Finely framed works of art cover the walls of this gallery, looking down upon the hall below. Great windows look out to the west and south, and an alcove to the east is set with chairs for musicians. In mockery of the room’s beauty, several costumed corpses stand about the hall, some posed like ghastly statues while others stand like contemplative critics.
Three zombies dressed in flashy metallic costumes turn their heads to the ruckus on the stairs and start shambling forward.
Nalun grunts in annoyance and picks up his blade.
Demitri scowls and chases after her.
The dogs lunge after the three zombies in the gallery. In a flurry of teeth and howls the nearest two zombies are torn into, one collapsing into a heap, the other falling to the ground and flailing in its entrails.
for and
for and
for and
for and
Karri moves deeper into the house, keeping her back to the massive fireplace that dominates the main room. Her soul is grappling with Legion, trying to pull them back before they pull her apart.
Lyla follows Demiti in pursuit of julistina. As they reach the door to the room in which the deranged elf has saught shelter, she stops and grabs Demitri. "Hold there, chief. She might be luring us in", she says while taking a careful look at the entrnace, looking for any signs of foul play.
Ortik follows after Demitri and Lyla, barely keeping up with the two of them.
Demitri kicks the door open.
The room beyond is well-furnished with chairs carved from fine oak and gilded with golden filigree, arranged in a semi-circle around a raised wood platform. A grand bay window behind the podium offers a clear view of the manor's backyard.
Sitting on the podium is a zombie dressed in a ragged blue-winged angel costume that's caked in gore. The creature is strumming mindlessly on a large, standing harp. Unfortunately, all that comes from it is an awkward *PLINK-PLINK-PLUNK* of broken strings. The chairs in front of the podium are filled with corpses, all dressed in strange costumes--a sea serpent, a castle tower, a swan, and a blue skeleton.
Jolistina is applauding the angel-zombie's 'performance'. "That's a lovely tune ya got goin' there. Shame you had to compose it after your throat got torn out."
One of the zombie's fingers falls off and bounces off a broken harp string with a *snap*.
"And your strumming finger fell off. So that kinda sucks."
The elf turns and finally notices Demitri standing in the doorway. "Oh, did ya come to see the performance, too? Ya just missed it!" She whips her crossbow at him and fires!
The crossbow bolt she fires seems to SCREAM as it flies through the air. Fortunately, Demitri is able to get his shield up in time to keep it from connecting with his face.
"...kinda like I did just now. Whoopsie!"
She turns to the zombie and points at Demitri. "See this gentleman? Give him an encore for me, would ya?" In response, the angel-zombie starts to stagger forward, an arm outstretched to claw at him.
With another carefree giggle, Jolistina starts backflipping to a door to the north before kicking it open and bouncing inside.
The zombies upstairs start flailing wildly at Karri's summoned hounds!
The disemboweled zombie reaches up and manages to plunge its fist into one of the dog's stomach, sending more blood every which way. The fiendish beast gurgles and collapses as its corporeal form is broken apart and whisked away in a puff of abyssal magics.
The angel-zombie staggers at Demitri and swings at him...
...but its hand is easily batted aside by his shield.
Another zombie, this one dressed like a blue skeleton, rises up and starts shambling forward as well.
Ortik watches as the crazed harlequin dances into yet another room. He sets his jaw, and leaves Demitri and Lyla to dealing with the room she just left. Rather than give chase, the dwarf rushes over to Nalun. "She just left the room over there," he says, pointing back the way he came. "Heading in that direction," he continues, pointing in the general direction that she went. "That door either leads to that room or is a dead-end. Either way, we need to cut off her escape. That's your job - don't let her get by." He asks the Old Dame to assist Nalun in preventing the harlequin from escaping them, preparing to follow Nalun into battle against her.
Demitri slashes the angel-zombie.
Demitri manages to make a shallow cut in the zombie's hide.
Immediately after he makes his strike, Demitri feels his strength returning.
Nalun moves north through the door and kicks it open.
He engages the, in his view, insane Jolistina and attacks her aiming not to kill but merely to incapacitate
Nalun kicks in the half-open door next to him and barges on through.
The room Jolistina retreated to looks like some sort of study, with a desk in one corner and two bookshelves along the north and east walls. The bookshelves look mostly intact, and are stuffed with all manner of books. Jolistina wheels around on her heel...
...just in time for the flat of Nalun's falchion to connect squarely with her chest. Her giggling demeanour almost immediately fades as the wind is violently driven from her.
The three remaining dogs celebrate the death throes of the still moving zombies.
for
for
for
Karri moves after Nalun and smiles a dark bloody smile as she raises Legion's power again. She hurls another volley of hurting twisting energy into the demented harlequin b1tch.
The dogs take vengeance for their fallen brother, ripping apart the zombie who slew him, heedless of the vile viscera it explodes into as it dies again.
Karri's missiles of force hurtle towards Jolistina... only this time, she can clearly see a translucent silver disk flashing into view just before they strike. The missiles bounce off of it and fly into the bookshelves, scattering books everywhere.
