IC 004 - Water Never Sleeps

[sulldawga]

Exploration Round 5

There is a short corridor leading from the main entrance to this room and the stench wafting in hits you well before you make it there. It is the smell of death, and putrefaction.

Smashed furniture litter the room. After a few moments, the picture forms in your mind of a bedroom of sorts, with cots and chests for possessions. It's hard to concentrate though, due to the presence of three rotting corpses scattered in the room. No, not scattered. Pushed to the side so people can walk through. It's clear there's a path from where you entered (the "west" side of the room) to the only other visible entrance (to the "south" side of the room).

Actions?

[Marullus]

Gars pulls his jacket up to cover his nose and mouth to stifle the smell. "Rot means recent..." he trails off, examining the room for recency and antiquity.

Examine the room with Detect Magic for any hot spots. Examinr corpses and attire as well as furnishings for if they are recent or from a previous age.

Int+Magic [2d6+3]=7+3=10 Int+Know [2d6+2]=4+2=6

[sulldawga]

Each check will elicit a wandering monster check. Which one do you want to do first?

[Marullus]

Sorry, I didn't mean to jump rounds or hog the actions... just wanted to be more specific than "I look around" and didn't know what roll you'd want.
Detect Magic takes an action but not a roll and I put that out as a standing action so that's first. If you want a roll to interpret something found, then that's the Int+Magic.

[Rex]

Ciarra

Ciarra will cover her mouth and nose with a cloth/bandage. Then she will examine the corpses.

[The_Wanderer]

Sleepy shuffles into the room, taking note of the clear and obvious path. He puts his head near the ground and scans the pathway area ahead for traps - tripwires or pits or anything obvious that the party's physical passage could trigger.

Notice + Wisdom: [2d6+1]=5+1=6

[sulldawga]

Gars uses his Mage Sight to scan the room but finds nothing unusual from that perspective.

Ciarra notes the bodies are fresh, probably dead within the week. They have been beaten and strangled, vs being slain with weapons. They are human and look like some sort of workers. A Notice or Heal roll might reveal more. Actually touching the corpses to search them could also yield items and/or information but also carries a risk of disease.

Sleepy sees nothing that raises an alarm.

The party is not being particularly loud but their arrival has nonetheless prompted the denizens of the neighboring room into action. A pair of ambulatory corpses shuffles into the room! Bloodless skin and unnaturally sharp nails highlight their deathless appearance. They espy the living and move to the attack!

Are there enemies afoot? Why yes, there are.
Enemies are predisposed to violence and a Reaction Roll of 6 seals the deal.
The party barely wins initiative.

Please identify all of your actions, including which enemy you are targeting.
E1 has an AC of 13 and 9 HP.
E2 has an AC of 13 and 15 HP.

[Marullus]

Gars reacts swiftly, stepping directly into the ghouls' path before they can reach Ciarra. Shield forward, he brings around the black sword swordblade in a vicious arc to behead the closer one.

Move Action: screen an ally (prevent both E1 and E2 targeting Ciarra, who was too near the front)
Main Action: Attack E1
Accursed Blade (1-hand): [1d20+6]=6+6=12, [1d8+6]=1+6=7, Shock: 8/AC 15
Reaction: Weeping Wounds on E1 after shock damage.
Weeping Wounds [1d6]=1
(Those rolls were awful, but shock+spell together should just barely do it.)

[Rex]

Ciarra

She will throw her light spear at E2 as it approaches.

Light Spear, Thrown [1d20+3]=18+3=21 to hit [1d6+3]=2+3=5 damage

I don't think the thrown spear gets shock.

[The_Wanderer]

Sleepy

"Whoa...more of these guys..."

He draws a bead with his bow and lets loose, the shot going dangerously wide.

Move Action: Knock an arrow
Main Action: Shoot
Large Bow / Short Range to hit: [1d20+2]=2+2=4, damage: [1d8+1]=3+1=4

[Enoch]

Lavin steps forward and swings at the closest undead.

Halberd strike: [1d20+6]=6+6=12, damage [1d10+5]=2+5=7

[sulldawga]

Round 1, con'd

Gars manifests his occult weapon and cuts deeply into one of the Husks. Even with the added effect of Weeping Wounds, it's still upright.
Ciarra tosses her spear like a bolt of lightning, skewering the other Husk. Amazingly, it shambles on, seemingly unaffected by the grievous wound.
Perhaps affected by the tight space, Sleepy's arrow misses the mark, clattering harmlessly off the wall behind the husks.
No one knows which enemy Lavin was attacking, but it doesn't matter because she misses.

