A Stitch in Souragne: The Siege of Lac Noir

[Ken of Ghastria]

"That does not sound promising," says Lucien. "Perhaps our unwanted forces can provide a buffer against any surprises." He uses the disturbing wand and commands the zombies, Walk before us. Walk into fog.

Then he concentrates and summons an invisible shield of energy directly in front of him. Zumba, Vincent, and Goren hear a very faint ring, like a distant wind chime, coming from Lucien's direction.
______________________________________________
Lucien manifests force screen.

[Guzrath]

Vincent follows listening and hearing nothing except the sounds of battle. He checks his armour and weapons. "I have no idea what we will encounter, but I'm ready."

[Ail]

"As am I. We won't find out until we enter the for, anyway", Zumba asserts. He shrugs, looking back at the others in a silent question "shall we?"

[steveflam]

Goren doesn't really say anything. He tries once more to create some water for just water skins and the spell just fizzles out. He sighs, wishing he could do more. After hearing what is transpiring ahead, and what everyone has decided, he merely adds.

"I agreeing. I not liking using of wand but maybe bonne idée this time. Send Zombies first, we following. We decision what do après, ok?" He follows along with everyone, keeping his mace at his hip and not wanting to appear aggressive to whomever is fighting. He looks at everyone and makes a point of pointing ot their weapons and nodding "no".

[Rock of the Fraternity]

When Lucien calls for the undead, he senses some lurking in the far distance. He receives an impulse from them that his brain translates as 'Coming', and the impression of lifeless limbs, trudging towards him.

He also receives several impulses from in front of him: there are zombies inside the fog, what's left of their minds raw and red with the urge to kill and keep killing, until nothing alive remains before them. But one by one, the sensation of their presence winks out. Each of these 'disappearances' coincides with one of those hideous screams, and more of the grinding noise you had all been hearing.

As you all advance on the fog, a listless breeze stirs it enough to show you there is a stone pillar, rising from the shore. Beside it, some large, blocky thing sits, grinding and churning out clouds of black smoke. Shapes are moving around the machine. A lot of them.

(OOC: Wisdom checks, gentlemen. Also, Ken, please give me a Fortitude check.)[/ooc]

[Ail]

Wis check for Zumba:
1d20+2 = 11
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3566092/

[steveflam]

Wisdom check 24

[steveflam]

Goren waits and listens, also trying to see. From what he does, something tells him to not rush in.

"We waiting, please. Not intelligence to go and rushing in. Wait. Zombies there. We careful. It not matters if
Zombies destroy. It matters to me if any of you's gets hurts."

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien pauses. "One moment, gentlemen... I'm not entirely sure that the fog before us is safe to walk through. And since the challenged brains of the unliving make them poor scouts, I'm forced to use other means."

He reaches into a vest pocket and withdraws a large gem! No, not a gem, but a fist-sized hunk of multifaceted crystal. Lucien gives the other men a somewhat apologetic look. "Gentlemen, THIS is Claude."

The redheaded man bends down and places the crystal on the muck -- and six insectoid legs suddenly grow from the crystal's surface! In the telepathic voice you've all "heard" before, Claude speaks, only now you can see a faint pulsation from the gem in time with the words. It says, Good day again, gentlemen. Since Lucien has finally realized that his new zombie friends have their limitations, I shall proceed and provide Lucien with a better picture of the situation. Please forgive my appearance. I shall return promptly. Ugh, this foul surface...! Lucien, you owe me a proper cleaning when this affair is over!

And with that, the crystal slowly crawls forward.

[Ail]

Zumba frowns at first when Lucien presents Claude, and as the legs sprout outwards, he senses some kind of revulsion within him. He still controls it and hides it from the others, but he averts his eyes to avoid looking at the... thing. He makes a mental note of forgetting it exists, and does not ask Lucien anything about it.

[Guzrath]

Vincent visibly jumps back in surprise as the insectoid legs spring from the gem. His hand reaching for his rapier, but doesn't draw. "......" he is about to say something, but Claude speaks first.
His eyes are fixated on it, never letting it out of his sight, even as it moves away. Although he regains his composure after the initial shock, his hand doesn't leave the pommel.

As Claude moves out of sight, his eyes slowly turn to Lucien for a moment and then back to where Claude disappeared.
Vincent stays silent and waits, hand on pommel.....

