Aidan sees the creature go down and directs his sling attack at one of the girls on the wagon as Tkurzhan continues to stick by his side.
As Tkurzhan makes double sure that the zombie in front of him ceases to be animated by swiping him with several successful claw attacks, Aidan turns, moves up to the top of the knoll and let's loose a far sling attack that does just hit one of the female zombies rising out of the wagon!Tkurzhan follows him as is cresting the hill himself just as the rock clucks off one of their shoulders.
If able Harlynn moves so that he may summon his familiar globule of acid at the closest zombie.
Acid Splash 1d20+2 1d3
Harlynn quickly scrambles back from where Abbas is standing to within range of his spell. A quick gesture from him and a globule of acid erupts from his hand and propels itself at the nearest of the three, stricking it in the hip with a satisfying 'hiss' as acid begins to eat through clothing and dead flesh.
Initiative Order:
.
.
.
.
- Narnel 23
- Seneca 15
- Thurkzan 15
- Aidan 14
- Harlynn 13
- Abbas 12 <------------ Abbas, Taedric, Bryndyn, Pluchak then the "Girls"
- Taedric 10
- Bryndyn 07
- Pluchak 06
- 3 Girl Zombies 03
Abbas kicks his heels into Ursa's flanks and charges the one legged zombie, his lance sort of set like Taedric does it.
He rides straight past the creature leaving himself open to retaliation.
"Any good, Taedric?"
Abbas, your attack well and truly ends its existence and it is skewered on your lance... There is no attack back.
Taedric smiles, "Indeed, well done, Abbas!"
Taedric turns to face the women rising on the wagon, and smiles at the slight distance between them. He whispers to Trumps, "Let's show Abbas a few new tricks.", and rides past the wagon, striking a zombie with the long reach of his hammer as he passes.
for
Taedric smiles, "Indeed, well done, Abbas!"
Taedric turns to face the women rising on the wagon, and smiles at the slight distance between them. He whispers to Trumps, "Let's show Abbas a few new tricks.", and rides past the wagon, striking a zombie with the long reach of his hammer as he passes.
[dice=Charge (Ride-by)]d20+5+4 for d10+1
Taedric. You hit! I am beginning my trip home, so bryndyns attack and summary tonight. Pluchak Don't wait on me...
Taedric smiles, "Indeed, well done, Abbas!"
Taedric turns to face the women rising on the wagon, and smiles at the slight distance between them. He whispers to Trumps, "Let's show Abbas a few new tricks.", and rides past the wagon, striking a zombie with the long reach of his hammer as he passes.
[dice=Charge (Ride-by)]d20+5+4 for d10+1
Why do you get 2 5+4 bonuses....
I thought you got them twice but I see I misread...
|
Bryndyn is startled by the women as they rise, a deep revulsion of things undead causing him to pause. But those around him do not pause and he sees a sling bullet, then a glob of acid hit different zombies first, then a full on charge by Taedric as he severely damages the third. Taking the hammer, he attacks the most wounded one...
Attack
Damage
(Wow, another 1 on the to hit roll...These dice really hate me...)
Episode - The Return to Haugin's Ear - "And the Dead shall walk again"
- Narnel 23
- Seneca 15
- Thurkzan 15
- Aidan 14
- Harlynn 13
- Abbas 12
- Taedric 10
- Bryndyn 07
- Pluchak 06
- 3 Girl Zombies 03
Just as Aidan, Narnel and Seneca came upon the wounded man, the thing turned and showed itself for one of the Undead. Aidan curses loudly and yells Undead! and rolls out of it's reach. Narnel reacts first, sending a wooden shaft deep into the things chest. A puff of red mist and a stench you wouldn't have believed possible rises to greet Senaca as he leans forward to touch the thing. "Prince of Darkness, lend me your power that we may send this man to a true death and on to the Boneyard instead of this false simile of life he currently wears.". With that, Senaca uses the curing power that normally makes a man whole, to damage this unholy creature and disable it. Thurkzan swipes at it successfully with its claws and then Abbas charges through with his lance and skewers it, bringing the inanimate corpse for a ride on his weapon.
