"Well. If everyone wants to come, I don't see why not. As we discussed, we can bring the prisoners and the stolen goods. We are seven after all, and they are tied up, so it should be possible for us to make sure they don't get away, even if anything happens at the cemetery."
He dons his breastplate and puts on his thick dark brown cloak, pulling the hood up. Lastly he fastens his greatsword and the composite longbow to his back. Then he goes for the entrance to the mill, from where the morning light shines in.
"Shall we?"
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Hailey remains waiting in the rain out there, watching constantly, until it is time for her to actually sleep.
She includes her time volunteering for first watch (so she can sleep through second and third) during her time in hiding.
She takes the rain as a personal challenge, one that she is determined to defeat as practice for a larger goal.
She comes in to sleep when her time comes, still seeking to hex the captives but electing to stay her hand and do nothing.
Instead, she finds a fairly secluded place to be, and sleeps there.
"Good morning, Nethys, Lord and King, Hailey prays in gnomish as part of her prayers. "Grant me wisdom to properly represent you, and to be able to actually help this party instead of being just a hanger-on, and most importantly, that I bring you glory and my report please you and the archbishop."
She continues praying exclusively in gnomish, but decides to select different spells today. For zero level, she prepares read magic, detect magic, and guidance. For first level, she prepares Identify as her domain spell, and Hide from Undead in the spell slot granted for having a high wisdom score. She leaves the direct spell slot for being a first level cleric open, so that she can either prepare it as needed or simply sacrifice it to cast Inflict Lt. Wounds.
She comes down to the group when her prayers are over.
Hailey is pleased with the idea that they're going to the cemetery, less so that they're bringing the prisoners.
They're too risky. We should knock them out and leave two people here to guard them. It also provides an early warning system should their colleagues return.
But again, she says nothing.
"Does anyone have any requests of me?" she asks.
If no one does, she will go outside and search the grounds, in case something unusual happened while she was sleeping. She also intends to cast Detect Magic while she is searching.
"We should wait for Rois, small one. Once he is done his interrogation, we can press forward. Perhaps we can circle around to the other side of the mill, near the cemetery, and maybe we can spy something from here?"
Swift pats the gnome on the head, smile on his face.
"She reminds me so much of Ariadne,..."
His smile briefly falters, but he thinks no one noticed. He clears his throat and starts to make his way to the other side.
He doesn't say anything else.
"Yes. We are done here. He won't say anything else. Let's tie these lads up and continue with our assignment."
At Rois' directive, Vorelloex ties hands into knots. Pitiful hands, into tight, unmerciful knots.
He looks at the lawless men, cutting into the eyes, peering into their souls.
"You heard the man. Move!"
The party moves towards the cemetery arriving a few minutes later with prisoners and loot in tow.
The cemetery is set within a copse of trees and contains about a dozen graves, you think. At one point there would have been a metal fence around the graves, but it has rusted away. It is hard to tell as the ground is extremely disturbed, headstones have been knocked over. But there aren't any holes dug into the ground.
The prisoners seem panicked. "Sorcery," one cries. "witchcraft," says the second. The leader authoritatively states, "this is necromancy."
"Hmm. No holes. That's always a good sign."
Voryn begins thouroughly searching the cemetery for anything odd or out of place.
Swift also looks around. Once the prisoners have said their parts, the monk spins around and looks at them inquisitively.
"What is this you are all babbling about? "
Swift wants to get to the bottom of this. He is not taking any chances with evil sorcery.
"I guess we'll be staying together. Well, the more the merrier!" Calistria says as she moves along with the group to the cemetery.
"How strange. I'm glad we're here in the daylight." Calistria does much the same, investigating the area in search for oddities or clues or, at least, something she can point out to Hailey, the expert on the undead.
At the murmuring of the prisoners, Vorelloex becomes unnerved. He begins remembering flashbacks of his brutal defeat at the hands of the dead at the lake to the northeast. He readies his wicked flail to comfort his seething anxiety, and peers about quickly.
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Seeing the unease of everyone around him, Garekk attempts to settlet the group while peering around him. "Easy, my friends. There could be all manner of reasons for the disturbed ground here. Be at ease so that we may think and act with clear heads. Steady now..." He continues this mantra, talking the group out o fb their imagined horrors and into the scene before them.
Rois stands with the prisoners and surveys the cemetery as if it were a battlefield. He tries to recall what he knows about this cemetery.
Swift seeks clues pertaining to possible undead.
