Greko drops the concentration on his spell and begins lighting the corpses on fire. “Best to look for any clues quickly and light them afire so they don’t reanimate. We should tell the ranchers we culled the horde a tiny bit and find Lelith. Hopefully she…..Yes we should find Lelith”
Oten races over with Tuto in tow, making no move to remove him. "Behaviourally we have learned much that can be used against them. We know that their disregard for self-preservation renders them vulnerable to the spiked growth over there, and I believe the experiment Tuto and I conducted establishes that they would be slow to react to a concentrated dose of acid clinging to their skin."Oten pats the section of his arm housing a high pressured acid sprayer.
"I believe that first, however, eliminating the redeads is of vital tactical significance. The villagers are most at risk as long as paralysis is a threat, but I fear even my cortical structure may be vulnerable to the sonic effects. With that said, if there is a specimen I could analyze, I would not pass up the opportunity."
Greko listens to Oten and believes what he says to be a wise assessment "Greko agrees. Greko did not burn the second redead only the first. If you would like to study it before I burn it and go get Lelith, please go ahead. The rest of the dead zombie horde should also be burned. We do not know if they will reanimate or not"
"This one does look more solid, if a little dispersed, friend Oten", Rum says as he makes his way over to Greko and finding bits of the redead spread out around where the spike growth had been.
"Why don't you get Lelith now, friend Greko. Time is of the essence and her prowess with the longbow is well needed right now".
Rum turns to Ro and Oten, Tuto still on Oten's back.
"I hope it was right to send Greko for Lelith, fellow Embers. Heated words were exchanged, but they need to be put aside if we are to have a chance of saving the ranchers", he says seriously.
"So, is a redder corpse going to be of any use in identifying what is controlling the horde, and determining how we can deviate it from it's path?", he asks hopefully, his eyes on the main horde in the distance.
Oten sits back and holds up one arm covered in gore nearly up to his elbow. "Look at this," he says, as blood drips of his metallic fingers. "It did not die recently, I'd say, but it still seems fresh. Where other zombies decay and putrefy over time, this one seems to be possessed by magic that not only preserving it, but actively recovering it to its recently dead state. It's healing. With more time, I would like to conduct observation to ascertain how much and what kind of damage it can repair from so can be sure that it can't just knit itself back together from ashes, but that is a luxury we do not have. All that is to say, no. I unfortunately have not learned anything about its communication and behaviours. Just that we must be wary not to assume any of them have been permanently dealt with until we can prove otherwise."
Rum turns his attention to Oten's arm, watching the blood dripping from it.
"I will take your word for that, friend Oten", he says a very slight grimace.
"Perhaps you could take a finger to monitor, and we could burn the rest, and scatter the ashes?", he offers helpfully. "Or we could put the ashes in some of that acid of yours, if you have a suitable container?".
"Either way, you are right, we are running out of time. I hope Greko has had some luck persuading Lelith to come back into the Embers fold, although I doubt she will have changed her attitude towards the old Elf unfortunately".
Ro pauses a moment to think on Oten's observations of the redead, "If magic is being used to preserve these undeads, do you suppose Dispel Magic could be used to return them to back to an inanimate state?"
Rum turns to Ro to see if his question was addressed to him. It certainly was not his area of expertise.
Deciding he was talking to Oten and Tuto, he wanders over to climb a tree and keep lookout for the hopeful return of their druid companion, and to keep an eye on the progress of the horde towards the ranch.
Lelith was back riding along with Greko on the weirdly fast snail mount, they could see a rather uncommon smile on her features. She had respect for all of nature's creatures but she could not bother to learn all of their names. Let alone this one in particular. Her smile melted away as she looked at the group with narrowed eyes, though that's not too unusual for the elf and wasn't necessarily indicative of hostility. "Greko told me my presence was requested. Good thing, I want to talk too."
Rum jumps down from the tree he has been observing from, the spectral draconic wings appearing to slow his descent and allowing him to land gently.
He inclines his head to Greko in greeting, and then turns his feline eyes to Lelith.
”What happened at the ranch will likely not be quickly forgotten by any of us. But yes, Lelith, we requested Greko ask for you to join us. At least, I did”, he says, eyes locked to Lelith’s.
”In truth our troubles pale compared with the issue of the horde rampaging through the ranch and on to Kakariko village. It must be stopped, and your skills can help to do so, if you wish to see an end to the undead blight as much as we do. Time is running out…”.
He leaves the last sentence trail, not needing to say more. It is now up to Lelith how she responds.
Lelith looked around at the portion of the horde that had been slaughtered. She looked suitably impressed. "Not bad, I'd wager we could've killed more if I was here..."
