Marsh Madness Village

Log Info

• Title: Marsh Madness: The Village
• Emitter: Caine
• Characters: Walery Level 2, Lollia Level 2, Garrahk Level 2
• Place: Alexandria - Borderlands Swamps
• Time: August 9, 2017
• Summary: Hired by the Guild of Adventurers, what could go wrong??
• APL: 2
• Encounter 1: 1 Rot Grubs, 1 Bullrush Statue, 1 Leech Swarm = Total EL of 6?
• Encounter 2: 2 JuJu Zombies, 1 Collapsing Bridge Trap = Total EL of 7?

The village on the borderlands of Alexandria, a goblinoid village out in the marshes, has suffered long enough. Walery and Garrahk were able to talk to some of the villagers about the undead that plagued the village, develop some theories about where the source of the evil might be, and secure a rough map of the village. Asking around the adventuring community produced the services of a wizard, Lollia, and now the group has been making their way through the wilderness, and then into the dark and infested swamps of the Felmarsh.

Felmarsh. Who names these places anyway, why do adventures never take them to the Happy Marsh?

Regardless, it is late in the afternoon on a cloudy day when the adventurers arrive at the outskirts of the village. Though the ground everywhere is wet and muddy, the village itself appears to be built over a deeper part of the swamplands, the entire area (which from your current vantage point seems to consist of somewhere around 20 small huts and a few larger ones) is built up on sturdy logs and wood rising out of the deeper swamp water, bridges connecting larger communal areas and conencting each home to each other. There is an eerie quiet over the village now, no natural sounds and no people stirring. The place seems empty, with the carrion smell of death drifting from its walkways. Our heroes are on solid ground at the very edge. Some basic sharpened sticks serve as reinforcing walls on either side of the path, and a single long narrow bridge stretches forward before spidering off on both the left and right, the whole village a large squarish grid.

But here, near the entrance, among an abandoned wagon and the sharpened stake walls, flies and vermin, feeding on what appear to be the strewn corpses of refugees who didn't quite make it out, at least three or four such corpses arranged as if they died fighting beside the wagon.....

Walking behind the more well armored types, Lollia wrinkles her nose as she smells the stench of the bodies. "...oh, ew." she says, disgustedly. "At least they're not up and walking around this time..." Yet. She's suspicious. She keeps running into bodies out here that get up and tries to suck her blood. Or explode into flame. Etc.

Walery sniffsniffs and makes an unhappy face at the smell as well. He nods about them not getting up being a good thing, but wonders, "Maybe we should bury them? They might smell a bit less? And if they get up, they'll have to dig themselves up."

"Or burn them." Lollia points out. "That way they won't get up and try to eat someone's face later, the way everything -else- seems to be doing around here." She grumbles a bit. "So the caves are just on the other side of the village?"

Walery says, "I think they're a bit of a walk, but not too far. What worries me is where are the actual villagers? They ought to be around here. I mean, if they're not, who are we doing this for?"

Garrahk's bare feet make a soft squish with every step as the group travels over the relatively solid muck of the felmarsh road, having taken point for the expedition. Perhaps this is because he is the largest of the three, or has the most experience in hand to hand combat. or, maybe it's because he's the group's best tracker. Whatever the reason, he finds himself a short ways ahead of the others when they draw up outside of the village, his bright yellow gaze drifting from the huts, down along the bridge before them, to land finally upon the corpses covered in flies.

"Be wary," he warns softly over one shoulder, voice low and hoarse, "Our enemy, it is smart. Can act."

That being said, the lean oruch reaches over his shoulder and grips the worn bone handle of his oversized sword, drawing the massive blade out to hold loosely in one hand. Weapon readied, he begins to creep forward, extending his sword out to drive it hard into the skull of the closest body. Then, if nothing happens, he will go about calmly ramming the blade through the skulls of the other two, insuring they don't get back up.

"Other side." he confirms to the wizardess, not looking back.

GAME: Garrahk rolls perception: (12)+7: 19

Walery hangs back a bit as Garrahk approaches the bridge, hefting his deathray thoughtfully.