Aidan sees that the one legged zombie is not a problem any longer and turns at the commotion by the Funeral Wagon. Taedric had cried out, "Our corpses are moving!" but he had had more immediate issues at hand. Now, he can see the three girls rising out of the back of the wagon with Elinor, Bryndyn and Taedric stepping back from their proximity. He sends a sling bullet their way and hits one. Between where he stood on the hillock and the Wagons, he watches as Harlynn sends a glob of Acid at another. Taedric then sets up and executes a beautiful charge right past the back of the wagon, his lance ripping out the stomach of one of the girl zombies. As it's innards fall with a wet plop onto the ground below, Bryndyn swings, but steps in the newly made slop and misses wildly. Elinor also misses.
Between the hill and the wagons, Pluchak begins to grow, enlarging himself as he readies to come over to help. At first, he thinks perhaps he won't be needed...so many of his friends have already been successful...but his new vantage point shows that he probably will be able to help. Looking out over the trees, he first spies another dark cloud of Ravens...
For Pluchak only
The Zombie Girls go...
Zombie 1 (Sling Bullet Damage to the Knee) - Lumbers forward and attacks Elinor who is trying to dismount from the front of the wagon while simultaneously trying to hold onto the reins of the horses who are starting to panic over the scent of blood and decay.
Attack on Elinor
Zombie 2 (Acid Damage to the shoulder) - Swings at Bryndyn
Attack on Bryndyn
Zombie 3 (Severe Damage to Torso) - Attempts to move off wagon
Reflex roll required, DC 10
Elinor is just barely missed and Bryndyn's slip helps him avoid the grab of the zombie attacking him. The third zombie, trying to get out of the wagon does so by falling face first into the ground, it's innards caught on the back of the wagon. Still, it gets up and keeps moving toward the group.
-----
Top of the Order. Pluchak, you may free action to notify folks if you wish...
"More zombies coming!" Pluchak roars above the din of battle, pointing his new Bardiche at the oncoming foes.
Narnel moves to the top of the hillock, and uses it as cover from the wagons below as he lays on his stomach and snipes at the nearest zombie.
Stealth:
LB ATT:
LB DAM:
Aidan takes a step towards the wagon, loading his sling and waits for a clean shot. As the zombie falls from the wagon and begins to rise, he sees his chance and looses.
Tkurzhan delays, unsure of which way to charge.
Elinor is jolted out of a daydream by the sudden action. Her reverie shattered she stumbles down from the wagon readying her shield and sword. When she clearly sees the broken bodies of the girls shambling forwards her face twists in horror.
"Oh no no no no no. You poor lassies. Have they not done enough!"
Initiative
If Elinor can get an attack in as well, she'll strike unhappily at the near zombie.
Attack
"The girls didn't just rise up out of nowhere. There must be something or someone around who is doing this." Seneca moves back to the top of the ridge and begins looking for anyone that might be animating the zombies as well as searching his knowledge for possible causes.
Curious, I wonder if anything on that cart will burn? Harlynn thinks to himself. He shrugs his shoulders and then concentrates on a small piece of dried clothing on one of the zombies. He snaps his fingers in the direction.
Aidan shoots Harlynn a glare that is withering beyond belief, and Tkurzhan picks up on the sentiment and growls a low, warning hiss at the wizard.
Taedric spins Trumps about and charges along the same route he followed last time, again lashing out with his hammer to crush another zombie.
Episode - The Return to Haugin's Ear - ""More zombies coming!"
- Narnel 23
- Elinor 20
- Seneca 15
- Thurkzan 15
- Aidan 14
- Harlynn 13
- Abbas 12
- Taedric 10
- Bryndyn 07
- Pluchak 06 <-------------
- 4 remaining Zombies 03
Narnel moves to the top of the hillock, easily doing so with stealth, and uses it as cover from the wagons below as he lays on his stomach and snipes at the nearest zombie. He attacks with his bow and scores an attack that surprises one of the three girl zombies near the wagon. It falls, the arrow protruding from it's neck, and stops moving.
Elinor, snapping out of her short daze, unhappily bemoan's the fate of these young women, but moves to attack one of the remaining two. She understands the need to keep the living alive and put the dead down. She swings and connects easily, removing a chunk of body and causing the second of the girl zombies to stop moving.
