She thinks for a while, before speaking, I will disguise myself again as a lizardfolk, though not as a helpless injured one. Rather just being myself, a druid of nature come to investigate the impact of the crater on the environment, and help the injured tending to their wounds.
I will keep a short distance away from you, so I don't interfere with your schemes, as she starts walking to towards the crater examining the destroyed foliage, and find a survivors to treat the wounds with some herbal medicine.
She speak in draconic to Ajikisshochraos, We not to kill the the wounded, but to help them. It is part of the plan to investigate the destruction. We only attack those who threaten us.
With your preparations complete you go down towards the village, you manage to cross the dark mist that has formed around the village and you enter to find a place that barely resembles the boisterous town you visited earlier today. The stench of death is strong in the air and you notice that a small fraction of the people killed (perhaps 1 in 10) has risen as undead after being killed.
The few folk who were lucky enough to have survived are now desperately trying to fend of undead.
You see that there is a force gathering near the docks at the south-east end of town they are most likely trying to evacuated using a ship.
Cori trie to determine what sort of undead creatures have been spawned.
Most appear to be Zombies near the center of the town you can see the forms of various specters or wraiths but they don't seem to be wondering far from the center for now.
playing the part of a survivor, Vinnick casts his eyes over the scene.
Not only did it decimate the entire area, it brought back some as undead?... I wonder... could this be improved upon? Could we increase the conversion rate? If 20, or even 30 percent of the people killed by these... tools of destruction were raised...
as the first sight of living come to view, he leans in and whispers to the others, acting as if he was merely helping them along.
Are we allowing survivors? How long do we wish to play our ploy? I can take control of must of the undead here if desired.
Stanislav moves the group towards those flashes of light. If the Sarenrites are about they would be the ones causing those flashes. I suspect the undead are already doing what we want but further encouragement and direction might be good. If they do not appear too strong I would welcome engaging any ordered resistance. I am always looking to improve our gear and we plunder is always good.
"Killing those holier-than-thou knights sounds like fun to me," Cori replies. "Half-dead peasants aren't much sport."
Vinnick will use his channel ability to take control of any undead in the area, and have them group and "chase" the party, to help play up their act as injured and fleeing townsfolk.
Walking on her own with Ajikisshochraos at her side, though always keeping in sight of the rest of her group as they move towards the chaos.
She sighs often, as she points to the withered plant life, specially softly in draconic to Ajikisshochraos, Why? Why? Why must the nature be destroyed like this. Totally unnecessary ..., as she mutters as she surveys the damage.
She ignores the undead rising, though if they come towards her she move close to her party, thinking to herself, I am sure that corpse won't mind if a zombie or two is destroy by mistake. For the sake of the pretence of being a concerned druid investigating the destruction.
Vinnick is able to use his influence on the undead to turn away the zombies that come in your direction. You wander into town and encounter your first survivor.
The man that appears to be a Half-orc and he is dressed like a hunter is balanced precariously atop a small brick structure. He has a quiver but no bow (you spot his bow on the ground not far from there) and below him a large undead tiger is circling around. The hunter has a small axe in hand and is watching the tiger carefully.
Cori looks towards the half-orc and concentrates, trying to get a sense of the purity of his soul.
She still remains a little distance from the party when they come upon the half-orc fending against the newly undead tiger, probably was the half-orc's companion, looking at how the half-orc was dressed. She watches to see what her party does, as she continues to inspect trees and plants.
This seems to be taking care of itself. Stanislav comments as he begins to detour around the situation. The bow could be nice though. he adds.
That tiger would make an excellent addition to our ranks... I wonder if that is the powerful undead he spoke of?
Vinnick hesitates as they begin to detour.
@cori he does register as good.
"Let's circle around behind him, a bow shot away, while he's focused on the tiger. Then, we all shoot him. If he's not dead, he'll likely lose his balance and fall. The tiger will finish him off," Cori suggests.
Stanislav nods and unshoulders his bow as he moves.
Cori continues to move, giving the half-orc and tiger a wide berth. She acts as if she were as she appears: an injured peasant afraid of being eaten by a zombie tiger, and moving on before it notices her.
Once she is out of the half-orc's periphery, she circles around behind him. Assuming the others have followed, she stops when she has a clear shot at his back. She draws an arrow and nocks it.
"Ready to loose?" she says to the others, waiting for them to give an acknowledgement.
Stanislav times his shot with Cori's but his aim is wide.
Vinnick lets fly an arrow, and readies to channel to attempt to gain control of the tiger.
she simply shakes her head and sigh. She returns to her investigation.
Cori's shot hit's the half orc but the other two miss.
He staggers but doesn't quite lose his balance and he start to utter a long string of profanities as he starts to prepare to cast a spell.
If he is first he casts Entangle centered on the group (dc 18)
The Tiger still seems focused on the ranger for the moment.
Grumbling under his breath as he barely avoids the vines when they erupt, he figures he might as well try his spell.
Drhili Ikein
He speaks a phrase of power, before holding his hand out like a puppeteer towards the man.
1st level- 5+2 /day
grease- 1/1
Mage armor- 0/1 (used)
Ray of Enfeeblement- 2/2
Air Bubble- 1/1
Silent Image- 1/1
Expeditious Retreat- 1/1
2nd level- 3+2 /day
Boneshaker- 1/2
Lesser animate dead- 1/1
Flaming Sphere- 1/1
Fog Cloud- 1/1
Unconcerned about the entangling grasses, Stanislav takes another shot.
Cori tries to move out of the area of entangling roots.
She and Ajikisshochraos move closer, though stopping at the edge of the entangling vines.
Vinnick's Spell and Stan's arrow manage to knock down the ranger from his perch and he gets mauled by the zombie tiger but he manages to avoid the worst of it.
He quickly runs away and gets abig gash on his back doing so and moves to his bow picking it up.
Cori takes another shot at the ranger as he reaches for his bow.
She simply stands at the edge of the entangling vines with her arms locked into each other in front of her chest, You know. I am very sure he would let you have his tiger companion if you asked nicely. Well, in exchange for keeping his life.
Better get ready to deal with this tiger, once it decided the hunter is of no interest, raising one hand up pointing her one finger towards the sky, Rather find this rumoured undead beast of the forest, than waste time with this tiger.
Stanislav briefly admires the ranger's spirit before firing another arrow at him. He then begions making his way towards the man.
Just gonna move on.
Both cori and Stan miss the ranger the tiger comes after him once more and he takes another hit from a claw but he escapes from the tiger avoiding getting hit and runs into a nearby building.
”If someone ambushed me, and failed to kill me, you can be damned well certain I’d hunt the fool down and end him in slow and painful fashion. Do we have any reason to believe he wouldn’t do the same?” Cori says.
Hearing the conversation between Slid and Cori, she looks to Ajikisshochraos at her side and sighs.
Now what is going on? asks Ajikisshochraos in response to the sighing.
They really want to kill the half-orc ranger, and not worrying about the rumoured powerful undead, as she turns her head back towards the others, Guess we need to follow them, just in case we have to fight that tiger.
Cori stops and looks back at the others and shrugs noncommittally. "We can let him go, if you all insist, just don't say I didn't tell you so when he shows up later and tries to cut our throats while we sleep."
He could report our actions to the priests. I'd prefer to finish him.
Vinnick will try to claim the tiger as a servant.
With the ranger running into the door the Tiger turns it's attention to your group and comes your way but Vinnick is able to subdue it and gain control of it.