perception
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Erius notes that the earth near the middle of the island is disturbed and loose, as if some animal had been digging here recently. He also finds what appears to be skeletal prints in the loose soil.
Ren also notes the disturbed earth and the tracks. As well, he finds a bare footprint in the mud on the near side of the island, facing the rocks your group just crossed.
Ren, go ahead and make a Survival check for me.
The monastery itself is known as Green Hill, a small, oddly round landmark that lies in a long, narrow valley some twenty miles north of the village of Three Oaks. From the outside, it is not much different than the grass-covered barrows that are commonly encountered in out of the way places in these mountains. However, upon entering through either of the two evenly spaced doors, the difference is apparently. The interior of the hill is hollow and carved of stone. Beneath the main chamber in the hill itself are other rooms, clustered and descending some sixty feet into the earth below. It is here that the monks rest, meditate, and keep their duties.
Among these duties has been the guardianship of several relics, things from ages past. Some of these are held in anticipation of the time when the Great Mother's wounds heal. Others are things of vile nature that are kept here against rediscovery. In the hands of the corruptible, they could pose even greater threat to the land and its inhabitants.
Unfortunately, one of these has been stolen. A great tome, bound in humanoid flesh and bone, was taken recently. While you and many of the younger acolytes were off acquiring supplies from a nearby gnomish settlement, the Hill was attacked by undead. In the aftermath, several of your brothers and sisters were injured; your master, Abbess Liandra, is missing. Brother Shale, the ranking member of the order, is attempting to make things right. Upon your group's return the following day, search parties were sent to find some sign of the invaders or their prisoner, but without results.
You have been given the assignment to travel to the House of the Pearl, a secret shrine to Daena, the moon goddess. It is hoped they can divine what has become of the Abbess and the tome. Whoever perpetrated this crime knew what they were after; it is certain that they are intent on some foul purpose and need the book to fulfill it. You must travel swiftly, and with the Green Lady's blessing will find answers that will help set things aright.
You grab your meager possessions and a few things given to you by Brother Shale that you'll need for your journey
The weather is clear and cool, and you make good time in your travels. You travel south out of the narrow valley where your monastery is located, then head southeast. You have no road to follow, but the grass and brush of the valley do little to impede your progress. Your first night is spent in a copse of trees, with only a small fire to ward off the night's cold. The next day you head into the wood, expecting to reach the shrine by midday. Your footsteps crunch through the dead leaves that lie strewn beneath the boughs. The autumn air is crisp and still. Soon, you hear the sound of running water; the old mill that conceals the shrine of Daena cannot be far off.
Suddenly, the stillness of the wood is broken by a sharp cry. Up ahead, you see a man and a woman, dressed in leathers and armed with staffs. They are surrounded by a half dozen skeletons.
Perception
Remy: Poking around the area, you note everything seen above, plus a few more details of the scene. The disturbed earth seems relatively shallow; the earth turned up here only appears to be the first two feet or so. Also, it doesn't look like normal digging, the upturned earth lies in more or less the same place.
In addition, you note what appear to be rotted scraps of cloth and leather in the earth itself.
The weather is clear and cool, and you make good time in your travels. You travel south out of the narrow valley where your monastery is located, then head southeast. You have no road to follow, but the grass and brush of the valley do little to impede your progress. Your first night is spent in a copse of trees, with only a small fire to ward off the night's cold. The next day you head into the wood, expecting to reach the shrine by midday. Your footsteps crunch through the dead leaves that lie strewn beneath the boughs. The autumn air is crisp and still. Soon, you hear the sound of running water; the old mill that conceals the shrine of Daena cannot be far off.
Suddenly, the stillness of the wood is broken by a sharp cry. Up ahead, you see a man and a woman, dressed in leathers and armed with staffs. They are surrounded by a half dozen skeletons.
Annika begins to move stealthily towards the group of undead. As soon as she comes within range, she springs, delivering a powerful flying kick to the nearest skeleton.
Stealth:
Unarmed strike:
The woman clutches a silver medallion at her neck and calls upon the light of Daena to aid her. A ripple of energy radiates out from her, and blasts into the skeletons like a physical force, cracking and shearing bone, damaging the lot of them but not completely destroying them. The man attempts to defend her with his staff, fighting expertly with both ends of the weapon. He strikes two well-aimed blows, the first dropping one skeleton, the second another.
The skeletons fight on, heedless of their losses. Their clawing attacks deliver another grevious wound to the man, who staggers but remains on his feet. The woman, however, is borne down by her attackers, and falls to the leafy forest floor. All four of the remaining undead hedge the man in.
Staff clutched in white-knuckled hands, he swings desperately at one of his opponents, catching it across the skull and knocking it clean off the body; it drops.
You take your moment and spring out from behind a tree, launching into your kick at one of the skeletons, having positioned yourself into a flanking position. Your kick catches it in its spine with a crack, sending it hurtling to the ground. The man looks at you, pale-faced but hopeful...and then collapses from his wounds, leaving you with facing three opponents alone.
