Mathus rushes back to the house to let the others know that Father Dimburrow is leading us on an expedition to the Restlands.
When Ella hears Mathus's report, she nods firmly. "Very well. It seems best that we go to the Restlands immediately...that will give us a chance to inter the poor Professor once again as well. Mr. Locke, Mr. Hawke, if you don't mind preparing him to leave, I just need to...um, do something...upstairs." Nodding brusquely, she exits the room.
Wake up. I need you.
Oh sister dearest, oh my, I would never have guessed!
SILENCE, worm. Come on. Get out. I have a job for you to do.
There's about a minute of silent struggle, in which sweat stands out on Ella's brow and there's a strange popping sound. Then, of a sudden, there's a rushing sound of displaced air and an apparition appears before her: a young man, handsome despite his youth and slenderness, with a cocky smirk and dashing, foppish clothes. He's also faintly translucent, floating, and pale blue. He sweeps her a bow.
"Eleanora!" he exclaims. "Why, it's been far too long since I looked upon your charming face. Months, I do believe! Let me see you!" In a rush, he's suddenly upon her, his face just inches from hers. Ella flinches, then glares. "Hmmmm. Too skinny," the apparition comments. "And you're beginning to show lines, which is most unusual in a girl your age. You should eat and sleep more! I like you better pretty, and with some, heh, meat on your bones. Not to mention you'll never find a man looking like you do. Men are animals, Ella. They don't want you spare and mousy. They need something juicy and plump to entice them, something that makes them salivate." He grins horribly at her and runs his tongue across his lips. Ella grits her teeth.
"Silence, Edmund." The dagger comes up, pointed at him, and the spirit shrieks and recoils, glaring at her balefully. Ella advances on him, the dagger held before her. "I have need of you. You've been listening to what's been said, I know, so you know where we're going and what we need to do. You will accompany us in this form, and protect us if anything should try to do us harm. But you will stay beneath the earth unless your help is needed, do you understand? If I see so much as the top of your filthy head..." she brandishes the knife, "I will lock you away inside my mind and never let you out again. Are we clear?" Sullenly, the spirit nods. "Good. Now go, avoid notice and await us on the doorstep of the house." Turning, she makes to leave the room.
Just before she gets to the door, Edmund speaks. "It's weakening, you know." Ella freezes, but doesn't turn back toward him. "I know you feel it. The binding that the professor and that old hag put on me...its edges are beginning to fray." She feels, rather than sees, him smirk. "I'm just saying: you might want to be a little bit nicer to me."
And then he's gone, gliding through the closed window and down toward the ground. Leaving Ella alone.
Ella returns about five minutes later, looking slightly pale. "Are we ready to go?" she asks tightly. "I'd as soon get this over with."
Lorant frowns as Eleanora departs. Was this linked to her strange behavior at the town hall the other day? Still, best not to pry. He didn't want to drive her away after the rapport they'd developed not more than an hour ago.
Mathis doesn't notice much as he helps himself to another fortifying draught of local spirits.
"Prepare who to- you mean.... the professor?" Judah looked a little green and was clearly about to refuse, but then he looked at Kendra sobbing in the chair and had a brief internal struggle. "Yeah. Yeah, alright. C'mon Cassiel."
Judah looked around for a blanket large enough to wrap the body in and then went outside, seeing the corpse of the professor for the first time.
When Cassiel made his way outside, Judah was tossing up his breakfast into Kendra's garden.
Even as distracted with carrying the professor's wrapped up body as he is, it's impossible for Cassiel to not notice Eleanora furtively heading upstairs.
...hmm. Might want to follow up on this too. Then again, if Judah here is any indication... He quirks an eyebrow at the man puking in the garden. Oh, that's not going to be healthy for the flowers--it's possible that she's going through the same thing.
|
The good father leads you to the Restlands, Kendra staying at the house both for her safety as much as her composure. You arrive to find nothing out of place, save the Professor's grave, which has obviously been upturned and disturbed, probably by his rising. As you expose the coffin to place him back at rest, however, a nearby grave suddenly bulges, the dirt and mud exploding from it as it's occupant, a skeletal figure, emerges. This is followed by another, not far from the first, and then another!
The skeletons are in the process of digging themselves free (takes two rounds). They provoke attacks of opportunity while doing so. Assume that you can reach any given skeleton with a single move action. A skeleton can either attack or try to free itself. It cannot do both.
