Still off-balance from throwing her daggers, Mihara fails to anticipate the wave, and is all but knocked off her feet, visibly in great pain from the impact.
"Anyone know what that symbol is supposed to be? Should I go for it again, like that rune on Redemption?"
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Ayreth's voice takes on that odd 'two voices' quality as she yells, The second voice is quite guttural and masculine like before and it seems really enraged.
Very uncharacteristically, Ayreth rushes the creature, striking at it with her claws ineffectively as her wild blows bounce off the armor or miss entirely.
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Taken by surprise like everyone else (well, except Azri, that took the attack without even flinching), Selena is injured by the wave of cold.
She turns for a moment, confused, at her sister talking with a strange voice, before attempting to grapple the undead.
"Uh, guys? Maybe we should try doing something about that symbol! Break the bone it's on? Erasing it with soap?"
At Ayreth's explanation, Mihara draws her swords and scowls. "Foul blight! In Daikitsu's golden name, I strike at you!"
Mihara dashes forth at blinding speed, surging out of the shadows from near the ceiling, close to the skeleton, flanking with Nigrum.
With a final clack the monster collapsed to the ground, the symbol on it's chest flaring with an unholy light before it stopped glowing, leaving blackened bone seared in it's place.
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Azri glanced around a few times, then whistled as she looked away and jabbed the body a few more times with her Symbol of Authority, just to be on the safe side. She knew better than anyone that undead could look totally dead until they animated again, and had exactly no intention of allowing it to make a surprise attack.
Also, how was she whistling when she didn't breathe? The answer, as always, was FM.
Appraise the spear: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Appraise the knives: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
Appraise the lockbox itself: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27Taking 20 to open the lockbox. Total 31
"-or not." Selena adds when the undead collapses down into an heap of bones, and Azri pokes it a couple of times.
"Ayreth, are you alright? You talked a little funny back th-Achoo!" the half-succubus sneezes, shivering a bit. "Ah, I'm freezing. Let's get a last look at this place and then go check how to fix the water."
The spear does not appear to be magical, but it is unusually carved with a longer than usual blade made of strange bronze.
The two knifes you recognize as Cinqueda, an unusual style of wide knife. Known as five-fingers thanks to the width of the blade at the hilt, these examples are longer than usual, almost as long as your short swords, and heavier. The pair have been enchanted, although you are unusure how.
The lockbox is simple steel, well made but not especially valuable. Inside is a collection of amethyst and silver in a mystic theme jewellery, although it's difficult to value.
Mihara hands the knives and lockbox to Ayreth and Azri.
"Any magic auras? There's something about those knives, but I wouldn't know where to start."
Azri carefully scanned the knives for magical auras - Detect Magic was useful that way - after Mihara passed them over.
...And a moment later, she shrugged. "Heck if I know." she said. "Can't read a bloody thing off of 'em." Maybe they'd been throwing too much power around down here...? Sigh. Oh well.
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Ayreth finds herself standing over the un-reanimated corpse. She shakes her head, trying to re-orient herself before answering Selena's unfinished question. "Oh, uh, that's just Thark. Remember when I said 'I opened myself up to the other side once and there are... consequences'? Well, he's the consequence. I'm fine, though, thanks for checking. We should drag this...," she kicks the corpse lightly, "...out of here."
She will check the ground out of which it rose before leaving as well as check the knives Mihara asked about.
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Selena nods at Ayreth's response, before effortlessly picking up the skeleton and hauling it over her shoulder.
"Yep, let's get out. Should we ask aunt Elie where the cemetery is? I want to get working on the water pump as soon as possible, too, but it seems a little irrespectful to bury this guy in the plaza or something like that."
Aibek nodded to Selena's comment, "Let's head out. We could ask Elie, take care of them and tell Azerna she has her inn back, then get to work on the water pump..."
As you once again exit the Thirsty Dryad, Elie raises an eyebrow at the remains of the skeleton you are currently carrying. "New friend?"
"I'd call him a freeloader. We need to find this one a place to sleep, if you know what I mean."
Mihara seems to cringe as she takes a step, and clutches her right side.
"Ayreth, would you happen to have any of that healing magic ready? I... could use a little right now."
Nigrum rubs the back of his neck.
"I thought Selena needed a new practice dummy."
Elie glanced at Nigrum. "A second joke in one day? You seem to be really getting comfortable here."
The Half-Orc glanced at the remains of the warrior. "We have a graveyard on the outskirts of the other island, near the temple. There's a large one on another island, but for obvious reasons we don't tend to use it." She nodded at Mihara. "We can head once you've done all the healing you need."
