Chapter 4.2: The Dim Journey to Orlane

Which building: the barn with the door currently open, or the farmhouse with the door currently closed? Both entrances are illuminated by the coin shining on the ground between the wagon and the house's front door.

Reference was to the farmhouse which looks to be the most defensive & not the barn where the two were recently held at. I didn't say that he pointed but he probably did while saying that.

Antonius does not yield an inch as Dean lurches toward him. The corpse abandons the farmhouse at last, drawn from the door by the cleric's challenge, its dead limbs twitching with unnatural purpose. Hearing Kazzak's boots behind him, Antonius allows himself the faintest nod as the dwarf moves into position at his flank. Once more, the pair stand shoulder to shoulder, shield wall reformed beneath the pale moonlight.

"So be it," Antonius says quietly, settling his stance. "Your restless march ends here."

As Dean closes the final steps, Antonius meets it head-on. His shield catches the zombie's advance, checking its momentum for the briefest instant before he drives Final Measure forward in a heavy, deliberate arc. The warhammer whistles through the night, aimed to crush the undead creature with the finality of a judge's sentence.

"Return to your rightful rest."

The zombie's attention to Antonius allows Kazzak to flank it and cut into decayed flesh and bone with a forceful slash. Someone sent these creatures, he thinks. May Moradin grant me a chance to slice that necromancer in two.

Dell will continue on his current path a bit more before turning back to the barn. He strains his ears listening for anything out of place as he moves as quietly as possible.

From his vantage point, Berthold reloaded the heavy crossbow and aimed once again at Dean. The heavy weapon was clumsy in his hands, and yet he hoped to dispatch the undead still struggling against Kazzak and Antonius.

Amnestria continues to report on the progress in dispatching the remaining zombie. Having seen the resilience of these undead things firsthand, she knows that it may take her companions their full attention, leaving them exposed to any outside attack. She has Grallaria take a wider path around the farm to see if there are more threats in the area.

... Hells Caster ... On watching Morton surprisingly notes that dwarven Kazzak has quickly taken off to the back side of the farmhouse & not addressed aiding himself or the two previous prisoners. Neither has the mage's owl (Grallaria) as well.

Watching Morton suspects the dwarf's movement is from the further and still ongoing Zombie attacks. He notes that this Kazzak is a rather brave one as he took on two zombies at once that Morton blasted. And still further killed them and moving on to yet more.

With all the shouts he has heard, still Dell's voice hasn't been one of them. It was his shout that demonic Morton was answering as to the rescue of Sara which he doesn't think now is these two. He is unsure of that matter now and he is no longer keen with rescue Sara on his mind as well as the Zombie attacks at the front door that he spied as he came in. Now there is these two frighten defenseless prisoner women that seem to have been left to the Zombies as this is the Dim Forest and you always consider Zombie attacks.

Also, the magical fog cloud is gone. Still spell casting Morton believes there is a mage about. That owl that must be its familiar is still watching the area. He notes that the owl did check out the barn. He fathoms what other secrets this mage (Amnestria) might know. Whatever they are, the mage isn't strong enough to take on Zombies. As he moves to the farmhouse soon, he will rise his hands in a crisscross motion to gain attention. Of course, not slowing or stopping.

With hope the one prisoner woman (Fern) will help up the other one (Ede) that he cheap shotted to her feet so both can follow him to the farmhouse. He hopes the two will accept his protection by following him to the front door of the farmhouse as he starts to lead off that way. Would be a bad time for one or both to decide to not accept such and not follow him. This is really point of weather he has succeed to influence them to accept his protection or not. Of course, not equals a Zombie death.

He doesn't have far to briskly lead forward to the front farmhouse door and stops short to call out again in a firm voice, "Please allow Sir Morton and protected others fast entry here before we perish to Zombies. It is safe currently from Zombies right now." He has no intentions to fall folly to anything they might have put on the front door for the Zombies to suffer. And in this case also free the door for passage. He will make sure the two prisoners don't advance on the door ahead of him as well.

