Nargun wastes no time and charge the closest zombie, bringing down his axe in a powerful strike.
One less. Leave them to me. I can destroy them.
Devan shook his head at the dwarf's words as he charged recklessly at their adversaries, trotting up the stairs behind Nargun to at least protect one side of the stout fellow. As the barbarian's wild attack started to fall, the musician shouted, "A bit to the left!"
Setting his jaw, he waved his dagger at the ready, preparing to slice at any of the walking corpses should they close with him.
Mirela Steps up to the top of the stairs and raises her bow immediately looking for where the Jester could be.
As she sees another zombie out of the corner of her eye she snaps off a command to Whisper so that she doesn't have to worry about the zombie.
Attack!
Whisper bounds over and bites at the zombie trying to trip it.
Seeing the zombie right in front of him as he comes to the top of the stairs, Atticus steps up and attacks the zombie over Whisper's head.
Devan and Nargun work to cut down the nearest undead. Mirela moves up following the others but instead of attacking one of the undead readies herself to take a shot if she sees the jester again, she commands Whisper to attack though and the wolf just barely misses the undead. Atticus moves up the stairs like the others but also misses with the swing of his bardiche. As the remaining undead attack the nearest foe the cracked door to the north swings open wide and the elven woman is standing there, letting a bolt fly toward one of the closest enemies.
The bolt slams into Mirela but luckily she is on the lookout and it isn't as bad as it could have been. She frowns seeing you killing more of her undead as she notes "You are ruining all the lovely displays I set up..."
Two more zombies, one of which has a striking resemblance to the portrait of the woman Lord Carowyn showed you, shamble out of the room past the elven woman toward the group.
The one on Nargun misses but the other two hit their targets.
Devan saw the corpse resembling Lady Carowyn and shook his head, wondering how the Lord would take her imminent demise. Might be best to not mention making her dead again when recounting their exploits.
Stepping up to provide an extra target to take some of the heat off of the Professor and Whisper, the musician started to sing, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of the elven woman just as she fired at Mirela.
The bard cursed, but seeing the stout priestess shrug off the glancing wound, he continued his song, hoping to inspire even more feats from his already capable companions.
It's not that she is an elf.
Its not that she is mad. Hell, Nargun appetite for self destruction is just another tinge of madness.
It's not fighting even more zombies that makes the stout dwarf hesitate.
She is a foe, sure.. but she is a woman.
And Nargun will throw himself headfirst into danger to defend a woman, whatever the odds. But Striking at a woman is repulsive to him, abhorrent even.
And now one of the zombies was the wife of the houselord. Which is an abomination...
Nargun might have been seen as short fused so far. Today, it seems someone is trying to light the fuse, but has troubles with the flint and steel.
The barbarian babbles in his native tongues, and tears freely runs on his face
Even as the bolt comes flying her way, Mirela launches an arrow back at the Jester.
She staggers for a moment as the bolt impacts solidly on her armor, but realizing this is her chance to strike the elusive Jester, she quickly recovers her focus.
Two can be playing at that game.
The redhead proceeds to send a stream of arrows following the first she launched. The arrows seem to flow from her bow in time with the song from the her lover.
As her master works her bow, Whisper continues to snap at the Zombie that just struck at her, trying to pull it down to the ground. But she seems to be distracted by the screaming noise that just flew behind her
After biting at the zombie before her, Whisper dodges through the legs of the dead bodies, trying to get behind them so she can hamstring them.
He then takes a deep breath and takes a second to inspect his opponent, and attacks it again.
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 0/1. Pearl Lv1 1/1, Lv2 1/1
Twilight was caught completely off guard by the sudden violence happening at the top of the stairs. At first she couldn't see anything that was going on, only hear the sounds of conflict. Seeing zombies shamble into view through the banister and the bolt strike Mirella snapped her out of her shock.
She moved to the bottom few steps of the staircase, but could go no farther, however from this vantage she saw the zombie of Lady Carowyn.
