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Relenting on his search of the bodies for the moment Natesh uses Leo's call as a reason to leave the dead for a moment. "As long as you don't expect me to run too quickly with it, I should be able to carry a bit more in my pack." Looking back to the bodies he adds to the rest of the party, "I've had no luck checking the bodies. I'm certain I would have found some trace or signage if it were still there, but it may be my exhaustion is challenging me more than I expect. I'll check them again later, but someone may very well interject with their own preemptive examination."
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Malark heads across to the Chapel where dust-covered pews stand in silent rows in this small chapel, and shelves line the walls. Facsimiles of candles occupy the candelabras here—mounds of congealed wax and burned wicks.
This chapel served not only as a place of worship but also as the town’s city hall, supporting gatherings of people for both faith and government. In the past it was pristine and gleaming, but now it is grimy and dank, the walls scorched and the floors scored by battle.
A small corpse—charred, broken, and its features mostly burned away—rests against the pew. The corpse is covered in a layer of fine ash and scraps of charred fabric that seem to be all that remains of the clothing it once wore. Around its neck is a soot-covered chain bearing an ankh.
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At the sound of another dead body Natesh joins Malark in the chapel to investigate it further. Link to Chapel
Meanwhile Leo heads completely south to the general store. This general store sold goods brought across the plains from Vellumis. The town’s inhabitants took most of the store’s wares with them when they fled, and the rest has decayed.
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"Another body? At least this one didn't rise up and attack us." Natesh takes the moment to kneel the body and make a motion to ward away evil from the dead corpse as he continues, "the fire might have played a part in that. Sarenrae offers blesses those turn from evil, but I have seen her warriors rain down fire on anything that refuses redemption."
Utterly confident in his memory Natesh continues to conclude as he rises up. "Clearly some sort of magic washed over this place place in response to the undead invasion. This must have been a powerful undying thing that marched into the temple and been engulfed in the fires. Should call in another of the mages to confirm, but it reads just as from a parable from the temple." As he continues he offers little more evidence but convinces himself more that it must be true.
Responding to Leo's shout Natesh calls back, "Makes sense. I wouldn't want to leave good supplies for the undead myself."
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"Hey Malark, put the body in one of the bags. We can always investigate later and compare it against the notes. We are running low on time. Make sure you get all of the body and all of the gear." offers Raini, trying to save some time.
"You too Natesh. Don't spend too much time trying to determine if it is a body we need. Grab it and we can decide later."
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"How long do we want to spend in town before heading to the college team?" asks Raini to the others before they leave to search.
"Well, if our estimate of how far away those scouts were is right, we have 2 or 3 hours, so I'd say no more than an hour, since we need to get to the college and search there as well."
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Assisting Malark stowing the body Natesh asks Raini, "Are you worried those giant lumbering undead are going to catch up with us? I'm sure we can clear through this town, search through the college, and be able to have a lunch before they manage to get close to us." Natesh offers another glance at the mobile horizon before adding, "maybe just a small lunch."
"What I'm more worried about is the Venture-Captain berating us for a doing a shoddy job. We don't need to catalog every bit of grain left here, but we should give everything a bit of attention and make certain we aren't leaving anything behind. I concur with Variel for how much time we can spend here. That seems like more than enough time to finish checking these village."
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Raini looks at Natesh, the color drained from his face somewhat. "You aren't worried bout those behemoths? Seriously? They are an affront to nature. Besides, they'd squash me like a bug!" states the druid as he draws closer to his animal companion for comfort. Sasha simply looks on and pointedly ignores the gnome. You'd swear she rolled her eyes at his antics.
The gnome continues on to the inn with the monk.
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Leo steps foot into the general store and quickly realizes something quite dangerous is inside. Looking, but not touching anything at the entrance it seems that all of the rotten food and spilled liquids have made a disturbing mold as small mold cloud puffs breath up from the food stores within.
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Natesh tries to make some sort of sense about the Ankh but with all of the death and destruction it clouds his mind. Malark spends a few minutes gathering up any related documents he think might be of some importance before heading off to the Armory next door.
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Leaving Natesh behind with the body Malark opens up the armory. Empty weapon cases and crates are scattered throughout this bare-bones building. Dust outlines the faint shadows of swords and shields removed from their resting places.
The citizens of Goldenflame used horses to transport goods to and from Vellumis, storing weapons, shields, and other combat-related items here. The evacuees took much of the contents of the armory to defend themselves on their journey, and undead troops and Whispering Way cultists have taken the remaining equipment.
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Deciding to just bag the body Variel and Raini head off towards the Inn. Just as the pair get close to the Inn a large shadow moves over the sign. A moment later, a white horse cautiously appears at the end of the alley. It seems a bit uneasy.
