Arremba IC

[Mada]

It's a sunny day, the calendar reads 20-05-51, the middle of Summer, clouds are sparse and the temperature is pleasant.
Our four heroes have been hired by a band of mercenaries to assist them in an expedition.
Apparently, there's an object, known only as "The Idol", inside a cave just West of Burrum, in the heart of the forest.
We look on now as the band arrives at the cave, dozens of men ready up their weapons and armour.
As the four PC's ready up to enter, the Lieutenant stops them. "Stay here, watch the horses and the carts. Don't worry, you'll still get your pay."
The rest of the band moves in, sounds of battle echo through the cave, battle cries, screams, metal hitting metal, roars of creatures.
For a while, all goes quiet.
Faint voices can be heard in the distance, they draw closer and closer.
Eventually, screams of horror echo from the cave mouth, blood-curdling screeches that abruptly end and cries for help.
A single man, one recognisable from the trip runs out, clutching a metallic object to his chest, he huffs and puffs, looking back in fear to see if whatever is in the cave is still chasing him.
He stumbles, the object flung from his grasp and rolling to a stop near Grav.
The man reaches a hand out to Siradius and says "Undead... run!"
As he finishes his sentence he looks back and screeches as a skeleton shambles out in a sprint and jumps on top of the man, sliding a blade right through his chest.
The skeleton stands up and takes a step back. The mans body takes a moment to rest then begins shaking violently before the bones of his body burst out of their flesh, leaving a limp pile on the ground, the newly risen skeleton grabbing his weapons.
Over a dozen more skeletons are slowly shambling out of the cave, behind them, a figure in black robes with a white, glowing mask stalks slowly forward.

The object lies within 20 feet of Grav and 40 feet of anyone else. Everyone has a horse within 30ft of themselves, a cart sits within 15 feet of Liu Yang, two horses tied to it.
There's roughly 18 skeletons plus the man in black and four of the band remains.
They stand in the middle of a forest, they are aware of the way back as it is mostly a dirt path.
There's a town not far from here, Burrum.
What do our adventurers do?

Spoiler: Context

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You don't have to already be a group of four friends, but you probably know of each other and MIGHT know each others names after travelling together on this trip. You may discuss in the OOC thread any former connections if you wish.

[Lank]

Siradius was visibly unsettled by the noise coming from the cave. The more observant folks might have noticed him eyeing his horse every now and then.

When the man reaches out to him he shys away. "Ah don't touch me!" He blurts out in a panic.

The scene of the skeleton makes Siradius vomit in his mouth. But he quickly rushes back and mounts his horse.
"Run for your lives!" he screams.

[YoFizz]

"OH! HELLO!" *under his breath*oh boy this is... "Um, we don't wish to stand in your way, I think that thingy you want is right over there. and um, boy, Do you have a name?" The tiefling asks nervously.

[Hemnon]

Liu Yang

As Liu saw the walking dead, his mind harken'd back to the ancient mummification rituals of his own people, entombment of great Emperors, heroes of old buried to rise again should the Empire ever face dire circumstances.
But... these things, there were nothing like those honored dead. They were malevolently-reanimated monsters!

He turned to his fellow travel-companions, having only recently arrived to the mainland, a stranger to these lands, having taken this job only to ensure he could traverse with local currency beyond what he had been given by his Monastic Order upon him leaving the Jade Island.
The fear, shunted and controlled could be seen in his expression as he opened his mouth, accent deep by cleanly understood as common: "Everyone, Run! I'll cover the rear. He stated knowing he had no skill in riding a horse, nor drive a cart. So he left that to the others and would make sure they could flee before those skeletons would overwhelm them all. His fair eastern-bronzed skin, dirty-blonde hair and gold-flecked blue eyes was screaming the need for everyone to just do as he had said.
should someone take the reigns of the horse-driven cart, he'd just in the rear of it and ride along, otherwise he'd go on foot if need be.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav


Grav was happy to stay behind with the horse, least until the screaming started. Watching the skeleton rise up out of the poor man's body was horrifying. "What the hells is that?!". Grav had of course heard of undead but nothing quite prepared him for this.


Grav cocked his head at the Tiefling in disbelief. He closed his gaping mouth.

"I'm definitely going to regret this."


Grav runs forward and tries to grab up the idol and rush back to his horse.

[YoFizz]

"Oh. We're doing this"

Richard casts Thaumaturgy to cause tremors in the ground ahead of the idol on the skeletons and big bad guy to hopefully allow a couple seconds extra for Grav to grab and go.

[Mada]

Grav can certainly grab the Idol and mount a horse before anyone gets to him.

The man-in-black walks forward, slowly, pointing his finger at the group, ignoring Richard's question.

