Though years of medical training had shown Caelia a great many things, the carnage at the scene was something altogether different. In a somewhat shocked state, Caelia moves about messy scene trying to observe as closely possible.
Examining the icy statue, Caelia attempts to a postmortem with the few available clues. Kneeling down, Caelia appears intently focused on the limbs of the gruesome corpse as well as any other bodies in the area.
Arkady is convinced that the unnatural ice must be caused by magic or some kind of magical ability, but while he knows of many ice-creating creatures, none of the stranger creatures he has read about seem to fit the scene before him. It may be the case, Arkady reasons, that the magic used in this attack has faded, and it is only the weather which is preserving everything.
Aishe and Caelia take a closer look at the man encased in ice. The cruel idea of covering a man in ice certainly befits the cruel nature of Fey, Aishe figures, but the sheer power required to freeze the entire corpse seems beyond the means of typical fey.
Caelia looks closely at the severed frozen limbs, and notices the cuts are smooth. It appears as if the pieces were hacked off after the body was frozen, but it is not clear why.
Shocked at the displays of violence, Igmar bows his head somberly. He begins to hum a mournful tune, honoring the dead in the only way he knows how.
After a few minutes of humming, Igmar looks up with determination evident in his eyes. He draws his new cold iron pick and lifts his shield off his back, readying it on his left arm.
"I cannot stand by and allow slaughter like this to continue. We should move toward the forest and find the culprits. They deserve to pay for their evil deeds."
"Agreed, Igmar. But we should not leave the dead here to be picked over by animals. I'd suggest using one of the carriages to make a pyre, so that their remains won't be dishonored..." Aishe glances back at the hideous ice 'statue'. "Well, dishonored any further, at least."
Aishe will start gathering the bodies together in a row, probably near one of the carriages. She can't stand the idea of just leaving them to the snow and the carrion eaters. Perhaps she's in shock to certain extent, and this is her way of dealing with it, for now.
Yagello gulps hard at this gut-wrenching display of brutality. He even feels faint for a moment before catching himself and shaking off the cobwebs.
Feeling sorry for Aishe, he walks over to the white-faced half-elf and gently pats her on the shoulder, "Here, let me help you with that. You don't look so good right now. Would you like a drink of some water?"
He also turns to Igmar,"Your passion is admirable, friend dwarf. I feel some of that same fire burning in my veins as well. While I'm helping Aishe with these bodies, maybe you and some of the others could check those crates there by the side of the road. They could give us an idea as to why this caravan was attacked in the first place."
Zev emits a low growl, his blue eyes locked on the forest in the distance. Sarya places a hand on his back and speaks with a hushed voice, "I know, Zev. They're in there somewhere." She turns her attention back to the tracks in the snow, trying to get an idea of what she was up against.
"I agree, proper respect should be shown. Let us do what we can."
As Yagello suggests, Arkady looks through the remains to see what can be found while the others attend to the victim.
Igmar and Arkady goes back to the crates, and open them up to see inside. They appear to be stuffed with women's clothing, for the most part unremarkable. However three courtier's outfits seem particularly extravagant among the simpler traveling clothes.
Caelia continues to examine the other corpses, and sees that unlike the frozen "statue", the remaining victims were all killed by conventional wounds. Some of wounds were caused by the deadly icicles, but many cuts and wounds were caused by conventional metal weapons.
Sarya takes a closer look at the tracks, but there are too many of them to learn much from the the trail at this point. Either the area was heavily trafficked by a smaller group, going back and forth, or the force of attackers numbered in the hundreds.
As Yagello and Aishe are moving the bodies, the solemn but silent work is broken by sudden muffled sounds coming from the upright carriage. Yagello and Aishe take a second look.
The decorative chasings on this expensive carriage bear the marks of Taldan heraldry, as well as damage from the many arrows fired in the battle that took place here. A spear has been wedged between the handles of the carriage doors to hold them closed, and curtains are drawn, obscuring the tiny windows on either side. The muffled sounds continue to come from within.
Attention drawn away from her work, Caelia snaps to attention at the muffled sounds emanating from the carriage.
Rushing over quickly to the carriage, Caelia waves over Yagello and Igmar, speaking in a very concerned tone "There might be a survivor, please, help me with the carriage so I can aid whoever is in there."
