Simone looked at the small skeleton pityingly.
"We will bury your body as you've asked and return when we've finished." She turned to Reynauld.
"How many of these bodies do you think we can carry out of here?"
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Simone looked at the small skeleton pityingly.
"We will bury your body as you've asked and return when we've finished." She turned to Reynauld.
"How many of these bodies do you think we can carry out of here?"
"With nothing more pressing on our schedule, I imagine we can exhume them all, my lady," replied the crusader. With the cooperation of the others, the skeletons could be bundled up and lifted out of the pit with rope, and summarily lowered to the main chamber below; time consuming work, but not dangerous as long as they took their time.
As they cleared the pit, Reynauld made note of the suit of fine heavy armor.
"This style of armor is a bit restrictive for the protection offered. Myself or miss Rae might be inconvenienced a bit, but this would make a fine upgrade to your own defenses, my lady," he said to Simone.
Louise
Louise said nothing for the moment, but assisted as best she could in helping to transport the remains of the boy and the other unlucky adventurers outside for a proper burial.
Taking the remains in hand, the party sets about the arduous task of returning them to the surface. Alastor's bones themselves fit snugly into Reynauld's pack, but a number of the mummified remains are too large to be carried. Not for the first time, rope and a strong back eventually provide the solution, and at the end of an hour everything of note has been removed to the cairn floor far below. As the party prepares for their own descent, the voice of Alastor whispers once more from the darkness.
"Remember, my family waits in the hills. Reunite us, and the treasures of the tomb are yours."
There is no further sign of the ghost as you remove the unfortunate remains to the entrance. Outside, the sun shines down on the bleak surrounds of the Cairn Hills, unconcerned as ever over the sad fates of young adventurers. Though the ground is hard, it yields quickly enough to the work of many hands, though Rae remains at the edge of activity, surprisingly quiet for the brash elf. As Simone finishes a short benediction to the deceased, the warrior steps forward.
"Well, this has been fun! We've delved some ruins, slain some monsters, and made this little corner of desolation safe for little children to run away to once more. But I came to Diamond Lake to be a hero, not a ghost's batman. You can deliver the rest of my share to my rooms. Good luck!"
Her treasure in hand, Rae turns south along the path to town.
Spoiler: ReynauldAs you make ready to follow the path back to Diamond Lake, you feel a faint pull in your bones. Something is urging you more directly south, and in a flash you realize it is the skeleton in your pack, longing to return home.
Louise
Louise blinked as Rae left them.
"Well. That happened."
She then began stroking her chin.
"So, Alastor said his family rests on a farmstead just beyond Diamond Lake..."
She tried as best she could to think of any notable farms that fit the description.
Spoiler: ActionsI would like to roll a Knowledge Local check to see if Louise can think of any farms where Alastor might have lived (and, accordingly, directions). My modifier is +5.
Reynauld offered a firm handshake to Rae as she made her departure.
"'Twas an honor to fight by your side, Miss Rae. May your sword-arm be true and your armor steadfast."
Fully packed and ready to leave the cairn, Reynauld stopped and paused at Louise's musings.
"This is most unusual... call me crazy, but it feels like young Land's bones are pointing me in the right direction... Have we business in town, or should we go henceforth were the poor spirit wills us?"
Corinne
"Take care, Rae," Corinne said, quietly. She felt hurt and dismayed that the elf woman was leaving just then.
"I think we should bury the bones right away, Sir Reynauld. We said we would; and I'd be afraid of distractions in town."
Simone nodded in agreement with Corinne.
"Especially if Reynauld feels the pull of Alastor's spirit, we shouldn't waste any time putting him to rest." She brushed what grime she could could off of her new armor.
"After that I wouldn't a hot meal in town. Let's get going." She nodded to Reynauld to indicate she'd follow his lead.
Louise
"There's no reason not to bury the bones as soon as we can, I think."
Louise continued to scratch her chin - and then, her face lit up as she remembered something.
"Alastor Land, Land... Yes, I remember hearing about that family, now!" Her face drooped with sadness as the memories came back. "The father of the family died thirty years ago, and the youngest son went missing shortly thereafter - that would have had to have been Alastor. The rest of the family... they all died nineteen years ago, when a Red Death plague tore through the region."
<"May your elven beauty shine clearly through the long winding road of life, sister."> Cordellia said in elven before turning away from the physically lethal Wood Elf. Her face was still marred and ruined from that impetuous ghost. Staring at the bright golden sun she peeled back a bit of her obscuring clothing and instantly winced at the sight. Muttering to herself she absentmindedly nodded along with the others.
"I'd rather not return to town until I have a handle on this.... situation," She palmed a lump of her golden hair before looking at Louise "Perhaps our friends of the Green Lady could lend us some further clarity on the matter of the Land Family's final resting place. Assuming Reynauld's spiritual connection doesn't key in on a specific sight when we get closer."
