As Simon drags the man away, Meridian will follow, "It would be unwise to leave him unsupervised. Or able to attempt to slay himself. Or able to attempt to escape. Or any number of other things. I will guard him."
"Fine. See if you can get any more information out of him. You can probably find your bucket and chains in the blacksmith's shop. Just keep him alive."
Aye. Mostly.
Shock numbs Robert's reaction and he stares motionless at the brutal scene. His eyes gaze the dead bodies, the burning buildings, the blood that runs the streets. He thinks to stop the fire but recognizes that is a lost cause. He doesn't add in to the conversation, words stuck in his throat. So much death.
When Zhan moves and tries to aid any who are left alive, Robert follows to help him with his task, feeling heavy and that it is the only thing he can do to help.
"Just let me kill him, it's better than he deserves." Silent stares at the henchman with deadly intent. Looking back at others he states, "Looks like I lost me job. I'll be traveling with ye folks a bit longer then I expected. Gurl best to shrug it off and let the dead be dead. This wont be first or last time ye see this."
Pausing for a moment, he looks to Meridian. "Make sure to put a spike in his belly after ye done, he'll live long enough to regret something."
Away from the others, Simon took a moment to close his eyes and fight back the knot in his chest and the trembling in his hands. He took a few deep, slow breaths trying to ignore the smells of smoke and blood and burning meat.
No matter how many times you see it, it doesn't get easier. Can't let it. That's how the darkness gets in you. Feel it. Don't stifle it. Just don't let it own you. This is your job, dammit. Fight back. Stay strong. Worry about the living.
Meridian drags the man to the jails.
The rest of you (except Kiwyn) in town, go through the bodies that are available. The flames continue to consume the town. While Zhan takes his healing wand to a few promising corpses , none of them respond to the magic. Everybody in the town is irrevocably dead. Robert is unable to heal anybody, and the further into the town that you travel, the more it's apparent that there is nothing of the town left. A glimmer of light shines in your hearts however, as you pass the stables. You all notice that there are no horses. All the saddles are gone, and any gear is also missing. When you delve further into the town, you arrive at the guards barracks. Looking into the building, there are a few slain guards, but not the larger amount expected. Checking the warhorse stables, you find that those too are empty, and realize that with some hope, a few people may have survived.
Kiwyn. While holding the child, you stroke her hair gently, taking in the gruesome scene around you. As you start to shake and cry, you wish only that perhaps this little girl's life had been spared. When your tears fall to her cheek, you feel movement in your arms.
@Simon: Prepare for nagging wife ghost!!! In the future lol
Kiwyn clutches the girl as she cries, not noticing the first movements in her distressed state. It was easy, she thought, for others to tell her to shake it off. Soldiers and hunters, those that had seen battlefields and villages attacked by roving monsters. The worst she had been involved in had been fending off raiders while with a caravan or a run in with something in the wilds while exploring with a group.
After a moment Kiwyn notices the stirring in her arms. She sniffles, wiping her eyes she tries to blink back further tears as she looks down. "Could it be?" She wants desperately for it to be true, but braces herself for it to just be her imagination. She watches for actual movement as she brushes own hair away from the child's face.
Meridian places the man in a cell that is not fully enclosed (i.e. one made of bars) so that he can see the bandit through the sides of the cell, and fastens him with his arms bound to separate bolts such that he cannot bring either hand to his head. He will then search the man once more, very thoroughly for any hidden means of ending his own life.
Once he is secure and searched, Meridian will close the cell door, but not lock it and will take up a post where he can see the prisoner.
When the scraping sound is heard, Meridian will level his musket in the direction and try to see what is making the sound.
[spoiler=Zhan, Simon, Silent and Robert] As you're furthering your search into the town, you hear noises from around you. The more you look, you notice that the dead are getting up. They eye you with certainty, and start a slow trek towards you. From far away in the town, you hear a high-pitched scream.
This is going to be mass combat, so movement won't really matter until later, and they're only CR 1/8th (4HP). The town however is roughly half a mile to a mile in diameter (roughly, it's not a perfect circle by any means), but it is large. I'll let you use out of combat movement speed for now.
Should have known... Simon thought to himself, grimly wheeling his horse and racing back toward the Jail house.
He blew his hunting horn twice to let the others know where he was and that he wasn't dead, then yelled for Meridian.
"Undead incoming! Help me clear the road for the others!"
Meridian glances at the man, "I will hold you to that!" Then he fires into the approaching thing, the sound deafening in the enclosed space.
"Why is this happening?" A hint of panic enters Robert's voice as he follows Meridian's lead. He moves back to draw his bow, hesitating only a moment before firing an arrow at the nearest moving corpse.
Meridian reloads his musket and scans the darkness for any other targets.
Perception:
Seeing the undead rise, he'll look over to Kiwyn and shout, "Careful gurl, they are not living!" He'll attack the closest one possible.
"We need to group up and grab others." Silent says in haste. "Ye grab the prisoner and Meridian, I'll get Kiwyn. Then we meet up here."He'll charge the closest one in her direction and continue down that path. (+2 to Axe for charging disregard shield)
Axe:
Damage:
Shield:
Damage:
When the girl looks up at her and speaks Kiwyn nearly cries again in joy but the child's scream cuts it off. Looking back the Kitsune is horrified to see the dead beginning to rise from the disheveled piles and bloody pools. Terror is quickly replaced with fierce determination.