"...How big of a graveyard are we talking about on the other island, exactly?" Azri asked, sounding perhaps a bit too interested in that kind of detail. But hey, she felt comfortable around the dead. She did move towards the door, though, clearly ready to leave as soon as the others were ready.
"I've only seen the place from a distance," Elie replied, giving Azri a slightly odd look, "But it takes up about a third of the northern most island, and apparently goes pretty deep underground. The Pharasmans put up some fairly major mystical mojo to keep anything from getting back up and walking around, though, so we haven't had an issues from there." Elie considered this for a moment. "Which is sorta ironic, really."
"Please forgive my ignorance," Mihara pipes up, "But who, or what are these Pharasmans you speak of? I fear the name is unfamilliar to me."
Elie paused, apparently thinking. "Did I get the name wrong? Are they Pharasmosians? Well, however you say it, they're the priests and such that worship Pharasma, goddess of death, the next life and apparently prophecy, although I've been told the prophecy part is broken. She's known as the Lady of Graves, and her teachings are that undead are not a good thing since it stops souls passing to the Boneyard. So any graveyards she controls tend to have some magical affect that stops the dead getting up again."
Note to Self: Never go into the big graveyard.
"The Mother of Souls." Azri piped up, using another epithet for one of the goddesses she was most keen on avoiding the attention of. I mean, she hadn't tried to become an undead, and the Arbiter was reputed to be extraordinarily fair and probably wouldn't hold it against her as long as she didn't start raising undead of her own, but... well... best to be careful, you know?
"Ah, no, the name was likely right. I am merely unfamilliar with the deities of this land. I hail from Tian Xia's coasts; where different deities are worshiped entirely. It is good to know that a deity watches upon the dead." Mihara nods.
Aibek nodded towards Azri, "Mother of Souls is her most common name in Tian Xia though her temples are more common in some places than others just like here. My mother enjoyed discussing with the few who came in my clan's lands for births and deaths and such the idea of the form we died in affecting our afterlife. My mother has far more options than most in that regard as a master witch of transformation but..." Aibek said, shaking head slightly then to bring whirling thoughts and rambling mouth back on track...
"Sounds like the graveyard near the temple is closer which means we can get put him to rest sooner though the one with stronger Pharasman magic might be a better place for him...what do you think?" Aibek said, glancing towards Selena who, after all, was likely to be the one to continue to carry him to wherever they want.
"Is there anything else we need for a proper burial here? In my clan we plant a tree or bury near large ones for certain families, but I guess something different is done here... Aibek asked Ellie, rambling thoughts while looking at the dry ground...
"Under a tree, huh?" Elie glanced at Aibek, waiting to see if the speech continued, but once it was obvious nothing else was coming she added, "I'd like that myself, I think. If we had more trees. There are a fair few acacias around the place. But no, we don't have any specific rituals. Maybe check the body, see if he worships a particular God?"
Aibek nodded to Elie, flickering emotions crossing the witchwolf's small dark eyes awkwardly before being blinked away, and turning towards Selena, Aibek just quietly asking, "I guess we should get going. Where would you prefer?" with the mindset that as she was carrying him she should get final say...
Selena ponders for a moment, weighing the options.
"I say we bring him to the Pharasman graveyard." the half-fiend replies, patting the body "Our friend here has been walking around for far too much. Let's make sure we were the last his body hurt."
I wanted to fix the pump thing as soon as possible...but making sure that this guy doesn't stand up again and starts roaming around is safer for the people that live-will live here.
Elie glanced at the skeleton again. "That actually makes a lot of sense. I can show you where it is, but it's in a pretty deserted area. Might be rough going."
"I'd be kind of worried if the cemetery was too popular." Azri observed. "And I won't go in myself, but I think we can convince any problems to... stop being so troublesome." She smiled thinly, rather looking forward to such an event. She was a naturally orderly sort of person, and the idea of getting everything into smooth, running order made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Or maybe that was just her body parts squishing around. That was also a possibility.
"I'll scout overhead once we approach the graveyard, just in case something is lurking in ambush. If the graveyard hasn't been used in a while, who knows what might be waiting."
You travel north, past the main towers and across another of the bridges. At some point this one has collapsed, although whether from erosion or war can no longer easily be discovered, and much less impressive wooden structure erected to cover the missing span.
The most northern island is a husk of what once was. Markets, streets and homes are mostly burnt out ruins or simply piles of rubble. In a better watered part of the the continent plantlife would have reclaimed much of the island. Still, acacia trees and various shrubs grow in strange places. One especially magnificent tree rises from the remains of a fountain, the statuary on it long since crushed beneath it's roots.
