Bjorkus roars as he lumbers up to the last zombie and gives it a massive swat with his clawed paw.
The black fluids cascade down the undead creature's arms and upon the unconscious Kayin. While the oracle becomes infested with the rotting disease, his body stabilizes momentarily. Titan calls out from above, sinking another arrow deep into the zombies chest. As it riles in lifeless agony, Bjorkus ends its unnatural life with a paw to the head. As the head tumbles away, the creature's body explodes upon the pair of unconscious adventurers and the bear.
The mighty ursine sniffs Kayin closely and then applies pressure with his massive bulk.
Titan's skill proves just enough to save the oracle. Having stabilized Kayin, he rushes to Randall's side, but the young tiefling has expired. His life essence has made its way to the Plane of Bone and traversed the river of tears leading him back to the Void. Titan bows his head solemnly in remembrance of Randall. Then looks up at his surroundings. An essence floats above the zombie just to his north. One of his companions is dead. The other two are unconscious but not in danger of dying at the moment. Kayin, lies before the ranger, a rope still attached to his waistline.
Bjorkus grunts and comes close to the Hunter.
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Finding the rogue too far gone, Titan sighs. It didn’t need to come to this. I should have done more. When Bjorkus approaches to offer him comfort, he ruffles the bear’s fur. ”Let’s get out of here boy.”
Working as swiftly and efficiently as he can, the hunter attends his errands in the basement. First he collects the loose essence floating near the broken body of the nearby zombie. He lacks the expertise to recognize its properties but he understood essences were valuable as a rule. Next, moving them as carefully as he can, Titan ties the unconscious forms of Muraisa and Kayin to Bjorkus’s back. The bear grumbles unhappily at the burden but even their combined weight was not a problem for the mighty ursine. After scaling the pulley lines back up to the first floor, he hoists Bjorkus and his living companions up from the basement. After a second trip to the basement, Randall’s remains are brought up as well.
”Let’s find the constable. He’ll want to know what we found here.”
Returning to the Tired Flame Inn, Titan finds Ser Cássyon Edelmahn Edelmahn of Haemil standing upon the steps leading to the end. The knight speaks quietly to two men of the City Guard who depart in a rush towards the bridge and the Bright Tower.
Looking down at the Hunter and his unconscious companions, Ser Cássyon shouts, "Bring a healer! We have wounded!" He bounds down the steps and takes a close look at Muraisa and then Kayin. "They're hurt badly... how is the... oh." He turns his head and says a short prayer or something akin to a blessing from Calledrym.
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”We encountered the dead, more than we could handle”, Titan admits grimly. ”A big undead minotaur too. We destroyed them but…”
Feeling increasingly guilty at being the only one to escape relatively unscathed, the hunter clears his throat.
”Can anything be done for them? I can wield a handful of divine blessings through Korlez but my powers are spent for the day.”
The knight raises an eyebrow at the mention of the Formless Lord. His eyes take in the wounded and then examines Titan before looking back towards the bridge. A young priestess dressed in white comes running through the crowd, nimbly dodging the throngs of people. Ser Cássyon speaks softly, "The priestess can help the injured but your dead companion is beyond their aid. I don't think even Father Haessen can bring life to him."
The priestess places her hands gently upon Muraisa as a light glows from her chest and spreads across the barbarian. Muraisa groans as she regains consciousness and smiles at the priestess. The daughter of Teysura then moves to Kayin and revives the oracle before crossing to Randall. She gently caresses his face as a tear runs down her cheek. "Did he have family here?" the knight asks of Titan.
Groaning heavily, Muraisa sat up slowly. "Wha'? Famielee? Who has-" Looking over at Randall, a look of utter horror passes across her face and she slumped back down. "Oh, by the spirits. I tried. I tried so hard to save him!" The woman slammed a fist onto the side. Diving into the pit, the gnawing teeth...all pointless.
After a moment, she asked, "Did he have any family?" She didn't remember.
Kayin bolts back to consciousness with a yell and scrambling wave of his arms, his mind still back at the brewery and the fight. Once his thoughts catch up to the situation, however, he calms rapidly and takes stock of the cold body of their now-former companion. Finally, he shakes his head and wipes a hand down his face. "I've no idea who, if anyone, Randall had around here. Save for Sautekh, that is. The two were certainly acquainted, and someone should inform him of his friend's death."
