Hewligan's Rise of the Runelords: The Skinsaw Murders

[Friadoc]

"How do we want to go about this?" Kael asks as he moves off to the side, so as to be in a good vantage point that allows him to watch the farm, but be less likely to be easily seen. "Scout it first or just think the worst and move in?"

"Each of you still has the droughts I gave you, correct?" Kael says, in reference to the potions he gave you when this whole mess first started. "If needed, it'd make it easy for the more stealthy of us to scout the area and then, if the worst is true, we'd be mere moments away."

OOC

Unless I missed something, each of you still does have a Potion of Message on you.

[sblock=Vitals, current]
AC 12, Touch 12, Flatfooted 10
HP 17
[/sblock]

[sblock=Spells Per Day, remaining]
0-level 6
1st-level 6
2nd-level 4
[/sblock]

 

[hewligan]

Others - any replies? I will progress tonight (Sunday).

OOC: Okay, Lewis Hamilton just won the WDC (Formula One), and I think I may have to get drunk, so post might not happen til Monday.

 

[frostrune]

"Some scouting probably makes sense. The barns could be filled to the rafters with the damn things."

" course this is no easy task. I'm not as sneaky as you Jovik but if we get caught in a pinch... I can help with the killing."

Jokad's smile is genuine enough but you sense a slight tinge of false bravado. As if your friend fears these creatures a bit more than he lets on.

 

[Fenris]

Jovik nods to the scarecrows "Uh, yeah, I'm not heading out there by myself. Last time I got scratched, scratched mind you and was stopped cold in my tracks. No, I get hit, I can used those potions or call for help. We ALL go." say Jovik

 

[Rhun]

Sorry, sometimes I don't get a chance to post on weekends.


"Let us confront them, boldly and together. We are stronger that way than if one or two of us goes to scout the situation and gets into trouble. Sarenae will protect us." Danth spins his scimitar in hand, a grim look upon his face.

 

[frostrune]

"Good by me," Jokad says with a shrug.

"We can still approach somewhat stealthily by using the outbuildings to block lines of sight to those few we can see."



OOC: Do we see sign of livestock or whatnot moving about the farmyard or nearby fields? I'm guessing no and that should put us on high alert.

 

[Friadoc]

"I wasn't suggesting waiting until you get hit, Jovik," says Kael with a grin. "Although it seems to knock some sense into your head, from time to time. Maybe next time you flirt with the wrong barmaid, we'll have Jovak slap you in the back of the head, to make sure you're thinking right."

 

[hewligan]

The Plump Flesh of the Living Dead

There is a strange silence, strange until Jokad points out with deadpan delivery "Not a single living farm animal!"

As you approach the farmstead you can see carcasses in the fields. Corpses of sheep, seemingly half eaten, with necks ripped out, and some with visible gashes that reveal hollow innards. As you approach the edge of the farm, the stench of death hits you. Three horses lie swollen in the slick mud outside the stable. Their necks have been torn open. One has the sarcophagus pulled out of the body. All of them have their guts strewn, half eaten, across the ground beside their bodies.

In the yard, only fifty yards away from the stable building that you crouch behind, you can see some milling forms. They look like ghouls.

They seem to be moving in shifting, lazy circles, walking past more corpses that appear to be tied up like scarecrows. They are definitely people, slumped against their restraints. Every now and then one of the scarecrow people tosses its head in a frenzy, emitting some low mewling howl of pain or suffering.

You watch one of the walking ghouls stop near a scarecrow and spasm violently, as if losing control over itself. Its back arches, and its tongue flicks in and out of its mouth as it lets out a terrible scream of anguish. It reminds you of Grayst back in Sheriff Hemlock's office. You see the harsh bloodied marks of rope at its wrists, as if perhaps it had once been strung up too, but somehow freed itself. Its face, all of their faces, are swollen and raw, as if from over exposure and some foul ailment.

There are 4 visible strung up, 2 visible loose. 50 yards from you to the nearest, another 10 yards to the furthest, who is only a few yards from the door of the farmhouse. The farmhouse door swings loose on the wind, the windows also hang loose. The entire place is a state. It stinks of death, and something clearly horrific has been enacted here.

OOC: YOu have not been spotted, and are at the edge of the farmstead, behind the stable wall. The yard is before you, but to approach the ghouls will take you completely into open territory.

 

[Rhun]

So, how many total ghouls are visible, and how many total scarecrows are visible?

 

[hewligan]

So, how many total ghouls are visible, and how many total scarecrows are visible?

It is in the last paragraph. 4 visible scarecrows, 2 visible ghoulies.