Yagello jumps to attention, unceremoniously dropping the mangled body he was handling at the time. Could be a survivor or a trap for the naïve easily enough as well...
Keeping his swords sheathed, he grabs the spear with both arms and gives it a mighty pull, hoping to pry open the door.
Igmar looks toward the door and raises his shield, waiting for anything out of the ordinary.
Arkady watches the activity. He hasn't gotten "the feeling" yet, but nonetheless stays on his guard.
Yagello pulls the spear fairly easily, and the doors immediately swing outwards. A body covered in rags that appears to have been leaning against the door tumbles out, and Yagello steps back in surprise, letting the corpse fall to the frozen ground.
Much to the surprise of everyone, the corpse begins to get up. From the carriage, another corpse lunges towards Yagello.
Map of the area, including current positions of all members of the party and the attackers.
Yagello is taken aback by the corpse that lunges at him from the carriage. An additional pair of living corpses emerges from inside the carriage behind it. Along with the first one that is getting off the ground, Yagello counts four altogether.
Despite their different backgrounds, Caelia and Igmar both recognize the creatures as zombies, animated corpses that are slow and mindless. They will do nothing except attack the group, and their stiffened bodies are resistant to most weapons, except for blades and magic weapons.
As Yagello opens the door to the carriage, "the feeling" overtakes Arkady. Without knowing why, he shouts "Watch out!" and runs up behind Igmar.
As the corpses tumble out of the carriage, he shouts "In Desna's name, what is this? Walking corpses?" He then touches the dwarf on the shoulder, saying "Desna bring you foresight." He then steps back and pulls out his crossbow.
With a surprised scream, Caelia recoils but has enough wherewithal to blurt out "Zombies!"
Round 1: Growler's actions
Taken aback by the foul undead, Yagello feels a cold sweat trickle down his back.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME, YOU DAMN DIRTY ZOMBIE!!!!!
He draws his elven curve blade and goes back on the offensive, slicing hard at the creature's midsection. As his blade singes the cold air, he whispers,"Mother, guide my arm and let my aim be true..."
;
Growler bites into the shin of the zombie that lunged out at Yagello. The zombie lurches slightly to one side to eye the wolf, leaving it open to Yagello's assault. The elven blade connects with the zombie's torso, slicing deep into the rotting flesh, and the creature falls to the ground in a heap. One down, Yagello thinks.
Igmar takes a step to his left, hoping to confuse the zombies while keeping them from reaching Arkady and Aishe. As he lifts his shield in defense, he erupts in song, a rumbling, steady tune that seems to match his rising heart rate. The song echoes across the plain, encouraging his allies to stand strong against the forces of evil.
Zev prances nervously in the snow before looking up at Sarya with a whimper, unsure what to do about the walking corpses.
Reacting quickly, Caelia withdraws her Scimitar from its sheath. Nodding at Igmar opposite her, Caelia strikes at the Zombie.
The tip of Caelia's blade tears into the zombie's arm, as it lunges towards her. The zombie at the back also steps forward, flailing in Caelia's direction.
Meanwhile, the last zombie reacts to Igmar's as if surprised by his song, and reaches towards Igmar.
The two zombies push into Caelia hard. She is quickly overwhelmed by their mass despite her raised buckler, and she falls to the ground. The fall onto the frozen earth knocks her unconscious.
The third zombie connects its flailing arm with Igmar's head, which rocks his head. Igmar keeps his song of inspiration, but knows that a bump will develop where the zombie hit him soon enough.
Round 1
Although Aishe wants to rush to Caelia's side and try to revive her, she can't until the zombies are dealt with. Stepping in front of Arkady [G7] she casts Color spray towards the shambling corpses.
Seeing the undead swarm Caelia fills Sarya's mind with a sense of urgency, a feeling not lost on Zev thanks to their bond. "Come on Zev! We've got to do something!"
Strengthened by Sarya's urging, Zev looks for an opening into the melee. He jumps atop the downed tree and runs along the length of it, jumping off with bared teeth to pounce on the zombies gathered around Caelia.
Realizing that he is as likely to hit a friend as a foe with everyone so close together, Arkady abandons his crossbow. Picking up his staff, he mutters a few words in an ancient language and begins to move around to try to assist Caelia.
