"Come, let's climb the building over there." Telvir points toward the brick building near the center of the compound. "If we circle around the back, we should avoid the creature's notice."
Aily had forgotten how 'lovely' spending time with her mistress was since normally Aily just handled everything on her own. Unfortunately l, if the plan to elevate Lady Courts power to provide protection, the Lady Cort had to be involved. "Mr. Stanton's suggestion is sensible" stressing the last word enough to let everyone know what she thought of her mistress's suggestions
Ceceka purses his lips and studies the building pointed out by Telvir. He's got his doubts because it sounds too good to be true. Yes, zombies are dumb, but this cow monster could be blessed with such unholy strength that it can reduce the building to nothing but rubble. Perhaps he's overthinking it - he'll defer to the group's decision.
"It might knock the building down."
"Come, let's climb the building over there." Telvir points toward the brick building near the center of the compound. "If we circle around the back, we should avoid the creature's notice."
"So we don't all go up there." Caraid points out reasonably. "Telvir and I can damage it with spells from there. If it looks like bringing the rest of the building down the rest of you can distract it. Seems like a sound plan to me."
Destroying the thing while well out of its reach seems like a very sound plan! The sight of the zombie cow has sent enough adrenaline shooting through Caraid's veins that he is focused on the matter at hand as moonlight illuminates him and the barren farmyard around him... although shoots of greenery are beginning to appear!
"Lady Haldoli said it was practically unkillable," Mithralline retorts. "Leave it alone for now; we can come back and deal with it later!"
If they're so eager to fight it, they may be even dimmer than Arielle. I wasn't sure that was possible without being a zombie. Heck, I've met zombies that I'm pretty sure are smarter than her.
Aily smiles turning toward the others helps convince the others of her mistress's plan "The zombie cow is such a large thing, and unfortunately, My Lady here is the smallest of us all. So tiny. The staggering difference between the two means it would be Unwise to subject her ladyship to the potential of losing a battle against a significantly larger rotting bovine." she resists the urge to pat her diminutive master on her oddly misshapen head. Adding a hint of mock pleading she continues, "May we consider her... alternative and not at all cowardly plan, even though it might put us in a position of being trapped between another enemy and this rather larger cow, resulting in an even more violent death than the combined plan of Mr. Stanton and Caraid? Which is rather clever."
Caraid smirks in Aily's direction, clearly appreciating her conversational subtleties.
"My concern is that waiting to deal with it later simply means that we face the most dangerous foe on the farm weaker and with fewer resources." He manages to stifle a yawn as he speaks. "If there is one battle we must win, it is this one - so we should fight it while we are in the best position to do so."
"Oh" Aily feigned surprise, holding her white gloved hand over her mouth "That Does make sense." she nods, before turning to her mistress. "My Lady, I worry that without someone of your stature to help them, these gentlemen are surely to be perish. While, yes, that would a result of their own choices, their deaths might reflect badly in the eyes of our benefactor." she bows low at the impertinence of someone like Her suggesting something to someone like Lady Cort, all while internally seething at having to do so.
"Come Lady Cort: Who will assist you if Aily is trampled to death? Let's hoist ourselves up to safety and dispose of that errant bovine."
Terrible idea to make that thing in the first place. Someone needs to learn some restraint.
Telvir snorts at the lack of judgement on the necromancer's part.
You stealthily move into position as you prepare to engage with Mosghuta!
From the roof, Telvir concentrates on a sharp piece of debris and flicks his wrist, hurling it at the cow.
for
Caraid fires off another bolt of strangely coloured light. This one flies towards the cow - mostly.
Ceceka crab-walks forward to the monster's enclosure and, when deadly magics start to fill the air, he hastily empties a bag of caltrops in front of him.
Caraid’s beam falls short of the boss cow. Telvir’s projectile slices Mosghuta but doesn’t seem to hurt her much. The zombie cow bellows and trundles towards Ceceka. It trampled over the caltrops, several sticking in her hooves but not seeming to slow her down much. Ceceka falls back!
Caraid keeps up the same approach!
With no better luck.
Telvir frowns as the cow shrugs off the damage, then conjures up a sliver of ice and flings it at the creature.
for
"You'll get it, Carai." He casts guidance on the cleric.
