Well it does not be seeming like 'e came out. We can try knocking, but I do be 'aving a feeling that we may need to force our way in.
After the group went about the estate, trying to look for anything out of the ordinary (beyond the lack of activity) while Whisper sniffed around for the missing young man, Devan could almost grimly nod at Mirela's assessment. Stepping up to the door, the musician rapped loudly on the portal, hoping that a manservant would be along shortly to admit them but rather doubting it.
Knocking on the door the group stands there and waits a few moments but after a couple of minutes it is very clear that no one is coming to open the door. With the door locked and the windows shuttered, both on the first and second floor, it seems like a little more force will be needed to gain entry.
Do you want to pick the lock, Professor? Or should I use my axe?
Let’s be trying to avoid the Axe. It may raise questions or cause unhappy nobles if the owners did be coming back to see that.
If the Professor can not be opening the lock maybe we can get someone over the hedge.
Atticus spends some time on the lock but can't seem to get it open.
Can't succeed everytime, uh? If you got some rope I can climb up first and You'll come all after. After all, I'm quite known for having an "over the hedge" temper.. Didn't saw that one coming, uh, Devan? Better yet, if there's some danger up there, I'm the one to face it.
Nargun waits if someone has some rope to give, and then climbs through the hedge
Nargun climbs up and over with little difficulty, as he is climbing and specifically when he reaches the top he takes note that the hedge has actually grown over an iron fence with particularly spiky tops, had someone fallen during their climb they likely would have gotten at least partially impaled by the top of the fence.
Once on the other side he sees there is another door leading into the estate, plus a door leading to the other building off from the estate. The rest of the area is a well maintained garden with lots of trees, a small pond and a gazebo.
Atticus sighs and tries again.
Twilight watched Nargun scale the wall. She was still interested in what some of the outer buildings might be able to tell them about what to expect inside, but Atticus' continued work on the lock while Nargun was climbing the hedge seemed to have suddenly yielded results.
"Well then, it looks like we have two options. I'm still partial to exploring the grounds, but now that the door is open I have no objections to taking a quick peek inside to see what we can see."
We might want to look around the grounds first as it might give us a clue to what did be 'appening here. But let's see where he boy went.
Mirela brings Whisper forward to the now open door.
Do you smell 'im girl? Point where 'e went.
Atticus pops the lock on the door as Nargun finally gets on the other side of the hedge. Swinging the door open reveals a grisly scene. A massacre took place here. Upon the marble floor and heaped in the corners lie more than a dozen corpses, each clad in garish outfits of sequined velvet, revealing silk, and colorful feathers. Masks of all shapes and sizes, each competing with the last in terms of elaborateness, adorn the dead. In several cases, though, these fanciful adornments have fallen away, revealing withered flesh covered in the telltale blisters of blood veil. Most horrifyingly, upon a bloodslick space cleared at the room’s center sway three couples, jerking like hellish dancers to silent music, all obviously dead. As you stand outside, they don't seem to be aware of your presence as of yet.
The scent from inside is almost overwhelming as the doors are opened and Whisper shies away from the smell. It's unlikely she will be able to track anything inside with the overriding stench of decay. You can also see it looks like a staircase ascends to the south of the room. The hallway leading in has two closed doors to both the north and south. The grand hall seems to also open to another room directly to its north while another hall leads to the west.
So, should I come down now?
Looking around the Professor takes a quick step back.
Not absolutely sure what they are facing he looks at the dancers.
Gesturing to Nargun to climb down and be silent, by pressing his finger to his lips, he readies his polearm.
The dwarf gets back down to the ground, and get inside the first room of the house
What are those? Just plain zombies or something more powerful?
Nargun readies his axe and put himself on the front line, shielding his comrades from the assault to come
Atticus recognizes the undead as just zombie's. Nargun gets back over the hedge to rejoin the others and steps inside to put himself between the undead and the rest of the group. As he does, the ones dancing suddenly stop and all their heads eerily turn to look at Nargun, not happy at his interruption of their party.
Devan stared around in horror at the macabre scene in the entry room. The musician's expectations sunk even lower for finding the young Ruan alive in this mess. The young man's eyes were then drawn to the three couples still dancing in the middle of the floor, who continued to slowly waltz until noticing their presence.
Seeing Nargun set himself and get ready for the inevitable assault of their foes, Devan flanked the dwarf to prevent the sturdy fellow from getting overwhelmed, not sure how well his fencing weapon would do against the rotten corpses. Now that whatever element of surprise had been lost, he started up a stirring song, trying not to cough over the disgusting smell and feel to the air in the place.
