Wilds - Aftermath

The party survived the battle much worse for wear. Now they need a plan, or at least a course of action. They know a zombie-brute headed east, back toward the stairs, and they're pretty sure someone else, possibly the necromancer / spell caster, headed south. Now what?


Start Date: August 29, Year of the Badger, mid-morning
Start Status: Cleanup, hallway #3
Start Location: Blackpool Maze

The Turn

Maro surveys the wounded. "We need to back up and heal our fallen," he glances down at his bloody garb, "including me!"

"Stop talking about it and do something then," grumbles Dagmarten, already stooped over the fallen Tesso.

Rawon says, "Stay here Maro, lend me the sword and I'll see where that zombie went." The exchange is made, and Rawon heads east through the stubby hall.

"I'll go too. This wand may prove useful if we find the creature," says Ohwatoo. He follows Rawon through the east door.

"I'll see what I can find of value here," says Locky, surveying the fallen brutes and kobolds. He starts to search the corpses, using his short sword to cut free pouches when he finds them.

"Better make sure none of these rise again," says Raúguey, cutting the head from a fallen brute. He spies the glowing arrow on the floor and grabs it. "I'm going to check south, just a bit, I want to know if whoever it was that fled is coming back or if they left anything behind."

"I'll go with you," says Ingvild, after hacking the head off another of the corpses. The pair moves slowly and cautiously down the southern hall using the glowing arrow as a light source. The side passage proves to be a short hall ending in a closed door. Another twenty-five feet or so south the hall opens into a chamber, with a door on the east wall. "Wait here," whispers Ingvild. The thief moves forward, peers around the corner, and then comes back. "Small chamber, at least one more door. No way to tell where our friend went. We should go back, and get the others to safety."

Raúguey agrees, reluctantly. The pair returns to the battle scene, and Rawon and Ohwatoo return too. "No sign of the zombie between here and the stairs. Looks like it kept going. The fires are out, and it's smoky but better than sitting in the hall here," says Rawon.

Dagmarten props the groaning Tesso against the wall, "Who has the kettle?" asks the cleric.

Locky, who has been trying to rouse Mordikarr, stands. "Well he's completely out, but I did manage to get this out of his pack." He hefts the dwarf kettle, and speaks the magic phrase that activates it. [Heals for Locky, Maro, Ingvild, Tesso, 1, 3, 1, 2]

"What were those things?" asks Tesso in a shaky voice.

"I don't know," says Ingvild, "but there might be more of them around and I don't want to find out how many." He quickly describes the chamber and passage to the south.

"We should move Durego and Mordikarr back to the fire room," says Maro. "We can leave a guard and then a small group can do a quick search."

"Agreed," says Raúguey. "Give me a hand with Mordikarr." Those still standing move the two held party members to the fire room, propping them against the pillars, then Raúguey, Ohwatoo, Ingvild, Dagmarten, and Rawon go back west to sweep the tree room and the hall south, looking for anything useful or valuable, leaving Maro, Dagmarten, Locky, and Tesso on watch.

The tree room is, as expected, empty. The tree statues are detailed and ornate, each carved from a single piece of greenish stone. "Hmmm. Something here," says Rawon, gesturing at the large stone pot that supports the north tree. He and Ingvild poke and prod a bit, and a panel springs open in the side of the pot!

"Secret hiding place? Treasure?!" asks Raúguey, peering over the pairs' shoulders.

"No... it's a shaft leading down. There are rusty rungs set into the wall."

"Well it looks like Locky cleared the corpses pretty well, all that's left is some weapons. Not very good weapons, but might be worth gathering up if we have more time." Rawon starts back east, stepping between corpses and pools of blood. "Let's check south a bit."

"We shouldn't tarry long. That necromancer may be back!" warns Ohwatoo.

"Just a peek beyond the doors. Maybe there's something valuable," answers Raúguey.

"Something valuable would be good," adds Ingvild.

The group heads south, moving quickly since they've already passed this way once. First the west door in the little hall. It swings open silently, and Raúguey gags at the stench. "Ugh. That smells like corpses." Beyond the door is a pillared chamber, leading to a huge pit, twenty or thirty feet wide, five or ten feet deep. It's impossible to tell with any accuracy, because the pit is filled with corpses, some human, some kobold, some indeterminate. As the group gasps in the stench, they hear a faint rattling noise, but not from this room: it sounds distant, its direction unknown.

"Close it! Let's get out of here." says Ohwatoo, backing into the main hall. Raúguey nods and complies. "If the necromancer went that way, I'm not following," adds the mage.

"Come on, time presses," says Rawon, moving south to the chamber at the end of the hall. The space is about twenty feet square, with an alcove to the west. There are doors, north, east, and south, and a broken stump of stone stands on a dais in the western alcove.

Ingvild quickly checks the east door for traps, and then pulls it open. Beyond lies a short hall, with open double doors at the far end. The light of your glowing arrow shows an open space beyond these double doors. Is that a sleeping pallet on the floor?

OOC

Dagmarten used his last heal to get Tesso on his feet.
One round of kettle has been used.

Wounds
Durego (held)
Raúguey 19
Locky 7
Mordikarr 2 (held)
Maro 10
Ingvild 1
Tesso 3

The following stuff was recovered from the corpses and the fire room:
5 kobold pouches
9 brute pouches
1 pair of leather bracers set with gemstones
1 large urn of oil, miraculously not exploded

End Date: August 29, Year of the Badger, mid-morning
End Status: Split the party, yadda yadda
End Location: Blackpool Maze

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