Seirah’s eyes go wide when Finch asks her about her sister. The woman squirms, brings her hands to her head and stares at the ground with her eyes almost jumping off their orbits.
“She found us, the boys and I, but then those…things! Sharp teeth, worm-like, they…they jumped on her face! There was so much blood and she couldn’t even scream…and I screamed for her until…I don’t know.” She looks at Finch. “I…what…what day is it? Where’s her body, I don’t see her body, bodies don’t vanish, perhaps…she’s still alive? But the blood…?”
Further questioning fails to give any more insight on what happened; the more questions they ask, the more unresponsive Seirah becomes. Tave quickly questions the Wayward Wonders and decides to take the woman and her sons to the mayor whilst the group continues the investigation.
—
A wide, high porch of white wood fronts Abadar’s temple. Two stained glass windows face the road; the one to the north depicts Abadar, the Master of the First Vault, and the one to the south is emblazoned with dozens of golden keys. Both are broken in several places, with bits of yellowish glass littering the porch. The door frame around the wood-and-brass door is splintered.
To the south, the group sees a similarly downtrodden graveyard, with unkempt overgrowth all but completely obscuring some graves.
The group hears the sound of breaking glass and furniture coming from the inside of the church.
Distant sounds of voices and digging come from the graveyard.
The words hit Pandir faster than she can think. "The teeth? The body? We started looking today, I do not know..." Pandir pauses and lets the woman finish. "Miss Tave, perhaps you can speak to her? Or perhaps Mister Mayor can understand what she is saying."
So many words. The quiet around the temple of Abadar is a welcome change.
"Hmm. Does anyone hear digging from the graveyard?" She focuses a petal towards the side of her head. This is how humans listen, yes?
"Hmm? No. I can hardly believe this is a temple to Abadar. Unless it's been abandoned and raided."
Grothog pauses once Seriah mentions her sister.
Koiaistor Pnar is dead, then.
The orc's small eyes gazed over the rags of bloodied cloth.
Suddenly, a spark of white-hot rage ran through him, lighting up the normally-dark and quiet recesses of his soul. These cultists killed the Koiaistor in front of her sister in the most brutal and horrific way possible. They were about to kill the children. They killed Myron, who did nothing but bring entertainment and spread happiness in this land.
They brought back Capital-A Anger to him.
Grog's rage began to show. His veins bulged as blood pumped through his powerful heart. His fist clenched, nails digging into flesh and drawing dark blood.
"I'm goin 'o kill 'hem," he said, voice heavy with fury, pulling himself to his full height, eyes gleaming with a hint of red.
With Tave taking the children and Seriah, Grog marches like a soldier accustomed to campaign, pick in hand. He paced himself, rekindling his anger every few minutes with fresh images of Myron, Pnar's body, and the memories of what happened. Outwardly, utterly silent, but inwardly raging like a crazed bloodhound.
His heavy feet stop at the temple of Abadar.
Whether enhanced by his rage or just sensing conflict, Grothog senses both.
He grits sharp orcish teeth, and with one word relays what he senses.
"Agro," he said, indicating violence inside the temple.
"Desecra'ion," he said, indicating digging in graveyards.
The fire in his body, his barbarian instinct pushed him towards the temple as the greatest gathering for the targets of his ire. The instinct of the soldier, however, pushed him to handle the lesser threat first.
Pandir... kind of gets what Grog is talking about. "Graveyard first, then? Digging is very... specific in graveyards." She keeps quiet. Grog has been a different person since Seriah spouted those words.
"Digging? As in digging a grave to plant a body? Hide it? Or digging up bodies for ritual use, or zombies?...."
Katala’s question hangs in the air as rhe raging Grog marches ahead, heavy steps shaking the porch and fluttering Pandir’s petals. The graveyard is forlorn and in clear decadence—the group can see that one of the bigger crypts, likely dedicated to a rich family, is missing its door.
Closer to them, they can see several graves have been dug up, and large mounds of fresh, dark earth lie pile around gaping holes. Two individuals—burly human men equipped with shovels—are working in one of the graves. Bent over in their labor, they are barely visible until one of them stands straighter and hefts his shovel over one shoulder.
He nods in a greeting to the group.
