Elena jumps up and turns her head as if struck by lightning - "WHAT!? WHERE!? EVA!!"
She runs as fast as she can to the other side of the room, and promptly kneels near Eva's body, hands shaking from the overwhelming emotion.
Eva's body is still, but her chest can barely be seen to rise and lower, every few seconds. Her armor is soaked in blood, and there's a gaping hole in it over the abdomen. It looks like someone shoved a spear the size of a small tree through her small body.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Lineera's own blood begins to slow, then she calls back. "Here! She's here, and still alive!" With exhausted hands, Lineera begins preparing to treat Eva wounds as best she can with traditional means, unpacking the tools of her trade from her bag.
Elijah finishes moving the coffin lid, and his face is sober. "Lineera? Mahb? I think you need to look at this... I don't know what I'm looking at."
The small body of Lizzie Haan lies in the coffin, pale as a ghost, unmoving, not breathing. There is a strange black smoke pouring over her, as if she were immersed in liquid. Her features are obscured, but it certainly her.
She's not dead, but she's not alive either.
The girl seems to be being held precisely balanced between life and death. The coffin is keeping her poised on the edge. Removing her could restore her to live, or it could kill her.
If Lineera or Elena can't make either of the DC's, then apparently Mahb can, once she can force her old body to stand up after the toil the battle took on her.
"Ok... Ok... Hold still" - Elana takes a few deep breaths. Almost exausted, at the limits of her endurance, she collects what little power she has left and sends forth one last, final, haling pulse.
'I just hope this'll be enough... Please let it be enough...'
Lineera ignores Elijah, focusing on ensuring Eva's survival. Once medicine or magic has given Eva enough strength for Lineera to feel comfortable leaving the gnome's side. She stands, circles the altar again, and crosses onto it tentatively next to Elijah.
"Sorry Elijah, just wanted to make sure she would make it." Lineera then begins to examine the young Ms. Haan.
After considering it for a moment, Lineera says. "I'm sorry Elijah, I must be distracted, it doesn't make sense to me either. If you'll excuse me."
Once more retracing her steps back to Eva, she kneels next to Elena. "How is she?"
When her friend doesn't open her eyes, Elena starts to panic - "No... No! It wasn't enough, we need more... But I can't, I-I can't..." - tears start to run once more down her cheeks - "Maybe she had something with her? An extract, an elixir, something! We need to search her pockets, quickly!"
Elena frantically tries to search Eva's possessions for anything that may help revive her.
"Here! This! This will be enough, I-I'm sure!" - slowly, being careful not to let her choke, Elena puts Eva's head in her lap and feeds her the potion.
Almonds. That's the first thing that registered on her conscious. Almonds. It was all in her mouth. 'Almonds? Eli! He's going to be mad. Why is he going to be mad?' She made a noise but had yet to open her eyes. Her face scrunched as she thought about Eli being mad at her. Almonds. 'Why in the world am i-' Then it all came rushing back. The missing kids. The Kobold Cave. Munchkin's betrayal. The Spear impaling her.
Slowly Eva opened her purple eyes, glancing around her. " 'lena?" She blinked some getting used to the light and being conscious again. Her voice was sluggish and slurred. " 'at 'appened?"
Lineera breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness!" Lineera takes a brief moment to try and collect her thoughts, and condense them. "You were attacked, and gravely wounded. We fought our way to you, but you had been moved. We tracked you here, deeper in the cave. Do you remember anything?"
Ten thousand thoughts speed through Elena's mind. There are so many things to say, to tell, and to ask!
But the pure, simple joy of having back a friend that was lost proves too much.
Elena just hugs Eva, and cries tears of happiness.
Everyone is awake again.
Mahb relays the information hidden in the DC checks above, which I'll repeat here.
The small body of Lizzie Haan lies in the coffin, pale as a ghost, unmoving, not breathing. There is a strange black smoke pouring over her, as if she were immersed in liquid. Her features are obscured, but it certainly her.
She's not dead, but she's not alive either.
The girl seems to be being held precisely balanced between life and death. The coffin is keeping her poised on the edge. Removing her could restore her to live, or it could kill her.
