Heroica RPG - Quest#74: A Grave Problem

[Sandy]

It was already dark when three heroes made their way through the Eubric Cemetery towards the source of light that was the Way's End Church.

Party:

Sgt Jon. Mcency

(Pyrovisionary)

*Party Leader*

53 years old male human Black Knight

Level 16

*Dual Strike* *Immune to blinded and stunned*

*Hastened*

Power:

33 (

16 +17)

Health:

34/34

(7+15+9+3)

Defense:

24

(20+4)

Gold:

0

(70 owed to Brickington)

Equipment:

Demonic Scissors (WP:17, dual strike,

Light

,

Darkness

, Hollow (Phoenix Essence), Daggers),

Mythril Shield (SP:20),

Black Knight's armour (SP:4, Immune to stunned), Pegleg of Hastening (Permanent

hastened

-effect to the user; Immune to Blinded, suitable to Sarge only; footwear)

Inventory:

,

Duplovian Swift Halberd (WP:3,

stuns

on successful hits, Hollow), 2x

Duplovian Helmet of the Guard (SP:2, Immune to Magic and Healing),

Potion x4,

Grand Potion x5,

Remedy x3,

Phoenix Essence x2, Nostrum,

Venom x3, Deadly Venom,

Smoke Bomb,

Bedroll,

Shovel, Pickaxe, Telescope, Magic Compass, Magnifying glass

, Business Card

Jeaux Elmfyre

(joeshmoe554)

Male automaton Ranger

Level 13

Power:

22

(13+9)

Defense:

0

(-2)

Health:

18/18

(6+12)

Gold:

7

Equipment:

Golden Handcannon (WP:9;

lightning

-elemental),

Handy Suitcase (SP-2, use 2 Items; accessory)

Inventory:

Eminus (WP: 5; bow),

Ranger's Quiver (WP+1; backwear),

Topaz,

Potion, Grand Potion, Health Core x2, Mead, Smelling Salts x2, Venom x2, Smoke Bomb, Holy Bomb, Ice Bomb, Water Bomb,

Bedroll,

Bone x4

Heckz Brutenhal

,The Ghostbuster

(Eric-Su)

32 year old male human Mage

Level 11

Power: 20

(11+9)

(Spellpower: 25

(11+9+5)

)

Health: 15/15

(5+10)

Ether: 16/16

(5+10+1)

Gold: 14

Equipment: Rawr (WP:9),

Spellbound Gloves (Spellpower +5, handwear)

Inventory: Opal (

Ice

),

Garnet (

Earth

),

Amethyst (

Darkness

), Potion,

Health Core,

Tonic x2,

Grand Tonic,

Ether Core,

Smelling Salts,

Elixir, Nostrum, Mead,

Bedroll

All sorts of noises came from the graveyard, but the heroes decided to ignore them for now. They assumed they would be dealing with ghouls and zombies very soon anyway.

As they came to the backdoor of the church, they met two black-clad figures.

"There you are. Glad the boogiemen didn't get you on your way here."

"Save us from your tired jokes, Jensen. This is serious business! Please, heroes, let us go inside where it's warmer and less sinister. I'll explain everything once we've gotten ourselves a good cup of coffee."

The priestly man leads the party and the orcish gravedigger inside to the backroom of the church.

"Good to see you again, Misters Brutenhal and Elmfyre. Your help with ousting the ghosts last time was invaluable". The priest then turns to Sarge. "I am Father McCreary, the parson of this church and the keeper of the Cemetery. Your companions helped purging the graveyard just recently, but now a new problem has arisen."

"Heh, arisen. Couldn't have put it better myself."

Father McCreary lets out an exhausted sigh.

"I will let our new gravedigger, Jensen, here to fill you in on the details."

"There's not much to tell, except that some fresh graves have been dug open during the last week or so. It's not your garden-variety graverobbers doing it, since the stiffs are gone."

"Jensen, be respectful to the dead! Do not refer to them as stiffs, please!"

"What do they care - they're dead, aren't they?"

"Well, we better hope they are. That's what you three are here to find out. Either the dead have started to walk out of their graves on their own - which wouldn't be new to this cemetery - or someone has been robbing the bodies. There were three burials today, so I reckon you should keep an eye on those three fresh graves tonight. In them rest a paladin slain in battle, a halfling merchant who died of a heart failure, and the stillborn child of a family of mages. Jensen will point them out to you shortly, but let us finish our cups first and I'll answer any questions you might have at the same time."

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to good Father and his silken robes, so I'll be your guide for tonight. Any ghouls that come our way will have a taste of my trusty rusty shovel."

Jensen the Gravedigger, joins the party!

