"Mirhet!" Ketra grins, then winces as blood starts flowing again in earnest from her stab wounds. "She's alright then! I mean, it wasn't really in any doubt, but it's still good to hear it. I'm surprised you came here in her place. She's really a take-the-lead type." She eyes the half-orc "I suppose that means Mirhet knows at least a little about what the town looks like. How did you end up here with us? And how did you get in? And what's going on outside the big dome of miasma?"
Seemingly satisfied that no one was going to blast him again, Jando steps over to the bodies and begins extracting and checking his arrows one by one as he answers. "Well, we didn't come here together. I was a few miles outside of town before the festival when there was a white light, like another sun erupted, and then a rush of wind knocked me flat on my ass." His face takes on a haunted cast. "When I came to, the town was a blasted mess. It was...it wasn't pretty...a lot of people got turned by it and their corpses were roaming around. I was looking for survivors when the dome rose up all around town, trapping me inside. That was two weeks ago."
"These guys," he gestures at the thugs you'd just slain. "Showed up the next day. They seem immune to the dome--they can come and go at will, and they do. This is maybe half of them, and their leader is an honest-to-gods ghoul with a f*!&ing war-scythe. They're not looters; they've been coming in, rounding up the undead with bodies and herding them back out of the mists. Every two or three days this very pale fellow comes through, well-dressed, and takes a stroll around one part or another, writing in his little book all the while."
Grimacing at the three arrows that could be salvaged, Jando sits down and leans back against a broken tombstone. "Your friend Mirhet showed up four days ago--stumbling out of the mists half-dead and delirious--I think the fog poisons your mind as well as your body. She ran right into Screamer, and he mauled her pretty bad. Lucky I was nearby." He shakes his head at the narrowly avoided disaster. "I've put together a decent enough blind, up in a tree, and it took some doing but I got her up there. She's cogent again, but her leg's still busted. She's told me about the Driscolls, and you specifically, Ketra."
"So that's how I got here--but how did you all get through the dome? I hope it's a repeatable trick."
Garret lays still and listens to the conversation as his wounds are treated. ”Thank you, Sanduro,” he manages as he lays back down and relaxes as instructed.
Ketra's recognition of the name Mirhet, if not Jando himself, puts Silvia more at ease, and she slings her rifle over one shoulder. She goes over to check on Garret and assist Sanduro's ministrations. After the halfling regains consciousness, she gives his little shoulder a squeeze and turns back to their new friend.
"Silvia Macatus," she says, tapping a finger to her forehead in a casual salute. "And no, our way in isn't repeatable. If the dome isn't an effect of the explosion, and these creeps are coming and going without so much as a sore throat, then that answers a few questions. I think our objective is clear, even if the steps on the way aren't: shut down the dome or, failing that, acquire the enemy's countermeasure for ourselves."
Tunnels... comes the faint, distant voice of the lar. Beneath the tomb...
Jando blinks, slowly looking around himself. "Um. Everyone else heard that too, right?"
Ketra lays back as Jando explains. "Huh... two weeks. Not that long, but long enough. The lucky ones just died, the rest got mutated or turned into undead. Thankfully, we haven't seen many undead people... just some cows, and I guess the ghosts of Rennet and Sten, if that counts." She stretches. "If these guys were collecting undead, I guess they work for a necromancer. Maybe even whoever was the culprit behind the explosion. I think once we settle some of the spirits here, we should investigate and see if we can track that Mister Quietus down."
She asks for more details about the pale fellow, whether that's the ghoul Jando mentioned, and exactly how he looks. There had been that stranger the day of the explosion after all. Maybe it was the same person.
At his explanation about Mirhet, Ketra pulls herself upright quickly "She made it through the mist? We should go see her! Maybe Sanduro or Silvia can help heal her if there's still any lingering effects. And who's Screamer?"
As the lar whispers, she falls quiet for a moment "Tunnels beneath the tomb? Maybe a way out?" She looks around for the lar, in case they want to add any details.
