Elizar throws himself upon the choker with a terrifying wail, killing it as it sleeps.
Ashlyn gingerly steps around Elizar and the choker, not bothered in the least by his ferocity. She examines the barrel and the choker's feet
When Ashlyn shares this assumption about the Choker, Evie laughs loudly in disbelief.
"I wasn't far off about the strangeness of this island when I said that the houses would start walking; monsters setting up their own pub is a new one to me!"
Evie starts rummaging through the house, curious as to what tlese these monsters may have collected and secretly hoping they had collected more Azlanti treasures.
"You know, I wonder if these monsters found that sword and stashed it below those steps? It seems as if they like collecting things."
"I wouldn't have believed you two hours ago, Evelyn." Sarine says. "At least we have solved one mystery, though. Let's finish searching the Levin farm, though I'm becoming more convinced that none of the colonists are still in this area. If monsters like those are settling in to their homes, it is hard to imagine that anyone is still here."
Sarine leaves the house and begins searching the other areas of the Levin home, starting with the garden.
"I suppose it is odd," Ashlyn admits. She continues searching the farmhouse, and then is ready to head out to keep searching the rest of the colony, letting Sarine lead the way.
Fleur searches around the house, hoping not to find any more creatures at least...
She muses as she searches, "You know, with all these weird creatures around - the killer pumpkin, these chokers, and who knows what else... The colonists might just have been overwhelmed and left to find a better site for their colony. One that wasn't overwhelmed by such threats. Let's hope we find them safe and sound in some new location."
Ashlyn smiles at Fleur's optimism. "Oh, I hope so!"
From behind her Elizar shakes his head. He moans sadly.
Ashlyn's smile drops. "We don't know that."
The Levin home proves to be otherwise empty. What evidence you find suggests a farmer, fiercely independent (his house is built on a different structure to all the others you've seen) who chose to live as far away as he safely could from everyone else.
The sun has reached its zenith and the weather is hot, by now you have cleared almost everything that lies outside the stockaded part of the village.
"Let's go check out the village proper," Sarine states. "If anyone is still around, they would likely be inside the stockade, such as it is."
Ashlyn follows Sarine, with Elizar trailing directly behind her.
Elizar follows along after Ashlyn, keeping an eye out for anything that might cause her harm.
The journey back up the main street is uneventful. Even though you are becoming used to it the silence, broken only by the creak of shutters in the breeze, is still unnerving as you move through what should be a thriving village.
As you round the corner and finally see the front of the stockade you are confronted by seven canvas pavilions, all of which are large enough to shelter two to three people each. All but two (the two nearest you) have collapsed due to wind, rain and lack of maintenance. The two that remain standing lean haphazardly and do not appear to have been entered for a long time.
"It looks like it's been some time since someone was here... but at least we haven't found any bodies... That's a good sign, yes?" Fleur says hopefully...
Ashlyn nods. "Yes..." she says distractedly as she peeks inside the still standing structures.
Elizar follows Ashlyn into the pavilions, on the lookout for anything that might harm her.
Evie, usually walking with a bounce in her ever optimistic step, is now walking very flat, slightly crouched.
Elizar shakes his head. He wails mournfully.
Then he turns to Ashlyn and wails loudly.
"I know, pal. I'm trying." Ashlyn replies as she looks around the tents.
Searching through the tents you discover four potions, easily identifiable as the same king that Ramona gave you. There is also a light linen shirt which emanates a faint magical aura. All the tents are full of mundane goods: cooking pots, clothing, mementos, everything you'd expect practical people to take with them if they knew they were going away...
Moving inside the stockade you head to the nearest building which is durably built in the style of a log-cabin, with a thatched roof and three gables. It has several open windows, and the sole entrance is on the far side from where you first see the building . There is a small porch, although it is dusty and dirty - having clearly not been swept for a long time.
The interior of the building suggests a modest place of worship - ot quite a temple, but more than a mere shrine. A table near the center of the west wall appears to serve as an altar, draped in a white, but dusty cloth. Behind the table, a large wood carving of a humanoid figure with a stag's head leans against the wall. Two rows of benches face the altar although some have been knocked over and two piles of ashes are visible in the aisles between them. Scattered throughout the room are assorted objects related to public worship, such as a chalice and a ceremonial rod. An orately carved longbow hangs on the wall near the altar, as if on display.
Against the north wall is a smaller shrine. Nearby is a wooden statue roughly three feet tall that depicts a male half-human and half-avian creature. One carved wing hangs partially broken from the statue.
Elizar looks at the potions and shirt, staring at them intently for a long time. Eventually he lets out a wail of frustration and begins to sob.
Ashlyn pats Elizar gently on the back, getting ectoplasmic goop over her still-pumpkin-covered hands.
Leaving the identification of magical things to someone better at it than her, Ashlyn digs through the goods.
"If they were leaving, they would have brought this with them..." she announces sadly.
---
When everyone is ready to go, Ashlyn heads into the temple, watching for danger as she goes.
Presuming she sees nothing dangerous, Ashlyn check out the statue and the front antechamber room on the map before heading further into the temple.
Elizar follow Ashlyn in, placing himself between her and the rest of the unexplored temple.
Evie, casting detect magic sees a faint aura over a linen shirt hanging over the end of a wooden container.
"I'm not sure what this is, or who it may belong to but they are obviously long gone by now. I think I will just look after it for now and we can study it when we have a bit more time. It is certainly magical however..." She says with a slight glint in her eye as her voice trails off.