The disturbed soil doesn't seem natural. It also appears to have occurred at least several days ago as rain appears to have washed away some of the disturbed earth.
Rois walks the prisoners over to a sturdy tree on the edge of the graveyard and ties them to it.
"I'll wait here and watch these fellows. I do not have the expertise here. Let me know if you need assistance."
"There's definitely something not right here. Something's wrong with the soil. I can't quite explain what it is," Voryn remarks as he lets some of the soil flow through his fingers.
"Sir Rois, might I have a quick word?" Voryn leans close and whispers in Sir Rois' ear: "The prisoners started acting weird as soon as we got here. Perhaps they might know something."
He then turns to Calistria and Hailey. "Can one of you see if there's been magic at work here?"
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Hailey begins by searching the cemetery carefully. This is her business to investigate, and she intends to go thoroughly through the process, leaving out nothing.
She will also be drawing upon her various sets of knowledge.
When she is done, she will answer Voryn.
"Yes, I can." With that, she will be casting Detect Magic.
"Excellent. I will search for tracks leading to and from the cemetery."
Hailey begins by searching the cemetery carefully. This is her business to investigate, and she intends to go thoroughly through the process, leaving out nothing.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5
When she is done, she will answer Voryn.
"Yes, I can." With that, she will be casting Detect Magic.
You believe that the disturbance of the earth came from below. Your detect magic shows no signs of any spells currently.
"Excellent. I will search for tracks leading to and from the cemetery."
[dice=Survival]1d20+6
There has been too much rain recently to track whatever was here.
"Too much rain has fallen for me to find any tracks. Subterranean you say? I wonder what that means..."
Voryn ponders for a few seconds.
"How do you suppose we'd search underground? You think there's a cave around here somewhere?"
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"Possibly, but unlikely. But there could by a number of ways in, possibly even holes hastily filled in. I suggest we break up into teams of two and search the area for entrances to the underground, using this place as a rendezvous point. Besides, caves don't normally go down, they go back."
Hailey goes to the prisoners.
"Was there an earthquake in the last day or two?" she asks them bluntly.
Hailey goes to the prisoners.
"Was there an earthquake in the last day or two?" she asks them bluntly.
"n..no, this is clearly dark magic."
"I don't think so boys. Trust me, I'm something of an expert . . ."
"so the dead rise on their own where you are from?"
"Dark magic.. The dead rising.. It sounds like you have seen something. What do you know?"
Calistria looks up, towards the sky. As it almost always is in this region, the grey clouds overshadow everything but there's a hint of sunlight. It is still day.
"There's an alternative to finding an entrance. There might not be any."
Calistria turns to the others.
"Some things only come out at night. Perhaps something rises at night, then returns to their grave before daybreak."
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"But that should leave traces, either magical or physical. And Voryn, if that was directed at me, remember, I'm a priestess of the god of magic. Knowledge of arcana and spellcraft is part of my education, meaning is a frequent topic of conversation. Besides, lots of wizards and sorcerers, and bards now that I think of it, go his his church. And they talk in the halls. And we priests listen in, sometimes seen, sometimes not."
"Only if the undead are being animated here." Calistria points out as she's distracted from her examination of the scene. "If the undead are ALREADY animated, there would be no magic at work here beyond the undead themselves and they'd be buried under quite a bit of dirt. That would obscure traces of the necromancy. As for physical evidence, we have the disturbed dirt."
"It takes powerful magic to bring the dead back, either living or undead. I'm not seeing any sign of it here. That kind of magic doesn't go away that quickly. Is there anything more you can tell us? Anything at all? Even local gossip might help."
Calistria looks up, towards the sky. As it almost always is in this region, the grey clouds overshadow everything but there's a hint of sunlight. It is still day.
"There's an alternative to finding an entrance. There might not be any."
Calistria turns to the others.
"Some things only come out at night. Perhaps something rises at night, then returns to their grave before daybreak."
[dice=Perception]1d20+4
[dice=Knowledge: Religion]1d20+4
The disturbed earth combined with the rain makes it really difficult to even tell exactly where all the graves were, but if you had to guess all were effected.
"Then we should check a second time, this time focusing on the remnants of flesh and bone."
Hailey will then proceed to do just that, examining the cemetery a second time, this time searching only for flesh and bone.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5
examining carefully specifically for flesh and bone you find occasional traces of rotten flesh, but no bones.
"Dark magic.. The dead rising.. It sounds like you have seen something. What do you know?"