Bear's eyes open in fear - the whites visible fully around his dilated pupils. Dara's brave and vicious attack remove the object of his fear from the room, and he's just able to regain control of his bladder. That might have been embarrassing. he thinks as he advances on the nearest threat, still visibly shaking, trying to take the gross, zombified monster thing down.
Bear steps up to the newly released zombie on the southwest and swings his blade right through it. It collapses amidst the broken glass and fluid.
Next Up: Dara, Bugbear Zombie, Udaya, Troglodyte Zombies, Fredrik, Bear.
"Rip 'em a new one, Bear!"
Flinging horrid-smelling glop from his blade, Bear smiles weakly, "I think I just did."
"Do it again, DO IT AGAIN!"
After Vene has done his thing, Dara runs up to the nearest zombie and delivers the smack-a-hoe...
It's been working so far, so...
Cue the music, I mean, energy. (again, excluding Filge, though I don't think that's an issue at this point)
Will DC 15
The musical energy spreads out again.
The zombie bodies writhe in the waves of energy, but they do not fall yet.
Dara moves up to the bugbear zombie and swings her axe. The blade cuts deep, but the undead beast does not fall yet. It responds by swinging its fist at her.
It hits her across the side of the head, causing her neck to yank painfully.
Next Up: Troglodyte Zombies, Fredrik, Bear, Venedictus, Dara.
For UDAYA:
Udaya winces when she sees the zombie smack Dara upside her head. "Hang on there, Shorty, gotta keep this one off Slick here. Be right there."
Now channeling will clearly have extra benefits, so Venedictus will channel once more on his turn, healing Dara at the same time.
Udaya swipes at the zombie in front of her, but does not hit it. It swipes back.
It, too, fails to hit.
The other trog zombie lumbers over to Venedictus, looming over him.
Next Up: Bear, Venedictus, Dara, Bugbear Zombie, Udaya, Troglodyte Zombies.
Fredrik curses again, These zombies are getting way too close!
"Udaya! Don't bite off more than you can chew!"He fires his disrupting ray at the one Udaya failed to strike
Then, he'll take a five-foot step to K8.
Pup nudges against Fredrik's leg as he fires his spell, knocking his aim off. The beam shoots way north of the target.
Next Up: Venedictus, Dara, Bugbear Zombie, Udaya, Troglodyte Zombies.
Bear's head pivots for a second, Damn! I either leave Venny or Dara alone… well, Dara's a tough girl. Decision made, Bear lumbers over to the undead trog attacking the singing priest…
The zombie attacking Venedictus takes a swipe at Bear as he passes.
Bear easily avoids it, however. He then brings his blade down between its neck and shoulder, slicing deep. The undead troglodyte slumps over, no longer moving.
Venedictus steps aside a little and lets the heavenly music continue to pour forth. Dara is healed a little, and the undead damaged just a little more.
Next Up: Bugbear Zombie, Udaya, Troglodyte Zombie, Fredrik, Bear, Venedictus.
"Be there in a sec, guys!"
Dara continues chopping down the zombie in front of her. If it falls, she'll move to I10. Should it remain standing, she takes a 5-ft step to N11.
With another mighty blow from her waraxe, Dara chops most of the way through the bugbear's body. The zombie topples over. She moves over to the one remaining zombie.
Next Up: Troglodyte Zombie, Fredrik, Bear, Venedictus, Dara.
Udaya continues to swing away at her zombie, determined to return it to the realm from which it came…
If the last one is still standing by the time her next turn comes around, Dara will 5-ft step to H10 so that she's flanking then attack again...
Udaya's scimitar cuts across the front of the zombie and brings it tumbling down.
Venedictus will burn his second bless spell for another cure light wounds for Dara ()
"Thanks Vene, just lemme catch me breath here fer a minute..."
Fredrik looks over at the blood splattered around the area, and holds down a gag reflex. Must be getting used to it, he he. He moves over to the skeletal remains of the skeleton on the east wall, and gathers them up.
He then scans the area for magical auras. .
Once finished, he then asks, "Well, that could have gone better. What should we do with the body?" He indicates Filge's body. "I imagine Pup is getting hungry though..."
Fredrik does not detect any magic in the room.
A look around the room turns up a few things. The blue body on the table is a male human corpse that has had its skin died blue somehow. There is a fine set of silver operating instruments lain out on the table with the body.
On one of the shelves flanking the operating table rests a glass tube about a foot long and half as wide. A slim green worm bobs in the murky chemical solution.
Knowledge Religion:
Venedictus sees Dara picking up the glass tube with the worm and dashes over to snatch it up from her. "Spawn of Kyuss" he mutters, half to himself.
Upon seeing the shocked and expectant looks from the others he elaborates.
"The Spawn of Kyuss. They're..."
"Well, that could have gone better. What should we do with the body?"
"I thought it went just fine. Came off on the first swing..."
Venedictus sees Dara picking up the glass tube with the worm and dashes over to snatch it up from her. "Spawn of Kyuss" he mutters, half to himself.
Upon seeing the shocked and expectant looks from the others he elaborates.
"The Spawn of Kyuss. They're..."
The spawn of Kyuss is an undead creature that looks like a zombie or skeleton covered in small worms that crawl into and out of every orifice. The worms carry a sort of infection that transforms its victims into more spawn of Kyuss. A spawn of Kyuss is hard to kill because its wounds constantly heal over . Venedictus has no idea where the name Kyuss comes from or any further information about spawn of Kyuss.