Twilight's features hardened at the grim sight. She had been expecting that the occupants might be dead from the blood veil, but the macabre scene of a slaughter coupled with the presence of zombies was something she had never imagined.
"This is obscene" she muttered grimly as she touched Nargun placing a minor protective ward on him that blurred his features.
Nargun says to Devan
Not sure your little sword will do too much against these rotting corpses, son. This is a big place, but if we meet them in close quarters, you should let me stand in a doorway, for example, while I put my axe through them. They aren't that hard to hit, and I can go full force on them, cutting them one at a time. Probably.
Atticus quickly moves in and attacks.
Atticus quickly moves in and attacks.
Mirela looks over and as soon as the bodies turn their heads yanks out her bow and sends an arrow flying into the closest zombie.
Meanwhile Whisper shys away from the smell and Mirela is OK with that given the natural chock point the doorway seems to provide.
Nargun waits until a zombie is close enough to get striken
Mirela takes a shot at one of the closer zombies, though she realizes her weapon won't be as effective since they are resistant to damage from weapons that are not used to make slashing wounds. Even so she manages to hit the creature and do a tiny bit of damage. Nargun already blocking the hall partially waits for the undead to close with him. As he does Twilight places a minor protective ward or Nargun to keep the dwarf somewhat safe in the fight ahead.
Deveran moves up to stand next to Nargun, finishing blocking off the hall so none of the undead can get past to the others, at least not as long as the two of them stand their ground. Starting to sing the others feel inspired by his rousing lyrics. Atticus readies himself as he stands behind Nargun, waiting for an enemy to move in, which they all do.
Nargun misses the one that closes with him but luckily Atticus strikes it reaching over the dwarves head with his weapon. Even so it is not enough to put the thing down and it tries to slam the dwarf, while another closes with Deveran to do the same.
Deveran dodges the strike from the one, but the other one slams into Nargun, even with Twilights ward, doing some damage to the dwarf.
Ashamed at missing a slow-moving unarmored zombie, Nargun waste no time and strikes ferociously
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 5/6. Bonded item 1/1. Pearl Lv1 1/1, Lv2 1/1
Disgusted by what she saw, Twilight held up her holy symbol "Back to your eternal rests. In Callistria's name I shall see that whoever has inflicted this curse upon you is punished for this abhorrent act."
The yellow glow was admittedly faint, but it washed over the undead nonetheless and weakened the dark energies that animated the corpses.
Seeing that her arrows did almost no damage, she recalls the lessons of her mentor. So she puts her bow away and steps up.
Zombies, You 'ave to be Slashing them. Don't be poking at them!
She is about to reach out and touch Devan, but seeing Axe in Nargus hand, she instead reaches out and lays a hand on the Dwarf granting him the blessings of the good Gods.
Then later as she sees Twilight hold forth her holy symbol she mutters to herself Oh. Yes, that 'urts the living dead...
Atticus suddenly stays in his track.
"Someone is casting a spell, deeper in the house!
Devan is glad of the lessons Vencarlo had given him as he sidestepped the zombie's clumsy attack, certain that he didn't want the undead creature to get hold of him. He heard Mirela's advice, but wasn't certain his slashes would be any more effective than his jabs. Still, she knew more about these things than he did, so he dropped his rapier and drew his dagger, continuing to sing as he slashed at the nearest walking dead. When Atticus announced that there was a spellcaster, the musician grew alarmed, asking at a brief pause in the song, "What are they casting?"
Dolgrin cuts down the undead just in front of him, nearly cleaving the body in two. Twilight unleashes a blast of positive energy that washes over the undead.
The wave of positive energy breaks apart the undead to a small degree, but they are still fully capable of trying to maul you all. Mirela touches Nargun on the shoulder imparting a blessing to aid him in the fight ahead.
Atticus just waits as he thinks he hears something, concentrating is turns his head to the side and he is sure he hears someone casting some sort of spell somewhere deeper inside the estate. Devan continues his inspiring song as he heeds Mirela's advice and drops his rapier, putting out his dagger to slash at the undead in front of him. He slashes across the zombies gut, meeting no resistance to his attack.
More undead filter in from the room to the north, joining others in the hallway trying to get to you. For now though it seems like Nargun and Devan are able to hold back the wave of undead. However, the two in the front each try to slam their respective targets.
Both of the undead slam their cold fists into each man, though the one hitting Devan cracks him upside the head so hard he sees stars for a minute.
