"Oh course, to the farmhouse."
We could just burn the place down. Fire is a burial rite, right?
"Chaia, wait. We'll try and get a better look at what we're dealing with here, first...Alastor has waited a couple decades for his burial, I'd rather not rush in and add a few bodies...because I don't know about you, but I'm almost spent from all the exciting things that happened today...", Janus attempted to distract Chaia from the tracks, while taking a look at the girls.
None of them seemed particularily stealthy, but neither did any of them seem clumsy:"We'll stay together, and move forward slowly and stealthily...ok?"
"Discretion isn't my strong suit..." Lu mumbled but made an attempt. Her armour wasn't very quiet though.
Edit: forgot about the modifier! With acp it's -2
The explorers made their way toward the ruined farmhouse. They passed the remains of a small fence and came almost to the walls before they saw the huge bulk rise inside and emit a great, hooting roar. Before them stood a bear adorned half in feathers and sporting a vicious beak!
yeah ok, no surprise
Before the beast could even move to approach them, Saeri focused her gaze on it. A moment later, a curse shot across the space between them, intended to tear down the beast's offensive ability and help protect her companions.
Janus moves a bit to the side, where he has a good view of both the windows...:"I'll try my best...but you girls best start using whatever tricks you have up your sleeves..."
Janus moves a bit to the side, where he has a good view of both the windows...: "I'll try my best...but you girls best start using whatever tricks you have up your sleeves..."
Before the beast could even move to approach them, Saeri focused her gaze on it. A moment later, a curse shot across the space between them, intended to tear down the beast's offensive ability and help protect her companions. She thought they faced an owlbear, which would be more dangerous than an ordinary bear but probably not have any magical surprises about it. She fixed her curse tightly to the creature.
The owlbear thrust itself awkwardly into what used to be a window and roared angrily as it came in reach of Janus' blade. He wounded it, then parried and struck again when its claws reached for his own flesh. Both strikes cut deep into thick hide.
Lu rushes inside the house to try and keep the owlbear stuck in the window. They really wanted that advantage! As she crossed the threshold she whispered a minor spell and her blade started to glow. Then when she swung at the weird creature her blade exploded into a blinding burst of light!
As Lu rushed forward, Saeri sent another hex hurtling towards the Owlbear. She didn't exactly have a lot of magic to spare at the moment, so rather than joining the fray - and she worried about getting close to big, well-muscled creatures - she focused her efforts on making it weaker and that much more vulnerable to being taken down.
As the owlbear beat at the window keeping it from Janus, Chaïa’s brow furrowed as she searched for a clear shot. A couple of pounding heartbeats later, she settled on magic as offering the best hope of landing a hit, and coaxed a crazy bolt of energy into existence, which promptly leapt for its target.
“Lovely! Can you get clear? We’ll try to cover you!” she called.
Trying to keep the aggressive creature in a tactically compromising position, squeezed into a Windowframe, Janus steps a bit further to the side, offering a more clear line of sight to the ladies standing back as he lunges forward to cut the creature once more.
Lu rushes inside the house to try and keep the owlbear stuck in the window. They really wanted that advantage! As she crossed the threshold she whispered a minor spell and her blade started to glow. Then when she swung at the weird creature her blade exploded into a blinding burst of light! She cut deep into the owlbear, but it seemed barely touched by her magic.
As the owlbear beat at the window keeping it from Janus, Chaïa’s brow furrowed as she searched for a clear shot. A couple of pounding heartbeats later, she settled on magic as offering the best hope of landing a hit, and coaxed a crazy bolt of energy into existence, which promptly leapt for its target. Her bolt struck home.
“Lovely! Can you get clear? We’ll try to cover you!” she called.
As Lu rushed forward, Saeri sent another hex hurtling towards the Owlbear. She didn't exactly have a lot of magic to spare at the moment, so rather than joining the fray - and she worried about getting close to big, well-muscled creatures - she focused her efforts on making it weaker and that much more vulnerable to being taken down.
Trying to keep the aggressive creature in a tactically compromising position, squeezed into a Windowframe, Janus steps a bit further to the side, offering a more clear line of sight to the ladies standing back as he lunges forward to cut the creature once more. He sliced deeply into owlbear hide.
The bear roared and struck at Lu, dazzled and cursed so badly that it struggled to connect. Only one claw found her flesh, ripping into her side.
nope
ah well
"Ugh!" Lu winced as the beast slashed her. But she couldn't afford to waste any more time being in pain - seeing those claws up close she was fairly certain the creature could do a lot worse! With a quick step to the side she repeated her last actions: a spell and a stab!
The bear looked to be staggering a bit now - and with its offense and defense worn down, it probably wouldn't be too long until it fell. Still, it wasn't over until it was over, and she sent a third hex its way to make it more vulnerable to anything else she tried to do.
