"Back, get back!" Dulae shouts, drawing her sword and rushing closer. "He is surrounded by evil!"
Heading the Sergeant's warning, the Iron Wolf leaped into action. With a reverse spin kick.
Cel's well-aimed blast rushes through the trees and impacts the man on his upper body. As he staggers back a step his head whips back, his teeth click loudly as his mouth snaps closed, and his arm is thrown violently behind him at an unnatural angle with an audible crack.
-9 HP
Alaina's kick hits him squarely in the chest. He takes another small step back as his head flies forward, leaving his jaw gaping open. A small piece of bluish-grey flesh falls from his mouth to the ground.
-11 HP (cumulative)
Dulae suspect this is an undead from the necrotic flesh and evil aura. She knows from her training that the best weapon to use against undead depends on the type of undead.
Xizoh becomes wary of the man and arms himself with his chain.
Anathema senses something is wrong and protectively puts himself between Xizoh and danger.
The man rises again to his full height, not once crying out in pain. He levels his dull, unblinking gaze at Alaina, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head as if trying to get a better look. His dislocated jaw still yawns open, and he easily pulls his broken arm forward to reach for her. His shattered shoulder makes it hang away from his body, twisted at an impossible angle.
Those standing within 10 feet of him hear a harsh rasping and see tremors in his jaw, as though he is trying to speak. If air is passing through his throat, it is coming out as dry and cold as the wintry air around them.
Cel, Xizoh, Henri, Alaina and Anathema suspect this man is dead. Given that he seems capable of absorbing a lot of damage, they figure his CR is about a 1.
Dulae is very sure that this is a zombie, and she knows from her training the only effective way to do damage is slashing. She thinks the zombie is crudely or quickly made, and probably has a CR of about 1.
Dulae also knows that zombies lose some of their potency in the cleansing fires of Altien's sun. Judging from the tracks in the snow, this one has probably been out in the daylight since dawn. Even in the shade, hours of daylight should make it confused, and the dark magic animating it and holding it together should be less powerful by now.
Henri and Dulae know that undead of any kind are practically unheard of in Altienedel, where the military actively cleanses the kingdom of such abominations. They also know that the paladins and clerics of Altien are very effective against all kinds of undead.
Cel and Xizoh have heard vague rumors of sleepless skeletons that guard treasure and dead that rise again in the most wild, dark, and unexplored reaches of Abbhen. Folklore says that it's Norah's influence coaxing bitter and hateful spirits back to life.
It's common knowledge that followers of Altien do not abide dark magics or dead abominations. Cel and Xizoh have the sense that undead are actively hunted in Altiendel and are extremely surprised to encounter one.
Anathema has a very strong sense that this thing should not be here; among the light and living is not its rightful domain. Anathema can also faintly smell dead flesh and notices there is no heat coming from the man's body.
A dead person moving seems like something out of a children's story to Alaina (as it would to anyone who has grown up in an Abbhen city well-protected by wardens). There was an ex-adventurer that would sometimes fight at the ring who had a tall tale about encountering dead things creeping in long forgotten caves and ruins far outside the city, but he was prone to exaggeration.
Alaina has the sense that Altiendel military would very actively hunt dark magics, particularly necromancy, adding to her surprise.
What in the.... Alaina thought, That should have knocked him on his ass. I've floored the Golden Turtle with that move. Keep it together Alaina, think.
Quickly, she looked around for anything useful.
Not seeing anything that would work immediately, she attempted to continue her pommeling.
Cel quickly moves to get a better view of the thing. He takes a quick peek around him to make sure nothing is sneaking up behind him as well...
Then, with his clothing, hair, and snow all still ruffling up around him, he lines up another Blast.
Henri glances at the angles, trying to see if she can fire her pistol into the melee, but she can't spot a good shot. Instead, she dashes past Anathema, skirting around the archaeologist to avoid his outstretched arms. At the same time, she draws her elegant elven curve blade from its scabbard at her back, and uses Dulae's position to flank and hopefully get a hit on the man, gracefully slicing at his back.
Dulae steps to the side and hisses out "Die, abomination!" before bringing her sword down with all her might.
Swinging his chain to build momentum, Xizoh sprinted to the gap between Dulae and Alaina. As he shot into the gap the half elf swung his weapon over head, his face tight with concentration.
