Ravenloft: Night of the Walking Dead (IC)

[Ichneumon]

At dusk a group of six individuals gather outside of the tavern. The tavern lies at the edge of the Misty Woods. Crossing these woods is dangerous and the journey will likely take at least 12 hours, if you don’t get lost that is… Many travellers have entered the woods, without ever getting out. “The mists have embraced them,” is a local saying. The only one who knows how to reliably get across, is an old dwarven merchant. His name is Morain and every month he takes his horse carriage and transports travellers from this tavern to another tavern on the other side. He always leaves at dusk....

You five have gathered around the small dwarf, who is carrying a torch.

“Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Morain and I’ll make sure you all get to where you want to go. One, two, three, four, five. It seems we have quite a full carriage, tonight. If you’d be so kind to follow me…”, the dwarf says with a friendly and professional voice. He has done this a lot and he doe't like waisting time.

Without waiting for a reply, the dwarf turns around and walks to the stables. In front of the stable, stands a large black horse carriage, with two white horses in front of it. It looks like a very expensive and comfortable carriage. The wood of the doors and windows is carved very skilfully and decorated with flower designs. On the roof is room for your luggage. Inside, the seats (there seems to be room for six people in total) are made from expensive red leather and the cushions seems very soft and comfortable.

Morain opens one of the doors and says “Please, have a seat. Also, once you’ve made yourself comfortable, please, introduce yourself to one-another, you’ll be travelling companions for quite some time and no one, especially me, likes uncomfortable silences.” He says, only half-jokingly.

After each one of you has taken a seat, Morain closes the door. For a moment the smile disappeared on his face. He sighs. “You know, my brother, Deruno and his family disappeared… embraced by the mists a couple of years ago. I’ve spend months searching for them and found nothing, not a trace. That reminds me…”

He points to something lying on the floor, saying: “In that small box, you’ll find a pair of locks. Please, use those to lock the doors on the inside and don’t open them unless I give you permission to do so! In the box you’ll also find some snacks, on the house.” He smiles again. “I hope you have a pleasant journey.”

He walks away to the front of the carriage. You can’t see it, but you hear him jumping on the front seat, talking softly to the horses. Moments later, you take off into the woods.

Night begins to settle over the woods, cloaking the dense undergrowth in darkness . With it comes the clinging, creeping and infamous mist, rising from the undergrowth like a spectral steam. You see the moon light break through the trees.

This is a bit long of an introduction post. Please use the first few posts to introduce your character (maybe provide a physical description again for the other players) and get to know one another.

I'll sometimes draw a quick sketch of some NPCs..
https://img00.deviantart.net/7349/i/2017/288/2/8/dwarf_by_ichneumonfly-dbqaznu.jpg

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa finds a seat. She's tempted to let herself sprawl out, but doesn't want to be rude to the others, so just sits normally. She does, however, go rooting around for the snacks. Morain, you are by FAR the best carriage driver I've had. No one else gave snacks! she says with a smile towards the dwarf.

Once she's grabbed some goodies to munch, she settles in. She sits shortly, about 5' tall, with short and pale pink hair and brown skin, dressed in a voluminous blue cloak. Underneath is some more blue clothes, covered in many pockets. Then, when everyone has sit down themselves, she says My name's Nerissa-Nerissa Roubis. It's nice to meet you all.

Character design based off this lady:

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/infinitespace/images/c/c2/Ch4-2_-_nerissaroubis.png

[Ionbound]

A pale, red-haired young lady boards the carriage after Nerissa, finding the seat furthest away from anyone else and shrinking down into it. She looks concernedly at the locks and says, "I don't suppose those are a good sign about the safety of our journey," then mutters a soft prayer for guidance and protection.

[Hemnon]

The female elf, with her foresty smell and overall dress-up would give EVERYONE a clear hint towards Lia being a Wood Elf with a ranged proficiency, judging by the longbow she carried and only having a pair of daggers as melee weaponry. Her backpack seems rather full-stocked with a length of hempen rope hanging from a sidestrap. The hood of her cloak was pulled up and left much of her face in darkness, but locks of chestnut brown hair could be seen spilling from the edges of the hood, and her vibrant pair of hazel-colored eyes was almost glowing from within the hood (almost).
She looked very feminine with that very well known elven gracefulness to her, and her slender but strong frame of body showed sign of her being quite active on a daily basis.
Her facial expressions (from what was visible due to he hood being pulled up) clearly showed that she was rather unhappy being boxed up like this, and her arms was crossed with one leg crossed over the other. But her breathing remained relaxed and her gaze was evershifting, keeping everything in focus as much as possible while keeping her ears sharp for any sort of noises.

She took a seat next to Nerissa, since she recognized the at-least part elven heiritage of the (by Her own age) youngster.

Lia did not touch the box OR the food, not trusting the 'free' offers of strangers AT ALL. If she caught it, skinned it and cut it up for eating, she'd eat it. If not, then it could lay there and rot for all she cared. All the rations in her backpack was self-smoked meats, as well as a mix of dried nuts, barries and assorted dried up greens.

"(In Elvish) Amin essa naa Lialiliae Amastacia." She said in a flowey clear and clean voice, clearly not gonna degrade herself to use the Common tongue unless others happened to not understand. She's an Elf and it's the language she was brought up with after all, not a city-born human growing up with the rather simplistic Common.

"My name is Lialilliae Amastacia."


At the mention of everyone else's name, she mere gives a light headbow in their direction in a show of greeting and understanding of their name.

[JNAProductions]

She says her name is Lialilliae Amastacia, for anyone who doesn't speak Elvish, Nerissa provides.

[Ionbound]

Felara sighs and says, "And let me guess, she doesn't like humans much either?"

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa shrugs. I guess so. My first time meeting her, but considering she made a beeline for the nearest vaguely elvish person and didn't speak in common...

Don't worry, though, Nerissa adds, leaning across the carriage and patting Felara's shoulder. I'll be your friend!

[Hemnon]

Lia turned towards Felara, and in perfectly clear and crisp Common, she said: "I dislike undead. I don't trust strangers.
And I do not trust 'free offerings'."
It was clear Lia had no hate towards humans. Like at all. She was just quite blunt with her words. She also seemed to trust actions, not words.

[Tekrow]

Axion followed the ladies inside the carriage, and sat in an unocuppied space he found. As Lia, Nerissa and Ferala introduced themselves, Axion sighed. It wasn't going to be the most pleasing experience, being stuck inside this carriage with them for hours. But well, that hadn't stopped him before, and very few men or women could resist his half-elven charm.

Looking at the rest of his group, he said "Axion Duneadar, at your service". As he said that, he made a small bow with his head, and a soft smile appeared on his lips.

[Hemnon]

Lia nodded in Axion's direction as he introduced himself. "Welcome to the 'Carriage of Mostly Half-elves'." Lia replied, her attempt at humor was drier than the desert. Some may find it entertaining, but it was more of a comment from her, not a deliberate attempt at being funny. hence the dryness.

[JNAProductions]

Har-har, Nerissa says. But yeah, welcome, and a pleasure to meet you!

[Ionbound]

Felara rolls her eyes at Axion's introduction, but smirks at Lia's dry humor, saying, "And here we are at either end. Maybe we should be sitting on these two's sides."

[Tekrow]

Axion nodded to the rest of the group. They were indeed quite beautiful ladies, but still, he was dissapointed. His search for a tiefling lover hadn't come to any fruition yet.

Setting those thoughts aside, he said "So, what brings you all to this fateful carriage?"

[JNAProductions]

I wander, and search. I don't feel I can make it through these woods on my own, so I hired some more experienced to help out, Nerissa says.

[Hemnon]

Lia nods her head in Nerissa's direction, as if to compliment with a 'I was hired to help', not feeling the need to add in words this time. It was quite clear she hadn't expected to be cooped up into a wheeled box, BUT, she did know the rumours of this area and was more than willing to accept the protective measures required for a 'safer' travel.
Lia was a open-sky loving forest person, not a total deathwish-hungry nutcase.

[Ionbound]

Felara shrugs and says, "Eh...Just passing through."

[Ichneumon]

While you talk, you can hear Morain singing. Sometimes in Common, other times in Dwarven. What all the songs have in common though is that they are the type of songs you'd hear in your average tavern. Their lyrics talk of happy days full of wine, money and beautiful women. Songs that are meant to be sung in great halls, with jolly music and laughter. Morain's voice sounds beautiful, but not jolly. He sounds lonely, full of melancholia and sadness, making these merry songs have a somewhat eerie quality.

As time passes, the fog thickens and the mists even enter the carriage. The fog surrounds each one of you. Its dampness caressing you like cold, dead hands. The trees seem to retreat from the mists, the sights and sounds of the forrest disappearing into some unseen distance. The sound of Morain's songs softens too and even disappears entirely. All that remains is the cold, choking fog.

Even your companions seem far away and the conversation in the carriage falls silent as well. For a moment, everything is quiet. What few sounds you can hear are amplified by the surrounding mists: your own breathing, your beating heart.

Then the fog begins to dissipate, fading away as quickly as it appeared. At first sight, everything seems just as it was. But you quickly notice that these aren't the trees that surrounded you before.... Before you can look at it more closely though, the carriage makes a few sudden rocking movements and comes to a violent halt. Snacks fly through the carriage and you need to hold on to something to stop yourself from falling.

Outside you hear nothing. No sound of Morain or the horses...

Let's move things along and assume that Aron Times' character has joined you as well in the carriage. Hope you don't mind me moving things along. It seems a bit awkward to me to slow down the game in a state of random banter at the beginning. I don't think Aron Times would miss out anything if he would jump in now anyways as we're still setting things up. :smallsmile:

[JNAProductions]

We should check on him, Nerissa says, already going for the lock.

[Ichneumon]

Nerissa opens the lock, you can get outsside. It seems you are in some kind of swamp. The nearby trees have become twisted shadows with clawlike branches reaching out, and a foul odor rises from the murky water. Overhead, through the tangled branches, the sky also appears strange. The stars have subtly changed positions, and the moon is closer, nearly full. Menacing clouds begin to roll across the western sky like a curtain of black smoke. In but a few moments, the clouds blot out the feeble starlight completely.
A storm is brewing—a very bad storm.

And you notice that the horses and Morain are gone. The carriage is just standing there all alone by itself and you are all alone.

So, what will you do? :smallsmile:

[Hemnon]

Upon exiting the carriage wagon, Lia looks about with keen eyes.
"(Elvish) Ed' i' fea en' i' taure! Manke naa lye?" Lia asked out questioningly. Sure it was a swamp, but all the swampland she knew looked NOTHING like this place. Something not natural was in the air, Lia could feel it deep in her soul.
"By the spirits of the forest! Where are we?"