Seneca is amazed this is all happening. What could cause such a thing to happen. These girls were not zombies for a great deal of time before they found them and all during the episode with the Lizardfolk. He wracks his brain and thinks there must be some magical effect or item which might be causing the dead from this area to rise. Surely, nothing else approached the women. It must be a ranged or regional effect.
Aidan moves to a better position to use his sling down upon the girls. He sees the first fall to Narnel's shaft. The second to Elinor's sword. The third, the one that fell out of the wagon and trails visera, is still animated. He lets loose a bullet and it strikes a fleshy part of the zombie. It did damage, but not yet enough to put it down forever. Beside him, his sabertooth companion trembles with excitement, but remains at his masters side, awaiting his chance to defend Aidan.
Harlynn steps up and begins a casting on the zombies, but cuts it short as he sees the last of the three go down to his friends weapons. Just as well, he might have caused serious damage to the wagon had they had a flaming zombie flopping around on it.
Pluchak's warning of more zombies on the way spurs the two mounted hero's to prepare to face them. Abbas and Taedric charge the group of six zombies as the come down another hillock. The charge is wildly successful with both striking their target squarely. Abbas' foe dropped immediately, yet another zombie skewered upon his lance. Taedric's zombie was struck square in the neck, neatly decapitating the zombie.
Pluchak - you have yet to take your actual turn. Only 4 Zombies remain... You see Abbas and Taedric kill two of them, leaving the 4 in the middle. you CAN, with your larger strides, engage them if you would like.
Narnel rolls silently across the the top of the hillock, and uses it as cover from the remaining zombies on the other hillock as he lays on his stomach and again snipes at the nearest zombie.
Stealth:
LB ATT:
LB DAM:
Pluchak takes his new weapon in hand and his exceptional reach and engages them from almost twenty feet away. He does charge for a few feet to get some momentum behinds his swing as well. He is still unsure of himself and that might be why his blood didn't start to pound in his ears for the battle, but he went forward to see how his new weapon would behave.
Episode - Return to Haugin's Ear "The Big Guy starts swinging"
Bryndyn sees the last of the girl zombies fall and is both happy and disappointed. He turns and sees the remaining for zombies rushing at the enlarged Pluchak just as Abbas and Taedric use their mounts to peel off and come around again.
The Lizardman rushes toward Pluchak but is unable to get engaged as Pluchak swings his bardiche once, and then a second time. Both attacks are successful and both attacks stop zombies cold. They fall in parts and don't move. The remaining two duck under his weapon and attack his midsection, their viscious nails and teeth chimping at him.
Zombie Attack 1
Zombie Attack 2
The first one misses, but the second one sinks it's teeth deep into a bit of skin exposed by the enlargening process.
Pluchak's damage
Just as blood erupts from the wound and around the face of the zombie, Narnel takes his chance and shoots another arrow. Thwunk! Another solid hit if not a kill. With an arrow sticking out of it's shoulder, both Zombies continue to attack Big Pluchak.
----
Elinor has initiative....
Elinor sheathes her sword and crouches down beside the fallen girl, brushing her cheek with a gloved finger.
"I'm so sorry..."
Then her head rises and she looks about with an angry glare.
"Who has done this?!"
Detect magic, spell failure (success).
Aidan whistles and points at Pluchak, and Tkurzhan is off like one of Narnel's arrows.
Aidan loads a sling stone, but only holds it in hand without a clear shot. He knows he has none of Narnel's accuracy, and Pluchak is fairly large besides.
Seneca raises his crossbow and fires off a bolt at the zombie hit by Narnel. He holds his ground and reloads the crossbow.
I could summon hoards of fiendish creatures to deal with these things. I could blast them back to the very depths where the come from, instead I have to continue to pretendto be inept and flings globs off acid at anycreaturr that comes this way.
*heavy sigh* I grow tired of this.
Episode - Return to Haugin's Ear "Is it over?"
Elinor leans down and show's one of the dead girls a bit of compassion. "Who has done this?" she asks of no one in particular. She casts detect magic and doesn't find anything about the Zombies.
At the same time, Narnel's arrow is followed in short order by the Sabertooth's charge, Senica's bolt and Harlynn's glob of acid. Only Abbas' attack fails, but by this time, his attack is moot. The zombie falls to the acid just seconds after missing the man now known as K'uhulajaw in the Lizardman speak.
