The horror that is, was, and will be.

[borninbones]

OOC First: you have all been warned about the nature of this campaign. This campaign will broach many subjects and such best avoided. You will encounter nightmares that which some of you will not be coming back from.

The horror of the capital, still a fresh gaping wound in your memory, in front of you lies untold horrors, but those cannot be as bad as they had been. Most refugees are not stopping in Durk. Most are following a road that leads north and then turns to the northeast to empty out into the peaceful country of Radico. Others are headed South and then turn southeast to empty into the Forests of Arenac, home of the elves. Straight south is the city of Edgel. While it is a well fortified city, it is fortified against invasion from the outside, not a hoard of undead from the inside.

Durk is directly east of the Capital.

The first zombie has just been spotted in the town of Durk. Flee.

ooc thread coming soon.

[ColonelFuster]

Malover tenses at the news and turns to Altaire.
"Well, it looks like we have to head south now. I trained in Edgel, they'll be safe."

[borninbones]

The people around the town start to hurry up in leaving. The people of the temple start boarding up the already high windows. The party is left outside of the temple as they finally shore up the doors. It appears to the party they plan to either make a stand or a tomb out of the temple. A zombie turns around the corner and starts shambling toward the group, a city guardsman steps up and puts it down quickly. He does not put it down before you get an up and close personal view of the lifeless eyes.

"That's 2." The guardsman stands up, he is wearing studded leather armor and is weilding a spear and shortsword. "You had best be getting while the getting is good.

[ColonelFuster]

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So he seemed to put it down easily, with piercing damage?

Malover unstraps his halberd and says a short prayer under his breath, "ancestors guide my pike, gods guide my hook, I guide my blade," and takes a stock of who's in the party.
"Alright. What are our assets? I've got my weapon, my servant, alchemists' fire, and sunrods. What have you lot got on you?"

[Realms of Chaos]

At first glance, one may mistake the human before you with an undead. His body is completely hairless, his skin is incredibly pale for a human, and his body is incredibly lean. In fact, if it weren't for his imposing musculature, the figure before you would be little more than skin and bones. His flesh appears to be mainly composed of scar tissue, with scars covering seventy-five percent of all flesh not hidden by his chain shirt. His eyes, though lacking irises at first glance, have tiny rings of brown surrounding the pupils on closer examination. One of the man's hands grasps a chipped longsword while the other clings onto a battered buckler. Upon the human's back is an incredibly bulging leather backpack.

He opens his mouth to speak, using a gravelly voice barely louder than a whisper but projecting as if a low-scream (making for a somewhat spooky effect).

"We can talk about this when we are in a defensible area. For now, we get out of town. We should continue East. If the undead attack from the West, they'll see us as we flee south. Also, if we avoid population centers, we'll avoid a good deal of them."

[ColonelFuster]

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Bah! This is one of my character' flaws... dammit.

Malover has an incredulous look on his face.
"And who are you to be ordering me around, exactly? I know the south, i'm a Ka'ab there! They're totally defensible against any outside attack!" He turns to the rest of the party as if searching for agreement, adding, "but if you insist on arguing, let's here this 'defensible area' idea you have."

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GOD WHAT A PRICK

[Realms of Chaos]

Taldon grins a bit, almost in spite of himself. This fellow was going to be a real headache.

"You don't seem to understand the gravity of this situation. The zombies aren't heading in a straight line here. They spread in every which way like a cancer. The zombies would beat us to your precious Ka'ab and the wave of zombies would be nearly endless. In the best-case scenario, your precious fortifications have held, not a single one of the guards has been killed by a zombie to start the plague on the inside, and we have to fight our way through a thick ring of zombies and climb through these fortifications just to get in. I don't like those odds.
It should take a long while for the zombies to trickle out of the towns that they are created in. If we find a cave or something, we'll be relatively zombie free, letting us train and plan all we want. For the moment, we need to mo...*cough, cough, cough*

Taldon falls onto one knee coughing intensely for a few moments before rising up again.

"Relax. I didn't catch anything from that zombie. It's just a consumption I've always had. Wait...no time. We need to move."

[ColonelFuster]

Malover looks down and intones silently, "Ka'ab is a military rank, not a place..." and then faces Taldon.
"Very well. I'll agree to your plan, for now, gibbus. But we need to get to Edgel eventually to see if they're alive."
Malover slaps Altaire. "Look alive."
They start running.

[wadledo]

Manarro Lysseldevar

The small blue man with the golden eye's looks at the running men with little kindness.
The golden feathers around his arms rustle silently in the wind, drawing closer around the Duskling, and the white mane surrounding the horn on his head glow softly.
Manarro's grizzled face forms a frown as he mutters under his breath "Idiots beyond idiots."