"ARGH! I'M COMING!" Yagello yells out in frustration as he sees the comely cleric fall before the zombies.
A bit irked at the lack of fighting from some of the others, he moves forward to even the score.
Aishe holds her hands out in front of her, rays of colors emerging from her fingertips and bathing the zombies in rainbow light. The zombies keep moving, apparently unaffected by the illusory magic.
Zev quickly clambers over the log, digging into the shin of one of the zombies that had ganged up on Caelia, pulling it to the ground. Yagello's blade takes down the other zombie, cutting into the neck. Out of the corner of his eye, Yagello can tell Caelia needs attention soon.
Igmar stops his song, but the sound still seems to echo around the battle. He drops his shield and slides over to Caelia, reaching out to touch her while trying to avoid the zombies.
Aishe grimaces after her apparently futile attempt to bespell the zombies fails. Staying where she is she will instead cast [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/acid-splash]Acid splash]/url] at the nearest undead [ooc](in square I6)[ooc].
The globe of acid misses the zombie and splatters the side of the ruined carriage instead...
Growler moves forward to prevent the zombies from moving closer to Aishe . She will attempt to bite the one still threatening the space where Caelia has fallen .
As Yagello steps in to help the fallen cleric, Arkady moves over and uses the only offensive spell he has available. Speaking quietly in an old Varisian dialect, he points a finger at a zombie; a ray of cold shoots out.
His hand shaking from nervousness at being in his first combat with undead, Arkady's ray comes nowhere near the walking corpse, adding a layer of frost to the already snowy ground.
As Igmar touches Caelia, some of the bruising appears to fade on her face, although she still appears hurt.
Growler moves forward, straddling Caelia. The zombie near Caelia is still moving on the ground, and Zev bites into the shoulder. The zombie tries to get off the ground in order to attack again. The remaining zombie lunges towards Igmar.
Igmar looks up from Caelia at the clumsy zombie as it lurches towards him, but it reaches wide, misses him by a arm's length.
With a look of renewed determination on his face, Yagello shouts, "LET'S FINISH THIS!"
Zev wrestles with the zombie, trying to keep it pinned under his jaws. Unfortunately, there is little Zev can do against the undead's might as it rises up.
Sarya moves forward, her voice rising to a yell as she swings her scimitar down toward the chest of one of the undead.
Zev leaps onto the zombie once again with a growl, his teeth aimed for the zombie's throat.
Growler also tries to attack the zombie as it gets up.
As Growler goes for the shins, Yagello cuts down into the zombie's head, and the creature collapses to the ground in a heap, never fully getting off the ground.
Even as the third zombie falls to the ground, Yagello and Sarya move towards the remaining foe, attacking with their blades. Yagello stumbles on a corpse on the ground and swings wide, but Sarya's blade cuts into the arm that had been lunging towards Igmar.
Zev runs up and jumps onto the zombie from the other side, taking a bite from his throat, but the zombie resists and remains standing.
Igmar slides backwards, surrounding the zombie. Using the top of his pick, he prods the zombie in an attempt to distract it.
The zombie turns to search for the source of the distraction, and tries to swing its heavy arms at Igmar. The mindless creature appears oblivious to Igmar's allies surrounding the zombie.
The zombie catches Igmar's now bare shield arm, bludgeoning him heavily and knocking the dwarf to the ground. He apparently is knocked unconscious by the blow, as he does not move to cushion the fall to the ground.
Yagello's eyes turn wide as saucers at seeing another comrade fall to the icy turf. He angrily kicks the corpse that interfered with his last attack and swings around to face the final zombie. He looks into its lifeless eyes, and quietly whispers, "Mother, I want you to be proud of me..."
As Arkady watches Igmar fall, his eyes glaze over briefly. Running around the wagon, he gets behind the dwarf and takes him by the shoulders. "I see two futures. I deny the one in which you die."
Yagello cuts clean through the remaining zombie, and it collapses in a heap on the ground, resting with the other zombies and the victims from the attack.
Arkady holds Igmar and feeds him a bit of water. The dwarf sputters through the drink a bit, but remains unconscious. Satisfied that he won't be dying any time soon, Arkday rests him on the ground, taking his picks and other sharp belongings and setting them into a pile on one side.
