as he was unable to save Angelis, but only deliver the final blows to the remaining undead that did not fall from the fire.
      With the passing of Angelis, the party suffers its first major loss. Every group of adventurers has that one defining moment, when they realize that this is not a game, but that lives are at stake. If Angelis's death can help to prevent others from experiencing the same fate, then he would have been happy to give it.

      Author's Note - Brett (The Dungeon Master) and Dave (Angelis) spoke afterwards regarding the night's events. It seems that in the Third Edition rules the turning is only broken if the cleric responsible for the turning attacks them. This means that Angelis would have technically been able to set fire to them without much difficulty. For this reason, Brett decided to allow Angelis to return, if Dave so desired. Dave declined, saying, “This is a learning campaign, allowing us to get familiar with the game system and its dynamics. If we are going to eventually make a character that we will be playing for years to come, before making that commitment I would like to learn other character classes. For that reason I think we will leave Angelis in his grave, for now… but don't be surprised if we see him in a future campaign!” So there you have it. There was a misunderstanding, but it was resolved. Please do not write the DM and tell him of his error, it has been noted and efforts were made to rectify the situation. Thank you.
      DM's Note – After this incident a discussion with the gaming group was held over this particular 3E rule. We agreed unanimously that any attack against a turned undead should break the turning. This has since been added to our House Rules.

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