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Essentia:4 Capacity 1, +1 for bold
[2] Unicorn Horn: +2+(2*E) Wild Empathy/Move Silently, 1d6+E+Str, +1d6 for undead.
[1] Wormtail Belt: +2+E Natural Armor
[0] Lammasu Mantle: +2 deflection Vs. Evil, +E on saving throws Vs. Evil
[1] Essentia Speed: +5*E enhancement bonus to speed.
[0] Midnight Dodge: +E Dodge
Also, do you have any problem with the incarnum feats that add bonuses not being 24 hour crapshoots?

You do realize we are completly screwed, right?
We have no arcane or divine casters, and nobody has any decent caster scores(though ColonelFuster has a decent Cha score, and qualia's Int is O.K.{though Devil's Sight brings that into question}.
Also(not to beat on qualia), you miscalculated the warlocks skills.
Warlock skills are: Jump, Concentrate, Craft, Know(arcana), Know(the planes), Spellcraft, Profession, Sense Motive, Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, and Use Magic Device.
You have 25 skill points.
Take the tiny check mark away from the skills you're allowed, then get cracking. If you want my advice(I know you don't, but whatever), I'd put five in Know: Planes, and keep adding to that.
Because you could do allot worse than Enlightened Spirit.
Also, Ff fanboy, you get one more skill point.

For the love everything that is good and fluffy, please tell me you guy's have plans for your characters?

Wow, I feel whiny.

[ColonelFuster]

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His destiny is to become a Blackguard. Yeah, right.

[Qualia]

Beran

"Oh gods, there here all ready. We need to get out of here and fast. I don't care which way we go, but we should stick together. If we don't get any sleep, we're dead, and there's no way I'm sleeping without someone watching out for the dead. We should grab some food and go. Why are you all just standing around?"

The small human was looking around nervously. He had dark circles around his eyes and his face was dirty, his clothes torn. This had obviously not been a good week.

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I picked some cross class skills that fitted the character, but may not have been wise - it is zombie horror. (I'll check the points spend) :)

Devil's Sight let's me see in the dark, which was useful for a thief, and could save our lives here :)

Thanks for taking the time to check over the characters

[Fan]

The grizzled half orc looked up from the mutilated zombie corpse a look of disgust on his face, but it wasn't a sickened disgusted it was a pissed disgusted, he spat at the dead zombie carcas, and said
"I agree with the the tiny man, we need to get to a low population center, less zombies, and less chance of us meeting some crazies. Dont get me wrong though I like a good fight just as much as the next man, but I'm not fightin a losin' battle just for something silly like honor, or my god, if you wanna head south towards you fort you can go ahead, and do that, but know that I aint' gonna be followin you, and I would hope no one else will be as well."

[Realms of Chaos]

"Hmmm... hold up for a moment. We'll need some help."

Taldon walks back to the church and makes a few attempts to burst in the boarded up church doors before they can all kill themselves, yelling, at the top of his lungs (barely louder than conversational speech but projecting out surprisingly far) "Stay. Alive. Everyone. I'm. Not. A. Zombie"
(with any luck, the sound of the church doors being bashed don't send them to suicide anyway)

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Strength Check 1: (1d20+10)[5](15)
Strength Check 2: (1d20+10)[14](24)
Strength Check 3: (1d20+10)[4](14)
Strength Check 4: (1d20+10)[9](19)
Strength Check 5: (1d20+10)[14](24)

If I don't get in, I run back to the rest of the group.

If I do get in...what do I see?

Edit: Silly me. I forgot about my portable battering ram. please add +2 to all of the above results.

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I just realized that as far as zombie curses go, this one sounds pretty forgiving. As opposed to the "one bite and you're doomed" version that is so prevalent, the zombies actually have to kill you in order to transform you. I guess that this goes with the whole "trying to avoid TPK" thing. Either way, it seems a bit safer to keep NPCs with us. No one will be trying to hide the fact that they are dead (as others would try to hide their bites), after all.

[Qualia]

Beran

Beran starts looking around for a likely place to 'liberate' some supplies from. Any open windows or doors, especially near a shop or tavern.

"Why are you wasting time trying to get into the temple? If they want to die here, let them meet their god. We need to get going! Does anyone have a horse?"

[Fan]

The girzzled hlaf-orc laughed at the mention of horses
"If ye cant out run a zombie, then your better off dead, now I have enough rations, and water for three days, what ese do we have?"

[Realms of Chaos]

Hearing Berran, Taldon gives up after the first smash, right after enunciating the word "Stay".

He runs back to the rest of the group after stowing away his battering ram.

"I'm willing to bet that every opportunist in this town thought to loot a bit before running off. We're better off running before the zombies converge than looting what little we can and fighting our way out.
Don't worry about food, though. Zombie flesh is basically meat that's a bit rotten. I doubt it's too tasty but its probably still good to eat if you roast it a bit."

