Seeing the undead spring from the ground, Ratel resists the urge to run. Standing his ground as they near, he tells Bear, ”Attack Bear, I hate undead!” He then kicks at the nearest skeleton, swinging his shield at the same time. As Bear rears on his hind legs attacking the one nearest him.
Nigel shatters the bloody skeleton into pieces with one well placed blow of his hiking stick.
The bloody skeleton is sidesteps Ratel's attempt to kick and shield bash it, but does not get out of the way of Bear chomping its head off.
The shredskin flies over and cacoons one of the bloody skeletons, as if it belonged there all the time.
Hedran stays put, dropping his sword, drawing his morning star and enchanting it.
One bloody skeleton moves up to Nigel and tries to rake him with its claw, but does not manage to hit.
Seeing the skeleton enlarge after it attacks Nigel, Ratel steps forward and swings his shield while kicking out. Just as bear bites and claws at it.
Ratel tries to side kick the skeleton in its ribcage but it ducks out of the way. He then slams his shield in the direction the skeleton is dodging and shatters it.
+1 Longbow, Blunt arrows on Red
Robert shoots at the skin that has wrapped itself around the skeleton, but his arrow goes wide. The skin-wrapped skeleton then lumbers forth towards Hedran, who clobbers it.
The skeletal matter gives way under Hedran's morningstar thwack leaving it skin still twitching on the floor.
+1 Longbow on Shredskin, Blunt arrow
Robert sends an arrow sticking out of the twitching piece of skin.
Ratel orders Bear to attack the pile of skin."Attack, Bear!"
Bear rears on his hind paws, and literally shreds up the skin. The party finds a mummified elf hand on the pile of skin, which Hedran identifies as a shredskin.
Searching the area reveals an abandoned canvas sack, inside which contains 10 pounds of coffee beans, a masterwork kukri, a healers kit, and a nondescript gray powder, which Hedran identifies as tarnished silver dust worth 400 gold pieces.
The party also sees the skeleton parts slowly putting themselves together.
Hedran realizes that the skeletons would continue to reform, even if destroyed, 1d4 days later unless reunited with their skins, which are not hanging on the charred walls.
Night is also fast approaching, with the sun due to set in about an hours time.
"There's nothing we can do until we find their skins, which are probably in the Legion's possession. Let's come back when we have them."
|
Nigel pats Bear affectionately.
"Good job!"
He then looks at the remains of the bloody skeletons thoughtfully.
"Vell, as a stop-gap, vhy don't ve bury zem, holding down ze bodies vith material from ze ruins? Zat vay, ve can rest here, and no other poor unfortunates vill run afoul of zem in ze interim."
Nigel then moves to do just that, sprinkling the skeletons with holy water, just to be sure , and burying the remaining flayed skins along with them.
He then stops to say a few words over the mass graves.
"I knew you not at all - not how you lived, loved, vorked, or spent your leisure time. I know not vhether you vere good, evil, or merely struggling to survive out here in ze vilderness. Neverzeless, I know vhat you did not deserve: Ze gruesome end zat you all suffered, at ze hands of ze Legion. For zat, zey *vill* pay! Moreover, you vill not be forgotten, for as long as I draw breath."
Nigel then sighs sadly.
"May Desna guide you safely to ze Boneyard, vhere Pharasma vill judge you by your deeds."
He then settles down for the night.
Hedran gets Nigel to pick him some lavender flowers, mint leaves, rosemary and sage, ties it into a bundle and begins burning it at the patch of bloodied earth. ”Residents of Gristledown, I know you suffered terrible, wrongful deaths at the hands of the Ironfang Legion. You long for revenge on your murderers, which is why you have risen as unquiet dead. But vengeance will not bring you back to life – rather lead you down a darker path, from which there is no turning back. For your own sakes – you need to move on - release your hatred, your torment…join the River of Souls and find peace.”
He then echoes Nigel,”May Pharasma judge them kindly,”then sprinkles salt on the mass grave. The pall of dread lifts from the area.
”May they go to their rest.” Azriel says with his head bowed.
Then he looks at the grey sky. ”You do know it’s going to rain, right? Time to get some shelter.” He then goes into the woods and starts gathering branches to construct a makeshift shelter, then invites Ratel and Bear in. Robert climbs into a hollow tree trunk, Nigel hangs his tent on top of a tree and Hedran grabs the tent they looted off the hobgoblin and starts pitching it. Then the party settles down for the night, as it starts drizzling.
