"It's not a ghoul or a necromancer," Nuri responds to each of the rooms. "I say we leave it alone. Everything we investigate in this place seems to attack us in some way."
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"If there's anything in here, it's the necromancer and some of his ghouls," Nuri snaps. "I agree with Wren: I'd rather leave and burn the place down than keep opening doors and hearing things that aren't there and having things attack us that we can't fight. Let's go."
She detects magic to see if the elf is under the influence of a spell.
When the door is opened, Nuri peeks in with interest. "Do you suppose this was Aldern's room as a boy? Eponine? What's wrong? What are you talking about?" She detects magic to see if the elf is under the influence of a spell.
"Perhaps Aldern had an ancestor who was a necromancer," Nuri suggests uneasily, "and he's been hiding out here all this time -- a mad lich in the attic. That would explain the ghouls and the decor ... but not why there aren't any tracks in or out."
"Servants' stairs?" Nuri ventures a guess why two staircases would be so close together.
"We don't know anyone was murdered," Nuri answers sharply. "Perhaps there was an accident. Or someone killed a dog, or a goblin, or ... or a ghoul."
DM:
Nuri shudders and moves away from the scarf on the floor. "Burn it," she says flatly, looking to the fireplace.
Nuri's eyes flutter open blearily, focus briefly on Eponine, then drift past her to Victor, whereupon she gasps and flinches away with sudden fear. "What was...?" she asks, rubbing the dark marks on her neck where the scarf had been crushing her.
DM:
"No! Get away!" Nuri chokes at Victor in panic as he clutches at the scarf at her throat.
"Aldern," Nuri chokes, staring. "What--?" She raises her hands to her throat and attempts to loosen the scarf's hold on her.
"A pack of ghouls?" Nuri suggests from the doorway. "Or the ghast that's recruiting them? This place doesn't smell like an undead hostel. Eponine, how recently has that fireplace been used? Can you tell?"
"This doesn't make sense," Nuri insists quietly from the doorstep. "The girl at the bar said Aldern was here a month ago, but he couldn't have been staying here. It looks like no one's lived here for at least a year."
Nuri is finally officially levelled.
"If something's turning people undead and sending them out to kill people and deliver notes, they're not doing it from inside," Nuri insists. "Ghouls don't fly. Are there any outbuildings? Stables or the like? A boathouse?"
"We can't just break in," Nuri objects. "We only have the word of a bunch of undead that there's anything wrong here at all. There's no sign of a band of ghouls hiding out in here to terrorize the neighborhood. We had no problem finding signs of passage at the mill. There should be footprints if corporeal undead are going in and out of here, or the stench of death and remains of their prey. Ghouls aren't exactly known for their subtlety."
Nuri shoots Wren a less-than-friendly sidelong glance. "I would have said 'urbane.'"
"Celdis, Victor," Nuri corrects him distractedly, frowning as she surveys the state of the estate. "This can't be right. Why would he stay in a house in such a condition? Unless he came out to oversee renovations." Her dubious tone indicates she doesn't think Aldern is the DIY type.
"Celdis is his manservant, Victor!" Nuri snaps impatiently. "Yes, if the necromancer has taken up residence in his country home, we have to remove him and his experiments as quickly as possible. Aldern and his household could be in grave danger. Can you imagine showing up for a weekend party all unsuspecting and finding yourself under attack?" She shudders. "But we should still wait for sunrise. Perhaps we could leave just before dawn so it's daylight when we arrive at the house? We don't know how long it will take to clear it. Oh!" she turns to Eponine. "I forgot. You need to go see the priest. He suspects Belril might have been a ghast. Your elven blood will protect you from a ghoul but not from a ghast. You need to get checked out before you walk into danger; if you should die while infected...."
Victor looks at Nuri curiously. "Yes the very same. Why? Do you also have suspicions about his servant as well?" "You mean Celdis?" she asks quizzically. "I didn't realize... I knew he had a country estate... I didn't realize it was here."
"Did you say ... 'Foxglove?'" Nuri asks, as she joins the group for the tail end of Ameiko's words. She looks startled. "Not ... not Aldern Foxglove?"
Cathedral: "Of course, Father. Just ... be careful." Nuri looks in on Kern, if allowed, before leaving the cathedral to head to the Rusty Dragon.
Cathedral: Nuri looks frustrated. "I'll go to the Rusty Dragon and try to convince her to come see you and get checked out, but you know elves, Father: They think they're going to live forever. I wanted to ask you something else." She takes out the wrapped medallion and carefully lays it on a table before uncovering it. "Belril was wearing this, as was the woman who apparently caused all the trouble at Thistletop. Is it possible that the amulet might be cursed? The people who are known to have worn it have met violent ends."