"Sautekh passed through the gates into the Estates last night against our warning. We haven't seen or heard from him since.," Ser Cássyon says with shrug. "If Randall hadn't mentioned any family, I'd assume they perished in the Shaping as many from the Vale did. The Sisters of Teyrusa will take his corpse to be purifed and buried with reverence to the Sacred Mother. I'd charge you to dispose of his possessions as you see fit."
The knight looks towards the bridge and the tower beyond. "Marcusic went to the Tower but was expected back a couple of hours ago. You can look for him there or I can deliver a message if you head elsewhere?" He pondrs for a moment, then spaeks again. "Are you heading back to the brewery? Or shall I send another team?"
"Tomorrow is fine, I suppose. But no later or I'll need to send others. We don't want to leave an unsecured building behind the barricades as we clear the district," the knight says. Shaking his head, Ser Cássyon waves his hand towards the tower. "No, nothing that concerns the clearing of the streets... at least not directly, I suppose. An emmissary from the Sodality of the Altered arrived this morning. Marcusic escorted her to the Tower to speak with the Hazards."
Kayin keeps an ear on the conversation as he puts his last bit of healing magic to work on his battered allies, though the magic is feeble and barely effective. Hearing of a vistor who is apparently of some note, Kayin can't help but ask. "The who of the what now? And where did they arrive from?"
"I can't imagine there are many of them left. If there were we'd all be dead." Still, it seemed like a terrible idea to rush, and Muraisa still needed to try and heal from the infection. "Resting tonight should be enough. I'll need to take some of the anti-plague, so I might as well do it tonight."
Something about the name, once Kayin takes a moment to consider it, tickles at his thoughts. But between his lingering fatigue and the closeness of his brush with death, the oracle finds it incredibly difficult to focus his mind on anything of value at the moment.
"Solution? I haven't heard, but it isn't my place to ask." He grips his sheathed sword tightly by the grip. "We're just soldiers, asked to protect the people of Haemil."
Kayin ponders for a moment, but nothing of the wizard guild comes to mind. As the Sisters finish their work, the give explicit instructions to Muraisa and Kayin to the tending of their wounds tonight. Good rest and a soothing salve will surely make them feel better in the morning. As they group watches the Sisters return to the bridge and their infirmary, they see Marcusic making his way across the bridge towards them.
The oracles waves wearily at the approaching Constable as he settles in to rest a bit against a handy wall. Deciding to use the time as profitably as he can, Kayin digs the odd scroll out of his possessions and studies it intently, hoping again to make it comprehensible.
"You're soldiers. I'm a volunteer." Muraisa was not nearly as good at hiding her annoyance as Titan was. Grunting, she sat up looked to the constable.
"Damn..." Marcusic says as he walks up to the group. "I saw your friend, the tiefling. I saw his body be carried by the Sisters for burial. Father Haessen says that the gods have forsaken us to some degree... revival of the slain is beyond the power of the clerics here in the Vale."
Ser Cássyon speaks quickly to the Constable, updating him on the group's encounter at the brewery. "Well, we'll need it cleared before we move the barriers forward. I was hoping to connect to Eastgate before long. Will you be up for returning there tomorrow?"
"We should be. I don't think there are many left." Well, it was more of a hope. But the brewery wasn't that large and they'd already accounted for five of them and the cellar keeper or whatever the hells that minotaur had been.
Which reminded her. "Have you ever seen an undead talk before? The damned undead minotaur talked a bit. Even used a weapon rather than its fist." A lot of Undead were stupid, and Muraisa was thinking of adapting some of the ways they hunted mindless monsters for hunting the stupid ones, but smart ones...that was a whole new game. Liches, graveknights, wrights...legendary undead that had struck fear into generations. And that was before this disease. Spirits only knew what it had done to them.
Kayin looks down at scroll and studies it intently. Within a few minutes, he is able to grasp the arcane spell contained within. It is a divination spell that detects undead.
Marcusic looks astonished at Muraisa's words. "Intelligent undead?! That isn't good news. I believe you are the first to encounter such creatures. I'll inform the other groups to be wary. Thank you for the update." He looks down at a letter in his right hand. "If it's not too much trouble, could you deliver this message from the Tower to Thomas. He was not at the infirmary when I stopped by on my way here. I was told that he had gone to pray for the deceased. The Sisters are burying them down in the dry lake bed... and don't forget, I need the brewery cleared in the morning!"
