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

[bluffcheck]

[Well... Thoster rolled a 2 and he sure has no ranks in either of those skills so... He's not really going to fall super gracefully. It probably hurts when he hits the ground. But they killed the thing, yay!]

[beatemup]

[Woohooooo... he did it! Take that, demon! Mess with him and the last thing you'll taste is his hammer.

Now, there's one monster left and he just stole the spotlight, maybe it would be better to share some credit and let the rest of the team handle it. That's what a good leader would do, right? So, showing that he can be a good leader, he takes defensive stance and wait for his team to do the rest.

Wait!

This is Max we're talking, stealing the spotlight is something he does. He isn't gonna let this chance go. Instead, he energically moves toward the ghoul and hammers it. (Power atk 16, dmg 12)]

[sternshield]

[ thoster takes 2 falling damage as he hits the ground, hard, and he's greeted by the sound of a hammer all but shattering the skull of the ghoul, who literally gets a dent in the side of his head from the massive blow. the ghoul continues to lash out with a claw in an instinctive panic, but let's see how good YOUR aim is after you get your brains half smashed out (atk 8) ]

[bluffcheck]

[Seeing as half the team is paralyzed, Thoster rushes to help Max take out this last ghoul, bringing his Morningstar down to give it another whack (attack 21, damage 11)]

[beatemup]

Graahh! Go back to your fucking hell already! [Max continues his onslaught with the help of Thoster by serving the ghoul another portion of steel batter (power attack 14, dmg 13)]

[sternshield]

[ together, they batter the ghoul into submission, and it finally falls, lifeless and twitching, to the ground. a couple minutes later, erky and liam will regain themselves, as silence falls around them. ] Is-- is that all of them?

[bluffcheck]

I think so. I'll have a look around. [He goes poking around to see if there are any more creepy things lingering (search 19)]

[sternshield]

[ the oppressive air seems to have dissolved, and he discovers no further ghouls here. but no other living beings as well :( ] What about the girl? The one who called us?

[bluffcheck]

Not here, from what I can tell. [He grimaces and flexes his hand around the grip of his weapon.] Best we keep looking, aye?

[sternshield]

Aye, let's hope without any nasty surprises this time. [ search checks one more time! ]

[bluffcheck]

[15 for Thoster]

[ex_boning176]

[Liam only got 12 so maybe his brain is still a lil paralyzed idk...]

[beatemup]

[Max's search check is 16. After a boss fight, checking for loot is a must, of course. Give him his loot!]

[sternshield]

[ well, before they even go looking for the people in question, max finds something hanging on a hook in the same barn they're in - it looks like a standard sledgehammer, except that it has runes carved into its wooden handle. as he approaches it, erky steps up beside him, raising a hand and closing his eyes a moment. ] My, my. It's certainly magic, at least.

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster comes over to have a look as well, peering at the runes (spellcraft 22 to see if he knows anything about the magic in the hammer maybe? either that or bardic knowledge 39 to see if he's heard any stories about a weapon like this)]

[sternshield]

[ thoster has heard of such a thing! this is the demolition hammer, which can be activated once a day on a successful melee attack. doing so means that target must succeed on a DC 20 fort save or take 10d6 dmg. if that's enough to kill them, the target gets disintegrated into a trace of fine dust. ]

[bluffcheck]

You'd do well to keep that close at hand, friend. [Thoster says to Max.] I've heard tales of something with those runes reducing men to dust with a single blow.

[That's all you, buddy! Go for it.]

[beatemup]

Really? Awesome! [Well, if they're handing it to him, he might as well take it without any arguments. He has his signature hammer, given by his dad, but maybe someone in the castle can transfer the rune to his old one.

He takes the hammer and hold it up, looking at the craftwork.] I'll take a good care of this then. [He set his hammers aside and look at the rest of the team.] You guys found anything else? Signs of our mystery caller? [He looks particularly at Liam since the kid was the one who got them here.]

[ex_boning176]

[Liam takes the hint, and sniffs at the air a few more times now that they weren't fighting for their lives (wisdom: 21).

He's getting really tired of smelling rancid dead things, but he'll do his best to pinpoint another scent.]

[sternshield]

[ as they start moving out of the barn and back through the streets, his nose strikes upon a different scent - one not quite so horrific as rotting undead, but still unpleasant, leading into one of the small farmhouses nearby. the door is unlocked, and as they step within, liam's nose leads them to a small doorway beneath the stairs. when erky tries the door, he finds it stuck. ]

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster goes for a tried and true method of opening doors...kicking it in. (Str 19) He's just a walking D&D cliche nbd.]

[sternshield]

[ the door gives way with a loud sound of something crashing on the other side - it seems to have been barricaded from within with whatever random bits and pieces were available. the smell grows strong enough for them all to enjoy it... and the source becomes quickly apparent.

in the tiny recess beneath the stairs lie two corpses, one adult-sized, the other only a child's, both reduced to nearly skeletons. the adult wears jeans and a woman's blouse, the other corpse a child's dress. ] No...

[beatemup]

...

[Max has never had a problem with dead bodies, he has seen plenty of them in the battlefields and in games, but that's the problem. Those two bodies are not gunned soldiers or some random corpses in a horror game. Seeing two innocents reduced to such stature is gruesome enough to make him at lost for words. He is so far beyond the point of anger and frustration, he just stands there without making any sound for a moment but he immediately realizes the mission is not over yet and he still has a team to lead.

He gives time to his team to collect their thoughts and proceeds to check on the corpses alone to see if he can find any information to confirm their identities or check the time and cause of death. (investigate 12)]

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster stands in shocked silence, looking at the corpses as his mind reels at the discovery.]

I spoke to hear. I heard her.

[sternshield]

[ it's difficult to discern much from their current state, but max can definitely tell that they've been dead awhile - certainly well before that call was placed and thoster spoke to her on the floor. there's no sign of injuries on either of the corpses.

erky steps forward, placing a hand gently on thoster's shoulder. ] What happened here was the product of a great evil. If we hadn't received those calls, it might have gone unchecked.

Maybe... Maybe her spirit held on, long enough to reach out.