The skeletons advance on you quickly, swinging clawed hands as they come. You block and move, avoiding most of the assault, but their numbers put them at an advantage. You are raked along the shoulder by an attack
1d20 + 4
Ren's trained eye looks over the scene and comes up with the following scenario: A human--likely a woman or a young boy, judging from the size and depth of the prints--crossed the stream from the opposite side. The skeletons unearthed themselves from the ground here, then followed the human across the stream after all paused here momentarily. There are no signs of a struggle or a chase.
"Strange. It seems to me that those undead abominations had a master or mistress. Someone raise them from their unearthly slumber and commanded them to attack the village. And I think this is that person's trail."
The skeletons advance on you quickly, swinging clawed hands as they come. You block and move, avoiding most of the assault, but their numbers put them at an advantage. You are raked along the shoulder by an attack (4hp damage, your next in the initiative order)
Annika makes a small noise of pain, but quickly recovers, delivering another spinning kick to one of the attacking skeletons.
You are struck three times. One skeleton jabs its bony claws directly at your face. You turn your head at the last split second, narrowly avoiding losing an eye, though the claw tears across your temple. A second strike rakes down your left forearm as you block another strike, and a third tears your robe and chest.
Your kick comes up hard and fast, but the skeleton ducks and avoids the strike. Your opponents continue to press in on you and their advantage in numbers begins to take its toll.
You are struck three times. One skeleton jabs its bony claws directly at your face. You turn your head at the last split second, narrowly avoiding losing an eye, though the claw tears across your temple. A second strike rakes down your left forearm as you block another strike, and a third tears your robe and chest.
This time, Annika does cry out in pain as the skeleton's bony fingers rake her flesh. She responds with a vicious elbow strike, but misses horribly.
after we have looked for survivors perhaps we can follow the trail and hunt down the culprit
** spoiler omitted **
Then her defense fails. Yellowed talons tear into her abdomen. Her strength fails her and she crumples. The undead loom above her and all seems lost. Then, as her vision begins to grow gray and cloudy about the edges, the grinning skulls turn, their attention drawn by something else. A rippling glow of light hits them like a physical force, blasting bones asunder. Then all falls into darkness.
Annika awakes sometime later, lying on a cot under a beamed, wooden roof. Some of her wounds appear to have been healed, others expertly bandaged . A strange, rhythmic squeaking and creaking echoes through the building.
The ferocious attacks of the undead have Annika on her heels. Her attack goes wide over the head of one, then she is hard set to defend against a flurry of bony hands. She blocks one, dodges another, another dodge, another block, moving on complete instinct to defend herself.
Then her defense fails. Yellowed talons tear into her abdomen. Her strength fails her and she crumples. The undead loom above her and all seems lost. Then, as her vision begins to grow gray and cloudy about the edges, the grinning skulls turn, their attention drawn by something else. A rippling glow of light hits them like a physical force, blasting bones asunder. Then all falls into darkness.
Annika awakes sometime later, lying on a cot under a beamed, wooden roof. Some of her wounds appear to have been healed, others expertly bandaged . A strange, rhythmic squeaking and creaking echoes through the building.
Annika gingerly sits up from the cot, taking stock of her surroundings.
Following the suggestion of Erius, the party departs the island, heading for the stand of horse chestnuts. You keep your eyes peeled for any more of the walking dead, but note none in the area.
As you move into the trees, you begin to hear soft noises. Looking up, you see a pair of figures up among the highest branches of one of the trees. A gangly man and a short blond woman clutch the tree trunk. They appear to be whispering to one another, eyes shut, and have not noticed the party's presence.
You are surrounded by circular walls, a single room some thirty feet in diameter. The structure appears crafted of stone and timber. Other cots spaced around the walls indicate that this area may be an infirmary, or perhaps sleeping quarters for a half dozen humanoids. Small footlockers under each cot seem to suggest the latter. The place seems old and rundown, but it is kept clean by its occupants. The sun slanting through a small open window across the room gives you the impression it is much later in the day. There are wooden stairs on opposite sides of the room to your left and right. One set ascends through the ceiling, the other down through the floor. You see nothing that tells you where those strange sounds are coming from.
Annika slowly begins to ascend the stairs, listening to any clue as to what and where the sounds are.
This second story is likewise circular and a single room. A large post juts from the wall on the far side of the room, parallel with the floor, turning in a regular rhythm. Attached to the end of the post is a large wooden wheel with wooden dowels evenly spaced around its circumference. It takes you a moment to realize that it was once part of a mill. There must be a water wheel on the exterior of the building that is turning it. The rest of the gears have been dismantled or have fallen apart from disrepair. The great flat stone in the center of the room was likely where grain was ground. Now, however, it serves as the spot for the room's fire, the smoke trailing out through a hole in the peaked roof above.
Sitting around the fire on stools are several humans. Two of them you recognize as the man and woman you attempted to aid. Their wounds seem to have been healed. One of the other folk, an older man with short-cropped gray hair and a face with growth somewhere between stubble and a short beard, turns at your entrance. He has a long-stemmed pipe clenched in his teeth. He considers you with bright blue eyes and removes the pipe from his mouth.
