The Unbeating Heart - Chapter 10

Karyna hands Syn the book, then heads back in the tiny little room to see what other clues might be found among the papers and tomes.

Stephan meanders over to the group.
"Can I see?"
He wait to take a look at the book.

Nkosi keeps a close eye on Anton's reactions as the others enter the room.
If Anton acts normally (that is, still terrified) and if there's no other movement in the hallway, then Nkosi will wait for the others to finish examining the book before entering the office and taking a look at it himself.

The courtyard door swings open and a quartet of undead shamble into the foyer. Nkosi, is closest to the foyer, and the undead have yet to notice him, though they will in mere moments.

With a somewhat-disturbing lack of emotion, Nkosi says to his allies, "We have been noticed. Defend yourselves."
He then calmly steps to the other side of the hallway (i.e., away from the office) and casts Maximillian's Stony Grasp at the floor underneath the lead creature (-2 to its save).

Hearing Nkosi's statement, Thurgood whirls around, jumping up from the floor with his sword at the ready.
"Kelemvor!" he roars, as he makes his way out of the office, knocking over a stack of books and leaving the chair spinning. He bursts outside, seemingly blind to the others.

Karyna pressed herself tightly against a row of cabinets as Thurgood rushed past her. Softpaw had leapt onto a cabinet to avoid the armored human running out of the room, then bounded down and followed.
Karyna exited to see Thurgood charging the three ghouls, the wolf hot on his heels. Softpaw picked a ghoul on the outside of the pack and launched himself up, trying to tackle the creature on the head/upper chest in an attempt to knock it over and give the human an easy target for his weapon. He'd done this trick often for Karyna.
Karyna scowled at the rotting monstrosities, raised her bow, and fired a volly of arrows into the creatures. As she drew arrows for her next attack, she glanced over at Anton to see how he was handling the undead's appearance.

Stephan quickly brings his flail to bear, but instead of charging the ghouls at first, he turns to Anton. Threateningly, he raises his flail to strike.
"Now we see where your loyalty is. Fight them, or fight me. If you fight me, you will most definitely die. Fight them, and I can assure you that you won't. I will make sure of that."
He watches, ready to attack at Anton's slightest move to attack him.

Anton has huddled himself into a tight ball, clutching his knees and rocking back and forth Moaning to himself in terror.

Syn moves to Anton. Looking to Stephen she says, "If he is telling the truth threatening him isn't going to help any."
Turning to Anton, "Anton, if you are true to the holy symbol you wear and the beliefs that it represents, then you shouldn't be cowering in a corner. Stand up and show these creatures just how powerful your belief in Milil is. Honor Milil by fighting in his name."

The speech does seem to put some iron into his spine however and he stands up. "I..." he swallows a lump of fear the size of a fist and takes a deep breath. "What do you want me to do?"

Meanwhile, Thurgood has taken out one of the Undead, and the pounce of the wolf has Disabled another. Nkosi's spell has imobilized a third...

Hopefully, Softpaws pounce and Nkosi's spell make it easier for Karyna's arrows to hit.

Stephan looks at Anton, up and down, then, with his free hand, pulls out his dagger.
"You know how to use a dagger?"

He nods dully.

He catches the glint of the smashed clock face in the hilt as he stretches his arm out toward him.
"Whatever you do, don't lose it. If you run, at least drop it where I can get it after the battle. If you don't, I will chase you to the ends of the earth to retrieve it...thought most likely, you wouldn't make it past the entrance to this courtyard."

He swallows as he takes it. Though the gift is unnecessary, in the foyer the undead have ceased to move, their rotting husks lying dismembered on the floor.

Thurgood looks around, checking to see if anyone has been hurt. "This was almost too easy." He walks towards the foyer door and, sword raised, throws it wide open.

The court yard is empty, where the undead came from is still a mystery, though at the far side of the court yard you see an open door.
Map of the monestary.
"Some one is going to start noticing these guys missing eventually," Slim said looking cautiously between the corpses and and the party.

Nkosi nods at Thurgood's comment and says, "Yes, and we must arm ourselves with knowledge as well as with weaponry."
Turning to the others, he says, "Please let me see that book. I may be able to translate it and the inscriptions on the doorway."
He mutters slightly and gestures.
Nkosi casts Comprehend Languages to decipher those meaningless symbols on the doorway, as well as to read the contents of the book.

"These are undead. Selfish creatures, not concerned about others, including their own.", Thurgood says. "But you are right. Beastly abominations such as this need to be destroyed. We better press onward"

"What of a master? Wont there be a master that created these things?"

Nkosi looks up from the book.
"That is what I hope to find within this poor wretch's journal. Thurgood, I ask that you wait until I have a chance to read through these final entries. With the proper knowledge, we may be able to destroy this evil."

