Feena was a bit surprised at how easily Lola dispatched the goblin with her spear. She could feel the impact through her feet and the stone chips that flew from the impact site! In the silence after Lola's song Feena gulped audibly and looked a little pale. "Note to self, do not ever make Lola mad at me," she said quietly.
When Lola mentioned being able to fix things with mending to examine them Feena spoke up and said, "I can help you, it will get the process done faster with two of us."
Coral will help sort through the papers. She has no formal training as a clerk, but her eyes are keen.
Deciding that a combination short-rest and searching are in order, the group spends an organizing the papers here. The resulting documentation provides a detailed glimpse into these priests’ lives before the cathedral was overwhelmed. The right historian or religious scholar might be very interested in such a collection and will pay handsomely for it, to the tune of 500gp. Alternatively, returning these papers to a church of Sarenrae in a major city is sure to garner gratitude and a future favor.
While glancing through the papers, you discover a priest’s diary entry that states concern over “Sister Fillimann’s fascination for poisons and venoms.” The journal goes on to worry that, “If the purple worm venom she recently acquired from a passing trader were to spill, one of us might be in serious jeopardy!”
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Vlad binds the documents carefully together and places them to the side.
"Well--they look like something of worth. Also, purple worm venom does not sound like a joke. Let's hope we don't encounter that."
He examines what appears to be a pair of bedrooms to the south. "I guess this was their quarters?"
"I am good to keep on exploring."
"Let's continue down the hallway."
Damian glances at the beds. "Let's finish searching, then perhaps we can rest for a while."
Damian moves into the southern open door which leads into a dormitory where he finds five bunk beds fill this rectangular chamber, many of their sheets messily rumpled and their pillows tossed to the ground. Two small chests can be seen under each bunk bed. Among many small personal effects, there is a rusting iron locket shaped like a sphere, a tiny silver spoon, and a sketchbook filled with drawings of local flora.
Checking the open door to the east, you find two small writing desks are pushed up against the western wall here, while two matching beds occupy the eastern half of the room. One of the beds is neatly made, but the other’s covers are torn and shredded. Doors exit to the west and north.
Coral will search the room.
She flips through the sketchbook and looks for any papers on the writing desks.
"I have no sense of time in this place. Maybe we should keep going and try the northwest section of rooms next."
Fenna nodded in agreement at continuing on their way and took her usual place in the formation as they went.
Everything she saw in the next two rooms was much like the others with nothing in particular standing out.
Coral moves to the northwest section of rooms with Vlad. She has her short sword and buckler out, wary for danger as she examines the door.
Lola also takes a gander at the new room and the door.
Marya checks under the rug and scowls at the vials she finds. ”Purple worm poison. Keep an eye out for more, especially on our foes’ blades.”
A comfortable-looking overstuffed couch, upholstered in red and gold, sits against the western wall of this square room. A small table flanked by two wooden chairs occupies the southeastern corner under a large tapestry of a fiery-haired winged woman wielding a scimitar encased in flame. Doors exit to the west and east.
After Damian pays homage to the tapestry, you continue west through the door into an office area. The western half of this room contains a large mahogany desk, its sides covered with intricate carvings of paladins striking down fiendish foes and undead beasts. The detail of the etchings is incredibly intricate, showing detailed patterns on each knight’s armor. Two sets of shelves, each filled with texts and holy icons, stand against the western and southern walls. Ornate rugs cover the floor, many bearing large, dark bloodstains. A round, wooden table surrounded by several chairs stands opposite a door to the south.
Seated at the table are a familiar-looking party of familiar looking creatures. It's all of you--or rather, undead versions of you, with tight leathery skin, sunken eyes, and emaciated frames. Your bodies turn to stare at you, hate burning in their milky eyes.
A slender man with white hair sits behind the desk with his feet up and the chair tilted slightly back. He holds a thumb-sized chunk of gray flesh in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other, but drops them both to the floor when he sees you. The man seems genuinely surprised at the two matching groups in the room.
“Well, isn’t this a turn? There’s far too many of you to be a trick of those oversized house cats.” He stands. “Do come in, and perhaps we can solve the mystery of how you can be in two places at once, both alive and dead!”
A raven on the bookshelf behind the desk flaps its wings and lets loose a screech. “Quiet, Midnight,” the pale man says. “We have fascinating visitors. Be polite, or I’ll roast you on a spit and eat your beak dipped in honey.”
"Wh-what? Who-" is all that Damian manages, so very eloquently. In shock, he scrutinizes the undead version of himself, trying to remember the clothes he was wearing on the day that everyone in Roslar's Coffer died. Was that... his body, raised as undead? How was that possible?
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Coral's first reaction is shock and horror. She flashes back to her first moment of terrified heroism, standing as bait before her childhood best friend, a novice paladin of Iomedae returned to Three Pines Ford as a ravenous undead.
