"Hang on, lemme cast!" Eostre grumbles. She begins waving her hands and muttering the words of power, conjuring her mage armor.
"I've got a few spells I can cast on the lot of you when we start fighting. Enlarging, making you faster. Let me know when and what, and hang close. These spells often need me to touch you...and don't any of you DARE make a joke about that."
"Which one first? The farmhouse or the barn?" He eyes the corn, the smell having gotten him on guard.
- Cantrips: ALL OF THEM.
- 1st: Burning Hands, Grease, Mage Armour, Ray of Enfeeblement, Detect Secret Doors, Comprehend Languages, Floating Disc, Identify, Sleep, Obscuring Mist
- 2nd: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Shatter, See Invisibility, Minor Image, Spider Climb, Locate Object
"Did anyone else hear that? sounded like... someone's anguished, that way " He gestures to the North East
"I'm confused by one thing," Nicat remarks as they approach the Hambley lands. "How in the world did we decide to go looking for undead horrors at night?" He shakes his head disdainfully, rolling his eyes, before his attention is caught by a sound. "Yep, I hear it, Ekan. Sounds like someone moaning, in a lot of pain." He takes a couple of quick steps in that direction, then slows as a thought occurs to him, "Or something that's dead but not really dead, trying to communicate. Could be that."
"I won't let someone suffer if there's a chance some one is," And he tries to sneak that way, as quietly as possible. Whether someone comes along or not
Ekan starts creeping through the large corn stalks that make up almost the entirety of the farm, pushing them aside when he must, but able to squeeze past several of them all the same.
Until he passes by a rotten stalk of corn and accidentally pushes it over. It breaks with a *CRACK* and falls to the cold earth.
The pained moaning stops. It's then replaced by fearful whimpering.
"Oh, blessed Sarenrae, please don't let that be another one... please don't let me die here... please..."
"It's a girl! Praying to Sarenrae to save her!" Nicat exclaims as he hears the whimpering clearly, once Ekan stops making a racket in the cornstalks. "It's okay!" he calls out more loudly in the direction of the whimpering. "We won't let you die here, we won't hurt you! We're coming!" He slips quickly and quietly through the cornstalks, not with the aim of sneaking up on anyone, but trying not to lose track of where the voice is coming from as he searches for the young woman in pain.
He pauses briefly to call over his shoulder, "Come on you guys, this way!"
Conner resists the urge to gag Nicat with a dirt clod to keep him quiet. If there was anything hostile on this farm, it sure knew they were here now. He stays where he is, on the path, watching for anything coming to get them.
Ekan sighs, realizing he has messed up and possibly scared someone more, says gently as he moves to that spot, "I'm Ekan Waterfield" He says it at gentle volume, "And I just want to help."
"This is probably a traaaaap..." Eostre mutters as they proceed after Ekan and Nicat.
As the party approaches the whimpering young woman, her tone changes. "Oh... praise Sarenrae, you've come. I need--"
Her plea is abruptly cut off by a serious coughing jag and a gasping wheeze. "...they've come to kill us all. Strung my mom and I up like scarecrows. And..."
The young woman is dressed in very patchy & dirty overalls & a shirt stuffed with straw, and a large, wide-brimmed hat placed on her head. The stench of the grave surrounds her. She's barely able to catch her breath.
"It's okay, it's okay," Nicat says to the young woman as he reaches her. "Evelyn! Come quick, she's sick! I'm not sure what she's got! And someone's dressed her like a scarecrow!"
He goes quiet studying the girl, wondering just what illness is afflicting her. He can't help thinking of of his sweet Shay in a similar situation. I hope she' just go a cold or something, but I'm guessing that's not what it is...
"Watch it, Nicat. I think she's got the same disease the guy at the Sanitarium had. Ghoul fever. Evelyn? Got any spells that can remove the disease? If not, at least cast some spells to help restore her health like you did back at the Sanitarium."
Evelyn shakes her head. "I'm afraid I don't. But I do have these..."
She digs into her backpack and retrieves three scrolls. "...they should stave off the disease long enough for us to get her to Sandpoint for treatment."