Intelligence: Nature [roll0] - Favored Terrain Type, hence +5 rather than +3.
Intelligence: Arcana [roll1] - Favored Terrain Type, but not proficient in the skill, so no additional bonuses.
Intelligence: History [roll2] - Favored Terrain Type, but not proficient in the skill, so no additional bonuses.

Wisdom: Perception [roll3] - Favored Terrain Type, hence +7 rather than +5-
Wisdom: Survival [roll4] - Favored Terrain Type, hence +7 rather than +5-

All checks are made to identify where we are, if Lia knows specifics of the location, as well as discern what can be spotted around the area, along with any signs of tracks, sounds of creatures, etc. etc.

[JNAProductions]

Lia, try sticking to common. We're in a dangerous situation, so it's best if we all understand each other, Nerissa says, looking around. Are you any good at tracking? I'm not, but I want to find where he went.

[Hemnon]

Lia threw a sullen glance at Nerissa's direct at the use of her name is such a personal, and shortened, fashion. She didn't say anything tho, since it was neither the time nor place for such a discussion. Instead she just raised a hand as the question of tracking came up. "Well i am a Ranger of the Woodlands, and tracking is a core function of my, well, function." Lia said in ye olde Common, slightly (as in not all that noticable with her hood still up, covering most of her face) grimacing at the need to use it, but otherwise just kept her perception to the surroundings and any possible tracks from a happy-singing, but lonely dwarf.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa opens her mouth to say something, but thinks better and closes it, leaving the elven woman to her tracking. She looks around, keeping an eye out for any danger, and drawing her bow.

[Ichneumon]

Lia looks around and uses her ranger skills to investigate. There is quite a lot to see.

On the location of the swamp: You recognise the species of trees, the fungus and undergrowth, but they aren't the type of plants that normally grow where you come from. Furthermore, when you look at the sky, the constellation of stars are foreign to you too. You don't know where you are, but you at least know that you are very far away from where you were, maybe not on the same continent or even plane of existence, if that's possible.

On the dwarf and possible tracks: Looking around, you see lots and lots of tracks. You see the following:

You clearly see the tracks of the dwarf who seemed to have just appeared out of thin air, a couple of meters in front of the carriage.

There are also the tracks of someone else, who seemed to have jumped from a nearby tree. He was wearing armoured boots. Based on the way he walks, you can discern he probably was undead. (As they walk, the weight distribution is a bit different, more unnatural, for most undead in comparison to who they were when they were alive). This creature walked towards the dwarf and they had a fight.

You also see the tracks of some canine creature. You don't recognise the species, but you know it is not a regular dog or wolf. This creature seemed to have followed the undead and aided him in his fight against the dwarf.

It seemed the dwarf lost the fight and, based on the tracks, it seems that the undead carried the dwarf away on his shoulders and followed a small path going north. The canine creature followed. Their tracks seem relatively clear and wouldn't be difficult to follow, at least not for you in this type of environment.

One of the weird things you realise when looking at the tracks is that, this entire struggle, must have taken at least a couple of minutes. It's strange that you guys didn't hear or notice a thing.

As undead are Lia's favored enemy, she can spend some more time studying the tracks to maybe find out what kind of creature it was, but this will take most likely take 10 minutes if not more, as it's quite difficult to do. You might not want to spend that much time. If she wants to, make another survival check, with advantage.

If there is anything else you specifically want to know, that I haven't told you, please ask.:smallsmile:

[Hemnon]

Lia, upon noticing all these things, voices them out in her clear and crisp Common, making sure to be as simplistic and direct about it. Simplistic in the way that anyone not in the trait of being a Ranger would relatively easily catch at least the basics.
She did, however, not just stop and talk, she was still looking over the tracks and mulling the meanings of her surroundings.


Firstly, before any rolls I'll be using Primeval Awareness to see if any aberrations, celestiais, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead is within a 1-mile radius (yes i know since it's favored terrain i can do up to 6. But spending 10 minutes looking over undead tracks is only a good idea of there ain't any close by, and the power doesn't let me know how close they are, or how many there is. So keeping it narrow-band would be most effective.
It'll last the first minute of looking over the tracks.

Here's the rolls in case there's NOT undead (or fey, dragons, fiends, etc.)
Wisdom: Survival - [roll0] - Advantage! [roll1] - Highest roll counts as chosen roll.

Intelligence: Arcana (Magical Lore on the types of undead I find tracks of) - [roll2] - Advantage! [roll3] - Highest roll counts as chosen roll.
Intelligence: History (Historical Lore on the types of undead I find tracks of) - [roll4] - Advantage! [roll5] - Highest roll counts as chosen roll.
Intelligence: Religion (Religious Lore on the types of undead I find tracks of) - [roll6] - Advantage! [roll7] - Highest roll counts as chosen roll.
Intelligence: Investigation (Anything noteworthy or specific about the types of undead I find tracks of) - [roll8] - Advantage! [roll9] - Highest roll counts as chosen roll.

[Ionbound]

Felara sits stubbornly in the coach, steadfastly refusing to get out and risk going into the creepy spooky woods...Until Lia says what happened. She half-frowns, then disembarks from the carriage and looks towards the north, saying, "We'd best go fetch our guide, then. I don't fancy the idea of being lost out here with the Lost around."

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa cusses quietly as Lia reports what's happened. Right-I'm sure you can sneak well, as can I. We should take point, along with anyone else who's got a knack for stealth, and follow the tracks. Hopefully it's not too late.

[Ichneumon]

Lia's Primeval Awareness shows her that there are no undead, dragons, fiends, elementals or fey nearby, at least in a 1 mile radius. This is good news, but it also means that the undead that attacked the dwarf is more than 1 radius away by now.

Lia studies the tracks and finds out they belong to a Wight.

Wights are powerful undead. Usually they were evil knights while alive, who made a pact with dark forces to be able to continue their villainy even after death. In undeath, they look similar to how they looked in life, albeit with black eyes and pale dry skin that stretches over their bones.

As undead they do not require air, food, drink or sleep, but they do need to consume the life energy of the living to stay immortal. A great hunger therefore consumes them. They can drain life essence by a simple touch, through flesh, clothing or armour. Furthermore, their victims often rise as zombies under the wight's control.

They are terribly intelligent and skilled hunters and often lay down traps, preparing for an ambush. While they are able to plan in advance, sometimes their hunger for living souls overwhelms them.

They are extremely sensitive to sunlight and during the day they hide in caves, crypts and tombs.

So, if you guys want to follow the tracks, please roll for perception (to look around for anything that moves) and survival (if you are the one who is good at tracking).

Also, just to be sure: you are leaving the carriage where you found it and doing nothing else with it? There isn't anything important hidden in it or anything (except the box with some snacks), I just want to make sure I know how you leave it behind, in case it might come up later.

[Hemnon]

Lia told everyone the knowledge she had of the foul things most likely responsible for the whole ordeal, as well as to her certainty that no creature not of the natural world wasn't lurking around the nearby area. Atleast for out to a mile wide in all directions.


Alright, firstly, once an hour's travel-time has passed, due to it being a favored terrain, While tracking other creatures, Lia learns their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
But that's first something that happens after an hour's travel time in the swamp has happened.

for now, here we go with the perception rolls and Survival rolls all in one go.

Wisdom - Perception [roll0] - Still favored terrain so double normal Proficiency bonus (hence the +7 rather than +5).
Wisdom - Survival [roll1] - Still favored terrain so double normal Proficiency bonus (hence the +7 rather than +5) - Advantage (since tracking favored enemy)! [roll2] Highest roll counts.

Stealth Roll here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22492897&postcount=17)

[Tekrow]

"Well, I'll be damned". Axion was surprised by the suddent turns of events. Just where world were they? After hearing everything about the wight, his unease just grew. Why there was a wight around these forests? Where was their drivers and their horses?

He looked around. "We should stick together, there might not be undead around near us, but still, all this just gives me a bad feeling".

He looked around, and talked to Lia directly into her mind "Keep lle eyes panta, amin tyava ve' i' worst naa am' tul " He looked at her and nodded towards the forest around them.


[roll0] Perception Roll
Also, I used Awakened Mind to telepathically talk to Lia.
Translation of Elvish: Keep your eyes open, I feel like the worst is yet to come.

[JNAProductions]

Perception:
Stealth: [orll]1d20+5

Nerissa moves to the front and begins to glide silently through the path, sticking to the edge so that she may be concealed.

[Ionbound]

Felara frowns as she takes in the information from Lia and replies, "In that case we will need to make haste." She hurries along the path, hoping to catch the cart driver before it's too late.

Per: [roll0]
Stealth: [roll1]

[Ichneumon]

Although Lia at least seemed correct in her notion that there were no real monsters nearby, the swamp certainly feels alive. Shadows slip through the trees and the underbrush.

For a while you walk near a small stream. You see black logs drift lazily atop the stagnant water and you wisely stay at a distance.... You recognise them to be crocodiles.

The fog has dissipated, but the surroundings are still gloomy. Overhead, branches entwine to form a dense canopy. The sounds of the swamp are louder now, and they echo through the trees. Unseen creatures slide through the reeds below the water's surface. You sometimes see a giant frog, the size of a regular cat, jump out of the water, but it doesn't attack. Something has frightened it and he quickly disappears again.

You follow the path and come to a halt when it leads you to a clearing in the woods, a small meadow with a large tree and two big rocks. Next to the tree lies the dwarf, unconscious and with a unhealthy white skin. From such a distance you can't see whether he is alive or dead.

You all instinctively stay at a distance though, as most of you have also seen the obvious trap that the Wight tried to layout for you. Hidden high up in the tree sits the Wight, armed with what looks like a longsword. Next to him, sits a two-headed dog, 'a death dog'. Both don't yet seem to see you, as you are still hidden in shadow.

So, I've drawn a quick map. You guys approach from the south. The big green circles are trees, big enough to climb them and hide behind. The darker green stuff are bushes, also big enough to hide behind. The grey things are two big rocks that you can also hide behind or climb on. The pink thing is the dwarf lying on the ground, the blue dot the death dog and the red dod the Wight.
https://img00.deviantart.net/bfc7/i/2017/293/f/b/itsatrap_by_ichneumonfly-dbr5fxd.jpg



So, here is a picture of a Death Dog (https://media-waterdeep.cursecdn.com/avatars/thumbnails/0/265/1000/1000/636252768823194310.jpeg) and the Wight (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/9/9c/Wight-5e.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/699?cb=20171011032015)

[JNAProductions]

Alright, Nerissa says, quietly. I'm a good climber-I can get to where those bastards are without much issue. But I'm not the best at fighting solo-if someone could be with me, that'd be for the best. If not, I can stay at range and shoot them. Can that dog-thing breathe fire or anything? And is it intelligent?