”Can I sit up yet?” asks Garret, ”I’m not feeling nearly as dead as I was a bit ago.”
Sanduro ties off the last stitch to close off a long gash on Garret's back, cuts the thread, and covers the area with a bandage. "Yes, I think so. Try to take it easy, though, OK? I'm still working on the damage to your legs. And yes, I'd be happy to help your friend, Ketra."
Tunnels... comes the faint, distant voice of the lar. Beneath the tomb...
Jando blinks, slowly looking around himself. "Um. Everyone else heard that too, right?"
The duskwalker shakes his head. "No, wait a minute. Are those the same tunnels beneath the tomb where we woke up after the explosion? Because the only way out that we found was ... far out of our way. It took us two weeks to get back, and I don't think we'd make it a second time."
Still unsure how much to tell their new ally, he avoids mentioning their escape from the Boneyard for now.
Sitting up, Garret focuses on the archer that turned the tide of the battle for them. ”Jando, I am Garret. Thank you for aiding us in the battle against the death soldiers. I must also apologize for yesterday when I cast a spell on you out of fear. I was wrong to do so.”
"And no, our way in isn't repeatable. If the dome isn't an effect of the explosion, and these creeps are coming and going without so much as a sore throat, then that answers a few questions. I think our objective is clear, even if the steps on the way aren't: shut down the dome or, failing that, acquire the enemy's countermeasure for ourselves."
Jando nods, but his expression is clear he's not sure how this would be accomplished. His shoulders slump a bit when she declares your arrival a one-time trick. "Shame none of 'em made it--no criticism implied. It'd be nice to get some answers straight from the source, is all."
"If these guys were collecting undead, I guess they work for a necromancer. Maybe even whoever was the culprit behind the explosion. I think once we settle some of the spirits here, we should investigate and see if we can track that Mister Quietus down."
"I don't know who that is, but whoever did all this..." Jando shakes his head, expression taking on that haunted look again. "Whoever did this is powerful, like nothing I've ever seen or even heard of. I'm no coward, but I don't think I like your chances of surviving round two. Nor mine, nor anyone else's." He describes the pale fellow, but his knowledge of fashion is low so he can't provide many details. It's certainly not definitively the stranger from the Sagely Goat, but Ketra remembers that Silvia had reported seeing him in her own Dead Roads vision.
Jando nods in acceptance of Garret's apology, giving the halfing a tired wave and an ironic grin. "We're all scared, and it didn't do any real damage. Thanks for that, by the way." The discussions of tunnels leaves him baffled and struggling for context. "Wait, you--you were underground with the blast hit? You escaped through tunnels? Why can't we reuse them?"
Dark things...lurking within... the lar's voice echoes again, in answer to Ketra's question. Unquiet dead, hiding from the Chorus...and worse...
Jando leaps to his feet, his hand reaching for the sword slung across his back. "Who is saying that?! Show yourself!"
Getting up slowly and carefully, Garret casts Detect Magic and points out the magic items on the defeated foes.
"We were right on top of the explosion when it happened, but we ended up in tunnels afterwards...How, I do not know. But the voice you hear is an ally, we believe, a representative of the good spirits who kept the maggot-infested skeleton at bay until we could deal with it. And if we can find tunnels under the town after we have done what we can here, we might find a way out past the barrier--assuming the barrier does not penetrate beneath the ground," says Garret as his strength returns.
Picking up a magic dagger and a potion of invisibility, Garret asks, "Sanduro, do you have the healing capability to mend Mirhet's leg? Perhaps we finish here as best we can before nightfall and go see how we can help her?"
Getting up slowly and carefully, Garret casts Detect Magic and points out the magic items on the defeated foes.
"Yes, like I said, I'm happy to help. The wand these guys brought will help."
The discussions of tunnels leaves him baffled and struggling for context. "Wait, you--you were underground with the blast hit? You escaped through tunnels? Why can't we reuse them?"