Soon you see a high wall, with a pair of heavy brass gates mounted in them. Beyond you see the graveyard. Ironically it seems much more alive and whole that the other part of the island, with only mininimal damage to the various tombs and crypts. On the northern point a small church, the spiral iconography of Pharasma boldly proclaiming it's allegiance, sits watch over the area.
"Aaaaaaaand this is where I stop." Azri said. "I might cast some hexes inside, but... uh... I kind of have this thing about going into graveyards..." Specifically, if a deity was watching over it, she had exactly no desire whatsoever to go inside. It was a lich thing. "How about I go scout out the pipe area instead and see if I can get a bit more information about what's blocking it?"
"Ah, here we are!" Selena says as she looks at the gates. "Let's get in, find a shovel, and dig a nice grave for our skeletal friend.". Having said that, the half-succubus moves to open the brass gates.
The Gates prove a minor challenge to open, age having corroded them partiall shut. Still, they're no real challenge for the powerful Selena, and are quickly forced open with an ear piercing shriek of tormented metal desperately in need of grease.
If Azri's heart had still been beating, it would have fluttered happily at that lovely, er, awful noise. Stop looking at her like that - atmosphere was a wonderful thing. It helped people come to easily understand what was going on, but as much as she would've enjoyed checking out the gates, she made no move to go closer to the graveyard.
"Sounds of lost graveyard,
Dead bodies lay mute, silent,
The gate shrieks for oil," Mihara improvises as she recovers from the painful aural assault.
"Shall we?" she asks, hovering ahead of the party and keeping a watchful eye for would-be foes.
Aibek shuddered at the noise, gritting teeth, before quietly walking into the graveyard. The witchwolf's small dark eyes moved over the shadows as they looked through the grounds before softly and solemnly asking, "Where would be best to rest him?" with swirling thoughts considering the rules and space for the corpse in an old graveyard that Aibek wasn't sure how full it was...
"I'm pretty sure I can sneak past most troubles." she said confidently. "And I don't like standing around doing nothing while the rest of you are working." Which probably explained at least some of why she tended to spend her nights doing paperwork - sleeping was not a thing for her. "Worst-case scenario, I'll just reappear in a few days. I'm not planning to go too far - just enough to take stock of the terrain and maybe pinpoint trouble spots."
"I think at least one of us should go with Azri. There is strength and safety in numbers, and two people should be only slightly less stealthy than one. I am volunteering to go with Azri, unless someone else would like to. I doubt I would would be of much use in digging a grave." Mihara offers.
Selena cringes at the awful noise "Ugh, looks like it's been some time since someone got here."
As she searches around the graveyard with Aibek for a shovel and a nice spot to bury Mr. Skelly, Selena overhears Azri and Mihara. "Foxy, Az, you sure you want to go? We'll be done here in ten minutes, tops: it doesn't look that long to me!".
The half-succubus pauses, then turns again to look at her fluffy-tailed friend and her recently-acquired undead family member "If you actually find something, how will we find you, then? A-and it could be dangerous: gods know what could be blocking those pumps. Giant oozes, other angry ghosts, dragons, murderous fluffy tail fetishists, evil elementals made out of holy water..." the half-fiend asks apprehensively.
Uh, I really hope they don't get into trouble...Eh, I've never been worried this much for someone else: I feel like my guts are all twisted just thinking about what will pop out of those water tubes.
Waiting for Mihara and Azri's response, Selena smiles to herself: a smile much more calm and warm than the group had seen since Zhen's dead a week ago.
It's...kind of nice to have someone to worry about this much.
It takes only a few moments to find a complex of mausoleums that were never quite finished, none of which are currently occupied. The graveyard is only partially full, it seems, with no one area over filled. The symbol of Pharasma and the sense of peace and serenity suggests the resting places have already been blessed and sanctified.
As soon as she finds a free spot, Selena carefully puts there the body of the once-cursed swordsman.
"Anyone want to say something? I really don't know what you are supposed to say as a prayer when you bury someone."
"Fine, I guess we can wait..." Azri muttered, acquiescing to Selena's request. She didn't really know how long people normally spent in graveyards, and while she didn't get bored easily, these types of resting places were just... kind of uncomfortable for her. It probably would be best to wait if they were only going to be a few minutes, and the lich girl quietly began to watch the area and make sure no troubles approached.
Mihara thinks for a moment, mentally composing a few verses.
"At last, here you rest,
May your soul find peace beyond,
Your work is done, friend," Mihara recites solemnly.