"This could be as good as any place for now. We can check the road a few miles each way looking for a town. There must be people held up somewhere. I will assist in helping with the dead." He nods to Elize.
Elize: "I'm going to look at this cold box and other things that run on what was it again? Electricity?"
"Electricity," Azana confirmed, "Just be super careful. It's not as powerful as, say, a bolt of lightning, but it's continuous. And once you have it running through your body it can stop you from moving, or letting go. Too much electricity running through a mortal body makes the water in your blood boil, so it's a very unpleasant way to die."
Kealen walks outside, takes of his armor, walks up to the nearest cow, and quickly incapacitates it. When the party next comes outside, they would find the carcass hanging from a tree, the blood draining from it it, and the hide draped over a branch. The cats are feasting on the spare bits, and Kealen is sitting in a simple linen tunic, covered in a bit of blood.
Jelissa would disrobe and then put on her funeral shift. Putting a handkerchief around her mouth and nose as a mask. Finally putting on fine silk gloves. Then she goes into the room...
She rolls the sheets and blankets on the bed around the corpse. Then securing it with straps of rope she makes sure there is no holes. "Can someone hold the door open for me!" She would yell and with a response and the doors open she would come out. She brings it out in her arms like a child. Still the smell of decay is pungent and could easily make someone gag or worse if they were not prepared for it.
Then she grabs some more blankets to get the other body. Repeating the cycle.
She would ask Thorn to cut some wood and create a pyre for the funeral tonight.
Then back to work after finding cleaning supplies: "Azana would you be so kind to find what cleaning supplies this house would use and explain them to me." Using bleach she would scrub down the whole room. Even tearing out the carpet that covered a hard wood floor. Eight hours later she would disrobe in the one bathroom and take a hot shower. Once done she would stride out of the room naked and pull on her official attire for her work in funerals, the outfit you are used to her wearing. Then she would call to the group, "I will be having a funeral for these unfortunate souls, you are welcome to come or stay. It is your choice."
Then outside she would thank Thorn for the wood, and help prepare the pyre. She would ask Kaelen, "is the cow bled? If so then we could put the pyre on the blood to get rid of the attractant."
Thorn cut all the wood in his full plate. It apparently does not come off, ever. He even sleeps in it, somehow.
Once he finished cutting the wood he would go over to Kaelen and ask, "How is it going?"
After the funeral he would say, "It is going to be hard to secure this site. Luckily no undead are here or nearby. But we are lacking resources to build walls or better fortifications. Sure we could secure the house. We could tear down the barn or cow house for supplies but still it is not ideal."
Azana smiled brightly. "Cleaning supplies! Sure! I can do that." Azana racked her mind for the sort of things the janitorial crews had used at the facilities. It took a moment to remember that so many shows had the cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, so she went to check there. She could always read the instructions on them.
"Yes, it's coming along nicely, and yes, it's most likely bled out by now." Kealen says, as he begins to carve the cow, leaving just the skeletal structure, which he cuts down and throws to the cats.
Once Kaelen is done she begins to build a pyre over the blood with Thorn's aid. Then they place the corpses on top.
With the lighting of the funeral pyre she begins to pray. Ending with thanks to the dead for their home.
Titus helps everyone as needed.
"I think we can secure the site with some work. The land is flat and easy to see any enemies approaching. A wall would help as well as a tower. The wall to funnel the enemies to a kill zone. Stone would be preferable. If the farm is here surely there must be water close by. I could start bringing stone from the river. Or would any from this world have better suggestions?"
The group looks to Azana...
Azana jumped as people looked at her. "Oh. Um. I think most places out of the way tend to have wells, or irrigation systems, rather than piped water. Or get it from rivers." She paused. "I'm sorry, this is actually the first time I've been on a farm. For now, water will still come from the taps, but I don't know how long that will last."
Considering, she added, "We could also get stone from nearby buildings and stuff, right? I know that happened to a lot of the old castles where I lived - the stones were hauled away. If we can't find raw stone, wouldn't that work?"
"The large building outside seems mostly made of wood with a metal roof of some kind. There is a cylindrical structure that seems to be surrounded in metal as well. I don't see any stone structures out there. The hose here is good. We have a few cow. I will go search the other buildings. If we are setting up here we will want to farm and raise food for survival and to aid others we bring here. It would be nice to know where here is and if there are any towns or villages close. I will return shortly."
Titus heads back out to search the long barn looking building and the Silo.
Perhaps it would be an idea to get a good idea of the area around there little haven. If there was a city just over the horizon, for example, they would need to know. It would be a potential source of supplies and also a permanent source of zombies, meaning physical defences would need to go up as soon as possible.
The easiest way to do so was to simply go up, so Azana excused herself and did exactly that, floating into the sky until she was reasonably sure she couldn't see any further and using her phone to take pictures of any features - towns, rivers, other farms, potential resources like forests and the like.