Dark things...lurking within... the lar's voice echoes again, in answer to Ketra's question. Unquiet dead, hiding from the Chorus...and worse...
Jando leaps to his feet, his hand reaching for the sword slung across his back. "Who is saying that?! Show yourself!"
"Garret's right. The lar was helpful before we fought the Crawling Chorus - the thing that was taking over the corpses here. And if the tunnels hold dark things worse than the Chorus, that sounds like a hard 'no, thanks!', at least for today. But I was going to say that the way out of the tunnels we found ourselves in wouldn't do us any good; the path we took led us back here, inside the dome. Unless the lar is talking about a different network of tunnels, in which case..." he shrugs. "It's still not happening today." He looks out into the fog. "Unless the lar thinks there's some reason to rush into the tunnels immediately?"
Once conversation with the lar is finished, he packs up the healer's satchel and takes one each from the piles of +1 daggers and potions of invisibility. He fiddles with the wand for a moment, then spends another charge each on Garret and Zsofia, and two on Ketra. "Jando, how far is your camp with Mirhet? We need to review our resources and finish patching ourselves up, but I'd rather do it there if we won't be in danger along the way."
Ketra's pretty confused about Garret's comments on the tunnels "I think the lar was being literal about tunnels. I doubt it has much to do with where we ended up last time." She nods to Sanduro "No, we're in no shape to rush. And we shouldn't abandon our work in town to settle the spirits either. We'll get to those tunnels eventually though. They sounds like a good lead."
Jando jabs a thumb back northwards, vaguely in the direction you first saw him. "Blind's in the stretch of trees still inside the dome, just north. Not far from where we...well, where we first met." He gives you all an assessing glance as your wounds are tended by Sanduro.
"Might take all of 20 minutes to get there, it'll be a tight fit but we can't stay on the ground. You asked about Screamer--well it's the thing making those trees safe from these guys, but it's not safe for us either. We may have to sneak, or we may have to run. It's horrible--like three or four big animals all fused together--and it's aggressive like a wounded bear. But it can't climb, and it doesn't seem to have very good vision or hearing so I've been able to evade it easily enough. Think you're up for the same?"
”Works for me,” says Garret as he continues to work on the bones. ”I am not particularly stealthy, but I can summon a distracting animal or two should we need it.”
Ketra nods "A distraction sounds like it could work really well, especially for some kind of monstrosity that's hunting on instinct. Let's get to your blind Jando." She ponders for a moment before adding "Having that monster roaming about below will probably add some extra safety against anything else finding us while we rest."
"All right then, this way," Jando stands and shoulders his bow, then leads you all out of the graveyard and through the ruins of Roslar's Coffer, angling steadily northwards not far from where you saw him first enter the treeline. As you approach the copse, another hideous yowling roar echoes from somewhere within, and Jando grimaces.
"It always sounds closer than it is, but I still don't like the direction that came from. Stay sharp." You slip into the riot of growth crowding between the trees, the new plants already choking one another out for lack of space and light.
The crack of a branch ahead makes you all freeze, straining your ears to pick a groaning, snuffling sound. Jando mutters an oath and glances over his shoulder at you, expression grim.
"Screamer. Lurking near the blind. The pit traps are between us and him but I didn't dig them big enough for something his size. He'll catch our scent shortly..." Sure enough, through gaps in the foliage you catch sight of a hulking, misshapen thing--like a bear, fused with pigs, or a cow, or some other farm animals is a grotesque amalgamation of heaving flesh and too many limbs. It's raised a massive, mutated head and seems to be sniffing the air in your general direction.
This poor, horrific creature is a yaoguai--a monstrosity born of unnatural magic that combines several creatures into one body, creating a deformed, mismatched monster whose constant pain and confusion drive to violent aggression. No two yaoguai look the same, but most have similar abilities. Invariably, the torment of its genesis and the ongoing pain of its existence leave a yaoguai constantly on the verge of lashing out, they are almost universally prone to attacking at the slightest provocation.