“Klion’s the name, good masters. It’s best you keep back,” he says, through a handkerchief tied round his face. “I wouldn’t come no closer. This one’s all ripe with the plague, and they say she’s contagious. One whiff, and you could turn black as pitch and be deader than
old Tar-Baphon.”
His friend grunts something that was probably an agreement.
The Wayward Wonders have been in Abberton for a long time—much longer than some, like Finch, would have liked—and despite all the problems in the village no one ever mentioned a plague.
There is something uncanny about the way the gravedigger moves and speaks. It’s almost as if he were wearing a disguise.
"Hello Gravedigger Kilon. I am not your master. But I must inquire: a plague? No one in the village mentioned this. Many infected would say something about it."
"We are looking for the recently deceased, actually. May we take a closer look?"
”You’z be lyin’.” Grog said with barely contained fury. He hefted his pick, and growling. “Leave or die.”
Finch slinks off as the group enters the burial ground, moving up behind the monuments and listening in on the conversation from nearby, ready to appear from behind the grave-diggers and begin stabbing. They do not look too suspicious to her, but she does not really need much of a reason.
Klion grins when he hears Grog words.
“Oh, there will be death alright, but it’s not gonna be ours, flesh bag.”
The man’s smile grows wider and wider until claws come out of his throat, grab the sides of his mouth. Finally, a huge fat worm-like creature crawls out of Klion and leaves an empty suit of human skin behind it.
Though the scene is sickening to everyone, Grog cannot help but feel a sort of atavistic horror at the engorged demonic worm crawling out of a person’s mouth. His stomach churns, eager to spill out its contents, whilst his anger slowly gives in to pure fear.
2. Grog (frightened 1, sickened 1 vs will save DC 19)
3. Pandir
4. Katala
5. Klion
6. Klion’s friend
Graveyards are so confusing. Humans dig up piles of dirt, but only in these specific areas. Then giant worms put the bodies in there? And they defend their food when threatened?
"Oh! You should absorb nutrients from the dirt, Gravedigger Kilon!" She hops around in a blind panic, much faster than expected. She winds up in the grave next to Kilon and its ally.
Even as she seems to panic she swings twice at Kilon's friend, hoping to quickly incapacitate him.
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"You call him a flesh bag, then pull yourself out of your flesh bag? That's just sick!" Katala casts an arc of lightning between the pair, hoping that the monster isn't immune....
Grothog took a step back, snarling in rejection and disgust, as a sense of horror nearly washed over him.
But with the horror came a sense of clarity. A spark.
This is a monster.
It's not murder if it's not a monster.
Grog narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath despite the sickening daze that almost washed over him and the fresh horror, and advanced regardless, swinging his pick at the beast once, before practicingly [/b]raising his shield[/b].
Whatever ill effects horror has on Grog, it does not dim his calculated savagery in one bit. His weapon pierces the worm and makes it writhe in unnatural pain.
Katala’s spell adds insult to injury, jumping from worm-Klion to his friend and managing to hit both of them in full.
Pandir, a blur of leaves, petals and movements, is also successful in one her strikes, giving a sonorous wack on Klion’s friend’s face. The man, whose lower jaw was already all but destroyed, seems to grin, somehow, and stops the second blow with his bare hand.
2. Grog (frightened 1, sickened 1 vs will save DC 19)
3. Pandir
4. Katala
5. Klion -19HP
6. Klion’s friend -13HP
"How is it smiling? Kilon's Friend, you do not have a mouth!" Pandir continues her mock panic, but also wonders how Kilon's Friend operates. But leaves don't have mouths either, so why does she have one?
The mystery thickens even as death threatens to engulf her.
Vaguely disgusted (but mostly just impressed), Finch moves up and jumps out from behind a tombstone, slashing and stabbing at the worm.
Finch stabs Klion, who writhes in pain and bleeds a thick and dark sap-like substance.
Though they reacted slowly, the group’s foes do not seem to panic. The worm slithers away from Finch and towards Pandir, effectively flanking her with its still-human partner Making full use of its advantage, Klion repeatedly stabs the leshy monk with its glistening fangs .
The human, instead of attacking, simply looks at Katala and grins. She feels a sudden despair grip her heart: what can she do against these unholy abominations? The man turns its eyes once again to Pandir as it unsheathes its sword.
