"Take him back. If he gets worse in that 4 miles, think of your family and do what you think is best."
Rhianni shrugs as the man is taken back to town, "Shame, I'd hoped he might have given us the lay of the land here, oh well! Let's continue right then?"
Praxim smiles politely at the snorting guardsman...
...then grabs him in one hand by the throat and drags him off a ways, motioning for Tomasu to hold back the other guards who will probably foolishly try to help their friend.
His whisper is harsh, but pitched low enough for the farmer not to hear. "Listen, fool, and learn before you flap your mouth next time. This man is not 'sick', he's slowly dying, becoming a powerful undead creature called a ghoul. Already, a hunger for the taste of your flesh is building inside his belly, and if he turns, he will try to turn you into one like him. There are probably others here also turning. The two we killed back there were probably also innocent farmers we were too late to help in any way besides ending their torments. Now, we will tie the man up so that if he does turn, you will have time to defend yourselves, and I sincerely hope that you make it back with him to Father Zantus in time, but if he turns, protect yourselves. Do we understand each other?"
Grapple check:
The paladin lunges at the snarky guard, grabbing his neck. While the guards struggles to fight back, the other three guards draw their swords Praxim. "Hey, stop it! Get off of him!" one of them yells.
Rhianni stands mouth wide open, agog at the actions between Praxim and the guards.
Tomaru stands between the guards and Praxim with his hands empty."There's no need for all that. We're all friends here. They're just having a disagreement is all."
"That will do," Lym says in a decisive tone of voice. "We are not callous killers of the innocent, and this man is as much a danger as he is in danger. Let that suffice, gentlemen. Time is a-wasting."
With Lym's assertive declaration, Praxim is satisfied that the point has been made, nods, and releases the guard.
"But what do we do if we find others in similar states of infection?" he wonders aloud to the others in the party.
After being released from Praxim's grasp, the guard promptly unsheathes his sword. "That's no longer your concern, elf!" he yells. "You're coming back to Sandpoint with us!" The other three advance steadily toward Praxim.
"Stop," Lym says in a soft, silky voice. If the guards look back, they will see the Wizard has raised her hands in a very arcane gesture. "Gentlemen. I agree this was ill-done, but we have no time for dissent. There are who knows how many Ghouls still at this farm. If we fight among ourselves, the noise and scent of blood will draw them like sharks to fish guts. Let us discuss this matter after the mission is done; I vow to return with you to Sandpoint in peace once the job before us is finished. Praxim is an honourable man, despite what you may think right now, and he will not abandon me."
"Yes, never fear your insubordination will be brought account of to the sheriff in due time. In the meantime, perhaps you can spend less time judging our decisions, and more time carrying out our instructions. Take the man back to Sandpoint, but the moment he starts trying to eat your flesh, stop thinking of him as an innocent sick man, and defend yourself."
Praxim turns his back on the guards and resumes scanning for evil.
Rhianni is shocked by the sudden turn of events, I mean the guard were always a bit funny, making sure she wasn't doing her clients out of their money, making sure no laws were broken. I mean people get a bit upset when they accuse you of taking their money and not providing a complete fortune. Yet in all that time, she'd not found them turn nasty like this, it must all be a gross misunderstanding.
Rhianni turns to the guards with a worried expression, "Please stop, please understand he's just trying to protect you. He's just not the easiest to get along with, its because her cares he's like that, he just wants you to understand the danger you are in, if you are not extremely careful. We'll talk to him, calm him down. Now please let us get on with the business of doing the Sheriff's work. We, like you, are doing his bidding, all we want to do is rid the town of the murderers and evil doers that cause have caused the townsfolk such misery. We all have the same ambition, to bring justice to bear on those who do evil. So please, can you stand down and work with us in this? "
Diplomacy
One of the guards raises his hand, signaling the others to stand-down. "I don't think he is trying to protect us...I just think his feelings were hurt. You're right, though. We should finish this mission. When this is over, however, he'll answer for putting his hands on a guard of Sandpoint."
