Thomas Hobbes
First Post
Re: "Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 8
Hehe.
Capellan said:
Hehe.
Company of the Random Encounter ('complete' 14 Nov 2004)
- Thread starter Capellan
- Start date
Capellan
Explorer
"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 9
The adventurers cautiously move upstairs and begin to investigate the bedrooms they find there. There are four in all, plus a linen closet. The first room appears to be unused; the wardrobe is empty and the chest at the foot of the bed contains only a slightly dusty chamber pot. The second and third rooms appear to be those of the children, and contain nothing of interest to the financially-minded company.
The fourth room, however, is obviously the master suite. It contains a large dresser, an enormous four poster bed, and an ornately carved teak wardrobe. Also in the room is a sturdy iron safe, and a mannequin dressed in half-plate armour. The mannequin has a greatsword strapped to its back.
"Anyone use one of these things?" the Padre immediately walks over and draws the sword. He whistles softly as the steel whispers out of its scabbard, "Nice work."
Sirdros shakes his head,
"I have no need for the blade, but the armour is of a type I have been trained to use."
"Fine by me for you to have it." The Padre shrugs, "I don't like to be that weighed down."
Quite what the others think of that comment, given the enormously bloated pack on the Padre's back, is anyone's guess, but they prove no more interested in the armour than he: Stormstrider scowls at the mere suggestion of trapping himself inside all that lifeless metal, while the others each shake their heads in turn, being more comfortable in the lighter armour they are already wearing.
As Sirdros fumbles to get into the armour, finally appealing for the Padre's assistance, Mantreus and Twinkle examine the safe with a professional eye.
"Doesn't look trapped." Mantreus opines. Twinkle snickers,
"You were expecting them to have a cloud of poison gas on a safe that’s in their bedroom?" she asks, with evident amusement, "Or maybe a fireball?"
"It could have had a poison needle." Mantreus offers defensively, his tone sulky.
"Or maybe a huge axe will swing down the ceiling to decapitate us." Twinkle has warmed to her subject, "Or spears will be launched across the room to skewer us." She snaps her fingers, "Or best of all, the mannequin will come to life, walk over here and beat us to death with its puffy, wool stuffed hands."
Mantreus suddenly moves from looking irritated to smug.
"Well, since you're so confident it's safe." He smirks, "I'll leave you to open it." Then he walks over to the other side of the room, hands in his pockets and whistling jauntily.
Twinkle stares after him, mouth half agape, then turns to look at the safe. Finally, she settles down in front of the safe and gets out her tools.
The first thing she does is to check for traps.
Meanwhile, the others have begun to discuss their next course of action.
"A household this rich, they must have had servants." The Padre reasons, "So where did they sleep?"
"Maybe in another building?" Elspeth suggests.
"Servants quarters are often in the attic." Mantreus offers, inspecting the items on the dresser to see if anything is valuable, "The idea is that it'll make it hard for thieves to come in that way." He grins, "Doesn't work very often. Most servants find that a couple of silvers make them sleep very deeply."
The Padre frowns at the larcenous remarks of the rogue, but does not remark on them, instead keeping his mind on the matter at hand,
"Did anyone see a way to get into the attic?"
"Nope." Mantreus shrugs.
"There was a trapdoor in the ceiling in the hallway." Twinkle offers over her shoulder, as the safe door swings open. "Ooh. Goodies."
"Nicely spotted." The Padre snarks at Mantreus. The human rogue shrugs in reply,
"She has an unfair advantage. She's a gnome, so she's used to looking up all the time."
Ignoring her companions' remarks, Twinkle has been busily emptying the contents of the safe onto the floor. They are several leather bags with silver coins spilling out of them, and a similar number of much smaller cloth pouches.
"Those have gold coins." She gestures at the smaller bags, "I'd say we've got about two hundred gold, by weight. Maybe eight times that, in silver."
The party are well-pleased with their haul - and even better pleased when they clamber up into the servants' attic and find another small pouch of gold. All of the money is loaded onto Stormstrider, as the powerfully built elf has little trouble handling the weight. Even after he straps the greatsword to his back, he continues to move without any sign of difficulty.
"Now where?" Sirdros wants to know, as the group leaves the building. Both he and the Padre have finally removed their makeshift masks, and the elf looks a lot more relaxed now that he has about fifty pounds of steel between himself and anything dangerous.
"Where else?" Twinkle jerks her finger at the next house along and does an appalling impression of the Padre, "We have to do this methodically, after all."
The adventurers cautiously move upstairs and begin to investigate the bedrooms they find there. There are four in all, plus a linen closet. The first room appears to be unused; the wardrobe is empty and the chest at the foot of the bed contains only a slightly dusty chamber pot. The second and third rooms appear to be those of the children, and contain nothing of interest to the financially-minded company.
