"My, this seems odd! My admittedly limited understanding of agriculture would lead one to conclude that an abandoned cornfield would quickly become overgrown with weeds and bracken... Still, let's move toward what's left of the village through this field."
Bert tries his best to make a path for everyone, hoping someone keeps him on course.
Let's be cautious, and beware of foul play..
So, something attacked the children, and they came back as "ghosts". Not something the Beast could do, with all its might. Let's have a chat, while we aren't attacked yet, and confront what we know about the undead. What kind of unliving can create "ghosts"? Aside from ghosts, of course..
Let's check what weapons we have against ghosts.. Who gots holy water? Spells agaisnt incorporeal undead?
Nothing comes immediately mind as Vivian attempts to think of what types of undead create 'ghosts.'
Bert, with the help of Vivian, is able to make out where the path is through all the corn and begins to lead the group towards to the buildings. As you begin to reach the first set of structures, everyone hears a loud metallic snap as a hidden bear trap snap shuts over Tara's ankle.
Vivian grimaces as she sees Tara's bloodied ankle
OUch... sorry, I haven't seen that.
The redhead takes her tools and tries to free Tara from the bear trap, being careful not to wound her more
Tara lets out a bloodcurdling scream as the trap snares her ankle. Shaking slightly, Tara kneels down to take pressure off of her captured limb. As she prods the wound, Tara's face drains of most of its color. "It's okay, I should've been paying more attention." offering Vivian a shaky smile, the cleric clutches her calf with a sturdy grip, trying to not move as Vivian works on the trap.
I'll put some balm on your wound right after, don't worry. I'll take care of you. Or Stefan, if you prefer.
Vivian winks at Tara.
"Oh, my!"
Opening his black bag, the doctor then moves forward to assist Tara with treating the trap wound.
Vivian acts quickly to extricate Tara's leg from the bear trap, then Vivian and Dr. Von Herzog work together to bind her ankle well enough to walk on.
Moving forward, you soon come to a number of dilapidated buildings that appear to formerly serve as housing. Examining the structures, you find that some of the furniture such as tables and washboards remain, but otherwise the homes have been given over to termites and cockroaches.
The path branches from your current position, one branch leads north, the other to the west over a bridge that crosses a stream.
After studying the small village from afar, Vivian speaks
We should go north, and try to get a general view of the village, before going inside Herstag. I want everyone to be careful: maybe the trap that wounded Tara isn't the only one. It can't harm a ghost, but it surely can harm us
Bert nods and starts leading the group to the north.
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Before setting off, Sophie casts a spell to make most of the party invisible to undead.
Following Vivian's suggestion and Bert's apparent unassailable sense of direction, the party heads along the north path to get a better feel for the layout of the town. Fortunately, Vivian keeps a wary eye out for traps and spots another bear trap before another one of the group has the misfortune of stepping into it.
Traveling around 300 feet along the path, the group comes to another derelict home that appears to be completely abandoned. The path then curves hard to the south over a small bridge that crosses a stream. Making your way over the bridge, you come again to another wooden house that appears in slightly better shape the others you've seen so far.
Indeed as you near it, you hear a loud thump coming from the inside. The home has two doors, one on the west side and another on the in the north by an overgrown garden. All the windows are boarded up.
You also notice that the house sits on a crossroad with with one unexplored path leading north, another west, and a third to the southwest.
[ooc]I'll take the time to disarm any bear trap I spot, Take 10, total 22 DD[ooc]
What ?? Maybe there's an animal trapped in there... Or something more dangerous.
Vivian puts her ear to the door, trying to discern what kind of creature might be inside.
Vivian carefully disables the bear trap on the path to assure it won't be a problem in the future.
Once at the house on the crossroads, Vivian listens well at the door but currently hears nothing at all inside.
Amaria proceeds through the unlocked door to find a rather large darken room with a table, a few stools, and a cold fireplace. To the north stands a closed wooded door. Bits of trash and clothing can be found scattered about, most of it showing signs of being chewed on by vermin. By the layer of dust on everything, it does not indicate anyone has lived here for months.
As Amaria begins to examine the room in more detail, however, another loud thump can be heard from behind the door to the north.
"Oh, my!" Stefan then casts a spell, and a glowing shield of magical force appears on his arm.
Sophie materializes a long-handled, spiked hammer into her hands. Guide my hands, great-grandmother she prays as she moves into the room beside Amaria. She continues to pray under her breath as she braces for the door to open.
Bert readies himself, realizing he will probably need to open the door and protect the lightly armored.
Vivian takes her sword, and readies herself for an upcoming fight.
She puts her hand on the door, and opens it
Amaria stands up on the table and then attempts to Detect Evil through the door, and she does identify some malevolent force in the next room.