The same guard addresses the one Praxim grabbed around the neck. "Zandu, you and Adrezi take the sick man back to the cathedral. After he's attended to, let Sheriff Hemlock know what happened here." The two guards take the ghoulish man and retrace their steps back toward the Lost Coast Road.
"And hurry. There may be more like him out here." Toxim waves to indicate the cornfields.
We have a procedure. Get within 60' and detect evil. If it detects as evil, we kill it. If not, we check to see if its alive.
Agreed. "Let's do this. Hopefully, the Sandpoint Babies won't get themselves a hang nail or stub their toesies in the process."
"That's enough," Lym says, her voice calm and stern. "There is no benefit in antagonizing our allies, especially not when we are out on a mission."
Praxim reduces his complaints to inaudible mutters, though the words "Markum" and "fools" reaches Lym's (and others') ears. He kicks a rock into the corn fields, and scans about, almost trying to will something evil to appear that he can kill.
Rhianni consults her cards as the others dust down and get ready to move off, "To the right, let's try that way." She waits for Tomaru to come along side her, "What's eating Praxim, he's got it in for the watch, is he feeling all right?"
"You know him far better than I do. Though I agree with him that the guards' disrespect was uncalled for. Perhaps that was what set him off so?"
After roughly 100 feet, you come to another junction. The current path continues straight ahead, while another branches 90 degrees from the current one on your right.
Lym tugs on Rhianni sleeve and whispers in her ear.
Rhianni points straight on as she talks with Lym, "I don't know, but these murders have been brutal, then so was Markum's death. Do we dare broach the subject with him? but now isn't the right time, not with these scarecrows that live."
200 feet further, you see a crossroad. On the near right corner of the intersection is a scarecrow.
"Careful," Lym says, as she points to the other side of the intersecting path. "Two more such scarecrows are hanging over there."
Praxim doesn't wait, and moves up to thirty feet opens fire on the evil one.
Attack:
Damage:
"It's a ghoul," he adds afterwards.
Lucian also prepares for the evil thing to come down and attack, ready to intercept it and take the brunt of the charge.
As long as one can kill it with arrows, he would prefer it to kill it from afar, as he is a tiny bit afraid of the ghoul fever.
The scarecrow starts to struggle to free itself from its perch as Praxim moves close. The elf's arrow imbeds itself into the ghoul's shoulder, while the townguards advance and fire. One of their arrows hits the ghoul's face, destroying it instantly.
Lucian looks at the destroyed abomination and sighs, hefts his klar and walks on to through the field
"Nice shot," Praxim mutters to the guardsman.
Praxim looks in the direction Lym indicated, and scans for more evil.
Rhianni takes a twisted wooden wand from her belt and points it at one of the scarecrows and triggers her wand to fire a pulse of forceful and destructive energy at the scarecrow.
Praxim points to the far left corner of the intersection and moves up, looking for its source.
If he sees it, he opens fire.
Attack:
Damage:
The combined volley of arrows and a magic missile put down the second ghoul.
There's another scarecrow on the far right corner of the intersection. It hasn't moved.
Scanning...
Tomaru maintains a defensive posture as they go about hunting ghoul-on-a-stick.
Rhianni just stops herself from a whoop of joy and a hop skip and jump as the magic missiles bring the undead creature down. A smile of self satisfaction beams across her face. "Well is it another of those creatures Praxim?"
He shakes his head. "Check to see it's another victim still alive."
Tomaru moves up and checks the scarecrow. He takes the last few feet with caution until he can squeeze the scarecrow's leg to see if it is straw or flesh.
Rhianni watches Tomaru her wand in her hand.
Lucian is right next to Tomaru ready to use his shield to deflect an attack
Tomaru tears down the scarecrow. "This one's just a scarecrow. Let's keep moving."
Rhianni once more stops to discover their direction, her hands wave in the air pointing to the sky.
"Straight on then Tomaru."