Turning away from the well-trod path back to the ruined manor, the party begins a hike through the wilds. The open country provides neither track nor guidestone, the hills clashing against each other line stone waves frozen in a storm, yet the sensation at the base of Reynauld's skull proves a faultless compass. More than once it leads around seemingly firm pathways, only to reveal unseen dangers from the other side. It is a trip of several hours, but eventually the feeling grows more urgent, and Alastor's final resting place looms into sight.
A copse of immense deklo trees shades a small, quiet clearing just where Alastor said it would be, about 10 minutes east of Diamond Lake. Crumbling walls and a seemingly abandoned farmhouse stand vigil atop a small bluff overlooking the clearing, the sad ruins of what must once have been Alastor’s home. Five grave markers stand in the clearing, each with a different name: Anders, Bemissa, Coldaran, Gertia, and Alastor. Open pits yawn from before all five headstones. Piles of fresh dirt and a pair of abandoned shovels suggest that the excavation took place recently, certainly within the week. Kneeling before the site of desecration is a final surprise - a dwarf, and one by all appearances only recently arrived.
"Egads. Get away from those graves you tomb-robbing scruffy faced socially inadequate highwayman! You'll find no profit here, stonegobbling thief. We of the Resplendent Torch have come to set the dead at ease but I will just as quickly add to their ranks if you don't repent for your sacrilege." Cordellia hissed as her violet eyes narrowed behind thick layers. Her hand fell to her rapiers side but velveted fingers only drummed against the basket hilt in anticipation of the potential grave robbers next action. She glanced to Reynauld and Simone briefly, testing the waters of her impromptu naming of their party, and gauging their response with somatic hand gestures before focusing once more on the strange dwarf.
"Resplendent Torch?" Reynauld stood for a moment nonplussed, before surveying the sad sight of the graves.
"It would seem our quest is further delayed... young Land did specify his wish to be buried with his family.
Cordellia, I don't believe this lone dwarf is the responsible party. This desecration seems to have transpired several days ago."
The crusader lifted the visor on his helm so that he could better see the stranger. Reynauld was a tall human man clad in silvery chainmail, a dirty tabard with the symbol of Pelor emblazoned across his chest.
"Forgive Miss Cordellia, stranger. She is... exuberant in all she does. I am Reynauld, servant of the Sun Father. Do you know what transpired here?"
Dismas stood and turned to face the newcomers with a wary eye. Several emotions ran across his face, followed by a ripple of green energy before it settled on derision. His nostrils flared and he looked past the elf to speak with Reynauld. "This haggard elf doesn't speak for you then? Probably best she hold her tongue in that case." He locked his emerald eyes on hers, looking down on her despite their difference in height.
"I am Dismas Balvar. I upkeep these graves on behalf of the Ruby Sorceress and the Green Lady, at the request of Governor-Mayor Neff. A crime has clearly been commited here, so state your business."
"This is going to sound strange, but we came here at the request of a ghost. Alastor Land. I have his bones in my pack. His spirit accosted us while we were exploring a dangerous cairn; the lad was killed by a devious trap. It was his wish that he buried with his kin, and we agreed to honor his desire despite his... capriciousness. However, his ghost will likely not be put to rest until we can hunt down the remains of his family. What do you think, goodman Dismas? Grave robbers? Necromancers?"
Corinne
"I like him already," Corinne whispered to Simone just after the dwarf commented on Cordellia. "Oh, I hope it's not necromancers," she added with a shiver.
"It does indeed sound strange." He raised an eyebrow. "But, it is right to honor the wishes of the dead. I accept your offer of help in this. I do fear the graverobbers may have been necromancers, or working for one. This is no noble tomb. These humble folk were unlikely to have been buried with more than the clothes on their backs. If it is they are growing bold. Until now the knowledge that we, the Cult of the Green Lady, protected this place kept them at bay. Grab the shovels and come along. We must alert the Cult at once."
Louise
Louise found herself frowning initially at the sight of the dwarf in front of the open graves, but relaxed when he identified himself and his purpose. She frowned again as his words sank in.
"Necromancers... just what we need."
Dismas' mention of the Green Lady piqued her interest, and she tried to think back to if she had ever seen him before.
Spoiler: ActionsIf applicable, Louise will roll intelligence to see if she remembers Dismas from past dealings with the Cairn. [roll0]
"Haggard!?!? I cradled the grave and walked away. All you seem to cradle is the tit of your hairy mother." Cordellia spat venom behind her guise as she clashed gazes with the dwarf and promptly brushed him off. "A fool and his life are quickly parted. Run off if you wish but I, as an adept of the smartest man in town, shall do as I was taught, and employ my master's teachings in this endeavor."