2. Grog (frightened 1, sickened 1 vs will save DC 19)
3. Pandir -22HP
4. Katala (will save DC 19)
5. Klion -31HP
6. Klion’s friend -13HP
Whatever its attitude is, Worm Kilon quickly tears into Pandir's stem. Also, Kilon's friend is missing a jaw. Very strange.
But first, focus on Kilon.
And focus she does.
Katala sees the human grin and feels fear grip her for a moment, then pass. Glad that she isn't close in the melee she can still cast her magic....
Grog makes an attack of opportunity against Kilon.
Grog raises his shield, and makes an attack against Kilon.
Pandir notices that Grog struck Klion on the back as it was moving away …perhaps if she hits the worm here, there and also over there it will hurt it quite a bit? Strike after strike connects with dizzying speed until Klion shivers one last time and falls to the ground, deflating and turning an ashen grey.
Katala, having resisted the brunt of the mental assault, once again fires her magical bolt. Her shaking hands waver, however, and the remaining foe is only slightly singed by her spell.
Grog, meanwhile, takes a step forward and continues in his furious frenzy despite the disgusting churning sensation in his belly. When his strike hits Klion’s friend’s human skin, it sizzles and burns, as if reacting to the cold iron.
2. Grog (sickened 1 vs will save DC 19)
3. Pandir -22HP
4. Katala (frightened 1)
5. Klion
6. Klion’s friend -26HP
Grog, knowing this was a monster in some form, did not hold back his assault and attacked unrelentingly, despite his churning stomach.
Seeing one foe falling, Finch efficiently moves towards the next opponent and places herself in flanking position with Pandir. She stabs the man twice, though only one strike seems to harm it.
Klion’s friend, clearly unhappy with is current position, takes a step away from the menacing orc and begins convulsing. The worm erupts from its fleshy container in a rather more gruesome fashion, eating chunks of skin and meat.
2. Grog (sickened 1 vs will save DC 19) (will save DC 19 or frightened)
3. Pandir -22HP (will save DC 19 or frightened)
4. Katala (frightened 1) (will save DC 19 or frightened)
5. Klion
6. Klion’s friend -20HP
"Oh... I see." Kilon's friend reveals himself.
Pandir continues to "panic" as she flails.
She then steps around the corner. "Over here, Grog!"
Something yellowy that looks like half-digested cockatrice meat slips out of Grog's mouth, but he growls and then roars in an intimidating way, before charging ahead and striking.
"Another? How many of these freaks are there!"
She casts her cantrip again.
It takes a lot to unnerve Finch, but this sure does it. Doing her best not to throw up, she continues to stab wildly at the source of her disgust.
Even though eating its way out of a body healed many of the creature’s wounds, it was no match for the combined blows coming at it from every direction: Pandir hammered it with a few well-placed blows, Finch took a stab as the worm was electrocuted by Katala’s lightning bolt, and finally Grog nailed it to the ground with a brutal swing of his pick.
[ooc]1. Finch (will save DC 19 or frightened)
2. Grog (sickened 1 vs will save DC 19) (will save DC 19 or frightened)
3. Pandir -22HP (will save DC 19 or frightened)
4. Katala (frightened 1) (will save DC 19 or frightened)GM Screen:[smaller]
"Friends... are you alright?" Pandir takes a moment to calm herself. Her petals are shredded to tatters and much of her foliage ripped away.
"Why did Kilon and its friend dig these graves and try to drag us into them?"
If Katala has a moment, Pandir asks for some medicinal aid.
Once that is done, Pandir looks for some clues.
The final pick-strike in the monster's body sealed its fate--but also splashed a glob of the creature's rotten worm-matter into Grog's roaring mouth.
Grog, becoming greener with disgust, falls on his knees and throws up on top of the worm.
Grothog pukes his breakfast and lunch and the snack he stole and the small mouse he found all on top of the worm.
His eyes red from puking, he has a look of shame on his great block of a head.
"Soz," he says before hiccuping. "Ugh..."
After taking some time to recover, the group does a brief survey of the area. The first, unfortunate thing they discover is that the two worm-like creatures had been digging around the graveyard. If the amount of missing chunks of the corpses is of any indication, their motivation was fairly simple: finding human flesh to sate their appetite.