The fourth room, however, is obviously the master suite. It contains a large dresser, an enormous four poster bed, and an ornately carved teak wardrobe. Also in the room is a sturdy iron safe, and a mannequin dressed in half-plate armour. The mannequin has a greatsword strapped to its back.
"Anyone use one of these things?" the Padre immediately walks over and draws the sword. He whistles softly as the steel whispers out of its scabbard, "Nice work."
Sirdros shakes his head,
"I have no need for the blade, but the armour is of a type I have been trained to use."
"Fine by me for you to have it." The Padre shrugs, "I don't like to be that weighed down."
Quite what the others think of that comment, given the enormously bloated pack on the Padre's back, is anyone's guess, but they prove no more interested in the armour than he: Stormstrider scowls at the mere suggestion of trapping himself inside all that lifeless metal, while the others each shake their heads in turn, being more comfortable in the lighter armour they are already wearing.
As Sirdros fumbles to get into the armour, finally appealing for the Padre's assistance, Mantreus and Twinkle examine the safe with a professional eye.
"Doesn't look trapped." Mantreus opines. Twinkle snickers,
"You were expecting them to have a cloud of poison gas on a safe that’s in their bedroom?" she asks, with evident amusement, "Or maybe a fireball?"
"It could have had a poison needle." Mantreus offers defensively, his tone sulky.
"Or maybe a huge axe will swing down the ceiling to decapitate us." Twinkle has warmed to her subject, "Or spears will be launched across the room to skewer us." She snaps her fingers, "Or best of all, the mannequin will come to life, walk over here and beat us to death with its puffy, wool stuffed hands."
Mantreus suddenly moves from looking irritated to smug.
"Well, since you're so confident it's safe." He smirks, "I'll leave you to open it." Then he walks over to the other side of the room, hands in his pockets and whistling jauntily.
Twinkle stares after him, mouth half agape, then turns to look at the safe. Finally, she settles down in front of the safe and gets out her tools.
The first thing she does is to check for traps.
Meanwhile, the others have begun to discuss their next course of action.
"A household this rich, they must have had servants." The Padre reasons, "So where did they sleep?"
"Maybe in another building?" Elspeth suggests.
"Servants quarters are often in the attic." Mantreus offers, inspecting the items on the dresser to see if anything is valuable, "The idea is that it'll make it hard for thieves to come in that way." He grins, "Doesn't work very often. Most servants find that a couple of silvers make them sleep very deeply."
The Padre frowns at the larcenous remarks of the rogue, but does not remark on them, instead keeping his mind on the matter at hand,
"Did anyone see a way to get into the attic?"
"Nope." Mantreus shrugs.
"There was a trapdoor in the ceiling in the hallway." Twinkle offers over her shoulder, as the safe door swings open. "Ooh. Goodies."
"Nicely spotted." The Padre snarks at Mantreus. The human rogue shrugs in reply,
"She has an unfair advantage. She's a gnome, so she's used to looking up all the time."
Ignoring her companions' remarks, Twinkle has been busily emptying the contents of the safe onto the floor. They are several leather bags with silver coins spilling out of them, and a similar number of much smaller cloth pouches.
"Those have gold coins." She gestures at the smaller bags, "I'd say we've got about two hundred gold, by weight. Maybe eight times that, in silver."
The party are well-pleased with their haul - and even better pleased when they clamber up into the servants' attic and find another small pouch of gold. All of the money is loaded onto Stormstrider, as the powerfully built elf has little trouble handling the weight. Even after he straps the greatsword to his back, he continues to move without any sign of difficulty.
"Now where?" Sirdros wants to know, as the group leaves the building. Both he and the Padre have finally removed their makeshift masks, and the elf looks a lot more relaxed now that he has about fifty pounds of steel between himself and anything dangerous.
"Where else?" Twinkle jerks her finger at the next house along and does an appalling impression of the Padre, "We have to do this methodically, after all."
Elder-Basilisk
First Post
This is great. First I read how Wicht's group of noble heroes ran through this scenario. Now, I get the larcenous adventurers of the Random Encounter.
I look forward to reading more. . .
I look forward to reading more. . .
Capellan
Explorer
"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 10
The group move to the next building. The settlement is more or less laid out in a grid pattern, so they just stick to the row closest to the western wall. The new structure proves to be the village smithy. The house itself is one of the few to be built of stone, while the forge abuts the southern wall of the main building. A quick glance around shows that the fires of the forge are cold. Nor do any of the tools appear to have been used; at least not for quite some time: there is a faint layer of dust on some of them.