GAME: Garrahk rolls knowledge/nature: (18)+5: 23

As the large orchish barbarian begins approaching the bodies intent on putting his blade through their heads to prevent them from getting up, his keen eyes do notice something. As he gets closer, he's able to notice that there is something underneath the skin of the corpses. Large fat tubular shapes, writhing and squirming around like a nest of worms. Each of the corpses seems fairly infested through with them...... will the hero still approach closer?

Garrahk draws up short of the first body, sharp eyes catching a twitch of motion from the corpse. Lifting his sword defensively in both hands, he eyes the dead goblin intently, waiting until he catches motion again. Not the body itself moving, but things within it. Cautiously, he sniffs the air, drawing the festering stink into his lungs. Mulling it over.

"Infected." he says, eventually, words quiet and blunt, "Worms. Will burst free, seek fresh flesh. Can burn them. If not, avoid them. Very bad."

Casting a finally look toward the closest body, he edges away and around, returning his sword to its spot on his back as he approaches the tangle of ropes leading up to the higher path.

Walery says thoughtfully, "I've got some torches here, if these things'll burn?"

"Torch will work." Garrahk responds, having stopped beside the ropes leading up to turn and glance back over his hide-covered shoulder, waiting to see what the mad scientist does.

Walery steps up even with Garrahk, and switches something on his death ray. Firing from the hip, he plays the beam over the corpse, fire flicking around the edges of the burning beam. "Burn it from range," he says. "It's the only way to be sure."

The death ray powers up with an arcane buzzing before blasting over the quartet of corpses. Soon enough they are rendered into flame, the popping sound of flesh sizzling as the corpses and worms alike are rendered harmless. After taking a long bath in the spray of fire, it's easy enough to step around the smouldering cremation. The village stretches out in front of the heroes, shrouded in shadow in the afternoon clouds. On crossing the bridge, it appears that there are 4 main pathways going north south, and 4 going east and west. Houses are spaced fairly regularly but not uniformly, scattered through. The largest area is in the center of the village ahead, where a fire burns in a fire pit. Shadows move through the houses around the edge of the village center, 1? 2? 3? Difficult to tell from this range. Statues adorn the left and right most walk-ways, and the walk-way the party is currently on stretches out towards the village center in a straight path.

The walkways are sturdy, well-built, but relatively narrow. Built for smaller goblin-kind, the party can only move on them in single file comfortably, it's possible two of them could stand side by side, but not without being extremely vunerable to losing their balance.

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+24: (10)+24: 34 GAME: Walery rolls perception: (11)+6: 17 GAME: Garrahk rolls perception: (16)+7: 23 GAME: Lollia rolls perception: (11)+6: 17

Lollia stays alert as the small group moves through the little village. "...should we, like, be checking the houses? For more corpses? Or...stuff?" she says thoughfully, glancing at the buildings as you move past them.

You paged Garrahk with 'With your perception roll, you get about 15-20 feet down the right hand walkway, and notice that the statue on the side of the walkway at the next intersection appears to have been trapped! It's hard to tell from your distance, but you think it might be rigged to fall or otherwise be propelled into people walking down this walkway, to try and knock them off the walkway into the water below' You paged Garrahk with 'One person could reach it to try and disable without triggering it, you could retreat, or you could just move forward anyway and everyone take their chances on maintaining a purchase on the walkway.'

You paged Garrahk with 'it is non-magical, the mechanisms are apparent'

Walery follows the wizard, eyes scanning left and right as he warily peers into the distance. "Lets make sure the outside is clear first," he suggests to Lollia. "I thought I saw something creeping around..."

Nodding stoically down to Walery, Garrahk steps forward passed the smoldering ruins. The goblin-made bridge creeks gently beneath his muddy feet as he moves out in front, knees bent slightly and yellow eyes glowing faintly with reflected light. Coming up on the first intersection, he glances forward toward the fire, then slips to his right, passing a statue on his way up the side path. Ahead, he can see another statue looming out of the dark, and another intersection. Drifting to a halt, he studies the somewhat distant lump of shaped stone, silent.

"Trapped." the lean oruch murmurs after a moment, words soft but still carrying over the lapping water of the swamp. "Swing trap, or fall trap. I have no skill in this. I can trigger it alone, or we can retreat."

