As Beryl follows Pru up the stairs, Aranor shakes his head. There is no sense in remaining behind, especially if something lurks above preparing to ambush the little halfling and dwarven woman, both of whom don't even come up to his chest in height. Nodding to Kaladin, he follows Beryl up the stairs, attemping to soften his footsteps. When he reaches the landing, he joins the two women at the door.

"Hear anything?" he whispers.

Stealth - 5

As you perch your ears against the closed door, you hear dead silence on the other side. There is a fairly good sized pool of dried blood going under the door.

Pru looks back at Aranor and tilts her head up to look in his faith then she lets her eyes drop down to his booted feet.

"Just those big boots clomping around," Pru says with a smile. Then she frowns and nods at the pool of blood. "That doesn't look good."

She turns the handle of the door and pushes it open, she hums one small note and lets the Dancing Lights race in a head and brighten the room.

The dead body on the bed, is dressed as that of the bandits you met earlier in your travels. It seems they knew more than what they mentioned. The room is somewhat cleaned and tidy as if someone has been using it as living quarters. 

"uhhh, that  might be animated"

"Y'all mentioned that bandit's last request, before she died, to chop her head off." Beryl whispers. "We should probably move carefully, make sure this person is dead, and then cut the head off before it becomes not quite dead." She gulps. The thought of animated dead is nauseating. And really frightening.

"I'll check to be sure this person is truly dead. Be ready in case it isn't, quite."

OOC: Her action here plays to her flaw. So unless someone stops her:

Beryl creeps forward, clutching her hand-carved totem for comfort, alert to any signs of movement. Is this person truly dead?

Medicine: 22

Flaw:

Pru bends down and ties a loose lace on her boot as Beryl steps past her. When she looks up and sees Beryl already approaching the bed she calls Kaladin and nudges Aranor and then waves her hand at the dead body.

"Get ready to do a bit of choppy decapitation work," Pru says.

She then looks down the hallway, looking for any other doors where trouble could come from.

Aranor frowns with distaste at the thought of having to behead another bandit. He approaches the bed, his hand on his sword, prepared to strike if the body shows any signs of reanimating.

As Beryl approaches, she is very hesitant to get much closer. She clutches her totem with all her might. As she nears the head of the bed, she spots a massive pool of dried blood under the body, staining the bed clothing.

As she gets a bit closer, Aranor steps up next to her with hilt in hand. Beryl slowly peaks in at the face of the bandit. It's chalk white color is highlighted by dark circles around the eyes and purplish lips. Beryl slowly reaches her hand to the body and pulls it back like she sprung a trap. The body is colder than the ice that was in the tavern back in town.

Pru looks back in from the hallway, where she still keeps an eye out for trouble.

"So dead or undead?" Pru calls in.

"Definitely not alive. Aranor, would you remove this poor creature's head before it does anything?" She backs away, still feeling cold.

The high elf steps forward and raises his sword high, preparing to swing it down upon the unfortunate bandit's neck.

@Aranor, Roll Hit +3

Pru stand in the door way, staring down the hall. Her ears perked like a hawk, but nothing can be heard other than the sounds of the party. Beryl, visibly shaken, makes her way over toward Pru as Aranor steadies himself to make sure the bandit has no chance of coming back.'

As Pru turns away as Aranor raises his sword, she notices what looks like a door down the hall on the same side. More so, she glances at what looks like claw marks in the floor about 10 feet away. However, with the tattered rug and layers of dust, she can't be 100% sure.

Pru, now distracted from the goings on in the bedroom, makes her way down the hall towards the claw marks, doing her best to avoid loose boards or anything that might let someone know she's approaching. With how loud they've been, anyone here will know of the groups presence. But there's no need to tell them exactly where they are.

Stealth: 21  

Once she makes it to what she thought were claw marks, she takes a closer look, trying to decide for sure if they are claw marks and if she remembers seeing anything like them before.

DC to Identify (Arcana, History, Survival, Animal Handling all have same modifier if they apply): 18 

Beryl keeps her eyes on the unnaturally cold corpse and Aranor, watching for the slightest unexpected movement.

She doesn't notice Pru slipping out.

9

The claw marks in the wooden floor are deep. Swiping aside the tattered rugs, Pru determines that they are both human and animal. They stop at the  closed door. There is a set of deeply grooved marks that look human. 

Pru pauses at the door, listening for any sounds from the other side.

Perception: 11  

She then looks back down the hall wondering what's taking so long with the others. How long does it take to remove the head from a corpse? But as she wonders, she realizes that she would struggle to do it herself and might not end up being able to. She had just assumed the big knightly types didn't suffer from that kind of thinking.

Unfortunately the head didn't come off with the first swing. Aranor frowns down at the recalcitrant corpse and swings again. Finally the last bits of sinew and gristle give way, and he wipes the blade clean with a look of utter disgust on his face.

"Where did Pru get off to?" he wonders aloud, leaving the room and looking down the hallway for the halfling.

"seriously? you ******* jinxed it aranor! both of you follow me, dont split up!" kaladin grabs beryls arm and dashes off after pruecy