Haundo collects the gear off the fallen armored walker and proceeds witht he grisly work of beheading and burning it's remains a couple yards away from the house before joining the others.
As he walks up he sets the gear in the small pile they collected from the jail house, before bowing his head to the professor apologetically. "No Survivor's yet, sorry for keeping you waiting. Is there anywhere, we haven't searched?" Concerned was ingrained in his rough voice, he didn't want to leave any Walkers in their wake, especially if what they were carrying was spreading...
The armor is that the zombie is wearing.
He also has a on.
10 torches
2 pints lamp oil.
3 bull lanterns
20 rations
5 waterskins.
wand of lesser restoration(25 charges)
2 masterwork healer's kits
1 wand of create water.
Zheng Lu's Encyclopedia of the Deities-A large book on the various religions of the world (gives +3 competence bonus to knowledge religion checks when used/ 1 move action).
3 modified beartraps, [b]not set[b]. (disable device 26) 4d6 damage. DC 25 escape artist check or DC 22 strength check to open the trap.
3 special keys to open the bear traps.
+1 battleaxe (Haundo is currently wielding it, but if someone is more versatile with it just ask and you can have it :D )
+1 musket
+1 chainshirt
6 mastwork longswords
5 masterwork daggers
2 masterwork glaives
+1 scalemail
And all of Haithan's gear. All and all we've got a nice amount of stuff, good thing we have a mule. >.>;
Professor:"It is okay. You returned safe, and that is what counts. I do think we should head out though as quickly as possible though."
Uchendu follows the others back to the Caravan...
..and nods at the Professor's words.
"I be in agreement with you. We should be going 'fore more of dem find us..."
"Aye, it feels like we've been here for almost three months. Let's get movin'."
Haundo straps the new axe to his belt and starts loading the mule with the goods they found. As he finishes strapping down the last of it he nods towards the wagon the peasants were defending earlier. "Travel with them or seperate, Professor?"
Andreas follows the rest of the group helping to load the gear in the back then waits for the Professor word to go.
Haundo recovers his Camel and Haithan's Camel once everything was packed away. He quickly hitches the Mule to the his camel so that he can keep an eye on it. With a little finess he gets the distracted animals back near the peasants wagon and stands at attention, ready for the professor's next command.
Draven repairs his wagon with the sovereign glue he found, and hitches the horses he had hidden in the general store back to the wagon. All of the survivors say one last good bye to the others, and prepare to leave.
Dr.Frennel is also more than ready to move on. He estimates that the trip to Quantium will take about 5 days.
All that is left is for everyone else to get on their mounts.
PS:I am just setting things up for when everyone says they are leveled up.
Uchendu moves over to his mount, and waits for the others to affirm that they are ready to go.
Haundo remained ready and when the professor spoke of leaving he got into the saddle on his camel and awaited to move out with the other. With all his heavy armor he couldn't help but feel large and awkward; the Nightwatch were not a mounted unit, more like heavy infantry. Once everyone started moving forward he followed suit with Haithans camel and the mule behind him.
Haundo doesn't look back for fear that he will not be able to stop himself from clearing the town of walkers, the Nightwatch were dedicated to their duties no matter what it cost them...
Andreas walks to his mount looking back at what was once a bustling city and is now a graveyard he shakes his head and mounts up.
You manage to make the trip to Quantium without further incident. When you get to within viewing distance it is about 3 pm. The city now hast, gates and stone walls, and the inviting appearance it once had is now gone. From where you are now, about 100 feet out, it seems the gates are in good condition. They do however prevent one from being able to see into the city. Towers that could serve as post for watchmen and/or archer are also new additions according to the city. There is nobody manning these towers however, and there is nobody at the gates.
"This be seeming ominious to me. De Spirits of dis land be verra angry..."
Uchendu pauses thoughtfully.
"Perhaps we should scout ahead, and climb one of the towers, to see what de lay of de land is, inside?"
...and whether dere is anyone alive in dere...
Haundo looked to the empty towers and nodded in agreement with Uchendu. "No good can be made of this. I will try to see through the gate with my spirit sight and see what lie beyond."
He approaches the gate warily, looking back and forth between the silent watch towers and the empty gate house. The Nightwatchmen in him was screaming for him to raise his shield and pull back, but another part of him yelled to advance and discover what lie ahead...
