Gair gestures to the corpses before realizing that cut down once more they look no different than one would expect of dead men. He grimaces, "Foul tidings. Something or someone raised some of the dead here, terrible shambling things..."
He looks around at the clearing, "These are returned to their deaths but I fear there may be more. We're splitting up, some are heading back to the beach to watch over the boats and Walton. You've been to this cave before, you should come with the rest of us. We mean to scout it out and make sure there are no further monstrosities awaiting us."
Vallen's face takes on a look of concern as Manari mentions that these zombies had been raised for a purpose. "I feared as much. We must find the foul necromancer or source of unholy power that is doing this immediately." He gestures to the elf, encouraging her to come along. "You see the importance of this, eh? You've known more than any of us here, we could use your help."
While tempered by a nasty blow to the head, the dwarf has a determined gleam in his eye, and is more than ready to go. "Hope I won't need my tools.. I left everything with the boats... I guess a point chisel won't help much fighting the rising dead, eh?"
Istiel is meditating when Hassan approaches. She opens her eyes as he approaches, and allows him to ask his questions. As usual, the elf speaks tersly and seriously. "The pseudodragons found him in a ravine that the stream cuts through a mile from camp. They led me there, and I recovered the body. There was no sign of anyone else. The halfling's point of death is unknown- I can not tell if he washed down the stream during the storm or not."
The elf gets up, and walks over to Hassan, looking him in the eye. "If the rest of the group do not return in a day, we must go looking for them."
Raised the dead? Necromancy! Everyday that passes, the more I regret leaving Absalom. Ben replies when he is told the story. Let Walton know that I am okay. If we are going to the cave lets get going. Ben moves off towards the cave, drawing his rapier as he goes.
Hassan stands, a bleak expression on his face, "I agree, though I think this is a matter to bring before the council...what members remain to us at least."
Finding his composure again he turns to Eli, "Return to your rounds Eli. Keep these matters to yourself for the time being."
Gently taking the small body of the halfling in his arms, Hassan returns his attention to Istiel, "Gather the council, tell them everything you have just told me...I will inform the halflings..."
Provided there are no objections, Gair bids the other group farewell and strides along after the halfling.
Istiel raises a thin brow at Hassan. "You asked for volunteers- not the council. What would they do about this, and why would they care? We will be sent to find the rest if they do not return regardless."
Edmund, Jaysin, and the two young warriors head back towards the beach. Manari looks around the clearing, as though suspicious, and then follows the others along the path to the cave.
Hassan gives Istiel a hard look, "Valentinian's death and the uncertain fate of four more of our number is a major development with implications for all of Newspring. Sending this team was my responsibility but you must agree that the council should at least be informed. We chose our council for their wisdom, why would we not avail ourselves to it now?"
Cueta, noticing Manari's look of concern, falls back, figuring that Ben or Gair are more than competent enough to take point. Letting Kal'Tos pass, she sidles up to Manari. "Manari, I noticed your looking around the clearing. What are your thoughts on what happened back there?"
Kal'Tos has his hand axe out and is looking for further signs of the undead.
Perception
Manari sighs and shrugs her shoulders.
"I know little of necromancy, to be honest," she says. "But when the dead rise and work at a task, like gathering bodies, someone has set them to it. I just wonder who would set them to that task, and what for. I also wonder how they will react to our interference."
She gives a bitter little laugh. "I've spent my whole life studying, wanting to know everything that could be known. Now I'm here, in this strange land, and everywhere we turn we meet one puzzle after another, and they seem to be deadly puzzles."
The trip to the cave is uneventful. The stones that were used to block the entrance remain in place. A little ant hauling and a little dwarven ingenuity (and a LOT of sweat and bad language) and the contents of the cave can be transferred to the beach.
Gair breathes a sigh of relief as the cave is untouched and no more undead present. He remains on edge for the rest of the day, certain there is more to the zombies that remains undiscovered.
The Mwangi ranger claps Manari on the back. "You know much more than I! I'm glad you're here with us to help unwind all these deadly puzzles!"
Later, approaching the cave, Cueta looks at the boulders blocking the entrance, and thinks about the work in front of her. Calistra's unwanted sons! I think I'd rather fight berking zombies.
