Wolves Amongst Lambs

[spanningtree]

Thena

Tempus.... protect us. Thena puts two fingers on her symbol.

OCC: Thena casts protection from evil Spell deducted.

[Revenant]

The night air has the feel of an area after a lightning strike, tense with energy and unleashed power. As Mave moves foward the light shows the three hanged men dangling from their ropes and twitching in an odd puppet like dance, as their faces twist into tortured spasms. Raspy groans issue forth from their mouths as they struggle against their bonds trying to shake themselves free. Athan raises his sword with a gasp, and Zaella stands stunned momentarily by the sight of the dead men. Davion and Liviel both unarmed, stay on the opposite side of the fire.

It is then you see movement on the edge of the clearing and the light cast by Mave's torch. The Finla's shaman stands, naked with his now bloodless wounds from the earlier battles gaping open, his lips eaten away, no doubt by the wolves, a thick bloated half-eaten tongue slipping from between his now exposed teeth. He reaches out as he shambles forth.

[Rex]

Bryne

Bryne shoots her bow at the shaman/corpse.

SC Bow w/sheaf arrow [1d20+2]=9+2=11 to hit [1d8]=8 damage
SC Bow w/sheaf arrow [1d20+2]=20+2=22 to hit [1d8]=3

Natural 20 on second shot.

[Darithe]

Mave

Mave steels herself against the apparitions before her. She readies Talon for a charge, biting her lower lip she says loudly, "Sir Athan has already killed you once sir. The least you could do is have the courtesy to stay dead." She starts forward as Bryne's arrows fly.

Attacking the shaman: [1d20]=6

[spanningtree]

Thena

Charges forward and takes a swipe at the shambling shaman, missing.

Strike w/ Rover [1d20]=3

[The Bindoner]

Wilwarin had feared some dark power was entwined with the hanged men, but the reality of it still revolts her.

At the shaman’s arrival she inwardly curses herself for not anticipating that such corruption would have a wider effect. The day’s lesson, unlearned, is restated: evil is more widespread than you expect.

As Bryne brings up her bow, while Thena and Mave rush to melee, Wilwarin calls back:

The Finla will surely have risen as well. Zaella, you are no warrior, watch over Liviel and Davion, call if her corpse appears.

Turning back to the immediate threat Wilwarin bounds forward. She skirts the other two women, then springs forward with a leap that carries her past them, swinging Nacquessë in an arc toward the shaman’s head as she goes.

To Hit: [1d20]=13

Damage: [1d8]=8

[Revenant]

Mave feels a rush of air to her left as Bryne's first shot flies past her and slams into the shaman's throat. She thrusts out with her rapier at the foul creature but it shambles back a bit, perhaps from the arrow's momentum and Mave misses, just as Thena charges the thing. But the rough ground of the forest and its vegetation's dampness, causes the crusader to nearly topple and though she manages to keeps her balance, her strike misses completely.

Wilwarin born in Magh Meall, an isle filled with forests and where she frequently trained in such environs, deftly navigates both the water soaked flora and her two companions. As her sword-dance carries her to the shaman, she hears the twang of the bow of Bryne's second shot, though she focuses on her target her attuned elven hearing detects the sound of the coming arrow. Nacquessë slices through the back of the shaman's skull and part of its head falls away onto the forest floor, just as Bryne's arrow hits directly between the dead shaman's eyes. The force of the arrow sending the corpse flying backwards onto the rest of its newly severed skull. It lays there still for hopefully the last time.

Athan and Zaella both stand guard over Liviel and Davion but there is no sight of the Finla, only the sound of raspy groans of the hanged guards as they dangle from the tree. Bryne nocks another arrow in case anything else appears. The three other women warriors almost as one move to the spot where they left the Finla. A wolf lays beside the body, its jaws nearly snapped in half and its head caved in. The body of the Finla remains still though the head which Athan severed when he killed her, lays on the forest floor its dead eyes bulging as the jaw moves snapping at the night air.

[Rex]

Bryne

"I think it may be best to consign the bodies to fire."

She retrieves her arrows and checks them over to make sure they are still usable.

[Darithe]

Mave

Mave looks down distastefully at the Finla's head. With a grimace, she thrusts Talon between its eyes.

