Both Ciyradyl and Brennan rush off the dais to chase off after the Aghash. Ciyradyl's four legged form clearly giving her the advantage on speed allows her to rush off further ahead of Brennan.
"Curse Desna Plane-hopper."
Yodi steps forward and rolls off the dais in pursues the others in their chase.
Yodi is the last left on the dais, but he doesn't stay there long, as he too rushes down off the platform to chase the creature. The Aghash stops in the doorway, staring as the group follows close on his heels. Focusing his efforts, a small window into another plane sputters and fluctuates, before closing ineffectively with nothing to show for it. The thing actually looks like it might be out of tricks, or not willing to really see this thing through. Turning on its heel, it races off out the front door.
Surubi rushes up to round out the group in the doorway, "This one would feel wrong for not chasing it down, but do not demand it of you. This one will track it where it goes, and finish it off before it becomes a danger to others. Do not let this one slow the rest of you down." Surubi moves to dump some of the heavier gear weighing her down with the rest left in the doorway.
Omen nods in approval at Surubi's plan. "Go then. And good hunting, Surubi." As she makes for the door, Omen turns to the others. "These tiresome ambushes at every turn have taxed much of my power. Should we continue to press on, I will only have this to rely upon." He gestures to the finely wrought crossbow slung over his back. "But if none of you are so injured as to call for a halt, then I am willing to continue scouring this place."
Surubi drops a few last tidbits, the adamantine heavy flail, some of the gear from the fight in the street, and her belt pouch, heavy with coin. With but a nod, she rushes out into the sand strewn ruins, looking for signs of the creature's passing, before heading off the direction it went.
"We can't let her go alone. She couldn't scratch it with arrows or sword."
Yodi starts to shuffle after his diminutive comrade.
"Yodi." Omen's voice is loud and strong. "Do not discount Surubi, she has proved herself quite capable. I will not stop you from pursuing her if you wish, but it would be wasted effort and you would not catch her." He turns back to the chamber behind them, "Trust her to do as she said, and instead let us continue in our task here."
Brennan stiff-armed Yodi as he started to move after Suri.
"Let her go! I've seen this kind of thing before. Sometimes, when an explorer has lost most of her friends to a ruin, they kind of...snap. She might as well have said 'I'm going to kill this thing or die trying', because that's what's going through her head. You can't stop her, and we have no chance of catching up to that thing. She knows what she is doing, and it is her choice to make. Let her be. Let's just go."
Brennan said the last with a heavy heart, but put a gruff face on it. Surubi was the only one of their original group left, and the only one he had really liked. He wasn't comfortable with these new ones, even Omen, and he was less sure of success now than he had been at any point since the initial lottery.
He moved off, lighting the way with the ioun torch above his head.
"Yodi." Omen's voice is loud and strong. "Do not discount Surubi, she has proved herself quite capable. I will not stop you from pursuing her if you wish, but it would be wasted effort and you would not catch her." He turns back to the chamber behind them, "Trust her to do as she said, and instead let us continue in our task here."
The northman turns to look at Omen while he speaks, then grimly shambles on.
Brennan stiff-armed Yodi as he started to move after Suri.
"Let her go! I've seen this kind of thing before. Sometimes, when an explorer has lost most of her friends to a ruin, they kind of...snap. She might as well have said 'I'm going to kill this thing or die trying', because that's what's going through her head. You can't stop her, and we have no chance of catching up to that thing. She knows what she is doing, and it is her choice to make. Let her be. Let's just go."
Brennan said the last with a heavy heart, but put a gruff face on ...
And is stopped again by Brennan.
"I can't. I've lost too many!" Yodi brushes past Brennan's outstretched arm and shuffles, breathing heavily and awkward in his mail through the outside door. Just a few steps outside, a swirl of hot desert wind carries sand into his eyes and dust into his lungs. His breath turns into a hacking cough that drives him into a low crouch with his head nearly at his knees.
Eventually Yodi straightens and rubs his eyes. After a few breaths he is able to open them and look both ways down the street. "I don't see her. Gods be damned. They'll kill us all or drive us mad."
