Father Griswald ducks out the back door in time to see the others barricading the barn. He couldn't help but hear the thump earlier. Looking at Micha, his brows raise in alarm.
"Rotted away? Hurt us? Ye mean the cow's the one making all that racket?"
Initiative 3
With the door barred everyone is out of immediate danger, however they can hear Bischa slamming herself against the inside of the door.
End Round 2
------------------
Begin Round 3
Whenever it's Variziel's turn, he looks around for a ladder or easy footholds/handholds to climb to a higher window or opening to the loft in the barn.
Whether he finds one or not, the elf puts the sword in its sheath and begins to scale the side of the barn, nimbly working his feet, his strong arms pulling him higher.
Once the door is barred, Eleeda begins backing away, hands over her mouth in horror, tears streaming down her face "What's happening Father Griswald?? Bischa...she, she looked like she was dead, for a long time! But she wasn't dead. I...oh my Goddess, I was so horrible!"
Then something seems to occur to the young girls agile mind and she moans in fear and worry "No! Karolina! She...what did she say about Bischa and a rat bite? This...this couldn't happen to her, could it??" and in a near blind panic over the well being of her friend, she turns and races back into the house.
"Now jus' calm down, lass. Gettin' excited won't help." Griswald watches Varsiel climb to the loft and nods, looking around for anything else to help bar the door.
"What can you see?"
Micha watches the path Variziel takes up and then attempts to follow.
Eleeda 21
Griswald 13
Variziel 7
Micha 6
Bicha 3
Round 3
Initiative 21
Eleeda runs back towards the house.
Initiative 13
Griswald remembers that the cart they left in front of Klaudia's house would probably help barricade the door. He continues talking to Variziel by shouting as he goes to retrieve it.
Initiative 7
Variziel begins clambering up the front of the barn, headed for the window into the loft.
Initiative 6
Micha walks over and starts to climb along with Variziel, he manages to make it further up the wall, and can see through the window now. Bischa is still below slamming herself into the door.
Initiative 3
Bischa hurls her rotting bulk against the planks of the barn door again.
End of Round 3
---------------------
Begin Round 4
"Strong arms," Variziel says to Micha as the boy outpaces him up the wall. To Griswald, the elf calls, "Can't see anything yet, Griswald; Micha, what's going on?"
Still looks like Bischa is just trying to get out. I dont see anything else in there yet.
"Eleeda, help me bring the cart over. I don't know if that bar is going to hold."
Seeing that his words have fallen on deaf ears as Eleeda rushes into the house, Griswald sighed and shook his head before making his way toward the wagon.
Round 4
Initiative 21
Eleeda runs past Griswald into the house, but only makes it to the top of the stairs.
Initiative 13
Griswald calls out to Eleeda, before she gets all the way up the stairs. He begins dragging the cart over to the barn .
Initiative 7
Variziel attempts to complete his climb but one of the shingles is rotted and it breaks away in his hand. he falls to the ground, tumbling gracefully he pops to his feet, unharmed.
Initiative 6
Micha observes the cow.
Initiative 3
Bischa continues to mindlessly slam herself against the door, still eerily silent.
End of Round 4
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Begin Round 5
Barely hearing Griswald in her panic and worry about Klaudia, Eleeda keeps running up the stairs towards the merchants room.
Realizing that the climb may not be as easy as he first thought, Variziel tumbles the the ground, righting himself to land cat-like just as he hits the turf. Perhaps I've been reacting a little quickly...
As such thoughts run through his head, Variziel turns to look at Eleeda and Griswald. While worried for the girl, the elf decides blockading the barn is the more pressing issue at the moment, and he moves to help drag the cart. "Any idea what this is, Griswald?" the warrior asks the priest.
"I haven't even seen the cow yet! Doesn't sound good though." Griswald yells back as he drags the cart toward the barn.
Attempts to open the window and if it does open and there is a ledge inside will crawl in after making sure nothing else is inside.
Eleeda 21
Griswald 13
Variziel 7
Micha 6
Bicha 3
Round 5
Initiative 21
Eleeda runs back upstairs. All is as Griswald and Variziel left it. Klaudia seems to have lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Initiative 13
Griswald drags the cart closer to the barn.
Initiative 7
Variziel jogs over and grabs one handle of the cart.
Initiative 6
Micha crawls onto the loft. It circles around the whole top of the small barn. With the door shut, it's pretty dim in here and all he can see in the loft is straw.