Jensen

(NPC, controlled by Pyrovisionary)

36 years old male orc Gravedigger

Level 11

Power: 16

(11+5)

Health: 20/20

(10+10)

Gold: 0

Equipment: Rusty Shovel (WP:5, damages undead)

Inventory: Potion

QM Note: Welcome to the quest! I took the liberty to go through each of your stats and reorganize and recalculate them for my convenience. If you find any discrepancies, let me know! joeshmoe, unfortunately you can't use Ranger's Quiver with a handcannon, so I've de-equipped it.

[Pyrovisionary]

Ooc: I shall be at a party tomorrow evening but I expect I'll have internet access and I shall easily be able to make at least 1 post per day for the next 2 days. Sorry for the inconvenience. Also, Sarge has the same torso as Arnulf.

Sarge sniggers at Jensen's jokes, he liked the orc. Seeing as he was party leader; the commanding officer, he had to set example by being polite. Sarge salutes Father McCreary.

"Right then Father, Jensen. Who's corpses are missing and are there any links between the corpses gone? Or any specialties. I'd say we've probably got either zombies, necromancers or scientists" Sarge spits the word, he hated the Ji pei "Apart from that any things we should know?"

Edited July 9, 2013 by Pyrovisionary

[joeshmoe554]

OOC: Thanks for updating that, completely missed that it was unusable with handcannons.

Jeaux sipped his cup of coffee. The black liquid seemed to vanish into nothingness as it neared his mouth. This was likely another result of the spell to which he had recently become aware. He set down his glass and looked up at the father.

"Have any suspicious characters been seen around the cemetery recently, or around those graves in particular?"

[Cutcobra]

OoC: I just bought some spellbound gloves

Heckz put the coffee apart, he didn't like coffee.

"Good to see you again Father. Is this 'family of mages' important or dangerous?"

[Pyrovisionary]

OoC: I just bought some spellbound gloves

Heckz put the coffee apart, he didn't like coffee.

"Good to see you again Father. Is this 'family of mages' important or dangerous?"

"And are they the Ziegfrieds. "

[Sandy]

"Right then Father, Jensen. Who's corpses are missing and are there any links between the corpses gone? Or any specialties. I'd say we've probably got either zombies, necromancers or scientists" Sarge spits the word, he hated the Ji pei "Apart from that any things we should know?"

"Only the earthly remains of those buried recently have gone missing. Seven in total, if I'm not mistaken. They've been from all walks of life, men and women, different races, different causes of death... As for who is behind this, your guess is as good as mine. I truly hope you can shed some light to this grim business."

"Have any suspicious characters been seen around the cemetery recently, or around those graves in particular?"

"The cemetery is closed during the night and the gates are locked with a padlock, but in the morning the locks have gone missing as well. It's been rainy this past week, so we haven't found any traces from the ground, either."

OoC: I just bought some spellbound gloves

"Good to see you again Father. Is this 'family of mages' important or dangerous?"

"And are they the Ziegfrieds. "

QM Note: Gloves have now been added to your stats, Eric-Su.

"No, not the Ziegfrieds. The stillborn son was from the Eldritch family, who are also old residents of this city. It is always tragic when a life is taken away before it even begins, but our gods work in mystifying ways..."

[Cutcobra]

"So, what did this merchant sell? Any chance he sold the wrong stuff to the wrong people?"

[joeshmoe554]

"Only the earthly remains of those buried recently have gone missing. Seven in total, if I'm not mistaken. They've been from all walks of life, men and women, different races, different causes of death... As for who is behind this, your guess is as good as mine. I truly hope you can shed some light to this grim business."

"Were you or Jenson present at the funeral services for those who have recently gone missing. Perhaps the culprit, or culprits as it may be, were in attendance as well?"

[Pyrovisionary]

"Were you or Jenson present at the funeral services for those who have recently gone missing. Perhaps the culprit, or culprits as it may be, were in attendance as well?"

Sarge nods,

then Turns to Jeaux and Heckz again

"Right men. How we gonna do this Steak out? All of us at one grave, or an individual at each? "

[Cutcobra]

Sarge nods,

then Turns to Jeaux and Heckz again

"Right men. How we gonna do this Steak out? All of us at one grave, or an individual at each? "

"I say we go one grave at a time, I believe this stilborn child could be very dangerous."

[joeshmoe554]

"I say we go one grave at a time, I believe this stilborn child could be very dangerous."

"While I agree that splitting the party may not be a wise course of action, I am somewhat confused as to why you would think the child to be the most dangerous of the three. Firstly, there is no evidence any of these bodies have been risen and secondly, it makes little sense that the weakest one in life would be the strongest one in death."

[Cutcobra]

"While I agree that splitting the party may not be a wise course of action, I am somewhat confused as to why you would think the child to be the most dangerous of the three. Firstly, there is no evidence any of these bodies have been risen and secondly, it makes little sense that the weakest one in life would be the strongest one in death."