Walery asks Garrakh, "Can we throw something at it to set it off, do you think?"

"Possible." Garrahk responds after a moment longer of quiet study, hunched slightly and intent upon his task at the front of the group. "Needs weight. Man size. Would be..." his yellow eyes drift away from the statue before him, flicking to the statue just behind him. He considers it somberly, "Statue is possible, but is good chance I will not throw it far enough."

Lollia shrugs. "Worth a try? If you miss, we try something else." she says simply. "Or if there's a rope or something, might be able to sever it from here?

Walery says, "On the other hand, it'll keep our backs safe if we go another way."

Garrahk eyes the heavy statue a moment longer, perhaps doing some sort of oruch stone-throwing calculations in his head. After a moment, he shakes his head just slightly, turning away with a rustle of warrior's dreads. Lowering into a ready stance, he braces himself, locking his eyes on the distance statue, then straight up charges it, scarred grey face a mask of focus as his bare, muddy feet pound along the bridge, shouldered lowered and braced for a sudden impact.

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+10: (11)+10: 21 GAME: Garrahk rolls reflex: (6)+1: 7

Garrahk is in a charging stand-off.... with a statue. Which seems sort of silly until once he gets within about 15 feet of it, the statue shoots forward as if it were spring-loaded. The shoulder of the stone-figure hits Garrahk square in the chest and he's sliding backwards, forced by the sheer weight of the decoration to slide 5 or 6 feet backwards. It doesn't push him that far, but sadly, it does cause our Barbarian friend to lose his balance and plummet into the water. Luckily, only his pride will be hurt (for now) as the water is only a little above waist deep on him and only about 10 feet below the walkway. Cannonball! A huge splash echoes through the area, causing a rustling of wild-life in the trees all around as Garrahk splashes about for a second to regain his footing.

The good news is, the statue tumbles into the water with him, and the way is now clear.

GAME: Garrahk rolls perception: (18)+7: 25

GAME: Caine rolls 1d6: (4): 4

Walery acks as Garrahk is knocked into the water even as he's unlimbering his longspear. It's a bit late, not that it would have helped, perhaps, but ... "Uh, are you okay?" he calls over the edge of the walkway, looking for his companion.

GAME: Walery rolls initiative: 17 + 4 = 21 GAME: Garrahk rolls initiative: 15 + 1 = 16 GAME: You damaged Garrahk for 4 points of nonlethal. 4 total.

Lollia calls out. "You got this Garrahk! Show that statue whose boss - " And then the statue shoots out and slams into the warrior, knocking him out of sight. "...oooooh.." she says, wincing. "Um, you okay down there?"

Luckily for Garrahk, falling into the water must be a semi-common thing even when the village hasn't been trapped by nefarious forces of evil. There's no ladders or anything like that, but there are sufficient handholds and notches and ropes and things to make climbing the 10ish feet up to the walkway a relatively simple challenge if taken slowly. Or of course, he could stand up on the back of the statue (laying on its face down in the muck) and get a good headstart at jumping up for a faster but less sure way of getting back up.

Of course, to make this decision tougher, this might be when Garrahk spots movement in the water which might seem vaguely fish or snake like, something animal anyway. He's not alone in the swamp water, and that might motivate what he decides to do to get back up!

GAME: Garrahk rolls knowledge/nature: (12)+5: 17

You paged Garrahk with 'From up close it looks like a leech swarm. Not magical or mutant or monster leeches or anything. Just.... a whole big bunch of leeches. Extremely unlikely to be fatal unless they swarm you and you just kinda hang out in the swarm for a long long time. But they're annoying, and would weaken you if they latched on long enough.'

GAME: You roll initiative for Leech Swarm: Roll: 5 + Bonus: +4 = Total: 9

Spitting disgusting water from his mouth, Garrahk pushes upright out of the swamp, his long black dreads plastered to his back, hide armor streaming with filthy damp. Grunting softly, he does an automatic scan of danger in his immediate area, tense and alert. Swamp water, swamp plants. Leech swarm. He does not panic, but he does step calmly up onto the back of the statue and gauge the height of the ramp above. Ten feet up. His height of 6'4, his arm length, the statue. His natural strength, and the weight of his armor.