The Carevin boy is in the same situation. The coffin's appear to be moveable, but they are over 500 lbs apiece, not including the bodies inside. Moving them without the lids could result in the bodies being thrown out if they are dropped. The lids have clamps, so they can be sealed to keep the bodies in.
You may search the area if you wish. It's been 7 hours since everyone left the village this morning, and it would take 4 or 5 hours to get home, through potentially zombie infested woods. Lineera would know that without the necromancers around to control them, they would attack any sentient living thing on sight (and possibly non sentient, depending on how big it is).
If you decide to search the rest of the cave, put your paths on the map, give the room number, and search checks.
"...cloakie hatted things... munchkin..." Eva took a moment to think, to try to remember. "the kids? Did we...? Are they?"
Lineera frowns at the mention of Munchkin, the destruction of the two were peculiar, at best and to say the least. Turning her attention to Eva's question, the dark elf replies. "We found the children. Though there appears to be something wrong with them. It appears that they're somewhere between life and death, they're in these two coffins which seems to be what's keeping them in that state. If we remove them, we're not sure whether that will revive them, or kill them."
Lineera sighs again, the fatigue of the day's trials is becoming quite evident. "So we'll probably want to bring them with us as they are, perhaps Father Ambercrombe can do more than we can, or there may be a book or something that may tell us what was done here. For now, we're all tired and wounded, I think it's best we move the children, coffins and all into that kitchen area, explore the rest of this cave and ensure we're the only ones left, and rest for the night. Without the necromancers to control them, any remaining undead on the path or in this cave are going to become scattered, unorganized, but extremely aggressive. I don't think we can properly transport these coffins and fend off attacks in the state we're in."
With Elena still holding Eva, Lineera brings herself back into a standing position and overlooks the large altar, slowing walking around it trying to find some clue as to its purpose, origin, religion, or anything of value.
Thinking back to before she fell unconscious, Lineera happens to think that perhaps the statue itself might bear some clues. Then looking to where the statue used to stand in the corner, Lineera pauses, the asks aloud to the room in general. "...There was a statue in the corner, right? A big one?"
1-15 : dead
16-20 : Badly wounded (scarred/maimed)
21-25 : Wounded
26-100 : Unhurt
Dead : Margaret Ebonlocke, Alexis Carevin, Joan Carevin, Eli Sanders
Badly Wounded : Lema Farin, Tobias Stanton
Wounded : Jonah Sanders, Elliot Naevon
The next morning was a bright and sunny day.. somewhere. In Hamsberg, it was a cold rainy day. Not many people wanted to take off in the rain. The people they ate with the night before all ended up looking for jobs in town, not wanting to chance the road in the steady rain.
But Cathran and Riley braved the weather. Heading north, through a small village and into the Cadavarwood. It took nearly a week, but finally they came close to Perdition's Point mid morning on the 8th day of travel. As they came close though, they smelled smoke on the wind, and in the distance was the sight of smoke in the sky, between gaps in the tree cover.
Hurrying, they arrived to a shocking sight. The village's church had burned to the ground, gutted, with stone walls cracked and falling. The nearby council building was scorched, but still intact. In the streets, corpses were scattered about, hacked to pieces. One especially large and grotesque corpse, the size of a giant but with a dozen tentacles, made a giant bloody patch on the ground, it's body chopped into pieces. Villagers were gathered around, many with bandages, and on the lawn in front of the council building were four sheets covering bodies.
One of the bodies is very small. Children are crying and being held by adults. An elderly man in fine clothes that are torn and rent and covered in blood sits by one of the sheets, looking as if his world is destroyed.
A small child sits between two other sheets, staring at nothing, no tears on her face.
Elijah nods. "Yeah, creepy cloak hatted lady licked the little statue on the altar, the black one, that was a match for the big one, said our victory would be ash in our mouth, and then she vanished. Wierd like, got flat, then thin, then gone. Statue too. And the big one turned into dust."
Mahb nods. "No magic like I've ever seen, magic that powerful, she should have been able to kill us all. I don't think she was powerful, I think it was the statue that was powerful, but she couldn't use it."
This was a shrine to a god of some kind, an evil one based on the amount of necrotic energy and the ritual using kids. Whatever it was, was pumping a LOT of magic through those kids, enough to do something capital B bad.