She turned back to Rumble and spoke earnestly. "I agree, time is running out. Greko and I have spoken about a few matters and we've come to an agreement. My heart goes to the plight of the people at the ranch, truly, but we have to move forward toward more important matters. We are risking the world's very safety the longer we dally here and the longer the Princess is without protection and with the Hero yet to be seen... We may be the only hope Hyrule has left. Kakariko Village will not be threatened by this horde either, it is not the /Hidden Village/ for nothing. Its inhabitant, the Sheikah, are not ordinary elves. They are far closer to my kind than they are to the Hylians."
"In contrast, the Fey have spoken to me. Something is happening in Hyrule Castle and we need to be there for it and the Kingdom, if not the world, may hinge on it. We have to consider the bigger picture here and plan our priorities accordingly. This is simply a matter of scale, the life of the many over that of the few. The wish to save everyone, giving them a happy ending, is but a fairy tale, an unattainable ideal. It can only remain that way and the more we try to hold on to it, friction with reality will continue to increase until we have to face reality and pay the price of the compromises made." Lelith's little speech ended on that note. She took a deep breath and let her companions consider her words carefully despite the time constraints they are faced with.
Rum listens to Lelith, briefly looking to Greko and raising a furry eyebrow when their agreement is mentioned. But his main focus is Lelith, trying to read her as she speaks.
“The problem is, I cannot seem to trust you, Lelith”, he says almost sadly.
“You are certainly persuasive, but I am aware that lies sound as sweet as Dragonclaw mead tastes, when spoken by you”. He looks around the rest of the group, lingering on Greko atop Gary for a little longer than the others.
“I want to believe your motives are genuine, that you want to save the world as I do, but…”.
“Great Dragon grant me wisdom”, he says, looking across at the mass of zombies that constitute the horde and shaking his head.
Meeting her gaze he asks two simple questions, her answers to which and whether he believes them, will determine his own personal decision.
“Is what you have said the truth? Is it the whole truth?”.
"I cannot promise that the information I have been given is infallible but I certainly believe it, if I cannot trust my own kind in this otherworld, then I can trust no one." Lelith answered simply. "If it's any comfort, I have at least saved one little girl from the horde. The people there walk the path of evil whether intentionally or unintentionally, there are no good way to spin it, when they are unwilling to have children sent to safety but rather have them face death with them."
Greko decides to chime in hoping to walk a fine line between his friends. He drops the charade of not fully grasping the common language and speaks plainly.
“As you all know I thought this a fruitless endeavor and that we needed to bypass these folks as much as it pains me. However, I would not abandon my friends in their time of need. I came bursting forth on this noble steed and did what I could. Although, as I understand words were said amongst friends, Lelith took a walk and let her anger get the best of her. However, she is here now ready to help. Her words are true and confirms what Ro has said. Hyrule Castle is under attack. Ganon and the Darkness are trying to access the Temple. So we must decide what next….save the ranchers, doom Hyrule or proceed on to Hyrule and try to do anything we can. My opinion has not changed. Staying would be not seeing the forest but only looking at a single tree.”
Rum listens to Lelith, unsure what to make of her claim to having saved a child from those who walk the path of evil. It isn't particularly reassuring in truth, not after he has watched how she treats Sorry. Has she abducted the child?
But then Greko interjects, speaking as lucidly and passionately as ever he has before. As he speaks, Rum gets the overwhelming feeling that his prayer to the Great Dragon for wisdom has been answered. This Lizardfolk in front of him, distant kin possibly to dragons themselves, speaking with such wisdom.
He replies to Greko in draconic, "It is as though you channel The Great Dragon's own words, wise one". He places his fist over his heart and bows his head in deference to the druid.
"I will follow your path", he adds to Greko in the common tongue, walking over and placing a paw on his shoulder.
Greko smiles and walks over to Rum placing a hand on Rums heart while speaking in draconic. “Don’t lose this my friend. You do your God well in representing them.” Greko turns to the others and speaks in common. “I understand wanting to help these people. There’s nothing more we can do. The longer we are here….”Greko pauses a moment as he has a moment of extreme lucidity “Friends we must go east…The horde came from that way. Ganon and possibly what controls the horde is that way. If we want to stop the horde we must go east. The horde heads to Kakariko Village… We must make haste east”
“Well that was a job well done, fellow Embers”, Rum says gleefully as the last of the zombies perishes more finally.
”Are you able to learn anything from the corpses, from the redder?”, he asks looking over to Ro and then to Oten.
”Or is it a case of same again?”, he adds as he stands still surveying the scene of the spikes and beyond to the still slowly undulating main horde.