"Well," he says through streamers of smoke, "it seems your other guest is up and around." At this, the other folk in the room turn to regard you.
erius calls out (not to loudly) it ok you're safe now, the skeletons are destroyed and no others seem to be about, we can protect you, please come down and we will get you out of here and back to the village (he will call them by name if he recognises them)
diplomacy
Erius recognizes them as Arik and Lena. Arik is apprentice to the village chandler; Lena works at the Huntsman's Rest. They're known to be sweethearts, and chances are they weren't out here as part of the footrace.
As you call out to them, they open their eyes and look down. Lena turns slightly green and shuts her eyes tightly again, hugging the tree trunk. Apparently, she's not fond of heights.
"Oh, thank Baal! We thought we were going to freeze to death up in this tree," says Arik. "We could use a little help getting down." At this point, Arik speaks gently to Lena, trying to coax her to climb down. She seems reluctant to do so. At this point, they're about 25 feet up.
"How did y'all end up out here, if you don't mind my askin'?"
gm
"How did y'all end up out here, if you don't mind my askin'?"
"We climbed up here," replies Arik. "We were, um, goin' for a walk when all these racers started tearing through here screaming bloody murder. That's when those skeletons came by, walkin' like there was still flesh and sinew on their bones. I lifted Lena up to the first branch, then hopped up and grabbed it myself. We got as high up as we could get and waited for them to go away. Lena here is afraid of heights though."
Erius: You think you could climb this tree easily enough (DC10). Getting down with Lena on your back might be a bit more difficult, but if she holds tight and stays still, you think you could do it.
Ren looks around, trying to find some clue about the person or persons who raised them.
Ren looks around, trying to find some clue about the person or persons who raised them.
The party has moved on from that area, but assuming you took a second look around the area, you don't come up with any additional information aside from that you've already gleaned: A single individual, barefoot, likely female and human, traveling in a general path from west to east.
erius will take 10 on the climb for a total of 14,
Lena please climb on my back and hold tight! you will be safe (take 10 diplomacy for 16)
Erius jumps and hangs on a low branch, muscling himself up onto it, then carefully ascends to the couple. He manages to coax Lena into climbing onto his back. His assurances become a bit strangled, as the woman gets a death-grip around his neck. However, he convinces her to loosen her hold so he can breathe and then descends with Lena in tow. Arik follows them down and soon you have them back on terra firma. They thank the group for their aid and ask if they can follow you back to the fairgrounds.
To lena and Arik "did you see anyone else?"
to other party members (ren in particular) "do you think the may be other survivors still out here?"
The couple both shake their heads. "The runners mostly broke and ran for the village," says Arik. "Having all those folk to chase around gave me time to get Lena and I up and out of the way. We haven't seen or heard anyone else until you all showed up."
"I think it is time to follow those tracks, I wish I had my weapons and not just a tree branch."
Arik and Lena have been gathering up coats, gloves, and other articles of clothing that they seem to have lost before heading up the tree, along with a basket.
"Uhm, mayhap you could escort us back to the village? That way we can get back to the festival and you can get yourself outfitted."
"that sound like a good idea, i would feel better if i was better equipped, although i will keep the staff as it is quite effective against skeletons"
Shall I assume the party wants to return to the village, or is there anything else you'd like to do while out here?
Shall I assume the party wants to return to the village, or is there anything else you'd like to do while out here?
thats a yes from erius
Assuming the rest of the party is in agreement, we'll proceed with the group heading back to Three Oaks, with Lena and Arik in tow.
The party cuts across farmland to hit the road and take it back into the village proper. The village seems much changed from when you left. The green is empty of folk and the place appears quiet and abandoned. As you move through the village center you note that there appears to be activity in two places: the Huntsman's Rest and the Common Hall, a long, one-room building in the center of town used for meetings and this festival's Harvest Dance. Judging from the lack of people, the majority of them are probably gathered in the hall. There is still an hour or two before dusk, but already there is a glow from peeking around the shutters of the hall and from under its double doors.
I suggest we go to the hall
"Back in time for the dance!"
Tired and dirty, Ren falls behind others and follows them.
The party moves up to the Common Hall and pushes through the double doors. You find the place is packed with people. The place is bright with torchlight and warm from the crackling fire in the great hearth, as well as the heat from the large press of bodies present. Atop a raised platform at the far end of the hall stand five dwarven warriors. Your characters remember them from the inn and the games. Their leader, Morgrim, is addressing the villagers.
"...and we have taken a prisoner: a pagan witch. She is a moon cultist, and no doubt one of those behind this wicked attack on your people. She has revealed the location of her cult's temple. We will be joining a larger contingent of dwarven soildiers and heading there to stamp them out before they can cause any further harm. The area has been secured for now, and your local constabulary should be able to protect you. I advise you to stay indoors tonight. That is all."
With that, Morgrim dons his spike-crested helmet again, and his soldiers step down from the platform. The assembled villagers part to allow them to pass, forming an open way between the platform and the double doors where you now stand.
I turn to a nearby villager after they leave.
"Who's this moon cultist they captured?"