[Hemnon]

Lia had already drawn her own bow silently, her eyes drawn towards the bushels and treeline to the left, a deepseated urge to climb up one of those trees tugged gently at her mind, a reminder of her youthful days gazing out from the tallest of the trees from her Elven Forest Homeland. it would also grant a good overview of the field open parts of the swamp where the wight and that eeriely creepy hound was located, possibly even grant and advantage in terms of a better shot with her bow.
"I see the wight and it's... pet, up in the lone center tree. I'm an archer, not a close combat specialist. I'll take the left path through the scrubs and get into a tree closer to that undead." Lia voiced out in a low, mild tone, eyes darting around. She was already partially into the foliage to the left, having made no sound getting into that low scrubbery'n'bushes. She's yet to draw an actual arrow though, which was smart since the metal tip of the arrow easily could reflect light in a 'here we are' sort of way, and it meant she wasn't just gonna shoot an arrow right away.
"I'm also fairly certain the dwarf over there is dead. His skin colour is.... well, it's very pallid. Can't be 100% sure until i can get a closer view." Lia added in with a nonplussed sort of expression.

[Ionbound]

Felara hmms unhappily and looks at the driver lying there, then says, "Quite. Shall I open, then?"

[Tekrow]

"I can fight up close or from afar, as you prefer" Axion said as he looked in the direction of the wight. "Either way, I'll try to surprise them after you open on them".

And with that, Axion took the left path, trying to find a good position from where he could ambush the unsuspecting wight.


Roll for Stealth.
[roll0]

[JNAProductions]

We strike on three. All at once-alright? Nerissa says, looking to her companions. If they nod or otherwise show agreement, she starts a countdown as she climbs carefully into a tree.

1...

2...

3! she yells the last number as she nocks an arrow and launches it directly into the Wight.

[roll]1d20+5[/roll
[roll0] advantage for being unnoticed up till now.
[roll1] base damage.
[roll2] sneak attack damage.

Nerissa will be staying in the treetops-she can easily climb them thanks to Second Story work, so will not even be slowed.

[Ichneumon]

You guys moves into position and both the Wight and the death dog are totally caught off guard when the Wight is hit by Nerissa's arrow.

He screams from the pain.
So, round 1 of combat has started. Nerissa already made her turn this round. The Wights AC is 14 and the death dog's AC is 12.

[Ionbound]

Felara's fingertips glow, then three beams of fire erupts from her hands as she utters a prayer to Evening Glory to release the Wight and Death Dog from their mindless torment. Two streak towards the wight while one heads for the dog.

Two beams at the wight, one at the Death Dog.

Beam 1 Attack: [roll0]
Beam 1 Damage: [roll1]

Beam 2 Attack: [roll2]
Beam 2 Damage: [roll3]

Beam 3 Attack: [roll4]
Beam 3 Damage: [roll5]

[Aron Times]

Hagen Baker, Hag's Foster Son (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1362764)

Hagen Baker had been quietly listening to his companions in the background when they suddenly decided to murder some foul-smelling stranger and his dog. I guess I'm a murderer now, he thought to himself, as he drew his wand and threw a glob of acid into the stranger with an arrow sticking out of his body.

Dexterity Save DC 13 or take 1d6 acid damage.

[Hemnon]

Lia drew forth an arrow, took aim and fired right at the Wight, a satisfied smirk on her lips at the thought of yet another nasty undead bastard about to die!
She was still hunched down in the brush out of the firing line of everyone else.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22501899&postcount=28
The above link goes to the OOC place I rolled the dice.

[Tekrow]

Axion took aim at the wight, speaking incantations in long forgotten tounges. He looked at the wight, and placed a curse upon it. Then, his left hand flared up, and from it he released a blast of energy towards the wight.


Cast Hex on the Wight, then attack with Eldritch Blast.

Attack Roll:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]
Hex Damage:
[roll2]

[Ichneumon]

The two beams of light that Felara cast at the Wight miss.

The death dog is hit though by her last beam and he howls in pain, as he loses his grip and almost falls out of the tree.

While the Wight was able to dodge the beams of light, he wasn't able to jump away from the splash of acid. The corrosive liquid burns at his clothes, on his skin and his face.

While the Wight tries to remove the liquid from his eyes, he is unable to see Lia's arrow and he takes an arrow to the knee.

Axion's Eldritch blast misses though, hitting a heavy branch of the tree that falls on the ground, only a few feet next to the dwarf.

Both the Wight and death dog try to prepare themselves for this ambush, but aren't yet able to respond.

So, I believe the rules are that in the first round of combat the enemies skip their attack round, as you guys succeeded in surprising them. Now, round 2 starts and you all get to attack again, before it's their turn.

Also, feel free to correct me if you catch me making a mistake.:smallsmile:

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa nocks a second arrow back, but holds her shot till the Wight is sufficiently distracted by one of her allies before shooting.

If need be, as well, she moves to get a better position from the treetops.

Unfortunately, her shot knocks into the Wight's armor, hitting, but causing no actual harm.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Moving to make sure the Wight doesn't get cover from anyone. Holding my shot until he's engaged with an ally, giving me sneak attack. If that doesn't happen, just ignore the sneak attack damage.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

Still standing. Hagen kept his wand pointed at the disheveled man and shot another glob of acid at him.

[Hemnon]

Lia slid another arrow free from her quiver, letting it fly right at the wight, her aim nestled towards that undead freak's head!


OOC link to the specific Roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22514571&postcount=39)

[Ionbound]

Felara sighs as the two beams aimed at the wight miss, and mutters another prayer, this time whispering prayers of guidance and strength, then unleashes several silver missiles from her fingertips that streak towards the Wight.

Cast magic missile, all on the wight.
Damage: [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

The Wight ducks and manages to avoid the next glob of acid that is thrown in its way. The way he bends his his body, turns his limbs... there is something very disturbingly unnatural about it. The way he even manages to avoid the arrow that Lia shot at him.

However, there are things you simply can not avoid. And one of those things is a magic missile. Three in this case and the bright darts of magical force all hit the wight hard, burning away part of his flesh. While he is still a formidable though, he now looks severely wounded.

The Wight is 'bloodied' (meaning he has lost (more than) half of its max hp. Of the players, now only Tekrow needs to act, before the monsters get a chance to play...:smallamused:

[Ichneumon]

Axion tries to hit the Wight with another Eldritch Blast.


Attack Roll:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]
Hex Damage:
[roll2]

This was my roll for Tekrow. I'll post the monsters turns in a separate post shortly. If you read this, Tekrow, I hope you are fine and you don't mind.

[Ichneumon]

Axion's eldritch blast hits the wight full in his face and he almost falls down. There doesn't seem to be a lot of unlife left in him.

While the undead creature is still quite frightening, you can see the dispair in his eyes. While he has cheated death by making a bargain with some dark power, he knows death is now finally closing in on him.

He looks at the one's far away hidden in the tree tops. Almost all of you are out of his range. Instead of screaming in fear though, he starts laughing. A high pitched hyena like laughter. He's going insane.

He makes a sprint to Axion, the one who is most close. First, he tries to hit him with his longsword.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Then, he speaks to all of you: "You'll pay for this. You know this right? I have the blessings of the Darklord of Souragne. Misroi won't show you any mercy. You can count on that. He will come for you. "

Then, the Wight's longsword starts to glow magically and the Wight seemingly tries to drain Axion's life.

Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Meangwhile, the huge death dog also comes to action. He jumps up from his position at the tree and runs towards Felara, with an unholy speed.

The two heads are howling and barking as they both try to bite her. From up close, you can clearly see how ugly and revolting they are. Rotting meat between their teeth, a horrid smell from their breath.

Head 1
Attack: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Head 1
Attack: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

In the distance, you can hear the dwarf softly mumbling something. Morain the dwarf is still alive!

"The ravens... They see everything.... They talk of everything..."

So, it's all your turn again. :smallsmile:
Also, wanted to point out specifically that the Wight has only 4 hit points left, so he's likely going down in one hit.

[Ionbound]

Felara gags and chokes, used to the more sanitized undead that serve Evening Glory. She cries out as the beast bites into her arm, then shouts, "Be banished, lost one! Never return!" as beams of fire leap from her hand to the dog.

Touch Attack1: [roll0]
Scorching Ray Damage1: [roll1]

Touch Attack2: [roll2]
Scorching Ray Damage2: [roll3]

Touch Attack3: [roll4]
Scorching Ray Damage3: [roll5]

[JNAProductions]

Yeah, sure, Nerissa says, moving from around the treetops at speed to flank the Wight and his dog. We'll handle that-you'll just handle oblivion, she quips as she shoots the Wight in the back.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Ichneumon]

Two of Felara's scorching rays hit the death dog. His eyes are crazy and desperate and he looks really beat up. The stench worsens even more, as now you can also smell burned and dead fur rising from his body.

The wight tries to reply to Nerissa's taunts, but it is too late for him. "You..."
When he is hit by the arrow in the back of his head, it's over. His limbs relax and he is a normal corpse again. He falls to the ground, as a marionette whose strings have been cut.. The wight is dead.

[Hemnon]

Lia scurried out of her brush-area, finding it hard to continue firing since the wight was dead... again, and the damn hound was in close combat with a teammate, so instead of just haphazardly firing into that melee, Lia instead slowly made her way over to the dwarf, her silvered dagger drawn, just in case it was a ruse from a possibly-also-undead dwarf.


I'm gonna do a pure Wisdom check to see if Lia can notice if said dwarf was actually alive, dead, or undead.
Wisdom [roll0]

if this is technically a Survival check, then it's +5 instead of +3.

EDIT: NATURAL 20! WOOHOO!

[Ichneumon]

Lia walks to Morain, fearing the worst, but quickly sees that the dwarf is still alive.

He is wounded. He has flesh wounds and most likely a few broken bones, also in his legs, preventing him from walking. Furthermore though, he looks more thin and pale than he used to. You aren't sure if he is actually aware of your presence. It looks like he is in some form of shock, in an almost trance-like state.

You have experience with people being in a kind of shock after having an encounter with the undead and the condition of the dwarf certainly looks like that. Usually with time and good care, people recover from such experiences and attacks on their sanity. However, usually they only get into such shocks after very long and intense experiences and the dwarf's condition looks way more intense than you'd expect after such a short encounter with a wight and death dog and it's also way more severe than you've ever encountered.

While you have never seen it before, you've heard rumours of 'lost ones': shattered, broken souls, who have retreated into themselves to block out the terrors that have occurred to them. They wander about and spend most of their time in an almost catatonic state. The enormity of the things they have seen is written in their tortured features and the blankness of their eyes which seem to have lost the very spark of life. Lost ones seldom speak or communicate in any way. It seems like Morain might have become one of those 'lost ones'. Healing spells can cure wounds, but you've never heard of a spell being able to repair the damage done to those poor souls.

In the background, you hear the death dog bark and roar. What have these creatures done to Morain?

He starts mumbling again, while fearfully looking around and gazing into the empty void of space: "Black talons in the mist... Feathers... feathers..."