INITIATIVE
Eleanora
Skeletons
Lorant
Mathus
Cassiel
Judah
Ella is silent on the way to the Restlands, meditating on the Professor's death and what she just did. She can sense her brother, passing just out of sight under the ground, but right now she tries to focus on the transportation of Petros back to his resting place.
At the graveside, Ella hardly says a word, but when she hears the skeletons ripping themselves out of the ground she whirls in fear. Without her even meaning to do so, her mind seizes a rock by the graveside and hurls it at the nearest skeleton!
bludgeoning
Malthus lays about with his walking stick
Will save to avoid being shaken.
Alcohol still in his system his nerve seems to hold.
Standback. I have a bomb just for this sort of occasion
"I knew it!" Lorant says as the hands burst through the ground. He draws his morningstar.
"I expended all my might in that one brand. I'll have to deal with these the old-fashioned way."
He advances to the nearest rising skeleton and prepares to smash it.
Cassiel looks at the emerging skeletons with a deadpan expression.
"So, I don't mean to alarm anyone, but it looks like the locals are getting a bit restless."
"What?" Judah said, confused a moment. "Bomb? Why do you have a bomb? Wy do you need a- WHAT THE F&~%? WHAT TH- UNDEAD! THERE'S UNম̺͇̰ৃ͓̦̩̫͔ত̖̬͈̣́"
In a panic, Judah looked around for something to climb onto to try to get away from the undead bursting out of the ground all around him. He hadn't even realized that he'd begun speaking a strange multi-layered language that sounded like he had a second mouth or extra tongues, and crawled into the ears of those listening like some kind of invasive telepathy.
Cassiel lets his goddess' favoured weapon fall to the mud as he races forward, his club springing to his hand.
"No no no--back in your grave, now." He wags a condescending finger at the skeleton before swinging viciously at it!
Mathus throws a bomb at one of the skeletons.
doing damage. and 5 damage to the area around it.
"ও̰হ͍̣͙̤͖̗͕ ̜উ̻̳̣̻̜প̨̲া̡স্̝̲̤͈̪̤̻̲͈͖̱̫͖̀͟য̮̜̣͔̥̦̀ͅদ̶͙̬̝ে̸͇̣͇̥̼র̭͔̯̺͘ ̧উ͎̪̺̮̘̗͇͝হ͕͖̰̜̘͔ͅু̛ ̣̮̤̥͝দ͏͉͙ে̛̥̳͖̰ব͉͡ত̟̺̼̰͙̹̕া҉͔͙͓͉̱দ̼͇̞̟̮̳͈ে̣র͏!̛̲͕̪ͅ ͉̱̘̼এ͙̪̜̪̦̥ট̙͖͔̬̠͔া̱̤͇̣͔̤̙ ̰̙͈͉̞͖̬̕হ͕চ্̬͍̰͍̱̯̤̬͔͉̺͍̻ছ̰̻͖̫͖ে͇̗̠ ̠͎̘̖̲͉̰͟ন̸̼͚͇̮া̴!̞̞"
Judah scrambled behind the tree next to him, still babbling in an impossible language, trying desperately to get out of sight, or at least put something solid between himself and the horrors in front of him.
There's a sudden howling noise as a translucent blue hand reaches out of the ground, and a young man in foppish clothes hauls himself out of the ground.
"Filthy slaves didn't even suggest that they were going to move!" He snarls as he comes to regular standing height (although technically he's floating) next to Eleanora. The young woman blanches and looks pale.
"Don't worry, sister dearest," he hisses. "This is what you brought me for, no?" He glides over to the skeleton that Cassiel is engaged with. "Now, give me form!" He rears back as he reaches the skeleton, face twisted in gleeful hate.
Ella staggers backward, looking horrified, but then grits her teeth and closes her eyes. Sweat breaks out on her forehead as she clenches her jaw and strains, but as she does so, the ghostly figure is fleshed out and takes on a semblance of material form--although still glowing and blue.
Edmund chortles with glee as he becomes solid and brings his fists down on the emerging skeleton's head!
He misses wildly and almost hits Cassiel. "Oh, hello there," he says mildly, turning to the paladin. "You must be Cassy."
|
|
Lorant races forward and smashes his foe, staving the undead's skull in and smashing a good portion of it's ribcage. The skeleton collapses in a heap of bones. Mathus throws a bomb and blows his target's torso apart, leaving it on the ground in several pieces. Cassiel and Edmund both miss their target, however, as Mathus tries to climb the nearest tree.
