The townspeople undead carry about their business around you, completely ignoring the pens of cattle or whomever may decide to peruse their dinner early. Despite Yoshi's whispered admonition, Slick sets out the food and water under the astonished stare of the woman. Almost in a daze of surprise, she shakes herself and grabs the food and water and turns towards the interior of the pen packed with "cattle". She whispers over her shoulder, pleading with her large brown eyes. "Please. My father is very ill.. he won't last long. I have to give him this.. maybe he can find the strength to fight on.. Follow me and I will answer your questions."
She takes a few steps deeper into the crowd, but watches carefully for you to follow.
The party follows the young woman into the pen to where she carefully begins feeding her father Slicks trail rations. "I know that this isn't really kindness.. but that you are simply looking after your food. My father would not be fit to eat if he were to waste completely away.." she says to you, carefully keeping her eyes on her father.
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Slick attempts to size up the woman, assessing her willingness to keep their secret, if he were to reveal his true nature.
"We do not wish to harm you, your father, or anyone else. We seek a researcher from Absalom named Joktan Heth and his companions. They were disguised as undead creatures. They were seeking a tome called the Testament of Geb, which we believe is kept somewhere here in Corpselight."
"If we are successful, we can try to help you escape this place. But first, we must find Heth and the Testament. What can you tell us about your captors, their leaders, and any place you believe they might keep their most prized treasures?"
Yoshi runs blocker for the group as they move into the pen, but the humans captured within are listless and uncaring, or too scared too approach and be selected as next for dinner. Most more closely resemble the zombies they are destined to feed than they do conscious humans.
Meanwhile, Slick attempts to make nice with the woman. "I know nothing of this tome or disguised undead.. They captured my father and I as we were traveling through the wilderness a few days from here, and we ended up here.. waiting to die. There are some humans that move about freely, but they are obviously part of the nobility or something.. they treat us worse than the undead do. All we are is food to them.."
Suddenly, the cacophony of intense and sudden battle interrupts the exchange. A group of humans erupt into the town square, vestments flying as the clerics viciously and mercilessly destroy any undead within reach. A small group of three of the fighters move towards the pen where you are located, when the man at the fore of the group sees you among the humans. "Undead scourge! We will cleanse this land of your pestilence! Get away from those people!!" he screams out as he charges you!
The two acolytes move into the pen, screaming beatifications to Pharasma as they lash out with their morning stars. Yoshi is able to nimbly sway with the wind out of the way of the crushing blow, but Selter is not so lucky as a Morningstar crashes into his side.
"Bold May Post"
Acolytes
~Red
~Blue
Yoshi
Slick
Leader
Yoon
Aramil
Selter- 10 dmg
~Sithiss
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"If I was wanting you dead, you would be. says the brawler as he steps between the men and the rest of the group as he tries to the to ground.
< - vs prone, not included AC penalty
< - vs prone, not included AC penalty
"I am suggesting you are putting down your weapons. We are not being your enemies, and while I am not wanting to be killing you, knocking you out here is going to be close to a death sentence."
If one of them tries to stand, then Yoshi will kick him
< - vs prone not included AC penalty
Inspire of his claws and teeth, Yoshi avoids using them for the moment, hoping to make his point more plainly with his feet.
At the sudden attack, Yoshi turns into a whirlwind of flying and stomping feet! He dives down and trips both of the attacking acolytes, then stomps down hard on the first ones chest eliciting a pained "oomph" of compressed breath being forced out of damaged lungs. With a second stomp, Yoshi just manages to catch the other acolyte, this time hitting a weak spot in the armor and eliciting a scream of pain.
"Bold May Post"
Acolytes
~Red
~Blue
Yoshi
Slick
Leader
Yoon
Aramil
Selter- 10 dmg
~Sithiss
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Slick points at one of the angry men within 30 feet. The loud one. "Sleep."