It was finally time to go back home. Another week on the road, in the rain, would normally have been rough, but the draw of home lightened the burden. Cathran often caught herself smiling when thinking of finally having a place to call home. She was grateful to her old mentor Elda for everything she had done, but it had been a nomadic life, and not always by choice. She didn't talk much on the ride to Perdition's Point, but she enjoyed Riley's company nonetheless, and wondered if he felt like he was returning home, and if he did, if it was strange for him too.
Then, the smoke.
She flashed a concerned look at Riley, before coming around the road out of Perdition's Point. As the trees yielded to the hamlet's clearing, she felt sick. She rushed into the village, horror and anger welling up inside of her. Walking up to the titanic, tentacled corpse, Cathran was unable to take her eyes off the wretched, mutilated corpse, fists clenched and teeth grit.
Lineera nods periodically through the short story Elijah and Mahb tell her. "Good to know I didn't take a bad blow to the head at least, thought I was imagining it for a moment."
After finishing her tour of the altar, Lineera turns towards the entrance. "Let's get ourselves settled as best we can for the night. I'm going back to where that fire was, I don't want to sleep next to this altar."
Heading back into the kitchen area, Lineera pulls the crates previously off to the side of the room, and after giving them a quick magical lookover, and glances through the contents, hoping to find something viable for cooking for herself and her companions.
Once finished with her initial peek through the crates, Lineera carries, pushes, or otherwise moves the bodies in the area outside the area with the raised ceiling. Lineera then moves the crates and some of the tables (with the help of anyone willing) into a makeshift barricade around the entrances of the little room. The two coffins of the children she maneuvers to cover the most likely safe, but still problematic western entrance.
With all these laborious tasks done, Lineera removes her armor and sets her shield aside, then sets quietly to work preparing a meal with whatever is available. Hoping to raise the spirits of her worn and ragged companions.
Cathran is unsure what it is, it isn't undead though. Or rather, it wasn't. However, many of the other corpses in disarray were, and they are disintegrating quickly. Even faster as the sun hits them.
A man in bandages walks up, his sword held in one hand, and his eyes hard. "Tis an ill day you came to Perdition's Point strangers. What is your business in this cursed town?"
Lineera moves the rotting slimy bodies of the zombies as best she can, but they are not in good shape, and growing worse by the minute. By morning, they'll just be a puddle of slime. Another oddity. Also, the zombie Eva's clothes are not disintegrating like the rest of the zombies equipment.
The two cloak hats have no bodies. Nothing in the clothes but some dust, and the following :
2 black metal amulets
2 wands
2 spell component pouches
23 gold
43 silver
38 copper
Washing up with create water (or prestidigitating, can't remember which you have), Lineera finds plenty of dried food, in good shape, and lots of candy. She is able to make a fine meal of stew out of the ingredients.
** spoiler omitted **
Riley enjoyed the trip as well as he could considering the terrible weather and the knot in his stomach from the apprehension of returning "home". As he had the first night the two met, Riley enjoyed Cathran's company very much. It made the whole situation much more pleasant.
All of the his thoughts and dreams could not have prepared him for the scene that unveiled as he and his new friend crested the hill leading to the center of town though. The sleepy little hamlet had turned from the mundane village he remembered as a child into a war zone. It took moments for him to process the scene before he spoke. This is not how I imagined my homecoming Cathran...
Riley jogged behind Cathran into the town. His eyes were still having difficulty processing the scene. What are these things? He was awakened from thought by a man's voice.It appears we have. I am on family business. I was born here... He trails off as Cathran bends over to inspect one of the disfigured corpses.
The man looks on, eyes narrowed, but then he relaxes a bit. [b}"That you Riley? Thought for sure you were dead, killed by an enraged father, or hung for stealin'."[/b] But the man's split lip creases in a ghost of genuine humor. "I still remember tanning your backside for stealing sweets from Eva's shop."
Riley then recognizes the man as Jacob Sanders. He puts the sword back in it's sheath. "Margaret would be happy to see you boy, wish you'd come back sooner." He looks choked up, and he reaches up to rub at suddenly damp eyes. "That.. thing... it used to be Tommas Waters." He waves his hand toward the strange corpse. Riley would remember playing with Tommas, a younger boy. "He.. It... It killed Margaret last night... Along with both the Carevin's... Little Eli Sanders.. and we think Fater Abercrombie, we can't find him, and the church..." The man breaks down again, unable to continue.