The walls are 20 feet high.
Haundo looks about thoroughly in his spirit form, before pulling back into his physical body. As he staggers back, drained by the effort he turns and nods to the others shakily. "Signs... of a great struggle beyond the gates. Nothing moving, no signs of life or walkers. Can't see anything else..."
He started walking back, back peddling while keeping his shield at the ready. Haundo was... disturbed by what he saw inside. Something was way wrong here, the city looked more of a tomb. "Professor, I believe we should enter and take a strong position. We should be safer inside the city then out here." he looks to the others for their opinions on the matter.
The Professor says, "Well we have to get inside to try to find a ship at the port. Now I have never had to navigate on my own, but I have helped captains on ships before."
"An abandoned city still be concerning... I wonder what happened to de population... We should be cautious."
"Professor are we going to have enough people to pilot a ship." Andreas loads the musket getting ready for the worst. "I hate to think the worst but what if all the population has turned, I agree caution would be prudent."
Dr. Frennel replies, "I think so, or I guess I hope so. The main problem is that none of you to my knowledge has ship experience. Once we get the boat off the docks, assuming we find one, we should be ok. We don't really need to raise the sails. It just helps us move faster. If we are lucky we might even find a smaller boat instead of a full size galleon."
Haundo peers at the walls and starts thinking more broadly then his fellows. "Once we are on the walls we should travel along them and use them to scout the town. Hope the dock is close, maybe we could make a straight run for the docks and load the caravan before anything notices us. If we can Professor, I strongly suggest we search the town. Maybe something useful was left behind, healing items, weapons and ammunition, along with supplies will be needed and will be the most likely traded for in these times. If we can find survivors though we can form a crew as well so that we can sail the ship more easily..."
As he speaks he ties together his grappling hook to his 50ft of Silk rope, making sure to knot the rope every couple of feet to make climbing easier. "Besides, not all Walkers are without thought... I don't wish to leave something for the Learned to use."
Once everyone was settled with entering the city Haundo will climb up first to secure their landing and engage any possible threats.
Haundo gets about 5 feet up, and his foot slips. It seems as though the wall is intentionally made this smooth so as to prevent any climbing.
Once on top of the wall Haundo relashes his shield to his arm and looks around the walltop warily while waiting for the others to climb up. He keeps his pistol at the ready as he prepares for a possible confrontation.
Once at the top you see the city is pretty big. Making a run from one side all the way to the other side where the port is without being seen if there are zombies is unlikely.
There are buildings that you can dart in and out of. How safe they are is another question altogether though.
Haundo waits and curses the luck that the parapet wasn't dual sided, this was oing to be more difficult then he first thought. He held his position until the other were up on the wall, keeping a wary eye out for movement.
Andreas watches as Haundo heads up the wall, gathering his combat gear he begins his climb.
"So what do we have down there." Andreas looks over the city
Dagor follows Uchendu after he reaches the top at a brisk pace.
Gazing over the city a moment, he scratches at the grizzled side of his face. A mild groan escapes him, and he taps his breastplate once with a fist and straightens up. The clang commands attention toward him. "A spittin' mirror of Saggorak. My home of Kolvar was built in the echo of that city, an' we've been routinely putting down the dead there for o'er a century. No need to scout down there, I can smell 'em. Infesting this damned city now, we'll likely spot a few wandering around before long. We're gonna need to do a few things if we're gonna get to a boat. One, find three different ways to get the caravan to a boat. We'll have to clear the boat before we get the caravan there, we don't want to waste any time in getting supplies aboard. Avoid the main roads if possible, 'ey seem to swarm around them. Then, some of us distracts 'em while the caravan takes the back roads. A few got'ta stay with 'em to pick off the few that might get in their way, but the rest of us makes a ruckus so even a wagon goes unnoticed. Th' elephant will do great fer that. We don't want to wake 'em all up, but enough so that any who do wake will look our way."
Dagor pulls his axe out and looks to the others with a slight smirk as he leans down next to the inner wall. "You take the high road? I'll go down this way, see how feisty they are. Take a good look at anythin' that comes out and by Torag, keep a rope ready for me." With that, he quickly hangs down from the inner wall by one hand, and drops himself.
