The fog clings to the carriage and dampens your weapons, your armor, your clothes. The carriage picks up speed, bouncing along the cobbled road. Trees whisk by.
You round a bend just as the clouds break briefly.
Actions?
vachordi rides listening to the wind.
Garin notices nothing amiss and continues riding on ahead of the coach.
Your loyal steed keeps pace ahead of the rest of the party. You almost ride right over a man dressed in tails and a top hat, who seemed to emerge out of the mist itself. Brun reacts before you do, and veers off to the side of the road. Unlike Brun, however, the coach is heavy and the two horses pulling it have blinders- so it is unlikely that Edrik will be able to stop or steer away before they connect with the walker.
The man turns just in time to see you gallop past, and then lurches to face the coach.
Looks like we're waiting on our faithful driver's perception/reaction. Feel free to check out the spoiler in my last post, and Garin's above.
Shel tried to sit still in the carriage, but she was much to hyper to hold still for long. As she was looking around, she notice something in the road. "Edrick, look out," she squeals.
Out of the way!
Vachordi tries to pull the carriage out of the path of the man.
Jakira is too distracted by the moonlit clouds to think of anything until suddenly the halfling and the gassy one are shouting and making the coach lurch wildly.
"What the...? Who's driving this thing?" she complains, as her elbow bangs against the frame of the carriage.
"What's going on out there?"
Gilda grabs her trusty battleaxe in case it's trouble.
Garin exhales heavily in relief, adrenaline spurring him awake from the close call.
"Watch out!"
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Military training kicking in, Edrik is on alert given the foggy conditions. Before even hearing Shel or Vachordi, Edrik spies a human shape moving through the fog and quickly chokes up on the reigns to avoid him as much as possible, while yelling at the figure in the fog.
"You there, get out of the way!"
Making a hasty attempt to slow down the carriage without veering or toppling it over, Edrik guides the horses "Easy there fellas, whooa!"
Edrik yanks on the reigns, trying to thread the needle between stopping the coach before colliding with the walker, and a catastrophic loss of life and limb. Vachordi adds his booming voice and a hand on the reins to no avail...
The horses miss the gentleman by mere inches, however the coach fishtails and the man goes under both of the wheels.
The carnage leaves a slick smear on the rocks and timbers that pave the road. A loud groan emanates from the broken husk of a man. To your horror, it turns toward you- you see its flesh is desiccated and rotting, but it's eyes are filled with an unholy green glow. Even though its arm is broken and its face was smashed under the wheel, and begins dragging itself toward the horses. It hisses and begins to lurch upward.
Initiative:
Jaikira (24)
Shell (20)
Gilda (16)
Vachordi (14)
Gavin (11)
Zombie(s)8
You're all still seated (or mounted). The zombie is prone 10' behind you. Actions?
The sound of brush cracking and moaning directs you to the trees where 4 more zombies are lurching their way toward the crash.
Perception
"Oh goodness, there are more of them over in the tree line! Get ready.". The halfling scurries out of the carriage and pulls her sling, ready to start heaving rocks at the undead.
Gilda exits the stopped coach still holding her battleaxe.
She will hold action for now.
"Iomedae preserve us, there are four more zombies coming!"
perception
Vachordi rises on the seat and begins a wordless Shoanti chant of bravery.
Overwhelmed at first by grief, Edrik had convinced himself that he had just killed a man accidentally. Realizing quickly that he had in truth only hit something that had died a long time ago, anger quickly replaced his guilt.
"Abomination!"
Grabbing his shield and warhammer, Edrik jumps off the coach and prepares to fight the walking dead, no trace of fear in his demeanor... and no sign that he noticed the other four zombies, so fixated on his target.
Garin grimaces when he sees the man get run over by the coach, the loud crunch making him flinch. He is about to approach the body to see who it was when he hears it groan and look at him, drawing a startled gasp from the cavalier.
Edrik- you were the last one to roll, you're tied with the zombies at 8.
Gavin- roll for your horse (he takes initiative with you)- if he perceives something, he'll give a warning snort or some other signal. As you level together you'll learn to read his signals better.
The horse doesn't notice any of the other zombies, but his group's warning has Garin looking at the treeline.
"What the--?" The cavalier tenses. "I didn't think the rumors were actually true."
Moving to engage the zombie, Edrik slips on the mud at his feet and makes a clumsy swing while trying to regain his footing.
[spoiler=GM Rolls, gm only]
Jakira damage:
The sorceress steps from the carriage and launches a glowing orb from her hand, which darts straight to the chest of the first zombie to leave the woods (zombie #2). The zombie does not flinch as the energy burns into it.
Shel stands with her sling drawn, whirling a stone to send flying.
The hum of Vachordi's gravely voice fills there air. To the untrained ear, the Shoanti sounds guttural and barbaric, yet underneath the sound is a simple, but captivating beat.
