Stratus had been a battlefield medic, and though there had been no battle, the results were the same: People lay on the ground, wounded and dying. He went into action, trying to save as many as he could, and performing brief rites for those who would not survive.
He hadn't had time to think of himself, but in a moment of quiet, he realized that he was quite shaken from the experience. He recalled the moment that the 'wave' had passed over them - people falling, crying out. But what bothered him most was that his shield, sturdily built, with the emblem of the Skyfather embedded in the steel, had suddenly snapped - cleft in two - and fallen from his arm. The force of it breaking left his arm numb, even through his hard leather vambraces. There would be a bruise, he was sure.
He quickly put the thought behind him. The bruise would heal. He would find a new shield. His problems were small compared to those who had lost their lives, or family. And worse, something was terribly wrong with the world.
He saw Anson's light, and began to herd survivors toward it. There was no telling what dangers had been unleashed. There was, perhaps, worse to come.
AC18 Passive Perception 15
HP 7/10 HD 1/1
SSdc13 Slots 2/2
Dierdre observed the green cloud with growing concern. As it sped towards the comet, her concern turned to alarm.
"Take cover!" Instinctively she raised her shield to shelter her companions from the blast. Simultaneously, she felt Corellon's holy presence radiating through her amulet resting against her breast. She felt certain he could protect her from the blast, but at a price.
"No, Adar, the price is too great."
The unclean power was devasting, rotting body and mind - but her shield had blocked the worst of the blast. Lowering it, she saw the devastation it had caused, and she moved quickly to help the others that had fallen.
Also, @Steve Gorak, Guidance now requires you to select the skill you want to apply it to when you cast it. I was going to do the same as you until I read that - and not knowing what skill might be needed, passed on it.
@FitzTheRuke@Kobold Stew : Your insight shows you that certain holy symbols have protected people. You note some people wearing holy symbols still were affected and a basic Religion would inform you that those were either fake or unblessed.
Fitz, you took a point of damage despite losing a holy symbol, which I'm assuming is an RP thing when your shield broke. take a point of Inspiration. You might need it.
@Steve Gorak: Max only takes 1 damage, not 2. Always round down.
Everywhere people are wounded and the sounds of people moaning in pain or crying over their dying loved ones echoes all around.
The first group that Anson comes across is the mother and her large family who had been nearby for most of the journey. Older children are shielding and comforting the younger ones and the mother, Kalendra, seems to be the first to shake off the effects the 'explosion' and is checking on her children. Marshall, who was standing nearby checks on the family.
The small child starts to cry, "Mommy look", he holds up the shattered remains of a well crafted, wooden holy symbol of Pelor. "Dad's necklace".
The woman unconsciously puts her hand to her neck and notices that the leather strap around her neck no longer has its pendant. It's obvious, their faith in Pelor had protected them.
Marshall, noticing the family is uninjured moves to the next closest casualty. An older man, in his fifties also wearing a symbol of Pelor but you note that he had bought it earlier from one of the vendors. He's coughing blood and barely alive.1 You begin to tend his wounds. Adar and Havoc do the same, looking for people to help. There's more than enough but Adar, you are untrained in healing and it is difficult to tell who needs help the most..2
There are many people grasping at wounds, some have even been blinded. Havoc moves past them to the closest, unconscious person. The man you choose to look at has blood seeping through his shirt. Ripping off to the shirt, you see a gaping wound wear the flesh has been torn free. You find a cloak and apply enough pressure to stop the bleeding. He will need actual medical help soon but, for now, he will live. You aren't exactly sure how to move him.
Benny moves to Anson as he's rallying people towards safety. The gates of Erin Tor are only a few hundred feet from where he stands and he can see people rallying inside the walls. He takes the young boy's hand to help him to his feet but the woman cries out,
"I don't want to leave my husband" Anson doesn't understand at first but then you realize she's talking about the wicker coffin.3
Cear moves finds some herbs and moves to someone who seems on the verge of death. Their face has been almost wholly rotted away and blood oozes out of their mouth as they try to breath. The elf does applies his medicines. It's difficult since there was little time to prepare it but as you console the human, they seem to calm down and their breathing becomes less forced - and less frequent. Until it stops.
