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Under breath, "Blast." Druthane takes in the situation, and without hint or preview, drops his bow and unsheathes Naishinto. Louder, "It is a beast of undeath - and a fast one. Let us bring it down. Here! Beast! Face us and face eternal rest!" Druthane drops into a mobile stance, right leg back. The blade is above his head and ready. If there is time I'll cast a spell of Corrosive Touch and hold the charge.
The undead beast turns around at being called out. It stops beating down the building and charges the loud one, swiping with a claw.
Hawkwen charges in and his blade finds purchase, though amazingly enough the creature is still standing.
Barek fires off a pair of shots, though only the first finds its mark, though does so in spectacular fashion as it goes through the creature, leaving a gaping hole, though the creature still stands.
And Druthane does indeed dissolve the owlbear into nothingness!
Once Druthane fells the undead, there is a moment of calm. One of the boards reinforcing a cottage window is pried open from the inside, and the heavily wrinkled face of a purple-haired gnome woman pokes out of the
window. Once she spots the party, she worms her way headfirst out the window, despite a chorus of protests from inside the cottage. Eventually the tiny old gnome wriggles through the gap, landing deftly on her rear end. She bounds to her feet and addresses the party in a rapidfire voice:
“Finally! I was getting thirsty in there. Did you bring any wine?Bloody owlbear. You’d think they’d know better than to trifle with me! Is that my packhorse? I’ll settle for grog, if you have it.”
The disheveled gnome climbs directly over the rotten corpse of the owlbear and starts rummaging through the packhorse’s saddlebags. Meanwhile, a shocked group of young Pathfinders emerge from the cottage, surveying the carnage with horror.
“Been like this for a week, you know. Nothing but undead and southeastern winds. Wretched awful smell. And me without my astrolabe. You should hear these youngsters whine and complain. One little undead horde and they go all to pot. By the Eldest, I’m thirsty. I’d drink a flask of ink at this point! Bloody zombos did drag off one of the youngsters, though. You should hear them complain: ‘Oooh, we’re all about to die! Oh my, what’s-her-face was abducted by zombos! Oh, I don’t want to be eaten.’ And they call themselves Pathfinders!” “Aha!”
The gnome triumphantly holds up a bottle of dark red wine. She whirls around, addressing the assembled group, “You youngsters, burn these carcasses. Bloody awful stink. You lot with the weapons, unpack this horse, build a nice fire, and pull some turnips from the garden. Then come have a drink and tell me how fat Sheila’s gotten.”
With that, the renowned researcher Ignizi Dinnelletter scuttles back into the cottage, uncorking her newly acquired wine along the way.
"Ah, excellent." Ignizi says as she leads you inside. She introduces to what is left of her research team. There is Lemmy, a halfling male from Magnimar, Leona a human female from Nirmathas, Narsisco, a male half-elf from Nybor, and Marsia, a human female from Molthune.
Over a dinner of turnip soup, the researchers reconfirm that one of their party(a female gnome by the name of Dijit) was dragged off by the undead several days ago and hasn’t been seen since. "If you want to help, I need you to rescue her and take care of the undead problem. Please bring her back alive, she has a way with fungus that's useful. If you need help, my buddy Riddywipple knows the forest inside and out. You all can stay the night and leave in the morning. We've got plenty of floor here for you to sleep on."
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"I am injured, and I wouldn't turn it down if you're offering. I have a wand, if you don't mind using it on me." Druthane takes in the situation. There's a question on his lips, but Ignizi turned. "Hey guys, I'll be right back to help. You get started, I'll be back." What I do next is dependent on how the party takes it.
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Tal takes aim on the owlbear. Just one quick shot and the I rush in for the slice & dice. Steady....steady. Hey....where'd it go?"
"Good show lads...good show! Now let us see who is home...shall we?"
After listening to Ignizi's story Tal is glad for the offer to spend the night. He offers a knowing nod to Druthne and begs him aside.
"Yea, but I don't know much about them. Leona and Narsisco are the townies. Talk to one of them."
Talking to Leona seems to be a challenge for the Shoanti. Perhaps talking to Narcisco would fair better?
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Rather than a visual distraction, Druthane's tact is more about physical separation. "Gentlemen, I'd like to discuss soemthing....privately. Then physically remove ourselves from the druid to discuss the matter. Once everyone is at the "meeting" but before Talhaearn arrives I'd begin. "Zombies are not free-willed undead. After animation, often a process involving in conclusion, I fear that someone very specifically has it out for our druid friend.
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Hawkwren follows Druthane outside and acknowledges the magus' words. That could very well be true. We'll have to keep our eyes open. The ranger turns and reenters the hut. I am not completely familiar with the area, what towns or hamlets are in the area? The half-elf asks, apparently not having heard the alchemist put forth the same question moments ago.
Hawkwen also has little luck talking to Leona, but is able to get Narcisco to admit he met a silver-level Aspis agent in Nybor just before he left.
You believe Narcisco to be lying to you.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to go to Nybor because my family owns an inn and some shops there. I don't know anything." Narcisco says.
"Leave him alone, I passed through Ilsurian on her way to meet Ignizi, and saw a man in the tavern who wore this silver Aspis badge."
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Druthane seems utterly unaffected by the threat of violence, as if the conversation was about weather or gardening. "I'm more than happy to help. It's what we do. Do you have anything that may help us? Undead and fey can be quite....resilient. I'm happy to have Riddywipple guide us. What kind of undead dragged her off again?
"Pathfinders these days, always asking for handouts. Alright, I might have a few things to help you out." After rummaging around the cottage for a while, Ignizi digs up several items to give the PCs. She hands over three potions of neutralize poison, and two scrolls of detect undead. She also supplies a potion of cure light wounds. "It was a horde of zombies that dragged her off going north. That's all I know."
You depart the next morning, armed with the researchers’ best wishes and instructions on how to find Riddywipple’s log. The directions are fairly simple, leading you to clear landmarks throughout the forest. You march through the day, following a series of ravines that Ignizi indicated would lead you to Riddywipple’s fallen log. you manage to locate the log, which is distinguished by a series of distinctive carvings that adorn the trees for twenty yards in every direction.
You don’t see anyone around. However, you hear a squeaky voice about 30 feet up a nearby hillside.
Talhearn scouts ahead and actively looks for traps. However as he reaches the top of the hill, the embankment collapses and he falls into a bramble patch beneath it!
After Talhearn falls in, an invisible voice starts pelting him with questions.
"Who are you? Why are you on my turf?!"
"Who wants to know?"