Morelia II

[sprklemajik]

"So, Gordy, does that mean you'd like to go to the archives with Mirelda and I while Jezreel and Marcus go and check out the undead? Jezreel, I'd suggest that you go with Mirelda, but if you've been spotted then it might complicate matters further."

OOC: this crazy server too busy thing is really annoying

[TheGreatJabu]

OOC: this crazy server too busy thing is really annoying

Yes! Yes it is!

[sprklemajik]

Sam waits rather patiently while her compainons stare blankly at her. "Well... alrighty then, I'll take that as a 'Sure! I'd love to.' Marcus, you and Jezreel head on out and see what information you can gather on the undead." Sam says while gently pushing the two out the door. "It's already starting to get dark out, wouldn't want you two to get lost. Gordy and I will stay here with Mirelda, and in the morning we will go with her to the archives. We will meet you back here in the afternoon and trade stories. Hopefully Mirelda will have found all the information she needs and we can decide if we should head back to the village the following morning."

Sam has the barkeep show her and Mirelda to their room where they settle down for the night. The barkeep also shows Gordy to his room next door.

[OOC: just assuming that boys and girls have different rooms, it's only proper]

[Neb]

Gordy clenches his jaw in frustration. He was trying to chew through a piece of fat and the mean druid lady wouldn't give him time to talk!

[OmegaDamien]

Jezreel doesn't particularly like the plans so he speaks up before the group breaks up.
"If ANYONE is to go into the archives with Mirelda, it should be me. Marcus is right, they are unlikely to let any one in fully armed. However, I have no need of special equipment so I would be the best candidate to keep an eye on her. As for splitting up, it might not be a bad idea for the less ... diplomatic of us, to search elsewhere in the city for hints. Also, which of us is going to this "party" this evening that Marcus spoke of. I for one am interested to see what they are up to. "

[sprklemajik]

Sam looks at the group, entirely frustrated..."Alright, so now everyone has spoken. I'll go with Marcus tonight, and you two can go to the archives. Let's get a move on though."

[C12H22O11]

With no further input from the trio of bored-looking men, everyone grudgingly accepts Sam’s latest arrangement. Sam and Marcus grab equipment from upstairs and head out the door in silence while Jezreel and Gordy remain down in the common room, watching flames dance languidly in the hearth.

Sam and Marcus
The sun is already down when you emerge onto the streets of Gardamere, but the pale glow of swamp-gas lanterns lights every street corner in the city, making it easy to see where you’re going. The walk down to the southern gate is short and uneventful, as not many care to be out in the bitter cold creeping up from the riverfront.
True to Marcus’ word, there is a group of dock workers whispering quietly to each other by the barred and braced gate. One of them glances up with a frown as you approach. His hand moves towards the hilt of a rusty short sword thrust through his belt, but stops as he recognizes Marcus with a grin. ”Hoy, lad, yeh showed up after all! Seems we’ve got enough hands now to have some fun, so everyone grab some rope and whatever weap’n yeh care to have, and follow me over the wall. Time to give ‘em what for!”
The burly dock workers all scale the rough stone wall with ease, each one carrying a coil of rope looped around his neck. They seem to be completely unaffected by the cold, as most have on only simple woolen britches and boiled leather vests, while you are both bundled up in your heavy cloaks. Once at the top, the workers all carefully tie their ropes around protruding stones, and then leap over the other side with the loose ends in their hands. A few seconds later, you hear a loud stage whisper from the other side. ”Hurry it up! There’s already a few of those critters a ways out. If you want in on the action, yah’d best get over quick! Oh, and let the little missy stay there on the wall, where she can watch all safe-like. Wouldn’t want her to get her pretty little face clawed off by a zombie, har!”
It looks like there’s nothing much to do but follow the dockhands over the wall, and hope that the ropes will enable you to climb back over the twelve-foot wall quickly if things take a turn for the worse.

[sprklemajik]

Sam frowns, but decides not to rock the boat. She smiles politely and climbs to the top of the wall and sits down like asked. "Go ahead Marcus, I can help from the top of the wall if I need to with spells. Plus I'll have a bird's eye view of all that occurs."