Hopping up, he attempts to snag the side of the walkway in slick fingers and haul himself up to safety, all the while being questioned and encouraged by his team mates above.

GAME: Walery takes ten on acrobatics: (10)+4: 14 GAME: Garrahk rolls athletics-3+2: (2)+9+-3+2: 10

Walery will try and reach down to help Garrakh climb up faster. "Hurry!" he calls down, as if the Orc's not hurrying fast enough.

GAME: Lollia rolls athletics: (16)+-1: 15

Lollita mmphs, then jogs over, before grabbing hold of the bridge with one hand and leaning down, holding out her hand. "C'mon big guy..." she says, gruning as she tries to pull him up.

Garrahk's reaching up, but with the weight of his armor (now water-logged) and the slipperyness of the statue and everything else, he's JUST short. Until Walery and Lolli lean over and heroically each catch one of his wrists. Though the Orc Barbarian is heavy (really heavy in fact!) they're able to collectively help heave him up onto the walkway and out of danger. Luckily leeches can't fly, or climb, or live on dry land, or... well, really do anything. Everyone should be okay, provided that they can avoid anymore falling into the water.

Meanwhile, in response to all of the noises, who knows what's now lurking closer, those shadows from the village center are still mostly unaccounted for....

For clarity, the party is now up more or less where the bull rush trap was set. They can keep moving forward sticking to the very outer edge of the village. They can retreat the way they came, or they can turn left towards the village center....

Soaked through, covered in slime and mud, Garrahk grunts out his thanks to his two companions as he pushes carefully to his feet, shaking himself slightly to encourage the water out of his armor. A single tadpole slips out of his dreads and flops to the walkway, before wiggling to the edge and falling back into the water with a wet plop.

Carefully edging into the center of the new intersection, sans statue, Garrahk turns toward the village center and glances down the walkway in that direction, scanning for threats as he once more takes point.

Walery will follow wherever Garrahk leads, though he can at least suggest, "This place is all a mess without the traps meant for intruders. Can't we just get off this deathtrap and circle around to the caves? Once we put paid to that, they won't be making this place worse."

"Traps reset, fire lit." Garrahk replies without looking back over his shoulder, moving north up the path with alert eyes, "Survivors, maybe. Or enemies. Maybe created the undead. Must investigate."

Lollia mmphs, frowning. "...this place is just creepy even -without- undead wandering around." she says with a sigh, following Garrahk as he starts out again, giving him a little lead time between her and Walery.

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19 GAME: Walery rolls perception: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Garrahk rolls perception: (11)+7: 18

GAME: You roll initiative for JuJu One: Roll: 18 + Bonus: +8 = Total: 26 GAME: You roll initiative for JuJu Two: Roll: 1 + Bonus: +8 = Total: 9

Walery will follow after Garrahk and Lollia, advancing with them as he looks left and right.

GAME: Lollia rolls perception: (13)+6: 19 GAME: Lollia rolls initiative: 4 + 2 = 6

As they move down the walkway, discussing whether it would be easier to clear the caves (where they suspect the monsters are being created) first or the village (which would make a nice place to rest and patch up and recover before tackling the caves) first, the choice is taken from them. Suddenly out of two houses, one on each side of the walkway, two JuJu Zombies burst out! They are clearly the undead, pale, blood-shot eyes, obvious injuries and wounds that do not bleed. They are armed with short-swords and wearing leather armor, jumping out fast one in front of Garrahk, and one behind flanking him, jumping out in between him and Lollia. Luckily, for now, it seems only the two of them, though it leaves Garrahk sandwiched between the two enemies, and the walkway narrow enough that there's only forwards or backwards to go, and no space to manuever around anyone without some careful and difficult acrobatics!

