After a few moments of thought, Luca quietly gathered the ashes together into a small container - not touching them - and sealed it as best she could. He might not be a physical sort of undead monster, but a proper burial would probably ensure he didn't become an incorporeal undead later on...
Dante watches in horror as Georgi's body spasms and bursts into flame then ash. He was both disgusted and relieved. Disgusted at how violent and how quickly the transformation happens. Relieved that they no longer had to worry about him rising. Now he was well and truly gone. It was hard to get any sleep after that but he was exhausted from the fight and the thought of their trek back.
After dealing with Georgi's body, Luca quietly cleaned her hands as best she could - and then two or three more times for good measure - before quietly setting out a little bit of what food they had to give everyone some breakfast. It was only afterwards that her nameless Eidolon returned, seeming as aloof and uninterested as ever. It did, however, sniff the remains of the brazier for a few seconds.
Tyrus looked on with haunted eyes as Georgi's body burned. Saying nothing he lay down on his bedroll. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, then closed his eyes. He must've slept after that, judging from the twitches he made during the night.
He woke silently, and studied his book intently, writing as much as reading. He ate the food put in front of him - acknowledged only with a nod - and prepared for the day.
"Alright. Let's head back." he scooped up an exhausted Torble "I'll memorise an Alarm for tonight."
He never so much as glanced at the spot where Georgi had lain.
In the morning, Dante also goes through the motions, preparing spells. It's become second nature at this point, but something surprised him. After preparing his spells, he'd found two new ones in his spellbook, much longer than the ones he knew already too. "That's odd." For a moment, he expected a voice to chime in, in his head but it never came. He looks at his blade and it comes back. "Oh. Right." It was an odd feeling, not having that connection anymore. Like being hungry but not physically.
"Good idea," he says absently to Tyrus. Georgi's gear had sat in same spot it had been last night. And now he could out it off no longer. He gathers up everything and stuffs it into Georgi's backpack, he then puts it on the chest of their dead foreigner. He then uses anything on hand to fashion a crude runner and rolls the body on top. "I think this will make the trip at least somewhat worth it. Even if we can't mimic the procedure, maybe we could study the runes and apply them in a less permanent and painful way. Or maybe craft an item or scroll to prevent rising." The idea sparked more analysis and kept his mind moving forward. It had too or would stop and get swallowed by the roiling negative emotions.
With the group working together to remember the route, you retrace your path through the city. It takes some time and work to get Dante's makeshift stretcher and carrying the paladin's corpse through some of the rougher areas, but you manage. You spend the night again at your previous camp in the rubble field, and pass through the area where you had seen the unsettlingly-quiescent undead figure without incident. The figure is no longer there, nor are you accosted by anything else.
Sometime in the early afternoon the next day you come to a more troubling obstacle - the fallen building Georgi had led you through before, in which you all suffered (and resisted) some manner of mysterious mental assault. Taking the paladin's body through the awkward sideways interior will be extremely troublesome and likely time-consuming.
"Leave him." suggests Tyrus flatly. "He came out here alone. He's warded from undeath. He's slowing us down. Let him be."
The old wizard looks around "This'll make a good landmark if someone does want to come get him. We've pulled him further out from the centre, so this should be easier to reach."
Dante sighs. The obstacle ahead was a tough one to navigate even without a dead body. And whatever was in there last time might still be. "Are we going to get more people and lead them in here?" he asked bitterly. "I'm getting him out." Its uncertain to the others where this stubbornness is coming from. Has this foreigner replaced Georgi? Does he feel that if he gets the one out it will feel like both. Is he desperate to make this journey worth something? Or does he not feel comfortable going to get help and possibly loosing them too?
Luca glanced nervously between the two, wilting slightly - she didn't like it when others fought, especially because no matter which one she sided with, somebody would think she was wrong... and she wasn't quite old enough to accept that uncomfortable fact. "Um... I... uh..." she glanced around the area, trying to find some sort of good answer.