Feeling her way into the local Weave, Chaïa took heart from the success of her last attempt and launched another bolt, adrenaline and magic combining in a heady rush.
Too heady, it turned out, and she could feel the web of forces shift under her intrusion to resist much more of such crude manipulation.
"Hej. Over here, Teddy! You can try your luck with the girls after we had our dance-", Janus attempted to get the creatures attention. It wasn't that he wanted it, but he was very certain he did not want the Beast focusing on Lu, either.
"Ugh!" Lu winced as the beast slashed her. But she couldn't afford to waste any more time being in pain - seeing those claws up close she was fairly certain the creature could do a lot worse! With a quick step to the side she repeated her last actions: a spell and a stab!
Feeling her way into the local Weave, Chaïa took heart from the success of her last attempt and launched another bolt, adrenaline and magic combining in a heady rush. Too heady, it turned out, and she could feel the web of forces shift under her intrusion to resist much more of such crude manipulation.
The bear looked to be staggering a bit now - and with its offense and defense worn down, it probably wouldn't be too long until it fell. Still, it wasn't over until it was over, and she sent a third hex its way to make it more vulnerable to anything else she tried to do.
"Hej. Over here, Teddy! You can try your luck with the girls after we had our dance-", Janus attempted to get the creatures attention. It wasn't that he wanted it, but he was very certain he did not want the Beast focusing on Lu, either. He struck the wounded owlbear and it collapsed.
"How badly are you hurt?" Saeri asked, moving over to Lucrecia once the violent beast had fallen. She didn't have any healing magic left, but she could at least tie up the wound or something if need be.
Lu poked the fallen beast a few times with the tip of her sword, just to be sure. And it really seemed like it didn't want to fight anymore - so that's nice.
"Ow. Mostly my pride I zink." Lu replies to Saeri and touches the side of her armour, slick with blood. OwOW! "And *ah* a bit more it seems yeah ... Nothing seems broken zough, so zat is good!"
Janus takes a moment as well to make sure the beast was well and truly dead, then looks after Lu:"You are bleeding, though...let me take a look at that...we don't want the wound to infect..."
Once Lu was sufficiently patched up to not leave a blood trail, it was time to check just what the creature might have intended to do with the dug out skeletons of Alastors family...
Chaïa hurried over to join the others, slowing as she realized, eyeing the group’s injuries, that between various beasts and elements they were all fairly well battered, to put it mildly. One of the pair of front-rank fighters was the obvious choice, but beyond that… Rather than making a unilateral decision, she offered, “I could probably crave one last spell blessing from the One and the Three without throwing myself entirely at her and their mercy. Any volunteers?”
Despite her offhand introduction, the prayer Chaïa shifted into after a decorous pause was in earnest. “Queen of Arvandor, I pray you: my companions have fought bravely, honouring mystery, defending the passage to the next world. Guardian of all, grant me the power to ease one more wound this day.”
With a nervous smile as she took comfort in sharing her magic – what little she could do – the eccentric mage took a cautious breath. “Nothing for it, then. What odds our graverobbers managed whatever they were doing here before the owlbear settled in? – Odds? Goddess, that cunning little wizard and his disreputable friends are starting to get to me!”
Janus takes a moment as well to make sure the beast was well and truly dead, then looks after Lu:"You are bleeding, though...let me take a look at that...we don't want the wound to infect..."
Once Lu was sufficiently patched up to not leave a blood trail, it was time to check just what the creature might have intended to do with the dug out skeletons of Alastors family...
Little of note appears to remain in the ruin, save for a man's arm. It bore a tattoo and looked decently gnawed upon.
"All better now zanks." Lu smiles after the administrations of Janus and Chaïa. After their brief search of the house and the surroundings Lu sits down to consider her options. "Hmph. Zat tattoo look familiar to anyone? And what zen? Do we really want to head back to ze town like this - what if we have to deal with zat face-stealing zat's wearing ze priest?"
"Hm...how old do you think that is? People get turned into skeletons pretty quickly if you don't take steps to conserve them in some way...nature cleans them up quickly. And Skeletons don't have tattoos..."
"Now, the question is if Alastor was able to pass on...despite his family missing. If we can't find more clues here, then we'll have no idea what happened to them. We could probably set up camp here, sleep for the night, then return to the tomb tomorrow morning...without the Lanterns, nobody will get there before us, anyway. And if we rest...I have some juice left, too-
[ooc]2 CLWS, to be exact, courtesy of the spells I tried to heal chaia with rolling crappy but getting invalidated by tentacle-dude showing up.