[steveflam]

Goren curses "BY THE GODS!" as he spies what Claude actually is. That is the creepiest thing I have ever seen. Lucien will explain this to us later, I hope.

"Lucien, how that Claude? What.... what that gem? exactement?"

[Ken of Ghastria]

Lucien notes the reaction of his companions. His face is largely impassive, though there seems to be a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Perhaps it's a trick of the light. "Yes... sorry for the surprise, mes amis," he says. "I meant to reveal this earlier, but the proper moment never came. Have no fear or concern. Claude is, well, ME." He pauses, as though listening to something. "No, Claude, I wouldn't expect you to agree. If I may continue...?"

He refocuses his attention on the three men before him. "You've seen my admittedly peculiar talents at work many times over the past few days. It is, in the most general terms, a type of magic -- one based not on reading tomes or praying to gods, but on strengthening the power of one's own mind. And just as some wizards have animals as 'familiars' to aid them, so too do I have a familiar of sorts. Only 'Claude' is a manifestation of my own thoughts, placed within that crystal. He is quite helpful and will do as I request... although he is damnably willful at times.

"The arrangement does have considerable benefits -- such as the immediate occasion. He can proceed quietly and unobtrusively ahead, without the need to breathe, which could be important if that mist in front of us is poisonous."

[Ken of Ghastria]

A few minutes of awkward silence pass between the four men as Lucien stares ahead in the direction that the crystalline creature - Claude - crawled. Suddenly, the half-elf reels backward as though stuck by an invisible fist! He falls to the ground, but he seems barely aware of the impact -- his eyes stare straight ahead, wide with horror.

"Hideous!" he says, still staring. "HIDEOUS! What they're doing... mixing, screaming, laughing, crying, AH HA HA HA HA --" He stops abruptly, and you wonder if Lucien has gone mad. After several seconds, he mutters, "Yes... thank you for the support, Claude. Remain there for a while longer."

He sits up, rubs his face with his hands, and says to his three companions, "This is true evil. More than I think we imagined...." He proceeds to describe what he has "seen" through his connection with Claude:

Between the storm and the zombies, however, there stands an obstacle -- and a large band of the animal/human hybrids, a good fifty of them! Armed with pitchforks, the beastmen are corralling the undead with relative ease, and at regular intervals they select one of the struggling corpses and lift it away from its fellows with one of their farming tools.

Claude can just barely see that the beastmen carry their selected zombies towards two objects, set about a hundred feet from the localized sandstorm.
One of these objects is a stone pillar, carved with strange symbols from top to bottom. Three men in black cloaks -- one tall, one of average height with a gold amulet at his throat, and one short -- are standing by the pillar. They seem to be overseeing the process taking place at the other object.

It looks like a machine. Ten more beastmen are tending a pen full of animals -- predator, powerful animals like goats, wolves, eagles and horses, their limbs broken so they can not flee, all of them screaming and flailing at each other and their overseers -- close to the churning, smoke- and fog-spitting device. Every time the beasts carry a struggling cadaver to the machine, an animal is selected, and they are both thrown into the device together.

This is the source of the horrible screeching you have heard.
Something happens inside that device. Something to make both the living and the dead scream with horror. Claude can see a single window on the machine's side go from white to a blue so dark it almost appears black, and then a vial full of blue liquid or gas is spat out of a slot. The beastmen carry the vial to the overseers in black -- and the machine spits out something else, which soon strides off with a quick, sure tread.

A fresh zombi, armed with its metal claws.

He pauses to let the information sink in, and then he adds, "Also, I cannot sense these ... well, tortured undead with the rod, as I can sense those zombies closer to us. They're somehow blocked from or immune to the rod's power...."

_____________________________________
I was planning to rephrase most of the IM I received, but Rock's description was too chilling not to repost.

[Ail]

Zumba shakes his head negatively, appalled by Lucien's description. Something hurts inside him.

"Bastards! But they're too many, we can not undo them. Lucien, call your undead back, you're just sending them to a trap!"

Then he turns to the others, his face still altered by the ghastly scene he can now imagine.

"We need another plan. Is there no sign of Chicken Bone?"

OOC: according to Zumba's internal map, should Chicken Bone be here?