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Natesh looks at the giants looming in the distance and can't help but show a moment of fear staring at the looming terrors before drowning it in unwarranted bravado. "Affronts they are, and there are plenty of stories of them being defeated by heroes, adventurers, and Pathfinders. We are all three and therefore have them at a insurmountable disadvantage; I can't imagine a future where they defeat us."
Despite indications otherwise Natesh pushes himself a bit more to take care of stowing the body quickly with the image of the undead behemoths clear in his mind.
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Raini makes quite the impression on the horse as it seems to calm down long enough for him to grab ahold of the straps and pat it on it's nose. The barding features a large engraving of the Glyph of the Open Road and gold-and-green caparisons.
The saddle bears an engraving with the name "Desert Wind", which must be referring to the horse, as well as the name “Larraz Virtanne,” Reaching into the saddle bag Raini pulls out a pair of minor healing potions.
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This small tavern and inn was a popular location for students and locals to relax after days of study or labor. Many visitors to the town stayed in the modest rooms here. The paddock to the east of the tavern used to house chickens and a small garden, but it is barren now.
Outside the building, a painted sign reading “The Flaming Wheel” and decorated with a flaming chariot wheel hangs from one chain, swaying gently in the wind.
Opening the door you find a broken circular table and door, part of a makeshift barricade, rest near the entrance of this modest tavern. Other similar tables and accompanying chairs are scattered throughout the area. Long-dried blood smears decorate the floor and walls. The bar is haphazardly covered in tankards—signs of the final celebration of life as a body lies across the floor. This corpse has been heavily damaged by zombie teeth. A broken piece of plate armor lies nearby, bearing iconography of a flame and the hilt of a sword.
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Leo sticks a rag over his mouth and gets to searching as much as possible, taking small breaks for breaths of fresh air. Miraculously he doesn't inhale any of the deadly spores. He comes out of the room carrrying the only item remaining of use, a large bag of oats.
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Variel tries to understand the religious aspects of the iconography a little better but comes up short.
Malark returns with a broken cart, though he is sure with a bit of work it couple be mostly operational once again.
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Raini continues to soothe the horse with his voice as he searches the mount for signs of distress or identification. Finding the potions, he tucks them away into his pouches for safer keeping.
He notices the barding and the heraldic coloring and ponders for a bit.
Once the horse is consoled, Raini brings it to the front of the inn and secures it to a post. He doesn't want to leave his friend in the inn alone for too long.
Upon entering and having Variel point out what his initial search has discovered, Raini will investigate the body that was found.
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Done with the brief pass through the chapel for the moment, Natesh joins a few of the others at the Inn while admiring the horse for a moment. "The horse belonged to one of the missing Pathfinders. We are lucky to find something alive here, but maybe this can lead us to the rider. I'm not sure of the quality of the food given the moldy environment, but maybe Desert Wind could use a bit of that oats Leo pulled from the supplies."
Forcing himself from his brief period of rest Natesh proceeds to help search the Inn and find any helpful direction as he helps collect the body.
Moving onto the broken armor Natesh picks up and looks about the broken pieces of armor before offering, "Looks to be armor belong to a Knight of Lastwall. I don't recall any of the missing Pathfinders to be a member of their order, not that wouldn't stop most from taking the armor anyway."
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Leo sets out a small set of tools and gets to work on the cart. After some time he looks to get the cart into working order, though it still seems quite rickety. Leo feels if he had a little more time he might be able to make it sturdier.
Securing the Desert Wind to a hitching post Raini heads into the Inn. With Variel pointing out the badly wounded body Raini is able to determine that it once was a gnome or a halfling due to its size. Natesh enters soon after inspecting the armor from the Lastwall Knight.
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Helping move the bodies out the building Natesh takes frequent breaks as he struggles against fatigue. He hides it as he pays some attention to Desert Wind and the various decorations about the Inn.
As he rests against the wall Natesh tries to direct any attention away from himself as he notes, "Larraz seems to have kept the colors of Katapesh strong even after he joined the Society. I can understand that well, camaraderie among country can be stronger for some than the bonds forged with ones family." Pushing himself off the wall he reenters the Inn to continue helping search and gather what he is able before the group is forced to leave.
Finishing collecting other portions of the armor Natesh moves to clean off some of the debris on the sword icongraphy. "The armor was emblazoned with the symbol of Iomedae, appropriate for a Knight of Lastwall and less so for many Pathfinders. I've heard many of her worshipers give many a good word in defense of the downtrodden. My only complaint would be that sometimes their interpretations are too stringent."