"SEE ANYTHING UP THERE?"
Once Azana descends and answers his question, Kealen would go out to the garage/storage building close to the house, and searches for any bits of interesting technology he doesn't recognize.
The long barn you find out is where most of the cows are located. You find another 40 cows. They are need of cleaning and fresh water. You could release them into the fenced area or into the open.
Azana flowed down. "Looks like there's no buildings nearby. Some water to the west, but bar this farm it looks like desert with a few rocky hills we could use for stone. No buildings, which means we should have some breathing room before the zombies find us." It did beg the question, though - why had the people here killed themselves, or who had killed them, if there wasn't a risk?
"There are around forty cows in here. They are dirty and the water is dirty. Do I just let them out into this pasture? Does anyone know how to care for these? If we breed them they could sustain all of you for some time I would think if not indefinitely. I couldn't find an entrance into the cylinder building over there. Not sure what it is."
He looks to Azana.
"I don't know how to mine or cut stone. If we can't find cut stone I don't know how much good it will do. No buildings or town huh. So we are a day or more travel from any. We certainly need this as a base of operations, but we need to find someone, anyone that can tell us anything. We were brought her to stop this. I would like more of a plan forward than just wandering and slaying any undead we find. Perhaps there is a map or something in the house. We didn't search it very well yet."
Titus runs back to the house he enters and calls out to Elize to help him search the house for a map.
"There is a collection of farm vehicles in the building over yonder, we could use those to explore the surrounding area and cart stone and such, that is, if they have....power? Eclectic-city? Fuel? I don't know."
"Petrol. Uh, wait. We're in America. Gasoline. Gasoline is the fuel that these vehicles will use. It's a kind of refined version of oil. Given how far we are away from a town this place must almost certainly have a tank to fill up with." Azana looked around to see if it was obvious. "The vehicles probably have some in there tank, but we'd better take the tractor. I don't think I could drive a car. They travel at about 40 miles an hour, which is probably pretty dangerous. Besides, the tractor should have a trailer for hauling."
Titus you find several maps and other books with maps in them. Most of the maps are labeled Montana.
Yes, Azana finds the vehicles with gasoline in them and in the North corner of the shop a large container filled and labeled Diesel.
He offers, "Tomorrow, I will work on cleaning out the cow coop. Lots of water will help but we should put the cows to pasture if it is bad as I am thinking. One more night won't kill them."
He would go back in and make his bed on the floor of the living room and sleep in his armor.
She nods and says, "I will make more spells to help with cleaning tomorrow."
Then she would make her bed next to Thorn casting a spell upon him before she goes to sleep.
Titus shares the maps with the others.
Elize hangs her head: "I'm sorry but I haven't studied geography so these maps don't help me much. Do any of you know how to read them?" She then looks to Titus.
"I'm tired as well. I will get some rest with the others."
Titus hugs her.
"I will watch over you my love. Get some rest." He kisses her forehead.
"I'm going to the roof. I will watch over as you all sleep. Get some rest my friends."
Titus goes onto the roof and watches over the surrounding area.
"I'll help with the cows Thorn, I have nothing better to do."
Kealen unpacks his tent, sets it up, has a simple supper, and goes to sleep.
No trouble finds the compound in the night. The morning sun rises and quickly turns up the heat on those outside.
He is up and quietly walks outside before he starts exercising in his armor.
"What the hell was that. All I did was drink from the artifact. It was the wizard that summoned us here. Why was blood in the chalice? It had to be him. I will bend this curse to my will I will use it as a tool to hunt and punish the dead that walks. When done I will either become what I hate and hunt or have the power to destroy myself if it comes to it."
He speaks allowed expecting the spirit to come back out. When it doesn't he sits and thinks on things the rest of the night. In the morning he awakes Elize with a kiss.
"There is a spirit or something inside of me. I don't believe it was the chalice that cursed me but the blood that had been placed in it. Elize I am sorry for what has happened. I understand if you can no longer love me as I now hate myself on some levels. Just know I will always love you."
Tears in her eyes she embraces him.
"I loved you before this and our training. I will continue to love you even if I'm scared. I trust you but I will watch and if need be try to destroy you." She whispers to him.
His eyes widen in surprise, then he simply smiles falling deeper into her embrace. A few moments pass and he stands with her in his arms.
"We have much to do today. Let's go check on the others."
Titus calls outside to Thorn and Elize wakes the others. When all gathered he asks.
"What is our plan than today. Clean and water the cows. Put them to pasture. After we should pick a direction to travel. We should venture out a day or two and see if we find a town or settlement. If not we return and try another direction. What do they rest of you say?"
"I agree, we should head one one direction at a time, while some of us stay here." Kealen says, as he walks up to Thorn and Titus, a rucksack thrown over his shoulder, eating a slice of bread.
"I'm going to feed the cats and mules, I'll meet you at the barn when I'm finished."