Clutching the child tightly Kiwyn stands, a growl creeping into her voice. "Foul abominations. You will not touch this child." Glancing around, the little wizard begins to chant softly and using her free hand to make the required signs as she tries to put as much distance between the child and the newly undead. With the final syllables Kiwyn sprinkles the last bit of powder and touches the back of the frightened girl's head soothingly. "We will protect you cub." She whispers.
Protection from Evil on the child.
Zhan takes a look around, trying to estimate how many of the creatures he can see in the immediate area.
He draws his revolver in one hand and his sword in the other.
"We need to move!"
"Move where?" Robert says, trying to keep close to the others. He looks with horrified fascination at the undead, thinking that he remembers seeing some of them in passing. The stench of blood, fire, and burning flesh makes him vaguely nauseous. "They're everywhere!"
Another horn blast echoed from the direction of the town jail.
Silent cuts through 2 undead as he blocks Kiwyn and the girl from assault (just going with you staying by Kiwyn, Silent). Silent will be at point for the three of them. The girl latches onto Kiwyn, hiding from the rising corpses. The one silent hit with his shield slowly starts to rise again. Should the three of you run, you'll have an easy enough time avoiding them, with the axe to take down any that get to close.
Zhan, you notice almost every corpse in the immediate vicinity rise up. Upwards of 60-70 zombies surround you, Simon and Rober (and it is obvious more are around every corner). Since Simon rode off however to rally, about 1-2/3 of the zombies are drawn by his horn blast. This leaves you adequate space to get your horse. You would recognize a trail from his horse though, and would have no problem leading Robert to the jail along said path.
Meridian, your shot levels the creature, one bullet entering his brain. The gun echoes through the corridors however, and soon after you hear the noise of other undead in the jail start to head your way. When this happens, there is a muffled horn blast from outside. The soft sound of horse hooves and a sudden stop. You know this is a friendly party, since the only horses in town, belonged to your fellow travelers.
All the zombies can be attacked if you choose. Free xp never hurt :).
Kywin only half watches as Silent cleaves through two of the resent dead. Her eyes darting around for an avenue of escape. "We need to get her out of here." She calls out to Silent. "Can you clear a path back to the horses?"
"Agreed, get behind me. If it gets ruff, ye leave me and run." Silent plows forward killing zombies as he goes making his way toward other part of group.
Axe:
Damage:
Shield:
Damage:
"To that sound?" Robert asks, waiting for direction. He shoots another quick arrow at an approaching undead, staying close to his group.
Meridian growls in exasperation, slips the cell door open, steps inside, and shuts the door behind him, turning the keys in the lock. He then reloads his musket.
Zhan fires a shot at any zombie that comes too close while he gets his horse freed. He grabs up the reigns of the other horses (if any others were left with his) and rides out, one hand holding the rigns of the trailing horses, the other on his gun.
=
He pulls the horses to where Silent and the others are waiting, and urges them silently to mount.
Zhan covers the others while they get mounted. Once all are ready, he gestures in the direction they should be going.
"Rally to that horn! That will be Simon!."
With that he kicks his horse into motion, making sure the others are following with him.
Robert puts his bow away and takes Merdian's unattended horse, mounting it with some difficulty and thankful that Zhan is there to cover him as he almost slips off the animal entirely.
He nods at Zhan's direction and follows, thankful that the horse is at least well-trained to make up for his unfamiliarity with them. He remains mindful of the undead nonetheless.
With a heading to the jail, you all move through the town quickly. The zombies have started to move faster, trying to follow Simon, but he is long gone on his horse, and they only vaguely witnessed which direction he headed. As the rest of you blow past them, their course is renewed and their speed increases. When you make it to the jail, you see Simon with his horse. He is moving his horse into a safe location by the guards station. From inside the jail, you hear muffled moans, the same as from the zombies outside.
"Inside! Set the horses loose and get behind the bars!"
"Turn my horse loose? That'll be the day!" Zhan swings out of the saddle and leads his horse right inside the building.
"This fellow has been with me long enough to save my life a time or two, and I owe him more respect than that. There's plenty of space in here besides, and we'll want the horses when the time comes to get ourselves out of here." Or if we're in here so long we run out of things to eat...
"Thank the gods." Kiwyn smiles briefly when Zhan shows up with Nowa. Swinging up into the saddle she holds tight to the girl. The ride through the streets is short, but tense. At the jail house she carefully slips from the saddle and swats the horse on the rump, knowing she could call it back when the time came.
"I'm sure there may be room enough for a horse or two, but not enough for all of ours." She said as she followed Zhan in. "Nor would I want to stuck in here for long with so many beasts." Once inside Kiwyn looks around for source of the moaning.
Silent will follow the others, setting his mount free as well.
Robert follows behind, dismounting from Meridian's horse. Unsure of whether or not to bring the horse in or release it, he eventually follows Kiwyn and Silent's lead, setting the horse free.