Mithralline grits her teeth as her companions take on the zombull they were specifically warned about. Why does no one listen to her? Only faithful Aesedai. The two of them are going to be the only ones to escape here alive ... or undead, as the case may be.
If it kills Abria, I should have her reanimated. She's been faithful, and I think she'd appreciate being a zombie. If she even realizes there's a difference...
She allows her glow to resume, so her servant can see what's happening , and raises her shield, just in case the thing's attention is distracted.
Too concentrated on avoiding the beast's deadly horn, Ceceka falls back. He looks at the remains of the wooden enclosure and prays that they'll hold in case the beast decides to try its luck by throwing all of its weight into a feral charge.
Aily considered reminding her mistress that she can see in the dark, but she then reminds herself that it wouldn't matter, that Mithralline wouldn't remember it any more than she could her name.
She'll ease down her pack of useless crap, set the parasol leaning against the wall, and look over her lady's head to see if anyone has died yet.
There are no boots or shoes in sight, and the size of the corpse is that of a halfling. Beneath the corpse’s hood is curly hair that resembles Berline’s.
Inside the building, a dozen leather saddle-like contraptions, each with numerous straps and buckles, lie crushed and tangled in a heap amid rubble from the collapsed walls.
Caraid's beam goes wide again. Telvir hits Mosghuta with a ray of frost, but it barely seems to damage to zombie. The zombie cow continues to lumber after Ceceka, who once again dashes away as soon as she draws near.
The warrior flashes an angry look at his companions. He can't help but wonder if he's supposed to finish this monster off all by himself!
Baiting Mosghuta around the yard is a long, drawn-out process. Ceceka spends several minutes keeping just out of the boss cow's reach as the others bombard her from long-range, slowly but surely making dents in her tough hide. Finally, the zombie cow takes enough punishment to fall to the ground and lie still.
Once she is destroyed, you can pry the scythe free of her rotten body. It is a +1 scythe.
Searching the body of the impaled halfling uncovers a piece of torn red cloth clutched in his rigid hands, caked with dirt, blood, and gore. Cleaning it reveals a small symbol embroidered with off-white thread: a hand missing a finger, with those that remain outstretched.
"Well, that's taken care of, and I can't say I'm upset. That creature was too powerful to be a useful farm worker." Telvir floats the filthy cloth over in front of his eyes and examines it.
"Did you find anything useful in that ruined building, Aily?"
As the mighty unkillable beast is taken down with simple brain power and tireless legs, Aily escorts her mistress out of the Not Hiding place they were in. "Only the scene of Mosghuta brutal murder of a halfling, Mr Stanton. His body had this cloth." which she held up, barely blinking an eye when the elf used his magic to pick it up for inspection.
Her own mind goes over the image embroidered on the cloth to see if it reminds her of anything.
Her dark eyes will inspect both buildings to see if there is anything to be gained from either, and she will personally commend each of the fighters for taking down the beast, especially Ceceka who was the only one to put himself in danger, as limited a danger as that was due to the speed of the creature. "Though prudence would be to refer to this battle as significantly harder than it was, since our benefactor, Lady Berline, spoke of her creation as "extraordinarily dangerous"" the servant suggests. The suggestion was aimed at her mistress, in the hope, that she doesn't brag that the uselessness of the blood lord's guard cow was so great that Lady Cort didn't even have to dirty her hands in the fight.
Ceceka sits down and reaches for the waterskin hanging from his hip. Sadly, it's filled with ordinary water and not the cold ale his lips are craving. Still, drinking from it visibly reinvigorates Ceceka.
His lungs are still working over-hours and no matter how many times he wipes his forehead, wave after wave of sweat keeps on coming. Pearls of sweat perch perilously atop his brow when he looks up at the elf inspecting the piece of fabric. "Show me that scrap of cloth", he asks once Aily is done with it and is about to inspect the buildings.
None of you recognize the symbol on the scrap of cloth.
The other buildings around the central yard contain farming and garden implements, tools, and other things that might be used to make repairs around the farm. There is nothing of intrinsic value, however.