And now that has happened to me? I was turned into an undead?
Then a split-second of ironic amusement.
Oh good, I can lock Dead Me in the vault under the hill with Salcas to keep him company. They can play knucklebones.
When Dead-Coral doesn't immediately attack her, Live-Coral has a moment to think. She had already learned that her old body was here, and had a suspicion as to what might have happened (), but to see herself as an undead...
"We found notes saying that our previous bodies were found, but it seems you have animated them."
She says this through gritted teeth, trying to suppress her rage.
"Are you Valthazar?"
Coral wants to threaten. To demand that this man let her old body return to the grave. But if he is in a conversational mood, there might be advantage in letting him talk freely.
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Vlad is shocked and outraged at this sudden turn of events.
It is all he can do to keep from slaying this man without discussion, then somehow killing his own body.
But morbid fascination, as well as knowing that the more well-spoken members of the group might obtain necessary information, keep him from acting rashly.
He barely suppresses a sneering growl.
Lola looks at her nails, and retrieves a file, filing them down to get rid of a small snag, ”espera y mira, I know you’re in too deep to be redeemed. But I would like to point out that you are not outnumbering us - and we will f+*# you up badly if you don’t give up now. I can give you a clean, painless way to die, to whatever hell you are bound for.” She looks up, ”or it can hurt. Ashava won’t mind this time, I’m sure.”
She stretches a bit, ”we might even indulge your curiosity, if you ask nicely.” She pretends to count, “seems you’re missing someone.”
"Wh-what? Who-"
A slow smirk spreads over the man's face as Damian's confusion plays out to his delight.
She says this through gritted teeth, trying to suppress her rage. "Are you Valthazar?"
Valthazar puts his right hand on his abdomen and does a low bow, "Indeed.
- and we will f%$! you up badly if you don’t give up now. I can give you a clean, painless way to die, to whatever hell you are bound for.”
Valathazar rolls his eyes at Lola's defiant retort. "Oh please. Now, now, don't get testy. These undead versions of your companions have much better manners than you do. An improvement from what I’m seeing in front of me now, to be honest!" Valthazar turns to look at the collected undead. "I suspect they would say the same thing." At this, all of the zombies nod in eerie unison. With delight he grins and adds unnecessarily, "See?"
Observing that Vlad barely can contain himself he adds, "Any other last questions before I let your old bodies get acquainted with your new ones? I think this one doesn't have long before he blows his top."
"Just... what is the point of all this? What do you hope to accomplish?"
Damian's left hand tightens on his bow, knowing there is only one outcome in this situation.
"I should be asking you the same, but in the interest of sharing information, I will go first. We are combing through the ruins of the nearby town looking for... items of interest for my superiors." Without looking down, Valthazar flips a small ledger on the desk closed.
"My turn. How did you get through my death fog? It was a necessary precaution to prevent curious travelers from interrupting my work. But you somehow made it through? Or have you been in town all along? I would have thought Chatar would have discovered you long before now. Strange."
"We found a way," says Coral.
She doesn't offer any more details.
If this guy escapes, we don't want him closing off that passage.
"We found a way," says Coral.
"Hmm. Interesting. I must look into this further." he says in a perplexed manner, tracing a finger down his jaw as he speaks.
Scowling, he says "You have something that belongs to me."
He glances over at the undead version of himself.
"Release these and we can discuss turning yourself in."
If Vlad's attempt to intimidate him was successful, the chatty foe doesn't seem to show it. Instead, he launches into a series of logical steps as he walks through Vlad's assertion that it belongs to him. "It does look eerily like you, does it not? We found these corpses in that quaint little town and they spoke to me. Not literally, of course. Well, not until I had them reanimated, anyway!" He chuckles at his own turns of phrase. "But who are they? Are you several sets of identical twins? Perhaps you or they are simulacra given life of their own? This is quite vexing."
Marya taps the crossguard of her longsword. ”No twins, no simulacra. You should ask Pharasma. I mean that as both honest advice and a threat.”
Feena was shocked at what she saw, shocked and sickened. How could her old body be over there, animated as an undead, and her new body with her soul over here? This...made sense actually, it was very disturbing but logical that they could exist twice. These were the flesh and blood bodies they first had but now they were given new ones? Made into some kind of outsider? She wasn't really sure but it was most intriguing.
She quickly thought it all through as the others talked and came to the simple conclusion that their bodies, and this monster that animated them, needed to be put down. She was ready to finish them just as soon as everyone finshed talking.
"Who is this Chatar? And who are your superiors?" Damian was not very hopeful about getting useful information from Valthazar, but he was putting off having to fight his old body. Perhaps that ledger held more answers, but first they had to get it from the necromancer.
Lola has nothing to add, but doesn’t particularly like instigating fights directly, so she holds back, waiting until the others are ready.
"Who is this Chatar? And who are your superiors?"