So, to visualize. If left to right is a straight forward/backwards positioning. Right now the walkway is filled with JuJu 1 -> Garrahk -> Juju 2 -> Lollia -> 5 Feet -> Walery

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+6+2: (3)+6+2: 11 Walery activates his titan armor. GAME: Walery activates his Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Dex GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+7: (11)+7: 18 GAME: Lollia casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 2 DC: 16 GAME: Walery rolls 1d6+4: (1)+4: 5

JuJu Zombie One reaches forward, thrusting the short-sword through to try and skewer Garrahk while the Orc is trying to decide which of the two enemies to skull-bash first. Luckily, Garrahk's armor is thick and while the zombie is much faster and more dexterous than you would normally expect a shuffling corpse to be, moving like it is still alive, it's still a bit stiff and slow, the hit missing the Orc.

Meanwhile, Walery goes all 'Titan Armor, Activate!' and sizzles with Arcane energy as his death ray fwooshes fire again trying to save Lollia from stabby-town. Oddly, the fire doesn't seem to bother the undead. It singes the robes and clothing, curling them back in flame, but the zombie shrugs it off, brandishing its short-sword as it tries to pick a target....

GAME: Garrahk RAGES!, gaining +2 to melee attack/damage/Will saves and 4 temporary HP

Walery acks as the zombie's rush in to attack. He shoulders his death ray and tries to line up a shot, even as the eyepiece of his titan armor snaps into place. He winces as the targets get so close before the targeting reticle goes gold, and he pulls the trigger. A flaming beam shoots out of the death ray, a gleaming red beam with flames licking away from it. It catches the zombie as it moves into place, though he only caught the creature in his beam for a moment.

GAME: Garrahk rolls greatsword-1: aliased to weapon1-1: (6)+9+-1: 14 GAME: Garrahk rolls damage1+3: aliased to 2D6+8+3: (5)+8+3: 16

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+6+2: (1)+6+2: 9 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Lollia casts Acid Splash. Caster Level: 2 DC: 15 GAME: Lollia rolls ranged touch: (20)+ranged touch: 20

Bone-pierced ears twitching at a small sound from Lollia, Garrahk is already dodging to the side as the two zombies burst out in front and behind him, twisting out of the way of the first as it thrusts a shorts word at his chest. Both hands snapping up to the sword hilt jutting over his shoulder, he tears his oversized blade free and completes his spin, bringing the silvery steel blade hacking brutally across the abdomen of the zombie behind him. he does not stop there, however, continuing his spin and dropping down to one knee. The second zombie's retaliatory thrust skitters past the shoulder of his vest, brushing through his dreads, before he surges back to his feat, once more facing zombie 1.

GAME: Lollia rolls 1d3: (2): 2

Lollia lets out a suprised squeal as the zombies lunge out, backing up quickly towrds Walery. "Ew ew ew...go away!" She raises her hand, chanting as she summons a glowing green orb to it, then heaves it at the zombie, causing it to shatter along its shoulder as it becomes a liquid, hissing into its dead flesh.

GAME: Garrahk rolls greatsword-1: aliased to weapon1-1: (7)+9+-1: 15 GAME: Garrahk rolls perception: (17)+7: 24 GAME: Walery rolls perception: (2)+6: 8 GAME: Lollia rolls perception: (8)+6: 14

GAME: Garrahk rolls reflex: (8)+1: 9

JuJu One proves that these enemies are... more intelligent than the average zombie. Seeing that its partner in evil, JuJu Two, is very nearly dead, and that this Barbarian has pretty much dodged every hit thrown at him. Juju One... runs away like a coward. It manages to duck the swing of Garrahk's greatsword, dipping out of the way of it and charging over to the other edge of the walkway. And then? It throws a lever! Suddenly the bridge they're starting on starts to shudder and shake, carefully constructed parts of it falling away and being yanked out from under it as the party is thrown towards the swamps below!

GAME: Lollia rolls reflex: (15)+1: 16 GAME: Caine rolls 1d6: (5): 5

GAME: You damaged Garrahk for 5 points. 28 HP remaining. GAME: Walery rolls reflex: (5)+9: 14

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+7: (10)+7: 17 GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+6: (16)+6: 22 GAME: Caine rolls 1d6+4: (5)+4: 9 GAME: You damaged Garrahk for 9 points. 19 HP remaining.

