Bulvi fights defensively as he takes another swing at the frost zombie but it misses and digs into the wall with enough force that if he had landed it home it surely would have felled the zombie.
Bulvi once more shouts his thanks as he swings from his defensive stance at the latest zombie.
Bulvi pondered how much of his blood was naturally made and how much was the product of that wand as he swung again.
Bulvi pondered how much of his blood was naturally made and how much was the product of that wand as he swung again.
[dice=Attack]1d20+5-4
[dice=Damage]1d8+3
Clearly he was getting tired from the protracted fight.
Bulvi swings once more at the frost zombie before him, it was begining to feel like there was an endless line of them to inevitably wear him down, still he tried to keep his guard up as he attacked.
Bulvi' eyes flicked at the mounds of zombie corpses... he and Findurel would be digging b the others... hopefully some of them could still be saved.
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The darkness fades slowly and Sakitu rises back to consciousness. Her eyes flutter open and gaze on the rough wooden planks of the lodge ceiling. Then the smell hits her. The awful stench of blood and guts and rotten flesh. The malodorous smells bring her back to her senses rapidly and she remembers the zombies.
"Eewwww!" she exclaims and jumps up pushing a limp, rotten zombie arm off of her leg. She looks around at the dozen of dead bodies laying around and spots Findurel and Bulvi standing on the stairs.
"What happened? You survived?"
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Ibona wakes up, slowly, painfully, her eyes finally focusing in on the carnage around here. The last thing she remembered was the many Zombies coming at her. "Sakiutu, Fin? Bulvi? Alexia? Quasit? You all ok?" She stands up, brushing as best she can her blood and other bile and bits off of her. Nasty.
"How many were there?"
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As Quasit awakens, she finds herself face down in a pool of her own blood. The last moments of consciousness rush back to her and her hand reflexively goes to her neck as the second tap from the healing wand washes its magic over her. She looks up at Findurel and gives a sad, tired smile.
"We need to stop meeting like this," she says. She gets to her feet and grips his arm. "Thanks." She retrieves her blade then steps out into the room. She sees Sakitu and Bulvi and Ibona standing or moving about... and the feet of Alexia lying motionless upon the ground beyond the roaring fire.
"Oh no... not again...." she says, then picks her way to the sorcerer and kneels beside her. Her face tightens and her mouth clenches as she fights to keep the emotions from pouring out of her. She turns away and finds herself staring into the fire. She shakes her head slowly.
"That miserable noblewoman better be worth it, wherever in the nine hells she is," she growls to herself. "A lot of people are dying because of her. A lot of people who deserved a lot better. I can't..." Two sudden trickles of water burst from her eyes and race down her cheeks, but her taut face doesn't break. She sniffs and wipes the tears away in something like disgust. "Get a grip girl."
Then her gaze drifts over to the dead cleric. She stands and goes over to him and begins to rummage about his body. Roughly. Angrily. "Happy? You miserable bastard? Are you f%&+ing happy that you killed another one of us? I hope Pharasma makes you spend eternity with a burning poker up your ass."
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Ibona walks over to Alexia after hearing Quasit rail against the Cleric. She bends down and gently wipes the blood away from Alexia's face with the sleeve of her top. Tears start to form in her eyes and Ibona breaks down and openly weeps. Her final act is to close Alexia's open eyes.
She stands up and walks over to Quasit, who was known to have an (interesting) relationship with the caster, one Ibona was was jealous of. Standing Quasit up, Ibona hugs her, still crying.
Bulvi sat on the bottom step of the stairs looking at Alexia's corpse ever since Findurel had moved on from her. He still had his sword and shield in hand. He was covered in his blood and that of the zombies.
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Standing Quasit up, Ibona hugs her, still crying.
Quasit is a bit surprised when Ibona pulls her into an embrace and seems not quite sure what to do. She pats Ibona on the back gently.
"Hey, hey, not in front of the men folk," she jokes. But then the gesture of the hug itself takes over, and Quasit hugs Ibona a little tighter. She closes her eyes and just loses herself in it for a long moment, silent and sad. There wasn't really anything to say.
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Findurêl waits a bit in silent sadness before finally speaking softly...
"We should search this place for clues...and then bury Alexia. Don't mean to be disrespectful, but we also need to track the person that fled here and, with the snow, not sure how long the tracks will be visible...
Take a moment...and I'll search..."
Fin will start searching the lodge, room by room...
"I understand what Findurel is saying but I know there are people with the head for it, if someone can try to predict the whether who's good at it. If we don't have to pursue right now, if we can leave it til tomorrow maybe we should. I don't mean any disrespect but this is hard going and the magic that Sakitu and- Alexia were able to put out aren't exactly as potent as they were when we first left."
He stands up slowly before continuing "I don't want to abandon this woman but we have already lost two people. My guy tells me if we keep pushing while reserves are low that number will rise... Quasit, I'll tell you now this noblewoman isn't worth it. She's not worth Yu and Alexia but she's been kidnapped and probably scared. If it was you who was taken, wouldn't you hope someone would come to rescue you? I know I would. At least once we clear the place it'll be a bit more comfortable and defendable." It was a dreary idea and not going to help people's spirits so he looked at Quasit "Maybe you'll get lucky and Findurel will find some moon shine and green dye or something."