Dragging his spear in his left hand, he shuffles back in. His gaze stays focused on the floor. "You're right. We're not strong enough to save anyone."
"You err in believing that Surubi is in need of saving, Yodi." Omen's voice is loud and resonant, even though he doesn't turn around to face Yodi and addresses him over his shoulder. "As for strength, had you insufficient supply you would have perished long before meeting us. You need only now apply it to our task at hand."
Ciyradyl turns towards Yodi and speaks softly, "Yodi, she did not need saving my dear friend. Don't you dare say you're not strong enough. I know you better than that." Speaking louder and addressing the others, "We need to keep moving. Who knows what else lies in this place."
"Bugger it all," Yodi mutters. Then he looks up, eyes wide over the cloth covering his lower face. "You're right. Let's go then."
After a brief jaunt back to some previously checked rooms, the groups finds a door to what looks like the small granary at Pentheru House. This one is not filled with beetles, however, just a lot of dust.
Heading back to the hallway leading west off the foyer, Brennan peeks in to see a series of cubicles encircling an open central space. Each one is separated from the common area by a curtain hanging from a rod over the doorway.
Brennan motioned to the curtains, and make a show of listening. He moved tot eh center of the room, looking for signs of tracks, footprints, or sounds that might indicate the presence of creatures int eh room.
Yodi follows Brennan closely then fans out to the other man's left.
Ciyradyl follows Brennan into the room, attempting to move silently. If something is in here, hopefully it didn't hear us already.
As the majority of the group moves into the room, Brennan can hear a shuffling and soft dry groans behind the curtain just north of him, and a little further down the north path past the center cubicle. Ciyradyl can smell the presence of decay, kind of like the undead priests from earlier, but not as bad.
Seeing the others stiffen, Omen draws his crossbow and slips a bolt into the cradle before nodding in readiness to Brennan.
HP: 14/16
AC: 12 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 10
F/R/W: +3/+2/+5 (+2 vs death effects)
Resist 7: acid, cold, fire, electricity
Omens used (swift demoralize): 0/1
Black Motes used: 7/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 7/7
Ongoing Effects
Yodi looks around and shifts his grip on his spear.
Smells like the undead. She flexes her claws as she enters the room. Inhaling deeply, she scans the room.
Yodi and Ciyradyl also hear the same sounds, but can discern no more than Brennan that it comes from beyond some of the curtains in the cubicle doorways.
Brennan scooted back to the doorway and said in a lowered voice, "Sounds like there might be some more undead behind tose curtains. Who wants to go check?"
When no one spoke up quickly enough, he shrugged, cocked back his arm, and threw the dagger in his left hand at the nearest curtain. Quickly he grabbed another knife from its hiding place, even as the first dagger was in the air.
Yodi shrugs. "It doesn't matter. I will go. "
Gripping his spear, he steps up to the curtained Brennan targeted.
Brennan tosses his blade at the hanging curtain, the weight of which easily whips the thing about, but doesn't reveal much of anything. The does set something within into a renewed motion. The groan and shuffle becomes louder, and as Yodi whips the curtain open, a dried and desiccated corpse stands in the opening. It begins to lurch forward, and as the thing calls out its groans receive two return calls from down the hall to the west. Despite it standing in the doorway, the thing is woefully unprepared to respond.
Yodi does the logical thing and stabs at the figure with his spear.
....
Yodi and Ciyradyl both easily recognize the thing as a simple mindless undead. A zombie, if you will. These ones, unlike most are dried husks of flesh, as opposed to the normal one in active states of decay. They know that the best method of dealing with the slow yet fairly strong undead, with decent punches, is to hack at them with bladed weapons, as they do not feel the pain of stabs or broken bones like a living thing would. They also feel no cold worse than death, nor the usual physical maladies of man. Just like trying to affect their rotted brains is a waste of time.
Yodi reacts quickly enough to jab his curtain-moving spear at the thing, but despite its slow response, the weight of the curtain brushed aside pushes his aim off by just a hair.