GAME: Lollia rolls longbow: (1)+longbow: 1 (EPIC FAIL)

Garrahk lashes out at Juju1 with a brutal backhanded swing as it begins to retreat, but the edge of his oversized sword parts only air. Immediately he begins to turn, to deal with Juju2, but out of the corner of his eye he notices the first zombie stop a short ways off and begin to reach for something...

"Trap." Garrahk grunts toward the others, distracted by the threat of the zombie trying to stab him. Fortunately for Lollia, she has plenty of warning when the bridge begins to give out. Unfortunately for Garrahk and Walery, they do not.

For the second time in five minutes, Garrahk finds himself tumbling end over end through space, bouncing painfully off of a wooden support beam before splashing into the water. Bits of wood and a zombie splash down beside him as he struggles to his feet, dragging his heavy sword from the mud just in time for Juju2s short blade to pierce his back. The blade is rammed through armor and deep into flesh, and really seems to piss the scrappy oruch off.

JuJu Two falls down, but lithe and agile like the finest of Rogues. Seeing that its enemies are distracted and disoriented, still oof-ing from the fall and trying to catch their breath, it pounces on Garrahk, swinging that short-sword in a slash that opens up a fairly significant wound across the Orc. Then it's whirling about in a circle as if trying to figure out where to defend from next.....

Lollia sees the bridge starting to collapse as Garrahk calls a warning, then backs up, before fleeing back down the bridge, huffing as she beats feet, her hands flat as she pumps them , then leaps as she feels the bridge starting to slip out from under her feet, landing just on the other side as it crashes down. "...don't worry guys! I'm okay!" she calls down, then pulls out her bow, taking aim. "I'll show you, you ugly son of...gah!" The last said when the arrow, slippery from splashing muck from the bridge falling, slides free of her hands prematurely, going sailing up into the air, then back down to land...probably near one of the boys in the muck.

The first, and so far luckiest, JuJu Zombie watches the arrow shaft zip by it for parts unknown. It doesn't appear to have a ranged weapon of its own, and so it turns towards the side of the village, running down the east/west path. Lollia can track its shadow and motion, seeing it turn onto the north-south walkway 20 feet away, popping in and out from behind a hut or two, clearly trying to circle around behind her, though that take two or three turns.....

GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+8: (15)+8: 23 GAME: Walery rolls 1d6+5: (1)+5: 6

GAME: Garrahk rolls athletics-3: (1)+9+-3: 7 (EPIC FAIL)

Walery looks dumbfounded as Lollia zooms past him, having missed the warning. He arghs as he winds up falling into the water. Eventually into the water, at least, and he stands up holding his ribs, cause he apparently bounced off debris and bits of walkway on the way down. And ... the leeches that almost got Garrahk are now heading his way. He squelches through the water to get as close as he can to the ladder, flicking his damage selector to lightning and nailing the zombie hard enough to send it flopping into the swamp facefirfst.

GAME: Lollia rolls athletics: (3)+-1: 2

Lollia sets her bow down to try and reach down and help up Garrakh, reasoning he's got the biggest sword so he should be here when the other zombie gets back! Annnnnd....her hand just sips off his when she tries to grab him, as she very nearly loses her balance before jerking back to hug the pillar that once held up one part of the bridge. "Ah! Get higher!"

JuJu One is able to run freely and unmolested while Lollia tries to help Garrahk and Walery up out of the water, rounding the southern corner, it MIGHT be able to make it to be on Lollia and threatening her next turn. It's fast enough, but she might just barely be far enough away......

The twitching, spasming form of Juju2 jerks its sword from Garrahk's back as it dies, leaving a bloody wound in the back of the now thoroughly frustrated oruch. Still, he keeps a focused, intense calm about him as he sloshes forward through the mud, slamming his sword back into its sheath and leaping up to grab for a low-hanging support beam beneath Lollia's feet. Unfortunately, his hands are slick with swamp goo and he slides right off, back-flopping heavily back into the swampy mud with a resounding CLAP. That, likely isn't good for his stab wound.

GAME: Walery rolls athletics: (19)+0: 19 GAME: Garrahk rolls athletics-3: (10)+9+-3: 16

Splashing his way upright for the third time tonight, Garrahk takes a moment to reach over and scrape some of the gunk off of his palms against a rotting bit of wood. Then, focused and calm, he reaches up and grips a low-hanging strut, hauling himself hand over hand out of the swap. Water streams from his armor as he ascends, reaching up to grip the side of the walkway and begin pulling himself up to aid Lollia...