The spell was a grim one, but it seemed appropriate given the circumstance. She held her holy symbol and shaped the magic within, feeling the cold pull of the necromantic energies tug at her spirit. "Lady Carowyn, I release you from the Jester's will and impose my own. Take your revenge on the jester who did this to you."
She called to her companions "Take no action against the Lady's remains, she fights against her own murderer now"
Twilight follows the others up the stairs and seeing the undead Lady Carowyn she weaves a dark spell to take control of her zombified corpse. Lady Carowyn turns her attention back toward the jester in the room from where she came.
Devin begins his performance to inspire the others and Mirela takes advante of it, only hitting with one of her shots Whisper manages to bite the zombie that hit her, but can't bring it down to the ground. Letting go she moves to help Devan. Atticus proceeds to cut down the one he already injured as it approached him.
The elven woman frowns at the two arrows sticking out of her and even more so as it seems one of her undead pets has been turned against her. Even so she casts a spell as a dark ray of energy shoots forth toward Nargun.
She then promptly shuts the door. The controlled zombie moves away from the group toward where it last saw the jester and starts banging on the door to little avail. The other two remaining undead attack their nearest targets.
Mirela gasps as she sees Twilight command the undead.
Twilight no! That magics ev.... She cuts off before she can finish the sentence and just looks uncomfortably down the knocked arrow at the zombie pounding on the closed door.
What did she do? Is she controlling that, that, that thing?
Father John said that undead magic is evil... Can an evil spell be used for good?
That poor woman, to end up like that...
Confusion clearly shows on her face.
Meanwhile Whisper bites at the zombie that just swung at her. Trying to pull it down once again.
"Evil? I didn't desecrate the corps with unlife, I merely gave it new purpose. What could be more wonderfully divine that using a murder victim's own zombie as the instrument of vengeance against the one who murdered and raised them into this state in the first place?" Twilght responded curtly, a little miffed at the insinuation that she had done something wrong.
The flash of indignation passed in a moment "When the jester is caught, we will put her corpse to rest in a dignified manner. Not hewn apart like a piece of cord wood. It would at least be a small mercy for Mr. Corwyn's peace of mind, wouldn't you agree?" she added in a conciliatory tone.
Devan eyed the zombie of Lady Carowyn nervously as it suddenly started after the jester woman, noting with satisfaction the dual arrows now protruding from her person. Shrugging it off after Twilight's curt explanation, he supposed it wasn't an issue as long as she let the woman rest in peace after this little episode. The musician was woefully ignorant of such things, and had little to offer on the ethics and moralities of such.
Stepping past the newly corpsified undead on the floor, the young man moved behind the undead Whisper was attending to, slashing at it with his dagger as the group started to overwhelm the remaining zombies, continuing his song for the time being.
Nargun strikes back at the zombie that just wounded him
Atticus is in this case pragmatic. While he thinks creating undead is an abomination.... taking them away from a controller is quite grey.
Speeding to the door he opens it.
I... Yes, putting 'er to rest would be good.
Mirela says sounding very uncertain.
Mirella keeps her focus on the door where the jester was and Whisper attempts to bite the zombie near her, but the smell is overpowering and she flinches as she bites causing her to miss. Devan moved up to flank with Whisper striking the undead for a bit of damage.
Nargun, returning his focus to the task at hand, cuts down the zombie that had attacked him. At the same time Atticus quickly moves to go and re-open the door where the jester was hiding, clearing the way for Mirela to take another shot.
The zombie between Devan and Whisper turns its attention on Devan after being hit and attacks. The one Twilight took control of lashes out at the elven woman still on the other side of the door.
Both of the undead miss.
The jester tumbles away from those threatening her and hurries toward the window, hitting it with the butt of her crossbow shattering the glass, giving her another opening to escape.
As the others cleared out the undead threat, Devan hoped they would give chase while he and Whisper finished the remaining enemy zombie (since Lady Carawyn had temporarily turned against her master). Starting to sing an upbeat tavern chase song, the musician slashed out at the zombie yet again.
Even though the Jester is hard to see, Mirela fires an arrow through the newly opened door at the woman.
Then as the jester moves out of view, and breaks the window, Mirela thinks for a moment about the map they got.