Karyna does the disgusting duty of searching the three dead bodies to see if they might hold a clue to what was happening in the monestary. "I wonder who resurrected these poor souls?" she comments, wincing as several roaches scurry out of the pocket into which she just sunk her hand.

She notices that there seems to be something attached to the necks of the things. As she turns the bodies over she sees them pulse and throb, squirming legs have dug into the flesh of the neck, while a mosquito like proboscis probes deep into their skulls. The entire thing is vaguely sluglike, and pulses obscenely with life.
As she examines the thing she feels something quickly whip around her wrist, sinking into the flesh...

"Arrrgh!" Karyna begins pulling at the thing on her hand, flinging her hand about and trying knock it off. "Get off of me!"

The flesh of her wrist begins to go numb, a numbness that spreads slowly up her arm. Near her, the wolf begins to growl, as more of the parasites begin to slowly unwind from their hosts.
Slim calls out, his voice tight, "Guys, I think we have a problem here!"

Thurgood had scanned the area of the courtyard, his back to the group. "I don't care..." he starts answering Slim's earlier question, as the commotion makes him whirl around.
"What the ... is THAT?" He cries out. He steps forward, his hand flying to his belt.

Nkosi drops the journal and begins casting in Karyna's direction.
"Stand still, child!"
He then whispers, "Mighty and dark Anubis, lend your cold hands to choke the life from this abomination."
He casts the Choke spell at the parasite that's wrapping itself around Karyna.

The Parasite quickly dies, dropping to the ground with one final twitch.

Thurgood had scanned the area of the courtyard, his back to the group. "I don't care..." he starts answering Slim's earlier question, as the commotion makes him whirl around.
"What the ... is THAT?" He cries out. He steps forward, his hand flying to his belt.

Stephan quickly grabs his knife back and charges to where the rest of the group is dealing with the parasties. He swings his flail upwards and tries to bring it down on one of the creatues nearest to him.

The swing of the flail misses the skittering critter, sending sparks and a shower of tiny stone flakes from the stone floor. You feel the creature scurry up your booted leg...

Softpaw reacts quickly, snapping the creature in his jaws before it can strike and biting with all his strength.

The creature bursts with a spray of puss like fluids that leave the wolf retching on the floor.

With his sword, Thurgood pokes at one of the creatures as he moves towards Karyna.
When he gets near her, he pulls her out of the way.

The creature dodges it themn quickly wraps itself around it.

Keeping himself between Karyna and the parasites, he swings his sword upwards, flicking the creature at an empty wall.

The creature's claws dig into the blade, seeking to find purchase, and failing to do so it slides of into the wall with a loud splat.

Thurgood strikes at it again, hoping to deal it a dead blow.

He easily kills it with a final blow.

Expecting the others to turn on the last parasite, Thurgood examines Karyna's wound.

He detects no sign of disease. There is a tiny bit of poison though. The toxin has made Karyna's arm numb. The numbness is slowly spreading...

Karyna let Thurgood examine her wound, taking the opportunity to do so herself. The lance wasn't very deep, and in truth reminded her of a needle puncture or a mosquito bite. There was very little blood, which relieved the young ranger somewhat. She was more worried about what might have been injected into the wound – eggs, poison, some other kind of parasite or disease. As it was, her hand and arm were numb. And it was spreading.
Karyna called Softpaw over to her, rubbing the wolf's ears affectionately with her free hand. "Blech! Huh?' she asked. The wolf just made a grimacing face, still trying to scrap the taste off his tongue. Karyna fished in her pocket and found some mint leaves and a natural purgative incase there were some kind of parasites attached or inside the creature. The wolf immediately began to chew the leaves and soon relaxed. He lay next to his companion waiting for the metal human to finish examining her hand.

Thurgood turned around, motioning Nkosi near.
"You are a priest? A holy man?
Then call upon yer gods and help this woman.
She is poisoned."

"I am not a priest -- simply a man of conviction," says Nkosi, drawing near and examining the wound.
"My homeland, however, has many poisonous snakes. I will deal with this in the same way."
He rips off a strip of cloth from the belt of his robe.

They hear a scuffle behind you as Slim stumbles into the room, shaking a leg trying to dislodge a clinging parasite. "Some help here would be appreciated!"

At Slim's cry for help, Nkosi says "Go to him, Thurgood -- I will attend to this.
Hold still, Karyna, please," he says, tightening the cloth around her arm above the wound.
"You may find this uncomfortable..." He then places his mouth on the wound, sucking at the poison and spitting it out.

Stephan watches the proceedings around Karyne with interest, then he hears Slim's call.
"Hey, come here."
He pulls his dagger out and tries to slice the creature without damaging Slim's leg anymore than it already will be.