Greko drops the concentration on his spell and begins lighting the corpses on fire. “Best to look for any clues quickly and light them afire so they don’t reanimate. We should tell the ranchers we culled the horde a tiny bit and find Lelith. Hopefully she…..Yes we should find Lelith”
Oten races over with Tuto in tow, making no move to remove him. "Behaviourally we have learned much that can be used against them. We know that their disregard for self-preservation renders them vulnerable to the spiked growth over there, and I believe the experiment Tuto and I conducted establishes that they would be slow to react to a concentrated dose of acid clinging to their skin." Oten pats the section of his arm housing a high pressured acid sprayer.
"I believe that first, however, eliminating the redeads is of vital tactical significance. The villagers are most at risk as long as paralysis is a threat, but I fear even my cortical structure may be vulnerable to the sonic effects. With that said, if there is a specimen I could analyze, I would not pass up the opportunity."
Greko listens to Oten and believes what he says to be a wise assessment "Greko agrees. Greko did not burn the second redead only the first. If you would like to study it before I burn it and go get Lelith, please go ahead. The rest of the dead zombie horde should also be burned. We do not know if they will reanimate or not"
"This one does look more solid, if a little dispersed, friend Oten", Rum says as he makes his way over to Greko and finding bits of the redead spread out around where the spike growth had been.
"Why don't you get Lelith now, friend Greko. Time is of the essence and her prowess with the longbow is well needed right now".
Greko nods to Rum and climbs aboard Gary "Please do not forget to torch the rest of the dead." and with that Greko tell Gary to head back to the ranch
Rum turns to Ro and Oten, Tuto still on Oten's back.
"I hope it was right to send Greko for Lelith, fellow Embers. Heated words were exchanged, but they need to be put aside if we are to have a chance of saving the ranchers", he says seriously.
"So, is a redder corpse going to be of any use in identifying what is controlling the horde, and determining how we can deviate it from it's path?", he asks hopefully, his eyes on the main horde in the distance.
Oten sits back and holds up one arm covered in gore nearly up to his elbow. "Look at this," he says, as blood drips of his metallic fingers. "It did not die recently, I'd say, but it still seems fresh. Where other zombies decay and putrefy over time, this one seems to be possessed by magic that not only preserving it, but actively recovering it to its recently dead state. It's healing. With more time, I would like to conduct observation to ascertain how much and what kind of damage it can repair from so can be sure that it can't just knit itself back together from ashes, but that is a luxury we do not have. All that is to say, no. I unfortunately have not learned anything about its communication and behaviours. Just that we must be wary not to assume any of them have been permanently dealt with until we can prove otherwise."
Rum turns his attention to Oten's arm, watching the blood dripping from it.
"I will take your word for that, friend Oten", he says a very slight grimace.
"Perhaps you could take a finger to monitor, and we could burn the rest, and scatter the ashes?", he offers helpfully. "Or we could put the ashes in some of that acid of yours, if you have a suitable container?".
"Either way, you are right, we are running out of time. I hope Greko has had some luck persuading Lelith to come back into the Embers fold, although I doubt she will have changed her attitude towards the old Elf unfortunately".
Ro pauses a moment to think on Oten's observations of the redead, "If magic is being used to preserve these undeads, do you suppose Dispel Magic could be used to return them to back to an inanimate state?"
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Rum turns to Ro to see if his question was addressed to him. It certainly was not his area of expertise.
Deciding he was talking to Oten and Tuto, he wanders over to climb a tree and keep lookout for the hopeful return of their druid companion, and to keep an eye on the progress of the horde towards the ranch.
Lelith was back riding along with Greko on the weirdly fast snail mount, they could see a rather uncommon smile on her features. She had respect for all of nature's creatures but she could not bother to learn all of their names. Let alone this one in particular. Her smile melted away as she looked at the group with narrowed eyes, though that's not too unusual for the elf and wasn't necessarily indicative of hostility. "Greko told me my presence was requested. Good thing, I want to talk too."
Rum jumps down from the tree he has been observing from, the spectral draconic wings appearing to slow his descent and allowing him to land gently.
He inclines his head to Greko in greeting, and then turns his feline eyes to Lelith.
”What happened at the ranch will likely not be quickly forgotten by any of us. But yes, Lelith, we requested Greko ask for you to join us. At least, I did”, he says, eyes locked to Lelith’s.
”In truth our troubles pale compared with the issue of the horde rampaging through the ranch and on to Kakariko village. It must be stopped, and your skills can help to do so, if you wish to see an end to the undead blight as much as we do. Time is running out…”.
He leaves the last sentence trail, not needing to say more. It is now up to Lelith how she responds.