Janus watches as Chaia heals Lu...he would have wanted to do that. Absent-mindedly, he heals his own injuries, only to realize with some shock that the silent fortune teller was still wounded as well:"I'll heal you first thing in the morning!, he hastily explains.
Saeri nodded approvingly as Chaia and Janus invoked their healing spells. She was out of her own for the moment, and it was good to see others had recuperative abilities left. You could really never be too careful about that sort of thing... "I'd appreciate that." she told Janus, giving him a smile. "Getting some rest does seem like a good plan."
Chaïa smiled her thanks to Janus, but the arm he found and Lu’s reminder that something awful was happening in Daggerford kept her on her toes. Still, the remains of the ruined farmhouse might offer some protection from the elements, and would be less off-putting than camping out in the trap-filled cairn. Hopefully, what with the owlbear having taken up residence some time ago, most other beasts might have gotten used to giving the farm a wide berth.
That raised another question, though. “Just how ravenous do owlbears get, do we know? Did it catch whoever dug up the graves? But then where did the cart go?” She quickly circled the ruins, trying to pick up any sign of a trail that might at least give her a bearing heading out from the farm again.
"Dammit ze cart! I forgot about zat one..." Lu sighs and slaps her forehead. Then she shrugs, there really wasn't much they could do about things right now. "All right. So we probably want to keep watch tonight, at ze very least. I'm going to check out ze building while you figure out what you can about zat arm yeah?"
Lu then readies her sword and Arun and takes a quick look inside the ruined farmhouse. Maybe the hearth looked well enough so they could start a fire? And hopefully there were no more owlbears - or loose body parts - around!
Chaia found that the cart tracks petered out over hard ground, but they were headed in the general direction of Daggerford.
Janus believes that the body had been dead no more than a tenday or so, probably less. He recognized the mark as one Garavin Vesst, a mine owner and not so secret slavery liked to brand his "workers" with before Guildmaster Smenk successfully forced him out of business. Vesst didn't live long after.
"Hm...Garavin Vesst...was a mine owner and slaver...this is his symbol. So this man was once a slave - not sure if that helps us, at all, but he's not been dead long."
Stopping to yawn, Janus looks around, then speaks his thoughts, sounding sleepy:"Not exactly a cozy inn, but some shelter from the elements. We've been up and about long enough today...I'd say we decide on watch shifts, then get some rest. We'll probably want to check back at the temple...if the burial here was enough for our teen ghost, we may be able to conclude this chapter...if the disturbed graves prevent his rest, then we'll have no other option thatn to check in Daggerford and see if we can learn more, right?"
"Right. Sounds good." Lu nods and goes back to checking out the abandoned farmhouse. Maybe there was still enough stuff in there to make their stay reasonable cosy? Or enough stuff to burn so they at least could have it warm. She didn't really feel like wandering off in search for firewood in these parts. Oh well we'll see! "And ... Hmph. With a bit of luck - maybe zat cart was just someone dumping a body in a remote place? And ze open graves and so are just a coincidence ..."
Chaïa returned from her circuit around the farmhouse just in time to hear the last remarks. Her eyes grew wide at Janus’ explanation of the tattoo. “So much for Daggerford being a reasonably nice town, as far as these things go! Then again, it’s been, oh, easily fifty years since any of my family passed through, that I can remember…”
She shook off the reverie before she got absorbed in trying to go over mentally the highlights of the past few decades in the tumultuous current of human affairs, and turned to Lucrecia’s comment. “The ground here is too much for my dabbling in tracking, but from what I was able to find, if they didn’t turn off somewhere further on, that cart went back to Daggerford. I hate to say it, but given that thing we found in the cairn wearing the face of the priest who took our oath, and now this, I think you might be right that we have a necromancer on our hands.”
“In addition to that other obnoxious wizard and his pet barbarians.” The weight of the day’s events settled decisively on Chaïa. “Anyway, like Janus said, if we can sort out the last bit of the cairn tomorrow, that will be one less thing to worry about before returning to town. I’ll take first watch: I’d like to wait for the moon tonight.”
The farm ruin held few comforts, but its walls still mostly stood against the wind and a bit of roof remained to it. It would be warmer than just tents or sleeping bare under the stars.
As she considered their plans for the night, Saeri checked the cards-
-and smiled slightly. Yes, it was a bit of a joke, wasn't it? Still, it was a good portent, and she slipped the most entertaining card back into the deck. After that, she began to pull a few things into position to make their camp a bit warmer - including trying to set up some things to block any light from shining too much.
As she considered their plans for the night, Saeri checked the cards-
1d54
-and smiled slightly. Yes, it was a bit of a joke, wasn't it? Still, it was a good portent, and she slipped the most entertaining card back into the deck. After that, she began to pull a few things into position to make their camp a bit warmer - including trying to set up some things to block any light from shining too much.
