Having left the cat in the care of the Blackwall Keep garrison, Carina's heart is filled with a mix of happiness and worry. Alessia was a skilled priestess, but even she would be hard-pressed to kill a Kyuss-spawn... she could only pray that she was safe.
Carina's eyes widen as she sees the corpse of Navius. "Oh my goodness..." She looks between Tanith and the body.
Guess your 'proper healing' wasn't enough to save you.
Astraden approaches the body, hoping to help the others determine what happened.
Carina steps next to the body as Astraden approaches it. She kneels down, attempting to discern what killed Navius.
Judging by the quantity of mostly-healed scabs and scars, it appears Navius had already been exposed to a lot of healing spells. Whatever happened, it was clearly a long battle.
"Hmm... Navius didn't go quietly." Carina stands up, carefully picking up the dead Kyuss worm with her dagger's blade. "From the looks of things, he ran afoul of a Kyuss-spawn... Fharlanghn preserve us, how many are running around out here?" She whispers the last few words, trying not to lose her composure again.
She shakes her head. "He's got a lot of mostly-healed scabs and scars--looks like he ran out of healing after a long fight. He tried to get the worm out with his dagger. Either that, or he opted for death before the worm could do anything else to him."
Can't say that I blame him...
Tanith frowns at the explanation.
”So there’s more of those damned things out here?” the big man mutters aloud. ”Was he out here alone? I don’t see any other bodies.”
"There are..." Carina takes the worm and slices it in two across her knife. "...and that means more people are in danger."
She looks over at Farrukh and Cuetzpalli. "What do you guys think? Was he alone or not?"
"Maybe whoever was with him got away. We'd better hustle to Lambere to check." Astraden looks around. "Should we send someone on Lynwerd to scout first, or all go in as a group?"
Definite signs of a long struggle confirm Carina's summation. In addition, Farrukh finds signs that a body—perhaps human—was lying down in the grass. It's not there anymore, but he finds a scrap of yellow cloth where it lay. Todrik, the fighter in Kullen's gang, always wore a fine yellow cloak.
"Looks like there were at least five other people here. One might have been a lizardfolk, it had a tail or something anyway. Looks like Todrik might have been knocked down too, though whether he was picked up, got up, or turned into a zombie and walked off I can't tell."
Tanith studies the marks pointed out by Farrukh.
”Do you think you could track him? If he’s still alive out there, we’ve got to help him”, the big Kordite suggests. ”Maybe Carina’s mother helped him escape.”
"Maybe. With Cuetzpalli's help especially it shouldn't be too hard. The way that one with the tail was dragging around it didn't look like they were too concerned with stealth."
Carina sheathes her dagger and starts wringing her hands together.
Oh, please be okay, Mom... please be okay... and I hope anyone else in Kullen's gang is okay too... I mean, they're pricks, certainly, but even they don't deserve being killed by worm-creatures...
Astraden reaches for Cuetzpalli's hand, giving him a light push of guidance.
Cuetzpalli helps Farrukh to examine the tracks and comes to the same conclusion as him, that Lambere is in danger. "Uh oh! That nice lady who gave us frogs might be in trouble. The spawn were heading right for Lambere. We'd better hurry!"
Astraden returns to the trail and switches her old mail to Lynwerd's saddlebags. "Could we take off Spiny's barding until we reach the outskirts of town?"
"Yeah, sure. That's a good idea," Cuetzpalli says, setting about the work immediately. As soon as they are close to town he stops to put the animal's armor back on.
About twenty minutes later, Lambere comes within sight. Spiny begins growling, and Lynwerd shifts uneasily beneath Eben. The horse is not combat trained, and she gets more and more uneasy the closer the group gets.
Whether or not the horse is brought along, the sounds of battle quickly enter earshot of the party. As they hurry nearer, they see a grisly sight.
Lambere is in ruins. Several of the already ramshackle thatch huts have taken severe damage, as if something has hacked into them. Two of them seem to have been burned to the ground.
Several corpses—covered in dead worms—lie about the place, stuck full of arrows and what appear to be the odd spears used in hunting. One has been hacked in two. Unfortunately, these corpses closely resemble some of the citizens of Lambere the group dined with a few days ago.
In the distance , more buildings look deserted and damaged. Only the stone bunker-like building still looks intact.
Right before the party, a losing battle is being fought. Rastophan and Kullen (raging) are fighting against three Kyuss spawns. The undead look battered, but they're healing. Kullen and Rastophan look worse, and they're not. One of the undead is impossible to mistake: It's Todrik...or what remains of the murderous pit fighter.
Merovinn is lying on the ground, either unconscious or dead. His weasel familiar, Rascal, sits atop his head. It seems to be biting its master.
The Todrikspawn and one other focus on flanking Kullen, taking advantage of his weak defense, while the other attacks Rastophan. Rastophan manages to dodge, but Kullen takes two brutal hits and gets tackled from behind. Two worms land on the berserking half-orc.
