Malgrim sighs in relief as the lynx moves back into the tree line.
There might be some kind of trap leading up to the cabin since this person lives alone or in the woods. Let's look around as we approach.
Malgrim starts carefully forward scanning for tripwires and other dangers.
Pila... the lynx... says there are steel teeth in the ground, be careful.
Premek starts carefully moving up along the trail.
To Pila: Is Keloch in the cabin?
Premek paces ahead, looking this way and that, and quickly locates two bear traps and a simple arrow trap upon the door to the sturdy cabin.
Keloch is inside... but maybe is turning cold?
He takes a look at the trap on the door, then turns to Ryll: It looks like it triggers here, and the arrow shoots out here... what do you think?
@Sighere, the channel has a radius of 30' centered on you, so 6 squares. You could stand in the center of the cabin and reach all of it, but not from the doorway.
Maybe Malgrim can figure out the approximate location of Keloch so you could figure out where to stand? Might be faster to just disarm the door and enter, though.
The log walls of the cabin are thick enough to prevent Malgrim's spell from penetrating it, fyi.
Ahem - someone has pointed out bad math! Yes Sighere can channel and hit the entire inside of the cabin. What's the DC saves on your channel?
If that worked it's only a bandage, I do have stabilize prepared so if he lives I can buy us the time to properly tend him. Oh and if we can, call the lynx back and maybe I can also tend to him.
Sighere's magical energy issues forth from him healing whomever may lay inside the cabin!
What do you do now?
Ryll carefully follows Premek's path to the door, scanning for any traps Premek may have missed.
Ryll stops to the side of the door. Hello? Keloch? Your, ah, companion said you were injured. We can help.
If there is no response, or sound of movement, Ryll will attempt to disarm the door.
Ok, hang on, we're coming in.
Ryll is able to confirm that Premek didn't miss anything on his quick assessment of the area, and working with the feline, is able to disarm the arrow trap on the front door of Keloch's cabin.
Ryll calls out to the inhabitants, but receives no response. opening the door, she sees that inside the cabin - The ceiling in the cabin has been partially collapsed, and all the furniture is overturned and broken - save for a single stool by the cold hearth. Cobwebs drape over everything in the one-room cabin. But what draws your eyes is the lone figure growling at you, its flesh rotting and pallid, its body skeletal in places. It stares at you with baleful red-glowing eyes. Its lack of response was likely cause by the fact that its jaw seems to have fallen away
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As Ryll opens the door, Premek slips inside to look.
Uh... what?! He's a lot colder than I thought!!!
Premek regrets slipping inside to look, and slips right back out.
He readies an action to use Tremor if Keloch comes at us.
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Umm guys, Keloch is undead. I didn't see this coming.
Malgrim backs way from the cabin door and starts tapping a beat on their drum.
Ryll draws her rapier and dagger and steps slightly to the side, allowing others access to the door as well.
See if it comes out. If not, we go in.
Keloch begins to take a step forward, and Premek's rumblings trip the undead thing to the ground, it screams wordlessly, its ruined jaw making the sounds even more hideous to hear!
Status:
Keloch (Prone)
Oh they get to go, his action was to move and he was tripped!
Och, fuj. Zdena grimaces. Your friend gonna be mad at us, she tells Premek.
Zdena's instinct is to charge in while the thing is on the floor, but she makes herself settle into position to flank the door with Ryll.
Premek gets a little less panicky and this time will wait until Keloch gets within melee range of the party to trip him again.
I'll roll it now...
Malgrim continues to tap on their drum. Drawing their short sword they wait for the undead Keloch to come through the door.
Okay, since everyone seems to be waiting for this moment....
The undead Keloch gains his feet and rushes toward Ryll! As he closes, Premek's low rumble again takes the rotting corpse off its feet and it lands in the doorway. Once again, prone....
Zdena rather clumsily slashes at the dead thing on the ground.
Ryll strikes at the fallen horror with her rapier and dagger.
Damage
Mek! Keep an eye out for that Lynx! She may not understand what's happened Keloch.
Malgrim stabs at the undead horror as it falls in the doorway.
Premek thinks they have this pretty well in hand and moves a bit towards Pila.
Uh, Pila... Keloch turned cold and still... many days ago. He is gone now. The thing in the cabin is... not Keloch. It is... wrongness. It smells of... things that should not be. We can give it only stillness.
The parties' attacks all land on the creature, yet it continues to move. Sighere's healing energy rips through the undead creature's form, yet it keeps coming. The undead creature rises, clawing at Ryll with a wordless scream!
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Zdena's powerful two handed cut severs the undead Keloch in half, while the remains on the ground twitch some, it poses no threat to the party any longer.
From the woods you can hear Pila's pitiful wail, and then silence...