[C12H22O11]

Sam and Marcus
Sam halts at the top of the wall, finding a stable perch amongst a pile of rough unmortared stone a few feet off to the side of the ropes. Marcus continues down the other side, following the dockworkers as they spread out towards the undead.
The men unsling clubs and crude maces, while a few carry torches. Only one other man is armed with a polearm, although it is a simple spear. Marcus laughs quietly to himself, glad of Smithy's work and the fact that he is armed with far better equipment than the shoddy stuff seen here so far.
As the zombies and skeletons shuffle closer, eerily silent in the harsh moonlight, the fighters begin shouting insults as if trying to goad the undead into attacking. As Marcus hangs back, still trying to figure out his place in this strange dance, the lone spearman leaps forward and uses the rusty barbed spearhead to snag the rotting flesh of one of the zombies. Pulled off-balance, the creature stumbles to the side, away from the other undead. A few more tugs, and the other dockhands circle around the undead, which now looks somewhat aggravated by its treatment.
As both Marcus and Sam look on, the men armed with clubs and maces begin taking turns swinging at the unlucky zombie, giving it just enough time to turn towards its most recent attacker before someone else lands a blow from another side. The zombie, mindlessly turning towards each sailor in turn, seems like some hideously malfunctioning clockwork toy as it spins jerkily about, rendered essentially harmless by the shower of blows rained down upon it. As the club blows pile on, the rotting corpse begins to lose pieces and chunks with each successful hit. A rousing cheer goes up when the zombie's left arm falls off, followed by another as it loses more limbs, and finally a sizeable chunk of torso to one well-aimed mace. However, when a particularly forceful hit finally downs the zombie permanently, a series of groans and good-natured jibes are hurled at the unlucky worker who landed the killing blow. "Ah, way to ruin the fun, Mickey! "Yeah, good job, lead-hand! Looks like you'll have to snag us another one, Jack! Hey, new guy, get in there and help him drag a fresh zombie over, and try to keep those others off us. Maybe we'll let you in for a few rounds if'n you can keep the horde busy while we're playin', har!"
Marcus slides around the edge of the group to aid Jack the spearman in herding another solitary undead towards the main body of dockhands, then turns to begin pushing back the remaining undead with a minimum of damage.
As the clubs and maces thud wetly into the new zombie, pieces begin falling off one by one, and the object of the 'game' becomes clear: Knocking off a chunk of the unlucky creature is worth some number of points, but actually landing the killing blow results in some sort of penalty, or at least some friendly humiliation from the others. Marcus ponders this in the back of his mind as he earns a dark look from Jack for slicing a dusty old skeleton in half while trying to push it back along the riverbank. "Hey, try not to slice 'em up so much! We're out here to have fun, not hack through 'em all in thirty seconds and loot the bodies! Damn adventurers, always tryin to rush things through..."

Jezreel and Gordy
Midnight comes and passes, and Marcus and Sam have still not returned. the next morning shows them similarly absent, and Orrin only shakes his head when asked if they've sent any word. Mirelda is eager to begin searching the Archives in earnest, and leaves Orrin with a gold coin and instructions to send a messenger boy as soon as the others have returned. After a hearty breakfast, the three of you head over to the Archives, where Mirleda immediately delves into a pile of dusty old scrolls and leather-laced tomes of loose parchment. Jezreel and Gordy take up positions nearby, but as the slow drip of a water clock plonks away the hours, it becomes obvious that the Archives is a hard place to hide in. Oh, Mirelda has certainly picked a quiet corner for her reading, but the creaky old shelves, the shadowy illumination provided by only a few Light-enchanted frosted glass orbs, and the sheer number of people wandering about through shelfways and narrow paths between piles of toppled documents makes it almost impossible to ensure Mirelda's security or privacy from your seats at her table.

[OmegaDamien]

As they move through the archives, Jezreel kept help but feel a little at home. The small abbey he stayed in had its own library, which was often quite busy, for a place such as that. It seemed like a long while ago since he left, but it had only been about a week. So much had happened in such a short time. He shakes his head. Now was not the time to ponder such thoughts. He needed to be focused and alert to ensure Mirelda's safety and the success of this expedition. He eases back a bit, trying to stay relatively hidden and looks around for anyone who may be showing any interest in her. A thought occurs to him and he speaks softly to Gordy.
"Do you think that they'll try to use some form of magic to spy on her or worse, kill her? I am not too familiar with those arts and I don't know of what we could do to stop it."

[Neb]

"Well, they might, but I'm not too keen on those arts me-self"

Gordy reflects that he's been in this archive for a REALLY long time!

[sprklemajik]

Hi Guys! I miss you all :)

[Neb]

Tessa! What have you been up to! I miss you :(

I still live in Chicago!