Istiel simply shrugs at his words. "No, I do not agree. The council was chosen for convenience. But, I will do as you ask." She thinks for a moment, staring off into space. "Sandra, Jarla, and Sorala are the only three here, Hassan. I will find them, and we will meet at Edmund's tent." The elf walks away without another word, and seeks out Jarla, Sandra, and Sorala.
The elf relies the information of what has happened to the two women in a dry, matter-of-fact manner, and communicates that Hassan wanted to discuss the matter with them.
Afterwards, she waits at Edmund's tent, silently meditating.
Vallen falls back with Cueta, as he too was interested in speaking to Manari about her knowledge of necromancy. "I know the unholy side of necromancy, but not the arcane. The worst part is, sometimes you can't tell the two apart, which raises dangerous philosophical implications for the nature of negative energy and for clerics such as myself. But I digress. Someone was making them stack the undead in a pile- why? Surely a necromancer would be exhilarated to find such fresh stock, was it for storage purposes?"
Grimly, the dwarf suggests "We need to burn all of them. But to do so would send every kuru, and whatever caused these things to raise, to come running for miles."he growls to himself, his duty conflicting with common sense.
On seeing the boulder blocking the cave entrance, the cleric laughs long and loud. "Oh this is a dwarf's work, for sure! Kal'tos, this is brilliant! Now, if we get two people pushing from this angle, and make a lever out of some of this debris..." Happy to find some hard work to take his mind off of matters, he labors throughout the day in moving back supplies and food with ant haul, and such.
As Vallen starts to babble on about the philosophical implications of something, Cueta zones out and begins thinking of ships. There are many great hardwoods here. We will have plenty of good ships one day - if the Lillend brings word of our survival to the old world, and if we last until the next contact.
The talk of funeral pyres snaps her out of her thoughts. "Vallen, you're right that a pyre would bring the sharkteeth running. We should give them a proper burial - at sea, in the morning, before we load the boats."
Gair nods at Ceuta's comment, "I would be happier to put them in the ground but I agree the sea will preserve them from further desecration at the hands of whatever terrible force raised the others. No one should suffer such indecency."
Gair bears the weight of the supplies without complaint, smirking as Bern struggles with a poorly balanced load before helping the young warrior to adjust it.
Sorala is happily manning her alchemy/scribing station when the elf approaches and tells her the bad news. Grimacing, Sorala grabs the statue of Garrack and makes her way to where Istiel told the alchemist that Hassan would be. Seeing the body of the halfling propped against the tree, Sorala leans down, and lost in thought as she examines the wound on the body, the young woman begins talking absentmindedly, like she would have in her study back in the old world, next to her husband. "Garrack, what do you think? Was this a natural wound, one caused by a beast, or something more sinister?"
Straightening up and rubbing her hands on the tree, and then a leaf, she looks around, addressing those present. "We should probably get that convict over here. He is a healer of sorts, from what I understand. And the witch-doctor too. He'll probably just shrug and say something like, "Oh, the spirits are very mad," but we may get lucky and he'll have something valuable to add. And..."
Looking around, she takes in the construction going on in the distance. "I'll be right back." Marching off with the statue of Garrack, Sorala approaches the first smith she sees. "You! Dwarf! Stonemaw is it? You make weapons, right? I need you to tell me what you can of a wound. And keep this under your beard, will you?"
"You cal.. that is a nasty wound, some kind of magic I would think. Wait isn't this one of the scouts we sent out a few days ago, Valantinian I think was his name?"
heal check
Sandra and Jarla meet Hassan and Istiel at Edmund's tent, which is also Sandra's, as it turns out. When Valentinian's fate is revealed, Jarla murmurs a prayer and wonders about the halfling's burial practices Sandra looks furious.
"Something has attacked us, again," she snaps. "Our best fighters are off on another fool's quest, and we're here, with some mystery thing killing us. Again."
"Our best fighters?" says a voice, and Ingwe chuckles as he approaches. "Where are they? Always away when the killing starts. Or so they would have us believe."
Septimus looks again and thinks a spear could have made that wound. Gaross agrees.