"You forgot the fact that he may be powerful as mage since he is from a family of mages."

[Sandy]

"So, what did this merchant sell? Any chance he sold the wrong stuff to the wrong people?"

"To my recollection the halfling made his fortune by selling chocolates and other sweets. Too much sugar is what probably broke his heart in the end."

"Were you or Jenson present at the funeral services for those who have recently gone missing. Perhaps the culprit, or culprits as it may be, were in attendance as well?"

"As you known, the citizens of Eubric come from numerous cultures and serve a multitude of gods, so there are a plethora of ways the deceased are sent off to their graves. I usually attend only the funerals of those who are either godless or without family. The only god I serve is Death - it discriminates no one, it abandons no one. What comes after we depart this world, I do not know, but it is evident that not all souls leave here, but linger here for one reason or another."

"Alright, enough of this religious mumbo-jumbo. We should check out the graves before the clock strikes midnight and the ghostly hours begin."

"Hmpf! Very well, off you go then. I'll be heading home now, I will see you in the morning."

The priest walks the party out of the church, and then they part ways.

Jensen begins to walk the party through the three fresh graves. First they come to a grave with golden ornaments and plenty of flowers.

"Here lies Ebenezer Smooch, the sweetest halfling in the world, they said. As the good father told you, he sold candy and kept plenty of dentists happy in his lifetime."

The second grave has a shield with the paladin emblem carved on it, and some white lilies laid on the dirt.

"This is the final resting place of Dame Frimelda Lettuce, a noble paladin and a defender of the weak and yadda yadda yadda. I've met some paladins, and they're nothing but a bunch of pompous megablocks if you ask me. This one supposedly died up north fighting the vikings, so it took some time to get her body here."

Finally they walk to a grave with a single bouquet of roses and a teddy bear on it.

"And here's the grave of the stillborn son of Malastor and Drucilla Eldritch, powerful mages both. He would have inherited the family fortune had he been born alive, I hear. Life can be a true bitch at times..."

The gravedigger turns to the party.

"So, these are the three graves we should be keeping an eye on for tonight. Any plans of action?"

[joeshmoe554]

Jeaux looks for a location, from which all 3 graves may be observed.

[Cutcobra]

Heckz investigates the other graves around.

[Pyrovisionary]

Sarge wonders if he should pick up the teddy bear, it may be useful.

Instead he helps Jeaux; who had the right idea, look for a place from which he could see all three graves.

[Sandy]

Jeaux looks for a location, from which all 3 graves may be observed.

"Sorry, mate, you're out of luck. All three graves are far apart, you can't really see them all anywhere. We have to patrol, there's no way around it."

Heckz investigates the other graves around.

Heckz sees the multitude of graves everywhere, and reconsiders.

"While you plan, we should walk through all of the six gates and lock 'em tight. I got some extra chains and padlocks, but I'm afraid they won't be enough to hinder what we're up against."

Jensen starts walking the party around the perimeter of the graveyard, locking each gate as they pass them.

[joeshmoe554]

"Perhaps we could attach something to the gates to alert us if they are opened. A cow bell or other such device?"

[Pyrovisionary]

"That'd help. But we'll just rush off to the entrance and find that someone's broken in and by the time we're back the bodies'll be gone."

[Sandy]

"Perhaps we could attach something to the gates to alert us if they are opened. A cow bell or other such device?"

"Sorry, but I left all my cows at home tonight. Any ideas that are actually executable?"

[Pyrovisionary]

" Let's base ourselves at The 'alfling's grave and keep an ear an me magic compass out fer the other two"

Edited July 11, 2013 by Pyrovisionary

[Sandy]

The party comes to the last gate, and Jensen bolts it tight.

"There, all locked up! Now there's just you, me, and all the spooks. The halfling's grave, you say? Alright, let's head there first."

As the foursome approaches the gilded grave, they see the fresh dirt on the grave moving. Soon, out pops a squirrel with a bone on its tiny paws. It nibbles the strips of flesh off the bone as it stares at the heroes with its big, blood-shot eyes.

"That's a Carrion Squirrel - and a big one, too! Those pesky critters like to feast on the corpses. They can dig down and climb up really fast, so catching one is a chore. I just use poisoned meat to get rid of them, but they spawn like demons. This one looks like it's up for a challenge, though."

[joeshmoe554]

"Is it likely he or his brethren are the ones responsible for the missing bodies?"

[Pyrovisionary]

" Should We try 'n stab et?"

[Sandy]

"Is it likely he or his brethren are the ones responsible for the missing bodies?"

"Hard to tell. There's always been some around, but it would take a whole throng to dig up and eat seven bodies in just a week. Maybe if someone has brought more of them here on purpose... It still doesn't explain the vanishing locks on the gates, though."

" Should We try 'n stab et?"

"Your call, boss."