[OmegaDamien]

TESSA! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!?!? The Gods must love you. I remembered my password. I am not entirely sure how since its nothing like my other passwords.

[TheGreatJabu]

Dark times are these, good friends, when we resort to consorting with the Internet to satisfy our dorky needs.

Wait a second - the Internet was made for the sole purpose of satisfying dorky needs. I STAND CORRECTED.

[C12H22O11]

Sooo.... who wants to KEEP PLAYING???
:smallbiggrin:

[TheGreatJabu]

Well, my lack of books certainly wouldn't be an excuse for this one. A: the SRD still exists and B: I've got damned near everything from the 3.5 PHB memorized anyways, with the exception of about half the spells.

[Neb]

Let's do this!

[sprklemajik]

I'm still alive. Jeffrey and I moved back to the Chattanooga area about a year ago. :) When Ben posted first it sent me an email reminder that the forum was activated. Thankfully my password is the same one I use over and over (for everything but banking... ) I would love to continue playing with you fellers :) I don't think I have a character sheet anymore for this character (if we used a character sheet for this?) but could probably rebuild one.

I was invited to a friends husbands d&d game a few weeks ago and it made me miss you guys like crazy.. I'm glad you all are doing good.

*ETA - hahaha my character sheet is attached to my signature. too funny.

[C12H22O11]

Awright! Everyone has a link to their character sheet in their sig (I vaguely recall requesting that at the beginning, maybe?), and they all still work. Not sure if you can get in to edit them or not, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!
I should have something worked up by Saturday, but if anyone feels like they want to pick up right where they left off and post some actions now, go right ahead.

P.S. Patrick's in, too, he just hasn't had time to post.

P.P.S. Let's just keep the OOC stuff in this thread, too? Should be manageable. No sense in starting another thread to keep track of.

[TheGreatJabu]

Time to each everyone to make liberal use of Spoilers to hide their OOC chatter! You make a cool hidey-button for your text by typing (without any spaces between anything)...

[ spoiler ]Then you can blab in here, and it'll show up only inside the Mystery Box![ /spoiler ]

Isn't that nifty?

[TheGreatJabu]

This is me testing out how to roll dice in the forum:
1d20+5
This one was [ dice ]1d20+5[ /dice ]

[roll0]
This one was [ roll ]1d20+5 [ /roll ]

I honestly don't remember how to do it here - Myth-weavers was more fancy, so I only memorized its system. HOW IRONIC.

[Neb]

Stuck Gordy back in my signature.

In case everyone forgot, here's what he looks like!
http://i.imgur.com/h4UAo.jpg

(and also Dennis's character)
http://i.imgur.com/l0HTg.jpg

[TheGreatJabu]

Bwa ha ha! He's been re-uploaded into my character sheet!

Ben, only if you successfully complete the "Air Boss" drawing will you have accomplished a greater deed than drawing Marcus.

[Neb]

The air boss? I do not recall such a thing!

[TheGreatJabu]

Marcus Lyron

In Marcus's short career as a guard, he had certainly never drawn his weapon for the sake of entertainment before. The idea sat uneasily with him, and his scowl looks as though he is literally chewing over the prospect in his mind. They're nothing but abominations anyways, he tells himself. Better to be rid of them now before they have the chance to hurt someone.

Marcus hefts his heavy halberd into his hearty hands, still unsure as to his intended course of action. I should end the monsters and be done with it, but if nothing else this little 'game' of theirs gives the men good practice in landing precise blows. He sighs and mutters to himself, "May as well humor the fools." With that, he closes the gap to the nearest stray undead and begins using the hook-end of his weapon to pluck the shuffling corpses from their feet.

OOC: Unless a threat begins to present himself, have Marcus continue a series of Trip attempts and Piercing-damage attacks of opportunity when the critters try to stand up. Marcus has Improved Trip, so he also gets a free whack any time he trips successfully. Melee touch attack +5, Opposed Str roll +6. Roll as necessary!

If a threat DOES materialize, forego the tripping and start using some Power Attack for 1. Here's to you, Cleave!

P.S. If shizz starts getting real, I'd like to designate my halberd as doing SLASHING damage against zombos. Can't imagine why. :smallamused:

[OmegaDamien]

Meanwhile, back at the PLOT! OK I am at a point where I can post at work so postings should be more frequent, however I can NOT access my character sheet from here yet. So whats the battle plan. Lets Frankenstein this bitch!

