DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
The body lurches to a sitting position, its head lolling lifelessly. It gulps silently for a few moments before its mouth opens and a deathly voice emanates from the very depths of its sagging orifice.
"A-a-a-r-rival. Death is coming. Best be dead now." The voice increases in intensity, finally coming to a shriek. "LET ME LIIEE!" Then, without warning, the hands of the body shoot out, fastening with unnatural strength about the priest's throat.
If we keep this going, anyone who's interested can join in, so long as they're willing to stick it out. Snorter, thanks for the effort.
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
The corpse tightens its grip with crushing intensity, and reaches down with one hand to throw a chair aside. The grip loosens with the loss of one hand, allowing Brother Thomas to gasp a choked breath.
The corpse's eyes glow with a red intensity, and it bares its teeth to a manic grin. A final word issues from its clenched teeth, lips still unmoving. "Chanarax....." (the word is unfamiliar in any language you know)
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
With a hideous screech, the corpse recoils, staggering into the nearby table before dropping, lifeless. Rolling the corpse onto its back, Brother Thomas can see that the body's eye sockets are dry and empty- burned out. The eyeballs are nothing more than withered, scorched pools, dribbled onto the body's cheeks. Its tongue is nowhere to be seen inside the sagging mouth.
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
Hmmm... I can see I'm going to have to give you someone to talk to, else you'll wind up looking a right prat, talking to yourself. Maybe this will turn from a supernatural action/thriller into a supernatural procedural drama... maybe not. In any case, let me think about this idea... should I resurrect some of the 'fallen' characters (Hellard, Riven, etc - in which case, is it proper netiquette to ask permission from their creator players?) or come up with someone new?
Riven Golarsson |
Riven Golarsson wrote:"I am assuming it was not supposed to transpire in a such a manner?""No, it certainly was not!"
"Time to consult the books, for mention of this 'Chanarax'."
"Perhaps it is a name of a place and not a person?"
"I mean in my homeland there are ancient places that have names known only by the dead...how old is this city?"
Hellard Byzenkampf |
"Chanarax, is it? Sounds like a disease one gets from visiting the Red Light District once too often."
The big noble's player has been offshore this year, and then in the desert, and working on a classless Pathfinder system on breaks, but is happy to continue here if you guys are.
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
The body is beginning to smell... rather rapidly. As you look, it starts sagging inwards (rather like a balloon deflating after being left in the heat for three days). It sags to one side, tearing open and spilling a thick, rancid goo on the floor, with the consistency of warm custard and the stench of a hundred dead troglodytes left in the sun for a week.
Brother Thomas:
Hellard Byzenkampf |
"Meseems that you and I, brother, lack the knowledge to save the world by ourselves. What say you we recruit an archmage or two, and maybe press the High Priest of Celestian into service as well?" Realizing this could somehow be construed as cowardice on his part, Hellard says, "Obviously, I've nothing against a good fight. But so far we've managed to lose our mentor, all our friends, and our only hope of salvation. To our credit, we've killed a few zombies, but they seem to be created faster than we can kill them."
Grinning, he adds, "If you can think of any way at all in which you and I can conceivably keep the world from being destoyed, I'm all ears, of course."
Brother Thomas von Mandelbrot |
"I agree, we need more experienced minds on this. This is about more than some mere necromancer, interfering with a few graves. The rapid decomposition you saw was not natural, and implies a fiend has recently left the body."
"I think a trip to my old tutor and mentor is in order. That is, my other tutor and mentor, Matthias..."
Hellard Byzenkampf |
"One other thing... much's I hate to say it, men, but meseems we shouldn't stray from one another until this thing be settled. Every time we let someone out of our sight... poof! They're gone. Like that City Watch fellow with the cool hair; no sign of him now.
"We three are now all that remain."
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
The armoury and dungeon are, unfortunately, empty of your compatriots. But your efforts in searching the watch post do not go unrewarded- the blood on the doorknob is smeared oddly- enough to make you think that it was left there as someone was leaving, rather than entering.
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
A quick trip through the rain-soaked streets of Refuge leads you to the great cathedral of Ebishmon, adorned with vicious-looking gargoyles, graven images of the adventurer-saint's travels and famous battles, and radiant-sunburst images. Brother Thomas' explanation leads the group to an audience with Assistant Chief Librarian Brother Matthias.
The elderly man is, surprisingly, still tending to his garden in the driving rain, straightening vines and trying to shield them from the weather. He looks up kindly, clasps his hands together, and then splays each of them to face away from the other in Ebishmon's sunburst symbol.