Nice! With a natural 20, I feel obligated to give you as much information as possible.

Justs a reminder, we're still in combat. It's Tekrow' and Aron Times' turn. :smallsmile:

EDIT: to give a better description

[Ichneumon]

Given that Tekrow might have disappeared and has yet to reply to my private message, I've decided to roll for him again. Given that Aron Times said in the OOC-thread, we could assume he casts acid splash again, I'll do so as well, so that we might move on to more interesting rp-stuff, instead of waiting for others to role dice.

Axion aims at the death dog with an Eldritch Blast.

Attack Roll:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]
Hex Damage:
[roll2]

Hagen aims his wand at the death dog as well and blasts a glob of acid at his direction.

Dexterity save (DC 13): [roll3]
Damage if hit: [roll4]

The death dogs succumbs and falls to the ground. It's over. What do you do now?

[Hemnon]

Lia carefully turned the dwarf over, checking for injuries besides the mental ones from the Wight encounter.
Afterwards, if any wounds were found they would of course be treated, then Lia would hunt around the minor battlefield so check if any of her arrows had made it through unscathed.


Wisdom (Medicine) Check to see if any wounds needs treatment or binding.
[roll0]

[Ionbound]

Felara makes haste past the dog and to the Dwarf, looking at Lia, then saying, "Is he alive? If he is, I can heal him."

[Hemnon]

Lia looked up at Felara. "Yes he is. He's breathing and doesn't appear like he's dying at least... However, his mind might be doing well from his experience with the Wight. He needs time and peace to let his mind heal. It's not something magic can just cure, at least no magic I've ever come across could heal the mind of one in danger of turning into a Lost One." She replied, sticking to Common since now was not the time to be contrary for the sake of being 'elf'.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa drops from the treetops, bending her knees to absorb the impact. She looks over the Wight and snags any valuables from him, but after, hurries towards Morain.

What can we do to help him? Does anyone know?

[Hemnon]

At Nerissa's questions, Lia turned her head slightly in her direction. "A month or more in a quiet, passive place. like a convent or a tarvern with lots of booze. If not, hey may end up mentally broken and a danger to himself and others." Lia continued, showing off some more of that good 'ol knowledge-flair that only a Ranger with a primary enemy being the Undead.

[Ionbound]

Felara shrugs and says, "Still, not dying is an improvement." She reaches down and touches the dwarf with a glowing hand, infusing him with healing light.

Casting Cure Wounds: [roll]1d8+3[roll]

[Ichneumon]

Lia searches the battleground for her arrows and finds that [roll0] of her arrows can be re-used again.

Nerissa searches the Wights possessions and finds the following items of note:
- Near the bottom of the tree, you find the Wight's longbow, made of a type of blackwood. You suspect the strings are made from Elvish hair.
- Next to the longbow you find a black leather quiver, filled with 20 arrows, also from blackwood with blood-red feathers.
- The Wight also carried an impressive steel longsword, it's hilt seems to be inscribed with lettering in the Infernal script that when held up in the moon light reflect a soft blue light.
- The Wight also carried around a set of rusty keys.

When you guys examine Morain, he seems to be somewhat aware of you, letting you examine him. He has no wounds that require immediate medical attention (he is stable). When Felara heals him, the bones in his legs re-allign themselves and slowly he stands up. He looks quite comfortable and happy now, but still in a different zone. He doesn't make eye contact, continues gazing into the void and only sometimes mumbles softly, making crow or raven-like sounds "caw... caw... caw..."

Other than Morain's animal impressions, it is completely silent in the swamp... almost at least. Far in the distance you can hear the soft sound of people laughing, singing and playing the accordion.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa gathers up the loot. Anyone able to make of use of any of this? she asks the group.

And do we go towards the laughter? Or far, far away?

[Hemnon]

Lia reached a hand out towards the Bow that Nerissa had gathered up. "Let me see that bow." She said, clearly being blunt as ever, albeit no mean intent was in it. It was simply Lia's soon-to-be-familiar dry personality and speech rearing it's head.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

Hagen did not look fazed at battling one of the living dead and its monstrous companion. He looked a bit winded from the exertion, but his face looked like one who had just fended off a mortal bandit, not a rotting corpse.

"He said something about Misroi, the Darklord of Souragne." Hagen said that as if his companions understood what a Darklord was. "A servant of a Prisoner. Are we in Souragne already? If we aren't, what's he doing here?"

[Hemnon]

Lia frowned at Hagen's comment. "Sour-who?" She asked, clearly having no idea who or what Hagen was even referring to.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa hands over the bow, saying Sure.

And what do you know about this Sow... Sour... Soggy... That guy.

[Ionbound]

Felara gives Hagen a suspicious look and says, "And how do you know so much about this? As far as I know we're in the middle of nowhere."

[Aron Times]

Hagen

"What?!" Hagen frowned and looked his companions the way people looked at the village idiot. "Don't you know anything?!"

OOC: Very basic Ravenloft knowledge incoming.

"Wait, you're actually serious. Alright..." He takes a deep breath and looks down, trying to think. "As far as I know, the world we live in is a prison for powerful evil beings. There are different parts of our world, called 'Domains,' that house different prisoners. Souragne is one of them. Its Darklord is Misroi. 'Darklord' is an ironic title, as Misroi is unable to leave his prison 'Domain'."

"The wardens of this prison world of ours are known as the Dark Powers. People like us, we're the prison staff. I'm told we keep the prison up and running by living our everyday lives. I don't know if our existence here is punishment or duty or both, but none can leave this world through mortal or even godly magic. If any of you are divine spellcasters," He looks at Felara, as he saw her cast a healing spell. "You might've noticed that your god or whatever or whoever you pray to has been completely silent since you got here."

Hagen then looks at the dwarf man they found. "Now, this man we found here. This isn't some poor soul broken by grief. This is a poor soul whose soul was literally broken by some monster. You won't cure him by having him rest in a convent or carouse in a tavern. This isn't a malady of the mind. The only way you can cure him is to have him see the monster that broke his soul killed. If he's lucky, he will start to get better. If he's unlucky, the monster that did this to him might've died already and he can no longer be cured. The cure requires him to see the monster slain."

[Hemnon]

Lia

Upon hearing Hagen's description of the Dwarf's troubled Mind and the like, Lia nodded in agreement. "He's right about the dwarf everyone." She said, still busily observing the bow, not really caring too much about the dwarf now. Or at least she didn't show any outward concern.

[JNAProductions]

Okay-info dump is great and all, but we've got noises nearby. What do we do about them? Nerissa says, gesturing towards the music and laughter.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

"It's dangerous to be alone in the swamp. I say we head for that party to see if they're friendly. If not, we move on."

[Ichneumon]

You guys decide to follow the sound of music. As you prepare to go, you notice that Morain, quietly follows you along, never letting the distance between you and him be more than a couple of feet. Although it is not clear if he still recognises you as his passengers, he at least recognises you as his friends.

As you sneak and crawl through the undergrowth, you approach a clearing next to the river. Four colourful tents are pitched outside a ring of three wagons. Horses are drinking from the river. The mournful strains of an accordion clash with the singing of several brightly clad figured around a bonfire. You see four adults: one elderly and thin man playing the accordion, one shapely young woman dancing and singing, a younger and stronger man and one older woman, sitting by the fire, cooking a meal. Four smaller children sit by the fire also. Three girls and one boy. Two of them are enjoying the music, watching the young woman (maybe their older sister?) dance and sing. One of them is eating a bowl of soup and the other is playing with a toy: a wind-up musical merry-go-round with figurines of snarling wolves chasing children in place of prancing horses.

Then the old woman looks up, directing the gaze of her good eye upon you, even though you thought you were hidden quite well. The other eye is milky and blank. The woman smiles and motions with her withered hand, inviting you to join the group and seemingly offering you a seat next to the fire and a bowl of her soup.

*edited to fix spelling mistakes*

[Ionbound]

Felara glares at Hagen for what he said about her goddess, even as she has a sneaking suspicion it's true. When the woman looks up at the group, she jumps in surprise, but then smiles as she realizes the woman is likely friendly, and waves, making her way over to the fire to take a seat. She accepts a bowl of soup if offered, but does not eat any, instead saying, "Greetings! Might I ask your name?"

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa comes out, bringing Morain with her and making sure the dwarf sticks close. I too am a touch curious about your name, but I figure I should probably introduce myself too. Nerissa, at your service.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

Hagen had read about the Vistani. Never met them in person. Do they know I serve the Dark Powers? He decided to let his companions speak for him, and stayed quiet in the back instead.

[Hemnon]

Lia holds her tongue and just defaults to let the others talk, instead she focuses her attention to the collection of people, the wagons, the music. Everything else than the conversation happening, unless of course she'd be talked to specifically or mentioned by name.

[Ichneumon]

They welcome you all by their fire. "My name is Ryana", the old woman says. "That handsom old fellow with the accordion is my good husband, Scarengi." She points to the strong young man and the dancing woman. "Our son and daughter, Carloni and Valana." Finally, pointing at the children, she says: "These are Carloni's children. May the gods take care of her poor mother's soul." For a moment, everyone looks sad, as she mentions the passed away mother. Then, everyone smiles again, remembering to be polite to the newcomers.

"Please, strangers come and warm yourself. Join us for dinner. You must be starving." Scarengi says.

Everyone seems very busy, handing out bowls of soup (Ryana's specialty) and making space for you all. For now, no one seems to notice that Morain is acting a bit weirdly, staring into the void, not really 'connecting' with everything that happens, mumbling. The only one who seems to notice is Valana. She has enchanting black eyes and red lips. While everyone is making small talk and seems pleasantly surprised by the arrival of the strangers, she says nothing. All she does is stare at Morain, without saying anything. She looks worried and sometimes she seems to make eye contact with her brother, Carloni.

When you've all received your seat and a bowl of soup, Carloni asks you: "Now, what are you doing in the swamp at this hour? You guys look like you've been in some kind of fight." His voice sounds somewhat intimidating. As he asks that, he shifts position on his seat and you see the big muscles under his shirt moving. Although he is not outright hostile, it is clear he really doesn't trust you yet.

I've decided not to give NPC special speech colours anymore. There will quickly be too many NPCs to each give different colours. I've bolded the different names, though.

[Hemnon]

At the offer of a bowl of food, Lia shook her head, not wanting to partake of the food. It wasn't out of spite or malice, but just sheer stubborn 'I do not eat anything I have not prepared myself' sort of thing. It's most likely caused by her lifepath as a Ranger, on top of not being the most... elegant of people when dealing with others.
Hence why she did not partake of the food.

Her own gaze was sharp and glinting with that untrustworthiness that was only healthy to have when meeting a random group of people in a confirmed undead-infested swamp.