Once they are convinced that there is nothing of value in the forge, the group carefully push open the front door of the building. A grisly sight meets their eyes: a partially consumed corpse lies sprawled in the corridor before them, still swarming with bloated, red-jawed rats.
These vermin are only the normal kind, however - not the more aggressive dire variety - and they scatter at the group's approach, running out of the hallway through three different doors.
Approaching the body, the Padre crouches to examine it.
"A young male ... dwarf, I think." He reports, "Must have been dead while before the rats got to him - there's not much blood."
As the others begin to move up, the Padre stands again, speaking a quiet benediction over the body.
Peering into the first door on the left, Sirdros visibly pales, then reaches in and sharply pulls the door closed before anyone else can join him.
"Nothing you'd want to see." He assures the others, at their surprised looks. "I think it ... they ...were his parents." The ashen-faced priest nods at the body in the hall.
"We should see to their last rites." The Padre's statement all but drowns out Mantreus' "But there could be gold in there!"
"Whatever gods they follow, they are already with them." Sirdros stands firm, and the Padre acknowledges his point with a nod. The group moves a few steps further up the corridor, reaching the next door, which is set into the opposite wall from the first.
They peer through the doorway at a neatly organised living room, filled with dwarf-sized furniture. There is a plush, overstuffed sofa with carved mahogany legs, several equally overstuffed armchairs, and a low ("Well it would have to be, for dwarves." Twinkle quips) table.
"Everything seems in order." The Padre remarks doubtfully, "No bodies, no sign of a disturbance."
"There's a chair overturned in the corner." Mantreus' sharp eyes have picked it out, for all that it is three-quarters hidden by the table.
"Best to be ready, then." Stormstrider brandishes his quarterstaff.
The group moves carefully into the room, fanning out slightly as they do so. The two rangers have the flanks, while the clerics take the middle, holy symbols readied in case of an undead attack.
It is however rats, rather than ghouls or zombies, that burst out from under the furniture and dash to attack. There are three of the large, red-eyed dire rats, and they lunge forward in a group, jaws slavering and bristle-black fur matted with dried blood.
"Ahhhh! Rats!" Twinkle drops the lantern - which fortunately does not shatter on the carpeted floor - and bolts out of the room. It seems the recent battle in the watch tower has affected the young gnome more than they realised.
"Damnit, get back here!" the Padre roars after her, letting his holy symbol drop as he draws forth his mace and swings it into one of the creatures. There is a dull crunch as the blow smashes into the rat's flank, but the beast is still on its feet.
Stormstrider speaks a few words of the sylvan tongue, and a green glow surrounds his quarterstaff. Looking more than a little pleased with himself, the ranger moves to block one of the rats. As he does so, Mantreus also moves forward and snaps off a shot with his crossbow at the third, so far unengaged, rodent. The bolt flies true, lifting the rat off its feet and pinning the twitching body to the sofa.
Elspeth cuts in beside Stormstrider and slashes at the rat with her swords. Both blades bite deep, and the creature is immediately disembowelled. The male ranger's look of pleased anticipation fades to one of annoyance, as he realises that might not get a chance to try out his new trick.
The look changes to an outright scowl as Sirdros steps up and dashes the brains of the rat that was already wounded by the Padre. With the third and final rodent slain, the room falls silent, except for the rather bashful return of Twinkle, who mutters an embarrassed apology as she picks up the fallen lantern. The Padre gives her a glare, and the gnome scuttles behind Elspeth.
They quickly check the rest of the house - an empty bedroom and a kitchen filled with rotting food - but find nothing of interest except for more rats ... of the normal kind, Twinkle is pleased to note.
"Right." Mantreus rubs his hands together briskly, then loads his crossbow again. "Time for the next house."
The group move to the next building. The settlement is more or less laid out in a grid pattern, so they just stick to the row closest to the western wall. The new structure proves to be the village smithy. The house itself is one of the few to be built of stone, while the forge abuts the southern wall of the main building. A quick glance around shows that the fires of the forge are cold. Nor do any of the tools appear to have been used; at least not for quite some time: there is a faint layer of dust on some of them.
Once they are convinced that there is nothing of value in the forge, the group carefully push open the front door of the building. A grisly sight meets their eyes: a partially consumed corpse lies sprawled in the corridor before them, still swarming with bloated, red-jawed rats.
These vermin are only the normal kind, however - not the more aggressive dire variety - and they scatter at the group's approach, running out of the hallway through three different doors.
Approaching the body, the Padre crouches to examine it.
"A young male ... dwarf, I think." He reports, "Must have been dead while before the rats got to him - there's not much blood."