It would take some doing to completely conceal light from a campfire within the ruins. The best Saeri could hope for would be to build it in a corner and haul some timber over to block much of it from spilling out too far in the other directions. She thinks anyone near to the farm would likely still see it.
The night passed uneventfully save for the calls of owls and the howls of a few wolves. Yellowknife's explorers came to morning a bit chilled and not entirely comfortable from sleeping rough, but intact.
"Bleh." Lu announces that she has indeed woken up. "Brr!" she continued and tried to rub some warmth into her cold everything. A real bed would have been so much nicer - what did she really use her face for anyhow? With a small sigh she looked around to see if Janus was awake enough for her to steal some body warmth from. Eh. Maybe later yeah? "I'm going to find something to burn. A fire will get our spirits up yeah - and since we are leaving soon anyhow ze smoke won't matter zat much!"
"A fire would be good, I'll help find some wood!", Janus replies - plus he had to keep the pretty girl save out there...he was utterly confident in her ability to fend for herself, but still---
Regardless, he had not forgotten his promise to Saeri from last evening, and healed her:"Should be all better now!", he smiles before rushing after Lu.
Yellowknife's explorers return to the Whispering Cairn without incident. They make their way up to Alastor's chamber, where the door to the reported treasures is closed.
"So, getting the door open..." Saeri mused, going over what they'd learned so far. This was quite a silly place when you thought about it, wasn't it? So terribly... impractical. Ah well. That was part of what made it fun.
"Hey? Alastor?", Janus shouted out, trying to draw the teen ghosts attention.
"Hey? Alastor?", Janus shouted out, trying to draw the teen ghosts attention.
It took a few moments, but the child ghost appeared.
"You did something wrong!" he said. "I felt like I could go and then I couldn't!"
"You *could* go? But didn't?" Lu crossed her arms over her chest and gave the ghost an accusing look. Though, she supposed, it really wasn't his fault. So much. But still - he could have opened the door at least?! Bleh. "Hmph. Hmph ... Say - how long did it feel like you could go? Zis whole night - or just a moment? And when did it stop feeling zat way?"
She feared that the ghost might have wanted to stick around to say goodbye to them only to have someone dig up and steal his bones while the party left the farmstead. That would have been annoying - then they might have to track down his bones again!
Saeri listened curiously, interested to hear what a spirit thought might've been relevant. These things could be strange at times, and she had no problem with trying to gain knowledge.
Chaïa hesitated, trying to think of an explanation, and how to console a distraught ghost. Whatever else might have happened at the old homestead, they had buried Alastor’s remains properly. Unless… the small graveyard had lost its connection to the divine after being ransacked? Worse? Some unhappy history with the other graves? Could one of the boy’s relatives also have rested unquietly, and clawed their way out of their grave for their own nefarious purposes?
Gently, she asked, “Alastor, who was your family? Who else should we have found where we buried you?” How did one raise the question of necromantic quirks in someone’s family, or the possibility that an evil mage so inclined had rummaged through their family’s bones? Chaïa could tell where duty was leading her, and she didn’t like it. Then again, she liked the thought of a necromancer running around even less...
"I felt something change, but then I still couldn't go," Alastor explained. "I don't know what should be at the graveyard after all this time. My parents? Maybe my sister?"
Chaia believes that they're on the right rack in putting Alastor to rest, given that he felt a change. Burying him clearly wasn't the wrong thing to do, but apparently not all that needed to be done.
"Can you feel the presence of your family somewhere? I suppose you are stuck to the place of your death, here, not your remains, buried where you told us to. Which, I might add, was the agreed-upon requirement for granting us access to the chamber. We'll track down your dead relatives, and return them...because, once again, thats the right thing to do. But we're going over and beyond the terms of our previous agreement. That said, we have plenty of reason to believe that others are interested in this tomb, and it would allow us more peace of mind in pursuing those who removed your family from their resting places, if you would help us fulfill our mission here, and grant us access to the chamber. You have seen we are people of honor and stand by our word. If you allow us to pass the door, I solemny swear to do my best to track down the remains of your inmediate family and return them to rest in their graves next to yours."
Janus seems very serious as he spoke...they might be dealing with just a teen boy ghost, but then, showing a teen boy that you take them serious, see them as capable and adult enough to make a deal like this, would often serve to make them more inclined to actually listen. Janus would know, he'd been a teenage boy himself, a couple years ago...
"Bleh. Something more? Hmm ... Did your family do anything in particular?" Lu asks. "Maybe zere was some prophecy or something? Or important job. Anything zat would make anyone screw with you intentionally?"
"Or... something else still tying you to the world?" Saeri inquired, tilting her head a bit as she tried to puzzle out what might work. Alas, she wasn't an expert on dealing with ghosts.