To Lia it was better to offend by not doing something, rather than do it out of social pressure. At the worst she'd just be seen as an arrogant wood elf, rather than possibly ingest something toxic, poisoned, drugged or otherwise do something that could cause harm to herself in such a fashion.

[JNAProductions]

Huh? Nerissa says, a bit out of it. (She's been staring at Valana and her deep eyes.)

When Carloni repeats his question, she answers, saying Oh! Okay, sorry, I was just... Um... Distracted. Yeah, we were traveling across the swamp, and not being natives, we thought it'd be a good idea to hire someone who knew the area to get us through. He told us to stay in the carriage no matter what-so naturally, when we thought he was in trouble, we hopped out and tried to help. Good thing, too-there was a wight and his pet murderdog. We killed them, and helped out Morain-he's right there, though he's... Not well.

And then someone mentioned something about Lord Soup, Nerissa adds. Not sure about that.

[Ionbound]

Felara nods in assent to Nerissa's story and adds, "If you could help us find the main road back to town, I am in a bit of a hurry. Church business, I'm sure you understand."

[Ichneumon]

When Nerissa mentions the wight and points to Morain, each member of the family hastily makes a protective gesture and mumbles a prayer.

Carloni seems content with Nerissa's answer, ignoring the incomprehensible part about 'Lord Soup'. "You killed that wight? That's very impressive. He's been a menace in this region for so long. I hope you made him suffer. He killed many good, good people...", his face turns sad again...

The old woman Ryana looks concerned at her son. The wight seems to bring up bad memories. Maybe they've lost someone dearly to them? Ryana tries to quickly change the subject and answers Felara's question: "There is a village not far from here, called Marais d'Tarascon, at the edge of the swamp. We can point you the general direction, if you like."

Scarengi adds: "But it is not a place to visit on a night such as this." He points to the rolling black clouds in the sky.

"We visited it a week or two ago... Evil resides there... we're going as far away from that place as possible. We're leaving in the morning. ... You are welcome to share our fire and food until morning comes."

“Perhaps,” he says with a sparkle in his eye, “there will even be time for some fortune telling.”

Valana adds, "Please, stay with us for the night. It's the least we could do..." She looks friendly, but also very concerned for your well-being. She looks at every one of you, but her gaze stays fixed on Hagen, when she says "It would be better if you'd stay for the night."

The only one who notices that Lia isn't eating, is Scarengi. He walks towards Lia, smiling and says: "You know, I've had encounters with elves before. They are very fine folk. You don't need to eat if you don't want to, but if you're hungry... I'd happily eat a bit from your bowl, as a food taster, to show you that we're not trying to assassinate you or anything." He says in a friendly light-hearted manner, but clearly meaning it. :smallamused:

If you guys decide to press the issue and want to leave now, this counts as a 'short rest'. If you decide to stay, ask more questions and spend the night, it counts as a long rest.

[Hemnon]

At Scarengi's laugh and smiling question about her and the food, Lia just turned her head towards him with a neutral expression. "I do not eat anything I haven't caught and/or cooked myself. It's nothing personal, it's just how I live." She said and casualyl pulled out a piece of mistletoe sprig from her little spell component pouch, held up her other hand and called to the wilds, to nature itself, channeling those divine energies and created 10 small berries in her hand. Goodberries to be exact.
From that collection she ate a single one and seemed to be full just from that. Debating for a second, the also offered Scarengi a choice of pickin a berry for himself. "You can take one of you want. It'll keep you full for a day and it even got some minor healing properties. These abilities will vanish if not eaten within 24 hours from now though. But, please take one if you want one."
She also indicated that anyone else wishing one could take one of those berries, either for keeping or for eating right here and now.


Lia casts Goodberry, creating 10 berries.

Up to ten berries appear in your hand and are infused with magic for the duration. A creature can use it's action to eat one berry. Eating a berry restores 1 hit point, and the berry provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day.
The berries lose their potency if they have not been consumed within 24 hours of the casting of this spell.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

"Sir, I'll take you up on that offer of fortune telling later. How much are you charging?" Hagen fingered his coin purse but did not open it yet. Do they know anything?

[Ichneumon]

Lia

Scarengi laughs shakes his head in amazement of Lia casting a spell. "Those funny elves." But he happily takes a berry. The three small children also happily take a berry, politely thank Lia for it and laugh as they taste the sweet berries. After dinner the young children get put to bed, but before they do, they thank "the elf lady" again for the berries.

Felara and Nerissa

Carloni gives Nerissa detailed instructions on how to get to the nearby village, Marais d'Tarascon. "It's about a day travelling from here. "

To Felara, Carloni says, "It's my experience that the gods have forsaken these lands. Prayers seldom get answered, but I hope you find what you are looking for in Marais d'Tarascon. There is church there, dedicated to the Morninglord and the Maiden of the Mist. The local priest, father Brucian is a really dependable solid guy."

He adds, with a cocky smile: "He is a bit addicted to gambling though, so if you want to make some quick money, challenge him to a game of dice."

Everyone

"We usually charge 20 gold pieces per reading, but for you nice fellows we can do it for half the pri..", Scarengi starts saying to Hagen, but he is interrupted by Valana, who says "No, you all get a reading for free."

Valana gazes at each of you in turn, with the firelight shining in her large, black eyes. “The trouble started when I cast the runes for a quiet and lost young nobleman from the village a week or so ago,” she explains sadly. “Perhaps it will end with another casting.”

She holds a flat pan in her lap and stone tiles in her hands. Then, after gazing once again into your eyes, she drops the tiles into the pan. With a powerful voice she says: “Dark powers have brought you here, on behalf of a lost soul, not unlike your dwarven friend here.” While uttering the words 'dark powers', she give a knowing look at Hagen with her dark and expressive eyes, as if she wanted to say "yes, I know".

She continues: “The dead will walk with the coming storm, and you must find a way to put them to rest. If you cannot, the rain will turn to blood! It will drown you—you and all of Marais d'Tarascon.”

She's done and the Vistani family, shocked by the fortune told by Valana, remains awkwardly silent as they continue watching the fire, contemplating what this could mean.

This is a bit of a long post, describing some of the 'events' and discussions that happen in the evening by the fire. In your reactions, please indicate whether you want to follow up on some of the things you've heard and continue the conversation or if you are ready to fast-forward till the end of the night when you are all going to sleep.

[Hemnon]

Lia returned an awkward smile to the little children as the thanked her for that berry they got. She did not say a lot more, and instead just listened and observed. Which basically meant that to the others, she merely remained 'Lia-like'. (aka. is fine with a fast forward.)

[JNAProductions]

Seeing Valana eye up Hagen, Nerissa subtly elbows him, saying Lucky dog, you.

After the fortune-telling, though, Nerissa is... Not nervous, exactly, but weary. Thank you, Valana. I had a friend who used to tell me "The stars shine brightest in the darkness." I have a feeling we might be testing that soon.

[Ionbound]

Felara blinks and says, "I've never heard of the Morninglord. And I'm not exactly unknowledgeable about religion. Or that village, for that matter." She pauses, then a look of distinct unhappiness crosses her face as she asks, "Just where am I? Exactly?"

[Ichneumon]

An amused smile appears on Valana's face, when she overhears Nerissa speak to Hagen, before the fortune telling.

After the fortune telling, though, all smiles have disappeared. Replying to Nerissa, still in some kind of trance, she says: "Beware the madman. Beware his blood." :smalleek:

Concerned, Scarengi takes Valana inside one of the wagons, explaining that rune casting always makes her tired and she should rest now, but that once she's rested, she'll be okey.

Carloni answers Felara: "My own people, the Vistani, are not the religious sort, but many of the others inhabitants of these lands are. These are troubling times, you see, and most seem to cling to religion as it gives them some form of hope. That's what the Morninglord teaches its followers: no matter how bleak the future may seem, no matter how dark the night, dawn will come. I guess that's quite similar to what your friend said, Nerissa."

"You're currently in Souragne, one of the many island domains surrounded by endless fog and shadow, a Mist of swirling clouds of white and grey vapor that roll out over the ground, consuming everything in its way. The dark magic of the Mists have brought you here and if you should ever leave this place, it must also be through the Mists."

The Morninglord's philosophy reminds me a lot of Harvey Dent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF56zOFYjvw) from Batman Dark Knight Trilogy. :smallamused:

[Aron Times]

Hagen

"Um... That was..." Hagen couldn't finish his sentence. "How can you possibly know all of that? Say all of that? Are you... Do you serve the Dark Powers, too?" He didn't know much about the Vistani and was now genuinely curious. He did, at least learn that they were indeed in Souragne, and that the Dark Powers must've sent him here for a reason.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Having no clue on who the dark powers were or what the whole 'mist' deal was, Lia was just silent and sat slightly by her self. Close enough to be a part of the group, but far enough away to also show she had nothing to say right now and wasn't yet feeling close-bonded with the others.

[Ionbound]

Felara frowns and says, "I've never heard of any of those places..."

[Ichneumon]

Amused to see Hagen so confused, Carloni only replies by saying that the female Vistani possess something called 'the Sight', allowing them to see far into the future, the past and the present. "My sister knows many things."

“It is time to rest after the adventures of the day. Be our guests and sleep beside the fire,” he says, before he quickly ushers his family into the wagon.

Only Carloni remains outside, settling upright into the driver's seat of the wagon with a heavy cloak around him. He closes his eyes as if to sleep.

You all quickly fall asleep around the fire, even if you try to keep a watch, a deep slumber overtakes you. While you sleep deep, you don't sleep well. All of you have the same nightmare in which you see Valana's shapely silhouette dancing around the fire, in a storm where it rains blood instead of water. You wake up, with Valana's warning still ringing in your ears: "Beware the madman. Beware his blood."

When you wake up, you are alone. There is no trace anymore of the Vistani family. They have moved on. You guys decide it is best if you do the same.

Here ends the first 'chapter' of the adventure. Well done! In my 'real life group' I also played this adventure and they managed to get in a fight with the Vistani, simply because they viewed any encounter with NPCs as a possible combat encounter, which was rather 'interesting'. :smallamused:


Part 2
Marais d'Tarascon

Following the instructions that the Vistani gave you, Lia and Nerissa, manage to lead you out of the swamp. As you approach the village of Marais d'Tarascon, the sky fills with rolling black clouds. Lightning plays across the heavens. However no rain falls. The storm simply hangs over the swamp and the village, occasionally sending a bolt of lightning toward the ground or letting loose a clap of ominous thunder.

Marais d'Tarascon is a cluster of small wood-and-thatch buildings at the edge of the swamp, housing about 300 people. You walk by a large inn, surrounded by a large fence. Far in the distance a cemetery is perched on a hill overlooking the village. The graveyard is divided into two sections, one old, the other new. A church stands next to the cemetery. There are lots of different shops and cottages.

