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]

[ 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.]

[sternshield]

[ erky, for his part, is trying not to stare. ] That's likely because they're ghouls, not proper zombies.

[beatemup]

What's a ghoul? [He looks at Erky, curiously. Because that's more important than hurrying to save a family from ghouls attack.]

[bluffcheck]

Legend says it's what happens when a human dies but while in life, they enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Nasty things. Can paralyze you with a scratch. Happened to me with our run in with them. Thankfully, Sir Erky was here to take care of them for the both of us.

[Delicately starts writing a song in his head about Erky's triumphs over the ghouls tbh.]

[sternshield]

They've kept some real wits about them, for being flesh-eating monsters. They lured us out here, probably hoping to get us far away from you two. And we think they took out our tires.

[beatemup]

I don't think this ghouls are smart enough to make a plan like this. There must be someone controlling them. [Max ponders a bit but since he is an expert in plan brute force then that's the way the are gonna do.] Well, I don't wanna stay here too long. Let's get in and find out. [He prepares his hammer and starts walking toward the front door.] Strike the leader first if there's one, kay? [He stands by on the front door, waiting for the other to follow.] Ready?

[ex_boning176]

How will we know which one the leader is? [Liam finally speaks up, because he's kind of confused on that part.

But he is going with the flow and following everyone else's lead for now. He got claws too bitch ok. X(]