"Aye, what th' lady said. Is it any other questions you're after having?" Peredur gives Eloise's shoulder a squeeze (after making sure there are no wounds near it). "Well done. That thing were a doughty foe."
"Same to you," Eloise says, breathing heavily. She turns to look at the others and spreads her arms in an ecompassing gesture. "Same to all of us. The Hawthorne Society prevails yet again!"
"It does seem that way. My compliments, everyone. That was one fearsome beast."
Talia looks around the group, inspecting wounds. "Besides myself, who is wounded and needs aid? We should see to such before venturing off, or Mr. Heck will no doubt make some comment or other about leaving a trail of blood." She smirks at the bard before inspecting her own wound, touching it lightly and wincing.
"Here," Eloise says, and raises one hand for a moment.
Sour Heck presses a hand to his wound. “I’ve lost a lot of blood here, too.” The bard’s boots squelch in a patch of red mud. “Oh, wait...I’ve found it. Eloise, you’ve chunks of manticore in your hair.”
He walks to the trunk of the tree with the manticore nest in it, pulling a coil of rope from his bag as he goes. “You all remember this from the armory under Harrowstone, don’t you? I’m not sure what crimes it committed to be confined there, but it’s eager to make amends. I’ve named it Walter Fray. Climb and knot, Fray,” he says.
The slick, silver-gray rope twitches to life in Sour Heck’s hands. It slithers up the side of the tree like a snake, ties itself to a branch above the nest, then convulses, twisting itself into easily climbed knots along its whole length. Sour Heck tugs on it to be sure it’s anchored soundly, then stands back and gestures grandly upward. “After you, Peredur.”
"I can help here. I just hope we don't need much more healing."
Iesha dumps most of her spells and converts them to cures.
3 remaining 1st:
Eloise
Peredur
Sour Heck
1 2nd:
Talia
"That feels good," Eloise says, rolling her shoulders to work out the stiffness. "Thank you."
"OK, anyone who still needs healed, move closer."
Once everyone is in range, Iesha channels.
As Peredur (or anyone else) climbs the rope to the large nest-like structure, they will being to smell the remains of a dwarf. It's tattered clothes appear shredded and several large spikes protrude from its body.
A search of the pockets of the patchwork cloak worn by the dwarf reveal the following:
- a small vial of something oily
- a small package of a yellow, smelly powder
- a silver hip flask
- a crimson felt purse
At Peredur's perch on the nest, they will note something glinting on the ground nearby. A careful search in that area will reveal a short sword and a wand.
Eloise makes her way over to where these items lie and mutters a brief cantrip, then squats and studies the items more closely.
"Let's see what we've got here," she mutters.
The shortsword gives no indication of any enchantment -- instead it appears very finely crafted. The wand, however, appears to be a wand of ghost sound
Peredur will lower the dwarf's body to the ground. "One for Pharasma's clergy." He traces a spiral on his chest. "Lazne, have you seen this fellow ere now?" While waiting for Lazne to reply, the ranger will look in the purse. "Eloise, aught of magic about these other things?"
ETA: "And we're on th' topic of magic, 'fore th' fight began you said you sensed illusion magic. Was that yon wand, or something else?"
Sour Heck crosses the dwarf's hands over his chest. "Behold the luckiest man in Ustalav. To die in a cemetery...how convenient is that? Lazne, your folk won't mind if we move this fellow from the attic to the basement, will they?"
"While I dig a grave, show these outlanders where you spotted The Beast so we can get out of the swamp before midnight." He pauses. "Anyone bring a shovel?"
"I'm fairly sure this is what I detected," Eloise replies, holding up the wand and waggling it. "It's a wand of Ghost Sound. Sour Heck, I think you could probably make the best use of it."
Talia thanks Iesha for the healing before moving to Lazne's side. "Is the spot far from here, Lazne? If not, I can take a look with you while Sour is being respectful." She turns to Kieli and says "Keep an eye out, will you? If you spot another big beastie, give a caw."
"Suit yerself", Lazne says to Sour Heck.
Lazne walks southward about 10 paces to a small clump of trees and says that he and the other villagers saw the beast attacked by the blood caiman there (he points near the shore). "Never heard so much cursing before in m'life, that nasty thing!" he says, spitting a gob of weed juice and looking back northward, nervously.
All around you are graves and the small effigies.
Peredur looks around the graveyard, trying to get a feel for how well kept up it is and whether the keeper(s) is/are perhaps other than orthodox Pharasmin. "Lazne, is it remembering you are what sort of curses th' Beast used, when caught by th' blood cayman?"
Sour Heck wanders the area, looking for a clear patch of ground to bury the stranger in, but also searching for any clues to what happened here.
