Quote from JcAndD >>

(Pascal will blast ghost with bolt, at work haha)

(Whoops, didn't mean to interrupt work.)

Alright! Time to burn this mortuary dropout!

Pascal, using the opening that he was given, levels a burst of flame against the ghost! 
Attack: 14 Damage: 10 fire damage!

DM rolls:

Results for round 3:

• Drusk (init 20) misses the zombie by 1, and his spiritual weapon misses the ghost by 1. (To taunt me, the die roller had maximum damage for both, bleh.)
• Jorin (14) strikes back, but is unused to his older body (11, 12) and unable to get a solid blow.
• Quillary (13) is shocked, but stays focused. She strikes again with her club (19 to hit, 11 damage), and her halo of spores batter the zombie (11 is a failed save, takes 2 necrotic damage after resistance).
• The greater zombie (init 5) hits Drusk with the great axe (23 to hit, 12 damage), reducing Drusk to 9 hp. It then slams him against the side of the alley (23 to hit, 13 damage)... The zombie turns its attention to Jorin. But behind it, Drusk is still standing, with a crazed smile on his bloodied face. "With the blessing of Lliira, I will have the last laugh." (His half-orc Relentless Endurance keeps him at 1 hp.)
• Meanwhile, the ghost tries to apply a Withering Touch to Pascal, but Pascal frantically keeps it away (10 to hit).
• Hildigrim stumbles further back in shock, but then fires his bow (16 is a hit for 13 damage). He screams at the ghost, yelling "Kill it!"
• The ghost is momentarily distracted by Hildigrim's shouts. Pascal is able to raise his hand directly in front of the ghost's face. "Alright! Time to burn this mortuary dropout!" The gout of flame (10 damage) shreds the ghost. The smokey pieces fade into the dark.

Situation for the 4th round

Jorin, Drusk, and Quillary are next to the greater zombie. Pascal is 15' away. Hildigrim is 30' away (in normal bow range).

The ghost is destroyed, and no one is frightened. (Volo can fly-by again.)

The zombie has taken a total of 78 damage (it started with almost 100 hp).

Drusk is at 1 HP, after using Relentless Endurance to stay conscious. Jorin is still 30 years older.

Everyone can post their actions for this round. The zombie's initiative is 16 , so we will see if it gets a chance to attack again.

Pascal clicks his fingers, and a gout of flame erupts beneath the zombie, “This killed ya last time, lets see how you like a second serving!” DC 14 Dex vs 8 fire damage.

Quillary glances back at Drusk, and laughs, "Not dead yet!" and winks at him, then she smacks the zombie again.

Bonus Action: cast Healing Word on Drusk for 8 healing
Action: attack giant zombie with club. 9 to hit, for 5 magical bludgeoning damage

Reaction: Halo of spores does 4 necrotic damage to zombie unless it Con saves vs DC 15

Initiative, if needed: 11
Extra d20, if needed: 5

Drusk will see if he can hit instead of near-missing. He will also move the Spiritual Weapon to attack the zombie.

• Initiative: 6  (after zombie)
• Mace Attack: 22 Damage: 8  (hit)
• Bonus SW Attack: 16 Damage: 8  (hit)

And rolls for Pascal's Init: 19 and the zombie's DEX save: 20  (whut?)

(Hildigrim and Jorin to go.)

Jorin has gone through quite the range of emotions in this combat, and he continues to pour them into the zombie with abandon.

• Initiative: 5
• Action: Reckless Battleaxe Attack: 14 Damage: 10
• Bonus Action: Reckless Moonblade Attack: 21 Damage: 7

Initiative: 10

Hildigrim directs Volo to perform another fly-by just as he is releasing his next arrow at the zombie.

+1 shortbow attack: 23; damage: 6 piercing damage

Sneak attack if appropriate: 5

He then shouts something helpful to the next player to help them attack more accurately.

Extra d20s for Hildi and Volo: 16, 3

Forgot to roll the attack with advantage: 15

DM rolls

(For the 2 previous fights, when the Greater Zombie was reduced to 0 HP, it fell apart into table scraps and stale wine. This time, it behaves like a "normal" zombie. When a hit reduces it to 0 HP, it rolls a CON save of DC 5+(damage). If it succeeds, the zombie is still at 1 HP.)

