Thistle had spent the night quietly, watching the others and looking up into the deep black sky. When the time had come to sleep he lay on his back and breathed softly.
Eventually, he began counting. A whisper of numbers, all the products that his uncle kept in his store. Alphabetically, he organized them first by name, then by size, until he drifted of to sleep.
A time later, he jolted straight up, eyes wide and scrambled behind a tree, covered in a cold sweat.
Perception:
Initiative:
Henry's quick reflexes kick in and he draws his dagger, thrusting it into a hobbling figure as it breaches the firelight. But much to his dismay, the blade seems to glance off of unnaturally tough skin, gray and filthy with rot. The figure smiles up at him with a wicked and toothy grin, like a withered corpse returned to life with a hunger for the living.
Breathing heavy from his position behind the and still slightly disoriented,Zachariah spies with walking corpse grinning close to Richardson. Strangely calm, he reaches around and grabs the rifle he had lay down by his resting spot. He quickly (loads?) checks the ammo, and braces it against his shoulder, waiting for a clear shot.
Cole fires his new crossbow at the normal looking individual.
Still waking from a dream Doc turns over to the commotion and catches sight of the walking dead. A fearsome panic crawls up his spine and he scrambles for his holy symbol whispering frantic prayers. He feels the familiar energy fill him and wills it toward the creature, holding out his wooden cross.
The two figures attack Cole and Richardson.
,
,
One creature lands a hideous claw on Cole and he instantly turns rigid, unable to move.
The third figure comes in behind the creature attacking Cole and swings something at its head.
,
But he misses entirely.
Thistle takes a steady shot at the creature attacking Richardson...
[ooc]Not sure how much damage that rifle does, so if you wanna roll, GM, that would bee appreciated...IF I hit that is.[/dice]
In a blur of motion, the two creatures breach the firelight and engage the party. Henry stabs and Cole gets caught off guard. Another man engages the creature on Cole and Smith wakes up late to the fight. A thunderous crack splits the air as Thistle unexpectedly shoots the monster in front of Richardson. Doc Wilkens leaps to his feet and invokes a prayer as well as words of natural anatomy contradicting the existence of the living dead. The creature before Richardson makes an agonized expression and howls once before turning into a pile of bones and dust. The one attacking Cole seems less unsettled by Wilkens' words, but still some ash falls away from its bones, leaving it weaker.
Richardson steps in and helps the Barkeep out of his predicament.
,
He stabs it right between two exposed ribs.
The monster turns and attacks the stranger.
,
,
,
The stranger takes a slash to the arm and becomes paralyzed like Cole.
In his dream a man leans out a second floor window, his arms upraised shouting, "My Lord! My God! Who will spare the widow's son?" There are shouts and the man falls and the black-faced mob surges in on him.
Smith awakes to a scene as violent as his dreams, snatching at his rifle.
Still strangely calm despite the desiccated corpses shambling and clawing before them, Thistle loads the rifle and fires again...
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Thistle fires a shot directly into the creature's head and it collapses into a pile of bones and ash.
With renewed vigor Doc strides forward into the crumbling corpses and frozen figures, the fingers of his hand whitening around his wooden cross.
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus
omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio
infernalis adversarii, omnis legio,
omnis congregatio et secta diabolica."
We exorcise you, every impure spirit,
every satanic power, every incursion
of the infernal adversary, every legion,
every congregation and diabolical sect.
"What in the name of hell..." Smith shook his feet free from the tangled bedroll and aimed his rifle at the motionless stranger.
Turning, Henry saw Thistle with the still pointed gun. Henry quietly informed the once mad man, "Lower your rifle, Thistle. Good job for turning it into bone and ash", pointing to the pile on the ground.
Seeing Cole still unmoving on the sodden earth, Henry strode over to him, calling out to their medicine man, "Doc, Cole needs you now. The thing laid hand on him and next moment he was still as a dead man on the ground." Henry looked at the second unmoving man. "And Doc, there's a stranger here in the same predicament."
Henry bends down by the stranger and searches his pockets for anything to aid in identifying the man.
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Henry finds some food and water, a flint & steel, a few torches, and some articles he does not recognize. He does not find much else.
The stranger appears to be male, mid 40s, in simple cotton clothes not unlike what the Toxaway panners wore. However, there appear to be some strange markings stitched subtly in some places that might not even be noticeable were Henry not searching the man in the first place.
