Diseases. No. 1 [IC]

[Lady Moreta]

Merilan frowned at Skógr's words, turning to look in the direction of the city. "I suspect you are correct then. We should head towards the city." She moved over to join him next to the woman who was now awake. "I am Merilan, this is Skógr. You are?" she asked, holding out one hand for the other to take.

[ArcoSan]

The woman first looks at the confusing man saying she has a daughter and then at Merilan. She shakes her head trying to place everything in order and looks around trying to figure out where her mount is.

"I have no daughter. And Arousa IS my companion and mount. I was worried that she might have been killed by whoever attacks us but is not the case as I can still feel the connection between us." she says rather sternly and turns towards the other woman.

"I am Lady Keratea Antonia, Valiant of the Order of Mayaheine" she said as her hand rose to her chest in a military styled salute. "I am pleased to meet you all, I remember some of your as escorts or members of the caravan but unfortunately we dont have time for pleasantries. Something is coming this way" she says as she points towards the dark approaching spot in the sky.

Not wanting to waster more time her mind tries to reach out and find her Drakkenmount within the distance she knows she can communicate. She whispers the creatures name and focuses on the mount.

Spoiler

Show

I am "calling my paladin mount". Its a full round action...

[Lady Moreta]

"And you," Merilan replies with a smile. She settles back on her haunches to wait for the woman to stand. At her other words though, Merilan twists around and looks in the direction indicated. "Well, that wasn't there before. Any idea what it might be?"

[ben-zayb]

Sibyl looked at the direction pointed out by the now-conscious Lady Keratea. His mind couldn't fathom what his eyes showed him. What in the infinite layers of the abyss is that? It...it looks dangerous!

"Hey, fellows. That thing right there looks dangerous, Do you think it might have something to do with the rumored plague? Either way, I suggest we avoid it and head for the city as soon as possible," Sibyl hurriedly said as he tried to join the remaining survivors.

[ArcoSan]

Keratea looks carefully towards the sky and then to her side.

A loud roar is heard and a short flash and where there was nothing behind her now there is a large dragonlooking creature.

The creature looks to those gathered turning its long neck to sniff the air and then focuses her eyes on Keratea. She lifts her head on the air and lets another loud roar come out, this time happier and most pleased.

As the beast moves around approaching the older woman the barding and saddles on it can be seen specially made for such a beast.

Keratea pets the large head and smiles.

Welcome back my friend she thinks. Do you know what happened? What attacked us?

[Zazori]

Humans.. 4 of them ugly and filled with a rotten stench, the last one send me home.. They took the chest you carried. - Your mount replied.

[Zolkabro]

Faethyr cautiously pads over to the Drakkensteed, and barks softly, saying hello. He avoids looking at the steely gaze of the stern pack-sister, but he greets her mount warmly.
Hello, Arousa. I am Faethyr. he says.
He sniffs her behind, as dogs do, and then recoils. The stench of blood is overwhelming, and he leaps over to his master, and buries his head in Skógrs side.
Blood. Pain and blood. And fear! The scaled one smells of death!

Troubled by these words, Skógr eyes the carnage thoughtfully. We should go. I do not want to stay around for when whatever attacked us comes back, never mind that black cloud over there.

Skógr turned to the others. "We must go. It is a matter of urgency, we are all injured, tired, and unarmed, and another attack would finish us."
Skógr tightened Faethyr's saddle, and swung into the saddle. He rode over to the tracks they saw, and started to follow them to the city. He soon stopped, however, and turned back to the others.
"Well?" he demanded. "Are you content to stand here and get ready to be slaughtered? We must go."

[Zazori]

The cloud is now so close that you can easily see than it's thousands of crows gathered in one big group.

Zolkabro

Spoiler

Show

You spot that they all have red eyes.

[ben-zayb]

Sibyl looked at Skogr, nodding in approval, "My sentiments exactly, Skogr. The nuns from Solheim once told me that a murder of crows is an ill omen. We should head to the city..."

With that, Sibyl started walking briskly towards the city.

[Lady Moreta]

"You'll get no argument from me," Merilan says, rising to her feet and eyeing the birds nervously. Casting one last sorrowful look around at the destruction, she turns away and starts towards the city, joining the others who have already started.

[Zolkabro]

"And about time too," Skógr muttered.
Skógr did not even need to spur Faethyr on, because, responding to his thoughts, Faethyr started bounding towards the city as fast as he could.

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

Faethyr has a 50ft per round movement rate. If I remember correctly, swarms of birds travel at 40ft per round when flying.
Unless the red eyes mean these are demonic crows and are therefore faster, we should make it.

[ArcoSan]

Spoiler

Show

OOC: Yes, you and me CAN run away mate but I doubt the rest are as fast... plus you cant run non-stop for long distances...

