The dark overcast skies that sit low overhead seem to speak to the deeds that are to be done today. Kendra, the daughter of the late Professor Lorrimor, stands over the casket with the visible sadness anyone would expect to be on her face given the circumstances. Others who knew her father stand slightly off the side talking among themselves all looking rather sombre as well waiting for the events to proceed. They are all waiting on the final four guests to the funeral to arrive and it seems they will not be waiting much longer as the final stranglers make their way from town clearly having enjoyed the hospitality of the city's inn.
Kendra weakly smiles and looks to the new arrivals saying "Welcome old friends, its good to see you received the invitations, I was worried the couriers may not have been able to find you, how was your journeys?"
"Greetings Kendra, my journey was uneventful. I was sorry to hear of your father's passing. You have my condolences"
"Blessing from the lady of the graves Kendra, the journey here was not a long one for me and I am always welcome at my ladys temples. May the lady of graves watch over your fathers soul as she does so many."
Shava's wings of light glimmer as she nods her head toward the other travellers.
"Hello again darlin' its been to long since I've been around these parts to see you. So sorry I hadn't been around i'd been fixin' to visit your daddy. If you need anythin' at all don't be afraid to ask, ands I do mean anythin'."
Gives Kendra a hug.
"Hey. Me 'eart to you, ma dear. The professor was good to me, even if he'd sooner poke and prod me than talk to me. Goes wid da territory, I s'pose."
Kendra's face seems to lose its downtrodden expression for a brief moment as she hears the voices of these old friends of her father's again. but its only gone for a moment then she turns her mind back to the matter at hand as the other guests are waiting and she knows that they will have other things to get to in their day so she must press on with the funeral.
"So i know the letter told you all that there is a matter of my fathers will to be dealt with but that is to be done later today after we have interred his body is the Restlands, that's the name of the graveyard here in Ravengro." she motions to the graveyard who's gates the procession is waiting at "I find we are in need of pall bearers, and I can think of no one better than you all here, would you be so kind as to carry my dear father to his final resting place?" Kendra knows that her fathers friends here are more than strong enough to carry the coffin and truthfully they are in better physical shape than many of those waiting in the procession.
"It would be an honour."
With a curt gesture of his head, he immediately walks towards the casket, and stands over it. He scans the crowd as if a sentry on a vigil, waiting for Kendra to indicate the next steps.
"As I did say darlin' anythin' at all"
A quick tip of his top hat, and a kiss on the hand Samdi goes and takes a middle spot on the casket knowing he probably shouldn't take a corner with his strength.
" I would be honoured to help with this ritual"
Shava lowered the amount of light coming off of her wings to that of a dull shimmer and moved toward the casket taking her place.
"One last journey with da old man. Aye, I got ya."
Calista moves to the remaining spot.
"So lads, shall we shove off then?
Seeing everything was prepared Kendra motions up the hill into the graveyard "Father Grimburrow waits for us just over the hill in the cemetery, he came by early with the gravediggers to prepare the plot. Let us not keep him waiting. Follow me my friends!" She says the last few words with conviction raising her voice so the other attendees of the funeral can hear her and they perk up and get in line behind the casket.
The procession quietly follows Kendra and the casket bearers up the hill on the path in the cemetery. As the procession rounded the corner of the path known as the Dreamwake and turning onto the Eversleep you can see the path is blocked by a group of a dozen surly locals. When they notice the procession the tallest man among them speaks out "That's far enough. We been talking, and we don't want Lorrimor buried in the Restlands. You can take him upriver, but he ain't goin' in the ground here!"
Kendra is swift to respond "What are you talking about! she cries out. "I arranged it with Father Grimburrow. He's waiting for us! The grave's already been..."
"You don't get it, woman. We won't have a necromancer buried in the same place as our kin. I suggest you move out while you still can. Folks are pretty upset about this right now."
"Necromancer!? Are you really that ignorant?"
Prepares to follow anothers lead if they go to set down the casket, or catch it if someone else drops their end. Otherwise I would wait and allow others to speak.
"Now now fine people ther's no reason to teef a man of his grave. Let us just put dis thin' down and talk like fine friendly folk."
Waits to see if Mr. Blue can diffuse things. Prepares to set down the coffin at a moment's notice.
"Are we not civilized folk? We just fixin' to lay a man to rest and woulds' be mighty grateful if you would let us proceed. The poor gravedigger has already dug the hole, why waste a good mans work?"
hearing the men make accusations of necromancy at a friend of hers Shava's wings flare brighter physically showing emotions that run through her even though her face does not.
Apprehensive about the confrontation unfolding in front of her Shava agrees with the notions the oddly bluish man has put forth but not wanting to muddle the confrontation with more voices simply prepares to put down the casket if the need arises.