________________________
When we enter the shrine, Evie stops peacefully and respectfully at the entrance and examines her surroundings.
Fleur looks over Evie's shoulder, casting detect magic as well...
"Ah, that's a quick runner's shirt... should prove useful to someone, I'm sure... but I doubt they'd have left such a thing behind if they were on the move."
Ashlyn moves further into the temple, checking for signs of life. If she sees nothing living she looks at the ashes.
"A shrine for Erastil, the God to give help to those harvesting and hunting. That seems sensible, although he does not seem to have been much help here."
She mutters:"Erastil, the well-traveled bring their travels with them."
Evie moves quietly into the shrine and up to the altar, carefully watching as she goes. When she reaches the shrine, she draws her finger in a line through the dust.
Sarine will move into the chapel and sweep through the area looking for enemies or survivors.
Jenner has been a bit silent as the little group has trudged along; in the shrine he offers a respectful dip of his head, even if Erastil isn't his god.
"Fine bow up there. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't suggest we take it, object of faith just as much as it's a weapon. Under the circumstances, however, it might help save a life. Anybody got arrows?"
Ashlyn pokes at the ashes, picking a few up and feeling them between her fingers...
"I only have bolts for my crossbow, but if anyone is proficient, perhaps we should bring the bow along... we might find arrows later, and then wouldn't we look foolish for not having a bow to use them with?"
It is clear that there has been a struggle of some sort in this shrine. The overturned benches, ashes and general disarray suggest this strongly, but it is Jenner's experienced eye that picks out the blood trail that leads from the front entrance to the altar.
Approaching the altar there is a smell of rotting flesh but nothing else immediately obvious.
Ashlyn determines that the ashes were probably once books. There is one intact leather cover, inscribed with the title The Prophecies of Erastil, which is a common religious text among his followers. The other book exists now only as scraps but piecing together the remaining fragments identifies the book as On Government, a political treatise written as poetry.
"Someone's burnt all the holy books..." Ashlyn remarks. She shakes her head sadly.
"WHy the remains of this book are not exactly holy, but it is an important historical text... It's the treatise that was responsible for the Andoran People's Revolt and the Red Revolution in Galt... Supposedly it was written with inspiration taken from direct personal conversations with Talmandor himself."
Fleur will take the longbow down and cast detect magic on it and scan the room as well...
"We should take this with us.. if no one else will bring it along, I'll carry it til we have someone who can and will use it... and arrows of course as well."
Ashlyn gets up from the ashes and brushes her hands off. She walks around, going to check out what's caught Jenner's attention at the altar.
"Find anything?"
Elizar follows Ashlyn. When she begins to talk to Jenner his lips go from mournful to angry, and his eyes narrow. He glares ominously at Jenner from over Ashlyn's shoulder.
Sarine will search around the altar for what she suspects is a corpse. Altars don't just smell like rotting flesh on their own.
Ignoring the smell, Evie considers the dust carefully on the altar. "The dust here is very thick, lets have a look shall we...I think it must be around ____________"
_____
"I can use a bow"She replies over her shoulder. "I actually prefer it to a rapier, much easier not to get hurt that way!"
Ignoring the smell, Evie considers the dust carefully on the altar. "The dust here is very thick, lets have a look shall we...I think it must be around "
Suddenly, a lot happens at once. Ashlyn lifts the tablecloth covering the altar, revealing to her and Sarine's horrfied gazes the cramped, and definitely dead, body of a man curled up in a dried pool of what can only be his own blood.
As Fleur reaches for the longbow there is a howl and a skeletal figure appears in the centre of the chapel as all the church silverware, benches and shutters begin to tremble and shake ominously.
Several things happen at once. Jenner takes some steps forward, trying to trace the blood trail, and then he registers the creepy damned ghost-boogie is staring at him hatefully. It gets a momentary step back from Jenner, which quickly segues into the dwarven version of a bristling cat... that is to say, a bristling beard.
"By the first vault and all its contents, you--"
Fortunately, perhaps, he's interrupted by the appearance of the skeletal figure.
What Ashlynn's creepy friend failed to do, the creepy ghost does manage. Blanching pale, Jenner yells out, "Now it's summoning its FRIENDS!!" ...while booking it for the door.
Fleur grabs the bow and flees if she can.. or just flees if she can't grab the bow.
Ashlyn is entirely unaffected by the sight of strange undead appearing and howling at her.
"Where are you going?" she asks as Jenner and Fleur run wildly out of the chapel.
Easily recognizing that the creature's incorporeal, Ashlyn turns to Elizar, touches his shoulders, and pulls the ectoplasm covering his form into her own body.
"You're up, pal!" she exclaims.
Elizar eyes the creature dangerously as Ashlyn changes his form from ectoplasmic to incorporeal. Now fully able to interact with the ghost, Elizar floats forward to engage the spirit, with an angry howl on his lips.
In addition, the poltergeist must succeed at a DC 12 Will saving throw or take a –2 penalty on attack and damage rolls for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting fear and emotion effect.
Sarine screams in terror as she flees from the apparition. Demon Cat follows along, likely wondering what all the fuss is about...
After looking at the bow,Evie hands it back: "Not so good at with this I'm afriad. Haven't got the muscles!"She jokingly flexes her arms with a cheesy smile.
...................
Evie's face loses all of its colour and her mouth drops open but no noise comes from her lips. She bounds to the door away from the ghosts.