Merenso rushes at the sound of struggle. Upon seeing the undead body, he draws the sword and charges at the abomination.
(+2 if charge allowed)
Intel
Ereviss tosses the coil of rope at his belt at the creature. He casts a spell turning it into a writhing mass.
Range touch as he gives the command tie it wraps around creature.
DC 23 str check to burst.
Reeling back from the blow, Ereviss tosses his coil of rope at the creature and mutters a spell. The rope quickly uncoils and wraps itself around the undead thing, holding it in place despite its considerable power. Then Merenso charges out of the hallway and beheads it. Xiuj pops out of the back, bomb at the ready, but the creatures head is rolling to Ereviss' feet. It's dead. Again.
Kendra hasn't rushed downstairs; she may not have heard.
Ereviss rushes out to clean up the mess before Kendra sees it. He stashes the corpse out of sight so they can bury it the next day.
"Are you alright Ereviss? Your discreetness may be wasted if this nasty bruise you've got isn't healed or at least covered up with a plausible enough story."
"I am fine--I guess we can just tell Kendra the truth." Ereviss seems to have reconsidered his previous plan.
"No, no, plan fine. Here, you take."
Xiuj impatiently hands a small bottle of greyish liquid to Ereviss, smelling much like bitter chocolate.
It is a Potion of Cure Light Wounds.
There is a knock at the door...
Domminia enters, her head shrouded in a hood and sees the professor's body on the floor.
"Should I presume that to be the Professor? My name is Domminia.
She looks around the room and wonders what must have transpired.
looking into the now opened doorway seeing the Professor on the floor ysabot rushes over to him and casts stabilize while asking
what happened to him? Please be alive, i still need you.
no no no this cant be happening please stay here with me.
Merenso just stands there with the sword still in hand, dumbstruck.
The Professor?! No, it is some kind of undead abomination which has just loomed through the door! The Professor lies dead and buried in his grave... By the gods! You don't think it could possibly be...
"Let me take a closer look" Domminia gracefully saunters over to the now lifeless zombie to get a better view...
She pulls down her hood to enable closer inspection, revealing a subtle halo above her head.
The body is of a middle aged man, deceased two to four weeks. The head looks to have been half crushed, but the hair... Yes, this was Professor Lorrimor.
Up close you can see it's a formerly animated corpse. It has some resemblance to the Professor, but with all the damage it's hard to be sure.
Well, the body has the same build and is dressed in formal clothes, like the Professor was, but it's too badly damaged to be sure it's him.
Looking around you can see the scuffmarks and dirt on the ground, the way Ereviss is holding his left side, added to the mud and slime on Merenso's bare blade add up to a fight in the Lorrimor living room. No damage to the door though, so it didn't break in.
Up close you can see the body on the ground is a formerly animated corpse. It has some resemblance to the Professor, but with half the head crushed it's hard to be sure... Wait, the tufts of hair, the sun browned knuckles on his hands... Yes. This is the remains of Professor Lorrimor.
"You late!" Xiuj says severely.
"Miss come down soon, see body! Very bad! You take away now!"
At first Domminia, doubts her snap conclusion but after closer inspection, she says "That is the Professor, something afoul is afoot..." as she blushes in disbelief and covers her face with her hands.
She regains her composure after about 3 minutes and turns to Xluj, "Where should we put him?"
Fengrig appears in the doorway and leans against the jamb, panting.
"It took me awhile, but I lost the mob and-" He stops when he sees what everyone else is standing over. "What's going on?" he demands.
who did this to the professor, why is he like this? what is going on around here anyway? Looking confused as to what is going on around this town, and wanting it to make sense.
Domminia turns on her heel to face Fengrig, "Me too, we have just discovered that somehow the professor was animated and our brave colleagues were able to defeat him, but how? We also don't want to Kendra to see the body, once again....
She then scratches her temple, hmmm... This has been all a bit too traumatic for her...
Fengrig kneels down before the Professor's body and examines it, looking for any clues about the nature of its reanimation.
