Chapter 4.2: The Dim Journey to Orlane

Round Ten
(this is preceded by round nine)

Antonius glances over his shoulder to see the new arrival. "Berthold and Kazzak - be ready. I'm drawing it away from the house."

But before he can act, Kazzak strides across the room, pushes past Antonius, and throws open the front door. Stepping out into the yard, he plunges three feet of steel into the zombie, Don.
Don takes 10 slashing damage and collapses!
"Spells and swords." Kazzak says, looking at the motionless corpse. "It seems we need both to fell these creatures. I hope the one in the back is the last of them."

Zombie Dean continues to batter on the kitchen door at the back of the house!

Sora dreams of someone coming to heal her back to consciousness.

Upstairs, Amnestria continues to sit, unresponsive, with her eyes rolled back in her head. Reynald and Olyena watch her nervously as the wizard continues her monologue.

"Don is down!" Antonius calls to all within earshot, naming the abomination that has been defeated. "I'm drawing the other one away!" With blazing shield in one hand and Final Measure in the other, the cleric of death follows Kazzak out the front door, then continues rushing north and east around the corner of the house. Knowing that a zombie is at the back door, he angles toward the well, increasing the distance between them as he rounds the corner and comes into "view" of the dead thing. He turns and takes a resolute pose, shield raised to cast light across the farm, haft of the warhammer thudding into the dirt, as he addresses the zombie. "Dean!" he shouts, giving this undead thing a name, too. "The living you seek stand before you! Leave this house and face the judgment of Wee Jas!"

Meanwhile, in the deep darkness of the forest, Morton can easily follow the path that Fern has taken. "Stop!" he yells, thinking ::Hell of a way to get a point across:: as he prepares to knock her down. The shove in her back causes her to stumble, but Fern doesn't go down. Possibly shouting the warning at her gave her advance warning of how close he was to attacking her, or she was just better able to hear him following her than Ene was.

Dell changes direction and slows, moving more quietly through the thick branches and fallen twigs of the undergrowth. He can still hear the zombies some distance behind him, but he also hears the yelling in the trees to the southeast. This yelling is the same voice - a stranger, or some casual acquaintance from Hochoch - that Dell heard earlier.

As Grallaria flies, Amnestria narrates what she sees to the servants. "She's flying back out of the barn now. Ene is still on the ground; is she dead? The elf who struck her is gone, but there's a lot of noise off in the trees. Now she's circling over the wagon back to the house. I can see Kazzak standing over a zombie by the front door, now she's going over the top of the house. Will we...yes...she's circling back...yes, that same zombie is still trying to break into the back door. I don't see any others."

Seeing that his companions are handling the closest threat, Berthold sets the crossbow down as he kneels at Sora's side. Touching her forehead with one hand, his other fingers absently touched the mummified fingers hanging from the cord at his neck. Berthold feels the approving presence of Valandras, and a bit of his energy flows into the fallen monk.
Sora gains 1 HP and is conscious again!

Peering through the gaps in the pile of armor he carries, Guilbert watches his master heal his comrade with pride. ::Dunsdales take care of their own::

Attacked from behind, Fern blindly spins around and stabs at Morton with Dell's dagger! "I'm not going to be a prisoner ever again!" Morton is bemused at the clumsy attack, watching from one side as she stabs and slashes and talks to the empty air.

---

19 - Kazzak (12/12)
18 - The dead Dave (Dead), Dean (-15), Dina (-62), Don (Dead), Duke (Dead), Dvan
16 - Sora (1/12) Prone
7 - Amnestria (9/9)
7 - Antonius (3/10)
7 - Morton (1/15, 5 temp HP)
6 - Dell (6/9)
4 - Grallaria (1/1)
3 - Berthold (1/11)
0 - Reynald (4/4), Guilbert (4/4), Olyena (4/4)
0 - Bandit Ene Prone, Fern

Round Eleven
(this is preceded by round ten, followed by round twelve)

"Take a moment to get your bearings, Sora." Berthold says to the newly-conscious monk. "We are still under attack, but for now, the house is secure."