As you enter the village through the main road, you notice though that all the shops and buildings are closed and at first sight, no one seems to be around. Every shop in town is closed. Signs in the windows proclaim “Closed for Funeral” and “Gone to the Church.” Even the cottages are locked up tight.

Far in the distance, farther ahead, you see a large crowd near the church and churchyard.

What do you do? Do you wait in front of the shops, go to the churchyard and approach the crowd or do something else entirely? I'll post a map of the village in the OOC-thread shortly.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa makes her way towards where the church is. She goes quietly, but not fully stealthily, since she doesn't want to disturb anyone, but also doesn't want to alarm anyone.

When she reaches the church, she observes the people there, and sees if there's any appropriate way to add herself to the crowd. If not, she'll be patient and wait for the funeral to end.

[Ichneumon]

When you approach, solemn faces gaze at you suspiciously, but no one says a word. The villagers soon return their attention to the priest who stands over a coffin wrapped in heavy chains.

The priest's booming voice echoes throughout the churchyard. “Friends and family, we mourn the untimely death of Jeremiah d'Gris,” he laments. “Let us take comfort in the fact that he goes to a better place, and let us pray that his eternal rest is peaceful and without incident. Jeremiah, you will be missed, but you will not be welcome here again. Depart this plane and go to the next world with our blessing.”

The priest continues his liturgy, even though a muffled bang causes him a moment's pause. The villagers all flinch but quickly regain their composure.

The bang sounds again from within the coffin. The coffin rocks back and forth, but the priest and the crowd try to ignore it.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa, initially, stays near the edge of the area, not wanting to cause a ruckus. But when she hears the banging, she puts a hand on the shoulder of the nearest person. Is he still alive in there? Or... Un-alive?

[Ichneumon]

Nerissa puts a hand on the shoulder of a short, somewhat chubby bald man, wearing a carpenter's robes. His face is red of tears, but he has a very friendly and timid demeanour. "Father Brucian preaches uncompromising optimism, but how can you be an optimist in times such as these? People suddenly die and their bodies turn into these... things... that start attacking everything that moves. This village is cursed. The Vistani were right. The night of the dead is fast approaching!"

Meanwhile, louder sounds of something trying to escape emerge from the shaking coffin. The villagers try to ignore it, but the priest waves his holy symbol over the box and whispers: “Jeremiah, be still.” The holy symbol depicts a shield, adorned with a sprig of a plant (wolfsbane).

I hope you guys forgive me for my bad drawing skills. https://orig00.deviantart.net/cba9/f/2017/286/c/6/monnik001_by_ichneumonfly-dbqg3q3.jpg

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa nods, and readies her bow. I pray that my weapons will not be needed... But, if Jeremiah was your friend, I'm sure he'd rather his body destroyed than his friend's dead.

Readying an action to shoot the corpse should it shamble out of the coffin.

Also, much better art than I can do! It looks good.

[Hemnon]

Lia

With a scoffing 'huff', Lia said:"When the soul is gone, only a meaty vessel is left. What made that thing alive is gone.
If anything is left, it is a twisted corrupt remnant whose only salvation will be the oblivion of a final, ture death." Her voice was smooth, emotionless and full of 'I know what I am talking about' sureness about the fact that anything returning from the death in mindless or psychotic violence is not the same being as the one that died.
As if to empathize this, she pulled forth her silver dagger, eyes hawkishly gazing towards that coffin.

[Aron Times]

Hagen pulls out his wand and gets ready to dissolve the walking dead, if necessary. He does not say a word and focuses entirely on the coffin.

[Ichneumon]

You ready yourself for the thing inside the coffin to break out, but nothing of that sort happens. It seems the people of Marais d'Tarascon have experience with chaining coffins, as the monster doesn’t break out.

The priest directs the mule-drawn cart carrying the coffin up the hill toward the cemetery. Everyone follows. At the gate, the cemetery keeper, meets the cart. He is an old man, wearing a long black trenchcoat and a wide-brimmed hat. His expression is one of pessimism and cynicism. He has seen this too many times. Apparently he goes by the name of Pierot. Pierot and the priest exchange a few angry looks and say something to each other. You can’t you hear what’s being said, but judging by the looks on both their faces, you understand it wasn’t very friendly and the two individuals don’t get along at all.

Pierot directs the procession toward an open grave vault. The attendants slide the coffin inside. Pierot’s assistant comes and brings two shovels. Both he and Pierot start using them, throwing sand on the coffin, burying the shaking coffin.

Then, mid-way Pierot stops and starts cursing. He and the priest get into an argument. Pierot claims the priest’s naïve optimism is to blame for Jeremiah’s death.

Pierot: “This is all your fault. We should have listened to Jeremiah and started evacuating the village immediately when things went south a few weeks ago. ”

The priest: “Have a little faith, man! The Morninglord’s teachings are clear. No matter how dark the night, dawn will come. It will. We just have to persevere”, he says. But in his voice you can hear he isn’t really sure of it himself.

Pierot: “You fool! Who cares if dawn will come. We will all be dead by then and raging in our coffins like Jeremiah is doing now!”

The argument continues and they get more and more angry. They start shaking their fists and Pierot is waving his shovel in the air. The other villagers try to stay at distance and dare not intervene, just watching as the conflict between Pierot and the priest escalates. You all have the feeling that one of them might get violent, if someone doesn’t intervene.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Tired of the two bickering idiots' arguement, Lia pulled out an arrow and sent it flying from her bow so it would pass between the Priest and the Cemetary Caretaker, ensuring it would bore itself into a tree, or otherwise bounce away harmless from some other surface. It was a tactic of shock to snap those two idiots out of their negatively radiating emotional states, not an actual attack at either of them.
"ENOUGH!" She Yelled in a clear voice, her eyes wild with irritation. "You fools... burying the undead remains... no wonder they might break out near town. You KILL the undead and make sure they do not come back by BURNING the remains. Or failing that, you pour the body with holy water. By the Forestlords, you two are acting like small CHILDREN, arguing like that!"

[Ionbound]

Felara sighs and mutters to herself, "Truly the Lost are unfortunate...Were that all could come back well, perhaps the issue would be less." She shakes her head and carries on, resting a hand on Lia's shoulder as she says, "Leave them alone. They are grieving...And I do not blame them. It sounds like this Jeremiah was an important person, at least to some."

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia looked to the side at Felara. "But they are feeding more undead to the land by not being preventive. Burn the dead if the soul or air is tainted with necromantic energies. The soul is released to the afterlife like that, rather than forced to go through a possible corruptive and painful enslavement to darkness. Sugarcoating it doesn't help." She replied bluntly, clearly showing she actually cared.... but was just so blunt like always.

[Ichneumon]

Both older gentlemen stopped fighting immediately when the arrow flew by their heads. Scared they look at each other and then at you. The look down, somewhat embarrassed, as Lia speaks to them in such a patronising manner.

The cemetery caretaker seems in awe by Lia's expertise on handling undead. "Thank you, young lady. People have been dying quite suddenly lately, without any notice or apparent reason, and soon rise as undead. When they die, we lock them up immediately and burry them quickly. The undead are powerful and supernaturally strong. We dare not confront them. We sure could use your knowledge on the matter."

The priest, seems less impressed by Lia's words. Instead, seemingly answering Felara: "Jeremiah was important. He was my only son. Honest, honourable and faithful, loved by all who knew him."

He adds. "Excuse me, my name is father Brucian. I'm a servant of the Morninglord and the leader of this village. Who, if I may ask, are you?", he asks to all of you.

In silence and with interest, the others villagers now turn their looks to you as well, to look upon the strangers in their midst. High above in the sky thunder roars.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia shifted her gaze towards the Caretaker first. It was clear she did not enjoy getting called 'young lady' by a human who would never be an adult age-wise compared to her own kind. "Young. Lady. *grumble-grumbles!*" Was all she said and the rest of her grumbles wasn't really, per say, all that understandable since they were a mishmash of elvish, Common and a few dwarven utterances she knew about as well before finally calming down enough to reply in a more understandable way. "I am a ranger of the wood elf homelands. My focus is on the undead that plagues the swamp regions near our forest homes and I indeed know very well how to deal with the dead and the undead." She said and cast a glance to the side at the Father.
"I am sorry you lost your son, but i do not want to wrap up my words when we are dealing with the sort of plague that the undead are. Whatever is in that casket or coffin is no longer a person. No low-ranking undead is it's own person anymore and neither is any of the higher ranking ones untouched or uncorrupted by what has happen to them. It's why the funeral Pyre is the best way to deal with a dead person.
They get the funeral, there's no body left behind for the necrotic energies to take a hold of, and the soul's set free from any potential torment that being bound as a body-less specter, or hate-filled revenant or Wight. If you want to uphold certain rites for spiritual reasons, then fine. Do them,
but do not follow ye olde practices and methods of burying the reanimated dead in chained-up coffins or caskets. Change what is needed to allow the living a chance to keep living and the dead to remain dead and free to go to the else-place wherever they may go." She said loud and clear. Wanting to be very clear about her meaning and intentions of why she said what she said.
It was to show that what they were doing was RIGHT in the sense of showing reverence to the dead, but they went about it wrong in letting the undead grow and spread further and further, just for the sake of following traditions for burial rituals.

[Ionbound]

Felara suddenly looks upset, and says angrily to Lia, "Leave them to their traditions. I've yet to see a zombie that could break chain that thick and besides, it would have broken out by now if it were able to. Just leave it."

[Hemnon]

Lia

With a sideways glance at Felara, Lia just shrugged and did as Felara asked: Leaving the close proximity with the Priest and instead just stood on watch.

[Aron Times]

"Sorry, Father, but what they're trying to say is that we've been hired to help. None of you are fighters here, but we are. We can help each other. We can protect you against the walking dead, and in exchange we just need food and shelter. We don't need or want much, and we can help each other. Not everyone has to fight, but we..." He gestures to his companions. "...that's what we're here for."

"The angry lady is right, though. The undead won't rest just by burying them six feet below the ground. They have to be destroyed and the trapped soul set free. Yes, I said 'destroyed,' not 'killed.' That thing isn't the man you remember, and is a meat prison for the tortured soul within."

Edit: Didn't notice Felara's action.


Felara suddenly looks upset, and says angrily to Lia, "Leave them to their traditions. I've yet to see a zombie that could break chain that thick and besides, it would have broken out by now if it were able to. Just leave it."

"Are you the type not to tie up loose ends?" That was an honest question. Hagen had no idea what kind of person Felara was. "It's a bad idea to leave uncontrolled undead lying around. Even if it's not the type that makes more of its kind, it can still kill kids or old people too weak to defend themselves if it gets out. Destroying it now means we," Hagen gestures to both the party and the village folk, "don't have to deal with it later."