The lynx pads forward, meowing and cooing at Premek,
Mourn, and say goodbye. But then... what do you want? Do you prefer having a two-legs to hunt with?
Malgrim steps away from the body and stills their drum in a moment of silence for Pila's fallen friend.
Sighere steps back, visibly shaken. He turns away from the rotting corpse and looks over the lynx from a distance to see how healthy it looks. Let me know if Pila needs any help Premek
Taking her cue from Malgrim, Ryll is silent for a few moments. She watches Pila, then glances over at Premek, a somber look on her face.
After a few moments she says quietly, I'm going to sweep the room, and make sure there are no surprises waiting for us.
I'll help
Malgrim follows Ryll into the cabin and helps her search it.
After a looking around with Deathwatch and not seeing anything else in the cabin Malgrim will cast Detect Magic.
The only things of note in the cabin are a single boot, and a beautiful longsword and longbow over the mantle.
Boots of Striding and Springing! the matched set.
Masterwork Longsword
Longbow Spellcraft DC 18
The Boot and Longbow radiate fait magical auras. Glancing at it quickly you are able to determine that this is the other boot from the earlier one you found.
Ryll, working with Malgrim scans the rest of the chamber revealing a floorboard which is loose, moving it further reveals a locked storage area.
Pila approaches the remains with a mournful look on her feline face, She then looks directly to Premek,
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I have an overabundance of two-legs. Some of them are even good hunters. We are living in the woods now, south of here. If you want to meet them, you can walk with us. I can help you and a two-legs to understand each other. It won't be the same as knowing someone for five years, but at least you will have someone to skritch behind your ears. There are also other cats, but none your size.
Possibly we will even return here. It seems like a good place to hunt from?
Would like to return here, Zdena tells Premek. She had been keeping a wary eye on the lynx, but is relaxing since Premek's side of the conversation is not implying any aggression. Real house, even small, is a nice basecamp. Maybe even leave some folks here.
Gonna go look around a bit. Zdena leaves Premek to talk with Pila and scouts around the rest of the clearing. She takes a look into the outbuilding around the back first.
Zdena investigates the outbuilding, finding it to be an old smokehouse for the lean winter months, pounds of smoked deer, rabbit, and fish full the outbuilding; providing a wealth of food for the refugees from Phaendar.
Ryll fiddles with the lock in an attempt to get it open.
She glances at Malgrim. The, ah...remains. Do you think we can just bury them, or is it safer to burn them? Not sure I feel comfortable putting them in the ground, but I don't know much about the undead.
Seeing things under control Sighere motions for Caleb to take to the air and keep an eye on things in the immediate area. He then starts searching the tree line.
Ryll is able to unlock the hidden compartment with skill, revealing an assortment of useful items:
112 Gp
2 potions DC 16
20 Arrows
5 arrows Spellcraft DC 21
Sighere checks the trail, but cannot pick up the mite's trail beyond this clearing. It is likely the prowling of the lynx has destroyed any sign of the mite's passage.
Zdena grins at the find in the smokehouse, then returns to the cabin to tell Ryll and Malgrim about it.
Should bring our folks here, she adds. Don't know if we should all go get them? Or some stay here and start making camp and scouting around.
I would say lets spend a day or two and scout he area. We don't know if there is a good source of water near here, where those mites went off to or came from, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if we can figure out what happened to our friend here and why he decided not to stay dead. I think we have gotten far enough from the original camp to buy us a day or two of scouting. And I won't lie, a couple nights of quiet under a roof would be kind of nice before returning to the camp.
We should also probably burn the body to be safe since the cause of his affliction is yet unknown.
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Zdena's brow furrows and she starts ticking off days on her fingers. Gilidia killed by Hobs at least three days ago. Found her two days ago. Left folks at berry patch yesterday. Will take day to get back to berry patch, two more to bring folks here. We already burned our couple extra days, I think. And they're expecting us back, we said we'd only go an extra five miles North and we ended up ten miles East.
She shakes her head. We can scout a small circuit this afternoon, and sleep here tonight, since can't make it back today anyway. But tomorrow gotta go back to berry patch camp. Do we *all* go, or do some stay for scouting and building shelters and keeping anything else from moving in?
She sighs, and mutters Wish we had some of those message birds Abby gets from the Rangers.
All go back. Too many bad things in the woods. As for water, there are a lot of fish here. Maybe he often traveled to the river, but that's pretty far.... I'll ask Pila.
After getting a response about her traveling with us, Premek will ask Pila where they fished. Was it at the huge river, or is there a smaller stream or pond?
Pila says they did go far south for fish, probably the river after all. There is a water hole out behind the shed, with drinking water, but it will not last into summer.
Pila will come with us, at least long enough to see what kind of two-legs we have.