"Don't be a fool." there is bitterness and self-recrimination in Tyrus' voice. "There was a reason to get Georgi's body out. This one is safe. Safer than we are, probably."
"Exactly. He's safe. Look at him," Dante says, dropping the stretcher and waving at the dead paladin. "Been dead how long and still hasn't risen. If we can copy that we can lessen the number of dead here. Everyone that enters this god forsaken place and dies comes back to fight all the other living. Isn't that worth a little physical effort." He didn't say it out loud but the insult to Tyrus' physique was implied.
Tyrus sighs "The priesthood carves runes into the bones through a magical ritual. Yes, the runes on his skin are interesting. Yes, the runes on his bones might be helpful. It's a long, expensive, painful process. While you might be able to improve on the Priesthood's technique, that'd be the work of a lifetime. If you really want to take the body, cut away the flesh."
"It's not the effort. It slows us down. Every moment in this place has a risk that one of us joins Georgi."
"So we walk out of here with one less and nothing for it? A few less undead that will just come back tomorrow?" Dante gesticulates a little more than necessary when speaking. He was mad but unsure of where to direct it. He turns around and takes a deep breath. "Slow as we are going, nothing's happened yet. And we'd be moving slow anyway if left the body. You can't tell me we should leave Georgi's stuff here too. We have to bring something back. Right?" The anger fades as he talks. And with it a lot of his energy. He seems almost desperate to make this worth something.
Tyrus waves away the argument "If it will assuage your conscience, very well. So long as he is not a danger, we can take him. Understand that you are 'snatching pebbles and counting them jewels' - I can see no way this can be considered anything other than a disaster."
"Yes, Dante. This was a failure. We didn't get to the centre. We lost a good man to a bad fate. Everything we slew will return, in time. If we have gained through this hero's overly ornate equipment, we have also used a very expensive brazier." Tyrus considers "What we gained was knowledge. Experience. Expensive experience. Georgi's death taught us all lessons, I hope."
He pauses "If it were not a trick of the damned city, I might have learned something important - but then the sending would probably have reached me working in an alchemy shop for a decent wage."
"Fine. Let's just get out of here." Dante moves to stuff the body and the items some place they could come back to get but wouldn't be obvious. Behind a table in a ruined home, under a broken roof, in a closet. Anywhere. He wanted to come back for it all some day. Some day after they had healed a bit.
Dante finds what looks like the remnants of an inn. Cautiously looking about, the group finds no danger - but does locate a cellar with intact doors made of thin sheets of steel. It is a distinctive place to leave behind whatever you wish.
Tyrus - red faced from the exertion - drops the corpse in the designated pot, then sighs. He leavers himself down to his knees, one hand braced against the floor.
Methodically he strips everything of use from the corpse. "I think I understand now why these ruins are a source of treasure. Most of what was here must've been taken by now, but still adventurers come seeking 'the big one'. They work their way further in until they die, and become treasure for the next scavenger."
For reasons unknown - and possibly unknowable - Luca's stone guardians seemed unable to move the Paladin's corpse properly... leaving Luca increasingly worried and withdrawn as Tyrus and Dante argued over their next course of action. Visibly wilting, she hunched her shoulders up a bit and quietly followed as they finally started to move on, trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible.
You return to the fallen building, preparing to pass through it for the second time. You all light torches and keep illumination spells at the ready.
Methodically working your way through the derelict hulk, through sideways-doors and hallways, takes you much of the remaining daylight. Fortunately, you feel no further assaults upon your mind.
You emerge into the beginnings of dusk, and know that you must find shelter soon. But before you can take another step...
As he begins to step into the failing daylight, Dante spies two figures crouching in the road some hundred feet from the entrance. Acting immediately, he moves back into the building and bars the way, ensuring that his companions cannot exit and spook whatever the creatures are.