The young woman weakly points a finger to the northeast. "I heard them string Mom up somewhere that way... please... save her too..."
"Right then," Eostre says. "Let's not waste any time. These people need help and medical attention, fast!"
"String up Mom?" Nicat repeats in quiet alarm. "Oh my..." Collecting himself a little, he says, "Don't worry, we'll find her. Evelyn, maybe you can heal her a little now?" While Evelyn uses one of the scrolls to stave off the impending fever, Nicat asks, "What can you tell us about who did this? How many were there, what were they like?"
Ekan nods and makes his way that very direction, though once again he tries to move quietly. Maybe this time he will perform more adequately.<P>
Still on the road, Conner wonders what's taking so long. Either they're dead or they're not.
"Conner! Get your metal-encased ar5e over here!" Eostre hisses.
"For the love of... He walks into the corn. "If something comes looking for us don't blame me if we don't see it coming."
Creeping through the corn, Ekan comes across another scarecrow, and another several feet away to the north. The scarecrows are dressed in tattered clothes and motionless.
A deep breath, he has macabre thought, and makes sure the scare crow is just that, and not a corpse hung up. MOving a garment on it
Eostre watches after Ekan.
"They're not gonna come LOOKING for us, they're gonna wait for us. This is a trap, but since we know it's a trap, we can beat it," she says to Conner as he comes crashing through the corn.
Ekan approaches the scarecrow...
...and the body starts thrashing about & growling. With a twitch and a snarl, the body tears itself free of its restraints!
Cursing, Conner runs forward to put himself between the, he assumed, ghoul and everyone else. Keeping his shield up, he tests the thing by stabbing at it's torso.
"Sis is right!" Nicat cries as he hurries towards the sounds of the fight. "We know it's a trap, and they don't know we know it's a trap! As always, luck is on our side!" As he moves, he slips his bow off his shoulder, getting into position to have a clear shot at the moaning creature. As Conner attacks, Nicat can't help but think, I hope that's not Mom...
"Well, this is actually worse than I thought" He admits in quiet horror
Just as quickly as the ghoul frees itself, Conner stomps up to it and brutally cuts it down.
The male ghoul falls apart in two--and its pale grey skin is paper-thin.
"Thank you, Conner,but we best keep movin to find her mother"
"Yes, we can bury her."
Several paces to the northeast is a pair of scarecrows, each dressed in baggy, filthy clothes with a wide-brimmed brown hat. The one to the east is whimpering.
"Bury? I'd suggest burning. Or sealing them in a sarcophagus with a heavily weighted lid, like we dwarves do. The dead can't claw their way out of the grave if the grave's got a half-ton of granite on top."
She pauses when she hears the whimpering.
"Gods, I hope we're not too late."
The sound of Eostre's voice causes the eastern scarecrow to twitch.
"Who...who is that?" An older woman's voice says, sounding like it's fighting its way through a layer of phlegm.
Evelyn moves up to the scarecrow that spoke. "Madam, we're here to help."
She checks the older woman for wounds and obvious signs of ghoul fever.
"My name's Evelyn," she tells the woman while examining her. "What's yours?"
"...Genna..." She takes a shuddering, wheezing breath. "...where's Katarina?"
Evelyn gives a brief description of the young woman they encountered earlier. "Is that her?"
She pulls out another scroll of lesser restoration.
"Could you check that one?" Evelyn asks her friends, nodding at the other scarecrow.
Opening the scroll, Evelyn casts the spell that'll prolong Genna's life.
Genna's filmy green eyes widen and she nods.
With another scroll used, some of the film vanishes from her eyes and her breathing eases slightly. She's no longer quite so close to death's door.
Conner grits his teeth and walks over to the scarecrow Evelyn indicated.
Ekan joins Conner
The other scarecrow is, indeed, a ghoul. The stink of grave rot hangs around it like a shroud.
It starts thrashing about on its pole.
Conner wastes no time and stabs it. "Another ghoul here."
Conner cuts it down with ease. It falls off its scarecrow pole with a *THUMP.*
The air becomes eerily quiet.