Slithering forward to face the undead, Anathema's jaw broke loose before the monstrous snake snapped forward, rows and rows of teeth glinting in the winter air. His tail also swung into view, the giant limb tensed.
Alaina and anyone else that glances around sees a thick, clean blanket of white snow between the trees. There are some lumps in the snow coating; a large one that must be a log where the man was sitting and some smaller ones nearby that could be heavy branches, but may still be attached to the log. There are a few other lumps near the to Alaina's left that might be large, heavy rocks.
Alaina's first flurry of blows is well-placed, but deflected by what feels like leather armor under the man's uniform. Her second misses wildly as the man shuffles a bit closer, reaching for her.
Cel does not spot anyone or anything he hadn't already observed to his rear or flanking the group.
Cel's blast hits lower this time, impacting the man's legs and torso. The wind blast seems to have been softened and parts neatly around him.
Henri's blade cuts deeply into the man's back, severing muscle, bone, and tendon almost the full length of his torso just to the left of his spine. His outstretched arm flops to his side and his eyes go wide. He begins to turn toward Henri, taking his attention away from those in front of him.
-21 HP cumulative
Dulae's sword strikes the man in the neck as he starts to turn. The heavy blow cuts diagonally through most of his chest and cleanly severs his spine.
-33 HP cumulative (super dead)
The man begins to crumple from Dulae's blow as Xizoh reaches him. Xizoh's chain strikes him across the face, making a deep gash in his cheek that reveals mottled grey flesh over white bone.
-35 HP cumulative (even more super dead)
The man falls away from where Anathema was expecting him to be and both attacks go high.
The mangled, gray body of the archeologist lies face down in the snow. It twitches once, then is still.
Cel takes one more look around to make sure the group is safe from hidden enemies, particularly the larger lumps of snow. Then, he moves up to the group to look over shoulders to see the dead undead thing.
Cel does not perceive any potential enemies or threats.
Henri lets a shaky breath out into the air, spilling out a cloud of solid fog. She wipes the blade off onto the snow, before returning it to its scabbard and crouches down next to the body, while still being wary. "W-what-" She coughs out the stutter in her voice. "What happened to him?" She questions, gingerly reaching a gloved hand over to the lifeless body and begins to go through his pockets. "Maybe he's got a journal or something in here. You military folks love your journals, yeah?" She nods at Dulae.
All observe the man wears his brown uniform, boots, and a heavy coat.
In the pockets of the man's coat Henri finds a roll of archaeologist's tools, a few broken wooden pencils, a golden locket, a leather coin purse, a skein of frozen water, an untouched lunch of frozen bread and cheese wrapped in cloth, and a leather-bound journal.
Henri is able to quickly look over his things under the folds of his coat while being reasonably sure the others don't see.
A skim of the journal reveals it is filled with maps, plans, and detailed notes about dig sites. The gold locket is inscribed with ‘My love’ and contains a picture of a beautiful young woman and another picture of the same woman, older, with a young child. The leather coin purse is embroidered with the initials T. L. and contains maybe 10 gold pieces and at least a dozen other coins.
"Necromancy... shouldn't be on this border..." Dulae murmurs to herself before shaking her head before turning to speak to Henri. "I hope he has one; we must find out what happened. This man was turned into an undead by foul magic. The creatures become weak and confused under the light of the sun..." She pauses and looks up at the sky, gauging whether said orb would soon be covered by clouds. "No wonder night and mist have brought death."
"And how has no one found this guy yet? I mean, it's not exactly like he was hiding. Did he just get here?" Cel's voice is quivering with excitement. "Could this be part of the mystery?!"
"From his speed moving towards us, I assumed he's been here a while. It'd take forever to move with his shuffling gait. Question is, why would a necromancy stay so close to a military instillation?" Kneeling down, Xizoh peered at the cold flesh of the man, the decrepit state drawing his eye, as well as his sorrow.
"Not to mention, he wasn't the only missing person." The half elf gazes upwards, looking Dulae in the eye. "You're the knight in shining armor here. Anything we should know dealing with the dead walking?"
Henri succeeds in doing so and she is reasonably sure no one notices. If she counts them she will find 10 gold, 6 silver, and 15 copper.