That aside, there is little to see in the area: it is overgrown and likely had seen very little use in the past few years.
Whatever answers they seek, the group feels fairly certain they are not to be found among these graves.
Pandir knows humans frown upon anyone and anything eating other Humans. "At least we will not be ambushed. Now, we can head towards the temple?"
Grog wipes his mouth, hefting his pick on his shoulder in disgust of the creatures.
"We'z be goin' in da church," he said, before stomping off in that direction, rage rekindled as he moved quickly towards it.
After Katala recovers from the unnatural fear from the gross worms she does what she can to help bind her friends wounds. "I hope there aren't any more of them inside. But if they were eating the buried, they'd have no reason to leave the graveyard...."
The temple’s main room is filled with long wooden pews marred by long claw marks. Comfortable cushions of gold velvet have been shredded, their feather stuffing spilling out upon the benches and the wood floor. Leather-bound books have been yanked from the small wooden shelves built into the back of each pew and torn apart, their illuminated pages mixing with the accumulated mess that covers the ground.
At the centre of this chaos is what might have once been a female human. Her skin is distended like a piece of clothing about to burst into seams—and, indeed, some of the more perceptive Wayward Wonders can see holes across her body where skin has been ripped apart. In those spots, they do not see flesh, but something very much like the creatures they had just destroyed in the graveyard. At least as tall as Grog, she is busy breaking anything bearing Abadar’s holy symbol, which is something of a long an arduous task given that this is one of the master of the first vault’s holy places.
Katala moves into the room and immediately off to one side. Her friends are the close fighters. She fights from as much distance as she can....
Grog growls in fury.
"Oh. More of the worm things. But there is no flesh here to consume." These worms confuse and bewilder her.
But no matter, Pandir moves as close to the woman-wearing-worm as possible.
Katala takes the first shot, casting her spell and hitting the creature right on its back. To her surprise, however, it barely flinches and its skin shows no signs of charring or damage.
It stops wrecking a chair, turns to the group and its mill white eyes stare at Grog, equally unimpressed.
The woman moves with big heavy steps towards the growling orc and sinks her claw-like nails into his shoulder. The wound is grievous, and so is the heavy backhand strike that sends Grog a few steps back.
2. Finch
3. Grog -32HP
4. Pandir
6. Katala
Pandir attempts a >Long Jump< across the pews.
She balances herself atop the first pew and wobbles back and forth, trying to maintain her balance. "Friend Grog, remain strong! I will assist soon!"
Grog's eyes narrow at the heaviness of the monster--it was no repeat of the ones before.
They widen as the monster slithers ahead, sinking its claws deeply into his flesh, before the backhand sends him smashing into broken pews.
The orc gasps in pain and surprised rage.
Grog disentangles himself from the pew, before launching himself with his own fury and heavy steps, bringing his pick down twice and grasping his shield in preparadness for another strike. With his rage, a mysterious faint hum eminated from his pick.
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Finch cringes as Grog is pummelled. Vandalising Abadaran holy places and desecrating graves is all in good fun, but this is unacceptable! Whether or not the halfling is capable of feeling anything deeper than possessiveness toward her fellow mortals, she does consider any mistreatment of Grog to be a personal affront. In a fit of mixed panic and stubborn pique, she rushes to help, running around the pews as fast as her little feet can carry her.
Katala was worried with this new enemy. First it seemed to resist her cantrip. Then it really slammed Grog! Grog didn't seem like he wanted to retreat though. Katala glanced around and cast another spell, magically picking up some sharp debris and flinging it hard at the thing....
Grog, stunned by the attack swings his pick twice; both times the creature deflects his attacks with ease. Pandir and Finch come to his aid, taking position at his side and behind their foe.
Katala, realising her spell is less effective than expected, uses a slightly rougher but more effective spell, piercing the woman’s shoulder with a makeshift stake.
Though clearly enraged, the creature is smart: seeing itself flanked, it takes a step back just as Katala’s attack hits it. It stares at the catfolk witch with a malevolent stare.
2. Finch
3. Grog 8HP
4. Pandir
6. Katala
Pandir leaps from the pews, landing across from Miss Rosefinch.
She almost tumbles into the raised platform.
Grog focuses his rage on the worm-lady, stepping up once and then smashing his pick down, keeping his shield up ).