The common room of the Nicked Shill was unusually quiet. The horrific activities from the previous night seemed to hang on the atmosphere of the Inn like a shroud. Aranwen sat quietly at a table, accompanied by Midge, awaiting the return of the rest of the party. Ch'dau returns quickly from his questioning of Nya. With a sigh that communicates his lack of success, the big cat joins them at the table.

No sooner did Ch'dau recline at the table, when Kith and Gib return from upstairs, apparently finished with their search of Davena's room. "Oy, bladesinger!" Kith calls out, "We've found you a souvenir." She holds out a piece of smallclothes on the tip of her dagger and extends it to Aranwen. "Does this look familiar to you?" she inquires of the Syl.

Aranwen takes the smallclothes from Kithran and gives a wry smile, "Perhaps...little good this does for us though. It brings us no closer to finding her."

Kithran turns her attention to Ch'dau "And you, Ch'dau, did your search find anything more useful?" The Kazari shook his head in response, "No" Pointing to the smallclothes, he continued, "Those are likely more useful than anything I might have learned. According to Nya, Daveena and her man arrived only a short time before the lot of us. They rented a room for which they paid in Ertanian coin but, beyond that, there was little else. No one here saw anything of them after friend Aranwen took the woman abed.” 

The foray into the village that followed, likewise, proved as unrewarding as their inquiries at the Shill. Whoever Daveena and Gorn might have been and wherever they may have gone since last night, no one seemed to know; the pair had simply vanished. 

Meeting back at the inn, the party ate a meal in relative silence, until a revelation seemed to come across Kithran’s mind and she stopped her chewing in order to speak up. "Crandel had not been hit before last night. Those pilgrims we met, they had witnessed those undead creatures before, but not here. They had even said, 'the road ahead must be safer than the road behind us'. He was obviously wrong, since they themselves were consumed by these things, but up until then they had been running away from them. We may, then, find more answers if we continue in the direction they came from."

Several heads nodded in agreement with Kith’s observations. She continued with her train of thought "Of course, heading that way will likely mean having to deal with more of those laughers, and everyone in that direction could very well be dead already, but we haven't much else to go on at the moment, have we?" Her eyes probed each face around the table, then. “Thoughts?”

Ch'dau was first to respond, “As wretched as those things are, the thought of facing more of them is more appealing than finding more nothing, here. It would seem we have little other choice.”

"Indeed," Gib adds. "I see no reason to believe that we'll find anything further of value here except to possibly visit the local priesthood and cemetery on our way out of Crandel. Perhaps we'll find something more amongst the clergy that will help us solve this mystery and relieve these good people of this blight." Gib turns to Aranwen, raises his brow and asks, "What say you, Aranwen?"

Aranwen folds her hands in thought, the frustration evident on the face of the usually stoic Syl. After a moment, she looks to the party and responds, "Our course seems clear. I am in agreement with Kithran's thoughts on picking up the trail of the pilgrims, seeing if that might lead to some answers, perhaps making a visit to the local priesthood and cementery before we leave Crandel."

Aranwen definitely is interested in finding out what happened to Davena and Gorn, he also has a suspicion that they are somehow involved in these events. However, the situation in front of us seems to be most important. Finding out the source of the undead attacks is the main concern, and the clues we received in the wreckage seem to be all we have for now.

My post is up.

Welcome Breebles. Glad to have you here. 

I am traveling this weekend, so posting anything substantial is a little difficult right now.

Aranwen will respectfully observe Gib's services. He will agree to accompany Midge to meet Atharis' contact, advising the rest of the group to either rest up, or investigate into the disappearance of Davena and her bodyguard if they see fit.

Thanks Olan. I have been trying to keep my character's personality traits in mind whenever posting. I wrote down a list of several things to keep in mind (stealing from d+d 5th edition)

My post is up.

The battle, for now, is ended. But at great cost. Sheathing his longsword, Aranwen makes her way over to the lifeless body of Atharis, Kithran’s frozen form standing vigil over their fallen companion, and Ch'dau kneeling at the side of the fallen mage. “You were an honorable companion, Atharis the Great,” Ch’dau murmurs, dipping his fingers into the blood that soaks the mage’s robes. He streaks the wizard’s blood under his eyes as war-paint might be applied, and then says, “Your death will not go unanswered. May Rrowl welcome you into his hunt.” The Kazari plunges both hands into the wizard’s blood, streaking bloody paw prints across his chest. The great Silver Cat throws his head back and roars into the night in honor of his fallen comrade. 

Silence reigns complete, as the companions all pay respect to their fallen member. Reluctantly, Gib breaks the silence, "Come," he says quietly, "Therassor's work is still yet to be completed this night, friends. We will celebrate Atharis' life and mourn his loss once we are finished. There is naught we can do here but make certain that his body isn't used to wreak more havoc and we do not, unfortunately, have the time to prepare his body properly so we will have to provide Atharis with funeral rites sans his mortal vessel."

Aranwen remains next to Atharis as Gib motions to those gathering up the bodies, indicating that Atharis' should be collected along with the rest. Frowning, Aranwen turns away from Atharis, anger rising in her...anger towards the unholy creature that did this, anger toward whoever is behind this horde of undead, but mostly anger at herself for letting this fate befall one of his companions. I should have been able to stop this!

