"I hope that ghoul doesn't taste too awful," says Nickeline to Hew-bear.

Nickeline keeps her shield up as the group proceeds through the city.

Hildegard looks with surprise at Jodie starts to sing and play in the foul wreckage of reeking undead and the disappointed sighs of the orcs... but then she chuckles, carried along with the engaging tune as she scans the streets they walk through. She even hums along, a bit. "Even when you are deep underground and you can't see the sun," she says, "remember its light, and the fair breezes that waft through the leaves, and never start to think that the darkness around you is all that there is." Sadly she strokes Perdita's neck as the nightmare continues along their path, silently, broodingly, obedient to the holy forged tack that binds her.

Perception: 18

Quote from mamoduck >>

"I hope that ghoul doesn't taste too awful," says Nickeline to Hew-bear. 

Hew-bear sort of shakes his head and makes a snorting grunt.  Then the Large bear walks right up to the gnome and starts nudging the water bottle she carries.

"Right, of course!" Nickeline holds up the flask and says, "Get ready," to Hewelathan. She then says the command word to produce 1 gallon of fresh water, which promptly gushes out.

Hew-Bear sloppily slurps up the water, spitting out some but drinking about half of it.  

Quote from Faux_Beau >>

Jodie looks (20) for any clues to the ghouls and ghast's origins and tracks (13).

(Sorry it took me a bit to get to this... it's been a rough few days)

Though their forms are twisted, you are able to figure out that the ghast and three of the four ghouls were once elves (most likely drow), while the fourth ghoul looks like it was once an orc... most likely one of Zodagh's missing tribesmen. They weren't really trying to hide their tracks, so it isn't especially difficult to trace the ghouls' passage. It looks like following the trail would take you in roughly the same direction that is indicated by Lord Akkron's orb of direction.

Urghad, upon realizing that one of the deceased ghouls was once an orc, takes a moment to close the corpse's eyes.

"Rest easy, brother," the orog says.

The other two orcs nod and murmur brief prayers to some orcish god as well for their fallen tribesman.

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

(Sorry it took me a bit to get to this... it's been a rough few days)

(No problem.  I hope you're through the rough patch! 👍)

They weren't really trying to hide their tracks, so it isn't especially difficult to trace the ghouls' passage. It looks like following the trail would take you in roughly the same direction that is indicated by Lord Akkron's orb of direction.

Once Hewelathan-bear washes the taste of ghouls out of his mouth, he stands, sniffing the air, waiting for Jodie to continue scouting ahead toward the Black Crypt.  Hewelathan will follow Jodie as they continue, keeping her about 40' - 60' ahead of him so that she can hopefully have more success in sneaking up on their next opponent.  For the next hour, while he's still in a bear wild shape, Hewelathan keeps alert for the stench of more undead. 

(OOC: Normally, I'd probably suggest Korba in second position behind Jodie because of his stealth and to make it easier for him to get into melee, and Hewelathan could act as the rear guard.  But until kevtr0n is back, maybe we'll have Korba walk rear guard for the party, ready to use a sand blast.)

Nickeline walks near the back, just ahead of Korba. 'I didn't get to do much against that last group, but I doubt they will be the only undead we see here,' she thinks.

OOC:

I don't remember if Nickeline had a particular spot in the marching order before.

Quote from mamoduck >>

OOC: I don't remember if Nickeline had a particular spot in the marching order before.

(OOC: I think that our last marching order was in OOC post #824 in the OOC thread.

But like I said, until kevtr0n is back online, we're putting him at the back to walk rear guard and keep him out of melee for now.  The Orog wears noisy armor, like Hildegard, so they'd be toward the back of the line.  If the streets are wide enough to walk two-abreast, maybe something like this: 

1. Jodie (scouting)
2. Hewelathan (in bear form, he occupies 10'x10' space)
3. Tamphalic & Ruby
4. Orc Brute 1& Orc Brute 2
5. Hildegard & Orog
6. Nickeline & Korba

)

((Sounds good))

Hildegard is riding Perdita if that makes a difference to her place in line.

Having slaughtered the five undead, the party continues through the dark city. Perhaps strangely, you don't see any more undead as you follow the orb's guidance... however, you start to notice more and more bones littering the ground. Soon, you find yourselves nearly up to your ankles in the carpet of bone... and not too far away, you can see what looks like a mausoleum made of polished black stone. You can see the iron door, with a massive engraving of a spider etched into the metal...

Nothing is visibly moving around yet... but you can hear faint clicking and clattering sounds. It's clear that something is nearby, but you cannot say for sure yet just what or where said creature(s) might be hidden...

(OOC: Has a full 1 hour passed since the fight with the ghouls?  Just checking whether Hewelathan's bear wild shape has expired.)

(I'll be nice and say you have enough time left to get in one more fight as hew-bear)

So, what does the party do?