** spoiler omitted **
Mahb eats the wonderful stew that Lineera makes, and smiles at her. "Thank you child, I needed that. My old bones aren't used to this." She promptly, after dinner, rolls out her blanket on the dirt floor of the cavern and is asleep before she even finishes laying down.
Elijah sits and broods, glancing at the coffins. "We'll need help from town to bring them back. A travois and a couple of horses." He comments, finishing his stew. "We should search the rest of this cave in the morning as well, to make sure there are no other surprises. I'd say do it tonight, but I don't know that we could handle anything else tonight." He nods at the unconscious Mahb.
Even Pyewacket is tired, the bird sleeping on his mistresses stomach.
"That's what I thought." Lineera says with a genuine yet tired smile to the compliments. "Some food and rest before we do anything else. I'm just sorry that I couldn't make something better, we deserve a proper feast after today." Once Mahb falls asleep, Lineera turns her attention to business along with Elijah.
"I had actually thought that I would finish searching the final hallway south myself, before we settled in. But I realized at this rate I'd just be inviting trouble. As much as I would just like to sleep now, we should discuss taking shifts on watch. We know there's at least two more kobolds in here, and they'll take to roaming if they can get past the balustrades. And I certainly don't want to wake up with them over me."
Elijah smiles. "But Lineera, they look so cute when you're patting them on the head." Elijah says, his lips quirking. "But yes, I'd planned on staying up as late as I can. I don't think Mahb is up to standing watch, but I think we can wake Pyewacket up to stand watch, the bird will caw if it see's anything. I'll take four hours watch, then wake it up and let it take the next four. That'll let you finger wiggler's get all the rest you need to be finger wiggly tomorrow."
"You're a life saver Eliljah." Lineera smiles at him once more. Then after a moment's pause, begins to sing. It's soft, perhaps as to not wake Mahb, perhaps to not lure the enemies of the night against them, but quietly she begins singing. Perhaps the most notable fact about the performance is the number of lewd or crass bar songs that go through the ensemble. As she works her way through the performance, the songs show no particular theme in lyric, they all just appear to be songs Lineera knows, but they have a theme in mood. Her songs start with light merry tunes with faster paces, and eventually begin to slow into more calming, soothing songs, most of which are Pharasmic hymns. Well, perhaps Lineera finds them soothing, as most of the slower ones are about greeting death peacefully, and knowing that those who've died have gone to better places (except those who didn't, but that's ok, they deserved it).
Cathran slowly comes out of her focused stare as Jacob Sanders speaks to her. She shakes her head and looks over at the bloodied man, trying to register his speech as words among the haze of the dead. Luckily, she didn't stare at the man long before Riley answered him.
Finally she gathers herself up and manages to speak, after a deep breath. "I am Cathran Ingwood. I, too, was born here..." Words catch in her throat as the old man breaks down, but manages to get out, "Listen, can you tell us what happened here? Where did these...horrors come from?"
Cathran glances toward the burned-down church. She was never quite convinced in the power of Erastil to ward off the worst Cadavarwood had to offer, but she had never wanted to be right.
Riley blushed as Jacob reminisced about his unruly childhood. Lucky wasn't the most well behaved young man while he resided in Perdition's Point, but he always had a good heart. He was a bit of a free spirit, disliking the common rules of society. It was mostly his father's fault. The drunkard enforced harsh regulations on his son that he himself never abided by. This did pay off though when he was introduced to Cayden Cailean's faithful in Caliphas.
Riley stood in shock for a moment at Jacob's words. How can I help?
Jacob rubs the back of his head. "Don't know, honestly. The mayor was entertaining Tommas last night. Then, in the middle of dinner, apparently, Tommas turned into that... thing... and all the dead in the cematary suddenly ripped their way out of the ground and began attacking the town." He swallows thickly. "I had to chop my own dad apart last night." He shudders.
As they talk, a blue-green haired gnome with a basket comes up. Cathran would likely recognize him as Eli, one of the two Gnomes living in the village. "Jacob, come over and sit down, you haven't slept all night, and get some food into you. Things are settling down." The gnome pushes the basket into Jacob's hand, and physically pushes him toward his home. "Your wife and daughter need you, especially after what happened to Eli."