She Jumped? Then maybe I can get a shot..
She moves over and attempts to open the door that per the map leads to the balcony, in the hopes that she can set up a shot next round if the Jester comes into view.
Meanwhile, Whisper bites at the zombie next to her again, trying to get the last of of the moving dead things on the ground.
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 0/1, Lv2 1/1
The sound of shattering glass and suggestion that their quarry was about to escape spurred Twilight into reckless action. Running past the active zombie may not have been prudent, but it was the only way she could get to Atticus fast enough.
Getting near the professor with his pole arm, she laid a hand on his shoulder "May the Lady see you worthy enough to guide your next strike in the name of vengeance for all those who needlessly died here."
The professor moves away from the zombie and attacks the zombie that was close to him.
Nargun dashes toward the nearly escaping elf, hoping to catch her before she gets out
The group puts down the last of the enemy zombies, though it does manage to smack Twilight as she goes past. Mirela misses her shot at the jester before she runs out of sight, and Mirela is quick to move toward the nearby door leading out to the balcony, swinging it open. Nargun rushes after the elven woman trying to catch up to her. He arrives just as she jumping out the window.
She launches out the window and deftly tumbles to her feet on the group below. Looking up at the window she shouts "You all will pay for ruining my fun! Until we meet again my play-things to be..."
With that she starts running away from the house. The 'friendly' zombie shambles toward the window where it say the elven woman jump out and tumbles over the edge falling to the ground below with a solid, sickening thud.
angry at seeing the elf escaping, Nargun tries to hit her one last time, but only manage to totally destroy the window pane in his hate blinded wrath
He was ready to throw himself through the window, but in a rare moment of clarity, remembers that means leaving his friends, especially Princess and the Huntress, inside the house, maybe surrounded by zombies. They could need his help to be safe.
He lets out a guttural roar of rage, and curse the light footed mad elf
I'll destroy your creations. All of them. And If I see you again, I'll kill you!
Mirela runs out onto the balcony and as she sees the Jester running away she lifts up her bow and launches a shot at the running Jester.
Then she plants and quickly launches two more shots as the Jester Runs into the trees.
Meanwhile Whisper starts sniffing around looking for another creature for her to attack.
Twilight grunted and staggered a bit as the zombie dealt her a substantial blow. She still managed to get to Aticus, but spent a quick moment shaking off the pain. She only barely caught a glimpse of the jester hop out the window, but realized too late that the zombie was still intent on following its quarry.
As the living corpse tumbled out the window as well, Twilight rushed over. It was just a little to far for her to be able to do anything substantial. She quickly scanned the grounds to see if she could spot the jester while calling down to the prone undead from above "Lie there and don't move."
The map doesn't extend that far so theater of the mind :)[/ooc]
"She's headed North, through the trees of a neighbouring estate" Twilight called back to her companions. After taking a moment to make sure the zombie was doing what she commanded, she continued "We aren't going to be able to chase her down at this point, but do you think Whisper can follow her scent through the city?"
When the elven woman leapt through the window and yelled something he couldn't quite hear, Devan reached down and patted Whisper's head as he kept an eye out for any other corpses or surprises that might still be in the house. As of yet, the group still hadn't found the young musician they had been searching for, but Devan wasn't hopeful of finding him alive.
The others not willing to jump out the window behind the elven woman watch as she fleas from the estate. Mirella takes some shots but the elf is too quick on her feet and each time the shots land in the woman's wake.
Aside for Twilight's zombie laying on the ground outside, it seems like the rest of the threats have been dealt with, at least in the rooms the group have explored.
Mirela comes back into the the main room.
She got away... Mirela calls out disappointedly to the group at large.
She calls Whisper to heel and starts to look at the corpses on the floor.
We did be coming 'ere to find the musician. 'As anyone been seeing 'I'm? I really 'ope that she did be sparing a fellow entertainer.
Mirela considers this for a bit:
Whisper she can be doing some tracking if we 'ad a something with the smell fo the Jester. But I only did be working with 'er over short areas. Across the whole city I don't know 'ow she would be doing.