Doc stared at the piles of ash and bone, his mind spinning. "Am I going mad? How is this possible? Corpses moving of their own volition. Has the world descended into darkness?"
He looked at Thistle with a newfound understanding. And a fear struck him. "Will I wake up some morning and find myself locked up in that tower? No. I will find the truth in this. There must be an answer somewhere...am I looking in a completely wrong sphere of knowledge for the source of this infection? Where would I even begin?"
Deep in thought Doc silently looked over the paralyzed men, hoping he'd find some answer. And secretly praying he didn't.
Doc examines the bodies thoroughly then turns to the group.
"I'm at a loss." His voice sounds hollow. "There appears to be nothing physically wrong with them. As for their mental state...I'm not so sure..." His eyes wander to Thistle again and his voice trails off.
As Wilkens finishes speaking, Cole suddenly lurches to life again. A few moments later, so does the stranger.
Damnit! That was no fun. Are they all dead?
Henry promptly moves to his kit and removes his masterwork manacles. Returning to the unmoving stranger, Henry turns him over and cuffs his hands behind his back.
By the time the stranger comes around, Henry has him on his face in the damp ground putting manacles on him. Cole looks around to realize that whatever those things were, they're gone now. Smith clamors out of bed to find something useful to do, and Thistle seems disturbingly peaceful about the entire event.
"What the hell are you trying to do??" exclaims the man being bound by Richardson.
He quickly wriggles out of Richardson's grasp and stands up.
"I was attempting to restrain you, stranger." Henry was annoyed the man had wiggled free before he could clamp the manacles on him. He brought his frame to its full height and held the rifle almost casually (to the untrained eye) but ready in case the stranger attacked.
Henry's face is hidden in shadow so the stranger cannot make the look in his intense brown eyes.
"What is your name and what are you doing out here, with those things?" pointing to the rubble of ash and bone.
"I... am just a man living in the wild. I only want to be left alone. You blasted townsfolk are out here stirring up trouble and I came to put it down. I never assumed you'd try to chain me up for it. I suppose next time I'll leave you to the dead." he says with a gesture to what used to be the corpse-like attackers.
"Now if you'll excuse me..." the man makes a motion to leave, waiting to see if anyone looks like they're going to shoot him.
"No one said you could leave yet. You did not answer my question, stranger. What is your name?" Henry's tone is less than patient. He despised repeating himself but found it a necessity out here in the wilds the last few years.
"If you have nothing to hide, as you have maintained, then answering a simple question as one's name is not going to be a problem."
Henry levels his eyes on the fellow who even now was attempting to depart or flee. Seems like he has something to hide.
"I just want to be left alone..." the man says as he eyes the group, glancing around.
"More of them!" he cries out as he points behind Richardson into the darkness.
When the stranger points to new threats, all five men quickly turn to confront the danger. However, when no threat is found, they turn back around to learn they'd been duped. The stranger had tricked them and vanished.
Look as they may, none of the men can see where he disappeared to so quickly.
Where'd he go?
Doc's heart leapt in his throat as he spun to ready for more. His chest still pounding he turned back to see the stranger gone.
"Well, we got a good look at him. He can't have gone far."
"Just what in holy hell is goin' on here?" Smith's voice shook as he spoke. "I ain't gonna go stumbling round in the dark looking for that fella."
He moved over to where his spooked mule was pulling at the rope that kept her tied to a tree.
"Easy, old girl."
"Smith, don't you think it's mighty suspicious that fellow just up an ran off. He wouldn't give his name...he definitely knows something. My thought is we should find him. Whether that is tonight or in the morning, I'll leave to the rest of you."
"He fooled us into turning away so he could make his escape. I had a feeling he was hiding something. He would not answer my questions."
Listening to Smith and then Thistle, Henry looked about the dark woods and spoke again, "It would be probably be better if we attempted to follow now for he may not be too far ahead of us. But in the dark and without knowing where he is headed and who he may be meeting with, may prove to be folly. I say we set up watch again -- maybe two men this time -- and set out in the morning -- hopefully he will leave tracks I can follow easily. I do not like surprises and those two animated corpses were not to my liking. Cole, Doc, what say you?"
You and me both heard the whisperin'. That's what woke me. That guy was talkin' to someone. Your plan sounds good.