Blue grabs a bottle of liquor and takes a pull. He steps back allowing Drizzle in to examine the liquids. He swishes the alcohol around in his mouth a few times and exhales contentedly after swallowing.
'Ol' Uncle Taz had good taste in hooch.' He says, taking another pull from the bottle.
Drizzle inspects the five bottles and determines that some are highly likely to be magic potions, but cannot determine the specific nature without tasting them.
Blue, quickly grows bored of the room with the fireplace and wanders out into the entry way. He takes a pull from his decanter and spots the door to the east. He wanders over and tries the door knob. he opens the door boldly.
Blue inspects the door across the hall and opens it. Dozens of black cloaks hanging from pegs line the walls of this deep closet.
Blue picks through the cloaks, hoping to find something his size. He drinks as he paws through the closet.
As you inspect the cloaks, you notice that most of them are identical and black.
There are two that stand out -- one is black on one side and reversible to white on the other side. The other one has a red velvet lining.
Blue pulls out the velvet lined cloak and regards it in the light cast by the fire in the other room. After a cursory examination he throws it over his shoulder and swishes it about experimentally with his non-liquor hand.
"How convenient, one red, one blue."
"Yes, it does appear quite convienent. Perhaps suspiciously so . . . "
'I think ye both 'r color-blind. Ya got tha red right, this 'un ain't got no color on one side. Hey, brother, ya want one a uncle Taz's old cloaks!?' Blue fishes the other remarkable cloak out of the closet and holds the black and white cloak out to the open door across the hall.
Red steps out into the entry hall, clearly miffed at his brother.
'You don't have to shout, moron. Though I suppose you probably alerted any remaining servants that their new masters have arrived. And, no, I don't want a ratty old cloak. Let's see what else the house holds.' Red manages to snap every sentence at his brother. He moves to the next door down the hall and examines it before carefully opening it.
Blue, chastised, silently offers the cloak to Robious and Drizzle before following his brother.
As you walk forward you see the hallway fork to the left and right, and continue forward to a large hall. There are doors to other rooms down both the left and right corridors.
Red turns right and moves down the hall to inspect the door.
He then opens it
"Let me look at that."
Drizzle examines the cloak Blue was holding.
You inspect the door and do not find any traps, then proceed to open it.
You peer into the room, which contains a bed and footlocker. Seated on the bed is what appears to be an old man staring off into space, wearing worn clothing that looks like it was once fine.
As he looks over, you see that his eyes are completely white and his skin is very grey and pallid. He hisses and growls when he sees you and immediately lunges forward!
Combat Order: Zombie, Red Petes, Blue Petes, Drizzle, Robious
The zombie staggers at Red Petes and claws at him!
And promptly misses, perhaps having sat for too long.
Red is stunned for a second but manages to shake it off in time to swing his longsword at the creature in front of him. 'Back off, old man!'
Blue sees his brother being attacked and spring into action. He brings Loretta to bear on the undead figure.
'Ya leave mah brother alone!' Blue yells, his genuine concern apparent.
Drizzle snaps off a shot from his bow.
"Egads! It's shielded from missile weapons!"
"Oh most good and lawful gods of lawfulness, send this servant of chaos from us!"
Robious declares while holding forth his holy symbol.
Red Petes swings at the zombie with his sword and misses.
Blue Petes breaks out Loretta and strikes the zombie pretty hard, but it's still kicking!
Drizzle fires an arrow and misses.
Robious tries to turn the creature, but his gods deem he is not yet worthy enough.
Combat Order: Zombie, Blue Petes, Robious, Red Petes, Drizzle
The zombie scowls and growls and lunges again at Red Petes!
The zombie is just really slow to get going today.
Red reluctantly breathes a sigh of relief seeing his brother come to his rescue. He knows he'll be hearing about this for years. He swings his sword again, attempting to match his brother's strike.
Blue watches his brother lash out at his foe and then maneuvers between the two. He brings Loretta to bear on the undead.
"Fowl abomination, I shall not suffer your offensive presence any longer!"
The Acolyte bellowed as he brought his holy hammer down!
Robious attempts to turn the zombie, and this time his gods listen. There's no place for it to go, so it cowers into the back corner.
The Brothers Petes then quickly dispense with it. Loretta cleaves the zombie's head clean off, and its body falls to the ground in second-death!
Red sheathes his sword and takes a deep breath to shake off the adrenaline. He shoves past his brother and mutters 'Thanks, brother, but I had him where I wanted him.'
Red moves in and inspects the footlocker.