Jacob nearly collapses at the word Eli, although he'd said it clearly and firmly earlier. Riley suddenly remembers that Jacob's last name is Sanders. So if a child named Eli died, then it must be Jacob's child. The man nods tiredly, aging years as they watch him stop pushing himself by sheer willpower. "You're right Eli. Thanks. Riley, Cathran.. nice to see you again." He doesn't seem to recognize Cathran, but he gives her a ghost of a smile before staggering off down the road toward his now emptier home.
Eli sighs. "I couldn't help but overhear, and I welcome you back Riley, Cathran. You especially Cathran, we had thought you and your parents dead. I hope they too are well." He wipes his forehead. "I hope Eva is well, her and some other villagers left yesterday morning to hunt for missing children. They aren't back yet." He sighs again, and it's almost as if the duo can see his hair fade a bit, becoming paler. "I'm sorry our hospitality is not as good as it could be for those returning after so many years. If either of you are trained in healing... we still have some wounded people. Or just cooking, or putting out fires..." The gnome trails off, a tear rolling down his cheek. "Oh hell, anything you can do to help would be appreciated..." He wipes at his eyes with his shirt sleeve.
Riley pats Jacob on the back as he walks off. I am sorry.
Riley puts his hands on his head and looks up at the sky. This is unbelievable Cathran. Do you think you can find the search party in the woods? Is it even safe for us to go out there alone?
He looks at the gnome. Sorry. He holds out his hands to the little guy. I am Riley. I lived here as a child. If things are stable here, Should we not search for the others? Cathran and I are skilled adventurers.
When Elena finally breaks her hug with Eva, her tears have dried and she has regained some sort of emotional equilibrium.
Although tired and exhausted, she joins the others in assessing the situation, and take a decision about how to handle the children.
"Elijah is right" - Elena nods grimly - "We can't risk to get them out of those horrible coffins... We need to get back to the village, inform Father of the situation, and come back with some means of transportation. A travois and horses, you say? Sounds good, that could work..."
While not at all thrilled about the idea of spending the night in a cave-turned-temple for some kind of evil otherworldly entity, Elena is forced to agree that seems the only reasonable course of actions, and after voicing her concerns, eventually relents.
She accepts with gratitude the cooked food, and eats listening raptly to Lineera's performance, while slowly drifting off to sleep.
'What are we going to do about the children... We need to find a way to break them free from that unnatural trance!... Maybe someone in the City would know?... Should tell Father first... So glad Eva is safe!... Such a beautiful voice... Tomorrow... Need to... Do... Somth-...'
** spoiler omitted **
Lineera watches Elena nod off with a gentle smile, and continues singing. Once finished with her current song, she switches into a proper lullaby. Slowly walking around the fire, Lineera continues to sing until she sits next to her young dosing companion. As she sings, she slowly begins to drift off herself, and her words begin to slur and drift into nonsense. Shortly afterwards, she falls entirely silent, her head slumping down against her chest, breathing quietly, but deeply.
A couple of minutes later, the drow twitches, and realizes that her position was unsuitable for sleeping the night away, shifts the piles of clothing left behind by the two cloaked fellows into makeshift bedding, sleepily murmuring. "Sorry, I'm going to bed now." As she settles into sleep, she fails to realize that in her utter exhaustion and the familiarity of the dark cave, she began speaking to her companions in her native Elvish. "Good night."
Eva hugged Elena back, a smile on her face as she let the world come back to her. Standing up carefully, she took a moment to get a good look at the ritual set-up before to much was move. Since she could see the set-up, perhaps she could narrow down the exact ritual they were using.
Her brain was still a little foggy though from her near-death experience. Moving slow she followed the others, letting Elena stick close and perhaps some sleep and not blood-loss caused unconsciousness was in order. "I think... we should look more into this ritual..." She was yawning as she spoke, dropping off now and then as she had to get her brain to think. Making herself a comfy place to sleep. Eva plopped down as she slowly ate the stew. "You're a good cook." A tired smile was on her face. She was trying not to fall asleep as she ate. She managed to do so before falling asleep as Lineera sang. It took a lot out of someone to nearly die.