”Should I distract it with some live game?” whispers Garret?
"Give it a try Garret. If it doesn't work, I've got a backup strategy to distract it while you all get up into the blind." Ketra whispers back.
Meanwhile, Ketra runs through the positions of the pit traps with Jando, so the party can be sure to avoid them.
"Right," says Garret, "I will need to get a little closer to put the creatures in the right location."
Creeping up to the north, Garret begins casting a summoning spell...
"And if that doesn't work," Silvia says, checking that her rifle is fully loaded, "what's one more fight?" She lets out a tired sigh.
Garret stealthily creeps forward, the beast seeming unaware of him--until the sorcerer stands and intones his spell, a wolf flashing into being as the monster stands up on its hind legs and lets out another terrifying scream!
-ROUND ONE-
Ketra
Silvia
Yaoguai
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Ketra uses the shrubs and trees for cover as she sneaks closer to Garret. She figures if there's a need for a secondary distraction, she should be in position to cover Garret's retreat.
Silvia immediately raises her rifle to fire, but stops short of actually pulling the trigger as Ketra sneaks forward. Instead, she ducks down, ready to step in if things go sideways.
As the wolf growl and snarls at Screamer, the beast barrels forward, crashing through the overgrown tangle to get at its prey. Tearing through vines and crushing branches it rears up next to the wolf, towering fifteen feet tall as it prepares to shred the unfortunate animal.
-ROUND ONE-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
-ROUND TWO-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Garret stays still and quiet as he directs the summoned celestial wolf to withdraw to the west, hoping to further draw the beast away from their hideout.
If he is successful, Garret starts creeping in an arc towards the blind away from the monster.
Silvia retreats deeper into the underbrush with her fingers crossed.
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Turning to motion you all forward, Jando nocks an arrow and hunkers down in a mirror to Silvia, watching Screamer intently. As the wolf attempts to turn and flee the monster comes crashing down upon it, jaws closing on the unfortunate animal. As the teeth click together the wolf bursts into a shower of silver sparks, to Screamer's obvious confusion.
-ROUND ONE-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer
Jando (Readied)
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
-ROUND TWO-
Ketra
Silvia (Readied)
Screamer
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Sanduro casts entangle in an enormous burst around the Screamer, trying to avoid interfering with his friends' paths to the safety of Jando's roost.
The druid then tries to sneak east towards the roost, around the traps.
Zsofia sticks with Sanduro.
Ketra waves the others to go south-westward, then steps out of the underbrush. "Hello! Confused? Well then-" She twirls, arms raised and flowing into hypnotic patterns. She makes several light flourishes, each one intricate enough to catch the eye and befuddle the senses.
Screamer's bearlike head, and the pig head have fused to its shoulder, both swing towards Ketra as she steps into its view. As the dancer begins her strange dance the bear's eyelids flicker sleepily--but a squeal from the pig startles it, breaking the spell. Screamer lives up to its name again and drops to all fours, ready to charge.
-ROUND TWO-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
-ROUND THREE-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Having sneaked to the west the previous round, Garret gives up on that and moves at regular speed to the west. He drops a Burst of Radiance on the creature, hoping to blind it and disorient it.
rounds
Without waiting to see whether his spell successfully entangled the creature , Sanduro moves west and a little north , drawing his bow and nocking an arrow before skidding to a stop in the grass. He takes a breath and lets his arrow fly.
Zsofia double-moves up to a spot just behind Ketra. "So, this should be fun, right, Ketra? I'm glad we're up here in the front, not with those chickens in the back. Yup, this is where the action is! Right, Garret? I mean, how tough could this CowBearPig be?"
As Screamer starts towards Ketra, Sanduro's spell completes and the thick underbrush comes to life, reaching out and grasping Screamer! For all its strength the beast is lumbering, and for every vine it uproots or shreds two more take its place...