Blue claps his brother on the shoulder as he pouts past. 'Sure ya did. I'll make sure ta hang back a little longer next time'
Blue bends to search their fallen enemy.
There are no traps on the footlocker, and it opens quite easily.
The only thing you find inside it is a pile of moth-eaten clothing that probably belonged to the zombie when it was alive.
Blue searches the zombie and finds in its pockets a gold pocket watch, still working, and a large key.
Red snaps closed the lid of the footlocker in disgust. He takes one last look around the room and notices his brother admiring the pocket watch. He then spots the key that his brother seems to have forgotten in his other hand. He snatches the key from his brother as he passes.
'If it's the wine cellar key you can have it back. At least the watch will help you tell when it's time to start drinking again.'
He assesses the door across the hall.
The door is unlocked. Red Petes opens it slowly, and sees a room identical to the previous one, with a bed and footlocker.
In the corner is what appears to be a pallid woman holding a feather duster and wearing a maid's outfit.
She looks over and sees the group, and like the previous zombie, growls and hisses and lunges forward.
Combat order: Red Petes, Drizzle, Blue Petes, Zombie Maid, Robious
'Not another one.' Red groans as he bares steel and strikes out at the maid.
"It appears your kin was not interested in paying a living wage to his employees!"
The elf quips as he sends an arrow at the zombie's head.
"These zombies prove difficult to hit. I think we are targeting where we think they will move to rather than where they actually are."
'Outta tha way, I'll show ya how to treat misbehavin' help!' Blue clearly enjoys introducing the denizens of the house to Loretta.
'Ya seem shy, ya should react when tha lady of tha house introduces herself to ya!'
In succession, Red Petes, Drizzle and Blue Petes all try to strike at the zombie maid and are unsuccessful.
The zombie then lunges forward at Drizzle,
And misses. Something about this place ...
"Misbehaving?! Someone has befouled this womans body with unlife!"
"Release your hold on this woman! Let her body and soul move on to its final resting place!"
The zombie maid retreats against the wall as Robious unleashes some righteous turning on the creature. It hisses and growls and tries to inch toward the door.
Combat Order: Drizzle, Zombie, Blue Petes, Red Petes, Robious
Drizzle attempts to slash the zombie with his sword.
AC 7
"First the butler, now the maid, next the cook?"
Drizzle just misses the zombie with his sword.
The zombie lashes back at Drizzle as it tries to get to the door to escape and avoid Robious.
It tried to attack Drizzle, anyway. It looks more like it vaguely waved it's arm in Drizzle's general direction.
'Ah don' think we'll be needin' yer services any more' Blue brings Loretta around on the woman.
'You and that old axe.' Red sneers at his brother.
"Demons out!" Roared the cleric as he brought down the hammer of justice . . . literally.
But he only struck a glancing blow.
"Hold still gosh durn it."
"Well that was weird. . . It's like she tried to gesture or something. Was that even an attack. Strange."
"Now I'm weirded out, let's kill it and move on."
The group manages to kill the zombie maid several times over, ensuring that she won't return to undeath yet again. As she falls dead, you notice a gold and diamond ring on her right ring finger that appears to be worth about 100 GP.
Searching her quarters turns up nothing of interest aside from a simple female wardrobe and some mothballs.
"Well she won't be needing that."
The elf picks up the ring.
"Don't look at me like that Robious. She's dead, like actually dead dead now. Maybe we'll find her next of kin or something . . . and if not we can sell it for healing potions, for the good of the living."
Red watches Drizzle pocket the ring with hungry eyes. He shakes off his fascination and moves back into the hallway and examines the last door on this side of the building.
'Uncle Taz hired alot ah zombies. Wonder how he didn't die younger.' He follows his brother having a one way conversation with Red's back.
Red checks the door for the last room, and finds that it's unlocked and does not detect any traps. He also sees a door at the end of the hall that appears to lead outside.
This room contains a large, iron tub for bathing, a medium-sized chest and a small vanity table surmounted by a mirror attached to the wall.
In the tub is a skeleton, its left arm dangling over the rim. Nearby, in the center of a dark stain on the ground, lies a silver straight-razor.
A glazed, ceramic washbasin sits on the floor underneath the vanity.
The skeleton does not appear to be undead and looks quite old.
Red eyes the razor warily as he moves to the chest. He gives it a once over before checking the lock.
'I need me a new razor!' He says excitedly almost running over his brother to get to it. He picks it up and tests the edge on his thumb.
The chest is not trapped or locked and contains towels, soap, and a tortoiseshell hairbrush.
The razor, though very old, is still sharp.
There doesn't appear to be anything else of interest in the room.