The distant groaning gets louder as something brushes its way past one of the curtains on the far wall. A previously unconcerned zombie slowly makes its way up to Yodi.
Brennan sidestepped and drove his right hand dagger up into the zombie's jaw, trying to rip its head from its body.
Moving around behind Yodi to try and deal with the one coming at him from the side, Brennan drives his blade uppercut style along the lower jaw of the shambling dead. His small blade easily lacerates the dried husk, and leaves the jaw to hang loosely, but it's not enough to fully put a stop to the thing.
Ciyradyl quickly steps towards the undead. She attempts to slash through their arm, but is distracted with her first strike. She attempts to strike the zombie again, this time with more precision and force.
Moving forward into the fray, Ciyradyl tries to get her claws past Yodi and Brennan to get at the newest arrival in the fight. She lashes out once, but comes just too shy of breaking through the dried husk of skin. She finds much better purchase with her follow up swing. She manages to rip off a large chunk of the dried flesh that remains, and it's enough to pull the thing apart the rest of the way.
No sooner does she destroy the one standing there, that a second one comes shambling out from behind a different curtain to end up taking the place of the fallen one.
Seeing the press of bodies and not trusting his unpracticed aim to thread a crossbow bolt through the melee without harming one of his companions, Omen instead moves around the perimeter hall to line up a shot on the newly arrived zombie.
HP: 14/16
AC: 12 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 10
F/R/W: +3/+2/+5 (+2 vs death effects)
Resist 7: acid, cold, fire, electricity
Omens used (swift demoralize): 0/1
Black Motes used: 7/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 7/7
Ongoing Effects
Omen decides it best to merely circle around behind the zombie, not worried about the thing reading his tactics too much. His movement has no bearing on the one standing beside Yodi's spear. It is unfazed by the thrust that just missed it, and steps forward to swing at the man holding it. The pathetic swing of the dried out fist just glances off Yodi's thick breastplate, leaving no real impression on the man within.
Yodi uses the useless spear to fend off the zombie while he pulls the club from his belt. He sweeps the polished shaft of wood in an overhand swing at the zombie's head.
...
Brennan, unable to easily get behind the thing, slashed out again with his blade.
"Can we move it back? Open a hole so we can surround them? I don't like just standing toe to toe with these things."
Using the spear as nothing more than a prod to try and keep the zombie at bay as he pulls his other weapon, Yodi swings wide as the zombie presses against the spear with more force than expected.
Brennan, swiping with his dagger in warding back and forth, manages a long gash across the torso of the other zombie. The thing is too mindless to consider moving back away from the slicing blade.
Yodi smiles grimly as another zombie steps up to menace the party. "If I step back this one will also come out.."
Determined to kill the zombie to help Brennen move into a flank, Ciyradyl slashes with precision to damage the zombie, hoping to take it out.
Once more Ciyradyl uses her claws with dangerous precision, slashing away at the decayed body of the zombie, and easily flaying it underhand. The undead thing crumples to the floor atop its friend.
Omen brings his crossbow up only to watch Ciyradyl cut the zombie down. He holds the weapon steady, though clumsily, and waits for another of the undead wretches to stagger out into view.
HP: 14/16
AC: 12 (11 T / 11 FF)
CMD: 10
F/R/W: +3/+2/+5 (+2 vs death effects)
Resist 7: acid, cold, fire, electricity
Omens used (swift demoralize): 0/1
Black Motes used: 7/8
Shield charges remaining: 14
Spell Slots Used
Level 1: 7/7
Ongoing Effects
Omen delays taking any direct action, waiting to see if any other walking dead wander into a clean line of fire. The last of the current ones continues to thrash big clumsy limbs in Yodi's direction. As before, Yodi manages to keep the spear as a brace to prevent the thing from getting to him with any success.
...
Yodi swing the club at the last zombie and steps back so that the others can have a crack at it too.
Yodi levels what could be considered little more than a warding shot with his club, as he shifts his step to the side to allow the dead to step out into the awaiting weapons of Brennan, Ciyradyl, and Omen.