Book II - Chapter X: Stormfront

[uberwulfx]

It wouldn't take too long to find her, with some basic searching. Rey would already know what rooms were what, and while they all had closed doors, only one of them had crying behind them. (Had the group not cleared the place out, finding the single crying voice might've been a bit harder.)

"Gods... damn it..." Crystal clutched her head, slowly dragging her hands down her face, wiping her eyes in the process. She heard the scream, but there was no way she could go out in her shape. She was only partially surprised that Raziel didn't say anything, but she knew her sword cared not for her anguish, just her ability to keep fighting. And to do that, Crystal needed to compose herself. Free-flowing sobbing ebbed to a trickle of tears, though she was still crying.

To pretend she didn't know why exactly she felt the way she did, would be lying to herself. But even through her dreams and recollection, Crystal had never felt so deeply emotional, she'd never simply stopped and broken down like that. Indeed, it was a good thing she didn't set out to get Ash yet, because Crystal clearly wasn't ready to put sole responsibility of her sister fully on her own shoulders again.

The others would investigate the scream, surely. It could have been any number of things, but it was likely in their nature to check on it, before her. Crystal pulled her legs up to her chest and planted her face in her thighs, trying to slow her breathing and end her crying.

[Ancelas]

Cerys rushed out the front door of the manor, Jinn on her heels, and found Victor already heading up the narrow street toward the main thoroughfare to the north, where the screaming had come from. As they turned in that direction, they could see Wachovians running past, splashing through the mud, shouting and screaming from something the Hand could not see.

[redcoat]

Would this be how it was like all the time? Nearly ready to stop adventuring, and then adventuring landing right on her doorstep?

Cerys hoped not.

But, for now, her focus was on running towards the source of the scream, pushing past the people running away.

[Ancelas]

As Cerys emerged from the alleyway and looked to her left, in the direction the townsfolk were fleeing from, she could see a handful of men and women staggering about, one of whom lunged at another man from behind, grappling him. As they struggled, the attacker bit into the man's neck, eliciting a scream as it tore a chunk of flesh free. The attacker than flung the man to the side, into a vendor's stall, as blood dribbled down around its chin.

[redcoat]

Cerys cursed roundly- this was Not Good. Thowing up her hand, she'd cast Entangle, causing large vines to burst from the ground to trip, trap, and slow down the horde of Zombies.

[opius]

Jinn's scowl turned uglier the moment he saw Cerys conjuring her magic. This was no run of the mill panic- it was time to throw down.

As soon as he turned the corner he watched people fleeing- and falling- to a tide of shambling walkers. "Vinny- we got dead! People hurt- move it buddy!" Shield in one hand, he groped at his hip for a handaxe and hurled it at the zombie who'd bitten the man in the stall. He groped for the second and came short before scrambling for a way to -hurt- the thing. Scooping up a loose cobblestone, he hurled that next.

Hopefully there was time to save the guy. 

((Advantage cancelling disadvantage, rolling flat. Axe- 11 to hit- yikes. 10 slashing if it lands.
Rock- 21 to hit, 8 bludgeoning.))

Wild eyed he tried to make sense of the situation. Find the faces, check the vibe, see where movements were and movements weren't. As he did so many times before, Jinn leaned into his guts.

((Jinn uses Divine Sense, 60 foot radius, sensing celestials fiends and undead, and/or objects of places that have been consecrated or desecrated in a 60 foot radius))

[Kyt]

It didn't take long to find her; really, there weren't many places she could go. Rey hesitated outside the door, though, as the screaming kept increasing, in magnitude if not in volume.

Rubbing her snout, she sighed and shifted to the side of the door, enough so that if Crystal decided to come out, the dragonborn wouldn't get smacked for it.

"Hey, ah, everything a'ight? I'n hoping you boltin' and sudden panic outside ain't connected, yeah?" She tried to make light of things, but it definitely sounded as if she knew it was forced.

[uberwulfx]

"No. I mean-- yeah, I'm alright. I think. I will be." Crystal sniffed, quickly wiping her face on her sleeve and hurriedly making sure she was put together. There would be shuffling before the door opened at a speed that wouldn't have threatened Rey's snout, Crystal standing with a slightly stiff smile. Her eyes were a still a little puffy and red-- not black-and-red, thanks-- but she set her jaw.

"Right, screaming. What's going on? That doesn't like the good type of noise-making." She motioned her head to the stairs before jogging. "Are the kids accounted for?"

((Dash action))

[Ancelas]

Jinn's axe struck the zombie in its face, and a moment later, the rock struck the back of the axe and forced the blade deeper. The creature staggered back and collapsed to the ground, twitching before growing still. Calming his mind just enough to focus on his gut instincts, he could sense that where there had been four zombies amidst the vines bursting through the cobblestone street, summoned by Cerys, there were now three.

No... still four. Three. Four. Three - damnit, he killed one of them, why did it still feel like there was one there?

[CautionCat]

Vincent moved, quickly, taking two movements to get closer to the man who was bitten, and to the zombies coming for them. He had an idea, and it was crazy, but maybe it'll work.