Meanwhile, at the front of the procession, just outside the gates, the Honor Guard of His Holiness the Radiant Servant of Pelor is tending their own. The procession consisted of priests and other holy people, many of whom were spared by their holy symbols. They, too, are tending the sick and fallen. When someone shouts.
"His Holiness is Alive!"
There is a stirring among the crowd, as one of the Honour guard, bedecked in golden livery moves to the grand Coffin of Levinshire.
"I hear him inside! Pelor has returned him to the living to save us in these dark times!"
The Knight opens the coffin.
Anson, Benny look at the woman who is trying to organize her large family to move the cart with the coffin but there are so many people lying in the road it will be impossible to move it unless they carry the wicker coffin by hand. But, just then, something moves the casket.
Caer listens to the last gurgling breaths of the old man as he passes over the threshold from living to the dead. Caer's ear is close to what is left of the human's tattered face. A final breath. Then a shuddering gurgling groan. He grabs Caer's collar and pulls him down closer as if to whisper something in his ear.4
Stratus, Havoc and Adar are walking among the people. While there are many people who are wounded, almost all of those who are unconscious are dead. Stratus's guard duties have put him on high alert and people turn as, somewhere in the crowd, a cry turns into a scream. Then another.
You see a teenage boy, a vendor trying to rouse his Master and behind the lad. Behind him, someone is crawling, awkwardly and unnaturally, towards him.
Screams break out everywhere and all chaos breaks loose as the dead begin to move.
1. Fitz, make a medicine check to stabilize the man at disadvantage as the chaos around you unfolds.
2. @Lidgar Are you choosing to use magic? If so, how much? If not, Make a medicine of 12 to find and tend someone who needs help.
3. @Kobold Stew Make some kind of leadership roll to organize the crowd. Charisma Persuasion or any other skill/ability combination you think would fit. Target DC: 13. Success by 5 or more will be useful. @Steve Gorak you can try to assist if you want.
4. @Snarf Zagyg your passive perception is high enough to realize that you don't want to hear what that guy has to say to you. I'd have posted an attack but he missed.
Benny
AC 14
Spell Save DC 13
HP/HP 7/10
Passive Perception (PP): 13
HD/HD; 1/1
Maximilian
AC 13 Magic Resistance. The sphinx has Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Resistances: Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant
HP/HP 23/24
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 11
HD/HD; 1/1
OOC:
Benny will use the help action to help Anson organize the family, I also rolled a persuasion check below in case that is relevant
"The dead are moving!" he tells Maximilian. "Now is not the time to fear, help these folks to the walls now!" the sphynx replies.
Benny goes about lifting the children up and to corral them towards Anson. "Come on, hurry up!" he tells them.
OOC:
Maximilian casts Guidance - persuasion
Benny's persuasion check to get the family moving : 24
Ha ha. For some reason I gave Anson Intimidation. So persuasion is +2 , with advantage from help. 1d20+2 with adv: 18. It wasn't clear if Maximilian's spell was on Anson or not, but it's not needed to make it by 5. Thanks for the help! We're leaderly.
Standing like a beacon, Anson shouts above the crowd's chaotic screams, "Everyone! Now! By Pelor and the gods in whom you trust, Safety lies within those walls! Hurry!" He's looking at the widow, hoping that the force of his command and the additional religious injunction he has added is sufficient to motivate her. If there is hesitation, though, he will undertake alternatives.
Using the flame in his fist he points the direction they all must walk. Anson has no intention of playing the hero, but he wants those living to stay that way. As many as come with him, he will do his best to corrall towards the gate before it is closed.
AC16 Passive Perception 15
HP 11/12 HD 1/1
SSdc13 Slots 2/2
Hunters 2/2 Healing 1/1 Teleport 2/2
Caer felt the surge in the man he was assisting to a peaceful reunion with the land, and instantly recognized it. I knew better than to help these despoilers; they are consigned to their fate. He was familiar with similar processes before, as the Ravens had told him much, and held neither hate nor love in his heart for earthly creatures with souls consumed by shadows, yet still knew enough to respect and give distance to their hunger for life's end. Not today.
He saw the transformation, and interposed the Blackstaff quickly between himself and the darkness that inhabited the creature stirring before him. He heard the clamor and the reckoning, and over it all, the voice of Anson exhorting the living, like cattle, to cower behind the walls of the abattoir of civilization.