Helping collect the portions of the armor Natesh looks again in the direction of the undead giants. "I think we have given much a good search of the town. Unless any of you are of a different mind I believe I would agree to Raini's assessment from earlier and we head the the college as soon as Leo finishes his repairs on the cart."
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Raini turns to Natesh, "We've only done a cursory check of the front of the Inn. We probably should send a few folks to search the rest of the inn and the rooms to make sure we didn't miss anything." offers the gnome.
"In addition, the assignment we were given was to recover the missing pathfinders and anything of cultural or societal significance. Can anyone review our notes to determine we aren't missing anything from this town that could be construed as such?"
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Natesh finishes up in the Inn while Leo works on the cart. Gathering as many clues and relics as they can along the way. Raini searches through the notes, wondering what they could possible take that would be anything of cultural or societal significance.
Besides the armor from the Knight of Ozem Raini looks up at the sign hanging from the Inn. Surely this would give a bit of hope or semblance of home back to those that had to flee.
Variel checks out the corpses outside before they get loaded up. Bending down he grabs ahold of the bones in the horses neck and jaw. Wrenching hard he tries to separate them enough for the wayfinder to fall free.
Unfortunately it takes awhile to break free.
Stuffing the wayfinder in his pack Variel helps load the corpses, not paying a whole lot of attention to their clothing.
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Not wanting to spend any more time here as the colossal giants draw closer, Leo hitches Desert Wind to the cart and you begin to make you way towards the College, leading Desert Wind along with the oats.
Goldenflame College is a 10-minute walk south from Goldenflame itself. Goldenflame College was an institution dedicated to the study of art, history, literature, philosophy, and religion, where students could pursue myriad interests. Although most students were Iomedaean, all were welcome within Goldenflame College’s doors, so long as they were dedicated to the cause of good. The rise of Tar-Baphon led to the quick fall of the town of Goldenflame as well as its college, so this building has been long abandoned, apart from occasional vermin and scavengers.
Although run down, Goldenflame College still bears signs of its once-beautiful architecture: dirty and ivy-wrapped columns, majestic archways, and a partially intact stained-glass window portraying Iomedae herself.
Two wide staircases lead into the college, and centered above them is the religious symbol of Iomedae. Engraved into the graying stone is “Goldenflame College, Est. 4083 ar.” A pair of sweeping staircases lead to a veranda across the entire front of the college, with entrances to a reception area and the main hall on either side.
Lying facedown on the porch is a body. This small corpse’s hand is outstretched to the door of Goldenflame College. The body is clad in dirtied white-andred robes with gold trim, shredded from the back as though by cruel claws. A small notebook has fallen nearby, its pages stained with dried blood.
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Leo stares is boyish awe at the building before him. "This style is pre-Cheliax.." he breathes quietly.
Leo scans over the body and then his eyes catch on the notebook. He picks it up and gingerly begins looking through it.
"These are some sort of research notes..." he mumbles as he flicks through the pages.
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"Good mind Raini. I was so focused on the Pathfinders and the college, and the undead, that the rest of the mission had slipped my mind.
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Natesh keeps his best keeping up appearances and hiding his fatigue as the group approaches the college. Seeing the abandoned building takes a long moment of silence as he admires the building before looking about for the lurking undead. "Lastwall enjoyed it's old buildings, not too surprised to see something that was around for centuries. At least it is a good sign it won't be falling apart before we leave."
While Leo examines the writing Natesh focuses on the body and his clothing. "An devoted adherent of Iomedae if the clothing is to indicate anything.
I don't see what could have left these scars though." Looking around again for anything moving on the party Natesh asks Leo, "Can you tell what they were researching?"
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A dusty sofa and small chairs are the only furnishings that remain in this modest room. Two small windows to the east look out over the front lawn, and doors exit to the north, west, and south.
This small room was the reception area for visitors to the college, though it also occasionally served as a cozy classroom. Apart from the furniture, nothing else remains here.
With little other direction the group of Pathfinders opens the doorway to the main hall. Perhaps once majestic, this cavernous hall now truly resembles a cave: dark and dank. Dirt and standing water obscure the once-pristine white and gray tile, and stone colonnades stretching to the ceiling are covered in grime and mold. Sweeping staircases to the northwest and southwest lead upward, as does a spiral staircase. Smashed statues and torn paintings line the walls here: the signs of a struggle. Several doors exit to various rooms to the north, south, and east.
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Natesh shakes his head at the deteriorated edifice. "A shame that the battles broken into even here. The scale of the building likely hides things the attackers missed though. We could do what we did in the town again and search for threats before investigating and through searches. If we are to get into a fight, I would rather see us force it than allow them the chance to pick and choose how to ambush." Giving a glance at a broken painting he adds, "once we have cleared the first floor, then we would be hopefully free to search more freely."