As the others begin to move up, the Padre stands again, speaking a quiet benediction over the body.
Peering into the first door on the left, Sirdros visibly pales, then reaches in and sharply pulls the door closed before anyone else can join him.
"Nothing you'd want to see." He assures the others, at their surprised looks. "I think it ... they ...were his parents." The ashen-faced priest nods at the body in the hall.
"We should see to their last rites." The Padre's statement all but drowns out Mantreus' "But there could be gold in there!"
"Whatever gods they follow, they are already with them." Sirdros stands firm, and the Padre acknowledges his point with a nod. The group moves a few steps further up the corridor, reaching the next door, which is set into the opposite wall from the first.
They peer through the doorway at a neatly organised living room, filled with dwarf-sized furniture. There is a plush, overstuffed sofa with carved mahogany legs, several equally overstuffed armchairs, and a low ("Well it would have to be, for dwarves." Twinkle quips) table.
"Everything seems in order." The Padre remarks doubtfully, "No bodies, no sign of a disturbance."
"There's a chair overturned in the corner." Mantreus' sharp eyes have picked it out, for all that it is three-quarters hidden by the table.
"Best to be ready, then." Stormstrider brandishes his quarterstaff.
The group moves carefully into the room, fanning out slightly as they do so. The two rangers have the flanks, while the clerics take the middle, holy symbols readied in case of an undead attack.
It is however rats, rather than ghouls or zombies, that burst out from under the furniture and dash to attack. There are three of the large, red-eyed dire rats, and they lunge forward in a group, jaws slavering and bristle-black fur matted with dried blood.
"Ahhhh! Rats!" Twinkle drops the lantern - which fortunately does not shatter on the carpeted floor - and bolts out of the room. It seems the recent battle in the watch tower has affected the young gnome more than they realised.
"Damnit, get back here!" the Padre roars after her, letting his holy symbol drop as he draws forth his mace and swings it into one of the creatures. There is a dull crunch as the blow smashes into the rat's flank, but the beast is still on its feet.
Stormstrider speaks a few words of the sylvan tongue, and a green glow surrounds his quarterstaff. Looking more than a little pleased with himself, the ranger moves to block one of the rats. As he does so, Mantreus also moves forward and snaps off a shot with his crossbow at the third, so far unengaged, rodent. The bolt flies true, lifting the rat off its feet and pinning the twitching body to the sofa.
Elspeth cuts in beside Stormstrider and slashes at the rat with her swords. Both blades bite deep, and the creature is immediately disembowelled. The male ranger's look of pleased anticipation fades to one of annoyance, as he realises that might not get a chance to try out his new trick.
The look changes to an outright scowl as Sirdros steps up and dashes the brains of the rat that was already wounded by the Padre. With the third and final rodent slain, the room falls silent, except for the rather bashful return of Twinkle, who mutters an embarrassed apology as she picks up the fallen lantern. The Padre gives her a glare, and the gnome scuttles behind Elspeth.
They quickly check the rest of the house - an empty bedroom and a kitchen filled with rotting food - but find nothing of interest except for more rats ... of the normal kind, Twinkle is pleased to note.
"Right." Mantreus rubs his hands together briskly, then loads his crossbow again. "Time for the next house."
Capellan
Explorer
"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 11
The next house proves to be empty of anything dangerous. The group finds several more corpses, and many more rats, but none of the dangerous variety. The vermin scatter as soon as the adventurers approach.
Their search of the fourth - and final - house of the row is similarly uneventful, and the group moves across the muddy road to a circular wooden building.
"It's locked." Mantreus reports upon trying the door. There is a note of surprise and excitement in his voice. His next words confirm the way his mind is working. "They must have wanted to keep people out of here for some reason - might be something valuable inside."
"Or dangerous." The Padre has a more pessimistic theory.
"Hey, there's some kind of face up there." Twinkle points into the eaves of the building.
The group follow the direction of her pointing finger and spot the face she is referring to. It looks like that of a satyr or other woodland fey, and is formed of leaves that have been carved into the wood.
"Looks like a religious icon." Elspeth glances at the Padre, "You recognise it?"
"Some kind of nature deity."
"Imagine that. The leaf-faced guy is a nature god." Mantreus is sarcastic, "I'm so glad we had you along to clear up that little mystery."
Whatever response the Padre might have intended to make, it is interrupted by a low moan, which emanates from inside the building.
Perhaps some adventuring parties would have rushed to open the door, their minds on the possibility of survivors, barricaded into the shrine to protect themselves from the undead and plague rats that roam the village. The Company are not that kind of party, however.