Sarya takes a quick look inside the carriage to see if there are any more threats. While she doesn't see any more zombies or other immediate causes of concern, she notices a small box underneath the seat at the rear of the carriage. Inside, she fines a variety of fine jewellery, some set with gemstones. The collection includes necklaces, bracelets and a ring.
.
Aishe stands by numbly, shocked by the sudden eruption of violence, but shakes it off once Growler yips at her for attention. Seeing the she-wolf still standing protectively over the recumbent form of Caelia, Aishe dashes over to see what, if anything, she can do to aid her friend...
She looks over to where Arkady nurses the badly injured dwarf, and shakes her head in an attempt to clear her mind. "I'm... sorry. I didn't know what to do..." Aishe's face is a picture of misery. "I didn't realize that I'd be so useless in a fight like this!"
"Don't be so hard on yourself, not all of us are meant for battle. Did you see how effective I was? I couldn't even decide what to do..."
He looks at the scene. "There is no way we can go on like this. We'll have to get Caelia and Igmar back to Heldrun and see if the priest can help them. Maybe we could fashion some sort of litter to carry them on?"
Yagello looks at Aishe silently for a long second before turning away to clean his blade. Wiping his sword along the snowy ground, he gazes up at motley group assembled before him.
He speaks in a measured voice carefully choosing his words, "Well, we've got quite a dilemma here. Lady Argentea is still lost in those woods, yet our group is splintered. Every second we delay, her attackers may be getting farther away. Do we get healing and regroup in town or continue the chase?"
Pointing towards Growler and Zev, he continues, "Your beasts fought well. Put them on the front line with me, and I'm comfortable with continuing the hunt for those icy bastards. Sarya, I may need your help as well with following the trail. Aeshe, Arkady maybe one of you should remain with the injured..."
He rests his back against the downed carriage, waiting for a response. Suddenly he thinks of one more point to make, "Whatever we decide, we should take those jewels and sell them in town. It'll help us get better equipped for any hardships on the road ahead. Especially better armor for these two and healing potions as well.." He waves his hand grimly at the fallen forms of Caelia and Igmar and practically spits out the words, healing potions.
Sarya sighed heavily as the last undead creature fell to Yagello. So much of what was happening made little sense to her but she does her best to hide her confusion. Hoping to find some clues about how the undead came to occupy the carriage, Sarya pokes around inside, eventually finding a jewelry box that she studies with great interest before stepping back outside.
She makes her way over to Caelia and kneels down in front of her, laying her sword on the snow and handing the box to Aishe without saying a word. She closes her eyes briefly, a globe of white light appearing in her hand after she recites a few words. Sarya presses the magic against Caelia's stomach, the light diffusing across her body briefly before disappearing.
As the other woman regains consciousness, Sarya stands and shakes the snow off her pants as she looks down at Caelia, the tone of her voice almost as cold as the air around them. "Be more careful next time. We're not in Heldren anymore."
With that, she leans over and grabs her sword and makes her way toward the other carriage to make sure there aren't any more surprises waiting to ambush them.
Sarya approaches the overturned carriage. There is no obvious way to peer inside from the ground level, so Sarya uses the wheels to climb up onto the side. She peers into the side door now facing towards the sky, which is already swung open.
Inside, the carriage is ransacked. The bodies of two women lie at the bottom, against the opposite door. The two are obviously not dressed for battle, with clothing fitting some kind of attendant or servant. They appear to have been victim to the same blades and icicles as the majority of the corpses outside. Seeing nothing of value, and no immediate threats, Sarya climbs back down to the ground.
Arkady watches as Sarya tends to Caelia's wounds. "Well, I had no idea you had that trick in you. That may change things."
Looking at the young Sarenrite, he gives her a moment to clear her head before asking, "How are you feeling? If you can get Igmar back on his feet, we may still be able to press on."
To Yagello, he says, "I have my 'armor' on now, and it will last the hour. I am not a fighter like you, but if called for I can briefly enchant my crossbow to deal a hefty punch. I am sorry I was caught so unawares this time, but hopefully I can provide more assistance if we find our missing noblewoman."