Liu-Yang will note that there's plenty of time for him and the others to run away without him fighting. (He will also be able to ride a horse proficiently enough to get out, assuming there's no complications on the ride.)

Siradius begins to ride off down the path, away from the group, Grav follows closely behind in pursuit.

The skeletons begin to shamble forth in a wave of bones and blades, closing the distance slightly.

[YoFizz]

Richard gets to a horse and gets the heck out of there as quickly as possible

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav

"Sorry guys, I dunno what this thing does but if that guy wants it I don't think he should have it." Grav blurted out. He tries not to think about his bones separating from his body too much.

[Hemnon]

Liu Yang

Liu knew that he'd be able to ride a horse casually, but he had no skill in more than a lazy trot. So if possible, I'd rather choose to take the wagon with someone else taking the reigns. He'd never trained in horse riding, much less wagon-control.
So once everyone was ready, he'd take himself up into the back of said wagon and ensure a smooth retreat by making sure no horrid undead would claw itself into the wagon from the rear.

[Mada]

Richard sees a wagon horse and jumps on, Liu Yang at his back. If the group is just trying to create as much distance as possible, they can make it completely out of the forest, switching between various riding speeds based on terrain difficulties, in about two hours.


It's a full days journey from the edge of the forest to the nearest town of Burrum, and it is the closest settlement. The group wouldn't arrive until dawn the next day without a rest stop, the horses may not appreciate that.

To the north and west there are mountains past a travel road, but the nearest town is about 4 days away.

To the south-east there's a small village between 2-3 days ride away.

You haven't seen the skeletons since the cave went out of view. You aren't sure how far behind you they are or if they're even following you.

It's currently about 11am.

Feel free to discuss (in character) among yourselves the next course of action, when you come to an consensus we'll move on.

[Lank]

Despite his cowardice Siradius did genuinely care about the survival of the town. "Maybe we should ditch the horses so they can't track us".

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav


"Well the only thing I know of within miles is that small town. Not sure you need to be a good tracker to find it. Not having the horses would slow us down tremendously. Undead don't really get tired, they would probably catch us in the night and kill us. Even worse, maybe the undead find the horses, kill them and use them as mounts. I think we need to make a run for the village, trade our horses in for fresh ones. Warn them to get out of town and head to the city. Perhaps in that order otherwise we may not be able to trade or buy fresh horses." Grav suggested sheepishly.

Grav felt bad about possibly leaving some town folk in a lurch but figured keeping the idol safe was probably more important. "Hopefully we can draw the danger away from the town with this idol thing. I hope it was worth all those lives" he says grimly.


"Any of you know what this is?"

Spoiler

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Do we know why the mercenaries wanted the idol ? Were they hired to retrieve it or is all this unknown ? Should we be taking it someplace ?

[Mada]

The Job:

You were all hired from similar or various different locations between Hulm and Burrum. You don't know what the Idol is for, but it's desired by a baroness named Helena, who is a high-elf noble woman residing in Hulm.
You were promised your fair share of the pot of 5000gp, divided among the entire group upon delivery of the idol to Helena. The group was roughly 100 people going into the cave and is now 4.
None of you have met Helena, your closest contact being her Lieutenant who told you to watch the horses.

The Location:
You are currently at that edge of the patch of trees just left of Burrum.

The Idol:
What you presume is the Idol is a large metal egg-shaped object about 23cm (9 inches) in height and 15cm (6 inches) across. The metal is smooth except for some engravings written in a language none of you understand and an open cut toothy mouth and eyes on one side of the object. The engravings are near the top and bottom of the idol and appear to be a spiralling text. The object appears to be hollow, as observed through the mouth and eye holes.

Spoiler: 10/10 Paint Drawing of the object

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https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SK...DYDxt9hOreKuIa

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

OOC:

Spoiler

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Opps according to the map the village is in the opposite direction of the large town. I guess we need to choose one or the other.

Looking at the idol, it screams 'I'm evil' - no way I'm giving that back.

[Hemnon]

Liu Yang

While the others were verbally discussing the whole deal with the odd idol, the sudden skeletons, and what to do next, Liu Yang sat in meditation, lotus-style with knuckles-against-knuckles in a very calm and relaxed stance. It was clear he was listening to everyone, but some might think it an odd thing to do. However it's part of his culture to do this both when in deep thought, as well as part of his training.
Right now he was trying to get into contact with his Celestial Guide, wishing to converse, ask question of guidance, etc.
Liu was still a bit stuck in the mindset of 'let those of superior standing command the path', hence why he was trying to ask the celestial guide who's been with him since, well, birth.