"Everyone fall back into a semicircle!" the Padre calls. "Get your missile weapons ready. Twinkle, you open the door, then run back toward us. If anything dangerous comes out, we'll be ready for it."
"Why me?" Twinkle wants to know.
"You're smaller than Mantreus. If there is something dangerous in there, it'll be easier to shoot over you than it would be to shoot around him."
Although it is clear that she doesn't find this logic any more appealing than the task she has been asked to perform, Twinkle moves forward and crouches at the door, her tools at the ready.
Reluctant or not, the gnome proves an adept locksmith, and within a minute the door there is a click as the lock springs open. Twinkle scrambles to her feet, gives the door a quick shove, and then sprints back toward the others, arms wrapped over her head for fear of being shot
For a moment, nothing stirs in the darkness within the building. Then, with another long, low moan and a series of slow, shuffling steps, a zombie appears in the doorframe. There are more of the creatures behind it, and soon no less than five of the walking dead have spilled out into open.
Mantreus is the first to attack, loosing a crossbow bolt that strikes one of the zombies in the arm, half-twisting the creature to the side with the impact, though doing little appreciable damage. The Padre, who had his own crossbow at the ready, sees the limited results of the attack and swings the weapon down, raising his holy symbol instead.
"In St Cuthbert's name, get back to the grave!"
The Padre's voice rises and deepens as he invokes his god, until the last words fall like a clap of thunder. For a second, there is stillness - and then every last one of the zombies disintegrates in a shower of dust and bones.
The group stares at the space where the zombies were, then turn as one to look at the Padre, who rather smugly lowers his holy symbol back to his chest. Hefting his crossbow once more, he turns to Mantreus.
"That is why I came along."
The next house proves to be empty of anything dangerous. The group finds several more corpses, and many more rats, but none of the dangerous variety. The vermin scatter as soon as the adventurers approach.
Their search of the fourth - and final - house of the row is similarly uneventful, and the group moves across the muddy road to a circular wooden building.
"It's locked." Mantreus reports upon trying the door. There is a note of surprise and excitement in his voice. His next words confirm the way his mind is working. "They must have wanted to keep people out of here for some reason - might be something valuable inside."
"Or dangerous." The Padre has a more pessimistic theory.
"Hey, there's some kind of face up there." Twinkle points into the eaves of the building.
The group follow the direction of her pointing finger and spot the face she is referring to. It looks like that of a satyr or other woodland fey, and is formed of leaves that have been carved into the wood.
"Looks like a religious icon." Elspeth glances at the Padre, "You recognise it?"
"Some kind of nature deity."
"Imagine that. The leaf-faced guy is a nature god." Mantreus is sarcastic, "I'm so glad we had you along to clear up that little mystery."
Whatever response the Padre might have intended to make, it is interrupted by a low moan, which emanates from inside the building.
Perhaps some adventuring parties would have rushed to open the door, their minds on the possibility of survivors, barricaded into the shrine to protect themselves from the undead and plague rats that roam the village. The Company are not that kind of party, however.
"Everyone fall back into a semicircle!" the Padre calls. "Get your missile weapons ready. Twinkle, you open the door, then run back toward us. If anything dangerous comes out, we'll be ready for it."
"Why me?" Twinkle wants to know.
"You're smaller than Mantreus. If there is something dangerous in there, it'll be easier to shoot over you than it would be to shoot around him."
Although it is clear that she doesn't find this logic any more appealing than the task she has been asked to perform, Twinkle moves forward and crouches at the door, her tools at the ready.
Reluctant or not, the gnome proves an adept locksmith, and within a minute the door there is a click as the lock springs open. Twinkle scrambles to her feet, gives the door a quick shove, and then sprints back toward the others, arms wrapped over her head for fear of being shot
For a moment, nothing stirs in the darkness within the building. Then, with another long, low moan and a series of slow, shuffling steps, a zombie appears in the doorframe. There are more of the creatures behind it, and soon no less than five of the walking dead have spilled out into open.
Mantreus is the first to attack, loosing a crossbow bolt that strikes one of the zombies in the arm, half-twisting the creature to the side with the impact, though doing little appreciable damage. The Padre, who had his own crossbow at the ready, sees the limited results of the attack and swings the weapon down, raising his holy symbol instead.
"In St Cuthbert's name, get back to the grave!"
The Padre's voice rises and deepens as he invokes his god, until the last words fall like a clap of thunder. For a second, there is stillness - and then every last one of the zombies disintegrates in a shower of dust and bones.
The group stares at the space where the zombies were, then turn as one to look at the Padre, who rather smugly lowers his holy symbol back to his chest. Hefting his crossbow once more, he turns to Mantreus.