Before the angry, frightened captives, Slick makes the sign of Desna, the Tender of Dreams. "Would your undead captors make this sacred sign?"
He holds his hands out to his sides, palms open, offering no further threat.
"My friend said we mean you know harm. It's true. We just wish to talk. And we might be able to help you."
Slick points to the acolyte screaming in pain beneath Yoshi's feet, and silences him with a word before turning to the leader of the group and trying to appeal to logic.
Confronted with the vision of one monkish undead refusing to draw blood, and the another drawing the holy symbol of Desna in the air, the charging cleric slows his charge. He looks over your group with a puzzled expression, words failing him for a moment before he responds "What in the nine hells is going on here?? Undead.. Desna.. help me!!??" his words trail off as his rigid mind and unbending conviction wars with what his eyes are telling him.
"Bold May Post"
Acolytes
~Red- prone, asleep 13 NL
~Blue- prone, 8 NL
Yoshi
Waki
Slick
Leader- delay
Yoon
Waki
Aramil
Selter- 10 dmg
~Sithiss
The clamor of battle around town continues as the team decides to concentrate less on fighting and more on talking their way out of this. The Desnans groan and mumble as Yoshi allows them to stand and the flabbergasted leader slowly approaches. His sword is still out, but the tip is lowered. His countenance is completely flabbergasted as he tries to make sense of this development. "Searching for the Testament? We have heard of that.. What friends are you speaking of, child? We have been ridding this country of every scourge we could find.. and how is it that you look as undead, but claim not to be? I have never seen anything like you, and you are not any creature I am familiar with!"
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Can we trust their leader, I wonder?
Slick's expression passes for dismay among the undead. Desna preserve us, am I the face of our little team? Aramil struck me as a handsome and winsome lad, at least before our 'transformation.'
Slick whispers, *"Aramil, maybe you can help explain things to our new friends, if we need a little friendly persuasion. My arguments can be a little too philosophical for some."*
Slick decides to go all in. "As we told the young lady, we don't wish to harm any of you. We were sent here to seek a researcher from Absalom named Joktan Heth and his companions. Like us, they were disguised as undead creatures. They were seeking a tome called the Testament of Geb, which we believe is kept somewhere here in Corpselight. Learned scholars fear that tome is a grave--no pun intended--threat to all the living. We must not let it remain in this cursed place."
"If we're successful, we can try to help you escape this place. But first, we must find Heth and the Testament. Can you tell us about your captors and any place you believe they might keep such a prized artifact?"
The mans face turns grave as Slick mentions Heth. "I believe that I may be able to solve part of your riddle for you, but it is will ill tidings." he begins, frowning. "We have been moving about the area for a few weeks now, scouting and raiding where we could. It was not until after one of these raids that we realized our mistake, but it was too late. The Lady of Graves has accepted this Jokran Heth to her bosom. We encountered him and his companions and attacked, dispatching him and his companions as abominations." The cleric has the good grace to look down in supposed guilt, but yet stands firm in his convictions. "We could not have known what he was.. and it took a moment to realize that you were of the same kind."
He continues though, saying "Heth spoke of this tome being found at the Urgathoan temple atop the hill south of here but we’ve been too busy saving these people and slaying the walking dead to investigate further. If it is your wish to investigate, we will continue with our deeds.. rescuing the humans that we may, and slaying their captors."
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Slick feels the loss of yet another Pathfinder team. "If you can tell us where you interred their remains, we'd like to arrange to extract them back home, once our mission is complete. Can you return their possessions to us, especially any journals or notes, so we can take them back?"
"The confusion caused by your assault on Corpselight and the rescue operation should keep the undead defenders busy. This might be the best time to infiltrate the Urathoan temple and retrieve the Testament of Geb."
Considering how Heth's team was killed, Slick asks, "Is there a pass code we can give to your unit, so they won't assume we're their enemies? No need for unnecessary bloodshed."