But we could try after we finish 'ere.
Looking through the various bodies, you don't find any that resemble the description that Deyanira provided you when asking for your help.
With their quarry escaped, Twilight called down to the zombie "Go around to the front door" before carefully heading down the stairs to let the undead back into the house. Once inside she directed the former lady of the house to lay down in her bed.
With the zombie secure, the only thing left to do was put it to rest. Twilight considered all the ways she knew of to release a corpse from the influence of unlife while trying to think of one that would result in the least damage to the remains.
Armed with the knowledge, Twilight proceeded to free the woman's remains from their cursed state. "Nargun, would you mind restraining the zombie please? I am not certain, but my control over it may be broken when it is confronted with pure life energy."
She unmade one of her spells and gathered the divine energy into a yellow glow. "Be free." she said as she gently placed her hand over the zombie's withered heart, the seat of light in the living and the vessel for darkness in the undead, and banished the shadows that lay therein.
Devan shook his head at Mirela's question. "I haven't seen anyone resembling him yet. Still a bit more house to look at, though...maybe another hidey hole he managed to find for himself." The young man's tone wasn't hopeful, but it was a possibility.
When Twilight let the lady of the house back in and then proceeded to lay her down to rest in a more permanent fashion, the musician sighed. His first thought was to take out his lute and sing a song for the deceased, but he was afraid there might still be some corpses shambling around that might be drawn to the commotion.
Once that deed was done, Devan looked to the others. "Let's clear out the remainder of the house to make sure it's safe for Lord Carawyn to reclaim his household and see if we can find our quarry."
Let's be starting with the rooms up here.
With the jester gone, she puts away her bow and pulls out her Dagger. With the weapon in hand she looks down and shakes her head.
With the number of things that do be raising up Zombies in the last few months, I suppose I 'ave to be getting a better way to fight them.
After Twilight deals with Lady Carawyn the group continues searching the place. Checking the rest of the house you find a few more empty offices and closets. You also find a small recital hall where a zombie dressed as a bluewinged angel strums at a large, standing harp, even though all of the harp’s strings are broken. Four costumed corpses—a sea serpent, a castle tower, a swan, and a blue skeleton—look on from chairs. With only the one zombie the group quickly dispatches it. Having checked the whole house and finding no more threats you go to retrieve Lord Carawyn.
Finding him waiting on you where you left him he is obviously relieved to see you again. "So, is it safe now? Did you dispatch of that mad elf? What about my dear Olauren? Did you find her hiding somewhere safe?"
Devan was clearly puzzled as the group searched the last of the house and still found no sign of the young man they were seeking. Perhaps the elf could lead them to the lad, but the musician thought that asking Whisper to track the mad elf through a city full of people was a tall order. Worth a shot, though.
When the party retrieved Lord Carawyn, Devan spoke to the man gently, "As far as we can tell, it is safe. The elven jester has fled, though she might return I'm afraid. It probably isn't safe for you here."
Looking quickly back at the others, Devan paused a moment, then continued, "Olauren didn't survive, though it looks as though she was spared the fate of your guests." The musician kept the harshness away from his tones, even though he felt the man a fool for trying to throw a party in the middle of the disease ravaging the city.
The man is very evidently concerned when Devan mentions the mad elf got away, but as Devan tells him of Olauren his expression goes blank and he just stares at Devan silently for a moment. Eventually he gives a slight nod and lets out a deep breath "Well... I uh... I guess I need to get this mess sorted out. Perhaps you could do me a favor and let the guard know what has transpired here so they can send the appropriate assistance in cleaning this mess up? I... I will need to write letters to the families and... Olauren..." He slumps down against the wall and begins to cry for a moment.
If I can avenge your loss, and kill the mad elf, I'll do it. You have my word.
Sir, 'ow many people including servants, guest and entertainers were at your party? We do not be want you to run into any more of the living dead before we leave.
I ask because we think there may 'ave been more people then the zombies we found. Like that musician you 'ired. Do you know what might 'ave 'appened to 'I'm?