Cathedral: "Eponine was, but she went to the Rusty Dragon with the others. I hope she'll come by when they're done to have her wounds seen to." Nuri hesitates. "The ghouls were familiar, Father. A whole patrol of guardsmen out of Sandpoint Garrison, and they were led by the halfling, Belril Leokas ... or by his undead body, at any rate. He seemed different than the rest ... more powerful."
Nuri will take Kern to the cathedral, along with the still-wrapped silver medallion, and urge Eponine to come with them as well, although if the elf insists on going somewhere else first, she'll tell her to meet them at the cathedral afterwards. "Father, I'm sorry to disturb you so late," she apologizes to the priest, "but we met ghouls in the countryside. We destroyed them, but some of us were wounded by their claws and teeth. Is there any way to tell if ghoul fever has been contracted before symptoms appear? I don't think it's safe for Kern to go into battle unless we're sure he's in no danger of undeath."
"Fine," Nuri says flatly. "When you're dead, we'll kick your corpse into a ravine and make no effort to inform anyone who might care about you what happened. If you want to go back out into the darkness looking for ghouls tonight, be my guest, but I want to get Kern's and Eponine's wounds checked by the priest and see if this medallion is cursed. If I can find out anything about your former companion's next of kin while I'm doing so, I'll seize the opportunity."
"Had he family? Anyone we should contact?" she asks of Belril. "No need to go into detail about how he died. Just 'in the line of duty,' I would imagine."
Nuri sees Eponine eyeing the silver medallion and intervenes. "Don't," she says firmly, carefully wrapping it in a cloak without directly touching it. "Everyone who has owned that medallion has come to a bad end. It should be examined at the cathedral for taints or curses before anyone else wears it."
"We need to get Kern and Eponine back to town," Nuri insists. "Either of them could be infected."
"For the lords' sake, Victor, whose side are you on?" Nuri cries in frustration, jostling the archer's elbos. "Shoot the undead, not your own allies."
Nuri swiftly moves closer to the battle. Presenting her holy symbol, she channels once again to harm the ghouls attacking her allies.
Nuri moves forward and presents her holy symbol, channeling Soralyon's power against the undead.
"It's not stopping I'm worried about; it's getting out alive," Nuri mutters resentfully, but she pauses to pick up a handful of rocks, puts all but one in her pocket, and causes the last to glow like a torch. She equips her shield and makes sure her holy symbol and pick are both easily accessible before following.
"My group?" she retorts. "No more mine than yours. I agree that the ghouls need to be stopped, but in a forest after dark, they can see and we can't. It's like walking into an arena blindfolded ... and this 'Lordship' knows that. He didn't send the note when we had hours of daylight ahead of us; he waited until just before sunset. If we agree to fight on his terms, where his side has all the advantages, we're more likely to join his pack than to defeat it."
"She's right," Nuri says ruefully, stopping short. "Whatever it was delivered the body to the sanatorium and made no effort to cover its tracks. Its plan might have been to entice us to follow it. We could be walking into a trap. Perhaps we should mark this location and return in the morning."
Nuri follows Eponine as well.
"Well well well, Nuri, this one seems to be addressed to you." Victor clears his throat, "'You, and you alone, have brought this fearful harvest. They are dead because of you, and more shall join them soon -- Your Lordship'. That is all it says. Ever the heartbreaker, hm, my dear?" Victor says with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. "A man is dead," she snaps at him. "Show some respect." "Tracks over here. Something small. A halfling? A goblin?" She brings soil up to her nose. "It carries the scent of death, like at the mill." She stands and points east. "It came from that way, burdened. And then returned unladen." "How long ago?" she asks. "Can you tell? Was it just here while we were inside? Do you think you could follow the trail?"
Eponine, Victor, Kern and anyone else who comes outside: Nuri is around the side of the building on the wrap-around veranda. As she hears the feet pounding around the corner on the wooden planks, she holds up her hand to slow their approach. She's staring at a corpse slumped against the wall, its torso mutilated and carved into the seven-pointed star symbol that is growing sickeningly familiar. There is another note pinned to its pants.
"Someone's following us," she says in a low, shaky voice. "This wasn't here earlier, was it? Eponine, can you tell how long it's been here or find any trace of who delivered it?"
DM: Nuri stops dead in her tracks, her hand going to her weapon, and looks all around her for any sign of who might have left the body. "" she calls. "" She doesn't get any closer but neither does she want to let the corpse out of her sight.
"Does this situation look in hand?" Nuri snaps at Wren, recoiling from the hot mess at her feet. "Just let him go," she tells the men. "Let him turn and kill everyone in the area. No one else seems to care one way or another; I don't know why I should!" She stalks outside, tears in her eyes.
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