An astute observer would notice that Hagen's problem with the undead was not that it was undead, but that it was uncontrolled.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa stays quiet, for the moment. She's not exactly HAPPY with what Lia just did, but can't argue with the positive results. She's also thinking about what, if anything, she might know of what's going on.

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Nerissa recognises this as a very normal and traditional funeral rite. The only thing out of the ordinary is the fact that they have put chains around the coffin. Usually the village priest holds a eulogy, both to reflect on the person's goods deeds and to comfort the family and friends. It seems you guys entered at the very end of the rite, when they where about to put the coffin into the ground.

The caretaker and the priest listen to how you all first make your case (and argue among yourselves). They have calmed down considerably. They look at each other for one moment and while it is clear they still don't like each other one bit, they do seem to agree. "All right. Thank you for coming here, strangers.", the priest says.

To all the villagers the priest shouts: "You heard them. I need 20 people to help gather wood and construct a funeral pyre and five strong men to help me dig up Jeremiah again. Quickly, people, before the storm gets any worse." The priest starts managing and ordering people around and it seems the villagers are very motivated and happy to help. The arrival of the adventuring party and their advice and different strategy has given them new hope.

Pierot picks up the arrow that Lia shot at him, walks towards you all, hands the arrow back to Lia and says: "Thank you for intervening. Father Brucian and I, we really are some hot headed fools. My brother owns the Fool Moon Inn. I'm sure you guys can stay for free for as long as you like. I'm going there myself right now. Feel free to join me later on for a drink. It will still be a few hours before the pyre is finished and ready to burn."

As all the villagers start to get to work and return to the village. You are left with a choice, what do you do?

You may assume that Jeremiah won't escape the coffin (the coffin is stick rocking, but doesn't really need special guarding), at least not until they start to load it on the pyre and set it aflame. You are free to do what you want. Options I see: going to the inn or some other places (shops) in town to ask around and gather information, explore the graveyard, or some other area etc.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

With the tension defused, Hagen tucked his wand back into the sheath hanging from his belt, but kept fingering it in case he had to pull it out quickly. "I guess they have this under control. If they need anything else, they know where to find us." He then followed the three women to the inn.

[Ionbound]

Everything dealt with Felara wanders towards the graveyard and looks forlornly at the headstones, knowing that each one contains a lost soul, second chance at life eternal stolen from them by some ridiculous curse that turned them into the mindless Lost. She exhales sadly as she walks down the rows, touching each headstone in turn.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia took the arrow given to her and put it back into her Quiver with a nod of thanks. Unless the others left, she had no intention of leaving before that coffin and it's content was burnt to ash and the undead monster within was finally gone.

[Ichneumon]

So, I guess you guys are splitting up. If you want to join each other and move from one scene to the other, feel free. It's all quite close by. JNAProductions, feel free to drop Nerissa in any one of the scenes.

Felara

Felara wanders around the graveyard. The graveyard is divided in two parts, an old and a new. A 10-foot-high stone wall surrounds the entire graveyard, and an iron gate provides access. The gate to the old graveyard is sealed shut and overgrown with vines. In contrast, the new cemetery is well tended and open to the public.

You notice that the graveyard contains many mausoleums (free-standing buildings constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or group people), many belonging to the rich families of Marais d'Tarascon. The largest mausoleum, decorated beautifully, belongs to the Tarascon family. Looking at the dirt and plants around the mausoleum (as well as the fresh flowers standing nearby), it looks like it has been opened and closed in the past few weeks.

As you continue down the path, you turn a corner and stumble upon a grave that has been opened. The coffin seems to have been dug up and dragged away to you know not where. The headstone reads "Jazeel Toreng" and the date indicated that she was buried here last week.

Hagen

As you guys depart, Morain looks at the party and seems to choose to follow Hagen. Continuously mumbling strange non-sense and gazing into the void. "Three crows, two ravens and a hawk. But what about the jackdaw? Caw, caw caw..."

You two follow the villagers back to the village and go to the inn. A fence surrounds the inn, which is a large, two-story building with an attached stable. A large common room features a bar and a dozen tables. The Full Moon Inn serves as a meeting place for the villagers, especially during these dark times when everyone seeks comfort and the protection of others, but now the common room is almost deserted, since most people are at work, gathering wood for the pyre.

The Innkeeper is a man known as Jerald, who looks a lot like Pierot (which makes sense, as Pierot mentioned they were brothers). He doesn't pay much attention to you as you enter.

There are three guests in the common room:

A dark-skinned elf, dressed in dark-red heavy armour, who sits at the bar, looking solemnly in his glass.

Pierot, the cemetery caretaker, who is playing a card game with an old woman. He seems so focused on the game, he hasn't seen you enter.

A young woman, the barmaid, greets you with a very warm smile. 'Welcome to the Full Moon Inn. How may we be of service?"

Lia

Lia observes how the coffin in loaded on top of the mule-drawn cart again and carried to the spot where the villagers have started building a funeral pyre, at the edge of the village, near the cemetery and the church, under the supervision of the priest.

As you observe the coffin, you hear fragments of conversations between the villagers.

You hear some villagers complain about the lack of clear leadership in the villager, "now that Jean Tarascon seems to be still in grief and hasn't left his home in weeks."

You hear some other villagers warning each other to stay away from the old cemetery. "It's haunted by wraiths."

Lastly, you notice that a few villagers are talking about the strange deaths that have taken place in the village in the past few weeks. Some have been cases of people just dropping dead, while others look more like murders, with lots of blood at the scene.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

As you guys depart, Morain looks at the party and seems to choose to follow Hagen. Continuously mumbling strange non-sense and gazing into the void. "Three crows, two ravens and a hawk. But what about the jackdaw? Caw, caw caw..."

"Are you talking about my birdcage, sir?" :confused: Hagen had a haunted birdcage, a gift from his foster mother. It called birds to it, and once they entered, they could not leave of their own volition. He had it in his backpack, and had just recently fed it. It conveniently left the bird's still breathing body alive for cooking. That wass a nice meal.


You two follow the villagers back to the village and go to the inn. A fence surrounds the inn, which is a large, two-story building with an attached stable. A large common room features a bar and a dozen tables. The Full Moon Inn serves as a meeting place for the villagers, especially during these dark times when everyone seeks comfort and the protection of others, but now the common room is almost deserted, since most people are at work, gathering wood for the pyre.

Nice.


The Innkeeper is a man known as Jerald, who looks a lot like Pierot (which makes sense, as Pierot mentioned they were brothers). He doesn't pay much attention to you as you enter.

There are three guests in the common room:

A dark-skinned elf, dressed in dark-red heavy armour, who sits at the bar, looking solemnly in his glass.

Pierot, the cemetery caretaker, who is playing a card game with an old woman. He seems so focused on the game, he hasn't seen you enter.

A young woman, the barmaid, greets you with a very warm smile. 'Welcome to the Full Moon Inn. How may we be of service?"

Nice. Hagen smiled at the young lady in return. "I'm tired. And, um, hungry." He got lost in her eyes for a moment before continuing. "I mean, my name is Hagen, not tired. I'm just tired. And..." A flush of red colored his face. :redface: "What's on the menu?" Hagen absentmindedly ran his right hand over his hair. Other than you.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa finds a quiet spot in isolation, and kneels down, then speaks a few words to herself.

I feel kinda dumb doing this... You know, I don't really care about you guys, up there. And I know Celina's not with you-she's NOT dead. But... She had her faith. And I might need some of that for what's to come. So just...
If anyone up there cares, lend me a hand, okay? Me, my companions, and all the people here. We could use it.

Once that's done, she stands up, brushes the dirt from her pants, and blushes a little, feeling a touch dumb.

[Ionbound]

Felara smiles sadly as she walks among the graves, running her hands over headstones and mausoleums as she wishes there was a way to save all the lost she knows are beneath her feet from their tortured existence and give them true eternity.

When she sees the dug up grave, she frowns and looks around, trying to see if the coffin had left a trail of where it had been dragged along that she could follow.

Perception: [roll0]

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia kept an eye on the funeral Pyre procession, noting in the back of her mind the talk about a Haunted Cemetery, as well as the rumouring of murders, odd deaths, etc. etc.

She also consulted her own memories with possible connections between hauntings, the rise of undead in such areas, as well as necromantic energies affecting the living.

What should i roll for such knowledge? History, Arcana? Religion maybe? :smalltongue:

[Ichneumon]

Hagen

Morain stops mumbling, as soon as Hagen shows him the bird cage. He seems happy and quiet and doesn't want to let it go.

The handsome barmaid doesn't seem to notice Hagen's stumbling and red face. She's used to men acting that way around her.

She's a very chatty young woman. "Oh, we have a lot of stuff on the menu. As main dishes we have Mushroom Stew, Apple Stuffed Mushrooms and Oxtails with Mushrooms.... I hope you like Mushrooms. Personally, I can't stand them, but our head chef once had an almost lethal encounter with a warband of Miconids. You know Myconids? They are these odd small humanoid fungi people. I kinda suspect he now just likes chopping mushrooms as a way to have revenge and therefore adds them to every dish. Anyway, for drinks we have Whiskey, Rum, Dwarven Ale."

For a moment, her gaze moves toward Morain. "Does... your dwarven friend want anything?"

Nerissa

Nerissa stands up. You feel a hollowness or remoteness in your heart, as if Celina is farther away than ever before.

Felara

Felara notices markings on the ground, as if someone dragged the coffin over the ground. It's quite easy to follow the path. You follow the markings and see that it leads to a part of the Southern wall of the cemetery, where there is a hole in the wall. The markings continue and it seems the coffin was dragged towards what seems to be a sugar cane field and plantation far in the distance, south of the village.

Lia

Lia knows that sometimes very powerful undead are infused with necrotic energies, aura's that affect any living being that comes to close to them. Making people sick, sometimes even killing them. It's not unlikely that they may even raise dead bodies that come close to them. Layman often refer to this aura of necrotic energy as 'The Odor of Death', because of the supernatural stench these undead transmit.

[JNAProductions]

Breathing heavily, Nerissa takes a few moments to calm herself. She then heads for where her companions went, subtly wiping some wetness from her eyes.

[Ionbound]

Felara frowns unhappily as she sees the hole in the wall and vaults over, looking to follow the trail further, though no longer than five or ten minutes, before turning back and heading into town.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia keeps hanging out near the funeral pyre, at least until the coffin was burnt it cinders and it's undead content is equally ash-ified.

[Aron Times]

Hagen

Morain stops mumbling, as soon as Hagen shows him the bird cage. He seems happy and quiet and doesn't want to let it go.

The handsome barmaid doesn't seem to notice Hagen's stumbling and red face. She's used to men acting that way around her.