Keratea carefully touched the head of her mount as he answered her in her mind. She smiled softly at her only real friend and thought to him Thank you, you did the right thing. Now it seems something else is coming for us my friend and we need to defend these people.


With that out of the way and the others readying to leave she turned to have a last look towards the approaching cloud.

"Whatever it is we better move. I shall bring the rear to try and stop it if it tries to attack us. Run towards the city!" she called out to them mounting the Drakennsteed in one swift movement and securing her feet on the straps. She really wished she had her lance and sword and shield with her but unfortunately all those were stolen. She looked around to see if at least the longbow and arrows she had usually on the mount were present to at least have something to defender herself with.

[Zolkabro]

Spoiler

Show

Good point, ArcoSan.
The others move at 30 ft per round, but I don't know how far the swarm is behind us, or how far the city is ahead of us.
They will gain 10 ft per round on us, is that enough to catch us up?
I'm not going to take that risk. Therefore:

"No time for that now!" Skógr called after Keratea. "Honourable though that is, it is more important that we reach the city in time. We shall need the aid of your mount to do so."

And with that, Faethyr turned around and bounded past Ethan Lodge. As he did so, Skógr hauled him up onto Faethyr.
He then went past Merilan, who was also pulled up onto the wolf's huge back.

"My Lady, I cannot take Sybil on Faethyr's back, there is not space." Skógr called to the paladin. "If we want to reach the city in time, your drakkensteed must carry him."

"He could have asked my permission before giving me 3 bloody people to carry, but nooooooo." muttered Faethyr. "He just has to be all heroic and carry the lot. I ask you! Does he want me to have back problems?"

Spoiler

Show

Before you object, I have checked very thoroughly, and actually there is actually no reason why Faethyr couldn't carry the entire party because of how unrealistic the rules can be, and his whining is just a piece of fluff, he is actually only carrying about a quarter of his maximum load. But all the same, I decided to leave Minthe because it would just be silly, carrying 4 people on one dire wolf.

And yes, leaving the necromancer to go with the paladin was deliberate, as was innocently letting slip that he was a necromancer.
This should be fun...
Apparently Skógr doesn't know he's a necromancer. Oh well.

[Lady Moreta]

"Woah!" not at all happy with this new form of transporation, Merilan wrapped her arms tightly around Ethan in front of her and closed her eyes. "Someone tell me when we get to the city!"

[ArcoSan]

Keratea nodded towards Skógr as he helped some of the others climb on his mount.

She whispered quietly to the ears of her proud mount and then approached Sybil offering him her arm to help him up the large dragonlike creature.

"Just dont make sudden movements while she trots, she hates that as it makes her lose her balance" she said only half-joking.

And with that she turned the beast around and after the dire wolf. The Drakkensteeds leaps quickly brought it on par with the wolf and she nodded to Skógr and the others as she turned back to look towards the swarm.

"We are not clear yet, those things are flying" she said solemnly as she spurred Aurosa to fly, albeit close to the ground, towards the city.

The steed roared loudly at this and transmitted with a hint of excitement to her master "Let them fly and let them come, we havent fought someone on air for a long time and your weight without the armor is very little even with the other human on my back"

[ben-zayb]

"Whoa", Sibyl exclaimed as he tried to find his place on Keratea's mount. "I guarantee you Keratea, upsetting the beast is the last thing on my mind right now. Not with all those things flying around", said Sibyl while trying to maintain his balance.

[Zazori]

The crows reach you after 20 seconds run/flight.

They fly at such an intense speed and so close together that they actually hurt you.

You all take (2d6+1)[3] non-lethal damage.

The crows continue on towards the city, which you reach after 3 minutes run/flight.

[ben-zayb]

"Ow, ah... curse you fiends! That hurts, ouch!" Sibyl surprisingly found himself getting more annoyed and irritated, than scared, of the flock passing over them. He was surprised that the crows, even while cluttered with each other in a small area, still flew much faster than Keratea's and Skogr's steeds.

After the murder of crows had gone past them, Sibyl checked if the others are alright; "That was close! Anyone got seriously hurt?"

[Zolkabro]

When they reached the city, Faethyr unceremoniously dumped his passangers on the ground beside him. "Bloody hitch-hikers." he muttered.

"Faethyr!" scolded Skógr. "What have I told you about dismounting?"
"Let my riders get off on their own." mumbled Faethyr sullenly.
"Good boy." grinned Skógr.

Skógr turned to face the city walls.
"Well, the city at last!" he said, smiling with fake confidence. "D-d-do we go in?" he asked tentatively.

[Zazori]

The city is empty, but nothing seems wrong.

You can hear a few crows.

[ben-zayb]

Sibyl muttered the moment they saw the empty city, "So... the caravan is to be delivered to whom? This place could use a townsfolk or two..."