Mirela 's divine intervention might make all the difference here, as Nargun throw all caution to the wind to deliver the most powerful blow possible.
But would have it hit the rotting corpse in front of him?
Following Twilight's lead Mirela grabs her holy symbol and focuses on it as she Prays aloud.
In the name of Erastil, Be gone spawn of Urgathoa!
Devan reeled back from the attack of the undead in front of him, shaking his head to clear it. He thought his attempt to hold the line with Nargun was maybe less wise than it had seemed at first, but the musician was unwilling to let the sturdy dwarf be swarmed. Snarling almost ferally, the young man slashed again at the zombie in front of him, his song increasing in tempo.
Twilight winced as her companions took heavy blows from the shambling corpses. That just wouldn't do.
Nargun still had her misdirection spell on him so she turned her attention to Devan. "Callistria ward this man's body from harm". A warm yellow aura faintly surrounded Devan for a moment before fading.
She then drew the wand of magic missiles in case it was required.
Using his polearm, Atticus attacks the closest undead after inspecting his moves.
Nargun slices through another of the undead without breaking a sweat. Mirella follows Twilights lead blasting the undead with positive energy.
The wave of energy washes over the undead but they seem more resistant this time, all but one who nearly collapses from the positive energy. Even so it injures all those in the all quite a bit.
Devan slashes at the significantly injured one right ahead of him and finish the abomination off as it collapses at his feet. Seeing Devan get hit pretty badly she casts a spell to give him some divine aid in protection which will come in handy with the dead pressing ever forward. Atticus waits until the undead move since there is none close enough to attack just yet and move they do. As soon as one steps up to Nargun to attack Atticus cuts it down. However, this doesn't do much since more just move to take its place.
Luckily as these zombies try to slam into Devan and Nargun, their bodies barely being held together, they both miss the two men.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 5/6. Bonded item 1/1. Pearl Lv1 1/1, Lv2 1/1
"The necromancer might be raising more zombies to overwhelm us" Twilight said grimly, "Either that or they are going to be well prepared by the time we work our way through the party guests."
Although she knew full well that she had chosen to give up a little of her divine connection to pursue her current path, Twilight still couldn't help but feel a little envious as she watched Mirella display the strength of her connection to Erastil.
Twilight slipped past Mirella, drawing her dagger as she did. A few arcane words and blue magical lines of force flowed around the blade, imbuing it with a mystical sharpness allowing it to pierce hide and flesh a little more easily.
"Take my dagger, its been enchanted." she said, holding out the wasp shaped blade that had taken Lamm's life.
Nargun waste no time, his axe cutting down zombie like a scythe on a macabre field, splashing blood and rotting flesh everywhere after a particulary powerful strike
Come at me!I'm just warming up!
Mirela’s eyes widen in horror.
If it do be everyone in the party. Oh Gods above!
She looks back at the zombies and steels her face.
Necromancers do not be the only one who can be preparing.
Then she reaches out and touches Devan imparting holy protection on him.
Whirling his polearm again after inspecting the left zombie Atticus cuts at it.
Devan saw the divine glow of both deities surrounding him, the sensations both very similar but surprisingly different. He supposed it was each God putting their own personal touch on things. Mirela had briefly explained several of her blessings to him in their private time together, so the musician made a mental note to stay close to everyone for the duration.
Seeing the half-elven woman reach around and hold out the wasp-shaped dagger, Devan dropped his mundane weapon and took the proffered weapon from Twilight and then slashed at the newest undead in front of him, continuing to sing aloud as the group cut down the former party guests.
Twilight pulls out her dagger and enchants it with a spell before offering it to Devan to take. Mirale casts a spell to protect Devan and those around him from evil, which should be extremely helpful given the circumstances.
Atticus, Nargun and Devan all connect with their tarrgets bringing down two more of the undead, thinning out their numbers. Even so the remaining undead advance to take their place, the piles of corpses beginning to stack up in the hall. Each of the undead attack.
The undead stumble over the corpses of those who fell before them and can't even hit Devan or Nargun.
Switching to the next undead, Atticus swings his bardiche in a brutal downward cut after inspecting the zombies movements.
Lips pressing together in a thin line as two more of the walking corpses fell, Devan waited for the next one to shamble forward, ducking its clumsy swing before slicing it at the center mass of the creature, all the while continuing his song.
As the grim procession continued to press against the group, Twilight drew a wand and with a quick word and deft flick sent a projectile of magical force against the Zombie in front of Devan.
Nargun continues his own symphony of destruction, delivering powerful blow after powerful blow into the walking mass of rotten flesh.