Before Marcusic can take his leave, Kayin looks up the scroll that he's finally managed to to puzzle out. "Well, as long as we have a person or two to fill out some... unfortunate gaps in our skills, we can hopefully take and properly clear the Brewery with another attempt." The oracle grimaces and waves off in the general direction of the mass burials taking place. "Randall was, as far as I know, the only one among us possessing any expertise in, ah, less than legal skills. And we very much had need of those in the short time we've been out and about." A frown now mars his face as Kayin continues. "And that fellow with the canine head, Sautekh, he wandered off who knows where, so we're down his skills as well. Probably why the Brewery was such a cock up for us, come to think of it."
"The priest?" Muraisa shrugged. "No trouble. I need to go and say goodbye to Randall anyway." She looked over at the healers, to see if that was allowed. If there was one thing her childhood had taught her, beyond control, it was that when the healers said not to do something it was wise not to do it.
Marcusic nods at Muraisa, "Yes, the priest of the Temple of the First Light. And, I'm sure the Sisters of Teysura would welcome you to stay any final words to your friend as they lay him in the Mother's arms." Turing to Kayin, he cocks an eyebrow. "We usually don't keep company with those that break the law... but I may know someone that may be helpful. Let me see if I can get them relieved of their shackles," he laughs. "I'll send word to you tonight of their... availability."
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"Breaks the law?" Titan asks in quiet disbelief. "Please tell me we're only locking up murders and rapists."
The hunter sighs as he fingers through the remaining arrows in his quiver.
"There are too few of us already. It doesn't make much sense to short a team extra hands because someone filched a bottle of brandy."
"Why would we lock those up? If they're rapists and killers they're no more use than the monsters outside, and might as well be dealt with as such. No point in feeding them and giving them a secure bed to sleep in." She did consider. "Thieves and the like would need punishment though. Can't have someone stealing food or medicine. I suppose you could make them replace it..."
A pragmatic sort himself, Kayin is fully in agreement with Muraisa and says as much. "Yeah, wasting food and anything else on trash like that when most people barely have a crumb right now for themselves is foolish. Better to just open them up, bleed them out, and make sure the body won't cause problems later."
Turning his thoughts back to the matter at hand, their impending return to the Brewery, Kayin holds up the scroll gifted to them by Aron. "But in better news, I figured out what this spell is! Once used, I'll be able to sense the presence of the undead for a brief time. It's got some limitations, naturally, but it should let us avoid another surprise like that rotting pile of cow meat." The oracle then looks at Titan with an inquisitive expression. "Mind, I'm not complaining about your priorities, but you did think to grab the weapons that Randall and me dropped when we went down, before hauling us all back here? Because I'm utter shit with that crossbow, but maybe Muraisa can use it in lieu of those javelins, no idea where we can get replacements for those once they're gone, and I'll switch over to the spear if we need to keep a distance."
"Laws are a must if we're to rebuild the world... besides, I wouldn't be a good Constable if I didn't uphold some semblance of the law." Marcusic wrings his hands a moment before crossing his arms. "No, this one was caught sneaking into the to Tower. We're not sure of her intentions or her punishment, if she deserved one, would have been swift and harsh.... and with the Hazards indisposed at the moment," he continues as he waves a hand in the general direction of the Bright Tower. "She's being held in the tower until they can divine an answer out of her silvery little tongue."
"Rebuild the old world? Perhaps, one day. But first we need to survive this one." Muraisa started heading for the burials, assuming none of the healers started shouting
The group wearily walks from the inn and towards the bridge. The make-shift infirmary was full of wounded being attended by a pair of Sisters of Teysura. They move gracefully from patient to patient treating their injuries and calming their spirits. One is approached by a fair elf carrying an injured woman in her arms. One of the sisters, sees the new arrival and moves quickly to triage her injuries.
Looking past the infirmary, you see a trio of Sisters carrying Randall's body to the dry lake-bed. You follow the rugged path down the lake's banks and onto the wooden planks that form the paths between the burial plots. Several citizens of Haemil work carefully but quickly digging graves throughout the area. The Sisters wind their way through the paths to an empty grave and lower the body into its depths. Bowing their heads, they begin to chant prayers in the ancient tongue of the gods as you approach.
Moving up quietly, Muraisa bowed her head quietly and said her goodbyes to Randall's spirit in silence. She might not believe in the faith the women were showing, but they deserved some deference at the very least. And Randall deserved a peaceful funeral.