"Kullen's infected! It's worked its way up to his neck already, so we don't have much time here."
He rushes in, hoping his friends are close behind, and attacks the zombie nearest Rastophan, assuming Kullen is more able of taking care of himself, and may already be a lost cause in any case.
He slams his shield into the zombie, hoping to knock it away.
Thanks to the "zombie's" surprise, Farrukh is able to bash the creature in the side. It's not quite surprised enough to be knocked back, but the hit is nonetheless brutal, and it's left barely standing.
As the party approaches, Carina catches a glimpse of something to the southwest. "There's something to the southwest, too!" She calls out as Farrukh moves to engage.
The sight of the Kyuss-spawn fighting what's left of Kullen's gang distracts her from the sight of a worm under his skin, but after seeing one of the spawn bear down on him and send more worms onto the half-orc, she'd take Farrukh's word for it. After all, when did he ever lie to the team?
The sight of the worm-spawn, and what they've done to Todrik, bring back very, very bad memories. She can feel the worms falling on her skin, worming their way underneath and polluting her with their foul essence--
No. They need my help. I need to save them. I can't fail them now!
Carina swallows her fear, though it still affects her actions. If it weren't for Tanith's spell supporting her, it would have overwhelmed her.
Carina moves onto the battlefield, pulling an explosive vial from her belt. "Sorry about this, Kullen, but you'll thank me later." She whispers as she throws it at the most wounded one...
Farrukh closes his eyes for a brief moment in prayer before charging in.
"Norebo, if you're listening, we could use some help here. Please try to protect my friends from these worm things. Thanks."
Farrukh's klar smashes into the creature's chest, creating a massive cavity and dropping it instantly.
Carina's bomb barely lands on target, despite the spawn's cover. It burns away Kullen's worms, but also burns away perhaps a bit too much of Kullen, and the half-orc appears to go unconscious.
Tanith shakes off the fear creeping at the edges of his thoughts.
Eben clearly sees both details his comrades have pointed out. Having already had them pointed out, of course, there's no point in being redundant.
The terror of seeing more of his near-slayers up and about threatens to overwhelm him, but he digs deep, swallows his fear with an audible gulp, and moves to act. Running across the village center, he pauses long enough to snap off a shot against one of Kullen's assailants.
I may have misunderstood Astraden's statement that Eben could ride her. Been a while.[/ooc]
Eben fires a shot, but the arrow goes wide.
Rushing forward, Tanith takes a position in front of Carina and cleaves into one of the undead with his poleaxe.
Astraden runs into the melee, drawing her rapier. She flicks its tip up to her mask, holding it out for Rastophan to see. A wave of healing energy courses through him and his allies. "Is there anyone else still left?" she asks the scrawny man.
Cuetzpalli runs screaming like a little girl (again), and Spiny follows him, confused.
"Must be Norebo's way of keeping him and Spiny safe." Farrukh comments.
Tanith strikes a deadly blow, barely managing to cut through the creature's chest and kill it. Astraden quickly rushes in and heals Rastophan, Kullen and Merovinn.
Merovinn's eyes shoot open, and he gives a scream. Rascal backs away, gripping a wriggling Kyuss worm in his teeth—the reason he had been biting his master, it seems.
Merovinn stumbles to his feet, swearing loudly. He seems to ready a spell, focusing on Kullen.
Kullen roars, restored—but now exhausted, his rage spent. He struggles to break free.
Surprisingly, the muscular half-orc manages to wrest away from the spawn. He clutches his temple. "G+@@~$n...it's inside my head!"
Rastophan's voice is ragged as he answers the priestess beside him. "Survivors been in the Brick—stone house. Viera's mother's about, looking for a kid."
He swings viciously at what once was Todrik, hacking almost clean through an arm.
Kullen gives a roar of pain and fear as the worm appears to go to work.
The spawns begin to mend again as they they strike back. Todrik eyes Astraden with utter hate, focusing on her.
Remarkably, both miss.
Suddenly, a scream sounds from where Carina heard movement.
"Carina! Think you can still try to cut it out of him? Farrukh! Think you can check out the noise?"
Astraden channels again, somehow drawing strength from some hidden chamber in her mind, and unleashes a burst of energy that tries to tear the remaining spawn to shreds.
She steps behind Rastophan, summoning her double.
Eben fires arrows at the spawn to the left of Kullen.
Noting Kullen's panic and Carina's warning, Tanith steps forward to aid the ugly orc.
Whipping his poleaxe around, he hacks into the nearer spawn.
One spawn is blasted to pieces by the force of Astraden's faith, while the other quakes and shivers, nearly overcome.
The fountain causes Eben's shot to barely miss.
Tanith's blow, on the other hand, is pure, unashamed overkill. He splits the already near-death spawn clean in two.
"You got it!" Farrukh rushes off towards the sound Carina heard.