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Arming and freeing slaves may worth while. Though indications are they will simply let themselves be enslaved again. However, choice is yours. It will not bother me. As stated by Slick, mayhap even help us.
Simply ask you to wait short while for us to get into position. Attacking temple and removing source of future power will prove more effective. That we will accomplish our own selves.
The cleric considers your words, but is shaking his head the whole time. "I advise you to remove yourselves from this area quickly. We are going to continue our mission of freeing anyone that we can, and destroying these abominations. Once we realized our mistake, we buried what was left of your friend, and it happens to be on the way to the temple. Go south of here, about a mile past the last human farm and you will find the site where we fought Heth, and you may retrieve whatever you wish. From there, you should be able to see the temple itself if you desire to continue that way. Pharasma be with you.." He finishes his statement with a bow and motions to the rest of his team. Together, they herd the human cattle from the pen and turn towards the northern edge of town and the wastelands that lie beyond.
you move through town to the south, eventually turning onto the trails south of the last human farm. A twisted, forking path of dry land winds through the swamp here. A low, solitary hill rises from the horizon to the south, an ominous stone cairn marring its smooth crest with a ghastly crown. The area is covered in an unnatural pall, and even natural sounds seem dulled.
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Like Selter, Slick uses the trek to cast a couple of buff spells, ablative barrier and defending bone.
Slick strains to hear what the others have. He shakes his head, but he accepts the warning of his companions.
"Have any of you seen the spot where the cleric said they'd buried Heth and his team along with their belongings?"
He draws his black blade, prepared for violence.
With a sudden crashing roar, the noises that were audible only to a few of the disguised Pathfinders comes to a tumultuous roar. Suddenly, the grave and the area around it lights up with a pale pulsing glow that gets brighter and brighter! The otherworldly sounds turn into piercing shriek!
Surprise Round
Selter
Sithiss
Yoshi
"Bold May Post"
Yoon
Waki
Slick
Selterr
Sithiss
Yoshi
Aramil
????
Sss... As she looks about eagerly for something to strike.
, if hits, and
, if beats CMD,
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Slick draws a wand from his spring-loaded wrist sheath and casts shield on himself. Then he moves up to the edge of the grave, black blade in hand.
The team prepares themselves as a dire sense of foreboding accompanies the growing light and sound. Suddenly the glow intensifies, lashing out at you with the pure white light of holy energy! Ghostly sounds of combat mixed with echoes of calls to Pharasma reach a holy crescendo as a sense of righteous indignation and ignoble anger washes out from the grave. As the flash of light retreats, you can see it condense into the 10 feet of ground around the grave and begin to slowly grow once more.
"Bold May Post"
Yoon
Waki- Fort save
Slick - Fort save
Selterr - Fort save
Sithiss - Fort save
Yoshi - Fort save
Aramil
????
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Slick scowls, I lack ecclesiastical training, but maybe if I could see something more than just this glowing light and a hole in the ground.
Unaccustomed to the burning pain of positive energy, the elf swears an oath, "Ouch!"
Slick backs away five feet from the hole and calls out to the holy warriors inside the grave, "Brave servants of Pharasma, we are not your enemies, despite our appearance. The holy ones among you will be able to sense the truth in my words. We have a common enemy in the temple of Urgathoa."
Slick easily manages to resist the positive energy and falls back, then follows Waki as the Tengu moves even further away from the bright pulsing light. On first glance, Waki almost succumbs to the lights effects, but rallies to resist most of it.
"Bold May Post"
Yoon
Waki- 13 dmg
Slick- 13 dmg
Selterr - Fort save
Sithiss - Fort save
Yoshi - Fort save
Aramil
????
Yoshi manages to shrug off the majority of the effects of the positive energy as well before he falls back to join the rest, bewildered at this turn of events.
"Bold May Post"
Yoon
Waki- 13 dmg
Slick- 13 dmg
Selterr - Fort save
Sithiss - Fort save
Yoshi- 13 dmg
Aramil
????