He looked at his arms---there are some visible scratches and cuts, though none were too deep to warrant any serious injury. He then tried to gather mystical energy around his injuries; the same "dark" energy that once hurt him when he was but an apprentice, that is now being masterfully harnessed to heal him instead.

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

This city up north is Vastok, right?

And... I supposedly have DR 2/magic or bludgeoning. Although I won't be surprised that the swarm deals magical nonlethal damage.

Also, assuming it somehow works, Charnel Touch:
(1d8+1)[8] neg. energy damage that heals me

[Zolkabro]

Skógr took a few steps into the city, then stumbled, and fell.
"Wha-what is this?" he exclaimed. "This grey floor! What is it?"
He knelt, and examined it.
"Is it... stone?" Skógr asked. "But how? How did they shape stones so smoothly? And such large ones!
This is horrible. I cannot feel the softness of the ground, the plants beneath my feet. How do you walk?"
He stumbled around a bit, but soon got used to the strange sensation of the ground not being depressed under his feet.

He then ran forwards, and looked up and down a street.
"It's so straight!" he shouted excitedly. "The roads look as straight as if they were an arrowshaft! How did they build it wil such precision?"

Skógr stood back, looking thoughtful.
So this is the big city...

He ran over to a nearby house. He fell again when his head slammed into the glass window.
"What's this? Some kind of force field?" he asked, incredulous. "An invisible wall! A barrier that cannot be seen! how can this be? It is like metal, or stone, but it stays unnoticed! It must make amazing barriers. People will not even know that it is there!"
Astounded, he rapped his nuckle on the glass. It did not break through. Gobsmacked, he rapped again. It did not break through. He punched it with more force, and the glass smashed.
Unaware that he had just caused some extremely expensive damage, Skógr grinned with amazement.
"I dispelled it! I dispelled the magic barrier with my fists!" Skógr grinned, delighted with this discovery. "I can dispel magic with my hands!"

EDIT:
OOC:

Spoiler

Show

Wait, this is Vastok? But that's where Skógr grew up! Or at least, until he ran into the forest when he was nine or something.

[Zazori]

Overruling Skógr actions after he smashed the window.

As Skógr smashed the window he can't avoid seeing just a glimpse of what is inside the house.
Zolkabro

Spoiler

Show

Skógr sees 2 dead adults and 3 dead children, the children are about 13 of age.
They have thick blood with white dots running out of their mouth, ears, nose and eyes, their skin is all pale, but the blood have a very deep dark red color.
A few crows are sitting on the bodies, eating from their flesh, the crows have red eyes.

OOC

Spoiler

Show

Lets just say it's Vastok.

[Zolkabro]

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

I'd rather you didn't scrap everything I did after the window-smashing, so I am going to swap things around so that smashing the window is the last thing I do in the previous post.
Also, if this is Vastok, wouldn't that mean that Skógr would recognise all this instead of being gobsmacked? I thought Vastok was pretty old-fashioned, so even as a child in the city he would not have seen any of this stuff, never mind how things have changed over 20 years.

Skógr looked back into the house after his wonderful discovery, and froze.
His smile faded, and he stared, unable to move, into the window.
"No..." he muttered. "Oh, no no no no no, this is bad."
He turned to the others.
"Uh, I think you should take a look at this..."

He staggered, then collapsed. Faethyr bounded forwards and licked his face worriedly. Skógr had gone white as a sheet with shock.

[Lady Moreta]

"Skógr!" Merilan hurried forwards and dropped onto her knees alongside the forest-dweller, the scratches from the flock of crows now forgotten. "Are you all right? What happened?" She looked up at the smashed window, "Breaking the window probably wasn't such a good idea," she said gently, "but still..." Merilan's voice trailed off as she stood up and quietly went to the window, looking in and wondering what had shocked Skógr so badly.

[ArcoSan]

The crows are a mere annoyance for the Paladin but nothing serious. She has a look at her wounds and any wounds Arousa may have suffered and tries to clean them in case the crows carry an infection of some kind.

As they arrive in the abandoned city she looks around, anger building inside her for what seems to be a huge waste of human life. She pauses for a moment and vows to avenge the dead against whatever or whoever caused such suffering.

As the others move around the wreckage she almost ignores them as she dismounts. Skógr's antics do bring a slight smile on her lips but she frowns as the man breaks the glass creating noise and possibly cutting himself.

"Careful friend" she says as she walks over him and almost without asking takes his hand into hers "there seems to be a disease and infection here, avoid the crows and try not to... foolishly make wounds on yourselves. Also making noise may attract anything that has survived and is not friendly towards us" she says as she checks his hand.

Once she is satisfied that he has only some superficial scratches she walks inside the store, ignoring the crows or kicking them aside.