Nothing untoward happens during the night to the expedition (everyone heals 2 HP over night, and levels up).
You may now explore the cave if you wish. Just show paths, and put in perception checks. I'll assume you dispose of the two kobolds without making rolls. It's fairly easy, they are trapped and only have 2 bolts each.
As the party's casters begin preparing for the day with prayers and meditation, Lineera lounges around with no particular goal in mind. Normally her mornings are spent with the comfort of bathing and grooming, yet she is separated far away from such things. Instead, she spends the time quietly reflecting as she hums softly to herself, pulling out tangles from her hair with her fingers, and braiding her hair, all the while nursing a small cup of the ale claimed from the tax collector's wagon, though sufficiently watered down to be more suitable for the morning.
Once the two undead kobolds are dealt with, Lineera feels a pang of regret, thinking that surely she could have done something of better use with them than this... but shakes off the thought, what's done is done.
Entering the kitchen area again, Lineera ensures that she's left no crate unopened and circles the room one final time trying to ensure nothing was missed.
The hairs bristle on the back of Cathran's neck at the mention of the dead rising. She listened to Jacob's parricidal confession with a stony face. It wasn't for lack of compassion, it was just that it was all too common for the general state of things when the undead were involved.
Cathran remembers the young gnome from her childhood. She can't remember much about him, other than the fact that he was one of the only other villagers who could speak any Elven. She shakes her head at the mention of her parents. "My parents are...gone."
She allows Lucky and Eli to continue before responding, "Lucky, unless we know exactly where the search party went, we should not risk wandering the woods. I am a competent tracker, but most likely we would simply waste time we could spend assisting here, and with the way things are around here, there is no guarantee we would come back. I have some knowledge of first aid, so I shall see what I can do to help around here. Lucky, if you could assist me, I would appreciate the help. Or, if either of you could point me toward a spare healer's kit, that would help immensely."
Nothing missed in the kitchen. There is a box of spices that she used for dinner and breakfast, that is worth a good bit. It's about the size of a portable chess set, and has dozens of different spices in it. It weighs about 5 lbs. Beyond that, the cooking supplies and food supplies have intrinsic value, but nothing unusual.
Eli nods. "Thank you, Elena, Eva, Margaret and Father Abacrombie, and even old Mahb, were the town healers. But all of them are gone, either after the kids, or..." He trails off, and then shakes his head as if to rid himself of troubling memories. "Healing kit's we have, the Mayor kept them for emergencies, we've got 6 left." He takes Riley and Cathran to the healing kits, and then helps them out.
For the most part, as Cathran does triage, the wounded aren't all that badly wounded. It's mostly burns, scrapes, cuts, but nothing life threatening.
Two people stand out though. One is a heavyset woman who still holds a bloody rolling pin in her left hand. She holds nothing in her right hand, because she doesn't have one. Her arm has been torn apart just below the elbow. A grim faced man and two bawling children are with her. The grim faced man holds a strap around her upper arm so tight it's cutting into the flesh almost. The flesh is red and purple above the strap, and pasty white below. The woman is conscious, but has that glassy look of someone slowly slipping into shock.
The second is a small boy, about 9. He is being held by a woman who's pale with tears down her face. Another child, a girl, is badly bruised and beaten, but she seems ok. Her father is holding her tight as she sobs. The boy's face has been cut open by something that didn't do a clean job of it, and there's something green and disgusting in the wound. The cut starts on his forehead, goes down through his right eye, and ends just below his right ear. A scar and the loss of his eye are certain. Assuming he survives.
There's another man, with an arm that obviously hasn't been set, sitting under a tree with a young teenage girl holding him and crying, all while he tries to calm her down and tell her it's ok, he'll be fine.
Taking a small spices that she had used the night before, Lineera stows it in her bag. Otherwise seeming satisfied in her search, she moves on to the western bed chamber, and in similar fashion, rotates around the room checking every crate chest and barrel.
Lineera doesn't find much, other than a bed with silk sheets and a thick down stuffed blanket. There's crates the crates are full of building material. Mortar, a set of carving tools, and some large chunks of marble. Looks like these may be the leftovers of building the altar.
There's a chest with clothes for a small sized character in it.
Nothing magical.