[TheGreatJabu]

Meanwhile, back at the PLOT!

Haaah. I see what you did there. But I digress.

OOC: Brief Summary of the Past Three Years' Events

Sam and Marcus:

They went out a'walking, after midnight, out in the moonlight, searching for zombos. They met the group of sailors who make a sport of assaulting zombies as a group but keeping the zombie animated for as long as possible. Sam's still up on the wall and Marcus has just joined the fray.

Jezreel and Gordy:

They are in the Archives, currently being subjected to Chinese water torture while Mirelda goes senile with old age and has begun looking up recipes for meatloaf, rather than researching possible clues about the recent emergence of an intelligence leading the undead.

[C12H22O11]

Sam and Marcus

No longer content with slowly beating zombies to pieces, the dockhands take inspiration from Marcus' trip attacks, inventing a new game on the spot. Like some strange variant of ninepins, two men grab hold of either end of Jack's spear and crab-step quickly forward with it held as low as possible. The zombies, which have begun to bunch up (although not in any organized or intelligent fashion, as far as you can tell), are of course scattered and knocked down by the haft of the spear, sprawling everywhere. The men all cheer, and, while waiting for the zombies to get back up, begin placing bets on how many can be knocked down in one pass. A few of the workers eye the longer and obviously more stout halberd Marcus is carrying, but are quickly rebuffed by his gruff demeanor.
The rest of the night passes without incident, until Sam and Marcus catch the faint glimmer of sunrise on the horizon and realize they're overdue back at the Lantern.
It is mid-morning before the pair fight back through the crowds heading to work, and Orrin is cleaning the last dishes from breakfast when they finally stumble back to the Green Lantern, tired and a little bit gooey from the night's events. "Ho there, late night, you two? Ha ha!" Orrin laughs, while sloshing some plates around in a basin of tepid water. "Mikel, be a good boy and run along to the Archives. Tell Mirelda they're back, and be quick about it!" A small and rather shaggy-looking child, whom you presume to be Mikel, scampers out the door and takes off down the street at a sprint. "You'll be wantin' some of the leftovers, yeah? Go ahead, there's not much to choose from, but lunch'll be ready by the time Mirelda and the others get back, don't you worry!"

Jezreel and Gordy

Gordy actually falls asleep for a while, producing a noise that sounds like a box full of tin soldiers falling down a thousand stone steps. The combined glaring of nearly every visitor to the Archives, however, eventually startles him back to consciousness, and the noise ceases abruptly as he sits up and rubs his eyes. A small and shaggy (although nowhere near as hirsute as Gordy) child skids around a corner on bare feet, shouts a hurried "MIZM'RLDAORRINSEZDEYBACKNOWHEMAKIN'LUNCHKBAI", and then skids around the corner of another shelf without seeming to have slowed down at all.
Mirelda, who has managed to completely ignore Gordy's cacophonous snoring and every other manner of distraction in the dusty Archives, nonetheless nods absentmindedly, gathers a few scrolls and one tome she has set aside over the course of the morning, and stands up, still reading one of them. "Yes, thank you Mikel, we'll be along shortly, no running in the Archives, please," she mutters, still focused on the scroll. Jezreel is forced to steer her around several shelves and walls as she totters towards the exit, nose buried in the scroll despite her somewhat hurried pace forwards.

'Errybody

Mirelda arrives back at the Green Lantern just as Orrin is laying out a delicious-looking platter of cheeses and breads, which Marcus and Sam stare at hungrily as he lays it on the table. "Well, Miss, did you find anything useful over there, or were it a waste of time?"
"Was it a waste of time, Orrin... and the answer is no. I did find a few things that might shed some light on the topic..." Mirelda shuffles the scrolls around, pulling out one that has been written in black ink, with rather bold and blocky handwriting. "This one, here... This sage, his name isn't marked, but this is a few hundred years old... hmm, yes... He mentions encountering undead that could speak, but still looked like the zombies we're used to. He writes that, while smarter and able to speak, these 'ghouls' did not appear to be any tougher, and could be destroyed using the same mundane methods that we already use." Mirelda shuffles a few more scrolls around, making space on the table for the leather-bound tome, a huge volume bound in dark green leather with silver leaf.
"Now, most of the other essays I found agreed with the first one, and went no further, but this... ahh, here, Tür Aussengriff, mentions not only ghouls, but several other varieties, all of which are more difficult to eliminate. You didn't, perchance, notice whether the, ahh, creature you spoke with had an aversion to any herbs or spices, or posessed any distinguishing physical characteristics, did you?"