"My inquisitor, you must have somehow escaped her patrols in town." At his mention of this, you recall encountering (and subsequently putting down) a small patrol of cultist led by a female ghoul inquisitor of Urgathoa with a wicked scythe (that Vlad is currently wielding).
"So what of it--are you releasing these undead so we can take you into custody? Or are we doing this the hard way?" Vlad asks.
Turning to Vlad, he scoffs and waves a hand dismissively. "I'm afraid that's not on my agenda. It was always going to be the hard way."
To the zombie versions of you at the table, he instructs "Kill them all." Valthazar shuffles backwards as the zombies rise from the table to greet you head on.
Lola blankets the undead inside with a magical effect, and then swinging La Guitarra around and flicking her fingertips along her armor, the begins to play an instrumental tune to inspire the others while tapping her feet.
"If you won't go to Pharasma on your own, I'm happy to send you to Her. By way of the Inheritor, of course." Marya moves forward and blasts undead in the the room with a wave of positive energy.
Lola's spell blankets the zombies with gold particles, blinding two of them. Marya's channel fills the room, but the creatures seem to be particularly resistant to this type of attack and only the ZombieCoral takes full damage from it.
The zombies shuffle forward some, forming a makeshift barricade to prevent you from getting to Valthazar. ZombieMarya rubs the glitter out of her eyes and only ZombieFeena is left hindered by the spell's blinding effects.
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M:4
C:5
L:4
F:4,B
D:4
V:4
Coral uses Warrior Spirit to make her short sword Undead-Bane.
If that is good enough to identify what type of undead these zombies are then she will use Barroom Brawler as a move action to pick up Dedicated Adversary (their type of undead).
Finally, she steps out of the line of sight of Valthazar.
"Let them come to us."
Damian murmurs a prayer, then he steps away from the others, keeping his alter-ego in sight, before sending two arrows at the blinded undead-Feena.
Valthazar looks over the party, his gaze settling on Vlad. He locks eyes with the fighter and begins chanting in a deep voice. Once the hex is finished, he begins to cackle maniacally.
Marya notes the zombie's resistance to her channeled positive energy.
"Good idea trying to blind them, Lola. Let us see if Iomedae can do any better."
Marya calls down a burst of the Inheritor's Light that hits the entire group of undead.
Feena wasn't having any part of playing around with these horrifying doppelgangers and decided to take the opportunity to do as much damage as she could as fast as she could. She moved over to get a little better view into the room and let fly a tiny bead of red that zipped into the room and exploded into a brilliant all of fire!
Lola notices that most of the foes are burned or blasted, and so targets the closest not engaged with Vlad using disrupt undead.
The party unleashes devastating unto the zombie versions of themselves. A fireball, burst of radiance, ray of undead and Vlad's scythe all demonstrate to Valthazar where the balance of power sits in this battle.
Zombie Vlad is cleaved into two and Zombie Feena's body evaporates in a ray of energy, leaving three scorched and overstimulated zombies. The three undead try to collapse on Vlad and attack him, but between all of the burning and blinding, only a single longsword manages to connect with Vlad.
P
P
P
P
M:39
C:43
L:42
D:30
Damian switches his aim to his old body, determined not to falter. He watches as one arrow sinks deep, but on the second shot his hand trembles and the arrow clatters harmlessly against the far wall.
Coral will delay until after Valthazar.
"Unngh." is the response from Damian's copy as the arrow embeds firmly into his chest.
Valthazar cannot hide his disappointment that a few of his zombies are dispatched far faster than he had anticipated. Setting his sighs on Feena, he steps forward and attempts to land his agony hex on her . After the hex, he continues to cackle with an air of superiority evident in his maniacal laughter.
Forgot they had +10R to fire, all passed the save and thus took 12 less damage. Will let the downed ones stay dead though.
M:27
C:31
L:30
D:39
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”Thanks for keeping them occupied, Vlad. It’s making this a lot easier.” Marya charges up another blast of positive energy as she looks her zombie copy dead in the eye even as she addresses Valthazar. ”Not a bad idea to try to throw us off by making us fight ourselves, laughing man. Guess you didn’t expect the cleric to hate herself enough to not give a damn. Hells, I might even be enjoying this.” She unleashes the blast, surging over all the zombies.
Coral steps up beside Vlad and strikes at her double.
She isn't overly bothered by the concept, having come to terms some time ago with the fact that a mortal shell is just a vessel for the soul.
Seeing that ZombieMarya is in the way a little, and still blind, Lola blasts them with a bolt of positive energy.
The sight of her undead corpse, her original body, melting under the flames and beam of energy left Feena not feeling so hot. As a consequence when the witch landed his hex on her she suddenly felt completely nauseated at the sight of flesh melting from bones as it collapsed. Her stomach turned and she was glad she hadn't eaten recently as she stumbled off out of the way and tried not to get sick.