Hearing the screams around the corner Abraham nods to Rennai "let's see what we can do". Abraham rushes out to around the corner to face (un)death. The Lady of the Grave is going to have her due today. He reflects grimly as he mentally prepares.
Chloir follows Abraham, but sticks to the shadows. Clutching the kunai, she prepares to throw it into the first undead skull she sees.
Around the corner a large group of what appears to be zombies are hammering away at a shop front. The door has been breached by the monsters, who are slowly forcing the splintered wood back with the constant, unyielding force of a machine.
The zombies haven't noticed your approach, focused as they are on the meal inside. You have a moment to plan - or to back off and leave, of course.
Rennai grabs an arrow from her quiver, covered in a thin, translucent coating of what appears to be some type of dried alchemical glue. She nocks the arrow to her bow's string and nods. Keep 'em off me as much as yeh can, she mutters softly. Don't want ta get my throat ripped out tryin' ta get off a shot.
Climbing up the ladder after the priestess, Kerwin takes the time to knot his rope at the top of the ladder. "With that, you should be able to abseil down quickly if we are in a hurry going back."
Then he joins the others and listens to the description. Taking out a vial, he adds: "If you let me have a shot while they are grouped, I can damage a lot of them at the same time. And I know how to direct my explosions to avoid injuring any of you.", he whispers.
Abelone listens attentively to Kerwin's whispered plan. "My spells also work better against multiple close targets. Perhaps it would be a good idea if I and Kerwin try to take out as many as we can in one big blast, and then the rest of you mop up the survivors?" she suggests, then quickly clarifies her potentially unfortunate phrasing. "The surviving undead, I mean. Not the survivors we're trying to save, obviously.
Keeping his back against the wall and peeking around the corner quickly before returning, Abraham whispers quickly.
"Their mostly grouped in a clumped formation with a couple outliers, if you can hit them with a bomb and if Abelone can hit them with positive energy that should do a pretty number on the lot of them. I guess the rest of us can try and concentrate on one of them at a time and drop them quickly. There's one right around the corner, I plan on going after it first."
Let's do it. These may end up being useful allies after all...
Kovar ascends the ladder. "Kerwin, Abelone, just hit them hard and fast. We need to save these people." Kovar readies himself for battle.
"I'm ready to go whenever you are"
When every one is ready, Kerwin steps 5 foot down in diagonal and throws an acid bomb at the zombie in front of the door.
Chloir picks out the second closest zombie, and aims the kunai at the base of its neck, timing her throw to hit at the same time as whatever blasts Abelone and Kerwin plan to unleash.
Abelone moves forward after Kerwin had thrown his bomb and holds her glowing holy symbol high while beseeching her goddess for aid.
"Oh Sarenrae, let your purifying light free these creatures from their wretched existence!"
Abraham waits for the others before moving out himself seconds after, quickly rounding the corner and slashing in a quick arc at the lone zombies chest.
The zombies took a horrific hammering from the attacks. Kerwin's damage melted one zombie outright, while several others were badly burned. Abelone's prayer was answered by a purifying wave of positive energy which destroyed the acid-scarred zombies that remained and damaged the others. Abraham and Chloir's kukris removed the now-wounded others from play before they had a chance to even shamble around. Your coordinated strike had annihilated the undead before they could effectively respond.
"Well, that went even better than expected. Good job guys. Ready to go check on the source of the screaming?"
Aye, Rennai answers tersely, releasing the tension in her bowstring, though she keeps the weapon in hand.
"Rennai and Abelone, you'd best go first. You two may look a bit more comforting to whomever is there."
One time getting chased by fearful peasants for being a "harbringer of death" is plenty
Chloir retrieves her throwing knife and glances around her, casually checking the nearby stores for useful supplies.
"Yes, I'm not sure I'll be welcome right now. I've been prejudiced against due to my origins when I was working as an alchemist.", he replied to Chloir's suggestion while keeping his eyes and ears open.
The remains of the door are pushed aside as you approach. A gangly young man in poor fitting and mismatched armour, with a ludicrously oversized mace stares at you all from behind the door.
"Where did you all come from?" he squeaked from behind the door.
Come from th' inn, Rennai answers, unused to being the one to talk in any group, but understanding their reticence. Ye' folks need anythin'?
"Uhhh..." the man replied before being shoved aside by a small, pretty girl.
"One of them bit my older brother," she said without preamble. "Have any of you got healing abilities?"
I, ah, ain't got much skill. I c'n stop bleedin' or set an arm easy enough, but any more th'n that... Rennai trails off, looking at the others to speak up and offer their skills, looking most closely at Abelone.