Henri looks through the man's coat pockets and lays out what she finds on the snow nearby. From his coat emerge a few broken wooden pencils, an empty leather coin purse embroidered with the initials T. L., a skein of frozen water, an untouched lunch of frozen bread and cheese wrapped in cloth, a golden locket, and a leather-bound journal.
The gold locket is inscribed with ‘My love’ and contains a picture of a beautiful young woman and another picture of the same woman, older, with a young child. A skim of the journal reveals it is filled with maps, plans, and detailed notes about dig sites.
Meanwhile, the four circling crows grow bolder and begin to land on the surrounding trees.
Dulae and anyone else who takes a long, careful look at the sky notices faint gossamer clouds in the west, where the wind usually blows from. If these are a precursor to heavy clouds or snow, the group may have a couple hours or more before the sun is obscured.
Henri glances at Cel as she sifts through the man's things. "Presumably it's 'cause of their searching pattern. They probably wouldn't make it up here for a while." She glances inside the locket with a small amount of sadness flickering across her face. "I dunno much about necromancy, but I am pretty sure that someone needs to cast the spell to turn people into this sort of thing." She begins to look more closely at the book and its pages, reading through each one.
"Or maybe they unearthed some artifact that did it to them. But why wouldn't they all be together?" Henri slowly turns the pages as she searches for any evidence of what the archaeologists were looking for.
Dulae knows with certainty that a spell is not always required for the dead to rise.
Kicking herself for at the recruit-like performance she displayed, the Wolf couldn't help but hear her Father's voice, "Come on Alaina, you can do better than that. Get your act together, or someone might get killed."
At Henri's question, she spoke up, "Perhaps this one was a sentry."
Dulae looks back at Xizoh and speaks quietly. "If its made of bones break them, if its made of flesh slice it. If its a ghost, use magic. Fire always works, and they are weaker under the light of the sun. As to where it came from..." Her gaze goes to the ex-archeologist's footprints. "Its possible that this was a sentry, but that it got confused by the sun and wandered off."
She closes her eyes for a moment, chewing her lip in thought, before responding to Henri. "Most undead are created by a necromancer's spells, but not always... Norah's corruption alone can curse spirits to come back. Why either a necromancer or foul magics would fall here, away from an easy source of corpses, I cannot say. Neither Altiendel nor Abbhen tolerate necromancy of any kind, and there has not been an outbreak in many years. An artifact is a possibility, though I haven't heard of one that could do this."
Cel's curiosity is strong, but the words Dulae speaks illicits his other major feature. "If...if they're stronger out of the sun...then...then those clouds," he says as he points the coming formation. "Should we leave and come back tomorrow?" He starts to look around, eyes darting all over the place for more threats yet again.
Henri and anyone else who reads the journal sees that the first page of the journal says at the top:
Notes of Todd Laverty
Mt. Oranis search part XII
There are more than a hundred pages describing many digs, including their location, the dimensions of the area searched, the team personnel each day, and sketches of anything notable found or collected, including skeletons, skulls, and other human bones.
Most dig locations in this journal are noted to be fairly close to where the party had disappeared. Descriptions of the daily routine indicate that the dig team would be working within less than thirty feet of each other at all times. One anecdote about an encounter with dire wolves indicates at least two members of the dig team were prepared to defend the group on any given day.
The journal never discusses the properties of what they’re searching for, but often refers to ‘the Boot’. Henri reads lines like:
Some excitement this afternoon that we might have unearthed the Boot in quadrant 4 of site B187, but Lorelai cast detect magic and found the artifact hereafter referred to as Q93 did not have the same properties. Q93 was buried in a wooden box (R47, see sketch 334), also inconsistent. Kai packaged Q93 for transport to STHQ on our return today.
About halfway through the entries, the journal describes a new series of dig locations based on Silo’s location work.
Silo was enthusiastic about progress with locators for the Boot. We’re moving up the mountain effective tomorrow tasked with searching sites K104-P6. The team is eager to see new trees every day. Captain Vazquez is concerned about the cold and ordered us outfitted with new coats.
Notes of the last few digs also include comments on hurried collection due to approaching sunset and worries about the mist.