E1 2/9 HP
E2 10/15 HP

Ranged attacks do not inflict Shock damage. Enoch and Wanderer, please indicate which enemy you're attacking. Also, be aware for future attacks that Lavin's halberd does Shock damage on a miss.

The Husks close to melee range and each attacks the one that landed a blow on it. Gars gets raked by a set of claws and takes a fair amount of damage, while Ciarra was able to dodge her attacker.

One hit and one miss. In the interest of fairness, I will randomly determine who gets hit. Gars takes 5 dmg.

It's the party's turn again.

[Marullus]

HP: 10 / 15

Blocking the advancement of both shambling foes, Gars wheels around and cuts the husk to the quick in retribution for it wounding him.

Accursed Blade (1-hand): [1d20+6]=18+6=24, [1d8+6]=6+6=12, Shock: 6/AC 15
Weeping Wounds [1d6]=6
Move: Screen an Ally again on Cierra.
Main Action: Attack E2
Reaction: If someone hits something and it doesn't die, use Weeping Wounds again. Though, I don't see it occuring here.

[Rex]

Ciarra

Ciarra attacks E2 with her war hammer.

War Hammer [1d20+3]=19+3=22 to hit [1d8+3]=5+3=8 damage Shock 3/AC 20

Armsmaster to use her Warhammer (a readied item).

[sulldawga]

Forgot that Gars was Screening an Ally (Ciarra). Since everyone else would have been attacking from distance, both of the attacks would have been aimed at Gars.

[Enoch]

Gasping in shock as she watches Gars struck by the shambling hulk, Lavin skips forward, swinging her polearm down beside him, arresting its fall just before the ground and lunging at the other.

On-Turn: I'm using Whirlwind Assault, which will deal 7 Shock damage to either/both husks that are still standing.
Main Action: After that I'll strike at E2:

Halberd strike: [1d20+6]=7+6=13, damage [1d10+5]=4+5=9

If that doesn't hit, I'll use Veteran's Luck to turn it into a hit.

[The_Wanderer]

Sleepy mutters, "I wish I had a veteran's luck right about now..."

He then draws another arrow and holds off shooting as he sees first one and then the other thing fall. "Boy - you guys are really efficient. Bravo. Well done." He moves up to inspect the "bodies".

It seems like both are down now. I'll hold off firing unless something else moves. Do the zombie things have anything on them? Not just valuables but also anything that can give the party information?

Notice + Wisdom: [2d6+1]=10+1=11

[sulldawga]

Round 2

Gars switches targets and slices E2 down with a mighty blow.
Ciarra adds another hit on E2 "just to be sure".
Lavin swings her halberd around and decapitates E1.

The battle is over. There are no sounds except the heavy breathing of the party.

Sleepy breaks the silence, sliding over to get a closer look at the corpses. Their ragged clothing is old in both age and style. Hard to say what they once were in life but the bodies do give off a vibe of "buried, exhumed, and animated". There is fell necromancy at play here.

The bodies have nothing of value upon them, indeed, nothing at all except their clothing.

Proceed "south", return to the "west", or some other action? What's next?

[Rex]

Ciarra

"I hate necromancy. How about we keep going south?"

[Marullus]

Gars grunts in agreement with Sleepy, then dabs blood from his side with his fingers.

"Before we go... Ciarra, can you look at this?"

"Lavin, Sleepy... check those chests and the bedding. Let's also try to find anything identifying on those workers' clothing. If they're dead less than a week someone at the Fort or Town is probably missing them... umm... Ciarra, you can cure any diseases, right?"

Ciarra notes the bodies are fresh, probably dead within the week. They have been beaten and strangled, vs being slain with weapons. They are human and look like some sort of workers. A Notice or Heal roll might reveal more. Actually touching the corpses to search them could also yield items and/or information but also carries a risk of disease.

Sleepy breaks the silence, sliding over to get a closer look at the corpses. Their ragged clothing is old in both age and style. Hard to say what they once were in life but the bodies do give off a vibe of "buried, exhumed, and animated". There is fell necromancy at play here.

Smashed furniture litter the room. After a few moments, the picture forms in your mind of a bedroom of sorts, with cots and chests for possessions. It's hard to concentrate though, due to the presence of three rotting corpses scattered in the room. No, not scattered. Pushed to the side so people can walk through.

So the three worker's corpses are strangled within the week (not raked by Husk claws) and the Husks are old, buried, and exhumed?