Landing on his feet with a dull thud, Dagor straightens out and takes a look around. He begins moving slowly away from the wall as though prowling, just enough to see around the nearest building.
Haundo nods to the others and watches as Dagor drops to the ground below. "We are to in the open on the wall, it'll bring every Walker that has eyes on us if we move along the wall. I will secure the gatehouse and make sure that we have control of it. That way at least part of our path is clear. Dagor has a good point though, three paths to the ship will make out route safer. I am off to secure the gate house then." Haundo holstered his pistol and drew his battle axe as he headed to the gatehouse with his shield in front of him.
Dagor lands on his side making enough noise to alert anyone or anything nearby, but at moment there is no sign of anyone or anything responding to the noise.
Haundo pauses as the noise of Dagor's landing echoes through the empty streets. After a couple of moments he continues to make his way to the gate house, walking along the parapet, battleaxe in hand.
Andreas watches as Dagor lands less quietly hoping he doesn't draw to much attention to himself. Andreas pulls out his rapier and begins to follow Haundo. "this is very strange that there is no reaction to the clatter, they usually come running at any sort of noise." Andreas listens closely to the sounds of the city.
Perception:
Andreas does not notice any zombies, but then realizes that due to the size of the city it could just mean that none are in the immediate area.
"I would prefer to be operatin' on de assumption dat dere are some of de angry dead in dis city... I would hate to be caught unawares..."
Uchendu follows Haundo and Andreas to the gate house...
Haundo nods and speaks quietly to Andrea's. "If survivors have ran to ground then that means the Walkers could be standing around in buildings near where they are. They could be taking shelter or... hiding as well. The wind makes a lot of noise in a city this empty, every creak, every swinging sign will drown out some of our noises. Let us hope they stay distracted until we secure a foothold, or, Cayden guide us, a ship."
He points at the gatehouse and continue to speak in low hushed tones. "Armored walkers will be in the towers and along the walls possibly. Lets take the gatehouse and secure our way into the city. Then we follow Dagor." With that Haundo moves more quickly towards the gatehouse
Haundo's attempts to keep quiet are not rewarded but he is moving more quietly then before, his sharp eyes though pierce the shadows that lie in wait though. Revealing anything that may have been lurking unseen.
Andreas looks at Haundo with a questioning look and a whispers back "Walkers? huh, why that choice of words." Andreas continues to follow Haundo towards the gate house.
Haundo doesn't look back as he whispers quietly. "The Nightwatch made categories of undead, Walkers is a term for any type of your simple zombies. Slow, never move faster then a walk and stupid. It was also an easy way to talk of the dead and not scare the civilians. There are other terms, Cayden spare us from meeting the Learned. These terms also help us to decide and refine how we fought them; because a Nightwatchmen was short lived and easily replaced."
Haundo nods and speaks quietly to Andrea's. "If survivors have ran to ground then that means the Walkers could be standing around in buildings near where they are. They could be taking shelter or... hiding as well. The wind makes a lot of noise in a city this empty, every creak, every swinging sign will drown out some of our noises. Let us hope they stay distracted until we secure a foothold, or, Cayden guide us, a ship."
He points at the gatehouse and continue to speak in low hushed tones. "Armored walkers will be in the towers and along the walls possibly. Lets take the gatehouse and secure our way into the city. Then we follow Dagor." With that Haundo moves more quickly towards the gatehouse
1d20+8
1d20-3Haundo's attempts to keep quiet are not rewarded but he is moving more quietly then before, his sharp eyes though pierce the shadows that lie in wait though. Revealing anything that may have been lurking unseen.
Right now it is about 3pm.
Haundo takes a long look at the guard tower, but does not see or hear anything.
Haundo and party will enter and make sure that the mechanism are still in working order, or at least take a look around. Once they are sure its all clear they will take their leave of the gatehouse and leave a person behind if someone wants to guard their starting point.
"I would like to hear more of both the Nightwatch and the other terms for the Undead." after a short pause "I know the Professor has been here before do you think he could draw us a map that might guide us through the city.
Haundo nods to Andreas. "I was just a Whelp in the ranks but I will tell you all I know when there is more time. If the Profesor can make one quickly then that would be a great help in our search. Thank you my friend." Haundo makes sure any doors leading to the street level are unsecured and keeps the ones leading to the parapet unbolted as well. Just in case they needed to have a fallback point.
