black rock ♔ with my sad bones and my soiled throne

[sternshield]

WHO || Erky, Maxwell, Liam, Thoster
WHAT || The Knights track down a message from a mysterious woman in trouble
WHERE || Black Rock, Utah
WHEN || April 22nd, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

It's after noon when they arrive, a bleak, dreary day, and an ominous blanket of low, gray clouds hangs over the landscape.  A recent rain has left everything damp, giving the scenery an air of decay.  It seems there is no end to the parade of empty fields and derelict farmhouses flanking this stretch of road.   As they drive towards the coordinates of Black Rock, Thoster's phone abruptly rings.

Comments

[sternshield]

[ the noise is coming from several blocks down this way, about 200 yards from the downtown area. as they get about 100 feet away, they can tell that the sound is coming from behind a house here. a thick, untended hedge surrounds the backyard that hasn't seem a trimmer in years. it only takes a 12 to climb over it, and erky does so first, looking around once they're inside.

a tire swing sways slightly from the gnarled branches of a leafless tree. by the back porch, where a rusted screen door hangs askew, a pipe runs up the side of the house. there's movement in the shadow of the porch. spot check~ ]

[bluffcheck]

[He makes the climb check with a 14, scaling over the hedge to press closer to the sound. It's likely a terrible idea, but they're here to find a poor lost woman, so he's not going to question it. Thoster tries to keep himself a step ahead of Erky, just to hopefully shield the man from being attacked first, should anything leap out at the pair of them. His eyes scan the area for signs of danger or anything really (spot 28)]

[sternshield]

[ that beats the hide check of all four of the creatures lurking around back here: one beneath the porch, the other three in the shadows of the overgrown hedge. the clanging noise has stopped now, but it's likely that one of them was banging something against the pipe earlier. they're clearly trying to hide, but look primed to attack, and are the same gross monster that max and liam have encountered, which he is able to identify as ghouls, undead creatures who the tales say spawn from the death of a living man or woman who had savored the taste of human flesh. their claws can paralyze, and they tend to kill in order to eat their prey, although they occasionally leave the bodies to also rise as ghouls. ]

[bluffcheck]

[As soon as he sees what they are, Thoster puts out an arm to stop Erky from stepping any further into the yard.]

Ghouls. [He mutters under his breath to the cleric, hoping that he knows enough to fill in the rest. He's going to go ahead and draw his weapon now...]

[sternshield]

By Hammersong... [ he pulls up his arm, revealing the iron band there, and shouts: ] Begone! [ his turning check sucked so... one of them runs away lmao W/E HE TRIED. init time... ]

[bluffcheck]

[Hey... one less creepy flesh eating thing is great okay. As it flees, Thoster takes the opportunity to step up towards the closest ghoul and takes a swing at him with his morningstar (attack 18, damage 7)]

[sternshield]

[ that's the one under the porch, and thoster strikes it with a solid bash to the side of the head. one of the ghouls breaks out of the hedge as his friend flees, screeching as it comes for erky. thoster would hear a grisly snik as it catches him with its teeth (atk 15, dmg 3).

erky tries to smack the creature back with a cure moderate wounds spell, but it barely evades his touch (melee attk 11)

the porch ghoul snaps its teeth at thoster, coming far too late after he's drawn his arm back (atk 6), and then stretches out its arms to claw at him. one of the cuts lands brutally (nat 20, dmg 14), and the ghoul releases a low and savage growl as it pursue's the bard's death with great vigor, slashing him again with his other hand (atk 18, dmg 1). he must make two fort saves DC 14 vs the paralyzing effect of their claws ]

[bluffcheck]

[He sure... failed the first one. And his fort save is not good enough for me to feel like using actions points would be super helpful.

SAVE HIM, ERKY.

Can he sing while he's paralyzed? How paralyzed is he? If he can, he'll sing inspire courage to help him cleric buddy.]

[sternshield]

[ he cannot sing or move or talk :( for 8 minutes.

with the speed of a striking snake, the ghoul bites into erky (atk 22, dmg 4), and while erky avoids one of the claws (atk 2), a deft cut slices into him with mauling force (another nat 20 :C dmg 4). he resists both of the paralyzing effects, however and this time makes a baller turn undead check, and ... destroys all 3 of them in one blast, the creatures screeching as their skin peels away in a burst of light.

erky hurries to thoster's side to cast remove paralysis. ] Are ye alright?

[bluffcheck]

[Well he can watch Erky be a bad ass. That's pretty cool. But once Erky casts the spell to remove the ailment, he starts to push himself up, then winces.]

They took a chunk of me, I think. Nasty things.

[sternshield]

[ erky will put a hand on him, healing him for 22 dmg ] Do you think they... tried to lure us over here?

[beatemup]

[And here's Max, interrupting your healing session with a phone call.]

[bluffcheck]

Aye, I'd bet my life on it. There may me more of-- [He stops because his phone rings. And it's his team leader so brb let him take this.]

[sternshield]

I take it they found trouble as well. [ he could pick that much up from thoster's end of the conversation ]

[bluffcheck]

[He nods.] Max seems to think it's zombies. Not sure if he just found more of our friends here and doesn't know the difference. Best to just wait for him to confirm. They should be along shortly. [And then just because gossip is a thing.]

And apparently our good lad Liam is a werewolf.

[sternshield]

And he never thought that was worth mentioning?

[bluffcheck]

It seems not. No harm in it. We all have our secrets. Perhaps the boy was afraid how we might react.

[sternshield]

Hard to blame him. I wasn't aware most wolves could control the change.

[bluffcheck]

I can't say I've ever met one to be able to ask. It certainly seems like a useful trait.

[sternshield]

I'd heard rumors the Knights had some in their ranks.

[bluffcheck]

Is that so? Haven't heard anything about that. Might have to ask around.

[beatemup]

[Hello, guys! Your beloved leader is here. Time to save the day! ] Yo, you guys alright?

[sternshield]

No thanks to the monsters that drew us here. Probably trying to separate us.

[beatemup]

This is the first time I hear zombies that can use tactical moves. Guess real-life zombies aren't as moronic as their game counterparts. [Max scratches the back of his head and sighs, bothered by the thought that they are fighting smart zombies.] I got clawed back there, but I didn't feel like I was becoming one of them, so at least they're not infectious I think.

[ex_boning176]

[Liam is kind of hanging back behind Max through all of this, keeping quiet with his head down like it will help to hide the fact that he looks like a literal monster rn.]