February 16, 2015

Death Becomes You

D&D Next with Ben Robbins.
Start from the beginning: Slave Galleys Suck
Previous Session: Magic: Not for the Faint of Heart

They followed the crowd to the mysterious death and found the entire town outside of the deceased leather worker's house/shop. Gephart, the governor of Port Halke, was anxiously wringing his hands and looking flustered, but no one paid him any mind. Everyone was quietly talking in groups or standing somberly stone-faced. Wallach, a sturdy individual that was viewed as somewhat of a hero among the workers, was surrounded by men that were barely keeping their frustrated and somewhat frightened anger under control. They glared at the trio as they approached.

Not ones to be cowered by such blatant and undeserved hostility, Kelti, Titus, and Visage made some perfunctory small talk and then casually asked, "Does anyone know what happened here?"
When their question was met with suspicious shrugs, they looked at each other and remarked that perhaps the answer laid inside. Most shrugged indifferently and waved them towards the entrance, but some cast fearful glances at their inquiry. These strangers who were so recently shipwrecked certainly have a healthy sense of morbid curiosity.

Once inside, it was obvious that the cause of the poor leather worker's death was tied to whatever ailment had befallen Morrow, the town wizard. The leather worker's face was contorted in a similar horrified scream of terror. However, upon closer inspection, they noticed that there were black fingerprints that marred his thick neck, which were barely covered by his stiff collar.

Shaken to their core, the trio turned to leave and were met by Korlav, who shook his head at their audacity and warned them that rumors were being spread by those suspicious of their intent. Whispers of black sorcery and ill-fated midnight jaunts spread quickly.

As they walked past Wallach, he gave them a side glance and muttered loud enough for them to hear, "He was a good guy. Maybe you don't know how good you had it." The lackeys surrounding him nodded grimly and their hard stares followed them until they walked out of view.

They went quickly past the wizard's hut and grabbed a few books for Visage. Titus spent the afternoon in the longshore house, playing dice with sailors, while Visage managed to learn two spells from the books. Kelti, always one for reckless adventuring, decided to take a walk by herself. She wandered by the graveyard and sees a figure hunched in the distance. As she got closer, she realized with a start that it was Morrow, still very much dead, but no longer unmoving.

Before she could wrap her head around the impossible sight before her, Not-Quite-Morrow lurched towards her and wrapped his cold fingers around her neck and tried to choke the life out of her. A yell escaped from her lips before her throat was shut off. Luckily, she was able to break free of him before she lost consciousness and she desperately shoved him back before running back to the house for help.

The townsfolk were wild with fear after hearing her story and immediately set off for Morrow's hut to burn it down to the ground. As the crowd gathered around the burning hut, a scream pierced the air and soon the entire crowd was trying to get away from undead Morrow who had joined them. This time they were prepared. They circled Morrow and hit him with a hammer, breaking both his arms and finally he was still again. Visage knew that the only way to keep the dead from rising was to make sure they had no more bodies to inhabit. They spend the rest of the night digging up the dead and burning them in the hut fire.