Shaking her head to clear such thoughts, Aranwen sees Gib raise his sword, pointing into the mist. The priest says "This way to those shambling dead that still threaten the living," Aranwen draws her blade and advances into the night, "Let us finish this battle."

Yes. We should do that again.

Sorry for the delay. My post is up.

Moving through the misty streets of Crandel, alongside her companions, Aranwen is watchful and wary. The sounds of battle grow louder as the party discovers a group of town guard surrounded by the walking dead and two or more of the ghoulish laughing creatures.

Midge presses through to the front and runs forward, words of incantation spilling from his lips, hands thrust forward with his fingers spread out as a fan. With a snarling growl, Ch'dau follows the little mage, intent on protecting him from harm.

The battle priest, Gib, calls out his advice, "Aranwen, we must eliminate those laughing creatures before we can properly contend with the zombies." Aranwen nods her agreement, "Agreed. Let's work together to take them down." Stepping forward together, Gib and Aranwen wade into the fray, aiming for the closest giggler, hoping to take them out quickly.

(OOC: Aranwen will fight alongside Gib, taking out one giggler, then moving on to the next. She will fight offensively, adding her Bladesinger bonus to attack.)

Returning from his room, after doning his leather armor and finding no sign of Davena, Aranwen arrives in the common room. Feeling much better after recieving healing from the clerics, she is anxious to pursue the source of the maniacal laughter coming from outside.

Ch'dau brings Nya up from the basement, she is obviously scared and concerned for the safety of the proprietor of the inn, Mort.

Aranwen looks around at her companions, all seem ready to continue the fight and put an end to the evil plaguing this town. Drawing her blade and heading for the door, Aranwen calls out "Let's head to the barn and find Mort as quickly as possible, then we can deal with these monstrosities in the streets." 

I'm still here. I'll post more soon.

Aranwen would agree that they should see to Mort first, as long as his quarters are not far off.

I was thinking the same thing with regard to getting bystanders/non-combatants to take care of burning the dead.

Yes, seeking out the city guard, offering our aid, and informing them of the need to burn the dead seems like a good plan to me...after taking care of healing and arming and searching the inn for signs of Davena.

Aranwen is going upstairs to don his armor and look for signs of where Davena went. Then I plan on going after the gigglers.

Laugh it up, fuzzball.

Haha. You mean there's no rainbows and unicorns around the corner?

I have a bad feeling about what's happening next...

Aranwen is about to move to intercept the cackling fiend, surrounded by muliple zombies, when he realizes a change in strategy is needed. Gib, master of battle tactics, must have seen this at the same time, for he called out  "By the blood! Back to the stairs! Retreat to the stairs! Midge and Atharis, to the very back, Cedric and Kith, defend their position, Aranwen and Ch'dau take the front and I shall support you two from behind!" Gib had quickly devised a new plan of attack, and Aranwen approved.

Ch'dau and Kithran had broken off their attempt to blockade the window, and had grudgingly started retreating back to the stairs. Gib, closer to the stairwell, took up his position a few stairs up from the bottom. Aranwen fell in step beside Ch'dau and took his position at the bottom of the stairwell, while Kithran continued up to support from above.

As the press of zombies lurched closer, the groans and infernal laughter grew louder, Aranwen glanced over at Ch'dau and saw a savage smile spread across the kazari’s face. The fearless silver cat then banged his blades together and roared out in challenge. The sylvari answered by flourishing her blade and reinforcing it with her bladesong, singing out in defiance of these unnatural horrors.

(OOC Aranwen will continue to fight defensively, adding her Bladesinger +2 bonus to his AC)

Very nice artwork, Eol! Looks great.

As Aranwen hurries down the stairs, she passes Midge and Cedric, feeling the warmth of Cedric's blessing as she passes by and enters the commotion of the common room. Seeing that the windows are guarded by Ch'dau and Gib, Aranwen's attention turns to the front door. The doors begin to come off their hinges and two rotting zombies are able to slip through.

Just then, a swarm of insects rises from the ground at the foot of the door and engulfs the entering zombies. Though the zombies are battered and bitten by the swarm, they continue their progress into the room. Aranwen rushes forward, sword moving in a blur, a wordless tune escaping her lips as she enters the fray, moving to cut down the zombies. Her sword cuts deeply into one of the zombies, and it falls to the ground, lifeless again. The other zombie, caught in the deadly swarm of insects, is felled from the onslaught. However, Aranwen herself feels the sting of several bites, as she gets a little too close the the stinging swarm.

Aranwen backs up, away from the swarm, and prepares to strike at any zombies moving in through the doorway. Soon enough there are more than enough targets, as five more zombies shamble through the entryway. Aranwen continues to fight defensively, using quick strikes to stay ahead of the zombies claws. And then, a swift form dashes through the swarm and joins the fray, its maniacal laughter alerting Aranwen to the danger. As she moves to intercept this unholy creature, realization washes over Aranwen. The tattered, sky blue robes it's wearing indicate that it is in fact one of the pilgrims that Aranwen failed to protect on the road leading to Crandel. Feeling rage and anger starting to build at the sight, Aranwen refocuses herself and stays at peace within her battle trance, hardening that rage into resolve...resolve to end this creature's unnatural and tortured existence.

Aranwen will probably be arriving to the scene last. Depending on the situation when he arrives, he will move to cover the entrance (door or window) that is most needed (most likely the closest window). He will fight defensively, adding his bonus to AC instead of attack, since he is lacking his leather armor.