And suddenly, it is over. Ten Zombies, including the one missing his leg and the girls, lay destroyed. All lay where they last were attacked, some in pulls of blood and others in pools of grey flesh and black fluids. The stench hits each of you far more now than it did when they were animated.
Looking over the site, you find that the one legged zombie looks just like one of the bandits you slew days ago. How he is here and with one leg, is unknown. There is a blood trail to the single leg and even further. In fact, upon further review, it's clear the zombie used his own leg as a crutch - for the pulpy end is mashed with dirt and stones and a trail that includes a blood smear every few feet is evident.
You know the disposition of the three women. How they turned into zombies is unknown, despite repeated attempts to review your history, arcane and divine knowledge. This is obvioiusly a necromantic effect, but there just is not enough information to determine what is going on right now.
The six zombies that arrived in the second wave tell a different tale. They are dressed as farmers. None of them have been dead long but only some of them bear obvious signs of their original death. There is an older man, a grey beard. Three younger men in overalls, an older woman and a younger woman round out the group. Bryndyn looks at the direction they were coming from and proclaims that they were moving from the farmlands outside of the Ear. What this could mean, he doesn't know.
----
Well, that was certainly unexpected. I think that we should hasten back to the Ear with news of this development as well as what happened in the Devil's Hole.
Taedric says, "I don't much trust the local authorities and Hellknights to be able to handle the ravages of necromancers striking down farmers around the Ear -- they're too busy pointing swords at each other. This needs to be stopped -- there are more local farms."
Seneca will investigate the bodies of the farmers and see if he can determine the original cause of death. "I don't trust the local authorities and while I do trust that the Hellknights can keep the peace, they don't have the magical knack to investigate something like this...perhaps the Lady. I'm curious whether whatever is animating them is turning living creatures immediately into zombies or if they have to be dead first."
This blood trail will not survive a rain, and the origin may hold clues. Tkurzhan can track it quickly, as well. I can send word to the lady with this, he shows his feather token, but I'd rather wait until we've gathered more information. I say we follow the trail.
Ok then, if everyone agrees, then we follow the trail.
|
Abbas looks down at the lance to see if it broken or something. That zombie should have fallen but maybe Ursa and the warrior just aren't in sink yet.
"Can we follow the farmers back? I like farmers. They make food."
He watches over Elinor and Seneca and shakes his head, not really sure what they are doing but knowing that he shouoldn't disturb grown ups when they are working.
I'd like to follow the farmer's trail before it fades, but missing farmers will be easier to find, especially if someone recognizes them. Aidan says the last bit as he goes through the farmer's pockets, stripping them of outer clothes as he tries to learn more.
So, unless we split up to cover both trails, I think the blood need be followed first.
Pluchak looks a little concerned. He is bleeding a bit from where the zombie bit him, but he doesn't seem to mind. He is more concerned with what Abbas just said. "No, Abbas. You shouldn't eat farmers. They are important. Some of them aren't very nice, but their job is tough and they get cranky sometimes."
I'm seeing a few different options...Which one do I follow?
Seneca chuckles at the banter between Pluchak and Abbas, "I agree with tracking back the farmers. If any of the rest of you are skilled at determining the cause of death, I'd also suggest looking at these bodies. It might be helpful to know what killed them the first time."
Aidan - your heal check is very high, but unfortunately, doesn't reveal too much. Most do show signs of some sort of death, and of the two that didn't, you discover that the first had a heavy contusion on the head that was disquised from casual review and the other one didn't seem to have anything wrong pre-death. But...it could have been poisoned...
Of the 'causes of death' that are apparent - most are slashes, cuts, contusions. One is a viscious bite...
Most of these look to have deceased of violent causes, but it's possible a poison or disease killed this one, he sums up.
Let's head towards the blood trail, and look for the farmer's trail later.
Pluchak nods at Abbas until he says he doesn't like sprouts. His eyes go wide at that point and when Abbas asks what cranky means he shouts back at him playfully. "What?! You don't like sprouts? You got a problem with things that are green?! He then calms down and says to him in a quieter voice. "That's cranky. One who get's angry easy. I'm cranky sometimes, I was raised by a farmer." He claps Abbas on the shoulder and turns to the rest.
"If one way is going to be a lot harder to do later, let's do it now and get it out of the way."