[borninbones]

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@colonel fuster - yes, the guy puts the zombie down with a significant amount of ease before running off to another part of town.

@Realmofchaos- first you realize, once that door is barred up, you are not getting through it short of seige. second- who says its NOT that kind of zombie plague. Who said zombies were your only problem?

As you start running... umm where are you running anyway? just 'away'? Directly to the east of the town of Durk is a well known haunted forest known as the Woods of the Hammer. It is said that those who go in, rarely come out. Those who do may come back several years, thinking they had just gone into the woods. It is not a nice place and has very a bad reputation.

As you are running, your blood runs cold at the sounds of unearthly screams. It takes a moment for you to turn around and realize, it is coming from the temple.

[Qualia]

Beran

Hearing the screams from the temple, Beran breaks into a cold sweat.

"We NEED to get out of here NOW! We should skirt around the woods and try to find a farmstead to hole up in overnight. There's nothing we can do for these people, but there is plenty they can do to us."

The look of sadness in his eyes indicates this is not the first time he has left someone to their fate. It would not be the last time either.

[ColonelFuster]

Malover stops 60 feet away and shouts back,
"MEN! COME ON! WE NEED TO GO NOW!"

[Realms of Chaos]

Taldon, continuing to run east with the rest of the group, shouts out.

"When we leave the city, we should curve northeast. If we can reach the northwest corner of the forest, the forest should shield us from any undead coming from the capital, edgel, and durk...at least for awhile. No promises about the beings within the forest to start with, though."

[wadledo]

Manarro Lysseldevar

The Duskling continues to walk calmly with them, following them only because it's the most interesting thing to do.

[Qualia]

Beran

"You want to go into the Woods of the Hammer? Are you mad? Have you not heard of the foul magics within? We need to stay safe, and that means staying clear of thos Woods."

Balen stops for a moment to check his pack.

"Does anyone have a map or are we just running blindly?"

[Realms of Chaos]

"The sun is setting over there..." says Taldon, pointing behind him, "meaning that we're heading east. And we're not running through the forest. We're running around it, just like you said. I just accept the chance that something may wander out of the forest to, ahem, "greet" us."Taldon notices the strange little man trailing behind the rest of the party.
"Excuse me, sir, but this whole situation doesn't seem to rattle you at all. Care to explain?"
Taldon doesn't seem very rattled either, but his voice has shown no or next to no emotion show far, making it difficult to tell.

[wadledo]

Manarro Lysseldevar

"Twenty of my family just died."
The blue man continues to walk calmly, "I could care less about your abject stupidity."

[borninbones]

As you run to and around the forest, the ground begins to shake, something... large is entering the town of Durk. Even if you were to look back, you do not see what it was. This kind of takes a backseat to what happens next. As you approach the forest, you realize why people call it haunted. Whispers. Just quiet enough so that you cannot make out what the woods are saying. As you get closer, one whisper becomes louder then all the rest and you just make it out.

"Free us."

It goes quiet almost immediately. Do you stick with the plan and skirt the forest?

[Fan]

The half-orc hears this a look of anger comng over his face
"It is not ourplace here, I tod you we should've headed EAST!"

[Realms of Chaos]

OOC: this forest is to the east of Durk...meaning that we did head east. We are heading to the northwest corner of the forest, which means that we have to travel even further east.


Taldon looks at the confused half-orc.

"We...are heading East, my angry friend. We're only going a bit northward to move around the forest... which is apparently a very good idea."

Taldon looks back to the haunted forest at he continues running

"Well, at least we can look on the bright side."

[ColonelFuster]

Did Altaire say "free us" when the voice did? Heh, of course not. Mind playing tricks on me.
Malover stops running silently.

OOC: I thought I would be wild trying to stop... now that someone else did it first, I'll edit back and say that I stopped, too.... Thanks for the confidence!

[Qualia]

Beran

The whisper's have been spooking Beran since they started. As they suddenly end after the 'free us' he stops in his tracks. "Who's there?" He looks around wildly. "How are you trapped?"

[Realms of Chaos]

Taldon slows to a stop as two of his new compatriots stop to talk to the forest.

"Don't waste your breath. Those voices are the bright side I was talking about. If we can get this forest between us and the zombies, whatever spends its time capturing people probably doesn't want zombies coming through and killing their captives."

Taldon looks thoughtfully for a moment.

"Either that or that voice was a direct manifestation of this forest's horrific taint, making this forest a regular zombie magnet.
Oh well, probably one of the two."

Taldon looks back to his compatriots.

"we can talk about this when we stop to rest for the night. With our luck, the voices will return by then..."

Taldon recontinues his running, trying to catch back up with the half-orc and the little blue man.