Results for round 4:

• Pascal (init 19) lights a Bonfire under the zombie. But the zombie thrashes about, knocking the wet garbage on the bonfire and dampening it this round for no damage (DEX save 20).
• The Greater Zombie (init 16) strikes Drusk again with the great-axe (20 to-hit, 15 damage), knocking him unconscious. It then back-hands Jorin with a mighty blow (29-critical, doing 15 bludgeoning + 6 necrotic). Jorin's rage reduces the effect of the impact, so he takes 13 damage total.
• Quillary (init 11) revives Drusk with a Healing Word (8 healing). She is unable to club the zombie, even with Hildigrim's advice giving her Help. However, the spore cloud again batters the zombie (CON save 8), doing 2 damage.
• Hildigrim (init 10) summons Volo to distract the zombie, and hits with another arrow (23 to hit for 11 damage).
• Drusk (init 6) stands up after being healed by Quillary. "With Lliira's blessing AND the aid of Quillary, I will have the last laugh!" The spiritual weapon (which does not require concentration) strikes the zombie (16) for 8 damage, leaving it with 1 HP. Drusk smashes the zombie with Joybringer (23) for 8 more damage...
• Drusk frowns, as the zombie's Undead Fortitude keeps it standing (CON save 13, which is exactly what it needed).
• Jorin (init 4) is still winded from the hand slam, and misses with his axe (9). But shouting his outrage, he drives his moon-swords through the zombie's forehead (19 to hit, 13 damage). The zombie hesitates (CON save 12, needed an 18+), then falls over, inert.

Combat over!

Aftermath of combat (this was the last fight of the module)

• When the zombie dies, noxious odors escape its bloated body as it deflates. A "normal" zombie roasts in the bonfire. The magical enhancement, that caused it to be an abomination of Amphail, dissipates away along with the smoke of Pascal's bonfire (which he puts out).
• The party hears a deep male voice sobbing from the end of the alley. A large ghost, dressed in plate armor, points to Jorin, points to Hildigrim, and points to Rooster. It then looses a final primal howl and disappears into the wind, leaving behind a mark on the ground. This is identical to the spiritroot mark on Jorin and Hildigrim's arms. (The ghost looked a lot like the statue of Amphail.)
• As the fire dies out, Jorin notices that the large belt around the zombie's midsection (like a sash or cummerbund) was unharmed by the fire. He carefully picks it up (only slightly warm to the touch) and puts it in his pack. He can investigate it more after the sun rises, with the others helping.
• Drusk is still woozy from his injuries, but looks over the almost-70 Jorin. "We can reverse the ghost's aging, but we must do it before the next sunset, otherwise it will be permanent. Restoration requires a powerful spell. I know of a cleric in town who can cast it... I just hope we have enough money to pay for the spellcasting." 

Rooster, still half-buried in garbage in the completely dismantled metal bin, straightens his shirt and "ahems" to clear his throat. Looking at Quillary (post 2524): "The harp... yes... I visited Regis earlier today. For a dwarf, he’s not so ba... oh who am I kidding? He’s pretty rough, even for a dwarf... I heard from a friend who heard from a Zhent agent that a certain musical instrument was here in Amphail, but Regis... nooooooo.... he claimed he didn’t have it. He pulled out this harp, and insisted that I would have a better performance using this one. Foolishly, I believed him, and bought this cursed harp."

OoC - Ooo, a big belt!

Jorin lets out a weary sigh and nods at Drusk, "I have too much to do to lose so many of my years so quickly.  Rooster, perhaps this cleric can give your harp a cleansing as well?"

“The recently dead dislike your music so much they look to end you?” Quillary asks. “Regis did not tell you of the harp’s curse? We should speak with him again.”

OOC > Unless, like, the adventure is over...

Quote from Mingofaust >>

“The recently dead dislike your music so much they look to end you?” Quillary asks. “Regis did not tell you of the harp’s curse? We should speak with him again.”

OOC > Unless, like, the adventure is over...

Rooster: "What will you do, after he says that he didn't know it was cursed? There would be no way of proving that was true or false."

DM roll:

For Hildigrim only:

The alleyway is getting brighter. Looking around, the sky is getting blue-er, and it is almost sunrise. Drusk reminds the group: "That Calypso lady wanted an answer when night was over. She will be expecting us in town center very soon."

Rooster brightens up. "The authorities? Great idea. Let's hurry." He gets up, and briskly marches towards the town center. As the group hustles to keep up with him, he mentions his theory...

"You interviewed the 3 people I met earlier, right? Maybe you have solid evidence now. But if you don't, I think I know who is causing all this undead trouble... That is kind of why I’m here. Rumors spread quickly about the ghosts prowling the streets, and I wanted to see it first hand – Amphail, the Town of the Dead, some call it! Ok, so nobody calls it that. But it has a certain ring to it."