"That is why I came along."
Single Malt
First Post
Re: "Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 11
Ooh, now that's what I call a turning! Go Padre!!!!!
Oh and BTW, great story Capellan, it's high on my "must-check-for-updates-during-lunch" list along with P-Cat, Sepulchrave & contact
Ooh, now that's what I call a turning! Go Padre!!!!!
Oh and BTW, great story Capellan, it's high on my "must-check-for-updates-during-lunch" list along with P-Cat, Sepulchrave & contact
Capellan
Explorer
"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 12
Entering the shrine, the group quickly sees that it has been left rather the worse for wear by the recent zombie inhabitation. The altar has been overturned, as have the simple wooden benches that used to provide seating for the congregation. Two bronze candelabras have been knocked over: one with such violence that the shaft has been sharply bent.
"Tough crowd." Twinkle quips, "Maybe we should get Macwood to play here."
The joke falls flat, however, as the others are too busy picking through the refuse to pay attention.
At first, it appears as if nothing of interest has survived the zombie's attention, but then Stormstrider and Elspeth manage to right the heavy wooden altar, revealing a number of items that were concealed beneath it.
The first of these is a large, leather-bound book with thick, brownish pages. The Padre picks it up and flips through the sepia-inked pages.
"The Leaves of Life." He reads the title page aloud. "It's the holy book for a god called Obad-Hai. Like I said earlier, he's some kind of nature god."
Stormstrider merely grunts at the information, apparently unimpressed with the human modification of his own druidic faith.
"Forget the book. There's a lockbox here." Mantreus has his priorities clearly defined. With a soft grunt of effort, he lifts the foot-long wooden box onto the altar, and inspects the lid. "Not trapped, as far as I can see. Still, you might want to stand back."
The others have no hesitation in complying, and the human rogue soon has the box unlocked and opened, without any dangerous surprises.
"Money." He reports gleefully, sifting through the coins that fill the box. "Mainly small change, unfortunately, but it should add up to something worthwhile."
Nobody evidences any reluctance to plunder the shrine's donations, so Mantreus hands the box to Stormstrider for safekeeping, and the group moves on to check the next building - the burned house they saw when they first entered the village.
The ruins don't look completely safe; several partially-remaining walls appear on the verge of collapse; and the middle of the night is hardly the most opportune moment to go searching, but the group nonetheless set themselves to just that task.
Having first checked that the ashes are cool, and that there is little risk of banked fires still burning under the rubble, they jam three poles into the ground and hang lanterns from each of them, providing strong illumination on the area. As the poles are spaces evenly around the ruin, there is light from multiple angles, reducing the problem of the adventurers' own shadows adding to the darkness.
There is nothing they can do about the clouds of ash that rise into the air every time they disturb any part of the ruins, however, and soon their hands and faces are black with the stuff. The Padre's mask idea makes a temporary comeback, as they all seek to avoid breathing in too much of the fine, sooty powder.
"Hey, I've found something!" Mantreus digs a large hunk of fused metal out of the ashes. The fist-sized lump appears to be an agglomeration of silver and gold coins, which have melted together from intense heat: presumably due to the fire that destroyed the building.
"There's something else here, too." Twinkle has continued looking through the ashes where Mantreus found the melted coins, and now adds a deformed iron symbol to their find.
"Looks like it is supposed to depict a skull and a scythe." The Padre examines the icon distastefully. "It's obviously a symbol of one of the death cults, though I don't know which one."
"It doesn't really matter which of them it is." Sirdros says grimly, "They're all bad news."
"Still, it helps to tell us what happened here." Elspeth offers, by way of small consolation. The Padre concurs,
"Yes, I think it seems likely that a priest of the death cults came here, and decided the place was ripe for his attentions. Maybe he infected the townsfolk with the disease, maybe they were already suffering. In either case, I think he raised those zombies to act as his muscle. But the townsfolk found out about him, trapped him in here and killed him."
"Unfortunately, it looks like it was already too late for them by the time they did." Mantreus nods his agreement.
"So do we leave now?" Stormstrider asks. "Seems like we know what happened."
"We should check the rest of the houses." The Padre's Plan won't die. "There may be something of value in them. Once we're done, we should burn this place. Make sure whatever this cultist did, dies here, just like them."
Entering the shrine, the group quickly sees that it has been left rather the worse for wear by the recent zombie inhabitation. The altar has been overturned, as have the simple wooden benches that used to provide seating for the congregation. Two bronze candelabras have been knocked over: one with such violence that the shaft has been sharply bent.
"Tough crowd." Twinkle quips, "Maybe we should get Macwood to play here."