Whipping her head to the side to look at Louise, Cordellia began to rapidly snap her right hand infront of the woman's face, and then began to strut to the fresh graves "Come along now my little dear we've REAL work to do. Unlike certain pretentious individuals."
Spoiler: OOC
Examining the graves and shiiiiiiit
Louise
Louise frowned at Cordellia's behavior, but nonetheless followed along, taking a look at the graves.
Spoiler: ActionsLouise will take 20 on Search to spot anything unusual about the graves for a total of 29.
Reynauld placed a hand on Cordellia's shoulder.
"Miss Cordellia, stay your barbs. The Cult of the Green Lady assisted us earlier this week while you were... celebrating. Diamond Lake has few enough respectable institutions, we ill-need to make a new enemy. Your behavior besmirches the name of your master, and embarrasses the rest of us. Go softly."
Craning her head to gaze at Reynauld's clammy crude fingers, Cordellia's eyes formed a queer look, and then slowly directed itself upward. Shifting her bouncy hair with a slight tilt the Elven Wizard inspected the Crusader's face like a perturbed peacock staring at an overly engorged fruit. Placing her dainty fingers over his she weakly removed the Pelorite's hand from her shoulder and scoffed "I'm well acquainted with the Green Ladies many apostles as is Louise. They've tried to recruit me in the past. I wasn't particularly interested in joining their effervescent club then or now. I'm certainly not about to be bossed around by one who for all intents and purposes that a casual witness could make has already blundered on the one job the poppet Mayor of this mining hovel foisted upon him," Buttoning her jacket fully against the cold rustling wind Cordellia turned away from Reynauld to fully join Louise at the grave sight "I assay nothing softly, dear Reynauld, and it would behoove you to mind how you speak of my master. But if it pleases you I shall leave the baseborn undertaker to his devices. It has been a very long and exhaustive day and I've no spirits to hoist my spirit until we've spirited away a spirit's bones."
Dismas only smiled as he watched the wizard attempt to look useful. "Can you imagine? Being over a decade old and this childish? You don't know what you're talking about, but by all means continue." Dismas drove the butt of his great flail into the ground. "I don't know what relationship the rest of you have with this vile creature, but if you cannot control her I am about to end it."
”Threats of violence? How original.” Cordellia knelt down by the the graven dirt “We’re acquaintances and coworkers, Dismas Balvar. Nothing more. Bound by a shared assignment and tenacious skill.”
Examining the graves, Louise is quick to note a four-petaled flower carved into the gravestones of Bemissa, Coldaran, and Gertia Land. The ground around the graves is piled high from their desecration, but the clumps of earth have already begun to harden and crack. Most likely, the grave robbers struck several days ago. There are a great many footprints criss-crossing the graveyard, accompanied by the shallow rut of a barrow or cart of some description. Many of the tracks vanish westward, vaguely in the direction of Diamond Lake, but there is also the sign of passage further up the hill towards the abandoned farmstead.
Louise
Louise continued to frown at the childish bickering, but did not comment on it, choosing instead to remark on the task at hand.
"If we might turn our attention to current matters... whoever the grave-robbers were, they struck several days ago, judging by how hard the earth is. There also appears to be a four-petaled flower carved into their headstones," she pointed it out, "and there are cart tracks going in Diamond Lake's direction, along with footprints going toward the farmstead." She stood up. "If you would all accompany me, I would like to take a look there next."
She then headed toward the farmstead building, along with whoever else was willing.
Corinne
"I recognize that symbol, Louise," Corinne said, gesturing to the carven flower. "It's associated with the victims of the Red Death plague."
”Well that matches with Louise’s earlier statement that the Land’s all perished from the Red Death,” Cordellia nodded her head to Corinne as she produced her cane and began to synchronize with Louise “There may yet be a correlation between that fact and the necromancers we seek. Whether the perpetrators are one and the same or they’re merely targeting the grave sights of particular dead individuals we can yet see. They’ve been buried for nearly two decades though so I can’t imagine they’re much more than bones.”
Simone
As she had been trying her hardest to keep from rolling her eyes at Cordellia's antics, Simone had thus far remained quiet. She took the chance as the two women walked ahead towards the farmhouse to share a perturbed glace with Corinne and introduce herself to the newcomer.
"I think you are correct in your assessment, I can't imagine what profit might have been gained from the desecration of these humble graves other than to fuel an undead horde, though I pray to the Sun father that I am mistaken. Dismas, it is a pleasure to meet you though the circumstance is unfortunate. I am Simone Bellamy, a simple servant of Pelor."
Approaching the Land home, an overgrown path of weathered stones provides an easy ascent up the the small rise. The dilapidated farmstead consists of a crumbled wall and a sagging, unsafe house with broken windows and a sagging roof. Thick, sludgy puddles of dried blood and unidentifiable fleshy chunks litter the wooden floor immediately inside the front door.