Initiative 3
The cow continues her creaking onslaught against the door. Micha can see that the inside of the door is splintering under the continuous blows.
End of Round 5
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Begin Round 6
Variziel helps Griswald drag the cart over to the doorway, wincing as he hears the cow slam against it again. "It's unreal," the elf says, "and I really mean that. It's like her skin has sloughed away, far faster than a corpse should rot. Her ribs are exposed, muscle and blood... Yet still she moves."
Her fears calmed considerably by seeing Klaudia appearing to rest peacefully, Eleeda moves over to her friend to place a comforting hand on the merchant's forehead. Her hand hesitates just a moment before touching the fevered skin, remembering the warnings of Father Griswald, but then she also recalls Klaudia having said she was bitten.
Wanting to offer her friend the comfort of a loving touch, she lays her hand gently down and bends over to whisper "I'm so glad you're alright. After seeing Bischa I had thought...well, no matter, I know you'll be fine now. I...I must go though, I think, and try and help the others."
And, reluctantly, not wanting to leave, she stands up straight again as she turns to head back downstairs and outside once more. The fear in her belly at the thought of seeing the thing that Bischa had become making her steps slow and sluggish.
Round 5
Initiative 21
Eleeda moves back outside.
Initiative 7
Griswald and Variziel pull the cart into place, wedging it against the door.
Initiative 6
Still very shaky and afraid, but calmed down considerably, Eleeda approaches the barn and the others slowly, embarrassment flushing her cheeks a bright crimson.
"Is...is everything OK? I mean, I know Bischa's still in there but..I'm so sorry I ran! I wasn't leaving you! I was just suddenly so concerned about Klaudia, that something sim...well, because she was bit by the same rat, right? I just...oh, what is happening??" and putting her hands to her face, the young tavern maid begins to sob softly.
Micha looks for a pitchfork or any ranged weapon he can stab down at Bischa with.
Father Griswald blanches at the elf's words. "You're saying she looks dead, rotting, but is still alive?"
"I think the cow may have become one of the Undead. If that is the case, frankly, I'm in favor of burning down the whole barn..."
"Undead?" Variziel's skin turns even paler than Griswald's had. "I thought those were just old stories... They haven't existed in centuries, have they?" The elf grew up with the older religions and tales, but he never expected to be living so close to them.
He turns to Eleeda as she arrives and begins to sob. "It's fine, girl," Variziel says softly, pulling her into a hug. "This is more than any of us can be expected to handle easily, and you're just a youngling. Klaudia... It's right to be worried."
Variziel looks over his shoulder to the barn window. "What's going on in there, Micha?" he calls, his voice the hard tone of a soldier once more.
bischa is still just trying to bust through the door. I don't see anything else. Why isn't she dead already with these wounds? It looks like wolves chewed her up with her ribs showing like that.
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"Oh, she's dead Micha, she just didn't take it lying down. We're going to have to help her with that."
About the time Father Griswald's line dies ominously in the air, the door to the barn splinters completely and breaks. The bar is still in place, but the cart is being rocked with each methodical blow of the bovine's undead flesh.
Griswald's reflexes for danger were much quicker than expected for a man of his stature. As the door splinters and the cow-turned-monster's bulk hit the wagon, he surged into motion, leaping up onto the driver's seat and into the back directly in front of the beast.
Taking a wide stance and squaring his shoulders, he pulled the symbol of his faith from around his neck and held it forth.
"Back! In the name of the Seven, I deny you!"
Micha runs around to the side of the loft with the pitchfork and will pick it up. Next round he will begin to pound on the ladder over there with the pitchfork while yelling to draw Bischa over.
Eleeda leans gratefully into the comforting arm of the Elf, her sobs gradually quieting. Only a few seconds later though, chaos erupts again as Bicha finally breaks through the door, her horrid dead yet living self apparent to all.
With a scream of fear, confusion and primal rage, Eleeda steps forward and, reacting by instinct, for the first time in public takes her years of study to more than the theoretical level.
Thrusting her hands out before she yells in a strange and ancient tongue "Nieratymy yw Wunhui!" and immediately her hands alight in flame! And a cone of fire blasts from her outstretched palms, barely missing the priest and bathing Bicha and part of the barn in flaming heat.
"Hands of Fire!"
"What in the hells was that?!"