The joke falls flat, however, as the others are too busy picking through the refuse to pay attention.
At first, it appears as if nothing of interest has survived the zombie's attention, but then Stormstrider and Elspeth manage to right the heavy wooden altar, revealing a number of items that were concealed beneath it.
The first of these is a large, leather-bound book with thick, brownish pages. The Padre picks it up and flips through the sepia-inked pages.
"The Leaves of Life." He reads the title page aloud. "It's the holy book for a god called Obad-Hai. Like I said earlier, he's some kind of nature god."
Stormstrider merely grunts at the information, apparently unimpressed with the human modification of his own druidic faith.
"Forget the book. There's a lockbox here." Mantreus has his priorities clearly defined. With a soft grunt of effort, he lifts the foot-long wooden box onto the altar, and inspects the lid. "Not trapped, as far as I can see. Still, you might want to stand back."
The others have no hesitation in complying, and the human rogue soon has the box unlocked and opened, without any dangerous surprises.
"Money." He reports gleefully, sifting through the coins that fill the box. "Mainly small change, unfortunately, but it should add up to something worthwhile."
Nobody evidences any reluctance to plunder the shrine's donations, so Mantreus hands the box to Stormstrider for safekeeping, and the group moves on to check the next building - the burned house they saw when they first entered the village.
The ruins don't look completely safe; several partially-remaining walls appear on the verge of collapse; and the middle of the night is hardly the most opportune moment to go searching, but the group nonetheless set themselves to just that task.
Having first checked that the ashes are cool, and that there is little risk of banked fires still burning under the rubble, they jam three poles into the ground and hang lanterns from each of them, providing strong illumination on the area. As the poles are spaces evenly around the ruin, there is light from multiple angles, reducing the problem of the adventurers' own shadows adding to the darkness.
There is nothing they can do about the clouds of ash that rise into the air every time they disturb any part of the ruins, however, and soon their hands and faces are black with the stuff. The Padre's mask idea makes a temporary comeback, as they all seek to avoid breathing in too much of the fine, sooty powder.
"Hey, I've found something!" Mantreus digs a large hunk of fused metal out of the ashes. The fist-sized lump appears to be an agglomeration of silver and gold coins, which have melted together from intense heat: presumably due to the fire that destroyed the building.
"There's something else here, too." Twinkle has continued looking through the ashes where Mantreus found the melted coins, and now adds a deformed iron symbol to their find.
"Looks like it is supposed to depict a skull and a scythe." The Padre examines the icon distastefully. "It's obviously a symbol of one of the death cults, though I don't know which one."
"It doesn't really matter which of them it is." Sirdros says grimly, "They're all bad news."
"Still, it helps to tell us what happened here." Elspeth offers, by way of small consolation. The Padre concurs,
"Yes, I think it seems likely that a priest of the death cults came here, and decided the place was ripe for his attentions. Maybe he infected the townsfolk with the disease, maybe they were already suffering. In either case, I think he raised those zombies to act as his muscle. But the townsfolk found out about him, trapped him in here and killed him."
"Unfortunately, it looks like it was already too late for them by the time they did." Mantreus nods his agreement.
"So do we leave now?" Stormstrider asks. "Seems like we know what happened."
"We should check the rest of the houses." The Padre's Plan won't die. "There may be something of value in them. Once we're done, we should burn this place. Make sure whatever this cultist did, dies here, just like them."
For once Capellan isn't embellishing... It was pretty funny at the time. And the Padre was very smug, damn him!
Capellan
Explorer
"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 13
The next house - the last in the row - proves to hold nothing of interest, and so the group moves quickly to the third and final row of buildings.
"Not a bad sized place, this one." for a moment, Mantreus seems to have turned into a real estate agent, but then his real import becomes clear, "Easily the biggest since that one where we found all the money. Keep your eyes open for loot."
And with that heart-warming sentiment, the group enters through the front door.
Inside, it quickly becomes apparent that this was the home of someone with a love for books, as there are shelves laden with them in most of the rooms the group enters. It also appears that some kind of creature has rampaged through the house, as several of the shelves have been knocked to the floor, scattering their contents about.
"Hey - look at this." Mantreus crouches beside one of the fallen books and flips it open, revealing that the pages have been sealed together and then hollowed out. Within the hiding place is a black velvet bag, filled with coins.
Twinkle snatches up the bag, then hefts it experimentally, eyes a little unfocussed as she judges the weight.
"Sixty, maybe seventy gold." She says at last, tossing the bag to Stormstrider. The elf ranger is so surprised he almost fumbles it, but eventually manages to clutch it against his chest.
"How do you know it's gold?" Mantreus grumps at being upstaged.