At around 10 pm at night, it is still drizzling and Nigel sees two giants with python-thick apish arms and stumpy legs that conspire to drag their dirty knuckles through the wet grass and mud. The stooped giants blinks their dim eyes and an excess of soupy drool spills over its bulbous lips. Their misshapen features resemble a man’s face rendered in watercolor, then distorted by a careless splash. It snarls as it charges, a sound the offspring of bear and man might make, showing flat black teeth well suited for grinding bones to paste. They are stomping their way through the bush, in the direction of the party's camp.
Hedran realizes that the skeletons would continue to reform, even if destroyed, 1d4 days later unless reunited with their skins, which are not hanging on the charred walls.
Hedran was usually calm and composed, but something definitely changed in him after seeing the sheer brutality and savagery how these people were butchered in Gristledown.
He knew how to set those souls free, but almost wanted to leave them there - a screaming testimony to the violence and horror brought about by the Ironfang Legion. Drag here each one of the hobgoblins they ever find, so they could be rend to pieces by those they murdered... It would bring him joy...
But Nigel's words also found hold in his heart and convictions, brought some measure of calm and sense of right and wrong - it convinced him to do the best for the tortured souls, and release them from this place.
"I knew you not at all - not how you lived, loved, vorked, or spent your leisure time. I know not vhether you vere good, evil, or merely struggling to survive out here in ze vilderness. Neverzeless, I know vhat you did not deserve: Ze gruesome end zat you all suffered, at ze hands of ze Legion. For zat, zey *vill* pay! Moreover, you vill not be forgotten, for as long as I draw breath."
"Never forgotten" - he echoed.
Ratel is still asleep, but everyone else woke up.
Azriel blinks his sleepy eyes, "Oh shoot, it's those ogres I was telling you about."
The ogres move up, draw and throw javelins at Nigel, then switch to wielding their greatclubs in their other hand.
Nigel gets hit in the stomach by one javelin, though the other falls short.
+1 Longbow, at unbordered
As they finished the grisly duty of putting the undead villagers to the ground, it was time to tour the ruins and make sure there were no more survivors needing assistance, or monstrosities needing to be put down.
Among the wreckage of a house Hedran first heard it - squeaking and hissing, and then saw it - a weasel was cornered by three very large rats. Its night black pelt was already marred in more than one place with burns and bite marks, and the creature seemed weak and weary...
Yet it fought on, much like they and all the survivors from Phaendar had been doing for the past few days. And instead of continuing on its way as he intended to, Hedran paused. The odds seemed ridiculous - two of the rats lunged forward, and the half-orc could swear the weasel allowed one of them to bite it on purpose, because it gave it advantage of the other.
The weasel bit down hard on that one, even as the other clamped its large teeth around the cornered animal's leg. Yet it would not give in, and would not let go of his bite until the rat stopped thrashing, dead.
Its bad was in bad shape and almost unusable, yet the second rat was still gnawing on it with such fury it didn't realize the weasel was now focusing on him until it was too late - the sharp teeth bit down on the back of the rat's neck and pressed... Hard... Until there was an audible 'crack'.
Yet this movement had left the wounded animal exposed, and the last rat didn't hesitate, coming at the weasel's other leg with a strong bite which made it whimper, and drag itself away with a whine. The rat knew this was finished, and it paced back and forth, looking for an opportunity, nipping at it's wounded prey here and there.
After but a few seconds, the filthy creature understood it was time and paused its erratic lunges, preparing itself for a certain kill...
Hedran's mace struck hard and certain, crushing the rat into a pulp.
He picked up the wounded weasel, and even though it tried to bite him, he held him there for a long time until it calmed down - "You will survive"
Hedran stands up, drawing his sword as he goes, then reaches in his bag for a scroll.
Robert stands up and picks up his bow.
Azriel stands up and picks up his shortspear, expecting everything to end up in a melee mess.
Pondering his own mortality Ratel says little during the funeral service. Nodding his head afterwards he looks at the others, and adds. ”Well spoken.” He then helps Azriel make the shelter. Once the shelter is ready he crawls in, telling Bear, ”You sleep in the doorway Bear.”
Feeling Nigel rouse him, Ratel looks out of the shelter. ”Blast, Orges, Bear stay here for a moment, but be ready. Let’s make them come to us.” As Bear moves out in front of the mouth of the shelter, giving a chuff, Ratel stands, putting on his shield.
One of them goes after Nigel, then clubs him down to the ground. "Mér snerta!"Nigel feels an explosion of pain and stars as the club crashes against his temple, then nothing.
Me smash!