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He stands up slowly before continuing "I don't want to abandon this woman but we have already lost two people. My guy tells me if we keep pushing while reserves are low that number will rise... Quasit, I'll tell you now this noblewoman isn't worth it. She's not worth Yu and Alexia but she's been kidnapped and probably scared. If it was you who was taken, wouldn't you hope someone would come to rescue you? I know I would. At least once we clear the place it'll be a bit more comfortable and defendable."
"Oh, I totally agree, we've come too far and lost too much to not see this through. But when we find Lady Fancypants, she'd better not piss me off with any arrogant 'I'm better than thou' comments, or I might have to slap her. Oh, and I've decided: I'm keeping those riding boots."
She looks around at the blood and carnage, and sighs. "I don't relish the idea of sleeping here. Even if we clear the bodies out of here, I don't think that cleric was the guy changing the weather. I suspect they were just the muscle for the snow fairies. They might come here looking for their pals. I think we need to find the Lady, then get back to town before dark, if we can. Then we can make a fresh start in the morning from this spot."
"Maybe you'll get lucky and Findurel will find some moon shine and green dye or something."
Quasit looks sideways and smirks at Bulvi, though the smirk is a bit forced. "You bring that up a lot. Why is that?"
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Ibona looks at Findurel. [b]"I hate to say this, but we can't bury her. We need to burn her. Give the amount of zombie's we have come across, burning her is the only way to stop her from being transformed, no? When we leave this house, we burn it to the ground."[b/] Ibona says, with as much certainty as she can, given her current mental anguished state.
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Findurêl nods. "I see your point, Bulvi...we could all do with a little rest...hopefully, we can find something of import here and I can find the tracks in the morning...
And no, I don't even think green dye could transform me into a half-Orc...I have not the build for that..."
Turning to Ibona, he says, "You're right, of course...I had not thought of that...not to mention the ground is probably too hard as well...burning it must be..."
He goes back to his search...
"Honestly Quasit, I'm too tired to think of another joke and we need a few good ones right now."
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Ibona looks at Findurel. "I hate to say this, but we can't bury her. We need to burn her. Give the amount of zombie's we have come across, burning her is the only way to stop her from being transformed, no? When we leave this house, we burn it to the ground." Ibona says, with as much certainty as she can, given her current mental anguished state.
Quasit seems shocked at this. "Wait... what? Burn Alexia? We can't do that!" She looks around desperately at the others, hoping to find sympathetic eyes. "Fin, you said there were horses in the stables, right? When we go back to town, he can take her on a horse, and let the clerics give her a proper burial. They can make sure she won't turn. Please, we can't burn her. It's not right!"
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Fin looks at Quasit sympathetically, but shakes his head...
"And what if there's another cleric that drops by and turns her into a zombie before we return to town? I cannot say for certain what Alexia would prefer, but I'm guessing she'd choose burning before zombie..."
"We could tie off her hands behind her back if you're worried about that! She was so beautiful... you can't just burn her because it's more... convenient!" sputters Quasit bitterly. She looks to Bulvi and Sakitu. "Please! Say you don't agree with this?"
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Searching the clerics body you find:
2 Oil of Taggat
1 Cloak of the Yeti
1 Masterwork Thieves tools
1 Ring of keys
and
a Stolen Spell book
and while getting the items from the body you hear faint mumbling sounding like it might be under the floor,
Cloak of the Yeti - This heavy cloak is crafted from shaggy white yeti fur. When the cloak’s hood is pulled up over the wearer’s head, it takes on a semblance of its arctic namesake’s fearsome visage. Northern warriors value its ability to ward against the chill of winter, as
well as the protection it provides in combat. The cloak of the yeti provides a constant endure elements effect in cold weather (it has no
effect in hot weather). In battle, the cloak wraps around the wearer, granting a +1 natural armor bonus. In addition, with the hood drawn over the wearer’s head, the cloak grants a +2 competence bonus on Intimidate skill checks.
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Fin motions his companions over. "Stolen spell book...means there's probably another necromancer around here somewhere...
Bulvi should wear the cloak...and Quasit should take the tools and probably the poisoned oil as well. The keys might be useful to open other things around here...wait, do you hear that? Sounds like someone might be hidden under the floor..."
Fin will try to determine where the sound is coming from and examine that particular area of the floor...
We should burn her Bulvi thinks but can't bare to lay more missery on Quasit right now. "If we bind her hands and legs good and tight with rope it should be alright. But if I die then burn me. I don't want to bwcome one of them and I don't want to hurt anyone who doesn't have it coming."
Bulvi moves forward to take the lead just in case its a trap. He straps on the cloak before going down takig Findurel's suggestion.
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Findurêl just shrugs. He has his doubts about tying Alexia up...what good will it do? She could still be turned to a zombie bound or not...and if the necromancer is not daft, he'll just cut the ties before transforming her...
He says nothing though and heads down the stairway looking for the source of the mumbling...