"If we're going to explore I'll go get a vehicle. If we follow the roads we'll find something, eventually." Azana went and choose the easiest to drive vehicle that she could find and began to load it with food and fuel. If they were going to be gone for a couple of days she wanted to eat and not walk. Not that she had to walk, she noted as she padded across the farm barefoot, but it would be a problem for the others.
If possible, she intended to choose a tractor and hitch it to a trailer. That would be easier to drive, she suspected, for someone with only a learning driver's licence and should have enough power to shove anything else out the road. And a trailer could hold everyone, their supplies, and probably their animal friends.
It takes Azana several minutes to orient herself to the tractor's controls. Then it takes even more time to move it around and line it up with a very small trailer, one without a top. Or you could go try to connect it to a cow trailer.
Kaelen you find your mount but there is no sign of the panther or the mules. Also everything that was on the mules is gone too, you realize that they never made it. One was black gooed as the other went with the rider of the panther.
Once you do finally figure out the trailer situation and go South you find a dirt road. You can stay on it and go East or West.
"Mucking and cleaning," he states in response to Titus.
"There is nothing really in a 2 mile radius. I will stay with Thorn to clean the cows. You four can go look and see what you can find."
Azana hitched the smaller trailer for now, and trundled the machine out for the others to inspect with only minor stutters in the driving and almost no stalling at all! Still, after a lap or two she was getting it down more smoothly. She'd have to put some practice into driving when she had the chance. "Do you think this will do?" she asked the others as the vehicle rolled to a stop and the engine puttered down to idle.
"What sort of cart is this? It seems like it should transport us all."
Titus assists Elize up and then gets on the trailer himself.
Azana looked at the smaller trailer. "I...don't know? There was a bigger one for cows, so I guess this one is just for hauling supplies and seeds and stuff around. The last of roof is a bit annoying, but so long as you guys keep hydrated I don't think it should be an issue. It's mostly desert around here after all. Not exactly rainy."
Kealen begins to muck out the barn, after leading the cows out to pasture. Once he's done, he would begin to inventory the cattle, scratching notes on a bit of parchment.
At some point, he would sit down and have a bit of food from his satchel.
Thorn and Jelissa help Kaelen with the mucking. Jelissa would leave as the two of you let the cows out, bringing back sandwiches.
Taking the route South you find a dirt road. Do you go East or West?
As they approached the choice of turning, Azana called back, "I'm gonna head Easy, unless someone else has a preference." There was no real reason for going East, she just didn't have a better plan.
About 20 minutes pass and you see the markings of another driveway on the right. You can see buildings and vehicles.
Titus hops down as they approach the driveway and building.
"I will scout it out a bit."
Titus breaks from the group to scout ahead as they are out in the open.
Azana nodded as Titus went ahead. "I'll slow down, keep the noise low so any nasties might not see us coming." The witch spent a moment doing just that, and approached the edge of the town. Once they were closer she'd park and they could explore.
This is for sure not a town, just another compound.
On the right is a fenced off area with cylindrical bales of hay. Then another 100 feet and you see alarge corral to your left. Another 40 feet on your right is a trailer with some vehicles beside it. Another 100 feet behind it is a house.
Beyond the corral you see a barn, apparently smaller than yours. Beyond that 30 feet is a fence which has old vehicles and equipment. Then 60 feet or so you see another house to the side.
You dont see anything alive nor any corpses.
Azana began to move around the buildings, trying to hear anything or see anything through the windows. "We might be able to get some supplies," she murmured to the others. "If some of you are feeling brave I'll teach you how to drive one of the vehicles well enough to haul it all back."
"Nothing alive and moving out here at the perimeter, but if I were held up I would pick up and burn or bury the dead we killed so. I'm going to investigate more."
Titus approaches up the main drive hands out.
"Hello. Anyone alive around? We are looking for survivors. We are here to help. I fully understand that's what people not here to help would say." He turns around slowly.
"As you can see I have no weapons. Please if your alive talk to us."
Azana you see at least one figure standing in the first building you come to. Skirting that building you continue seeing figures in the buildings. The windows are crusted with salt and dust making it hard to see within.
No response comes to Titu's call. Titus you still don't see much movement or anything living. You see breeze move a few things here and there. Then a box on one of the buildings growls alive and has tattered strips of something flutter in front of it.
Azana waved the others over to see the figures. Most likely zombies, which would suck, buy why would humans just be chilling in their house while a guy was shouting? She gestured through the window, and murmured, "If one of you can control the front door, we can probably lure them out one at a time and dispatch them. Might not get them all outside if they're behind closed doors, but it should thin their numbers inside all the same."
Titus nods.
"Get into position then. I will go check the door. They could be alive still and just scared. Let us go have a look."
Titus approaches the door still calling out.
"We are coming in. We are not here to hurt anyone."
I can't change or it will scare them. I have to wait until we are sure there are no living here."