"Thomas, my boy, how are you?" The old man's voice is still vital, despite his age (he must be in his sixties), and his eyes sparkle with warmth, pleased to see his protege.
Brother Thomas von Mandelbrot |
Well, you are a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?
"That is true. I am afraid we would not have come to you if it were not important, as some agency appears to want our investigation thwarted. My associates here are Riven, and Hellard, both of the Hell Squad, so we may speak freely. We need information on the place, person, group or thing known as 'Chanarax'"
<ominous lightning flash and thunder>
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
Brother Matthias gives a tiny smile at Riven's warning, and glances across at Hellard, then back at Brother Thomas.
"Death threats, I can handle. But that name...Chanarax. Hmm... Chanarax, Chanarax? It doesn't sound familiar to me, but I can investigate the records further. Tell me of your journey to this point, and perhaps I can shed light on the matters."
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
"So, zombies which run and talk, a missing Orb, limited time before the barriers between the realms of life and death break down ntirelly, your only lead has gone missing, a black magic ritual," here his eyebrow perks up, "failed and caused some kind of possessing spirit to attack you, and you're without any kind of clue. Hmm."
He turns and walks away a moment, tending to his storm-ravaged garden, then turns back with raised eyebrows.
"The zombies must be lairing somewhere out of sight, otherwise people would have fled the area. Somewhere where this person wouldn't be noticed, and wouldn't be bothered. Hmf, I hate to say it so plainly, but have you tried the sewers? There are enormous structures there which could be holding these foul monsters. In fact, didn't I hear that you had a, what do you call them, a stinker in the Hell Squad?"
Hellard Byzenkampf |
"Sink me! The sewer-dwellers have all gone missing. It's unseemly for persons of substance to venture into such places... ah, me, but it's unseemly for the world to be taken over by zombies as well, I suppose. I'll go... but only after obtaining a large supply of Greek fire. No sense in getting rotting zombie flesh all over my clothes; wearing them into a sewer is bad enough!"
"But just to be sure, before putting myself into such an absurd situation: the master wouldn't be joking about the sewers by any chance, would he?"
Brother Thomas von Mandelbrot |
"Probably not. I believe some stretches of the earliest sewer system took over the existing catacombs built by the first settlers. As such, there are tunnels down there, which expand into larger chambers, some of which are large enough to require support pillars and buttressing. Or that could all be an old fishwives' tale. If Hague were here, he could tell us the truth of it."
"Any remains were relocated, and reburied with full dignity, or at least, they were reported to be...?"
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
"Ah yes, but reports may lie, and even true reports may become false. Witness this: My hand is empty." and indeed it is, as he displays his empty right hand.
"And yet: I fill my hand once more." He flicks his fingers, and a coin is revealed in his palm. "Cheap charlatanry, I know, but this illustrates reality- catacombs which were once emptied can be used to store things which it is desired not be looked upon. Be mindful of the power of mundane illusion as you battle sorcery. You had best be swift..." he looks upwards at the darkening sky and gazes levelly at each of the three assembled.
"...For time is running short. Brother Thomas, Riven Golarsson, Hellard Byzenkampf, go forth in light and do what must be done."
DM Blue_eyed_paladin |
You return to the Watch Post, splashing through the greasy rain. The sky has darkened to the colour of day-old dishwater, and smells just as bad.
Then you realize, standing in front of the Watch Post, there is a rag-clad figure huddled in the doorway... and the smell might just be him.
Enter stage right, Hague, our resident sewer-dweller.
Hague Koltair |
Hague fiddled idly with something in his hands as the others approached, he slips it nervously into his pocket as if caught, looking up white eyes wide against his grime-smeared face. He nods shakily to the adventurers.
"Sorry for being away. Had a debt to pay off and...someone I needed to tend to." for a long beat he falls silent, reading over the expressions of each of the men with red-rimmed eyes, scouring them for clues. Then, shaking his head slightly with a sour look on his face as if he'd found something there he didn't like.
"What's wrong?" There was sudden urgency in his voice and demeanor, and where a moment ago he had seemed lax and pained he was now suddenly upright and alert like a startled deer. His eyes were only flittingly on the men he was talking to, moving in quick pans over the streets around them.
Hague Koltair |
Nods solemnly. "Of course. I still owe you much considering the state I would still be in if you hadn't shown me the courtesy of healing me. I won't forget that. Whatever I can do." Hague moves in closer, and continues in a nervous, conspiratorial whisper, "so what did happen with all of you since I left? It feels like death herself follows you through the streets...clinging to the air. Something...bad?"