The paladin does a double take as the spirit beside him almost clobbers him. "Wait. What the f--"
Unfortunately, the skeleton cuts him off by clawing at him.
Cassiel reels from the two blows!
"Alright. Hard way it is, then." He grumbles as he swings his club...
"You're telling me. Ow." Cassiel wobbles on his feet and looks over at the odd spirit next to him.
"Now, who are you, anyway?"
Cassiel feels considerably better, though he's still scratched.
"Thanks, sir."
"Oh, Black Pharasma."
The rest of the group hears a barely audible whisper from Ella before she staggers and then begins talking rapidly indeed. "Everyone, there's--there's no need to be afraid, this is--this is--" She comes up short, staring at the apparition.
"I'm EDMUND!" The glowing blue phantom exclaims. "A pleasure to meet you all, truly, charmed, I'm sure. I've heard sooooo much about you: Cassy, and you must be Mat, and Judas, and Lauren! And you must be Father Grumblebumble. Keep that filthy holy symbol away from me, or I'll rip your arms off."
He stretches. "Sweet nectar of Calistria! That feels gooooood. I've been cooped up in that cunt's mind for so long you wouldn't f@#+ing believe. My own sweet sister, did you know? 'course that didn't stop her from--"
Ella cries, panicked. She grasps the blade around her neck and Edmund howls and shrinks from her, then, snarling, turns and stomps off through the graveyard, mumbling under his breath. The young woman watches him go, warily, then turns back toward the others.
"It's...it's true, what he says. That is--was--my half-brother, Edmund. He...died, some years ago, and his spirit became bound to mine. He's not...dangerous, well, not really. He's the problem that Professor Lorrimor helped me solve: I control him with this." She holds up a small, slim dagger on a chain that hangs around her neck. "It's...tied to his spirit, and it keeps our psyches from bleeding together too much. He stays locked away inside my mind most of the time, but I...well, I was worried that we might run into trouble here, and he can fight. Which I can't." She looks down, biting her lip. Angry tears are forming in her eyes. "So I...called him out in case we needed him. I'm sorry. But I promise, I promise that I'll keep him under control."
Cassiel watches the boorish spirit stalk away with a disgusted look on his face.
"It's okay, Eleanora." He says as he walks back to pick up his dropped longsword. "I don't blame you for calling him out."
Although, really, how hard is it to remember my name? It's two goddamn syllables.
Lorant regards Edmund gravely, and when he turns and leaves, his expression softens a bit.
"I figured something was exerting a supernatural influence on your mind. That display in the courthouse did seem a bit out of character for you."
He hangs his morningstar back on his belt.
"It is...tragic that he's trapped here, unable to move on. And more tragic that you're stuck with a boor like him in your head. Don't worry. He doesn't scare me, and if he gets out of line, I'll do my best to help you deal with him."
He turns and goes after Edmund, to make sure he doesn't start trouble.
Mathus shrieks!
G...G... Ghost!.
He readies his bomb but doesn't throw it for fear of hitting others.
Whats happening here? Are the dead truly rising? Father Grimbellow! Send it back to the spirit world!
Ella watches Lorant go with concerned eyes. "While I understand the impulse, I beg you not to try, Father," she says to the priest. "Edmund is not, if I understood the Professor correctly, truly an animate spirit, in the first place. More of a...psychic conjuration. A manifestation of his malevolent will, which itself exists on the Ethereal Plane. And while he can be banished back to there, he always returns. Our psyches are too firmly linked for him not to find his way back. And it's most...uncomfortable, when he's there." She grimaces. "The Professor and the wise woman who helped him eventually concluded that if Edmund's spirit were ever truly put to rest, the psychic disruption might kill me. So it appears that I am stuck with him, and he with me, for the moment."
Edmund looks up as Lorant approaches. He's currently got one finger on--no, actually, in--a gravestone. As he moves it slowly, it leaves a sickening trail of slime behind it. He's using the slime to write rude things on the gravestone.
"'eeeey, Lauren," he says casually as Lorant approaches. "What can I do for ya? I've got some coffee around here somewhere I'm sure. Or if blood's more your thing, I think there's a soft, warm, palpitating group of fleshy creatures over there. Though mind--if you take too much from Ella I'll use your head as a bowling ball." He grins.