Once finished, he stands up and throws his cloak over the body. "It's not a permanent solution, but if Kendra returns soon, at least she won't see the professor like this."
"I'm glad you came back."
Kendra Lorrimor, the Professors daughter, comes up the hallway and into the front room. She is dressed to the nines in a formal dress, and looks more determined than you've ever seen her before.
You aren't really sure, but she seemed to be flirting with Ereviss as she swept into the room.
Merenso, did you hear..." Her faces switches to a delighted smile when she sees the newcomers. She rushes forward to kiss and hug you all.
"You're back! I was worried when we couldn't find you after the riot at the funeral! Anyway, I'm glad you're here now. We're off to the town meeting and I'm going to give them a piece of my mind..."
She sniffs the air. "Eeew, what smells? Xiuj, have you been stinking up my kitchen with your potions again?" She starts glancing around, nose wrinkled...
His eyes dart back and forth as he draws on his pipe.
"Perhaps..." He drawls out.
Domminia kisses her in Bussi fashion with two kisses on the side of each cheek and says. "I agree that was a complete fiasco last time, people should show the proper respect!"
Sense Motive
Domminia picks up on Kendra's flirtation and a wee tear forms in her eye. Which she wipes away with her neckerchief and she turns away just suddenly.
cant let her see the body, best get her out of here as soon as possible
Gets behind Kendra and starts to push her out of the room, avoiding her seeing the body if possible.
Good to see you too, we can catch up when your back from the meeting. better go now so you can really give them a piece of your mind.
Ereviss rushes to Kendra, quite calm and collected and gives Kendra a large smile.
"Kendra, you look stunning."
To the larger group, "Morenso, Xiuj, and I found some artifacts in a crypt that should prove quite useful to our endeavors. I knew the bond of the late professor would keep this group together to investigate his death and avenge him. I said it before, the professor brought out the best in all of us. We need to sit down by warm fire and plot our next move."
Fengrig nods in agreement with Ereviss. "Indeed, it would seem we have a lot to discuss."
After Kendra leaves again, Domminia sits down by the fire and says "What should we do with the professor's body, I think we could bring it back to the crypt to see if it is a clone or maybe we should burn it so it won't reanimate, do any of you have any ideas?"
"Burning it would be the most expedient option," Fengrig says. "But part of me feels... uncomfortable destroying Lorrimor's body."
He chuckles humorlessly. "Of course, the Professor would probably say I'm being overly sentimental. And from a practical standpoint, carrying his body through the streets will probably attract unwanted attention."
"Well, Xiuj and I have been doing extensive research on the area. One thing I learned in this endeavour, is Xiuj is quite knowledgeable in many important areas. Allowing him to summarize things from his perspective when we are all together is probably a good way to start after we burn the body."
@Xiuj "Thank you for the potion earlier, it was quite potent."
Ereviss shows no adverse signs of his earlier encounter except for a badly torn coat, which he has since changed.
Kendra blushes furiously at Ereviss' words. As she is about to reply, Ysabot hustles her out the door.
Nonplussed, she stands outside looking at her front door while some muted conversation happens inside.
Abuptly furious, she puts her shoulder to the door and barges in.
"HEY!" She barks at the top of her lungs as she looks angrily around at you all.
Once she has your attention she continues.
"First of all, remember the terms of fathers will? You have to stay at my house doing what I say for a month, or you don't get your thousand platinum!
"Second, if you DON'T come with me, those superstitious fools on the town council are liable to blame all the undead happenings on my father, and since he's dead, blame will fall to you, his closest associates. If you're lucky, they'll only tar and feather you.
"So, if it's not too much trouble, I want you to come with me when I address the mob, uh, council.
"Right now."
She claps her hands and starts shoving people out the door.
"Let's move people!"
Perception:
Domminia displaying bladder issues, moves over to Kendra and says "Honey, I'll be right with you I need to use the chamber pot. Could you be a sweetie and show me where the closest one is?" as she touches her shoulder softly and flashes her an embarassed smile.
please don't see it please don't see it. ah she....what she stepped over it umm ok at least she did not see the body yet.