"You'll want this," Eloise says, handing Iesha the package of dust and flashing her a quick grin. "It's bodybalm. Should come in handy with all the healing we make you do, huh?"
"This oil should make your longspear even more devastating," she says as she hands the oil to Sour Heck. "It's an alchemical condensation of the Keen Edge-spell. I'll be able to cast it myself one day, and Peredur's sword is already enchanted with it, so... Yeah. I think it should be yours."
*****
At the gravesite, Eloise looks around, a frow creasing her forehead.
"Odd place to plot a cemetery," she says. "ANy boggle from the bog could come and dig up the graves for an easy meal. Where are the walls? Where are the temple wards to keep out the undead - or to keep them in?"
Sour Heck notices a small boat (a coracle) hidden in the trees and bushes -- not far from where Lazne indicated was the final croc & creature battle spot.
Iesha
Peredur for undead
Talia
Eloise
To Peredur: "Don't rightly remember the curse words exactly. I can say they seemed other worldly. Some stuff I ain't never heard."
Peredur, your knowledge may tell you that the creature was almost certainly not natural -- likely a magical creature or even maybe extra planar?
Peredur, you will also notice that several graves seems strangely depressed and maybe even tampered with.
To Eloise: "Well, the swamp pretty much leaves the graves 'lone. It's like it knows that the place is sacred.". He casts his eyes about and nods, as if to himself.
Eloise, other than the items you've already seen, you sense nothing else magical about the island.
Eloise frowns. "There's not a lick nor a sniff of magic about this place," she says. "I don't even detect any Cleric blessings."
Sour Heck drags the coracle out of its hiding spot, away from the water, to where the others are gathered around the manticore's nesting spot.
"What do you make of this? Lazne, is this boat from your village?"
"There's somethin' off about a few of th' graves, as well. Something's been at them." While Sour Heck is talking with Lazne, the ranger arranges his path so it intersects Eloise. "Th' tale he tells--clearly 'tis not Andrew he's speaking of. It's thinking I am that 'twas something from...elsewhere, and you take my meaning."
"Aye, I take it well enough," Eloise whispers back. "Not too surprising. Not after we ran into that accursed phase spider. I'm trying to think of something that fits the description Lazne gave..."
"It comes to me that perhaps this is where th' bodies Andrew was made from came."
Peredur will take a closer look at the graves that may have been tampered with.
Iesha joins Peredur in his search of the graves.
"Very well could be. Does look like the one we saw him fleein' in, anyhow." Lazne says, after a cursory look at the boat.
The boat contains an oar, a moldy leather travel bag with a damp artisan's outfit, and a vile object -- what appears to be a detached human face. There is also, upon close inspection, a bit of dried blood in the bottom of the boat.
As Sour Heck drags the boat up the shore to the north, he will notice the boat is attached to a length of rope which stretches into the water below. Sour Heck is able to easily pull the rope up, and finds a heavy sack attached at the other end. The sack is big enough to hold a medium sized humanoid inside. There is dried blood soaked into the fabric of the sack. Inside the sack you will find some rope, a gag, a rusted lantern, a trio of heavy knives, and a rusted shovel.
Peredur
Iesha
Sour Heck
Talia
Eloise
Peredur will notice something odd while searching graves near the boat -- he will find a leatherbound case with fine tools inside. Made of silver with amethyst handles. He will also notice a small symbol on the handle depicting a raven.
After looking closer at the graves, you will find a total of 6 graves which have wide depressions in the muddy earth.
To the south, you see the remains of a small firepit. Near the firepit are a waterskin (half full of something), the aged remains of some trail rations, and a curious glass vial.
"These are surgical tools, the sort used by physicians and chirurgeons. How odd. Unless they belonged to that dwarf the manticore killed."
"This doesn't look like grave robbery," Eloise says. "Or at least, not in the conventional sense. This looks more like some poor bugger was dragged out here, freshly dead or barely alive, got dissected and then the bastard who did it buried what was left over. Not a stupid idea; there's graves a-plenty to bury bits and pieces in here, and no neighbours to complain about smells or sounds.
Like I said, not conventional grave robbery, but disturbance of the dead. We may find those messed-up graves hold more than what they should. Not good, not in this kind of place; it's a rising of the vengeful dead, waiting to happen."
"I'm not after recalling th' significance of th' raven. Lazne, it's wanting we are to dig up one of these graves, for we fear something terrible's been done here." He taps the spiral he wears and nods to Iesha. "Fear not, for 'twill be done with all due reverence."
Iesha nods. "And, if what we fear is true, it will be reported to the proper authorities, so this site can be properly cleansed of such crimes."
“Then, Eloise, you think this is actually someone’s face?” The bard picks up the grisly thing in the boat and cradles it gently in his palms. “Lazne...could this be one of the villagers you lost?”