"...huh." Cassiel's face falls for a second. "That's... well, that's awful."
"I'm with Lorant on this--I'll do what I can to help."
Edmund looks up as Lorant approaches. He's currently got one finger on--no, actually, in--a gravestone. As he moves it slowly, it leaves a sickening trail of slime behind it. He's using the slime to write rude things on the gravestone.
"'eeeey, Lauren," he says casually as Lorant approaches. "What can I do for ya? I've got some coffee around here somewhere I'm sure. Or if blood's more your thing, I think there's a soft, warm, palpitating group of fleshy creatures over there. Though mind--if you take too much from Ella I'll use your head as a bowling ball." He grins.
Lorant glowers but doesn't bother correcting Edmund, knowing this...thing was just doing it to get a cheap rise out of him. Nothing more than a childish bully. No wonder Eleanora seemed miserable all the time, with someone like this chattering in her head all the time.
"I'm surprised you care. If you fear for your sister's life, then rest easy. I've had over a century to get my bloodlust out of my system. I'm only following you to make sure the other townsfolk don't see you and panic."
"Townspeople? Here? Don't be so melodramatic. Take a look around." Edmund leans in close to Lorant and grins. "It's quiet as the grave." He chortles and darts away, peering at the next tombstone.
"'Annabelle Lee, beloved wife and daughter, 4692-4716 A.R.,'" he reads. "Wonder if she was hot. And by the way, you shouldn't be surprised that I care so much about that b~*@@'s life. She's all I've got left. And besides..." He smirks. "She keeps me here. She's mine."
Ella sighs, though she's still watching Edmund and Lorant's exchange with one eye. "I appreciate the offer of help, Mr. Hawke, although I doubt that there is much anyone can do about it." Taking a deep breath, she steels herself. "I suppose it would be best for us to return to the village now, no? In which case..." She closes her eyes and her brow furrows for a few seconds. Then she breathes in sharply.
Just as she does, Edmund lets out a shriek of rage and vanishes, leaving only a greasy smear behind near Lorant.
Ella opens her eyes, looking both more alert and grim. "Let us be off, then."
Judah watched everything from behind his tree, horrified at first, but then slowly realizing that Eleanora's situation wasn't that different from his own. This Edmund fellow might have been a ghost, or a psyco projection, or whatever, but it wasn't trying to kill them.
He slowly came out from behind his tree as the spirit vanished and gave Eleanora a small smile. "We all got our ghosts and demons to wrestle with, luv. Some of 'em are just more literal than others. You're still you, and that's good enough for me."
"Townspeople? Here? Don't be so melodramatic. Take a look around." Edmund leans in close to Lorant and grins. "It's quiet as the grave." He chortles and darts away, peering at the next tombstone.
"'Annabelle Lee, beloved wife and daughter, 4692-4716 A.R.,'" he reads. "Wonder if she was hot. And by the way, you shouldn't be surprised that I care so much about that b+&&&'s life. She's all I've got left. And besides..." He smirks. "She keeps me here. She's mine."
"Says the dead man who depends on his sister's good graces to even be out here. Maybe if you showed her a bit more respect she'd let you out more. If a beast is all you're willing to be, then you deserve to be caged."
He smirks a bit as Eleanor dismisses her foul brother.
"Like that," he finishes.
Ella flushes slightly when Judah makes his show of support. "Well, thank you, Mr. Locke." She hurries on. "You know now, at least, why I was so certain that you were not being haunted." She smiles wanly. "I'm more than familiar with the experience."
"Now, shall we rejoin Kendra?"
"Yes. Let's." Cassiel moves over to Ella and keeps his longsword readied for more trouble.
"Once we've put the good Professor's bones back where they're supposed to be, that is."
"What about all the rest of these poor folks?" Judah said looking around at the bones all over the ground. Then his brow furrowed. "Come to think of it, why do Pharasmins bury bodies at all? Doesn't Pharasma hate undead more than pretty much anything? Isn't putting them in the ground just asking for them to climb right back out again? Especially in Ustalav?"
Judah looked to Cassiel and Father Grimburrow. "Can we just burn them?"
"Very well," Ella says stoically, picking up a shovel. "Let's get to it..."