The other attacks Ratel, swinging his enormous great club,"Mylja!!" Ratel manages to get his shield up in time to block, though it feels like a sledgehammer blow.
Crush!
Bear steps up and tries to bite the Ogre, but doesn't manage to bite through its tough skin.
Azriel tries to close in with the giant, ducking and weaving, while stabbing with his shortspear.
The giant is faster then it looks and tries to club him as he comes close.
Azriel ducks to the side, then stabs the ogre in his thigh with his shortspear.
Attack and damage as posted before.
Robert shoots at the already wounded ogre, scoring a hit on his shoulder.
“Blast! Cursing as he sees Nigel go down, Ratel slaps Bear on the backside, with his hand. ”Scoot over!” He step where Bear was, swinging the shield at the ogre, then kicking at him. While Bear chuffs, moving forward slightly standing on his rear legs, attacking the ogre with tooth and claw.
Ratel kicks the giant in his chest with a flying kick, and he falls over, dead.
Bear moves to the ogre and tries to bite him. The ogre swings at bear with his greatclub, but Bear is too fast for him.
Hedran takes the opportunity to stand and draw his longsword./dice]
The ogre swings at Ratel, seeing him as the biggest threat. "Þú drap bróður minn!"
You killed my brother!
His giant club hits Ratel on his shoulder.
Azriel moves in, trying to stab the giant.
He gets a nasty whack to his ribs for his trouble.
He retaliates by giving the ogre a poke in his belly.
“aarrrggghhh, that hurt, but two can play that game” smiling, as he steps near ”Actually three, Bear attack!” As Bear went after the ogre with tooth and claw, Ratel, his right shoulder limp, swings his shield at the monster, then spins and kicks at it.
Ratel kicks the ogre in the chest, staggering it, though his shield swing goes wide. Bear then rips the ogre apart with his bite and claws.
Crashing from the southern part of the woods comes a smallish elk with enormous horns ridden by what appears to be a gnome wearing camouflage garb and wielding a cold iron glaive. With a keening battlecry the elk leaps towards the ogre, endeavoring to deliver a mighty (?) blow, but ends up kicking up dust and debris and skidding to a halt near the site of the battle. The gnome blinks and scratches his head.
"I thought I heard the sound of fighting... aaaaaaand it looks like y'all already took care of the ogres. Well, Ringo, you know what they say: you snooze - your family gets eaten by blighted shambling mounds."
He looks around and notices one of the humanoids had fallen. He snaps his fingers and whispers a prayer while looking at Nigel.
"Who are you folks? And why are you in this green mother forsaken forest? And is your friend okay? I tried to stabilize him but I don't have any healing potions." Gren says breathlessly, obviously excited to meet actual people. He puts away his glaive and hops off of Ringo, who looks at him mournfully and eats a flower nearby. A raven caws from the tree above.
As the last Ogre drops, Ratel starts to move toward the fallen Nigel, as he sees something flash from the corner of his eye. Lifting his shield to defend Nigel from the new threat, he breathes a sigh, realizing it’s a gnome on a reindeer of some sort. Nodding as he turns back to Nigel, he kneels near his friend and attempts to stop the bleeding with some moss.
Calling over his shoulder. ”You heard right, these Ogre’s attacked our camp. I’m Ratel, the wounded one is Nigel.” He nods with his head, ”That’s Robert and Hedran and over there is Azriel.” Turning as Bear moves closer to the ‘reindeer’ to get a sniff, Ratel continues, ”Oh and that’s Bear, don’t mind him, he’s not dangerous.”
Hearing the words ‘healing potions, Ratel shakes his head ”Don’t use potions, something about needing negative energy. I think just some good old fashioned first aid should work. Does anyone have any bandages. Moss and mud works on Bear, but I’m not sure about caring for people.”
"Nigel! Noooooo!" Hedran screams as he sees Nigel fall. "Negative energy....negative energy...yeah...where is that wand.." Hedran rumages through Nigel's pack. "Pharasma...please don't let me be too late..." He digs out the wand then hands it to Grenwold."Use this on him."
"Oh, I think Nigel keeps a bottle of smelling salts in his pack. I guess that's one way to see if he's still alive is to stick it under his nose. It would be agony waking up in his condition, though." Robert adds.
Azriel promptly ignores the second part of what Robert said and starts digging up Nigel's smelling salts, then sticks it under his nose. "Are you still here?" He asks Nigel concernedly.
On the ogres each is a large hide shirt, 4 large javelins and a large greatclub. One of them has a canvas sack holding a simple brown cloak that Hedran identifies as a cloak of resistance +1.