"Well. We've found the remains of one keeper. Perhaps the others are holed up somewhere?" Telvir points over to the western side of the compound. "Perhaps there, in those circular outbuildings? They look to be in better repair."
Aily brings the cloth to Ceceka, bows her head slightly then explores, while the others rest. Unfortunately she finds nothing more of interest. Recovering her pack and parasol, she then settles into her normal position as carriage for her mistress.
Ceceka sits down and reaches for the waterskin hanging from his hip. Sadly, it's filled with ordinary water and not the cold ale his lips are craving. Still, drinking from it visibly reinvigorates Ceceka.
"You deserve this." Caraid says, offering Ceceka a small waterskin of his own. The fierce burn of the liquid inside shows that it certainly isn't water and might even be strong enough to clean medical equipment.
"Keep it." The changeling says with a wave. "As I said, you deserve it."
Since no-one else seems interested Caraid takes the scythe and gives it a few lazy swings, impressed by how well the farm implement swings. When Telvir, who it must be said was more useful than he himself, suggests a plan Caraid nods and stifles another yawn with his free hand.
"Excellent idea. Hopefully we can clear the rest of the farm a little faster now."
You head to the western part of the farm. Here, three large wagons stand within a yard of trampled dirt. Human remains are strewn about, ripped to shreds and gnawed on. The creatures here are no doubt responsible for the grisly carnage--two zombie hounds and a hulking zombie horse! The creatures turn their milky eyes on you and begin to shuffle toward you!
HP 17/17
AC 17 (19 with shield raised)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +6
Hero points: 1
Effects:
"More of them! Atalantia, attack!"
Even as she commands her minion, the vampire fairy launches herself from the girl's shoulder and streaks toward the nearest zombie, shield raised and scythe extended.
Mithralline sputters in indignant rage.
"Impertinent! How dare you?! Kneel, cow!"
Telvir sighs. Such a waste of resources here. They'll have me making new workers for this place tomorrow, I'm sure.
The elf gestures at the zombie dogs, willing them to start unzipping at the seams. He raises a barrier of energy as well, just in case.
Caraid examines the zombified animals with a curious gaze and only fires off one of his strange light beams as an after-thought.
Then he moves behind Telvir. Just in case.
Aily had a subtly snide remark ready to go about her mistress wanting to strategically withhold her help again, but Lady Cort is too quick in her charge. This time.
The sudden act startles the elf enough that all she can do is follow, drawing her small but wickedly sharp knife from underneath the large bow nestled above her bottom.
Telvir's magic rips at the zombie hounds, the slashing damage proving quite effective against their rotting flesh. Caraid blasts one with divine energy as Mithralline and Aily ready themselves. The hounds stagger forward, and both sprite and servant attack the first one. While Mithralline misses, Aily scores a critical hit, slicing off the hound's head! The zombie horse shuffles forward as well, gnashing its teeth menacingly as it gets into melee range!
After her small knife somehow finds the perfect tendon to sever the hounds head, the lady's maid moves with her mistress to surround the zombie horse, concentrating on trying to sever a hamstring from the smelling equine.
Nodding with satisfaction at the deconstruction process, Telvir gestures and a jagged board flies through the air, attempting to slice at the remaining zombie dog.
for
HP 17/17
AC 17 (19 with shield raised)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +6
Hero points: 1
Effects:
"Well done!" Mithralline praises Telvir, glad to see he's pulling his weight in this endeavor.
She closes in on the remaining morbid mutt and slashes at it with her scythe but again is too distracted by her minion's lack of help.
"Why didn't you get me closer?!" Mithralline demands of Aily as she realizes the wagging dead were too far away for her to bother reaching them.
"BAD DOG! SIT!" Mithralline commands in a rage.
Iron Command (reaction); Trigger: An enemy within 15 feet damages you.You put an impertinent foe who dared harm you in their proper place. You command your enemy to kneel before you in obedience. If they dare to refuse, they must pay the price in pain and anguish. The foe must choose one of the following options.
The enemy kneels, dropping prone as a free action.
The enemy refuses, and you deal 1d6 mental damage to it.
In addition, your Strikes against the triggering creature deal 1 extra damage until the end of your next turn. You choose whether the damage type is evil or negative each time you use this reaction.