"I do," Abelone replies to the girl matter-of-factly. "Can you lead me to him so that I can take a look?"
Abraham sighs somewhat relieved at how quickly the zombies went down.
Letting Abelone step up and keeps towards the back of the group and keeps an eye out for any trouble.
Chloir inwardly groans. She was already less than happy that Rennai had told them about the inn immediately. Now these people would want to go there, and they still hadn't found if the storehouse's supplies could feed the ones already there. But the little girl's request made things far worse. Chloir was pretty sure there were at least a few undead who could turn their victims into more undead with their attacks. But which kind? Was this brother bitten by an undead like that?
"I have a little knowledge of medicine myself. I'll have a look as well. Was it one of these beasts we just slayed that wounded him? Or did it happen earlier?" she says loudly, hustling to catch up to Abelone. Then, in a whisper to her Chloir adds "Be careful. Whatever foul curse or disease these undead may carry, this boy might've caught. Please let me have a look before you put a hand on him"
And what will we be doing if the boy suffers from more than a simple scratch, I wonder.
The girl passes, keeping an eye on Chloir as she allows you to pass. "He was bitten earlier today, about two hours ago, when our home was broken into. We were trying to find a new shelter when we were cornered here. We managed to get the door open, but couldn't shut it again in time."
As you pass you enter what was a sweetshop. It appears most of the wares have already been stripped from the shelves and counters, however.
In the far corner a young man lies, his complexion pale and his breathing harsh. An hysterical mother - both the man and girls mother, by her looks and complexion - is holding onto his hand and sobbing.
The man's wounds are a vicious bite on his lower abdomen which has ripped into his stomach. It appears he was pinned down and a zombie or other such creature began to feed before he was dead.
Abelone turns almost as pale as the wounded man when she slowly starts realising that she has no idea what to do. She could handle small scratches and flesh wounds fine enough, but something as grievous as this? She could just hope that closing the wounds with magic would be sufficient...
Reaching for her wand of healing magic, she looks at Chloir and hopes that the Tengu did really mean what she said about knowing a little about medicine. "What do you think? Will it enough if I just use my wand and close the wound?" she asks in a low voice, ashamed that she doesn't know what to do when she clearly should.
"It's necessary, but not sufficient I fear. We'll have to clean this wound too, and then apply a bandage drenched in a pulp made of fligensroot and poppymilk mixed in sugarwater. The innkeeper probably has some alcohol stashed somewhere, maybe a little sugar, but I doubt he has the herbs we need."
Chloir paused as she tried to think of a place here that might carry some. She wasn't a native of the city but it was an old habit to check out stores for interesting items as she passed through the streets. Would that storehouse have anything? Depends on what shops it supplied I suppose
"Very well then, here's what we can do. Rennai amd Kervin can nip back through the sewers and ask what the inn can spare, and if he know where we might find the rest. Abraham, you can help me search this place to see if anything of use is in here. Abelone, see to his immediate injuries, but take care not to get any of the puss on yourself. Korvai," and here she lowers her voice " guard Abelone. There's something foul in the air here. If that man is suffering from something viler that a mere disease, make sure he doesn't bite her.
"I also have a healing wand for when we need it. I would suggest we heal the boy as much as we can them move them down in the sewers and back to the inn right now. There's no point in staying here in the open and separating ourselves, especially if the undead come back."
He plays with his wiskers before adding. "We decided to intervene here, so leaving them on their own would be cruel as well as not in line with our initial intentions or actions. We came to help them. Let's do it all the way."
If we're wantin' ta take folks back ta the inn, I c'n help carry those as can't make the trip themselves, or carry the supplies we can, Rennai pipes up. Some sense ta keepin' folk together as much as possible, seems ta me - we got the same amount o' supplies both ways, an' more folks together means more hands if things turn ugly.
Her voice drops a bit in volume. But if we can't get the boy a little more healthy soon, he may need ta be moved into the basement, or somewhere else he c'n be shut in on his own. If he dies an' turns when he's 'round others, ain't gonna be pretty.
Kovar pleadingly looks at his allies.
"Sorry, I don't really know anything about surfacer plants or the town, really. Anything else I can do to help? I would gladly help look for the ingredients."
He looks to the infected man and tries to keep an eye out for any physical changes in case he turns.
"I don't think we should heal him just yet, Kerwin. We can't exactly clean and bandage the wound if it has been already closed... Hey, what's that?" Abelone reaches for the top shelves and picks up a few confectionaries. "We needed sugarwater too, right? Perhaps if we search this place well we can scrape off enough sugar to make some."
Abraham moves to inspect the boy himself momentarily before looking around the shop.
"Chloir, I seem to remember a nearby herb shop that might have what we need. Red leaves I believe, does that sound right to you Kerwin?