Better to seek the sanctuary of the green's embrace than to rely on the perfidy of those who would rip apart the mountains to build their walls! ...still, the child and the others may need assistance yet, and I cannot ignore that we must have been brought together for a reason.
Steeling himself for the assault on his senses, Caer joined with the rest in exhorting others to flee to the walls.
OOC:
Assume I have to take a disengage since there was an attack, so that's my action. If not, dash. Move as far as possible (30' or 60') from the zombie. Hope we have slow zombies, and not fast zombies in honor of 28 years later. Since I can't use help action this turn, and I'm a charisma sink, that's it.
AC18 Passive Perception 15
HP 7/10 HD 1/1
SSdc13 Slots 2/2
Through the screams, Dierdre's sense of malaise deepened into foreboding. A foul corruption of nature, making a mockery of life. It must be purged. She gripped her sword hilt, filled with righteous fury, but once again Corellon's voice came:
::Steady your hand daughter. The time for wrath has not yet come. First, shelter those in need.::
Taking a deep breath, Dierdre did as her god instructed. She whispered a short prayer for guidance: Where?
Over there - a man who was wounded, not yet taken by undeath. She rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. She soon joined the group around Anson to join the rush to the city walls.
Havoc looks at the woman complaining anout her husband and opens his mouzh to admonish her for not thinking of the living when the dead move.
He calmly pulls the man he helped just moments earlier in one hand, putting the gauntlet back on the other.
Free: gauntlet equip
Move and dash: ideally moving 60' in step with the man. But pulling him for total 30' because moving a grappled creature if needed
@Kobold Stew and Steve Gorak: Your efforts are enough to, not only help those few around you but also rally many people who are close enough to hear you despite the chaos and fear.
@Neurotic Make a strength with appropriate skill check to move the unconscious man. DC 13. If you fail, you cannot move him with out him destabilizing. If you fail by 5, you can't move him this turn but you can try again next turn but undead will close on you and you will get slightly separated from the group.
@Snarf Zagyg don't worry about movement. This is more narrative time and some TotM to start.
The woman seems unwilling to leave her dead husband but a combination of the authority of Anson's speech, and Benny's warning seem to make her start gathering her kids towards them. The wicker coffin begins to tear from within and she screams and move quicker.
But it's not just that one family. Many people who have been either standing in shock and fear or were about to flee into more danger take notice of Anson's light and begin moving with a unified purpose. Deidre and the woman she helped to get to her feet move behind the others.
Slowly, the dead start to rise up to their feet, wavering slightly before turning and walking towards the group from all directions.
As they move towards the gate, there is a fight between several of the Honour guards and his Holiness...Unholiness? Levinshire. The anti-Priest's skin is pale and stretched over his face and he hovers a foot from the ground. Half a dozen Knights lie at its feet. The remaining two, squires who are retreating to the gate, hear Anson's words and see the crowd retreating, work together to grab the creature and push it off the road, into the field where they all tumble in a pile in the ditch.
You note, inside the gates, monks in golden livery are pushing shut the massive gates, yelling and encouraging people to hurry through.
Many undead are now up on their feet and soon they will surge towards you. Some, nearby, clamber into the field to attack the two knights, while two others stumble into your path and cut off your escape.
There are two Zombies in the way of the gate
They are 20 feet away and you are 30 feet from the gates.
Two other zombies off the road and are between the crowd and the Knights who are fighting Levonshire.
AC16 Passive Perception 15
HP 11/12 HD 1/1
SSdc13 Slots 2/2
Hunters 1/2 Healing 1/1 Teleport 2/2
The runes in the Blackstaff were writhing up and down, pulsing with energy, since Caer had interposed it between the risen dead and himself. As Caer rejoined the group, his keen eyes immediately recognized two of the mindless shadow-touched corpses had shambled on to the path that lay before them.
There can be no flight from the danger behind when the danger lays ahead.
As Caer focused on one of the two, the inky blackness of his eyes flared red as he marked the abomination with the retribution of the Raven, then Caer strode forward and swung the Blackstaff with his full force and vigor at the target of the Raven's wrath, feeling some small satisfaction as the Blackstaff solidly connected into its flesh.