As much as he wants to follow dwarven Kazzak into battle, he promised these two prisoners protection. After that is succeed then he may re-enter into battle although the thought of melee is not on that list. Sir Morton does what Sir Morton does.

Antonius watches with grim satisfaction as Berthold's quarrel punches clean through the corpse's chest, yet the thing staggers onward as though neither bone nor flesh held any meaning.
"How stubborn is your defiance..." he murmurs, tightening his grip on Final Measure.

Standing firm beside Kazzak, the cleric refuses to yield ground. The pair reform their shield wall with the practiced confidence of seasoned watchmen, presenting an unbroken line before the shambling dead.

"In life you ignored the law. In death you ignore even nature."

As Dean lurches within reach once more, Antonius steps into the blow. His shield checks the zombie's advance, opening the slightest gap in its guard. Seizing the moment, he swings Final Measure in a brutal, two-handed arc, the warhammer crashing toward the creature's skull with the weight of divine judgment.

"Wee Jas has measured your time," he declares through gritted teeth. "Now accept your final rest."

Antonius commits fully to the swing becoming unbalance, his guard open. Time slows as the Cleric watches Dean withstand another resounding blow from Kazzak that would have felled any living foe, yet the corpse neither cries out nor falters as a man should. It simply lurches onward, driven by whatever profane force denied it its proper rest.

Before the he can recover his stance, the undead surges forward in a frenzy of jerking limbs.

One rotten fist slams into the rim of his shield, wrenching it aside. A second, heavy as a blacksmith's hammer despite its decayed flesh, strikes squarely across the side of his face. The blow lands upon the old scar that runs from temple to jaw, splitting it open once more. Warm blood spills down his cheek, blurring his vision as the world suddenly tilts beneath him.

For a heartbeat Antonius fights to remain standing. His grip tightens on Final Measure, boots digging into the earth as he wills his battered body to obey.
"Not... yet..." escapes his lips in a ragged whisper.

But his strength finally abandons him.

The warhammer slips from his grasp as his knees buckle. His shield falls beside him with a heavy clang, and the cleric of Wee Jas collapses onto the cold ground at Kazzak's feet, blood pooling beneath the reopened scar while his breathing grows shallow.

The Ruby Bell had not yet tolled for Antonius—but for the first time since taking up his Lady's service, he found himself standing upon its threshold.

... Hells Caster ...(Last thoughts for round 12)

Sir Morton is thrown into confusion as what planned just went into chaos. Was that good or bad???

He hears that the zombie just took another one down. He presumes it is where the dwarven Kazzak went and add another name Antonius to list. Now he has a face to go with a Sora caller Dell. Grrr. Ede is still on the ground and panicked Fern went around him and is banging on the door instead of helping Fern. Well the door probably isn't trapped but locked/barricaded by appearance. Half Wood Elven Morton has Amnestria's voice well in his memory now from reports due top Grallaria's positioning. Confused Morton is now sure these people have the second floor occupied. Still no face for the mage. Hmm. Appears prisoners Fern & Ede are bandits. No face for Sora yet.

Life is mess.

"Guilbert, open the door so the living may enter, then barricade it. I have to tend to Antonius." the knight spoke as he lowered the crossbow, grabbed his gleaming long-bladed sword and stepped outside to help Kazzak bring Antonius in.

"Kazzak, let’s get him in and tend to his wounds!"

Amnestria ends her sensory link with Grallaria, but asks her owl to remain on the roof and watchful if any more zombies appear and approach the house. She takes a moment to get her bearings in the bedroom, looking at each of Berthold's retainers in turn, then picks herself up off the floor. She sways, unused to the shift in perception amid the fading adrenaline from the battle, and presses a hand against the shuttered window to try and steady herself.

"See what's going on downstairs," she says to the retainers still in the room, content to remain on the second floor for now. Amnestria peeks out through the shutters for a general reminder of the situation directly outside.

Still sore from her near-death ordeal, Sora forces herself to rise. She staggers to the door and steps outside to assist in bringing Antonius inside.