Alessandra's shove fails to knock the undead canine to the ground, but it does distract it enough to get in a slash with her sword!
Teo pulls her blade and attacks the undead dog that bit her.
Attack
Damage
Finlogan sheathes his longbow and looses his two shortswords. He stabs the undead hound trying to destroy the abomination.
Return to the dead beasts!
Gwenifer attacks the same dog again.
Teo stabs the dog that bit her!
Finlogan unleashes against his own opponent, landing one blow!
Gwen gives her adversary a solid chop as well!
,
Naia finishes off one of the undead wolves!
The badly-injured wolf by Gwen attacks!
,
The creature bites Gwen hard, then yanks her down onto the ground!
The injured wolf among Alessandra's opponents bites at her!
,
Missed! The next one bites as well:
,
Closer, but no!
,
Alex's third wolf bites her and pulls her down to the ground!
Teo's remaining opponent attacks!
,
Teo hits the dirt as well!
Finally, the last wolf attacks Fin!
,
Finlogan is bitten, but stays on his feet!
Naia stabs again, this time at the second wolf...
"Whoops." Alex says as one of the dogs drags a leg out from under her. She's back on her feet before the dogs can overwhelm her and she tries to finish one off.
Naia scores a heavy slash with her geometric scimitar into the wolf attacking her and Teo!
Alex quickly rises and gives an ineffectual shove followed by a far-more-effectual slash that finishes one of her opponents!
Finlogan grits his teeth in pain from the bite of the deathhound. Then, he attempts to stab it but cannot find purchase.
Teo keeps using her dagger after climbing to her feet. She again attacks the undead dog.
Attack
Damage
"Get off me!" Gwenifer shakes the zomb-dog off her leg and stands up. "Die already! I have more of you I need to destroy."
Gwenifer attacks the same one again, hopefully killing it. If it is dead, Gwenifer moves to the next closest one.
Finlogan fells his own opponent, then steps to one side and finishes Teo's assailant as well!
Gwen slays the wolf she was fighting in the alley, then rejoins the group just as Teo steps forward and stabs one of the wolves attacking Alex!
The two remaining wolves bite at Alex:
,
,
The first misses, but the second finds flesh!
After less than a minute of furious commotion, you find yourselves once again drowning in eerie calm, with the only sounds being your own heavy breathing and the cawing of a crow somewhere in the distance. Nothing around you moves.
"I was bitten. A short rest couldn't hurt. We should rest back with the merchant then. We shouldn't leave him alone."
At Gwenifer's suggestion, you all head back to the stables to check on Gammel and take a breather. Thankfully, you find him still all in one piece and on his first life, if perhaps a bit jumpy. He looks you over and his eyes widen at the sight of your wounds.
"What happened?!" he asks with alarm.
"Calm yourself Master Gammel Ducoton. Some poor dogs fell victim to the curse of the undead, but we have not discovered any other useful information." Alex finds a rag and tries to wipe the blood off her armor where she was bit. " Can anyone start a fire? I have no desire to sit in the dark."
"It might not be wise to start a fire in a stables without a fireplace. We can rest for the evening if you don't want to explore in the night." Finlogan says politely.
"It is getting dark. It might be best to stay in hiding through the night until we know the full extent of the undead. It might be something more terrible comes out after sundown. Maybe one of our spellcasters could aid with light this evening if fire is too dangerous."
Short rest
Teo sits down and tries to catch her breath. The dogs had given her a nasty scratch or two, so she put a dollop of ointment on the wounds and felt much better
"It is still a bit early to turn in. We had better make sure there is nothing nasty sleeping in all the buildings nearby at least."
"I'm okay with a short rest. We just need to be careful."
For an hour, Finlogan calmly wanders the barn examining its maintenance.
When everyone is rested, he asks, "are we resting for the night or hunting undead? We won't take anything by surprise with your need for light outside. Your choice."
"That is just as well, Finlogan Escalus." Alex says, her whetstone rasping along the edge of her sword. "I have no desire to sneak up on anyone."
An hour passes without incident, and soon you're feeling refreshed and renewed. The town is now shrouded in shadows, and as still as ever.
Teo can spark a torch and use he other hand for Casting, so she will be okay.
Guided by the light of Alex's lantern and Teo's torch, you head back out toward the smithy. The town is dark and silent, save for your feeble lights and the sound of your footfalls.
The smithy's door is fully intact, having apparently never been broken open. It's unlocked. When you step inside, you see quite a sight.
A large, open area bears a blackened stone floor and contains the charred remains of some sort of cart or wagon. Nearby also lies an overturned vat or cauldron, and an oily residue coats much of the floor. Three humanoid bodies lie on the floor; two are burned down to the bones, and one lies a bit further in (beyond the blackened area of the floor) with its head smashed in.
Examining the bodies, especially the unburned one, it becomes clear that these had been zombies, which have since been destroyed.
A large hammer sits on the ground near the anvil, with blood splatters in the area. Beyond the forge, at the back wall, is a large, barred door, through which you imagine carts of supplies or materials might be brought in. Off to one side, opposite the forge, a set of shelves has been knocked down, and segments of armor are scattered everywhere.