Kendra's argument falls on deaf ears and Samdi's does about the same.
Gib's shouts "Ain't none o' your business outsider like i said we ain't lettin' this man be buried with our kin. now we dont want to hurt no one but we are going to stop you."
with the final words Gib's knods to the rest of the group and a half dozen of them approach the procession with their farm tools raised
Calista can sense that there is no blood thirst on these mens mind but they mean business.
The party having thought this might be where this confrontation lead imidiatly began putting down the casket while the men closed in on them and as they do so Kendra crys "Please dont kill anyone, they are fools but not bad men!" and with that the men were upon them.
ok initiative order is
ben,villager 2, addy, ted, villager 3, 4, kyle, villager 6, 5, and 1
ben i gave you control of your character on roll20, so if you wanna do your stuff and post whatever it is you do we can get this combat rolling. ted and addy you both need to log into the game, if the link abouve doesnt work let me know in skype
"Can't blame a lesser mind for not understandin'"
With a sigh Samdi raises his hand muttering "Frissons" Causing his hand to slowly have frost spread across it. Only having one target in easy range he attempts to touch his chest.
With a wide arc Samdi doesn't even get close to his target. Shaking his head he prepares for the counter attack he stumbles backwards "Next time less drinking at a funeral.."
As Samdi prepares to cast his spell the villager next to him swings to stop the caster from getting his spells to bear
the villager successfully bats at Samdi's hands muttling the spell and dissipating its power before.
the next villager swings his tool in had at the nearest of the party, that being Wallace
the blow lands on Wallace with no real force but it does sting and will likely leave a bruise in the morning
"Ye don't wanna do this. A body could get hurt. Stop dis before I have to."
Calista raises her hand and unleashes a gout of flame at the villager next to her.
As the group of men surround the party Shava's wings flare a red colour, her anger bleeding into them rather than her face which doesn't shift from a stoic grimace at what must be done here. reaching for her waist she first draws her morning star and moves to thwamp the first man in front of her.
the blow strikes clean her underhanded swing takes the man in the gut and he groans as he falls to the ground, blood pouring from the wound, he would need care soon but not immediately and there are still more men to see too before this is finished
and like that two of the men are down, but the remaining villagers dont give up quite yet and in fact one of them steps up to follow Samdi, knowing that he can cast magics and magic can be dangerous if left unchecked. the villager swings the tool he has in hand and...
it wiffs, Samdi barely having to employ any of his defensive skills to avoid the hit.
with the events of the past few seconds the other farmers are certainly starting to look like this might have been a bad idea but they arnt ready to throw in the towel yet
Wallace quickly draws his ankus, and reaches behind to trip the man that stepped behind him.
He hooks the villagers leg and pulls, but the man seems to be made of sterner stuff than his backwater upbringing would denote. His leg doesn't budge.
as Wallace turns to try and trip their friend his awkward motions leave him open to the villagers assault and they take full advantage
the first swing connects and again stings Wallace but doesnt take him down yet
a second blow connects again stinging wallace but he still stands though perhaps he isnt feeling the greatest at the moment
and the final attack goes in against him but this time wallace takes the attacks more seriously and blocks the attack.
seeing their friends land a couple blows on one of the party ther villagers still think they have a chance to win this fight and press the attack, focusing this time though on the woman who put a morning star into there friends chest, she looks to be a threat and they are worried about that and they also know that in flanking their opponent they will have an easier time hitting her
even with the pincer attack only one blow lands though it is a strong one and she looks like that one hurt a bit but she is still firmly on her feet looking to fight.
End of round 1
Once again Samdi raises his hand and mutters "Frissons" A thin layer of frost covers his hand this time aiming to touch the mans shoulder
As his hand brushes up against the man the frost turns black, my hand surging a dark blue, the light follows itself into the victims chest temporarily disrupting the mans life.
the negative energy of Samdi's touch flows through the villager, visibly harming him as his face contorts in pain but it seems the rugged life lived here in a farming town has granted him the fortitude to fight off any other effects of the energies which racked his body.
still standing their ground for the moment another villager swings at Wallace, this time luck not on his side as his blow glances harmlessly away now that Wallace has his wits, and his defences about him.
with the first man down Shava's onslaught does not abate except to draw her shield so as to shore up her defenses. she takes another swing at a villager that assaults her and....
but the blow goes wide unfortunately, Shava's wings again flash red showing her frustration at the miss more than her face
The second blast of flame flies over the shoulder of the next villager. Calista face shows a flash of annoyance.
with two of his friends down and bleeding and himself having taken a blow from magics he feels to be unholy in nature one of the villagers flees from this battle to the perceived safty of the rest of the mob
Not wanting to leave himself open while trying another trip, Wallace draws his shield and attacks the villager to his left. He throws a swing trying to collide with the side of it instead of the hook or point to stun his opponent.