Jolistina gives Karri an incredulous look, but is still reeling too much from the force of Nalun's strike to make a quip about it.
Lyla takes a step back and observes Demitri and the Zombie swinging at each other. When she notices an opening in the obstructed space in front of her, she crouches and sends one of her bombs rolling into the room, through Demitri's and the first zombie's legs, all the way to the zombie in the back, with enough force that it should detonate upon hitting her target's feet.
Lyla's bomb flies straight and true, landing with a great explosion and blowing the zombie apart. Gore and vile fluids scatter over the bay windows, and burn the zombie before Demitri...
Jolistina looks Nalun in the eye and shakes her head, her eyes widening with sudden terror.
"No no no no no no! You don't hit a lady! Especially not with THAT!" She starts trying to dart past Nalun and his waiting sword...
...but alas, she's not quick enough for him.
The zombie fighting Demitri swings a charred arm at him...
...and misses entirely, instead nearly breaking its arm on the doorframe.
Nalun lays into the insane woman, hoping to end this fight.
Nalun's falchion catches Jolistina right in the back in the middle of her run, sending her flying into the doorframe where her head collides with it.
*CLUNK*
She falls to the floor in a crumpled heap.
"Oww~ww~ww..."
The zombie upstairs swings at a demonic dog...
...and brutally smashing one in the neck, breaking it and dropping it to the floor with a yelp. The dog's body breaks apart into magic and races back towards Karri.
The two remaining dogs feel the pull back the Abyss. They bay and howl as they jump into the remaining zombie. The first one slams into the zombie and drags it down. The last dog takes advantage and tears the zombie to pieces. Then, there is silence as the dog's existence dwindles and then their energy surges back into Karri's flesh.
Karri steps back into the front room and clutches her head, in pain as the power of Legion comes slamming home. Skin writhing with the unholy energy, she screams in pain and collapses to her knees. No more!
for and
for
Mistress. Besottedwithdiseasetheyare. Greatfoulness, birthedbyunknownambitions...
Whimpering, Karri says "You did well, you did well...
Demitri strikes at the zombie.
Nalun grabs his pair of masterwork manacles and snaps them over Jolistina's hands and feet.
He then looks around for something to gag her with, he knows she is a spellcaster.
As Demitri slashes against the remaining zombie, Lyla pulls out a wand to help him bring the undead down. She waves the wand in the air and mumbles something, causing it to glow, but realizes she has made a mistake in the process even before the wand's light fades without releasing any magic at all. "Oops, sorry, still trying to get the hang of this..."
"I'll handle her," Ortik says, rushing into the room with Nalun. "Go back up Demitri!" He takes over binding the woman's hands and tying her to something solid in the room.
Demitri's sword bisects the foul zombie harpist, causing more vile fluid to explode all over him.
Jolistina was carrying:
--1 light crossbow with a small, silver skull for its iron sights
--A case of 30 normal crossbow bolts and 2 pitch-black bolts with heads styled to look like open mouths
--3 potions of transparent liquid
--2 potions containing light green liquid
--A slender birch wand with bits of cat fur glued to the tip of it
--A masterwork dagger
--2 flasks of alchemist's fire
--A flint & steel
--Some manacles
--A vial of sealing wax
--20 sewing needles
--150 GP in various bits of jewelry
--Her harlequin clothes, which upon closer inspection turn out to be a strange suit of studded leathers.
The sounds of moaning can still be heard throughout the house, on both the main floor and the upstairs floor.
Agh. No doubt some vile contagion now rests inside me. We need a healer Demitri.
Karri recovers from her fit, and though she looks like a bedraggled cat fresh from the river, she offers to help assess the loot. "Let me look at what we have here." After several moments she offers the green potions back, "These should help if you are infected." I wish I could cure my...infection. Kasdaye taunts, No, you don't, not really. You enjoyed tearing this jester b1tch apart. Silence. Now, in your moment of glory? I am only here to share in your success... The demon's thought escapes her lips as a hiss.
As her friends look at her, she changes the subject, "We should see if there are any other threats in the house."
"I trust you." Demitri says downing the potion.
Nalun holds off from drinking the potion and motions Demitri to do the same. It's no good if you go get yourself bit again or something. He nods back to the room with the unconscious and shackled Jolistina Watch her, will ya. The Guardsman and I can handle the rest of these walking dead.
Lyla stares at the wand for a moment, scratching her head and waving it around a bit more. She shrugs, pockets the wand, and approaches Jolistina, poking her with her feet. "Is she alive?", she asks, a hint of concern in her voice. She then bends over Jolistina after Karri picks up the green potions, and starts removing her gear. "Well, let's confiscate this, shall we? I'll split it later."