Istiel stands as everyone gathers, crossing her arms. Her large eyes casually slide back and forth as everyone speaks. The elf scoffs at Ingwe, dropping her arms as she steps forward. "No more blame or speculation. We wait a day- If the others do not come back, we look for them. It is that simple."
Hassan takes momentary offense as the comment about best fighters but it is quickly forgotten as he gives Ingwe a hard look, "The last time our warriors set out they faced down savage cannibals and saved nearly two score lives from the wreck of the Harpy. Not to mention recovered the great haul of food that you set to devouring every evening. You should afford them a far greater measure of respect, shaman."
"You as well Sandra, your brother is doing what he thinks best to secure our futures. Do not think ill of him for such."
Looking at Septimus, he frowns, "A spear wound seems reasonable. No mere beast is responsible for Valentinian's death. Perhaps more of these cannibals. Regardless, Istiel is right, we must give answer to his death."
"All that remains is to decide who will go out in search should the other explorers not return on the morrow?"
"The rest could be in danger now, Istiel. Waiting a day may mean more dead. I think there is an argument to be made for looking for them now. Another thought... that I hesitate to bring up. Did any of the scouts take spears with them when they left? Could one of our have done this?"
Hassan frowns at Sorala's comment, "One of the volunteers had crafted himself a spear before they set out...I do not like the implications you bring up but I can't rightly say they are unreasonable. I do pray you are wrong however."
Istiel shakes her head at Sorala. "I have no intention of trying to find them in the night. There is a lot of ground to cover, and tracks will be obscured by the storm. However- if they were ambushed, it happen nearby. We will not have to search far."
"The name is Stonejaw! Gaross Stonejaw." Gaross growls at Sorala. "Why do you think all dwarves know something about forging weapons. I'm a stone mason."
He goes with Sorala anyway. When shown Valentinain's body he scowls. "You halfling is dead. From the look of him I'd say he had a very bad day. Is that what you were hoping I could tell you?" Gaross say in a milder tone. "Have you thought about what you are going to tell his kin?"
Hassan lowers his gaze at the question, "...I will break the news to the halflings. It was I who organized the exploration party, Valentinian's death is my responsibility..."
"For now we can only hope some news of them reaches us before the morning. If it does not we need to decide who will go searching for the others? I assume you Istiel...for your kin? Who else do we suggest?"
Ingwe shrugs his shoulders. "I only say what everyone thinks," he says. "They go off and leave us undefended," He looks Hassan over as if reconsidering. "Practically undefended, anyway, and people die. Is that halfling worth less than a sack of grain and a bit of lumber?"
Sandra takes a deep breath.
"I appreciate what they are trying to do," she says. "Please, forget what I said. I am frustrated and afraid. I do not think we should send other people to look for the explorers until at least the party that went to the Harpy returns. We have a limited supply of competent fighters, and I do not think there are enough to safely search and defend those who remain."
Manari looks at the pile of corpses as the others discuss their fate. In addition to the zombies, there are perhaps two dozen dead gathered in the clearing.
"I agree that it is wrong to leave these here," she says. "However, it will be late in the day before we are ready to depart this beach. If we take all these bodies to the sea and sink them somehow, that will force us to stay here another night. The same if we bury them. We know the risks of fire." She sighs. "I keep hoping to find a solution, but...."
Cueta scowls, not at anyone in particular, but she is clearly agitated with the situation. "Blast and avast! Time is of the essence, Manari, and I'd hate to lose another day. Who knows what misfortune could be befalling Newspring as we speak. Perhaps we should burn the bodies - on the way back. That would give the boats a day or two lead, perhaps more if we stage a scene somehow here to confuse any enemies."
Cueta thinks on the zombies and realizes that they were all raised from members of the Harpy's people, and scans the clearing for sharkteeth bodies.
Istiel resumed her cross-arm stance as Sandra speaks. "I will wait the reminder of today, and will search by myself tomorrow if need be. Understand- they did not get far. It will only take a day. We must search the banks of the ravine and stream, at least."
Istiel turns her gaze to Hassan. "You, Hassan. Septimus has proven his worth as well. A few more eyes would be useful." She glances at Sorala and Gaross questioningly.