Variziel tries to hold onto Eleeda's arm as the girl steps toward the undead beast, yelling, "Eleeda, what are you--" The elf cuts off, though, as the girl speaks a strange tongue and a gout of flame shoots from her hands.
"By the Children--!" Variziel whispers, barely noticing the blasphemy to the human Gods come from his mouth. He'd seen some magic before, long ago in the elven village, but never among humans--certainly not from the young girl.
Variziel reacts quickly, pulling Eleeda back from the undead thing once more, then sheathing his sword to remove his bow.
Bischa rears back surprisingly quickly, though emits no noise. The loose hay scattered in the back of the cart, and the railing on the side ignite into flames. The door itself is also smouldering slightly.
Inside the barn Micha sees the undead cow back away from the door rapidly, fleeing a blast of flame, and slam into the ladder he's pounding on. It falls onto the cow's back before clattering to the floor. The cow slowly turns and stares up at him, its one remaining milky eye fixed on him unblinkingly. Behind her the cart begins to burn more, the hay acting to accelerate the spread of the flames.
Time to leave this barn I think. I will move back to the wall away from the loft rail and head back toward the window, trying to keep Bischa from seeing me head back toward the window.
Allowing herself to be pulled back to Elf, Eleeda seems to be in a mild state of shock as she looks at her own hands, fascinated and amazed at the same time "It worked. It really worked. All those years, all that study and practice. I can't believe..." just then there is a loud squawk as Keroc lands on her shoulder. Turning her head, the bird and girl stare at each other, as they have so many times before, communicating silently and wordlessly. The small head nods first, subtly, and the larger one follows suit, and something seems to click in the young girl.
Standing up straight, pulling herself away slightly from the protective grip of Variziel, she stands taller and stronger than she ever has before in her young life. Somehow Eleeda suddenly seems much less the young girl she was moments ago. There is an intangible yet clearly noticeable difference about her and those observing intuitively know that they now are looking at a young woman, instead.
Looking to both the older men before she speaks, her voice somewhat hesitant at first but quickly gaining confidence "That...that was me. That was a spell. I...I have been studying, in secret, to be a mage. Just like Kavor was. That was the first time I have ever actually used magic of such power though. It was always only little things I had tried, for I was afraid of what might happen. But now..."
And as she trails off, her eyes wandering to the fire as it quickly leaps and spreads along the dry wood of the barn, there is a certain...look in her eye. A certain...hunger. And as well a certain pride, a pride that pulls back her shoulders and swells her chest. 'I did that.' she thinks to herself. 'I, Eleeda, the simple tavern maid, just created Fire from my own two hands! I am Eleeda, the simple tavern maid no longer! I am...something more...something much more'
And as a feeling she has never yet known before this moment begins to fill and race along her veins just as the fire races along the wood, warming her, intoxicating her, as this new found feeling of Power begins to flood her being; the young woman watching the fire she has birthed consume and grow, ever so slightly, ever so subtly, smiles...
As you watch the young girl, no the young woman before you, whom you have known for many years, (or her whole life) You begin to get the disturbing feeling that perhaps something not entirely healthy has just been borne in her.
Variziel looks at Eleeda as she pulls away from him. Her words are a little strange, but he doesn't let it bother him, pushing it from his mind. There are more important, pressing issues at the moment. "Alright, Eleeda. Magic is... strange, to say the least, but I've seen it before."
Variziel stares through the flames at Bischa for a moment, then replaces his bow on his back. He turns to the priest standing by him. "Griswald, this has to be finished. I say we burn it. Fire finishes these undead rather well, doesn't it? And, courtesy of the young lady, we now have it in fine supply."
"We need to wedge this thing under the door!" Griswald barks.
Nodding, an eager look still in her eyes, Eleeda puts her shoulder to the cart to help jam it in. Looking up at the priest she says "Father, don't you think you'd better get down from there?"
"Workin' on it, Lass." Griswald says backing away from the undead cow, still holding up the symbol of his faith until he was at the edge of the cart. Crouching at the edge and letting himself down, he squared his feet, lowered his shoulder and shoved the burning cart sideways into the broken door.
Griswald and Eleeda together wedge the burning cart firmly under the bar of the shattered door. It's splintered wood quickly begins to ignite, the flames licking up the front of the building. Micha's head is hanging out the loft window, and he can feel the heat on his face as the building begins to burn below and next to him.
Going to jump out and over the cart if I can.
acrobatics