There are actually enough pieces of armor here that you could assemble a working suit of either half-plate or splint armor, easily.
Like the other businesses you've checked, this one lacks any sort of cash box.
"The evidence points to survivors, some who are fighting back. We should find them before it is too late. They also might know more about what is going on."
"Alright, this building is clear of zombies and survivors. Let's go to the next one."
Alex leaves the smithy and calls towards the houses. "Is anyone here? We can aid you against these monsters!"
Alessandra's call is met only with the cawing of a crow in the distance and the creaking of broken wood and distant tree boughs in the night wind.
Teo leads the others to the last unexplored building. "Let's finish up with this building. Then we can look around the rest of the town," she squeaks as she looks around.
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid but is that crow watching us?"
"Well, if the crow gets close enough, I'll befriend him." Finlogan says casually.
"Crow's are very intelligent. I would not be surprised if it was watching us. Perhaps hoping it will find among us something other than undead flesh to eat. Does anyone have a biscuit to leave it?" Alex says while she heads for the last shop.
Naia stares at the crow momentarily, seeing only a presage of death. She murmurs something to herself, possibly a ward against malefic emanations. Then, with scimitar at the ready she follows after Alex.
The last building before the residential area bears a sign reading "Foodstuffs and Feed". Like so many others, its door is battered open. Inside, you find the all-to-familiar blood splatters on the floor, indicating at least one person died here, right in front of the door.
Oddly, there are no other signs of struggle. Everything is neatly in place, undisturbed, except for a single spilled bag of flour behind the counter. Even more odd is that someone has drawn (as if with their finger) an image of an arrow in the spilled flour, pointing toward the back corner of one of the crates lining the walls.
"Could that be a sign pointing to a trap door? Or might it be pointing to a real trap? I guess there is only one way to figure it out."
Finlogan cautiously approaches "the back corner of one of the crates lining the walls."
"I think one of the villagers left the arrow for us to follow. We should investigate."
NAIA sniffs the air and looks at the symbol.
"From what I have witnessed, the foul living dead are not much for cognitive leaps. This was not left for them to follow."
Heeding the flour-drawn arrow, you find that there is a folded piece of parchment tucked behind a crate. Retrieving and unfolding it, you find that it's a note, which reads:
"I pray that whoever finds this has the power to act. I will be dead in minutes, so I am leaving behind what little I know, in hopes that it can contribute to the ending of this vile threat.
"It began weeks ago. First, a couple of people went out on the lake and didn't come back. It's not unheard of, so we mourned and moved on. Then a storm passed through, and several people went missing, along with some boats. Strange as it was that anyone who lives in Silverwood would go out on the water in a storm, we could think of no other explanation. Again, we mourned and moved on.
"It wasn't until a couple of days later that a home was broken into one night. The damage was discovered the next day, and the family was gone. There was evidence of violence, but no bodies. That's when people started to get worried. The town guard then started doing foot patrols at night. Sadly, I think that's exactly what the enemy wanted.
"A couple of nights after the residential attack, all the town guards disappeared as well. A few people reported hearing noises in the night, and in the morning there was evidence of violence in the town guardhouse, but again, no corpses.
"The next couple of nights saw multiple houses broken into and the residents violently removed. Tonight, I think the rest of the town will fall. Someone tried to leave to get help, but they were caught and dragged back. We're trapped here, and we'll all be killed. Probably tonight.
"I think the enemy is a necromancer. I think the reason there have been no bodies is that every victim becomes a soldier for this person's army. I think that's why it started slowly, then accelerated after there were enough victims. If I'm right, then now we've got half the town hoping to defend itself against the other half of the town, with the only weapon-trained citizens (the town guard) being on the side of the undead. It's not going to work. We're going to die. But if I'm right, and the ones doing the fighting are shambling dead, then I should be able to leave this behind without it being noticed by the enemy. Here's hoping.
"My dear reader, please avenge this town and its people. There's no telling what someone might want to do once they have an entire village worth of undead slaves. Best of luck."
Finlogan passes the note around and slowly shakes his head at the vileness of necromancy.
Naia slowly makes her way through the missive, and closes her eyes for a moment. Never before have written words moved her so.
"Would that avenging them might bring any kind of peace to them...or us..."
"Finding the one who did this could bring them some peace. They could UN-animate the bodies, maybe. I wonder how this curse is spread. Any ideas?" Alex ponders the bite marks on Naia's body with concern, holding her light close to the injury to see it better. "It seems any hope of finding anyone alive is gone." She laments. "Unless the necromancer took some of the civilians alive as slaves."
"To think that one man could destroy an entire town... I don't think a necromancer has need of living slaves...but it doesn't hurt to be optimistic."
"If we're going to the residential area next, perhaps we should inquire with Gammel if he recalls any persons of note from his previous visits. Someone the others would turn to in a time of need perhaps."
"More to the point, how are we going to fight off a whole town full of undead? Say there were 50 people here, what are we going to do against that many zombies?"