Lelith looked around at the portion of the horde that had been slaughtered. She looked suitably impressed. "Not bad, I'd wager we could've killed more if I was here..."
She turned back to Rumble and spoke earnestly. "I agree, time is running out. Greko and I have spoken about a few matters and we've come to an agreement. My heart goes to the plight of the people at the ranch, truly, but we have to move forward toward more important matters. We are risking the world's very safety the longer we dally here and the longer the Princess is without protection and with the Hero yet to be seen... We may be the only hope Hyrule has left. Kakariko Village will not be threatened by this horde either, it is not the /Hidden Village/ for nothing. Its inhabitant, the Sheikah, are not ordinary elves. They are far closer to my kind than they are to the Hylians."
"In contrast, the Fey have spoken to me. Something is happening in Hyrule Castle and we need to be there for it and the Kingdom, if not the world, may hinge on it. We have to consider the bigger picture here and plan our priorities accordingly. This is simply a matter of scale, the life of the many over that of the few. The wish to save everyone, giving them a happy ending, is but a fairy tale, an unattainable ideal. It can only remain that way and the more we try to hold on to it, friction with reality will continue to increase until we have to face reality and pay the price of the compromises made." Lelith's little speech ended on that note. She took a deep breath and let her companions consider her words carefully despite the time constraints they are faced with.
Rum listens to Lelith, briefly looking to Greko and raising a furry eyebrow when their agreement is mentioned. But his main focus is Lelith, trying to read her as she speaks.
“The problem is, I cannot seem to trust you, Lelith”, he says almost sadly.
“You are certainly persuasive, but I am aware that lies sound as sweet as Dragonclaw mead tastes, when spoken by you”. He looks around the rest of the group, lingering on Greko atop Gary for a little longer than the others.
“I want to believe your motives are genuine, that you want to save the world as I do, but…”.
“Great Dragon grant me wisdom”, he says, looking across at the mass of zombies that constitute the horde and shaking his head.
Meeting her gaze he asks two simple questions, her answers to which and whether he believes them, will determine his own personal decision.
“Is what you have said the truth? Is it the whole truth?”.
"I cannot promise that the information I have been given is infallible but I certainly believe it, if I cannot trust my own kind in this otherworld, then I can trust no one." Lelith answered simply. "If it's any comfort, I have at least saved one little girl from the horde. The people there walk the path of evil whether intentionally or unintentionally, there are no good way to spin it, when they are unwilling to have children sent to safety but rather have them face death with them."
Greko decides to chime in hoping to walk a fine line between his friends. He drops the charade of not fully grasping the common language and speaks plainly.
“As you all know I thought this a fruitless endeavor and that we needed to bypass these folks as much as it pains me. However, I would not abandon my friends in their time of need. I came bursting forth on this noble steed and did what I could. Although, as I understand words were said amongst friends, Lelith took a walk and let her anger get the best of her. However, she is here now ready to help. Her words are true and confirms what Ro has said. Hyrule Castle is under attack. Ganon and the Darkness are trying to access the Temple. So we must decide what next….save the ranchers, doom Hyrule or proceed on to Hyrule and try to do anything we can. My opinion has not changed. Staying would be not seeing the forest but only looking at a single tree.”
Rum listens to Lelith, unsure what to make of her claim to having saved a child from those who walk the path of evil. It isn't particularly reassuring in truth, not after he has watched how she treats Sorry. Has she abducted the child?
But then Greko interjects, speaking as lucidly and passionately as ever he has before. As he speaks, Rum gets the overwhelming feeling that his prayer to the Great Dragon for wisdom has been answered. This Lizardfolk in front of him, distant kin possibly to dragons themselves, speaking with such wisdom.
He replies to Greko in draconic, "It is as though you channel The Great Dragon's own words, wise one". He places his fist over his heart and bows his head in deference to the druid.
"I will follow your path", he adds to Greko in the common tongue, walking over and placing a paw on his shoulder.
Greko smiles and walks over to Rum placing a hand on Rums heart while speaking in draconic. “Don’t lose this my friend. You do your God well in representing them.” Greko turns to the others and speaks in common. “I understand wanting to help these people. There’s nothing more we can do. The longer we are here….” Greko pauses a moment as he has a moment of extreme lucidity “Friends we must go east…The horde came from that way. Ganon and possibly what controls the horde is that way. If we want to stop the horde we must go east. The horde heads to Kakariko Village… We must make haste east”
"I will retrieve the other mounts and cart", Rum says to Greko.
He glances quickly towards Ro, Oten and Tuto wondering what they were going to decide, before he lopes away as fast as his feline form can carry him.