Twinkle merely taps her nose, looking very pleased with herself as she does so.
She's so pleased, in fact, that she forgets usual timidity and scampers up the stairs ahead of the rest of the company. Still grinning, she turns on the top step and starts to call for the others to come up.
Which is when the ghoul bursts out of a nearby room and leaps toward her.
Releasing an appropriately girlish squeal of fright, the young gnome tumbles down the steps, landing sprawled - but unhurt - on the lower floor. The ghoul is only just behind her, however, as it comes rushing down, claws outstretched.
Mantreus shouts words of power, and a ray of pale energy flashes over the creature's shoulder, narrowly missing it. The sorcerer curses: he obviously needs to do more work on his control of his powers.
Stomrstrider leaps up the stairs to meet the ghoul, his sickle biting deep into its flesh. The ghoul shoulders past him, however, claws digging into Twinkle's back. The gnome cries out as she feels numbness spread from the wound. Fighting it off, she manages to roll aside, stabbing blindly with her sword to fend off the ghoul.
"Back, fell beast!" the Padre invokes his god, but for once St Cuthbert is not with him.
"In the name of Pelor, begone!" Sirdros strides forward, and his force of drives the quailing ghoul back up the stairs. It tries to flee into one of the rooms, but neither Stormstrider or Elspeth will stand for that: the two elves, secure in their immunity to paralysis, race upstairs and quickly dispatch it.
With the ghoul out of the way, and Twinkle's wounds attended to, the rest of the group joins the two elves on the top floor, and take a look through the rooms, there. They find a couple of savaged corpses, but other than giving these unfortunate victims a few words to help speed them to their gods, there is little to make the adventurers pause in their sweep through the house.
And then they reach the locked door at the end of the corridor.
The next house - the last in the row - proves to hold nothing of interest, and so the group moves quickly to the third and final row of buildings.
"Not a bad sized place, this one." for a moment, Mantreus seems to have turned into a real estate agent, but then his real import becomes clear, "Easily the biggest since that one where we found all the money. Keep your eyes open for loot."
And with that heart-warming sentiment, the group enters through the front door.
Inside, it quickly becomes apparent that this was the home of someone with a love for books, as there are shelves laden with them in most of the rooms the group enters. It also appears that some kind of creature has rampaged through the house, as several of the shelves have been knocked to the floor, scattering their contents about.
"Hey - look at this." Mantreus crouches beside one of the fallen books and flips it open, revealing that the pages have been sealed together and then hollowed out. Within the hiding place is a black velvet bag, filled with coins.
Twinkle snatches up the bag, then hefts it experimentally, eyes a little unfocussed as she judges the weight.
"Sixty, maybe seventy gold." She says at last, tossing the bag to Stormstrider. The elf ranger is so surprised he almost fumbles it, but eventually manages to clutch it against his chest.
"How do you know it's gold?" Mantreus grumps at being upstaged.
Twinkle merely taps her nose, looking very pleased with herself as she does so.
She's so pleased, in fact, that she forgets usual timidity and scampers up the stairs ahead of the rest of the company. Still grinning, she turns on the top step and starts to call for the others to come up.
Which is when the ghoul bursts out of a nearby room and leaps toward her.
Releasing an appropriately girlish squeal of fright, the young gnome tumbles down the steps, landing sprawled - but unhurt - on the lower floor. The ghoul is only just behind her, however, as it comes rushing down, claws outstretched.
Mantreus shouts words of power, and a ray of pale energy flashes over the creature's shoulder, narrowly missing it. The sorcerer curses: he obviously needs to do more work on his control of his powers.
Stomrstrider leaps up the stairs to meet the ghoul, his sickle biting deep into its flesh. The ghoul shoulders past him, however, claws digging into Twinkle's back. The gnome cries out as she feels numbness spread from the wound. Fighting it off, she manages to roll aside, stabbing blindly with her sword to fend off the ghoul.
"Back, fell beast!" the Padre invokes his god, but for once St Cuthbert is not with him.
"In the name of Pelor, begone!" Sirdros strides forward, and his force of drives the quailing ghoul back up the stairs. It tries to flee into one of the rooms, but neither Stormstrider or Elspeth will stand for that: the two elves, secure in their immunity to paralysis, race upstairs and quickly dispatch it.
With the ghoul out of the way, and Twinkle's wounds attended to, the rest of the group joins the two elves on the top floor, and take a look through the rooms, there. They find a couple of savaged corpses, but other than giving these unfortunate victims a few words to help speed them to their gods, there is little to make the adventurers pause in their sweep through the house.
And then they reach the locked door at the end of the corridor.
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