Smiling at Kendra despite being yelled at speaking calmly
Oh yes I forgot about that with all that is going on, i will be coming along with you, as requested. I hope we can keep them calm
Kendra blinks at Dimminia.
"Oh. Yes; down the hall to the left there is a bathroom you can use... Didn't I show it to you already?" She looks confused.
Domminia blushes and says "I must have forgotten in all of the excitement, please forgive me. Domminia give Kendra a hug and says "I'll be back soon" she then winks at the rest of the group.
Afterwards, she moves swiftly from the room to the bathroom, relieves herself, washes her hands and then summons Theodoric.
"Domminia, my child, how may I be of assistance?"
She looks flustered at the mild deception but it was mostly true. "Would you be able to dispose of the Professor's zombie body with fire while we treat with the mob?" a tear comes to her eye.
Theodoric tilts his armored head, befuddled, "Domminia, how am I to protect you from these people if I am doing this other task?"
She starts to cry, "This aberration almost killed my friends and we cannot take the risk and Kendra is on the brink and everything...."
He hugs her, "There, there, I will do it!". She then hands him his sword.
"We already gave him a proper burial and look where it got him! I say destroying the body is better than letting it succumb to the foul necromancers for the fate much worse then death."
Merenso swallows as Kendra steps over the desecrated and mutilated body of her late father. He catches up with her to engage her in conversation and lead her away from the house faster.
"You don't say, those guys are severely lacking in the discipline department! First disappearing for the whole day like that, then almost abandoning you in such a crucial moment! But they are good at heart, I'm sure, and we will stand at your side as one during the hearings."
Dominnia rejoins the group after five minutes, "Kendra, Dahling, let's face this rabble together"
When Kendra is safely out of sight, Fengrig snatches his cloak from off of the Professor's body. He gives it a shake, holds it up to his nose and sniffs.
He holds it out to Merenso. "Does this still smell okay to wear?"
Merenso wrinks his half-elven nose.
"Wouldn't wear it to a ball if I were you, but most of the rabble here smell no better anyway. Even the local ale leaves an earthly aftertaste. What a wretched place."
Once everyone is out of the room, Domminia slams the door loudly. Queueing Theodoric to go into action. The eidolon waits until everyones is out side and then goes into the room and finds the professor, picks him up over his shoulder and stuffs the body into the fireplace and stoking the flames with a mixture of alcohol and oil.
"He is burning nicely"
He sits and watches the body burn and proceeds to sharpen his sword with a whetstone.
Now that we are together lets go to the meeting i am sure they will want some answers as to what is going on.
Kendra grins and links arms with Domminia and Ysabot.
"Yes! Lets go!" She calls out, practically skipping as she leads you out the gates and up the road towards the town.
The dusk is grey as usual as what little color there is fades from the autumn sky. It is a miracle it's not raining, but few complain as they make their way through dry windblown leaves towards the town hall, now lit by dozens of torches as people gather there.
A couple of groups are outside the packed hall, muttering in low urgent
tones and turning dark glances in your direction as you approach.
Despite that, a few of the villagers, mostly women, take the time to greet her warmly.
Making your way into the hall, you see that most of the spots are taken, but you can still make your way to a few empty seats, or even stand against a wall.
Ereviss follows Kendra, offering her a show of support by staying closeby. "Quite a turnout!"
Kendra pauses just inside the door, scanning the place for a place to sit.
Domminia would like to be at F10
k18, having letters and numbers makes it so much easier.
looks over at Kendra Looks like none of us will be able to it together, but we will support you as best we can, right everyone! she says in a cheerful manner.
"Darling, I will be right up front, if you need me", she then kisses Kendra on both cheeks and makes her way to her spot.
Merenso glances over the room with a scornful look, then takes up a spot against the wall opposite Domminia, arms crossed.
Fengrig snags a open aisle seat near the front.