Tanith squeezes into the tight space alongside his friends.
With a roar he brings his poleaxe down on the fallen undead monster.
Cuetzpalli's arrow strikes at the exact point the spawn was a moment ago.
Tanith strikes a deadly blow to the monstrosity, cutting almost completely through the creature's leg.
The leg immediately begins stitching back together, but the creature remains prone and paralyzed with fear.
Astraden drops her rapier and squeezes past Cuetzpalli, calling a white mist around her hand. This she discharges with a jab for Farrukh's shoulder, causing the Ketite to rapidly vanish.
Seeing Cuetzpalli's shot about to miss the falling corpse, Eben repeats the spell he had cast a moment ago for Farrukh's benefit.
Round 10:
Round 10:
Assuming there's still a target left, Eben looses another arrow at it.
And sends it onwards to wasted arrow heaven.
Farrukh has battered the lizardfolk wormspawn badly, and with his last slice, he cuts its head clean off. The head bounces off the desk, rolls, and lands at Astraden's feet. A last few worms pour out of its open mouth, squirming feebly as they breathe their last.
Carina releases a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and staggers into the central room of the basement. Her face is pale and her arms tremble.
She slumps against the wall of the basement and curls up into a ball, her face buried in her knees, shuddering.
they're under my skin and I can't get them out cut them out feel them wrigglingwrithing so horrible so wrong
"Well that wasn't so bad." Farrukh says, oblivious to some of his companions' distress.
"Holy f%$+!" Cuetzpalli says. "Those worms...so...augh!" He spins around like a dog chasing its own tail, checking himself for more of the pale green creatures. "Is everyone else okay?"
Eben just shudders and rubs vigorously at his arms and any other exposed skin.
Though he's still nearly boiling over with anger, the sight of a disturbed Carina snaps Tanith back into focus.
"It's over Red. Those are all dead now. You feeling okay?"
Carina almost misses Tanith's voice, but looks up at him with a pale face. Tears are running down her cheeks.
"...no..."
She looks down before burying her face in her knees again. "That was... I don't think I can describe how horrible that was... and the worms..." Her voice is muffled from her face being hidden.
"You can feel them, moving around inside and... going for your head."
Cuetzpalli goes into an involuntary fit of twitching. "So f!$&ed....who....what....bah! Let's get out of this s$%& hole."
Tanith nods in agreement with the Olman’s exclamation and wraps a brawny arm around Carina to stand her up.
”Come on Red. I think it’s time we get away from this place and find a nice place for a drink.”
Once she’s on her feet he looks her in the eyes and gives her a comforting smile.
”You beat death remember? We’ll beat these worms too.”
Carina sucks in a shaky breath of air and stands with Tanith's aid. She doesn't say anything in reply to him, instead hugging him fiercely, as if his body warmth can chase away the wrongness that afflicted her.
She glances over into the room with the cat in it, hoping that the poor thing can be saved...
The cat appears heavily disoriented and is clearly sick. Its tiny mind seems mostly gone at this point.
Astraden comes up behind Carina, swinging her backpack around and rummaging through it. "I was saving this one for when Tanith got turned into a frog." She pulls out a scroll. "But I can always make another." She reads the words, connecting runes with a finger, and lays a hand on the cat's matted fur.
Then she stands up and heads back into the room where the lizardfolk spawn was vanquished. "These things spoke Flan - a very old language. But most of them seemed pretty new, didn't they?"
Her eyes then light on the toppled armor stand. She calls, "If no one else wants that chainmail, I'm gonna grab it!" Closing the door, she dresses herself in the new links and casts a spell to make it look like her old armor, which she stores in her backpack.
As she comes out again, she also tests the strength of any magic in the metal.
Eben unties the cat from its unpleasant prison once Astraden is done curing it, taking care to avoid (or at least minimalize) any panicked flailing claw-swipes. "I don't know that they looked 'new'... they all were pretty rotted looking to me... but we know they were only a few days old, assuming they were all the soldiers that got killed down here. And I guess the lizardfolk one managed to get in during the siege?" Upon freeing the cat, he holds on to the mangy little beast and stands up. "Poor little guy. Or..." he hoists the cat up enough for a quick inspection. "Yeah, guy. So here's the creepy thing... if they set this cat up as a distraction so we'd get ambushed, these things aren't just your normal zombies. They're smart."
The cat clutches Eben, digging its claws into his chest. This creature has been through an agonizing ordeal.
Carina sighs, then extricates herself from the hug and walks over to the little cat.
"Don't worry, little guy--we'll help you get better. I promise." She says in a soothing, but shaky voice, trying to calm the little one down. She strokes the cat, gently patting his head.
She looks over at the others. "Come on--we should at least let the rest of the keep know it's safe down here."
Astraden detects no magic, though the item is masterwork. This armor probably belonged to the commander of the keep, who was killed during the siege.
"Yeah. You all go on up. I should try to give these things some sort of last rites, just so they don't rise again." She counts out five silver pieces - nearly all she has left. "This'll probably do it."