The mist was out earlier than usual today on our hike back to town. I intend to speak to the captain about Io’s needless comments on autumn being the season of death and Norah taking strength from us uncovering the old deaths of the war. The team is starting to fear our daily climb.
The last entry notes the same location as on Silo’s map, lists 7 familiar names, and has the usual morning notes on goals and tasks for the day.
The last few lines read:
I’m having the team hike down early today. It’s still daylight, so I expect we are quite safe, but there is a sudden mist now that the sun is behind clouds. Lorelai is packing up Q127 for transit. Jenorah is marking quadrant 8 for------
The pencil goes off the page as if Todd stopped writing abruptly.
Dulae would know that if the dig team was searching for something valuable or sensitive, it’d be common military practice to avoid any identifying language, terms, or names in case the journal was found by an enemy.
Dulae also doubts the captain would allow them to come back in such small numbers tomorrow. This is likely the last chance she has to enact the orders the captain gave her.
EDIT: Dulae estimates that the zombie was about 15% weaker from being in the sun today.
"The hell is 'the Boot'?" Henri questions to no one in particular, offering the journal to her party members after she's read through it. "Still, seems to me that the most likely cause is still a necromancer. If there's a lotta bones around here, he could just pull 'em out of the ground and magick 'em up." She stands and gives a noticeable shiver, though it was not due to the cold.
"Secluded mountain cave, near a town but out of the way... even someone controlling the mist could be likely. Staying out of the public eye. Magick can do all that, can't it? I mean, from some of the stuff I've heard..." She looks up at the clouds, sun reflecting off of her goggles. "Uh, I say we're good. We've got the journal with a bunch of information that I'm sure the higher ups can read, and the body that'll probably slow us down. We earned our pay today. Plus we can get an early start tomorrow if we get another tracking map."
Dulae takes the journal and skims it quickly. "I have no idea what they were looking for... but from reading this I don't think a newly uncovered artifact is to blame for the mists. Henri is most likely right that this is the work of a necromancer..." She raises a hand and points at the tracks. "And thats most likely a path right back to their lair. One that will be gone with the next snowfall. I say we go on and at least identify where they are holed up. We may not get another chance."
She looks out of the corner of her eyes at Henri and a small smile curls on her lips. "Besides, I thought you wanted an adventure?"
Alaina thought for a moment. "Sergeant, what do you think the odds are that more of the expedition would be where this....thing came from? I'd say probably pretty good, and if that's the case, another tracking map might be what we need. And I really don't like the idea of getting caught in the mists if it means being turned into one of these." To accent her point, she kicked the undead remains.
Henri smirks back. "I'm always up for throwing myself headfirst into danger. I just didn't think that you would be." She then gestured to Alaina, nodding. "I'm not gonna force other people into it, especially if they don't want to. I'm sure it's dangerous up there and I don't want to get anyone else hurt." She shakes her head, "I don't want anyone to get hurt." She stands from her crouching positions, gathering the man's belongings in a handkerchief (other than the journal) and tying them together.
"Besides, Sergeant, it was the captain who said to come back if we, A:" She holds up her index finger, "See any hint that the sun would become obscured and B:" She holds up her middle finger, creating a V with the back of her hand, "If we encountered anything hostile. And well, here we are. I'd hate to disobey orders and get kicked off the job, I need this money, and I saw how temperamental she can be about people breaking her rules." She glances at Cel with a small, sad smile. "Did retiring make you lose all respect for the chain of command?"
Henri's words on the captains instructions, the ones he did not hear being absent from the discussion, make him start hopping in place almost like he needs to pee. "Those clouds are coming awfully fast! I think I can help some, maybe?"
Nothing really stands out in Cel's memory from his former studies. He thinks for a second, then says, "Can I see the map?" He takes a look at it and combines that with what he knows about the region, then takes a look at the tracks direction to see if he can determine a probable place where others might be hiding.
The tracks appear to come from further up the mountain . Referencing Silo's tracking map, Cel and anyone who studies it notices that the first of the smuggler's caves is within perhaps a 5-10 minute hike in the same general direction the tracks lead. There are no other obvious landmarks nearby on the map.
What Cel remembers of his studies seems consistent with what's shown on the map.