[The Bindoner]

Bryne

"I think it may be best to consign the bodies to fire."

She retrieves her arrows and checks them over to make sure they are still usable.

It would, but building a pyre for five is no small task.

Mave

Mave looks down distastefully at the Finla's head. With a grimace, she thrusts Talon between its eyes.

Mave appears to have the simplest solution.

Thena, I know I said I would help you return the guards to Lupre, but do you still think it wise to do so? Unless you know some rite that would purify them, drive out whatever taint allows this macabre puppetry?

[Revenant]

When Mave sticks Talon into the Finla's head, it stops moving, her rapier thrust apparently end the corpse's animation.

Now there is only the grim task of taking care of the undead guards.

[Rex]

Bryne

Bryne takes her forest axe out and quarters each head so they can't rose again. She then cleans her axe up.

"Nasty business, but necessary."

[spanningtree]

Thena

Thena, I know I said I would help you return the guards to Lupre, but do you still think it wise to do so? Unless you know some rite that would purify them, drive out whatever taint allows this macabre puppetry?

With a dull sigh: I have not the magic to purify them now... considering what just happened ashes seem to the best purifier.

Thena will join in building the pyre.

OCC @ DM: I am assuming that the interruption would make praying for spells troublesome?

[Darithe]

Mave will assist with the grim task, all the while keeping an eye out for any other interlopers.

[Revenant]

Building a pyre is never an easy task, and by the time you gather the wood and place the bodies atop them, you are near exhausted. Liviel takes a moment to say a few words, "I feel I should say something since they are from my home. The only one I knew well was Traven. He liked to flirt and was a fair dancer, when he avoided my feet, as I found out during one harvest festival. He had a ready smile for all even when fulfilling his duties. He deserved better than this, but we can't choose our fate. May he and the others have a safe passage to the otherside."

She looks briefly at the others to see if they have anything to add.


Bryne recovers all her arrows. There will be time to rest and recover Thena's spells so if you have any changes, feel free to do that.

[spanningtree]

Thena

Walking next to Liviel with a torch in one hand: Well said... Taking her symbol of Tempest in her other hand she looks to the men on the pyre: As kinder we grew together, protectors you became. Your fate will be........ understood. Tempest guide these souls, pass them with a light hand on the scales.... Thena ignites the pyre. Thena will pray for their souls for the remainder of the night w/o sleep.

[Rex]

Bryne

"Rest in peace and forevermore."

[Revenant]

The pyres and you old campfire bathe the area in light. No further signs of wolves or undead appear during the night. Watches pass uneventfully and when morning comes you douse whatever remains of the embers. Each of you eat a rather spartan breakfast figuring you should reach Lupre in a few hours. A heavy silence seems to taint the air, with little conversation occurring still weary from the battle and work building the pyre of the previous night. The ride north to Lupre is pleasant, though a bit of cold breeze blows from the north. You pass no one going north or south, unusual for a busy road like the northern pass.

You are about a mile from the town when you notice the thick plumes of dark smoke rising into the air.

[spanningtree]

Thena

Ma ma, pa pa.... A grim sound comes from her, something not possible for a human. Nooooooo.... and takes off like a spartan warrior. Rover = out, shield = out, pack = left behind. STR = 16, locomotive/valkyrie.

[The Bindoner]

Wilwarin helped to build the pyre, but remained on the periphery otherwise. These are, to her, strangers, and her life of training and study has given her a detachment from such things.

As soon as decently possible she withdraws to her studies, watch duty and sleep.

In the morning she is eager to leave the ill-omened clearing and get on the road, eating a hasty breakfast while helping everyone to pack.

Her enjoyment of the quiet ride sours immediately as she sees the rising smoke.

Finding those guards so far from home worried me, it seems my worst fears might be realised.

Thena

Ma ma, pa pa.... A grim sound comes from her, something not possible for a human. Nooooooo.... and takes off like a spartan warrior. Rover = out, shield = out, pack = left behind. STR = 16, locomotive.

Wilwarin is momentarily shocked by Thena’s raw emotion, then galvanised.

We cannot let her charge into whatever is ahead alone.


Liviel, take up Thena’s pack and follow at a distance.


Wilwarin urges her horse forward, in pursuit of the distraught woman.