Edrik swiftly draws and swings at the prone zombie, but misses.
The zombie damaged by the cart flounders in the mud, then rises to face Edrik. His slow, deliberate movements are a mockery of the agility displayed by the living.
Zombies 2-5 shuffle awkwardly into the road, arms outstretched toward the warm humanoid flesh of the part.
Gavin wastes no time spurring his mount toward zombie #2. When the dust clears, the undead is split in twain. A puff of green smoke disperses from each half of the corpse.
Shel whirls her sling and looses a bullet at the closest zombie to her.
Attack
Damage
Taking advantage of the undead's slow pace, Shel fires another bullet at the closest.
Attack
Damage
Vachordi continues to chant as he moves up on top of the carriage and sends an arrow at a zombie within 30 feet, preferably.
for
Have no fear! The winds have taken my fear away let it take yours as well!
Gilda attacks the prone unliving critter.
for damage.
Next round, she does much the same thing.
for damage
His footing more secure, Edrik continues his assault one the Zombie before him with his warhammer.
Round 2 addendum:
Gilda swings, driving her battle ax in to the shoulder of the zombie on the ground.
Shel whips a bullet into the shoulder of one of the 3 walking zombies. The bullet buries itself deep with a thunk.
Round 3:
Jakira launches another magic missile at #2.
Shel connects a second time with zombie #2.
Gilda's second swing lops the top of the zombies head off, the green glow fades from it's eyes and it stops twitching.
Vachordi's shot finds its mark, dropping the zombie as a lifeless husk. (#1, 2, and 5 are down).
Garin wheels and stabs at #4, but the zombie's groan scares his mount. The undead lurches at the knight, and finds a weak spot in his armor near the hip. The zombie's sharp finger bones puncture into Garin's side.
Edrik advances and slices cleanly through zombie #3 as it rakes him with its dirt encrusted fingers.
Garin: Attack
Dmg
Attack Edrik: Attack
Dmg
Attack Garin: Attack
Dmg
End of round: 1 zombie remains, two of the party are injured (Garin severely).
Round 3!
Gilda channels energy through her holy symbol for healing.
Vachordi continues his rumbling chant
Vachordi send another arrow at the remaining zombie.
Shel pulls her dagger and begins moving toward the scrum developing between the remaining undead and her two companions.
Garin cries out in pain and holds his weapon with one hand to clutch at his wound with the other. Blood freely flows from the wound, seeping through the cavalier's clothes. Gilda's healing helps him but he's still in terrible shape.
Brun, perhaps sensing his master's distress, goes wild on the remaining zombie.
Seeing Garin is in danger, Edrik kicks the zombie corpse off him and charges at the remaining zombie.
Current HP 10/15
Round 3:
The party converges on the final zombie. Vachordi's arrow goes astray, but the channeled energy from Gilda leaves the zombie smoking. Brun, the horse, rears and strikes the zombie in the head with a hoof. Edrik shatters the spine of the zombie with his warhammer, ending the fight.
Examining the bodies:
The others you recognize by partial features and clothing. All are in funeral dress from the town.
Come to think about it, the direction they were heading was directly away from the graveyard toward town.
The hands of each of the zombies look as though they had dug their way up through the earth, and were damaged from breaking through their coffins. They are all long dead.
Know. local
Perception
"This looks really bad, guys. Look,at their fingernails...they clearly clawed their way out of their coffins. They resemble townsfolk from what I can tell. The worst part seems to be that from their direction, it looks like they were heading toward the town!"
Gilda looks around for more undead.
There is an I'll wind about us. What shall we do?
"I've not seen anything that should change what we originally decided. We need to find the tools the Professor placed not far from here. Especially since he seemed worried about undead as well. After than we can begin our investigation..."
Garin clumsily puts his lance away, unable to be bothered with doing it properly. He coughs hoarsely, grimacing as his wound sends a spike of pain in protest. "I think I'd like to see a healer first."
Vachordi walks over to Garin.
A shuddering breath escapes Garin's clenched teeth when the spell is cast on him, the soothing sudden and unexpected as his wound heals. He's still hurt but it's nothing serious.
"Thank you," the cavalier says honestly, removing his bloodied hand from the wound. He takes out a handkerchief and cleans up as much as he can before putting his lance away properly.
The least I can do. You fought bravely.
Putting away his hammer, Edrik listens to Shel's observations with grim silence. "The dead rise, and are heading back to their village. Pharasma save us." Heading over to the carriage, Edrik inspects the damage and pushes it back out onto the road.
"We should continue on our way. Having said that, we need to burn these corpses before we go. Simply burying them might not be a sufficient measure."
Back at the church:
Father Grimborrow considers Vachordi's request to open one of the crypts to look for a cache of supplies. If my predecessors left behind some equipment, we should retrieve it. Return sometime during the daylight tomorrow and we'll send a couple of the acolytes out to help you open the crypt.