"Don't just stand there, run!" Silvia shouts, waving her friends in the blind's direction. She heads that way herself, though she keeps her rifle ready in order to cover their retreat.
With the massive monster tangled up in the vines, Ketra's not exactly eager to rush in there and try to fight it with her knives. Instead, she stows her off-hand, pops a dagger out of her speed sheath, and flings it over the tops of the writhing plants. "Not sure if we'll get a better chance to try to take it down. Get to the blind, Zsofia and I will give it the run-around. Or uh, try to."
As the party stands their ground, Jando moves towards the rest of the group, nocking and loosing an arrow to join Sanduro's. To your dismay, both arrows hit their mark--but bounce off, failing to deal any real damage . Even Ketra's skillful dagger throw, which should have sunk in to the hilt, only barely draws blood.
Garret's radiant blast flashes in its eyes but doesn't seem to burn it--it's behavior, while aggressive, seems more bestial than outright malicious.
With another enraged shriek, Screamer lunges forward as the vines and branches snap and give way. It lumbers up towards Ketra--but one massive paw breaks through the pit trap and it stumbles forward, scrambling to get out.
-ROUND THREE-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer (-1hp)
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
-ROUND FOUR-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer (-1hp)
Jando
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Sighing in frustration, Garret continues to make his way over towards the blind and away from the creature as he drops a flaming sphere on it.
"I'm running low on spells, guys, but I'll do what I can," he says as he continues to move (that was his last level 2 slot for the day).
A crack from Silvia's rifle sends a bullet flying over Ketra's shoulder at the monstrosity.
"Uhh, it just shrugged off that dagger like it was a mosquito. Not sure I like the look of that. But I guess, we've got no choice." She closes her eyes for a moment, then glares right at the yaoguai "Alright you big pile of parts, we're going to be tearing you apart." She draws her off-hand again, takes a careful step back and out of the creature's reach to force it to approach, and raises her two blades in the most menacing stance she can muster.
Silvia steps into a wider, more stable firing stance, and quickly fires off another pair of shots.
"Uhh, it just shrugged off that dagger like it was a mosquito. Not sure I like the look of that. But I guess, we've got no choice."
"You've got that right. But every little nick ought to help until Silvia and Garret can bring it all the way down." Sanduro moves closer to the blind, then fires another arrow at the yaoguai.
"I've got an idea for an experiment! Let's see how many of this thing's faces I can punch before Sil & Garr turn it into a hunk of flaming Swiss cheese!"
Zsofia runs to the edge of the entangle effect and punches the yaogaui in one of its faces.*
*
With a curse, Jando tosses aside his bow and draws the heavy sword strapped across his back as he advances. As Screamer swipes at him the half-orc ducks the blow and returns the strike; Screamer seems to get the worse end of the bargain. Ketra's flashy menace draws a flinch from Screaner--distracting the beast enough for Garret's flames so scorch it, and Zsofia rushes up beside Jando to deliver a haymaker right into the porcine snout, which squeals in protest. Sanduro and Silvia unleash a hail of fire, but only one of the shots lands a telling hit.
Stepping away from the ball of fire, Screamer turns its attention to Jando and Zsofia. Its enormous jaws and one sweeping claw miss the agile phantom, but Jando is less lucky and takes a vicious swipe. Worse still--some of Screamer's wounds begin to slowly close up again!
"Give me a gods-damned break!" Jando growls.
-ROUND FOUR-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer (-28hp; Shaken II)
Jando (-10hp)
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
-ROUND FIVE-
Ketra
Silvia
Screamer (-28hp)
Jando (-10hp)
Garret
Sanduro
Zsofia
Slamming the flaming sphere into Screamer once more, Garret sends a trio of magic missiles at it in addition.
Surprised to see Jando and Zsofia rushing in, Ketra is left guarding against blows that aren't coming. The creature's wounds starting to heal spurs her into action. She rushes past Zsofia and tries to duck under the creature's claws, then stabs forward with her mithril knife.