After Dante's warning, you carefully lean out to inspect the creatures at a distance without giving away your presence. From that far you can't see much - but you can see enough. These creatures are Lesser Revenants, a thankfully weaker form of a dangerous undead creature whom lack the invigorating spiritual link with a past wrongdoer. This renders them more susceptible to earthly means of laying them to rest.
You know they attack with sharp, claw-like finger bones and their undead nature renders them tough, but they are neither immune to nor resistant to any form of earthly damage. They can emit a piercing cry which has the tendency to instill supernatural fear in those who hear it, making them cower or run away. They have been known to try and wrestle their foes to the ground and eviscerate them in close quarters.
"Revenants" warns Tyrus quietly "Lesser Revenants, fortunately. Sharp claw-like finger bones." he closes his eyes, beneath his lids his eyes move as if reading a book. "No reported immunities or resistances to mortal damage - though as undead they require significant damage to down. A piercing cry which instils supernatural fear. Prefers close-combat. Those they wrestle to the ground tend not to get back up."
His eyes snap open. "Possibly if we opened up with ranged spells, and one of Luca's associates kept them from closing with us, we could finish them easily. I'd suggest we do our best to block our ears,
lest their call send us fleeing back into this Labyrinth. If separated, meet where we secured the body - that looked fortified."
It's a different Tyrus to the one they're used to. Decisive. Driven.
"I'd like to try commanding one as a first attack. Unlikely to succeed - but decisive if it does. Everyone ensure your protections are up."
"The blue... lion... things... are deaf." Luca reported quietly. "I think I could get two or three of them to show up, and then go attack together a few moments before anyone else goes out there." It was the best she could do. She was greatly lacking in personal combat power, but her minions were another story entirely. If nothing else, they'd be in position to provide flanking for Dante.
"Sounds good. I'll follow behind them after the howl," he says being oddly terse. He then waits in the building covering his ears.
Luca's Eidolon paced around her a few times before vanishing into the air - when it was present, it took up a good portion of her power and prevented other guardians from arriving. Afterwards, she shut her eyes and clenched her teeth.
<Athg ah hrii hai. Yuln uh'e! Nog!> (Loosely translated, her demand was along the line of "Agree to send followers now. I summon the crowd! Come!" Exact translations between the alien tongue and the popular language of the land were difficult and disjointed at best, and there was a lot of nuance that could be easy to miss. The relevant point, though, was that Luca was quite able to summon creatures.)
As the seconds flicked by, one lion-like creature appeared, then two, then a third - the first two she'd simply gestured at, telling them to wait before the last arrived. The others had probably finished tying everyone together while she was busy summoning - and after checking to be sure they were indeed ready, she gestured curtly and the three Akata darted out to engage with the undead. As for what would happen next... well, they had a plan, but she had no idea if it would work.
Begin Combat Round 1
Revenants
Tyrus
Luca & Co
Dante
Luca's small pack of blue tentacle-lions creep forward until they are within range of a charging assault, then dart forward.
The akata dash across the distance between them and their undead foes, but due to the undead's preternatural ability to sense the living, are not quite able to take their enemy unaware. One of the creatures manages to sink its jaws deep into a revenant.
Combat Round 2
Revenant 1 (9 Damage)
Revenant 2
Tyrus
Luca & Co
Dante
The revenant that had been bitten strikes back, while it's fellow let's out a cry that shivers menacingly into the evening air. The party feels the tendrils of the supernatural sound worming towards them - but are too far away for it to have much effect beyond a chill down the spine. The akata, of course, hear nothing.
Tyrus gestures at the second Revenant. Croaking, eerie words spill from his mouth.
Luca had no business anywhere near a melee, and most of her magic wouldn't have helped anyway. Instead, she hunkered down as the Akata got to work (one of them rather more injured than the others as it did so).
for
for
Alas, the tendrils didn't seem to be particularly useful at the moment, however much the Akata flailed - but they did lash out with their jaws a little more effectively.