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

Having slaughtered the five undead, the party continues through the dark city. Perhaps strangely, you don't see any more undead as you follow the orb's guidance... however, you start to notice more and more bones littering the ground. Soon, you find yourselves nearly up to your ankles in the carpet of bone...

If Hewelathan is still in his Brown Bear wild shape with his belt and cloak on, he drops back farther behind Jodie.  Assuming that Jodie went at a slow pace to be stealthy, Hew-bear used the slow pace to drag his bear paws through the bones and push them to the side as he went, trying to "plow" an easier path for the rest of the party. 

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

you can see what looks like a mausoleum made of polished black stone. You can see the iron door, with a massive engraving of a spider etched into the metal...

If Hewelathan is still in his Brown Bear wild shape, the big bear ambles up to the door, ready to push it open, if that's what the party wants to do or ready to fight anything that might suddenly open the door and attack.  He raises its head and sniffs at the door and at the ground around it, trying to determine whether there's anything living (or undead) nearby.

If Hewelathan has reverted to his regular form, he asks Tamphalic, "This must be the crypt, right?  Does the orb still point straight ahead?" He eyes the black wall and especially the spider emblem of Lolth with obvious distaste.

Nothing is visibly moving around yet... but you can hear faint clicking and clattering sounds. It's clear that something is nearby, but you cannot say for sure yet just what or where said creature(s) might be hidden...

Hewelathan (bear or half-elf) moves up to the door to listen.  If he's not in a bear wild shape, he first invokes the keen senses of bird and beast.  Then he scans the carpet of bones around them for any signs of movement.

Perception 18, if his wild shape has expired, he gains +3 from Guidance for Unable to parse dice roll.

If he is still in his Brown Bear wild shape and the perception check is reasonably smell-based, then he has advantage, which yields: Unable to parse dice roll..

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

Having slaughtered the five undead, the party continues through the dark city. Perhaps strangely, you don't see any more undead as you follow the orb's guidance... however, you start to notice more and more bones littering the ground. Soon, you find yourselves nearly up to your ankles in the carpet of bone...

If Hewelathan is still in his Brown Bear wild shape with his belt and cloak on: he drops back farther behind Jodie.  Assuming that Jodie went at a slow pace to be stealthy, Hew-bear used the slow pace to drag his bear paws through the bones and push them to the side as he went, trying to "plow" an easier path for the rest of the party. 

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

you can see what looks like a mausoleum made of polished black stone. You can see the iron door, with a massive engraving of a spider etched into the metal...

If Hewelathan is still in his Brown Bear wild shape, the big bear ambles up to the door, ready to push it open, if that's what the party wants to do or ready to fight anything that might suddenly open the door and attack.  He gives a disgusted grunting-snort at the sight of the emblem of Lolth. Then he raises its head and sniffs at the door and at the ground around it, trying to determine whether there's anything living (or undead) nearby.

If Hewelathan has reverted to his regular form, he asks Tamphalic, "This must be the crypt, right?  Does the orb still point straight ahead?" He eyes the black wall and especially the spider emblem of Lolth with obvious distaste.

Nothing is visibly moving around yet... but you can hear faint clicking and clattering sounds. It's clear that something is nearby, but you cannot say for sure yet just what or where said creature(s) might be hidden...

Hewelathan-bear listens at the door.  If he's not in a bear wild shape, he first invokes the keen senses of bird and beast.  Then he scans the carpet of bones around them for any signs of movement.

Perception 6, if his wild shape has expired, he gains +3 from Guidance for 9

If the perception check is reasonably smell-based, then he has advantage, which yields: 16.

(OOC: Per @Mister_Whisker, Hewelathan still has some minutes left as a Brown Bear.  Reposting to clarify the post a little.  This bear apparently doesn't see or hear very well in the dim lighting, but his sense of smell is quite good!)

Nickeline kicks the bones away from where she stands as best she can, believing that that is more respectful of the dead than to treat their bones like a carpet.

"Aren't we going inside?" she asks. "There's something out here and I'd rather not find out what it is."

Tamphalic suggests to cast detect magic (using 10 minutes and a ritual; although he could use a spell slot aswell if they do not want to use 10 minutes.)

"Better to know if there are magical traps at this door or nearby"

((btw, mr whiskers; how do you want to handle the recharge on 6 of my breath weapon out of combat? Just start of combat I got both charges back?))

Quote from Secretfool >>

Tamphalic suggests to cast detect magic (using 10 minutes and a ritual; although he could use a spell slot aswell if they do not want to use 10 minutes.)

"Better to know if there are magical traps at this door or nearby"

((btw, mr whiskers; how do you want to handle the recharge on 6 of my breath weapon out of combat? Just start of combat I got both charges back?))

Just assume you get back your two charges. As for ritual-casting, Hew would run out of bear-time.

Ah right, let's just use a spell slot than.