Walery hustles as best he can through the yucky water and, motivated by panic, he leaps onto the grubby ladder. The strength of madness drives him up the ladder at a decent clip, and he gets to the top quickly enough, looking around warily now to see what's coming at us next. "Where's the other one, did you guys kill it already?"

GAME: Lollia rolls longbow: (19)+longbow: 19 GAME: Lollia rolls 1d8: (3): 3

Lollia reaches down to snag her bow as she backs up, putting the other two adventurers between her and the oncoming zombie, then takes aim and sends an arrow whistling past them to thunk into the zombie's abdomen.

GAME: Caine rolls 1d20+6: (6)+6: 12

Luckily, JuJu Zombies don't need their stomachs for anything. The arrow is a nice solid hit, proving that Lollia does know how to use that longbow after all and it's not just for looks. The arrow is sticking out, as the JuJu Zombie charges in the rest of the way, barreling into Garrahk. It takes a slick smooth swing of that short-sword for a chink in the orc's armor, just barely missing it.....

GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+8: (2)+8: 10

GAME: Garrahk rolls greatsword-1: aliased to weapon1-1: (20)+9+-1: 28 (THREAT) GAME: Garrahk rolls greatsword-1: aliased to weapon1-1: (11)+9+-1: 19

Walery has pulled himself up out of the muck and cleared his deathray as much as he can. He shoulders it, and tries to get an angle on the zombie trying to eat Garrahk. A bolt of electricity arcs out with a thundercrack, but scortches the turf just next to the target: a near miss.

GAME: Garrahk rolls 4d6+22: (12)+22: 34

Dragging himself up onto the broken walkway between his companions and the oncoming zombie, Garrahk has just enough time to regain his feet, still wet and slimy from the swamp, before Juju1 is on him. Deflecting the thrusting blade to one side with a sweep of his forearm, he once more reaches up, taking the bone handle of his sword in both hands. Expelling all of his breath in a heavy FWOOOSH, he tears the weapon savagely from its sheath and brings it sweeping down in an overhead cleave that catches the zombie in the top of its skull and continues down, and down, tearing gorily through its face, neck, chest, and abdomen.

Two near equal-sized zombie halves part, falling off of the walkway to splash into the swamp on either side.

Shaking gook from the blade of his greatsword, Garrahk paces forward a few steps, grunting in satisfaction.

Walery looks around warily as Garrahk destroys the last zombie. "Ugh, that was awful," he complains, slining his deathray so he can poke and prod at his aching ribs. "Are you guys all okay?" he asks.

"...gods, I hate undead." Lollia mutters, slinging her bow, then trying to wipe off her now muddy hands on something that won't stain too badly for her skirt. "I'm fine! Garrahk?"

"Wet." Garrahk replies in a laconic mutter, seeming only faintly annoyed by the stab wound in his back that continues to drip the odd splat of blood now and again. Boards creek under his weight as he wanders a short ways back to the statueless intersection, pausing there to scan his surroundings. "May be more, may be not.." he proclaims, taking time to lean his sword against his side and unbuckle its sheath from his back, emptying dirty water from it over the side of the walk.

A quiet falls over the village, and some of the shadows seem to lift from it. Who knows what the undead were doing here. And who knows whether the traps had been set by the villagers before they fled in a futile attempt at defense, or if the undead were preparing the village for some nefarious purpose. The rest of the afternoon moves slowly, as to assure their own safety the party must carefully clear the village house by house. There are a few more traps around the perimeter, but they are easily avoided, and after a methodical and careful patrol each member of the cohort of heroes feels comfortable pronouncing the village safe for now.

The huts are comfortable, and the village may make a good base to camp the night. They can make the traps work FOR them, and it's fairly defensible. Slowly, the goblinoid hunters who accompanied in the rear show up, and they'll be able to take word to Alexandria, perhaps barter for some healing potions or other supplies.

And tomorrow? An assault on the caves, the origin of the evil.