The sight of death is nothing new to her and she has seen much worse. She leans down and examines the bodies.

Spoiler

Show

Heal check on the bodies

(1d20+11)[28]

[Zazori]

ArcoSan

Spoiler

Show

You cannot understand where all this thick blood comes from, as these people seem to have died for more then 1 day ago.
The course of death is obviously the disease, but it's nothing you've ever seen before.
(I went with you keeping your safety highest, without taking tests, cutting up the body, etc. you cant get more information.)

[Lady Moreta]

Merilan clapped a hand over her mouth at the sight of the bodies in the house, turning away, she closed her eyes for a moment, regaining control. Unwilling to look inside the house again, she nevertheless steps closer and directing her eyes towards the ceiling, speaks aloud "Keratea, can you tell anything?" Frowning, she turns in a slow circle, "Is everyone dead in this city?" she wonders aloud, her voice hushed. Looking thoughtful, Merilan reaches into the pouch now attached to her belt and takes an item from it. Curling it around her fingers, she speaks the words to a spell, then begins turning again in a slow, careful circle.

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

Casting Detect Thoughts then turning in a slow circle to aim it everywhere and see if there are any thoughts/people alive in the area (apart from us obviously)

[ben-zayb]

After the commotion with Skogr and the others, Sibyl decided to look at what's happening. He approached the area besides the window and then peered inside. After seeing the lifeless bodies, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

Well THAT explains a lot. And here I was, wondering why this city seemed to be a ghost town. Looks like we'll have to search for survivors again.

And then Sibyl started walking slowly away from the scene. He's in his own world right now, thinking of what happened; what caused the deaths; how was the plague related and what brought it in here in the first place.

Is the plague responsible for these deaths? If so then it seems to be a far, more serious threat than anyone at the headquarters had initially expected.

A very sharp stone dug against the sole of his boots, waking him from the haze of his daydreaming.

"Ow! There we go", he said as he removed the stone that was stuck on his boots. He looked at the others and spoke, "So...what are we going to do now? Should we search for other survivors?"

[ArcoSan]

Spoiler

Show

Good call on the not butchering bodies for answers :D. She has high 'heal' but she is not about to do operations on dead bodies that may carry a lethal disease...

I mean I dont know how you want to go about the "heal" skill but I would assume someone with my ranks would know how easily things are transmitted by blood. On the other hand this is obvious some form of pathogen NOT transmitted by air (otherwise we are infected already) so it has to be via blood or touch.

Furthermore on a more "medical" version of heal skill would I be able to know that no -normal- virus/bacteria can stay in a dead human body for long? So if there is still a disease here it should not be transmittable from the dead if its a normal one...

Keratea moved carefully around the bodies taking in what she saw and trying to make sense of it all. She occasionally used a piece of clothing to move a limb or check the eyes and teeth but nothing more intrusive.

The momentary repulsion at the dead bodies was brushed aside very quickly. She had been in battlefields days after people had died and this was nothing compared to that. She had seen death caused by vile sorcery and forced affliction on innocents and had been hardened by it. Still whatever this was it seemed to be incredibly deadly and effective.

"These people died from the disease but its nothing like I have ever seen or heard of. Nothing natural or normal at least. Also the thick blood makes no sense though these people dont seem to have been dead for more than a day." she concluded tried to think what to do next.

As Sibyl spoke she immidiatetly knew what it was she had to do.

She rarely liked it when this role was thrust upon her but it seemed that once again it was so. People, needed leaders. She hated being one but her duty almost always lead her down that path. The problem was that although people needed leaders they also needed to feel free and that they forged their own destiny. Manipulation though was not her strong suit.

She looked at them as they moved around lost and not knowing what to do. Skogr should not be a problem. He seemed reasonable enough and if indeed he had lived in a forest as it seemed he should respond as all animals did, seeking a pack leader and following him. Merilan also seemed willing to follow one's lead and Sibyl already was seeking guidance. She could only hope the others would fall behind her without her having to exert any authority.

"We need to move house by house, store by store searching for provisions and survivors. We must take great care not to expose ourselves to any potential disease carrying factors though. Safety comes first. We do not know what else is living in the city now and many times when people are faced with situations like this they snap and cannot control their actions." she said falling into her military training.

"Once we have a small surrounding area covered and some provisions secured we need to start destroying the sources of infection. As gruesome and cruel that may sound it means burning the bodies. I know its not how you imagined entering the city but it is a matter of duty, safety and respect for the fallen." she said as she walked out of this particular store.

"Though it would be faster to break into teams I advice against it. There is strength in numbers especially when we are still unarmed and unarmored. I would like to ask each of you what are your strengths and capabilities as we need to know what each other is good at before we can proceed and we need to know what to expect..." her voice was strong and unwavering. Not that charming or appealing but steeped in reason and strength of will.