Though as the zombie is presumably mindless, this reaction's pretty useless for this combat...
Caraid flicks another beam across the courtyard and circles around behind the horse, curious.
Telvir's projectile slices the second hound in half. Mithralline flies at the horse and hacks at its neck, while Aily moves behind it and severs the tendons in its legs. Its legs fall to the ground and the rest of the horse quickly follows suit, collapsing in an inert heap and lying still.
With the zombies destroyed, you continue to explore the western part of the farm. Four grain silos, each twenty feet in diameter and constructed from sturdy wooden staves, stand in the northwest corner of the farm compound. Three rotting humanoid corpses lie on the ground nearby, each still clutching long-hafted farming implements. The hatch of the northeastern silo is open, and much of the grain has spilled onto the ground.
A search of the area uncovers several coils of sturdy climbing rope and padded grappling hooks stashed between the silos and the wall to the north. A thorough inspection reveals a portion of wall just north of the silos is partially sunken into the earth, and the crumbling wall has multiple easy handholds and footholds, inside and outside, that allow for easy scaling without a rope.
You also discover a strange, pinkish-gray powder sprinkled across the grain in all four silos.
Aily puts up her knife after a proper cleaning, fluffing her apron's bow out once the blade is away to hide it properly again. Pulling out another, more expensive cloth she cleans off her mistresses weapon as well, since proper care of weapons means the LADY won't insist on a new one every week.
At the silo, the maid kneels to wipe up a little of the pinkish-gray powder with her finger, bringing it up to her nose, than a tiny bit to her tongue. "The name escapes me, but the effect won't harm one much, just a mild headache. A brief one."
Telvir examines the area as Aily analyzes the powder. As he describes his findings, he waves a hand at the discarded farm implements and a rake floats in the air, sweeping through the area to illustrate his points.
"A messy skirmish was fought here. A half-dozen people people gathered, here, I think. Yes. They battled the charge hands, slaughtered them, then fled. That way, that way, that way."
Telvir lets the rake fall and floats a grappling hook over. "Curious. They came over the wall, it seems, but the structure is in such bad repair that they wouldn't have needed these tools."
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"Iocaine powder! I'd bet your life on it!" Mithralline declares as her maidservant sniffs at the poison.
"Well, if they fled, they're clearly cowards and of no use to us," she declares at Telvir's words. "That strange symbol is what we care about. Four fingers. A good start! Let's look around for more useful clues like that one."
To the west, you can see a heavy iron gate slammed shut on someone trying to enter the farm. The corpse pinned by the gate wears a dark red cloak streaked with crusted blood. A leather satchel is crushed against the corpse’s chest by the gates.
It appears the gate is trapped—its hinges are set in tightly coiled springs in the wall, and unless the mechanism is properly disabled, the gate slams shut after it has been opened about halfway. It would appear the dead man fell victim to this trap, which has not been reset.
Forcing the gate open allows you to extricate the body. The cloak bears the same symbol as the scrap of cloth you found earlier: a three-fingered skeletal hand stitched in off-white thread. The satchel contains four small packets of a strange gray paste, though all but one of the packets burst when the gate slammed shut on them.
Aily is able to discern that the paste is not especially dangerous but may have mildly uncomfortable effects on an imbiber’s muscles.
Mithralline frowns. "It looks like they got what they deserved. Is that paste what caused the zombies to go berserk?"
"More mild effects." Aily noted aloud after telling the collected mistress and masters (well not her masters, but someone above her station... at the moment since anything can change with blood and... well Aily decided thinking to make her too prone to doing so Stopped.)
Where was she? Oh yes "Two substances that would not normally be in food, Even our food, collected here at a farm. It is curious, don't you think?" her raised eyebrow sent to each of them spoke to her at least finding it curious, even more curious than the bodies.
"Sabotaging the food is odd. Are they trying to ruin the crop? Or did they hope it would be consumed? If we find the leaders of this outfit," Telvir points at one of the hand symbols, "They will have some hard questions from me. This whole situation is messy and wasteful."
Aily nods respectfully at Mr. Stanton's deductions, questions, and suggestions, her fingers clasped dutifully behind her back, touching the hilt of her blade with delicious warmth as she lightly imagined that interrogation.