"Hmmmm. bagpipes. Never heard em before. Sorry Ghulassen as much as I like music while walking it might draw unnecessary attention to us. I'd rather not deal with bandits. Perhaps a softly spoken story would be better entertainment."
Sun smiles nastily.
"You go on right ahead Jack. It'll be amusing to see how you handle being the first in line when a boar or an evil Fey pops out of the treeline."
Jack comes to an immediate halt, glaring spitefully at Sun as he passes.
"Just try not to make a habit of these pointless delays."
Sighing, Chloe says "Yes, yes, you're both all macho and stoic, or whatever guys like to think they are."
It takes about two hours for you to reach the site of the massacre, bickering most of the way. Hooray for bonding!
It becomes readily apparent when you're getting close to the site-near the forest, the temperature grows noticeably colder. The road ahead is littered with debris and the corpses of slain humans and horses. Most of the bodies lie pierced with tiny needles and shards of ice.
A carriage stands in the roadway, its team of horses missing or cut free, while another overturned carriage lies sprawled and broken next to the tree line. To the south, more bodies have fallen around what appears to be a statue of ice. Behind it, a snowy trail leads deeper into the forest.
Jack examines the bodies and the ice statue, looking for signs of winter magic.
Ghulassen examines the bodies to see if he recognizes any of the people from town.
Sun Xiao just looks around the area to see if he can find any clues as to what exactly happened here.
Chloe, with a sigh, begins searching the bodies for anything useful.
Azor takes a look at the wounds on the bodies and checks to see if anyone is alive. He then checks the carriages for anything useful. After that he joins Jack at the ice statue.
After some inspection he notices that the statue is human shaped.
"It looks like a human. I wonder if there is a person inside. Some one back at the apothecary said something about freezing people solid."
Azor doesn't really find anything interesting in the overturned carriage, besides the bodies of two women-some of Lady Argentea's handmaidens. The other carriage is locked-a spear has been wedged in the handles of the carriage doors. Muffled sounds of movement emanate from inside the carriage.
The bodies strewn about all look like they've been spot-frozen-there's some fey arrowheads stuck in a few bodies, and from the pattern that the frost beneath them is in, you can surmise that some sort of breath weapon or something similar was used. None of the bodies can be identified as anyone you may know, nor do they have anything useful on them.
As Jack and Azor examine the statue, it becomes readily apparent that it was in fact a human being at one point-however, he's been frozen solid, and it seems that he's been shattered in several places-his arm, still clutching his masterwork shortsword, lies about 10 feet from what parts of him still stand. It seems that with a little work, you might be able to prise his still-intact breastplate emblazoned with Taldan heraldry off of him as well.
While Jack and Azor look at what remains of the frozen captain, Sun Xiao notices that there's a fairly obvious trail behind the statue leading into the woods. It seems that whoever dragged Lady Argentea off was in too much of a hurry to cover their trail, perhaps hoping that the snow would fill it in later.
Jack casts a harmless Energy Splash on the frozen corpse, thawing it.
"That should make it easier to get that breastplate."
No love for Ghulassen's Knowledge check?
No love for Ghulassen's Knowledge check?
None of the bodies can be identified as anyone you may know
Chloe takes the shortsword.
Jack glances at the carriage that has sounds coming out of it.
"So, uh...someone wanna check that out?"
Sun Xiao brushes off the breastplate and looks down at the body he took it from.
"You don't mind, right?" he asks rhetorically.
He spends the time to put it on and then goes through some basic moves to see how bad it might restrict him.
Shaking his head he strips out of it and returns to his leather armor.
"Slows me down too much." he says by way of explanation.
"Might be worth selling though, a good breastplate is worth a decent amount."
"Anyway, I found a trail over here." he points.
"Looks like whoever it was was in a hurry or just didn't care if they were followed. I'd say this is our best bet once we leave here."
He looks at Jack after he speaks.
"Sure. Just figured we'd get our other business out of the way first."
Drawing the longsword he borrowed from the wounded soldier in case it's a Fey straggler, Sun Xiao rips open the carriage door.
"Well, what do we have here?"
Eagerly, Chloe skips up next to Sun Xiao to see what's inside.
Jack loads his crossbow, keeping his distance from the carriage.
Sun Xiao rips open the carriage, only to be greeted by two zombies that shamble out of it!
"Oh, just a pair of zombies. Cut 'em up and you'll be fine, guys."
Initiative:
Ghulassen whips out his Tambourine and plays an epic song to Inspire Courage into his allies.
Sun Xiao takes the borrowed longsword in two hands and slices down with a vicious overhand chop.
Jack aims and fires at the closer zombie.
Almost before the zombies can even react, Sun Xiao calmly bisects one down the middle, splitting it in two even parts. The other zombie, oblivious to both that and the crossbow bolt that stuck in the wood above his head, tries to strike Chloe.
Sun Xiao
Jack
Zombie
Chloe
Azor
Shocked at the incredible display of skill Sun Xiao had just done, Chloe fails to dodge the second zombie's attack. Hissing with pain and anger, she whips her new sword across the zombie's chest.
To-Hit:
Damage:
Chloe's sword slices deep into the zombie's chest cavity, carving out a sizable chunk of flesh.
Azor notices the zombie strike Chloe. He casts natural healing, healing himself for 3. He then redirects the healing through the collective to Chloe.
While still singing/shaking his Tambourine like an idiot, Ghulassen whips out his bow and fires.
The arrow sings through the air, burying itself in the neck of the zombie. It staggers a bit, but it's still 'alive'.
Sun rolls his neck a little bit to loosen it and whips the sword at the nearby zombie. Unfortunately, he's off balance from his first swing and narrowly misses the shambling creature.
He calls over his shoulder.
"Your crossbow is useless on this guy, Jack, you may as well save your bolts."
Jack flexes his fingers and grins. "How about a little fire, zombie?
Pointing dramatically, he casts Energy Ray at the undead abomination...
...and scorches a spot on the carriage 2 inches to its left.
The zombie moans and strikes out at Chloe again.
However, it completely misses.
Hissing with anger, Chloe slashes at the zombie again!
To-Hit:
Damage:
Chloe lashes out at the zombie, but it staggers back at the last second and she misses by an inch.