Freedom?

[TheArbiter]

The ceremony was simple. If not for the mark now covering your forearm, there'd be no reason to believe there was any magic to it. From the outside, at least. From the inside... The difference is more apparent.

After the ceremony, you were given no special task, no requests, nothing but a pouch full of coin, and all your possessions from before your imprisonment. Given that, and sent on your way. For someone just released from prison, it seemed impossible that you'd just be trusted. No proof of loyalty or intent apart from the ritual, and even that didn't seem too convincing. Why not just leave? Take it all and go?

When you passed by one of the markets on your way out of the city, you overheard how it was that your predecessor, Taruk, had been lost. A necromancer had made his lair not far from the city gates, in a cemetery from the time of the last plague, and Taruk had gone to deal with the problem. He'd failed, and that was that.

And then you felt an urge to seek this trouble out. Perhaps being kept in a cell had made you anxious for something exciting, perhaps you have something to prove, maybe it's merely curiosity, but you felt it, and here you are.

The cemetery grounds are both soggy and foggy. The gravestones mossy and broken, placed in uneven rows. The smell putrid. So close to the stories you'd hear round a fire that it's barely believable. But you're here.

And so are they... A corpse walks on the surface, scraping at the bark of a tree, as a crow crows from the branches. Another stands dully at the entrance to a crypt, with no eyes and only one working arm. The other arm dangles loosely, ready to fall off at a breeze. Neither one seems interested in you, for now.

[StandardBC]

OOC:
How far away are they?

[TheArbiter]

The zombies are merely a dozen strides away from you, in somewhat different directions. The fog is thankfully not so thick as to really obscure your vision.

OOC:
Sorry about the delay today, busy day at work. I normally will post during the day, today was special.

[StandardBC]

OOC:
Don't worry about it. Today is a special day after all. At least it is in America :smallbiggrin:.

He couldn't tell you why, but Hebi had an uncontrollable urge to kill the two creatures in front of him. Hebi charges towards the nearest zombie, quickly drawing two daggers. He slashes with one as he nears the corpse.

Surprise Round -

Standard Action - Charge
Attack - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Sneak - [roll2]

Initiative - [roll3]

[TheArbiter]

Hebi's strike at the corpse by the crypt hits home, and hits hard. The gash left behind spills innards in one direction, while the 'creature' silently topples in the other. The source of the putrid stench is clear now, if it wasn't before. The corpse is nowhere near fresh. A rat skitters out of the way and into the crypt as it falls, drawing your eyes to the stairs just inside, dirty with decay. Meanwhile, the crow continues to cry out, taunting the other zombie to keep walking into the tree, scraping at it, then walking again...

[StandardBC]

Hebi, amazed the other zombie didn't hear the noise, charges the next enemy.
He keeps out his swords as he slashes downwards.

Surprise:

Charge -
Attack - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Sneak - [roll2]

Initiative - [roll3]

[TheArbiter]

As you cut into the second corpse, the crow above finally flies away. It collapses at your feet, thoroughly dismembered. There are no other 'living' things in sight, and it becomes quiet again, apart from squelching ground underfoot.

OOC:
Seriously? 3 rolls out of 4 maxed? That's got to be either a hack, an error, or something. That just doesn't happen. And such a waste on a weak zombie, too.

[StandardBC]

Hebi stands for a moment, making sure he was truly alone. When he determined there were no more corpses walking around, he made his way into the cave.

OOC:
I didn't even notice the maxed numbers. Wow. Good signs for the future, I hope :smallbiggrin:.

[TheArbiter]

You enter over the first zombie's body, and see the stairs down from before. They're covered in decaying flesh, presumably fallen from the zombies outside. Each wall of the room is mostly covered with a plaque. The left and right are covered in writing, names of the buried, most likely. The far wall, around the stairs, shows a map.

The smell of decay is intense, here, and you can only imagine that it'll get worse down below. You hear movement there as well. Shifting feet, scraped stone, and some sort of squeaking once in a while.

Cave => Crypt, I'll just assume...

[StandardBC]

Hebi becomes cautious when he hears the scraping. He slowly moves forward, attempting to locate the source.

Sneak Check:
[roll0]

OOC:
I'm assuming you'd like to roll perception checks. If not here's mine.

Perception:
[roll1]

[TheArbiter]

You sneak up to the stairway, the sounds clearly come from below, but the stairs spiral downward, so you can see nothing of the source. All you can tell for certain is that there are many of whatever it is.

[StandardBC]

Hebi follows the stairs, not seeing any other option. He grows nervous as he continues closer and closer to the noise.

Sneak:
[roll0]

[TheArbiter]

The air becomes nearly unbearable, the stench of rotting flesh growing stronger with every step. You manage to deal with it, though, and sneak your way down the stairs, carefully placing your feet, keeping your balance on the slippery surface.

Shortly after you start to round the turn, you can see them. They are wandering about the room, directionless for now, but they seem more purposeful than those above. 7 or 8 of them just wander about the room, confined by the trickiness of climbing the stairs, and gates at each of the three remaining paths out of the room. The squeaking from before clearly came from unoiled hinges as zombies bumped into the gates.

The only light in the room comes from a lantern resting atop the stone sarcophagus that sits at room's center, its lid cracked, zombies bumping into it now and again.

Fort save vs retching: [roll0]

[StandardBC]

Seeing no other option, Hebi continues his advance down the stairs. He rushes towards the figures, bringing down his blades.

Surprise:

Charge -
Attack - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Sneak - [roll2]

Initiative - [roll3]

OOC:
Wow. More and more charging :smallbiggrin:. Well, what works works.

[TheArbiter]

Hebi rushes forward, though the floor is slippery, he manages to charge through to his target, bringing the corpse down, and sliding a foot or two more afterward. The remaining zombies finally react, rushing towards him themselves. Two stumble into the sarcophagus early in their charge and sprawl across it. Another is too far away, unable to reach him so soon. The rest move towards Hebi with nothing in their way, but stumble over eachother and the slippery ground, collapsing into a heap all over each other.

OOC:Was trying to figure out the ruling on using charge on a slippery surface. Whether it's an acrobatics check, a reflex save, or just straight up disallowed, or not valid (RAW says you just can't charge, but how to react when someone tries because their character is being rash isn't covered). Final ruling, Hebi charged forward over uncertain footing. Reflex save since it's effectively going to function as a trap (being an unexpected obstacle).

The save attempt: [roll0]

Monster notes: These zombies have the stagger property, so they can't follow up the move with an attack... Also, can't add the rolls to this post, putting them in a second one.

[TheArbiter]

Dex checks to walk across (zombies):
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]

[StandardBC]

OOC:
So are any of the zombies next to me? Wasn't clear on if any manged to get close. Also, sorry for making you look up all those rules :smallbiggrin:.

[TheArbiter]

You have a bunch on the floor within a dozen feet or so, only one that's still standing, but he's most of the way across the room. As for rules, no worries, just didn't have access to resources, and somewhat less used to PF than 3.5e, so I didn't want to make the call too quick.

[StandardBC]

Hebi moves into the group of prone zombies and swings his blade at one.

Attack - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Sneak - [roll2]

I believe being prone denies Dex bonus to AC, doesn't it?