[Neb]

Gordy actually falls asleep for a while, producing a noise that sounds like a box full of tin soldiers falling down a thousand stone steps.

yes yees YES YESSSS

[OmegaDamien]

Jezreel laughs quietly as the young boy scurries away.
"I don't know about you folks, but I did not understand a word that little sir said. He needs to consider a career other than courier"
He then leans back against the wall, generally preferring standing over sitting and listens as Mirelda explains what she had learned. He thinks to himself that with all the hours she spent (though in truth it felt like days) in there that she would have uncovered more substantial information. It was not his area of expertise though and he would not criticize her for it.
"Hmmm. I don't remember any particular sensitivity. To me he was just a talking sack of undead crap."

Set Gordy as my dodge and debate using fury of blows on his FACE for falling asleep and leaving that boring mentally draining job entirely up to me.

[TheGreatJabu]

Marcus Lyron

Lacking any real training in proper etiquette or manners, Marcus dives into the food the moment it has been laid upon the table. His only pauses in chomping occur when Mirelda is speaking about the outcomes of her research. In reply to her question, Marcus swallows down the mouthful he's currently chewing and speaks up. "I didn't notice any particular differences, either. Nor did our little foray to the docks pan out - a group of sailors just happen to make a game of skirmishing with whatever stray undead happen to be loitering around outside the walls at night. I've told them that if they ever notice anything strange, I'd reward them for good information if they brought it here."

[Neb]

Gordy lets the others answer the question. Maybe its because he's the silent type. Maybe its because he's only vaguely aware of what's happening. The world may never know!

[sprklemajik]

Sam wonders to herself just how one might determine if the zombies would dislike various herbs... Maybe if I rubbed myself in garlic and stood in a group of them I could determine they were no longer hungry for me? ...Seems like garlic worked against some other type of evil. She doubts that testing this would be a very fun experiment. Instead of voicing her new concerns she sighs and says, "I'm disappointed to admit that I also don't know if the ghouls had any special aversions."

[C12H22O11]

Mirelda frowns slightly at your words. "There is no way to be absolutely certain without more information, but you may have been facing a ghoul. I wish there were some way to be more certain before we risked confronting the creature, but I honestly can't think of a good way to find out more without fighting it, and by then it will be too late for research." Mirelda sighs heavily and closes the book with a slight whuff as a few flakes of dust and crumbling paper settle on Orrin's table. "It's still odd, though, that this creature would be able to control others of its kind. Nothing I found mentioned anything about that..."
Orrin, who has been nonchalantly cleaning the same tabletop for the last fifteen minutes, clears his throat. "Beg y'pardon, Miss, but it doesn't seem like there's much of a choice here, eh? Ye'll have to go back home, sooner or later, to fight the critter or find out more about it, either way. Unless one o' yeh has a better idea? I'm not claimin' to be a master tactician meself, just a moderately successful innkeep."

Holy crap I am so sorry. This post is roughly a week later than it was supposed to be. I lost power twice last week, and then was busy. WAAAH. I'll do better next time!

[TheGreatJabu]

Marcus Lyron

The lack of results from their search for information weighs heavily upon Marcus's brow. He chews slowly and thoughtfully for a moment, then swallows and speaks. "It seems we have no recourse but to confront the creature again. Truth be told, I don't know what will be accomplished. The creature spoke of some malign force that simply awakened the dead from their graves - I doubt the being we encountered is behind that phenomenon. Still, our village is still under threat from it. Perhaps if we can slay it, the remaining corpse-walkers will lose the intelligent drive pressing them against our home."

Marcus frowns at the prospect of the battle. There's going to be dozens of them waiting for us. Maybe even hundreds...

[sprklemajik]

"I agree Marcus, I do believe we've discovered all that we are going to, even though that may not have been enough. I guess we should all eat and rest, so that we will be prepared to travel soon."

[OmegaDamien]

Jezreel considers the situation for a moment and agrees. He can feel the tension leaving his shoulders as they've finally determined a rough course of action.
"So, we return and investigate further. I don't like the idea of heading into this with so little knowledge, but I like the idea of sitting around and waiting for something to shed light on the situation even less. Lets waste no further time."
At which point he rises from his seat and glances around, seeing if the others will follow suit.