When it's Liefa's turn she'll attack using another ki point. Str save or be pushed back.
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Nathadriel casts a spell to bolster his allies!
The zombies continue to swarm over Leifa and Layali!
The two that already have a hold on Layali begin trying to gnaw the flesh from her bones!
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One just kind of slobbers on her, but the other bites her head, badly!
The rest of the zombies continue reaching!
Layali has a third zombie get hold of her, while three manage to latch onto Leifa!
Leifa lashes out against the zombies attacking her, pummeling one brutally!
It falls off of her, leaving only two holding on!
Damage tally:
B1: 10
B2: 5
Layali tosses another acid splash at the two most wounded zombies on her!
Gordon attacks the damaged zombie again.
Gordon's previous arrow looked like it should have finished off his target, but it keeps coming forward anyway!
Layali sprays more acid!
The zombie that Gordon thought for sure he hit hard enough to finish gets burned by acid and falls to the ground, but the other happens to flail in just the right direction to not get splashed!
Gordon fires another arrow, scoring a deadly hit against another injured zombie!
The zombie falls!
Nathadriel attacks the zombie grappling Layali. He also casts healing word on the tiefling, weaving the spell into his continuing prayer.
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Nathadriel slashes the zombie holding Layali, but only damages it, then heals his comrade!
The zombies keep swarming!
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The zombies are feasting on Leifa and Layali, grabbing and biting!
Unable to escape the zombies, Layali continues to try and use acid splash to burn away the undead!
Gordon targets the damaged zombie.
Nathadriel continues fighting the zombies surrounding Layali, casting his final healing spell on Leifa.
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Still fully grossed out and panicking, Leifa will continue attacking with ki-Str or be pushed back.
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Layali splashes more acid!
One of the zombies is splashed!
Gordon sends an arrow into one of the zombies on Leifa with tremendous force!
Almost the whole center of its torso pops out in a grotesque chunk, but the zombie keeps attacking!
Nathadriel heals the monk, and cuts deeply into one of the zombies on Layali!
Despite its chest splitting in half, it's still moving!
Leifa unleashes all her energy! Her staff slams into the zombie that Gordon hollowed out!
It falls!
She gives a piston kick to another zombie that's holding her:
It's sent staggering backwards, breaking its hold on her! She then puts a knee into the last of the zombies that's grappling her!
It goes flying backwards as well!
The zombies on Layali continue to munch!
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...or more like "slobber".
The zombies that Leifa pushed back mindlessly advance and reach for the monk again:
They reach their arms out but Leifa avoids getting grabbed!
Acid splash seems to be all Layali's got going for her at the moment...
Leifa will try to maneuver around the zombie's surrounding her and will advance toward's Layali, to help her.
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Layali continues spraying acid!
The zombie that looked like it should have collapsed already gets burned, but still doesn't stop moving!
Leifa tries to reinforce Layali!
She whacks the damaged zombie with her staff, and it finally falls off of the sorceress! Leifa then follows up with with a kick that damages the other of Layali's attackers!
Gordon targets the zombie grappling Layali.
Gordon puts an arrow into a zombie, thinking it'll go down, but it keeps moving!
Determined to put them down, Nathadriel continues slashing at the zombie grappling Layali.
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Nathadriel swings, but misses!
The zombie holding Layali keeps biting!
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The corpse's teeth dig into her shoulder!
The other two zombies mindlessly continue trying to grab hold of Leifa!
One of them manages to get hold of the monk!
Layali manages another acid splash on the zombie holding her!
Layali's acid burns the zombie, but it won't let go!
Gordon takes a shot at the zombie on Leifa.
Gordon's arrow rips through a zombie, which falls off of Leifa and stops moving!
Nathadriel presses the attack on the zombie fighting Layali.
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Leifa will attack the zombie holding onto Layali then the other zombie.
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Layali, in a fit of frustration and anger draws her dagger and jabs it directly into the zombie's forehead, "ENOUGH!"
Nathadriel misses, but Leifa hits with her staff!
The zombie that's been eating Layali alive finally falls! Leifa then puts another punch to the final zombie, who in turn tries to grab hold of her:
It reaches out mindlessly but can't get a grip on the monk!
Layali lashes out in rage at the abomination, stabbing it in the face!
It collapses!
"Layali are you okay?" "Where did those zombies come from."
After checking that Layali is going to be okay, Leifa will look around for clues as to why there were zombies here at this location.
Bruised and battered, Layali pulls her dagger out of the zombie's skull. She looks at it and then drops it on the ground in disgust. "Where did they...I mean...what just? How did you..." she trails off. She looks at Leifa, her eyes a bit unfocused "Do you think...I mean are they...were they..." she points back toward the abandoned camp, "was that them?"
Gordon searches the bodies while Layali rests, looking for clues about the origin of the zombies.
The corpses all appear to be humans. They all look to have died violently, as the bodies all have wounds beyond what you all gave them. Clothing is common and not particularly old, and no significant amount of their flesh is gone (that is, they aren't half rotted away or anything).