Fredrik's ears perk up at the mention of the spawn of Kyuss.
"Hmmm, I wonder what this low life necromancer would be doing with that knowledge of a spawn of Kyuss"
Venedictus shrugs, holding up the glass tube.
"It looks like he was studying it. We could ask him, but I think his head took a bit of a beating bouncing down all those stairs like that."
Freddie smirks at Vene, "Yeah, what a shame. I think his looks have improved overall, don't you?". Freddie glances around him and mutters, "He probably kept notes of his experiments somewhere, anybody wanna help me look for 'em?"
"Sure, jus' tell me what yer lookin' for..."
"I gotta say... As interesting as looking for the notebook of a recently headless necromancer is, I'm mostly interested in finding those objects we came for. I mean, I'm fine with a bit of lootin', seein' as how he was so happy to try to kill us, but I'll be happy as a clam to gr outta this creepy place." He says this as he begins to flip through Filge's journal, hoping it's his spellbook.
A search of the second floor (Filge's bedroom) turns up a few things.
The tray holding the head is made of silver and probably valuable. The blackened spectacles upon the mummified goblin's nose effectively block glare from bright lights (including the sun) and grant a +2 circumstance bonus on Will saves to resist daze or similar effects. There is a large rug of golden brown fur that is probably worth something.
The papers on Filge's desk mostly concern surgical procedures meant to enhance the potency of undead, while others contain only the meandering scribbles of a mind descending into madness. The magic you detected from the paper earlier turns out to be a single scroll.
Finally, amongst the papers on the desk, you also find the following letter:
Filge,
I need you in Baslwief, my boy. The cult situation has grown worse. Deep within Dourstone Mine they're studying things brought in from the southern hills. Green worms and unkillable zombies. I nicked one of the worms for you to study.
I'll put you up in the old observatory. Show this letter to the big white half-orc at the Feral Dog. He'll help you get settled. I trust you'll find these coins sufficient to cover your travel from Kaer Maga.
S
"That rug should be worth a lot...Lammasu pelt, dang."
He pockets the letter, and says to the others, "I don't like this cult talk mentioned in the letter."
"Definitely not. Nor do I like the mention of green worms and unkillable zombies. If some cult has taken up residence inside Dourstone Mine to to study Spawn of Kyuss, then we need to put our escape-Baslwief plans on hold and investigate this further."
"Bear, lemme look at the spellbook, although since it is a necro book, not sure how much I can decipher from it."
Once done perusing this, he comments, "Yeah, hate to say but I am with Vene here on this, besides they are sure to have loads of treasure stashed away in their hideout."
"As much as there may or may not be treasure stashed in this cult's lair, I'm most interested in wrapping up the jobs we're currently on first, not to mention getting the heck out of this creepy house. Since we're done in this room, let's go check out the rest of the house, recover the rest of the bones, and keep an eye out for any more shinies." He pauses for a second, rubbing a meaty hand atop his bald head. "Also, it occurs to me that we should leave the way we came. If we can fix the window back in place, fix the divots created by the grappling hook on the window sill, and leave that way, it may go that much farther to making sure our footprints aren't immediately attached to this dirty business. I mean, for all anyone knows, Filge might have been beheaded by his own dirty work's hands." He looks around, seeing if anyone has any thoughts on that plan.
"Of course, we still have to survive searching this little house of horrors."
"Good idea on leavin' here Bear. I like the way you think. As fer this cult stuff, why in tha hell would we wanna get mixed up in that?"
Fredrik nods at the Varisian, "Of course Bear, that is the best way to do it. No need to advertise we were even here, although that half orc fella may squeal on us, we can cross that bridge later. For now, let's finish up here, get the bones, and get out of here."
Responding to Dara's query, he simply replies, "Money. They certainly had enough to set up poor Filge here in style."
"This is style?" Venedictus asks, gesturing to the head on a platter.
You head down the stairs from Filge's bedroom, only to be greeted by the stench of rotting flesh. You come into a room in which ten chairs surround an oblong dining table. A sagging antique wooden shelf dominates the west wall, looking like it might collapse at any moment.
The dining table, however, is where the true sight of horror in this room is. With the exception of the place at the west end, each of the chairs surrounding the table holds an awkwardly seated humanoid figure. The nine bodies are in various stages of decomposition. Some sit with splendid posture, paused as if midway through a sumptuous feast. Others slump treacherously close to the floor.
Heaping plates of apparently fresh food sit before the diners, but the empty place setting features a clean plate and set of utensils. Several bottles of red wine rest upon the table, and each of the corpses sits before a half-finished glass. A fly passes nearby, its there-not-there buzz breaking this eerie silence.
"Does he..." pauses to swallow bile, "Did he eat here? Sitting at that tenth place for his own meals like he was hosting a party of the dead? This guy was sick! I think we need to cut off his head again."
Fredrik makes a mental note not to eat such a big meal, before going on adventures. He grits his teeth, and murmers an incantation for detecting magical auras.
"I gotta say, I'm not even surprised by this sh!t anymore." He watches Freddy study the room for magic. "Pickin' anything up?
"This..." Dara points to the scene with her war axe, "This is some fu<ked-up sh!t right here! What the hell?! This guy was outta his damn mind!"