From there Haundo joins Dagor at the street level.
"Ain't seen anything yet. Perhaps my nose is tellin' me lies. Lets just be sure of that, hm?" Dagor will take the lead once the group is ready to move. To the Docks, at half pace using stealth. Quietly, he comments, "I know I couldn't fool a drunkard, but fortunately the dead are drunker than that."
Sneak:
Haundo moves slowly a short distance behind the group, taking rear guard since he is more likely to make a lot of noise during their first scouting run.
A tiny ray of sunlight creeps across the floor of the small hidden room in the back of a tavern. The beam of light crosses the room in the morning sun and finally falls on the closed eye of the person sleeping, curled up on a bear hide with tattered tapestries pulled over him. The eye blinks open and closes while he listens closely. The only noises heard are those expected, the dry rustle of a breeze blowing outside the outer wall, the cry of a seagull down by the port, and the banging of the sign hanging from the shop across the street. Only then did the eye open and the head shift ever so slightly to pull itself out of the beam of light.
Sitting up, the small skinny individual, about the size of a human child of 5 or 6, reaches into a bag he had used as a pillow and pulls out a worn book. Quickly leafing through it's pages covered in arcane writing, he reviews several pages before shoving the book back into the haversack and pulls out some granola and a water-skin. A soft sigh escapes his lips as he looks over his dwindling collection of supplies.
May as well get a move on if I want to be back before dusk.
De'ohge carefully packs up the rest of his gear and shoulders his pack. He's only recently been able to replace the last of his spells from memory after thinking he could leave his stuff while he roamed. But he knows better now, and it all comes with him, every time.
Quietly taking a peak through the various spyholes, De'ohge verifies there are no surprises for him. Looking up, he climbs onto a shelf several feet above his head and looks up at the hole in the corner of the room with the beam of sunlight streaming in. Concentrating on his desire to be there instead of here, he shifts and finds himself crouching in a small wooden blind he built on the roof of the tavern.
After spending a moment to listen for any unusual noises, he carefully checks the roof top around him before venturing out of the blind. He had found that traveling across the roof tops was considerably better than through the streets. It seemed that the undead generally couldn't figure out how to get on a roof.
Fortunately, this city, like many others, had entire districts with buildings built closely together and he had been expanding his network of planks linking the rooftops for the last few months. He wasn't sure who it was, but it gave him a fright that had him hiding for a week when he discovered that someone else was also using and expanding the network of planks and ropes that linked the rooftops.
Today it was necessary for him to go to the well and draw up some more water to replenish his dwindling supply.
As De'ohge quietly crept across the roofs he failed to see the figures on the walls behind him.
[ooc]A bit of poetic license... The supernatural ability shift states that the caster must see the space being traveled to, I took the liberty to interpret this as including seeing the space through a crack, telescope, mirror, since the distance is so short anyway.
Tobin looked out the window of the modest dwelling he called home now. The sun was about right to try and head outside the city to look for food. He'd spend a couple hours looking for disused vegetable patches or wild-growing food and be able to hunt around dusk when the small prey animals came out. Last time he'd managed to bag a rabbit and a quail with his crossbow and the quail feathers had made passable fletching for new bolts. But that had been a while ago. Every time he'd tried to go out for days now bands of roaming zeds had kept him from the gates.
Tobin lowered the ladder from the second floor (he'd destroyed the stairs when he picked the place) and climbed down. He made his way cautiously through the empty city. As he neared the gates, a loud crash of metal stopped him. He ducked into a shadowed alley. Zombies were known to sometimes be armored. If they died wearing a breastplate, they'd wear it until the straps rotted through. He crept closer until he heard voices. Zombies had not been known to converse in his experience.
They could be dangerous. Maybe he'd best sneak after them a little and see what they were up to. But no. He wasn't exactly stealthy and if they caught him they might think him a thief.
Three men were cautiously making their way past. Tobin took a deep breath and stepped out into the sunlight.
"Hello. I don't mean you any harm. Are you with the resistance? I've been leaving messages on walls around the city. I can fight. I want to fight."
Tobin is an average sort of fellow in his early middle years. He wears threadbare clothes, stained with hard use. He has a dagger and a crossbow, unloaded and pointed down, but appears unarmored.