Vallen was about to speak before Cueta begins, and the dwarf nods enthusiastically. "Yes! That is exactly what I was about to say! We light the pile that they made as we leave- it would deny them many resources. We could even throw on a few more for good measure."
He grimaces realizing the grisly business they are discussing, but knows it is his duty to hinder the necromancers in any way.
Gair considers for a moment, "If we mean to scout their village, a distraction may be just the thing. Draw some of them away and focus their attention elsewhere."
"Well if I can get my finally get the stone warhammer I have been working on put together today then I will go with you tomorrow elf." Gaross says. "The other masons seem to have the Vallen Silverclasps forge well in hand. So they don't need me underfoot."
What if we layed the bodies in the cave and then sealed it up again. That would keep anyone from disturbing them. Ben says as they discuss what to do about the bodies. I am going to head back to the beach I would only slow things down here. the halfling heads back to the beach whistling.
Hassan fingers his new hide armor as turns to glare back at Ingwe, "Those who stand to defend Newspring now have risked their lives and proven their worth, I will not have you disrespect them. You claim to speak for the settlers, to care about their needs. Why then did you not stand for the council? Pledge to stand for Newspring's safety? Or have you nothing to offer but criticisms?"
Tearing his gaze away from the shaman, Hassan nods to Istiel, "If we limit our search I should be do-able, very well tomorrow then. Let us hope we have news before then."
Gair's brow furrows, "That could work too. Though I'm not certain a pile of rocks would long deter such a force that can animate the dead."
He looks to the dwarves, "This is your realm, I will act as you suggest in this."
[/b] "I fear moving them around more would just cause further desecration of the dead, burning them seems like the best option, perhaps tomorrow morning before we set off."[/b]
Vallen nods to Kal'tos. "Aye, we should burn them before we leave. They should be returned to the earth, and it will prevent further desecration. I will ask for a blessing tomorrow morning that will speed the process."
He looks to Gair, and grins. "It's fortunate we collected all that kindling, eh? It will serve a greater purpose now."
Gair nods, "Fair enough. Now lets get these supplies to the beach."
Sorala studies Istiel for a moment before speaking. "I'm no warrior, but I am educated. If you are to go out there, my knowledge may be useful." Turning to Hassan, she says, "I'd like to accompany any rescue mission. I promise not to get in the way if a fight breaks out."
Sorala, taken aback by Gaross's rough tone, puts a hand to her cheek and blushes. Biting back a retort, she says, "I'm sorry Mr. Stonejaw, if I presumed you were a smith. I thought I had seen you working on a weapon. Anyways, my sincere apologies, both for misremembering your name, and for making assumptions about your kind."
She then leaves to work with her alchemy for the day.
Hassan gives Sorala a strained smile, "Of course, we'll be grateful for the extra pair of eyes."
The night passes uneventfully in Newspring and on the beach.
Once everyone has settled on the course of action for tomorrow, Hassan takes the body of Valentinian to the halfling contingent in the evening, once the foragers have returned. Anyone who wishes to accompany him is welcome to do so.
Not trusting himself to speak right way he simply lays the body gently down at their feet, remaining on his knees so as not to tower over those present.
"I...I am deeply sorry. Something befell his party...Valentinian was found not far from here. You should be proud, Valentinian knew the risks of what he did but he met them as bravely as any larger man could hope to."
"Nevertheless, it was I who sent his party to their doom. Your friend's death is on my hands and it is a debt I know no way to repay...I promise we will do what we can to determine what fate befell Valentinian though, so you might find some small measure of peace..."
Day 14, Ghozran 15
Despite sleeping deeply after the previous day's work, Gair rises early and paces the beach for an hour or so, watching the surf surge along the sand.
Over another cold breakfast he speaks to the others, "So we are settled on the plan then? Edmund, Jaysin and Kyle here will accompany Walton and Sai to watch over them on the return journey with the boats. The rest of us will split into two groups, one gathering together the last of the bodies and the other breaking a clear trail west, near the coast for a mile or so before returning. We then fire the bodies and strike east, not far from the coast leaving as little sign of our passing as possible. Are they any questions before we load the boats?"