Just outside, Kazzak jogs after Antonius, Dashing to the rear of the house and take up a similar position to the death cleric: far enough away that the undead thing cannot reach him to attack this round.

The zombie (Dean) turns away from the back door, attracted by the sound, light, and motion of the cleric Antonius. Moving jerkily, the corpse twitches across the yard past the well and moves adjacent to the cleric.

Dvan continues to smash through the undergrowth in pursuit of Dell, with Dina follows after the sound.

Still on the floor in the kitchen, Sora takes some shaky, deep breaths.

Blind and deaf to her surroundings, Amnestria continues narrating the owl's perceptions to the knight's servants in the north bedroom with her.

"So be it," Antonius says quietly, settling his stance. "Your restless march ends here." So saying, he brings his warhammer, Final Measure, cracking down on the corpse.
Dean takes 5 bludgeoning damage!
Bones snap with the impact; these twitching, jerking undead are easy to strike, but how do you kill something that's already dead?

Continuing to easily avoid the bandit's blind flailing, Morton leans in and coos in her ear. "I offer you my protection & not to be a prisoner." Then he steps around her and growls from her other side. "Agree now or you will uselessly die by Zombies tonight!" This reminder deflates Fern; she knows very well what terrors lurk in the forest, and her unsuccessful attempts to stab this person are forcing her to acknowledge how helpless she would be against undead and other things that don't make as much noise. She lowers Dell's dagger in surrender. ::Better a clean death than getting eaten. And if this guy is with the others, maybe I can distract them long enough to make sure that Ene gets away...::
"I'm Sir Morton and you will be under my full protection." The elf says, with a light touch on Fern's elbow to get the bandit girl walking back toward the distant light of the farm. "Let me lead you to zombie-free safety." Moving back through the underbrush that was broken and trampled from their earlier flight, Morton leads Fern back to the edge of the Jarl farm, where they can dimly make out Ene's prostrate form still lying in the dirt. Fern gives a small gasp and tenses.

Dell can see faint light off to his left as he tries to move carefully and quietly through the thick undergrowth. He winces with each snap of a twig or crunch of a leaf.

Upstairs in the house, Amnestria narrates: "Kazzak is running into view. Antonius is putting on quite a show; he has the zombie's attention. The dead thing is turning and moving away from the door toward him."

Berthold hears the zombie pounding on the door stop. "We're going to handle this," he assures Sora, standing up with the loaded heavy crossbow in his hands. To Guilbert he nods over his shoulder. "Guilbert, set the armour down. You'll need your hands to close the door." Then Berthold crosses the room, opens the shutters on the window, and leans out to take aim at the zombie as it walks toward Antonius. He releases the bolt, which thunks into the zombie's back. The head of the bolt punches through its chest.
Dean takes 5 piercing damage!
But it keeps moving.

Guilbert hastily sets the armor down on the table and closes the front door.

Ene rolls over with a groan and smiles when she sees Fern at the edge of the magical light. Then she frowns at the sight of Morton at her friend's side. Fern says: "Are you well?"
Ene sits up and nods. "So far..."
As she tucks the dagger into her clothes, Fern explains "We can't leave now, without light. We can't see where we're going, and there are many unseen dangers in the woods."
"Who is this elf?" Ene frowns as she dusts herself off and gets back to her feet.
"He says he's 'Sir Morton,' and he's here to protect us."
Ene says nothing more than her skeptical look expresses already.
"You'll be in that building there," Morton asserts, pointing at the farmhouse, "under my protection."

---

19 - Kazzak (12/12)
18 - The dead Dave (Dead), Dean (-25), Dina (-62), Don (Dead), Duke (Dead), Dvan
16 - Sora (1/12) Prone
7 - Amnestria (9/9)
7 - Antonius (3/10)
7 - Morton (1/15, 5 temp HP)
6 - Dell (6/9)
4 - Grallaria (1/1)
3 - Berthold (1/11)
0 - Reynald (4/4), Guilbert (4/4), Olyena (4/4)
0 - Bandit Ene Prone, Fern