Casting Healing Word on the man that was bitten, he gives him an additional 9 hp back with his power of Life. He then prepared for the worst, calling out to Jinn with a free action.

"Jinn! I'm going to try to get them near me- I have a spell than can get rid of them if they come closer!"

[Ancelas]

Vincent rushed forward and called out to the fallen man with a word of power. The man turned toward him, terror in his eyes, the veins in his face pulsing black, as the wound in his neck began to heal.

And then the light in his eyes died, and he collapsed, twitching in death.

For a brief moment, Vincent felt something as his spell sought to heal the man. A kind of twisting in his stomach, a sudden nausea - like he was trying to heal something that had been... tainted, somehow.

---

As one of the zombies caught in the entangling vines struggles to pull itself free while another managed to do so, a third - demonstrating a surprising degree of focus and strength - plunged into the broken, vine-laced cobblestones and staggered forward, not quite making it through. Vincent, being the closest to the creatures, could see that they were not rotting or decayed - a handful of the corpses seemed a few days old, but there were others with wounds that looked fresh, the blood on their clothes still wet.

Further down the street, another group of zombies began to head off in the opposite direction - if they escaped, then they would be loose in the city at large.

Between the two groups were four men. Three were dressed in ragged robes, the kind worn by the truly impoverished, yet they carried flails with small iron skulls affixed to the chains. One of them, grey-bearded and swathed in ragged black, raised his free hand and pointed toward the Lucky Hand. The two men with flails advanced after the zombies, apparently unnoticed by the undead creatures.

The fourth man was dressed in black leathers beneath a mottled black cloak. The hood was up, and his face was completely obscured by shadows. He turned to follow the direction the bearded man's extended finger and drew two daggers from his belt. Twirling them both, he started forward, after the zombies, and seemed to dissolve into smoke, vanishing from sight.

---

The Wachovians, meanwhile, continued to flee, shouting and screaming about the Scourge.

[redcoat]

This was going to hurt. Her form shifting to that of a giant dire wolf, she bounded through the sea of thorns and weeds and undead, desperate to get to the other side street and cut off the zombies from that direction.

((Action: dash))

[opius]

Jinn's brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of the situation...
The undead weren't staying down- he felt that flicker of presence in the thing he'd hit, and just like the Night haunt he knew it was due to come back. And soon.
Those goons in the back dressed as beggars- they were part of this shit-parade. People, sure, but undoubtedly they were fanboys for one of the three fuck heads. Probably the sickly one.
The leather daddy- one of the sneaky ones. They were one well placed blade from being short a hand- and they needed all the help they could get.

Now was not the time to appeal to the panicking people- these weren't your average goons. These were -zealots- with a sliver of power. And these weaponized undead weren't for the common folk to deal with.

"God damn it-" He growled as Cerys shifted and bolted off, "I can't guard your flank if you're faster than me- eyes open Cherry, we're watching your back!" As much as he hated it, she made the right call. He could only hope that his tenacity could somehow protect her.
(Shield of faith- add +2 to Cerys' ac. Concentration.)

He caught up with Vincent and interposed himself, readying his shield to take a hit from the incoming storm. "Whatever you're doin, you better make it count Vinny. And don't get got- I need you an' me to make a line they ain't gonna cross."
(Dodge action. Attacks on Jinn are at disadvantage, advantage on Dex saving throws)

[Ancelas]

((Op Attacks against Cerys: 1 Zombie, 2 Husk Zombies, 1 Old man with flail. Two husk zombies hit, one crit for max damage - 26 slashing damage total. Shield of Faith was taken into account.))

Adopting her dire wolf form, Cerys plunged forward, through the zombies struggling their way through the vine-covered cobblestones, shrugging off their clawing hands - save for one of the fresher zombies, which managed to dig its claws into her flanks and draw long furrows of blood as she dashed past.

The older man in robes only moderately finer than his two apprentices grinned as Cerys bounded toward him. From beneath his cloak, he produced a skull flail similar to his underlings, although the eyes of the skull on his flail glared with sickly green light. He shifted his stance, swinging the flail up once and missing Cerys only to catch her muzzle on the backswing, the flail discharging a burst of green light that made Cerys feel dizzy.

While her vision was still swimming, the man dissolved into greasy black smoke that billowed away from her before condensing one more into his normal shape amidst the fleeing zombies.

((Leader vs Cerys: 2 attacks, one hit on 16. 3 Bludgeoning, 8 Necrotic - Cerys has disadvantage on Saves until the man's next turn.Bonus Action Misty step.))

"We know you, wolf mother," the old man rasped. "You and your friends. You have been Marked - wherever you go, we will find you, until we have you all bent over our sacrificial altars."

[Kyt]

"Ah, yeah. I mean, no, ain't seen the kids." Rey was thrown off by Crystal just brushing off whatever had just happened. She wasn't wrong though, there really probably wasn't time to jabber about it.

Now focused (and with the screaming still not abating), they made it out to the street, and with an extra burst, Rey made to get eyes on the scene, following the trail of screaming people.

"What the fuck....." She blinked at the rest of the Hand fighting around what looked like undead. "It's bad!" She called back to Crystal. "Get ready!"

((Dash Action-Move-Bonus Action Dash))