Cuetzpalli waits as long as he can to avoid looking like a coward, and then fairly runs up the steps with Spiny to get away from the terrifying worm spawns. Once out in the sunlight he just gives the guards a haunted look. "Should be clear down there now. Not for the weak of stomach, mind..."
Tanith is glad to see Carina direct her energy toward the sick little cat. He waits at the doorway while she diagnoses her new patient.
Carina tenderly takes the cat in her arms before starting back up the stairs next to Tanith. She whispers little nothings in the cat's ear as she walks up the stairs. It appears to be taking her mind off of the worm-spawn that puked worms all over her that promptly dug underneath her skin and started crawling around--
She shakes her head and presses on.
Astraden goes around the battle scene, carefully inserting a piece of silver into the skull cavity (or what remains of such) of each undead. "Olidammara, bless the souls of those who once lived in these vessels. If they are trapped in Pandesmos or worse, I ask that you free them." She prays for three minutes, then climbs the stairs to the rest of the group.
The guards and Merris look intensely relieved to see the heroes alive. He and a few of the sturdier soldiers go down to investigate.
A few minutes later, one of them comes up. "We were going to give you the commander's chainmail, but it looks like the monsters must've eaten it or something. Sorry."
"Damn, what a shame. I love chainmail."
"Uh . . . do you all have any other pressing issues for us? I'd like to check on my horse."
"Just one thing." The soldier frowns. "One of our border scouts got back. He says he ran into the priestess."
Astraden looks at Carina. "Where? How far?"
Carina looks up, surprise on her face. "How's she doing? Is she okay?" She strokes the cat, trying to calm down.
Happy to finally have some news on Carina's mother, Tanith waits alongside the undine.
"She and her guide were on the trail of one of those undead." The soldier frowns. "She said she'd try and come by and help with our problem once she'd dealt with hers. Looked like they were heading towards the frogeaters."
"Who are the frogeaters?"
The soldier looks at Astraden confusedly. "The Lambere folk."
"Right. Are we ready to head back, then?" As she finishes talking with the soldier, Astraden straightens her back slightly and releases another surge of healing.
"Yeah. We should hurry, those zombies don't mess around."
"Farrukh, I think those were no ordinary zombies. They're what Filge talked about - the 'spawns of Kyuss.'"
Eben gathers up most of his lost shots, though the ones stuck in the office wall break off when he tries to pry them out. He leaves the arrowheads embedded in the wall as a memento for the garrison.
Eben grimaces. "And I sent Grifter all the way back to Diamond Lake with Allustan. Damn, wish I'd realized how easy lifting a lizard siege was going to be, I thought I was keeping him safe..." He nods at Marzena. "What about you, ma'am? Allustan was originally coming here to consult with you, though I think it was actually about the worms and undead, so we might have already found everything he wanted to know. But still, would you be interested in accompanying us back to the Lake to talk with him?"
Carina's joy at hearing that Alessia is doing well is tempered by the knowledge that she and her guide are hunting a Kyuss-spawn.
Astraden's healing feels incredibly refreshing--she feels her skin knitting back together and purging itself of whatever filth the worms left behind. The memories still remain...
She looks down at the cat. "Excuse me, but may I ask who this little guy belonged to?" She asks, half-certain she already knows the answer. "He was in a really bad way downstairs..."
"Hey, Eben, you can ride Lynwerd. I don't think any of us want to hear you play those weird campfire songs ever again." Astraden tests the weight of her backpack. "I'll definitely need to 'change' out of my armor, though . . ."
Cuetzpalli stays with Spiny while the others talk with the soldiers. He strokes the dinosaur to calm him after their ordeal in the basement. Great, we get to fight more of these things... he thinks to himself. Maybe I should have stayed with Mr. Flogs-a-lot after all. But no, that's not how a Kordite thinks. Grow a pair Cuet, this is your destiny. The Olman seems to be lost in his own thought, staring off at nothing as his hand rhythmically runs down Spiny's scales.
Eben grimaces. "And I sent Grifter all the way back to Diamond Lake with Allustan. Damn, wish I'd realized how easy lifting a lizard siege was going to be, I thought I was keeping him safe..." He nods at Marzena. "What about you, ma'am? Allustan was originally coming here to consult with you, though I think it was actually about the worms and undead, so we might have already found everything he wanted to know. But still, would you be interested in accompanying us back to the Lake to talk with him?"
Marzena shakes her head. "I can't possibly travel right now. Give me a week or so."
The journey back to Lambere is somewhat darker, as it's approaching evening when the party sets out.
At a few miles off from the town, they come upon a grisly sight: What at first looks like a pile of old robes is revealed to be a body. There are numerous stab wounds in its chest, neck and face, seemingly inflicted by the dagger clutched in its clenched fist. It lies about fifty feet from the path, but the reek of carrion is unmistakeable.
Though the body's been dead for a few days, it's easy to recognize: It's Navius, the middle-aged priest of Fharlanghn in Kullen's gang. His body appears to be heavily bruised, but it's difficult to tell by just looking what killed him.