I think it might be wiser for us all to go, there is strength in numbers and there is only so much to do here. Plus we might find other useful supplies there. If we are going to gather supplies, mind us well carry back as much of whatever medicine there might be as we can.
Regardless, I don't think we should try moving them until we can be sure he will be okay. I agree do what we can for him now and then go to check for the herbs seems like the wisest course of action to me."
Abraham pauses for a moment, considering, before pulling a vial of Antiplague out of his pack. "This might help him some though."
Turning to the original girl who let them in. "Do you think you would be alright for a little while if we left?"
Chloir isn't happy with this new plan, except for the part where they leave the man here for now. She shudders to think of all that could've gone wrong letting a sick man into their safehouse.
"Please don't forget that the others are counting on us to bring food. If you ask me, we should take a minute to collect that alcohol to disinfect the wound so Abelon can close it. That'll last him long enough that we can go on and collect the food. The herbs for his bloodloss we can get after that. We might fall to these monsters retrieving either, so it would be
best to start with the task that'll save the most."
Yeh got a point, Rennai answers Chloir, although time's a factor too. It ain't good at the inn, but no one'll be dyin' there fer several days at least. The boy, though - maybe a day before he meets Magrim, maybe less. Time ain't on his side, an' if he dies an' turns, these folks're in just as much trouble as those in the inn'd be without supplies.
She reaches for the chain-flail at her side, testing a few of the spikes on the heavy ball. Ain't no clean n' neat answers here. As fer me, I'm votin' fer the option where we get it all, quick as we can, an' mowin' down whatever abominations we gotta destroy ta do it. Too many folks need us ta let it be otherwise.
The young woman looked at you all. "If you can give us a hand with the door and moving upstairs, we should be fine for a while. If he turns, I promise he won't be a danger to the rest of us. And...thank you at least trying."
Well, ya heard 'er. Let's get 'em moved upstairs 'n get a move on. What is it ya need help movin'? Following the inhabitants' instructions, Rennai begins the task of getting everyone set up in the shop's upstairs area.
The upper level is a simple home, with only signs that it had seen hurried packing attesting to the current disaster. But the bed, although stripped, has a fine mattress and looks comfortable. There is also a second small room, decorated for a child, a living area with a small bookshelf and, of course, a surprisingly large kitchen, obviously set up to make some of the sweets the shop sells.
@Chloir
"I don't think we can just leave this people here, we might fall, we might not. But this boy clearly needs some help as soon as possible. If worse comes to worse and we don't make it, they could always send out others.
Though I agree that disinfecting the wound before we go would be good but I haven't seen any. Maybe we can find some while Rennai helps them up. I'll go ask that girl if she happens to know of any. "
While Rennai helps get them situated Abraham will look around for any alcohol.
"Miss, you all don't happen to have any alcohol around do you? Chloir over there brought up a good point that it might be best to try and disinfect it at least a little before we head out."
"If there's nothing here, we could see if the inn has any strong spirits that will suffice. The two of us can go and ask right now. Caution is all well and good, but it's barely a minute walk and it was empty five minutes ago. And I've seen you move and fight for a bit. I'd say both of us can move fast and quiet enough that we shouldn't be ambushed by any group of undead strong enough to overwhelm us. We can get the alcohol and be back before the others have finished the barricade. Unless we have the fortune of finding any here of course.
"With my powers I can block the door with stone after we leave. That should be plenty effective to keep them out. In the meantime, I'll work on the other openings. I'll yell if there is any trouble"
Kovar goes around the building and covers any windows or doors besides the front door with stone with his Basic Geokinesis ability.
After some time rummaging in the kitchen, alcohol is found in a simple earthen jug. The smell, however, suggests a fine vintage of brandy - and a potent one. Perhaps it was for the brandy-soaked cherry treats? It was impossible to say.
Kovar's efforts to seal up the door are easy enough - slabs of paving stone were lifted from the floor with a little effort, and were easily used to seal up windows and the rear entrance to the building.
After helping the shop's inhabitants set themselves up in the upstairs area of the shop, Rennai waits for the others to finish their preparations. She keeps a careful eye on the boy as Abelone and Chloir finish their treatments, and nods appreciatively as Kovar re-shapes stone to shore up the shop's defences. You'd've been right popular where I came from...
After finding the alcohol.
"Well it's not what I'd call ideal but I suppose it'll have to do."
Abraham goes to find Abelone and Chloir, showing them the alcohol. "Do you think you could use this to help the infection before we leave for the herbs?"
"Aye, I'll clean it, Albelone can heal it. That'll make sure it doesn't get worse until we can get the herbs to make him better"