[Lank]

"Maybe we should just dump the idol on the Baroness. Make it and the undead her problem. We all get paid and we can put all this undead nonsense behind us?" Siradius was a coward but he wasn't that detached.
"No, ignore the second bit. Maybe the Baroness can help us deal with the undead. If all our companions are now walking skeletons it should fall to us to set it right". Siradius says with a bit more gusto. If one hadn't of seen him cower from the fight against the undead one might mistake him for a brave soul in that instant.
Siradius is intentionally avoiding the topic of his craven nature.

[Mada]

This is an open character interaction, do not feel you need to wait turns or anything, if you have something to say to other characters, please feel free and post "out of turn"

[YoFizz]

”I think we should finish out our quest. Surely, they knew the danger this... thing would bring. They didn’t send that many men for fun. Let’s get this into the right hands and go from there.”

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav

"Well those would be the paying hands. Who knows if they are the right hands." Grav adds. "I think that might be the best course of action."

[YoFizz]

”I think that any hands that are not ours and not whomever that was... is probably at least the better hands.”

[Hemnon]

Liu Yang

Liu joined in a little into the conversation, having had no luck in contacting his Celestial Guide, what with being an Aasimar and all.
"I know I am new to these lands, but if we have taken a contract, we should finish it as per the stipulated agreement. Anything other would be loss of personal integrity." He said and looked to each of his companions, as if to say: It's either that, or you leave with no idol in hand.

[Mada]

Spoiler: Liu Yang

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Yang doesn't get a response from his guide at this time, he can find the relationship to be a bit unpredictable. The spirit will come to him either at random times or only in situations of dire need. Perhaps he can take some comfort in his spirit finding no urgency in his current situation.

I take it you'll be heading in to Burrum for the time being. The trip is uneventful and long. The group travel across open fields and planes, seeing the occasional hint of wildlife in a horse or some rabbits as you go. Even looking back and keeping an eye out for undead or robed men, you don't see any sentient life besides yourself for the trip.
It's getting about time to set up camp before you see the wooden palisade surrounding the town closing in. By pushing on for an extra hour or two, you arrive at around 10PM in the town, rather late in these days but not ungodly. A human guardsman spots them as they approach and demands to know their business. It won't take much convincing to let him know you're just travellers looking for a place to stay and get him to open the gate. He points you down a large road and tells you the Morning Star Inn should have some vacancies and is a travellers favourite in the town.

Please let me know if you wish to tell him anything regarding your encounter.

Spoiler: Burrum

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You've all been here before as it was where the expedition took off from before approaching the cave a day before. Burrum is a small-ish town with a population roughly in the 2000's It's a predominantly human city and mostly contains Augun Races but isn't exclusive of other kind. Of the 2000, about 100-150 would be dwarves, halflings and half-elves, with a few other more exotic races here and there. There's a river than runs from North to South-East on the eastern side of town and three gates, north, west and south. Our party has entered through the south gate.

[Lank]

As the group approach Siradius whispers to the group.
"We shouldn't tell them about the undead. We could start a panic and gods forbid these folks start getting ideas and kill us for our involvement."

Siradius sighs. He knows all to well of the terrible decisions people make when part of large groups.

[Hemnon]

Liu Yang


Liu nodded in agreement with Siradius. "Truely, I agree upon this. This is a need to know thing. Panic is the last thing we'd wish for." Liu said with a calm, quiet tone.

[YoFizz]

Richard

Richard shifts his hood up knowing not many teiflings are around these parts and doesn't want to attract extra attention. "Right. We only talk about this behind closed doors, lets get a room get a good night in and leave early." he whispered.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav

Grav doesn't say anything to the guard beyond nodding his head in greeting.

"Well I think we should mention something as we leave. I don't like the idea of letting them find out on their own the hard way." Grav says cryptically. Grav keeps his eye out for the Inn. "I need food and a little ale and a warm bed."

[Mada]

With that, the four enter the town. They head towards the morning star inn, once inside they smell a faint odour of cooked food, spilled alcohol and what might be vomit.

Behind the bar is a middle-aged woman with firey red hair. She's cleaning glasses with two muscular arms and a smile on her face.
It's rather quiet, it's a work night and most of the town is asleep. Theres a few tables occupied by some people having drinks. The majority of the room is human, you see a halfling, a gnome and a tiefling mixed in. The tiefling is with a table of four other humans having a quiet chat, smiles on their faces.

The woman pipes up "Evening! Just a room, or a drink too?" she seems very welcoming in her tone, her smile remains and she looks eager to accomodate you.

[YoFizz]

Richard walks up to the tiefling sitting with the humans, "Looks like you are all having a good night, mind if I join ya?"

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grav

"Both sound good. Maybe even some food if you have, bread or otherwise. If not that is fine too." Grav answers the innkeeper.

"Going to be an early morning tomorrow. We need to hit the road." Grav says to the others.