“We’d better bury it too. Finiding this shovel, it’s like a message from the gods. And that message is probably ‘Dig a grave for yourself,’ if I know the gods.”
"I would prefer to bury it," Eloise says, "but what about evidence before the court?"
"Too, 'twould be a fine thing, and we were able to bury th' face with th' rest of th' body, look you."
"Let me see it. Maybe I can tell just what it is."
Talia remains quiet for some time, thinking and examining what's been uncovered.
"Hmm... I'd suggest not burying anything just yet. If Andrew is accused of killing people here, anything we find my become evidence. But these items bring up more questions. What was Andrew doing with surgical tools? Would he even fit in the tiny boat?"
"Eloise, is there a way to determine if someone was cut up using fine tools, as opposed to their bare hands or claws or anything? If there is, and we could examine one of the corpses Andrew is supposed to have killed..."
"That would be more Iesha's skill-set than mine," Eloise says. "But what I recall from Necromancy 101 suggests that yes, it is possible to determine the difference. Claws and fangs leave very different marks than scalpels.
And it is my thought that Andrew was not the one wielding these tools. It's far more likely that his creator was, when he or she was still hunting for... parts."
Eloise looks faintly queasy at the mention of Necromancy lessons, and slightly moreso when discussing the realities of crafting flesh golems.
Iesha frowns at her companion's speculations. "I...dont know. Something seems...off."
She turns to their guide. "Sir, may I as a few questions? I understand that you tracked -the Beast- here and fought -it- until he was attacked by a blood caiman. Has anyone been buried here since then? The folks that were killed, for example? Were there ever signs of someone tampering with this place prior to that time? And..."she frowns "how long has this Beast been reported in this area? And, I'm sorry to have to ask you, but, is this" she holds out the face carefully "anyone you recognize? And, if so, when did you see them last?"
Sour Heck seems sadder about finding the rusty shovel than the severed face.
“When I offered to dig a grave, I didn’t think I’d actually have to follow through on it,” he complains. With a sigh, he starts digging up one of the graves that looks like it was tampered with. “You know what the worst part of being a gravedigger in Ustalav is? Repeat business!”
"You mean you may find a zombie knocking down your door and be forced to bury it again? Or that Ustalavi undertakers dig their graves too shallow the first time so they'll be hired a second time to plant the dearly departed?" Eloise quips.
“From what I hear, you don’t have to bury them all that deep--just turn the coffin upside down, and they dig themselves deeper when they try to claw their way out. Or you can hammer them into the coffin with an oak stake, or both.”
“Did you know people burn their dead in some parts of the world? Cremation, they call it. Madness, I call it. The ones that come back without their bodies are the worst of them all--like that Splatterman.”
"They like to bury them in tombs, back home," Eloise says. "They can keep their bodies, and all the marble and stuff means they can't push the lid off or dig their way out."
Peredur, as for the length of time the things have been here, it looks like many months. Possibly a year or more.
To Iesha: "Nope, we don' bury 'em here no more. Not since that night. Damn beast's blood tainted the ground, so's to spoil it. We abandoned this place and moved the buryin' elsewhere."
"Can't say we saw anything amiss about our boneyard before the Beast started attacking people. People went missing over a few weeks before we decided to set our trap"
"As for that face, it does look just a little bit like a woman named Nan Klebem. She was a poacher who'd come by the village 'bout once a month. Odd. Haven't seen her in quite a while. Durn near a year, come to think of it."
Some additional things our heroes may know or safely deduce.
The graves do look like they have been excavated and re-covered, sans bodies (hence the dimpling).
"Andrew" has huge, rough hands.
"We might ask some questions around the university," Eloise says, frowning thoughtfully. "Alchemists and surgeons... The kind of people best capable of dissecting a corpse, preserving it -- and putting the pieces back together."
"Hmm... From what Lazne described of the attack, I cannot imagine anyone, even Andrew, coming away without wounds and scars from an encounter with one of those caiman-creatures..."
At this point, the party seems to have safely deduced that the surgeons tools aren't for Andrew. You also seemed to have surmised that it's almost impossible for Andrew to have been attacked by the blood caiman, which will be Lazne's testimony tomorrow.
The moon is rising as night draws in. Do you plan to head back to town? The trial starts in the morning, and Lazne will be traveling to Lepidstadt at some point to offer his testimony.
"Let's get back to the city," Eloise says, as she stretches -- a little stiffly, and with many a wince for her remaining wounds. "We need to be there for the first phase of the trial tomorrow."
Peredur jots down some notes about what was found before taking Eloise up on her suggestion. "Aye, we've still much to do and to think on."