The villager deftly ducks under the swing. Wallace is visibly frustrated and scowling.
With his shield now drawn he stands ready in front of Samdi.
the remaining villagers visibly look shaken and look like they are nearing their limit but arnt quite done with their assault as the party also looks to be close to being finished so they hope that with a little luck they may still succeed.
but both their attacks miss their marks with little effort of the party
End of round 2
Samdi slips around to the rear of a villager. The human pallbearer is making a excellent distraction. Dagger in hand a quick stab to the shoulder and get this misunderstanding over with.
A solid hit, striking its target but with all the strength of a 12 year old child
The blow the villager took from samdi forces the villager to loose all of the remaining resolve he had and he too flees from the fight
Wallace, visibly flustered takes a step to put himself between the villager and Samdi, and takes a swing again, still trying to avoid lethally injuring the villager.
With a yelp the villager dodges the blow.
Seeing the villagers start to flee or fall before the party Shava lets slip a small smile from her lips, soon they could be back to the task at hand and bury the honored dead that is Professor Lorimor. But not quite done yet and so she swings again at an assailant
but it seem her distraction at the thought of finishing the burial has made her blow go wide, but no matter this will be done soon enough she thinks to herself, its only a matter of time.
Slipping back to avoid attack, Calista unleashes a third blast of flames at the nearest villager.
Calista grins to herself at her second successful takedown of the fight.
And with the 5th man to fall or flee the final villager looses his nerve and retreats to the safety of the mob. As the fight seems to be coming to an end Kendra hears the rush of running feet and everyone sees an old man in robes rushing towards the party.
Kendra exclaims "Father Grimburrow, thank the gods your here! these men are trying to steal my fathers casket! they are saying they arnt going to let me bury my father here!"
Grimburrow's brow furls even further than it has been since he crested the hill, seeing there are injured here he first uses his holy powers to heal those strewn on the ground and the party alike.
with everyone in good health he then turns to the mob and in an agry tone shouts at them "Gibs Id recomend you take you and yours and get yourself gone from here, you will be reported to the sheriff for this so dont go causing any more trouble. Kendra and her father have every right to be here and you are not going to stop this funeral!"
With half the men fearing the party and the other half cowing from the Father's scolding they pick up their fallen comrades and leave with out further hassle.
With the matter dealt with the Father turns to the party and a good look can finally be made of him. He is an older man, his hair compleatly lost to the ravages of age and what remains is white as snow. the most striking thing about him though is his still bright blew eyes showing that while he is aged he still has his wits about him. "I am sorry you had to experience that today of all days Kendra, let us take up your fathers casket and be done with these events shall we?
"I could not agree more, let us go my friends not far now to the grave site, please take my father just a bit further" Kendra says to the party as she motions over the hill
With a kurt nod, Wallace sheaths his weapon and stows his shield. He returns to his position by the casket and resumes his role as pallbearer.
"Lets get back to dis sad business now that the rabble has dispersed."
Samdi takes his place at the casket again, awaiting the others so we can end this grim day.
"Quite. Da old man deserves his rest."
Calista takes her place at the casket.
And the party once again takes up its grave task and carries the casket to its resting place.
The actual burial is what one would expect, with the good Father saying the good that the professor did in his life and that he is now in Pharasma's hands to be judged and sent to his final destination. Kendra's speech was of course a tad more emotional and filled with metions of her memories with her father and how he will be missed
In closing Kendra adresses the group that gathered today to pay their final respects "If any of you have any words they would like to say about my father id be glad to hear them, my father had many friends near and far and im sure we can all become closer to him to hear those stories"
Calista steps forward.
"Twas a scientist, 'e was. Always tryin' a find sumthin out about sumthin ur other. Hells, 'e knew me mostly coz o' what I look like. Oh, and cuz I summon fire wid me brain. Oi imagine that was pretty interestin' too, fer one like 'im. Now, I've have many sorts after me in my life so far, and most are none too kind about it. He was different, though. Always smilin', tryin' to 'elp me get by. Paid me for my time, said twas only right if he was goin' to bother me as 'e did. But 'e was never a bovver to me. More ov a fatha to me than me own was, tell the truth. I'll miss you, ya old codger. Rest well, ya've earned it."
Tears in her eyes, Calista conjures a flame in her hand. She raises it to the sky and it flares out, as large as a campfire for a few moments, and then slowly diminishes to nothing. Calista closes her hand and steps back, wiping her face.