The building rejoins the hillside near where the corpses were piled. Just like with the other two sides of the building, there are no particular markings and, strangely, no sign of a door or entryway of any sort. Near where the bodies are piled, several deep gouges and cracks exist in the wall of the structure. On the ground near the damage lie two interesting things: one is what seems to be a pickaxe made entirely from a single piece of stone, but with the tip broken off and the entire thing lying on the ground as though discarded; the other is an ordinary, wood-handled, steel-headed pickaxe which leans against the wall. The stone pick has a stylistically geometrical design much like Hilvan weapons, while the wood and metal pick looks like a common modern item.
Nathadriel will rest with Layali whilst the other two search the area.
"I'm guessing this was some sort of archaeological expedition that found the wrong artifact. If there's something there powerful enough to animate the dead, perhaps it holds the power to launch dead bodies from the sky..."
After taking a few moments to recover herself, Layali picks up her dagger and absent mindedly cleans it off on one of the corpses as she examines them for more details.
A long pause after Gordon speaks, "Dead bodies launched from the sky...? Oh. OH! I certainly hope that is not the case!"
"I wonder if the stuff we found at the other building (shrine?) belonged to these people?"
Leifa will look for/ponder any connection between the zombie's attire, possessions, etc to what the party found earlier at the shrine.
Examining the bodies, Layali discovers three things of note:
One, they were all killed within the past week or so.
Two, they were all killed elsewhere and then piled here, rather than having died here together.
Three, they were killed with a mix of magic and weapons, with the weapons being most likely of Hilvan design.
Gordon, after voicing his theory of an archeological expedition, notes that there are far more people than there are pickaxes, making him think that's not the answer here.
As the party ponders a possible connection to the shrine, you recall having been cautioned that this is a lawless area where no authorities will come to stop unseemly activity. You eventually reach the conclusion that these people were bandits, who used the shrine as their hideout. The box of weapons you saw there was probably the accumulated sidearms of their various victims, most likely to be sold once they needed to resupply. The other bags and boxes that you didn't look at probably contained a mix of supplies and loot.
The broken pieces of the stone pickaxe are all present. It looks as though someone tried to use it to chip into the door-less building, but then it broke and so they switched to a normal pickaxe to continue working, but haven't broken through yet.
"Maybe we should see if we can break through where these guys were trying to get into? I mean, if they were bandits, then maybe they knew about some hidden riches or something else valuable." Layali suggests with a hint of mischief in her eyes.
"It would probably be best to be thorough with our investigation, since it looked like the bodies got dump here and there's a hilvan weapon here, this building could have importance, but I feel uneasy about this. Lets hope there are no more surprises."
After her rest, Leifa will pick up the pick ax and try chipping out a small hole to peer into the building. Assisted by her fist if needed.
After resting a little, Layali offers "Maybe some of my acid would help open a hole?"
After resting, the ladies go to work trying to break into the building in the same spot that whoever it was had already started. After a few minutes, a hole breaks open, revealing the wall to have been a couple of inches thick here.
Peering inside with her elven eyes, Leifa sees what looks like a spacious room, though you can't see much from just this little hole. There's a wall only a couple of feet to one side (in the direction opposite where the building merges with the hill) and open space in the direction of the hill.
Yes
After several more minutes, you breach a big enough hole in the wall to step easily into the building. Leifa steps inside, and concludes that she's in the entry hall of the building. Within arm's reach to the north is a wall which cuts off the section of the building that's visible from the outside. A stone door set in that wall bears inscriptions in Hilvan.
To her left is the rest of the entryway, plain and relatively unadorned, stretching about 30 feet south into the hill and about 20 feet east. On the same western wall you breached, just a few feet south of where you broke in, there's a doorway that looks like it should be the main entrance to the building, but it's completely blocked by the earth of the hill under which it resides. Further to the south, a wall mirrors the one to the north, likewise bearing a stone door with Hilvan writing.
The eastern wall of the entryway, opposite the "entrance", bears a third inscribed door.
Leifa also notices that there's only about 5ft between the edge of the hill (on the outside) and the northern inner wall, meaning the spot where you broke in was the only place where you could breach the entryway without digging a long tunnel or going through the northern room first. That is, when you're outside the hole, the hillside is within arm's reach to the south, and when you step inside, the inner wall of the north room is within arm's reach to the north.
"Well, I don't see any danger from here, but I can't tell what's past, what looks like four doors. The doors have hilvan writing on them. Layali, would you like to translate them?"
"That is, if you're not still too sore from all those bite marks."
Layali sets to the translation task with a touch of excitement.
It takes only a few minutes for Layali to finish the translation. The north and south doors are labeled with proper names of some sort, the center (eastern) door is labeled with a word something like "commoners", and all three are labeled as crypts.
As it's reasonably common knowledge that a violent death followed by a lack of proper disposal can sometimes lead to the dead rising, you would guess that had the bodies outside been laid to rest properly in here, you wouldn't have had zombies to fight.
The unlabeled doorway seems to be made to resemble a doorless archway with an iron gate, except that it's entirely stone and beyond it lies only the packed earth of the hill. The other three doors look like heavy sliding stone doors with clear handles, and no adornment other than the inscriptions.
Gordon approaches the northern crypt cautiously.