Quillary is not the only one in the party giving Rooster the evil eye at his rambling. "Sorry, sorry... Anyways... At first I though it was Regis. That harp certainly caused trouble at the tavern last night, right? And you saw that Zhentarim pin he wears out in the open. That faction is always scheming, looking to gain power.

"Then I thought, maybe it was Bitter-Blossom. I was talking to her about lilies and orchids, and she started talking about spiritroot, for some reason. How it catches the attention of ghosts and all sorts of undead nasties. They say that it allows you to speak with the dead, but if you can talk to one, well, you’ll certainly gain the interest of others. She then insists she needed more of it, to get more roots or something. How the current town leaders were wrong to make spiritroot illegal... She was ranting. I don't think she even realized when I left... In my songs of tragedy, the happy ones are hiding the darkest secrets, right?

"But I realize now, it must be... Marigold. She wants a town filled with undead, not people. But the important event... When I came back from... uh... "watering the dandelions", she was going through my pack. I had time to check my belongings while I was sitting in that garbage bin, and I found a pouch of spiritroot in my backpack. I just wanted to speak with her about the sponsorship of my next Sword Mountains tour, and she plants illegal herbs on me! She must have used that as a target for her big zombie and ghosts to kill me. You saw how they tore open the garbage bin to get at me first, right? She is mad, and you must stop her."

The town center is some distance ahead. Calypso and a squad of guards are standing by the statue of Amphail. Rooster sprints towards them, waving his arms and yelling for their help.

The party is under no obligation to go faster than a brisk walk. At this pace, you have 2 or 3 minutes until you reach Calypso.

Enough time to discuss who you think should be accused of criminal activity, and the reasons why Calypso should believe you...

(Hildigrim assembled a bunch of details in post 2516, but now you also have some Rooster info to add to it.)

“We could say we’re lookin’ to purchase a cursed item? How much did you pay for it? We could pretend to offer double.”

Quote from JcAndD >>

“We could say we’re lookin’ to purchase a cursed item? How much did you pay for it? We could pretend to offer double.”

(As you can tell by post 2559, time is up for the investigation.

Nothing would come of going back to Regis, even if you had time to do that. He can claim he didn't know about a curse, and there would be no means to find out what really happened from him. Regis operates by getting items, no questions asked.)

(EDIT after reading 2562: Considering how long it took me to write and re-write that entry, I'm not surprised you posted an answer before I finished.)

(Yeah, posted that before the edit.)

Hildigrim tells the crew that the harp wasn't cursed in the alley, but there's a possibility that it had been cursed and the curse wore off. He also mentions he wishes they had thought to look in BB's back yard.

BB is clearly dealing in spiritroot, which is illegal. Regis is clearly dealing in ill-gotten items, which is illegal. Rooster purchased spiritroot, so that's illegal. The only one who I don't see having clear illegal activity is Marigold, so I'm inclined to say she's the one we should turn in, because it's always the one who looks the most innocent that is the most guilty. :)

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

Hildigrim tells the crew that the harp wasn't cursed in the alley, but there's a possibility that it had been cursed and the curse wore off. He also mentions he wishes they had thought to look in BB's back yard.

BB is clearly dealing in spiritroot, which is illegal. Regis is clearly dealing in ill-gotten items, which is illegal. Rooster purchased spiritroot, so that's illegal. The only one who I don't see having clear illegal activity is Marigold, so I'm inclined to say she's the one we should turn in, because it's always the one who looks the most innocent that is the most guilty. :)

 (We could also turn them *all* in!)

Quote from JcAndD >>

 (We could also turn them *all* in!)

(Calypso wanted 1, and only 1, name...

OOC: Only 1 culprit. I agree, the module needed a reason to rule out a conspiracy. Pretend that the greater zombie could only be animated by someone acting alone.

If you turn them all in for handling spiritroot, then Hildigrim and Jorin will join them since they have spiritroot marks too.

BB doesn't have any spiritroot in her place right now. Regis claims that he purchased all his items legally, and you don't have hard evidence to the contrary. Rooster said Marigold planted spiritroot on him, instead of him buying it... There are contradictions in their stories. Depends who you believe. Or whose story doesn't fit what what you do know for certain.

OOC: When I did this with a live group, they did accuse a wrong person. I've tried to tweak the storytelling a bit, so we'll see if that helped or not. And one of you made a comment about something fishy, that made me worry your group would figure it out too soon... If you tell me that there is too much confusion, I can point to that post.)