She's a very chatty young woman. "Oh, we have a lot of stuff on the menu. As main dishes we have Mushroom Stew, Apple Stuffed Mushrooms and Oxtails with Mushrooms.... I hope you like Mushrooms. Personally, I can't stand them, but our head chef once had an almost lethal encounter with a warband of Miconids. You know Myconids? They are these odd small humanoid fungi people. I kinda suspect he now just likes chopping mushrooms as a way to have revenge and therefore adds them to every dish. Anyway, for drinks we have Whiskey, Rum, Dwarven Ale."

For a moment, her gaze moves toward Morain. "Does... your dwarven friend want anything?"


When Morain took Hagen's soul-devouring birdcage, Hagen raised his left eyebrow and let out a dull, "Huh." He stared at the man for a few moments before moving on. "That... is strange. But whatever."

---

With the barmaid, Hagen once again raised an eyebrow at the mention of Myconids and food that used mushrooms. "Um, you're not serving Myconid flesh here, are you?" It wasn't cannibalism, as Myconids weren't human, but the Dark Powers frowned on people that ate other people. Hagen wasn't sure if Myconids counted as people, but assumed that they did since they were living, thinking creatures.

Assuming they're just normal mushrooms, Hagen will ask, "What do you recommend I eat?" He looked at Morain cradling the birdcage and asked, "What will you have?" With any luck, the dwarf will say something ominous and scary and ruin the mood.

[JNAProductions]

Entering the bar, Nerissa takes a seat near Hagen and Morain. How're you doing, short-stuff? she asks Morain, in a joking tone.

[Ichneumon]

The villagers ignite the funeral pyre. At first, the coffin starts rocking even more and you guys can hear terrible inhuman screams, not of pain, but mostly of anger. The coffin catches fire and in the flames, you see the wood of the coffin break and a creature, trying to escape. Eventually, it manages to break free and you see it's terrible visage and hateful eyes look at you when it turns to ashes. While it might physically resemble the man the villagers knew as Jeremiah, you know that the creature that looks at you, isn't him.

It has become late and all the villagers return home to get some sleep. You all gather in the Full Moon Inn.

In the inn, the chatty woman serves the mushroom stew (made from actual mushrooms, as far as she could tell, although she doesn't manage to take away all your concerns...). Her name is Kathy, she has lived in the village her whole lif and she is glad to see so many new people arrive here.

As night falls, it becomes quiet in the inn. In other inns bards might play music and the innkeeper would try to create a merry mood. Here, the innkeeper has stopped trying.

At this time of hour, the inn is filled with the following people: you guys, Kathy the barmaid, Jerald the Innkeeper, Pierot the cemetery caretaker and an old woman he is playing chess with. The dark-skinned elf in heavy armour has just paid for his drinks and left the inn, to return home.

When you all have finished your stew, Kathy returns to your table.

"Do you want anything else? You know, your dwarvish fellow over here looks a lot like Deruno, the owner of one of our stores here. Maybe you guys are related? You should check-"

She stops speaking mid-sentence. A vile stench wafts into the building, blowing in from outside, from one of the windows. It smells a bit like rotten meat, only worse. Much worse. Everybody seems to smell it and it is overwhelming.

Everyone in the room must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against poison or be incapacitated. Around you, you see Kathy falling down, unconscious, as well as Pierot.


I'll make a constitution check for all of you. The DC is 13. If you fail you require the equivalent time of 1 round of actions to get over it. If you succeed, you have time to immediately find out where the the stench is coming from.

Felara [roll0]
Nerissa [roll1]
Lialiliae [roll2]
Hagen [roll3]

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa bolts to her feet as the stench hits her. She scrunches her nose, but takes the smell without being overwhelmed, and casts her eyes about for the source.

Investigation: [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Investigation: [roll0]

The stench seems to come from the outside and it's source seems like the source seems to be moving past the inn and is now moving away from it.

[JNAProductions]

I'm going to take a look, Nerissa says. She carefully makes her way to a vantage point, making sure to stay hidden.

Stealth Check: [roll0] to not be seen by Mr. Smellypants.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia just barely managed to cover up her face with her cloak, thus avoiding passing out like the Barmaid. She curses in what sounds like a mix of Elvish, Draconic and a singular Dwarven Curse-word for 'rear end'.
Those that understand all three will hear form her that it smells like someone's dead ass.

Firstly, Lia checked if Felara was alright (aka. checking for a pulse) and then heading over to the barmaid to check if she was also alright.
"We need a better vantage-point. This is the killzone. If this place got a first floor we should all head up there: One way access usually and we gain the higher ground. escape can be done through any room's window and it's not far enough down to cause any trouble." She uttered to Nerissa and Hagen.
She knew her stuff and undead mobs in the way of uncontrolled zombies and skeletons tended to be rather direct and not all too clever in the way of tactics. The most direct route was often what they took, so it made sense to get up stairs if possible for the high ground advantage, as well as narrow down the direction of attack, should any enemies get within striking distance... rather than being swarmed from every direction like the inn common-room itself.

[Ionbound]

Felara gags and retches, the stench worst since she was initiated, falling to her knees. She waves Lia off as she gaps, "I'm...Fine..." Shakily she gets to her feet, looking sick and unsteady.

[Aron Times]

Hagen climbed to the top floor of the inn, hoping that the gas would not rise up to choke him. He wanted to see what was happening, and maybe rain down magic upon their enemy.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia nodded at Felara and just concentrated on the Barmaid, intent on hefting her over the shoulder and carry her up the stairs if need be.

[Ichneumon]

Jerald and the old woman help Pierot op on his feet and guide him up the stairs, while Lia supports Kathy.

As you guys make your way up the stairs, you suddenly hear a loud crack, as the door of the inn is kicked. Three figures storm inside.

The first is the dark skinned elf, dressed in heavy armour, he is the one that drunkenly left a few minutes earlier. Now, he looks much more sickly though. It seems he has been turned into a ferocious-looking zombie.

The other two figures are ghouls, both dressed in fancy expensive uniforms, but dirty and torn apart. One of them carries a shovel. They both look quite angry and intelligent. They look at you all and one of them shouts: "You burned him! He was ours.... Now we'll need to take a replacement!"

Combat begins. You guys get initiative. Feel free to make your turn. This is the first combat round.

I'll try to post a kind of map tomorrow, but I'll give a short description of how I picture the environment.

It's the common room of the inn. Filled with tables and chairs and cutlery etc. There is a bar, with drinks and food. You guys are somewhere mid-way on the big stairs to the second floor, which has a balcony, on which you can look out over the common room. There are chandeliers handing on the ceiling above the common room.

All non-hostile NPCs are also walking on the stairs. They will most likely to to flee to the rooms upstairs. On the second floor there is also a door that leads to a balcony outside, which might be a possible escape.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[Ionbound]

Felara gets over the stench just in time to see the intruders and stands tall, shouting, "Leave now! Or face the wrath of the eternal lady!" brandishing a holy symbol shaped like a hand with a heart-shaped hole in it.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Hemnon]

Lia

Lia tried to haft an arrow at the sudden bang of that front door being smashed in... but she had a certain waitress in a Fireman's Carry, so couldn't really reach her arrows.

[roll0]

[JNAProductions]

[roll0]

Nerissa doesn't bother with banter this time around, instead nocking an arrow and readying it. She waits a beat for some of her more melee-inclined associates to close the distance, then lets loose.

One arrow attack, waiting till I gain Sneak Attack from an ally.

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Aron Times]

Hagen drew his trusty wand and pointed it at one of the talking dead (http://www.amc.com/shows/talking-dead). :xykon:The one who complained about having to get a new one or something.

Initiative: [roll0]

Chromatic Orb

Ranged Spell Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] acid damage

Minimum die roll is 2 due to my feat.

[Hemnon]

Lia

Leaving her companions to deal with the enemies for now, Lia ran like the window up the stairs to deposit the Barmaid-waitress person up there before pulling her bow forth and taking an arrow from her quiver and aimed down the stairs while keeping a sharp eye around her... There might be enemies up here as well after all.

If the first-floor seems clear, she calls down to her companions to get their arse in gear and get up here as well, and bring whomever else was still down there an unconscious.


Move Action: Up the stairs, at a run if need be.
Other Action: Draw weapon and ready an arrow.


AC: 16
HP: 25/25

[Ichneumon]

This is my interpretation of what happens. Again, I'm not an expert at the rules. Feel free to post if you think I'm doing something unfairly or against the rules. Since Ionbound hasn't posted an action, I'll make a move for him. The delay is entirely my own fault, but I don't want to postpone this any longer. :smallsmile:

Felara stands next to the dark elf zombie and showing a holy symbol, while at the same time trying to stab him with a dagger.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
(Armor Class is 14)

Nerissa shots at the zombie, but the arrow deflects on his armor.

Hagen casts Chromatic Orb at one of the ghouls and much of his flesh and clothing burn away. (He has lost more than half of his hit points.)

Lia runs up the stairs and readies her bow.

Now the monsters attack.

The zombie angrily growls at Felara and makes three attacks at her: one bite attack and two claw attacks!

Bite attack
attack: [roll2]
damage: [roll3]

Claw attack 1
attack: [roll4]
damage: [roll5]

Claw attack 2
attack: [roll6]
damage: [roll7]

The acid burned ghoul recoils, he takes a few steps back, looking at the combat scene and instructs the other ghoul to go upstairs. "Go up and stop that elf woman from raining down arrows on us."

The other ghouls does so and runs up the stairs. Almost reaching Nerissa.

Round two starts.

[Ionbound]

Felara cries out as the zombie's teeth sink into her arm, then is eerily silent as the claws rake her throat. She falls to the ground, unconscious from pain and blood loss from this fight as well as the earlier one.

-1 HP lads. Shoulda healed up between fights.

[JNAProductions]

Nerissa fires another arrow at the zombie, hoping to do damage this time, and cusses out the undead as she sees a companion fall.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Aron Times]

The one Hagen shot must be the leader. He chose correctly after all. Hagen kept his wand pointed at the ghoul leader and lobbed another Chromatic Orb at him. It.

Chromatic Orb

Ranged Spell Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] acid damage

[Hemnon]

Lia

Seeing the shambling horrors invade the inn and knock one of her companions out, possibly with deadly result, Lia let the unconscious barmaid slump on the floor and instead pulled forth her bow and an arrow with it, targetting the nearest Ghoul (if more are equally close, she targets the most damaged one) and lets the arrow fly, intent on seeing the true death of her chosen enemy.


Action 1 - Move: No movement, unless it's needed to be able to shoot her bow.
Action 2 - Attack: Shoots arrow at Nearest/Most Wounded Ghoul (if more than one is equally close).

Bonus Action!: Activates Slayer's Prey on said targeted Ghoul. the first time each turn any of my attacks hit the target, it takes an additional 1d6 damage. Lasts until i take a long or shot rest, or until target is dead (or i choose a new Slayer's Prey).

Attack Roll: [roll0]
Damage Roll: [roll1] + [roll2] bonus damage from Slayer's Prey.