Though she cannot quite assess what the studded leather is, she starts removing it from Jolistina, leaving the mad elf only in her undergarment. "Wow, this thing is really hard on the eyes", she says while looking at the costume. She chuckles. "It's the sort of thing you'd expect to find at Rosie's". She flashes the harlequin costume at Karri and Ortik, who shared her latest visit to the excentric gnome's clothing store, and asks them "Don't you think it's a worthy piece of Rosabelle Mayweather Pennyfarthing III's Desnus collection?", she mocks, and then stuffs the armor inside her backpack, now inflated and packed to its limit along with the rest of Jolistina's equipment. She throws the backpack over her shoulder, stands up, and says "Like Nalun said, we still need to clear the rest of the house. Ortik, will you watch her to make sure she doesn't pull a Karralo on us?"
"Perhaps you're right. I will hold off on it until we've cleared the house."
Room by room, hall by hall, the rest of the Carowyn manor is painstakingly cleared out. The house's dining room is swiftly purged of its myriad of well-dressed zombies as they sit in their chairs, some of them still going through the motions of eating the rotted food still sitting on their plates. The kitchens are silent, save for the sounds of meat being carved from the haunches of a corpse dressed like a pig. The reanimated servants here only take notice of the party's incoming blades as they fall to them.
The second floor is purged just as swiftly. The only zombies remaining are two in the upstairs master bedroom; one dressed as a Galtan queen, with a wig that towers high enough to catch on the house's torch sconces, and the other a Qadiran princess, her once-royal garb now a ragged, bloodied mockery.
When the party's grim work is finished, they hear a voice calling from deeper in the house...
"Hello? Is someone out there? Anybody?"
It seems to be coming from the house's cellar.
Yes. We were sent by Field Marshal Kroft, who are you? Nalun calls back, moving towards the source of the sound.
"Stay calm, we're here to help."
"Oh, thank Abadar--we're the masters of the house! We're down in the cellar! Are they gone?" The voice replies as Nalun starts leading the others downstairs.
"Yes, the house is clear."
Who were they? Nalun asks as he heads down the steps to the Cellar doors Go on and open them up he says
"Mr and Mrs. Carowyn? Hm, we should warn you it's not a pretty sight out here, maybe you'd like to cover your eyes and let us get you out of the house. Your guests are... they... well, they were unable to get away. We do have Oren unscathed and in a safe place. Now tell us what happened here, please", she asks, trying to keep the calm.
Karri leaves the hall with the cellar entrance. Her eyes well up and the horror of the place. A family attacked, their friends and loved ones used as props and appetizers. In a half daze she makes her way out onto the lawn and vomits the meager contents of her stomach. Strangely, in her misery Legion is quiet. As if they know how close I am to... to what?
Ortik follows Karri out, holding back her hair to keep the sick from getting in it. "It's alright, let it out. That place is a charnel house now thanks to the Urgothoans."
Those of the party who make their way down to the cellar doors find them closed tight. It doesn't take much work to get them open.
The cellar is well-stocked with casks of wine along one wall, and several boxes of foodstuffs are stacked along another. Sitting on the boxes is a disheveled, trembling brown-haired woman in stained red noble garb, her grey eyes wide and frozen with fear. Standing in front of her, with a potato peeler clenched in a fist, is a dark-haired man in shredded red clothes, his brown eyes darting to the party and back to his wife.
"Mr and Mrs. Carowyn? Hm, we should warn you it's not a pretty sight out here, maybe you'd like to cover your eyes and let us get you out of the house. Your guests are... they... well, they were unable to get away. We do have Oren unscathed and in a safe place. Now tell us what happened here, please."
The man lowers his potato peeler when Lyla speaks. "...you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. Emilia?" He turns to the woman and gently takes her by the shoulders. "Emilia, Oren is safe. We can leave now."
Emilia makes no reply. She blinks several times, but the haunted look in her eyes remains.
"Well..." The husband cringes and turns back to Lyla. "...our gala was in full swing. With everything that's been happening in Korvosa, with the plague and all, we felt that we needed to provide an... escape, of sorts. We had several noble families come down from the Heights as a means for them to..." He trails off, shaking his head. "...but apparently, someone got wind of our celebration."
"Some men in white came up to the house, bringing a covered wagon with them that smelled of spices. They were led by some elven b%#*& in eye-searing harlequin clothes--they said they were the caterers & entertainment." His hands clench into fists again. "I thought my wife hired them without telling me, so being the bloody fool I was, I directed the men to the kitchens and the elf to the recital hall."
"Next thing I know, a great scream comes from the kitchens, zombies are attacking the guests and murdering them... so I grabbed my wife and fled down here to escape. All the while, I could still hear them, screaming and dying..."
His eyes turn cold and hateful. "Where's the jester? I'm going to skin the b$#%$ alive."
Nalun says She is under custody. She will be dealt with in the manner prescribed by law. We'll have no vigilantism Master Carowyn. As duly appointed Agents of the Field Marshal we will do our duty.
"Nalun is right. She will be judged for her crimes. We are just glad to see that you're safe. We can take you to Oren."
The husband breathes a sigh of relief.
"...Ausio...?" Emilia seems to be coming around now. "...Oren's safe?"
"Yes, dear." Ausio turns to his wife and helps her off the box she's sitting on. "Come, let's get out of here."
"Would you please lead the way, sir?"
"Of course." Demitri replies leading them back to Kroft, where their boy awaits.