Dr. Von Herzog and Sophie prepare for a potential fight by casting a defensive spell and summoning a spiked hammer, respectively.
Bert steels himself for the upcoming engagement.
Vivian draws her sword and opens the door.
The interior appears to be a very dark bedroom of some sort, although only a bed frame and some empty drawers remain. Floating in the center of the room, however, is a child-sized mass of shadows wreathed in black fire. "Come play with me..." It calls out in a sing-song voice as the darkness forms a pair of small claws.
Initiative (Round 1)
Vivian <= Up
Bert <= Up
Tara <= Up
Stefan [Shield Active] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Amaria <= Up
Shadow Monster
Vivian acts quickly and cast a small spell inside the room, providing light for her companions
Stefan attempts to identify the creature before taking action.
"What on earth...?"
Assuming that the thing is some sort of undead creature, Stefan casts a spell, firing a ray of brilliant energy at the thing.
Vivian does back away, if only to leave space for Amara's arrows.
Bert gulps and stands to the side of the door letting the spells and arrows fly without him being in the way.
He readies an attack.
Moving into theahome, Tara's eyebrows raise as she takes in the shadowy figure. Placing a hand on Bert's hammer, the hammer glows an eerie purple color. "Your hammer should be able to react normally now." Taking anotes audible swallow, the cleric sizes up thearly newest foe.
Vivian, Amaria, and Tara recognize the creature as a wraith. These incorporeal undead can drain their victim's constitution if they touch them. This attack also strengthens them a little. If the victim loses all of it health to the creature, it becomes a wraith itself under the control of the one that killed it. Wraiths are powerless in the sunlight, but are slightly resistant to channeled positive energy.
Both of Amaria's arrows hit the wraith, but its incorporeal form resists some of the physical weapon.
Vivian casts Light on a nearby empty bottle, tosses it into the room, and takes a 5 foot step away.
Sophie and Bert ready attacks for if and when the wraith moves into the next room to attack.
Dr. Von Herzog casts Disrupt Undead and slightly burns the undead creature.
Tara uses the gifts of Pharasma to infuse Bert's hammer with the power to injury incorporeal creatures like they were solid objects.
Instead of immediately moving to attack like some of the group had predicted, the wraith instead moves to the southeast corner of the room where it disappears from everyone's line of sight. "Not fair!" It snarls with childish indignation.
Initiative (Round 2)
Vivian <= Up
Bert [Ghost Touch on Hammer] <= Up
Tara <= Up
Stefan [Shield Active] <= Up
Sophie <= Up
Amaria [Smite against Wraith is active] <= Up
Wraith
Bert thanks Tara for her assistance and then steps into the room and faces the wraith. Using his hammer's reach, he swings at it.
Tara moves farther into the small house and begins to pray to her goddess. As she chants, a feeling of hope overcomes her allies.
Vivian follows the unearthly creature, and tries to put an end to its misery
-Posted with Wayfinder
Stefan steps into the room to get a better look at where the wraith may be. Seeing it in the corner, he casts a spell. Two bolts of shimmering magical energy fly from his hand into the spectral creature.
Amaria fires another smiting arrow at the wraith, while Bert bashes it with his Ghost Touched hammer. After those strong attacks, the
shadows composing the creature's body break apart and the creature appears to be destroyed.
A search of the abandoned home yields nothing of significant interest, only trash and small vermin
Stefan looks at the three paths yet to be traveled and suggests heading northwest. "Perhaps we should scout out the perimeter of this abandoned town and work our way in?"
I agree, Stefan. Is everyone fine and ready?
Bert nods and leads the party on. [ooc]Northwest right? Are we sure south is the unexplored? we came from the south, no?[/occ]
Bert leads the group back to the path and heads northwest in order to get a broader picture of the village borders. As you move along, everyone begins to notice the area around the path has become boggy. Indeed, it might be incredibly easy to get stuck in the mire around you were you to leave the main path. Around two hundred feet away, you come to another collection of empty buildings, but this time they do not appear to be occupied by aggressive spirits.
Finding nothing of interest there, the group continues to follow the outer path. Before you reach the next clearing, the eagle eyed Vivian spies another bear trap and easily disarms it.
Two hundred feet to the west later, the group comes across another cluster of homes. As you investigate the area, you quickly notice that around one of the smaller homes the temperature seems to drop several degrees as if it were some sort of cold spot. It only has one locked door and one window which has been nailed shut.
Shiveringn the redhead stays alert
That's odd. Do you feel that cold too? Doesn't seem natural to me. And that house is strange..
The door is locked. I wonder why. In fact, I'm even more wondering why the other doors weren't locked. People didn't cared for their belongings? Who might have lived here?
Vivian circles around the small house, checking for anything unusual before trying to pick the lock