Slim kick dances over to him, still trying to shake free of the tenaciously clinging parasite. It is an easy task to cut the creature free, Slim wears thick boots and the creature could not penetrate the hardened leather.

Karyna held as still as she was able. It was a slow and painful process.
"I'm afraid, my friend, I am a priestess. I'm just not powerful enough to neutralize the poison yet. And slowing it would do little good. It's numbing my arm as it moves along."
"Thank you for helping me, though. It is greatly appreciated. If I can ever return the favor, let me know."

The numbing slowly fades, though does not disipate entirely. It is no longer spreading.

Thurgood raised his eyebrows.
"You are a priestess? You seemed... ah. well."
He helps Stephan kill the remaining creature.
Then he turns it over to examine it.

The creature was definitely alive, though it is uncertain whether it created the undead or was merely along for the ride...

Nkosi says, "These are obviously the same type of creatures that were on some of the bodies back in the village. There may be a central 'hive' controlling their actions."
He bends down to retrieve the book that he dropped when the attack began.
"It's possible that the journal may reveal some information on where they came from."

Karyna nodded, trying to rub some feeling back into her arm.
"Let's hope so. Actually, if there is a central hive around somewhere, this would be a likely place. It's out of the way, there's a road nearby that sees a lot of traffic, and its easily defendable should that be necessary. I wouldn't be surprised if this place is crawling with the little buggers."

"Well, let's see where they come from then.", Thurgood says grimly, as he walks into the courtyard.
He turns around to add "Anyone coming? Or are you all going to cluster around that book?"

Karyna nods, "Coming." She follows Thurgood out into the courtyard, the wolf trotting behind.

Syn subconsciously reaches up and feels the back of her neck.
"Did anyone notice if the parasites were inside the body? At the Village I felt something brush against my neck. They might be hard to detect on/in living beings."

"I don't know," Karyna called back over her shoulder as she followed Thurgood out into the courtyard. "I bent to search the bodies for clues and one stung my hand. I didn't notice it before I reached down. Why?"

Nkosi says, "Karyna, Thurgood ... wait, please. At least allow me a moment to read the last entries in the journal. This man could have written information that might save our lives."
He flips toward the last couple of entries in the book....

"Very well. Just hurry."
Thurgood takes post near the door, scanning the area.

The last entires on the journal detail strange goings ons in the monastery. Two weeks prior to the last entry a stranger arrived seeking shelter.
"He comes begging sanctuary, and we dare not offend the gods by denying him. Still he makes me uneasy. There is a look in his eyes, a sense of being haunted, or worse... hunted."
"Brother Ethan has gone missing, he is the third to disappear in as many days. The wolves have grown thicker in the forest. The other night I saw something among them. He walked like a man, and was shrouded in black. But it was his eyes, red and glowing that sent a chill into my heart. The wolves ignored him as though he was but a piece of the landscape. I turned my head to call to brother Myron, and when I turned my head back he was gone."
"I sought out Prelate Johanun, and spoke to him of my vision, he told me not to worry. The Nosferatu could not pierce the walls of the monastery as long as it was hallowed. I wish I shared his conviction."
"The stranger still denys knowledge of who he is or where he is from. I mistrust him. The troubles began the moment he arrived. Prelate Johanun says that if he is fleeing evil, he must be its enemy and that is all the more of a reason for us to grant him sanctuary. Again, I do not share his faith. Tonight I shall pray for guidance."
"The candles are almost gone, and the food and water long since. The door will hold, it is my last prayer. My faith is too weak to battle the nightmares outside the door. All the other faithful are gone, or are hiding, I know not which. Even now the ink of my last well grows dry. If you are reading this, and are yet a living man pray for me, then flee as quickly as you can, lest you too be turned.
I hear the faint scratching at the door; they know I am here. The last candle is almost gone and I write this by the moonlight of the shuttered window. Outside a battle rages between the wolves of the nosferatu and the living dead. The vampire himself in nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he is feeding on the blood of the stranger even as I write this. The thought gives me litle comfort."
"Hunger has made me weak. I must rest."

Karyna shivered as Nkosi finished reading the last chilling entry.
"So that guy shut himself up in there to keep from getting eaten by the undead. Carefully moving back into the tiny room with the body, Karyna used an arrow to check for any dead parasite attached to him.

She sees no mark of any parasites.

Nkosi closes the journal and says, "May Osiris grant this poor soul an easy journey to the afterlife. I suspect that the vampire that the monk mentions never made it inside the monastery, despite what he writes. That's assuming, of course, that it was indeed a vampire that he saw.
"The man who sought sanctuary may have brought a different type of evil here, as the monk suspected. And if the stranger does have a vampire for an enemy, that vampire may still appear outside the monastery at night, waiting for his foe to leave this place."
He looks at Slim and Anton for any reaction.