"I say we head back. If the mountain is infested with undead hiding in the mist I'd rather not get stuck knee deep in snow." Wrapping his chain back around it's holster, sadness seemed etched in his face as he gazed at the man lying on the ground. The half elf looked around to see if there was anything he could use to mark the man's resting place
"Ms. Steele, I think its a certainty there are more undead on the mountain. Most likely they hole up inside one of the caves during the day - these tracks will most likely tell us which one and they will not last through a night of snow. Whether or not the tracking maps will do the same I cannot tell, as none of them have been effective like this one was."
Dulae glances again at the whisps of clouds after Cel's exclamations and gives him a distinctly unimpressed look. She ignores him, but glowers at Henri's words."If you didn't want anyone to get hurt, then you shouldn't have let that anyone come along." Dulae grimaces at her own choice of words and takes a quick breath to calm down. "I apologize, that was out of line. However, we knew this mission was extremely dangerous beforehand. That hasn't changed. As to the rest..." She pauses for a moment, measuring the time in her head. "We've been on the mountain approximately three hours. The lack of clouds gives us at least several more hours, and going back will be downhill through a carved out trail."
She takes the maps from Cel and studies it for a moment. "As Mr. Shadelock pointed out, that creature must have been moving extremely slowly. There's a cave just.. five minutes up the trail from here? It would be extremely valuable intelligence to confirm that that's where the abominations are hiding. Perhaps the captain will give us that bonus you negotiated for it. And if she really is so angry for disobeying that she fires us, well I'm the one trying to convince you, so I'll give you my pay from today."
She lets her gaze travel over the party and sighs at their unified opinion. "If we decide to go back I won't be angry. But I think following these tracks for just half an hour or so won't sink any deeper into danger than we already are, and might save many lives."
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Henri's nose twitched at Dulae's harsh words, the corner of the elf's mouth twinging as she resists turning it into a snarl. To give her something to do other that wring the sergeant's neck, she steadily reaches into a belt pouch to pull out a cigarette, lighting a tindertwig off of her belt and then starting the end of the cigarette. She mumbles through the object in her mouth, lip still twitching, "That was out of line. And normally I'd teach ya a lesson but there's not a lotta chance that I'm gonna be dragging your unconscious ass back down the hill, tight as it may be." She flicks out the tindertwig and drops the remains in the snow.
"So fine. Let's go into this stupid cave. You, and me, and anyone who wants to come with can. But anyone who wants to go back to town can do that, too, all right? We did our job already." She takes a drag on her cigarette, and then takes it out of her mouth, stepping up to Dulae. "Captain's already gonna give us that bonus for the body and the journal we found. 'f this is really that important to you, I can go, but I'm not gonna force anyone else to."
Cel maintains a face of reluctance, but doesn't push back. Anyone paying attention might see himself adjust his posture to be one of someone steeling themselves in determination. The face doesn't change, though.
Xizoh can't make out exact shapes under the snow blanket, but he is very sure that the bumps in the snow near the log are large branches. Given that there no longer seem to be any branches standing upright on the log, Xizoh suspects the tree has been dead for years and the wood is probably dry, brittle, and easy to break.
Xizoh thinks some lumps near to the treeline are smaller branches dropped from live trees and perhaps large rocks.
Given the time of year and elevation, he suspects that any branches or rocks on the ground could be difficult to break out of a growing layer of permafrost.
Silently wading through the snow, Xizoh reaches through to pull the branches free. Arranging the branches in a cross, he places rocks at the base for support.
Standing up, his hands are steady, hanging around his weapon. "If you're all going to do something dangerous, I best be there to patch you up."
"Oh and Henri," the half elf face settles into a small smile, "Smoking isn't good for your health."
Xizoh can tell that free-standing branches stood up with rocks won't last against a gust of wind. If he leans some tall branches up against the log (which is about 2-2.5 feet tall) and secures them with rocks, the marker would probably last through a mild storm.
Dulae unslings the shield from her back and straps it onto her arm, giving it a few swings to get used to the weight. She raises an eyebrow at Henri. "I appreciate that you would drag me back. Lets get going." She notices Cel's changed posture and gives him what she imagines is an encouraging smile.
As she moves towards the tracks she calls over her shoulder "I'm sure we'll all need your services some day or other, Mr. Shadelock, I thank you in advance. And I quite agree, Fireball's oral habits are certainly bad for her health."