Dante vaults over the debris of the fallen building and runs for the melee. They seem to use that unearthly howl after being damaged so he runs with his ears still covered. He could draw steel once he was closer.
Tyrus, taking the initiative, charges forward. His blast of energy hits one of the revenants as the Akata's continue to do their work. Luca hangs back, and Dante (apparently inspired by the portly older man's boldness) moves forward as well.
End Combat Round 2
Begin Combat Round 3
Revenant 1 (18 damage)
Revenant 2 (12 damage)
Tyrus
Luca & Co (Akata 2: 15 Damage)
Dante
Both undead lay into their curious blue attackers with gusto.
Given the way the undead were chewing through the creatures she'd summoned, it was probably a good thing they hadn't simply run out there all by themselves...
"I don't think... they'll last... much longer..." Luca groaned as she felt the backlash of the magic.
And, rather unfortunately for her, none of their barrage of attacks were able to land on the undead. Luck, it seemed, was not on her side at the moment... although at least the creatures could serve as meat shields. Wincing, Luca moved forward, trying to get close enough for her next summon to be able to simply dash over.
Dante moves the remaining 10ft into melee, drawing his blade along the way. He flicks it to the side then horizontal in front of him. He runs a finger across its length, whispering arcane words into the blade. When he thrusts it forward next, the blade is alight with fire.
Tyrus nervously keeps himself a slight distance from the melee, but when he sees an opening he pounces on it with the speed of a much smaller man. Another beam of energy flashes from his hand to the target.
Only Tyrus, with his magical blast, manages to harm the foe in the next round of violence.
End Combat Round 3
Begin Combat Round 4
Revenant 1 (23 damage)
Revenant 2 (12 damage)
Tyrus
Luca & Co (Akata 1: 12 Damage, Akata 3: 16 damage)
Dante
As the energy blast hits it, the revenant unleashes another supernatural shriek.
The cry rips through the air and assaults Dante and Tyrus's ears. Dante grits his teeth and continues the fight unaffected - but fear worms its way between Tyrus's focus and grips his mind, freezing him in silent panic as he imagines just how deep those claws could cut into him, how they could render his formidible bulk into just so much bleeding meat...
The other revenant continues to lay into Luca's creatures.
The first Revenant, torn by tooth and spell, is looking very ragged. . But its fellow rips apart both remaining akata in a frenzy of slashing claws.
Round 4
Dante recovers from his previous fumble and closes in on the wounded Revenant. He seems headless of the fact that his only melee companions against these monsters are now gone, back to the plane that Luca pulls them from. Not even the horrible images their shriek calls to mind seems to affect him. He swings his flaming blade back and forth to ward off the creatures and lunges as his target moves to strike.
Luca screamed slightly from the backlash of her spells quitting on her, and she convulsed slightly. Pushing forward and trying to block out the pain, she raised one hand and pointed at Dante. <"Ahyar."> she croaked out, sending a burst of magic into the warrior. A bit of it headed off to the side to infuse Tyrus as well - but Dante was the one who'd likely benefit the most.
Tyrus freezes, stunned by the magnitude of the threat they face.
Dante skewers one of the revenants, and flames lap over it's undead flesh filling the air even further with the stench of rotten meat. As he withdraws his blade it falls to the ground, at rest once more.
End Round 4
Begin Combat Round 5
Revenant 2 (12 damage)
Tyrus (Haste 1/4)
Luca & Co
Dante (Haste 1/4)
The remaining revenant goes after Dante with its usual fervor.
The undead creature manages to land a grievous blow across Dante's arm, and grabs hold of the young man, pulling him in close.
Round 5
Dante flinches as the creature bites his arm hard. Anger wells up in him and, through gritted teeth, he growls the arcane words necessary to remove the damned beast. His free hand makes the symbols then pauses. "Die. Again." He then thrusts his into its chest and lets go of the spell, blasting it with electricity.