The Long Road - Game Thread

Hildigrim rejoins Jorin. "It could be that Mugrub was bound in order to be questioned before being murdered." He grimaces. "Or, if the marks are indeed from tentacles, perhaps the creature — whatever it might be — simply restrained her with its flailing appendages in order to decapitate her as we might with our hands." He sighs. "I believe our next stop is The Dead Man's Corner."

Quillary finishes up her ritual, leaving the copper coins involved on the chest of the victim, since there are no eyes to use. Then she stands and joins the others, catching up with what they have found.

"This is grim," she indicates the body. "Taking the head will lead to restlessness among the spirits, and uneven decay. We should find this, person, and stop them."

Hildigrim looks at Quillary — not skeptically or jovially, but curiously — and asks, "So, you're saying that, according to your religion, Mugrub will enter whatever afterlife there might be headless? What of those who die in a fire? Will they then be unable to enter the afterlife at all since they no longer have a body? Why does the condition or even configuration of one's body affect the soul? As I understand it, the soul is what supposedly 'crosses the veil', as you would say."

"Mm," Quillary says, not meeting Hildi's eyes. "You are correct, the body has... nothing... well. Nothing to do with the soul. A body could be hacked up, or burned, eaten even, and the soul will still cross the veil." She seems pretty unperturbed by the imagery she just brought up. "But the soul itself, it retains a... memory, call it. Like those restless souls we sent off in [name of town from earlier adventure]. Mugrub will not settle well into her afterlife, as orcs would have it, with this mischief done to her. Our actions may not change her fate, but we could prevent further such."

She looks around, then finally meets Hildi's gaze, but her eyes remain distant, remembering some other event. "This is not according to my religion, this is the way of life, death, and the veil. Even elves know the way across, though they think themselves unacquainted with it."

"Well," Hildigrim says, the slightest of grins affecting the edges of his mouth, "I'll believe it when I see it for myself."

Quillary gives the slightest of sighs, a small grin playing at her lips. “And you will. We all will.”

Jorin is intrigued by the possibility of a tentacular assailant.  On their way to the square he says, "Did I ever tell you about the time I fought a Kraken, barehanded, while crewing a ship out of Waterdeep?"

Quillary mouths Jorin’s story almost word for word as he retells it, but it’s a good story and she is doing it from a place of love.

:)

She will approach the open establishment and enter.

(OOC: The hardcover mentions that a Hag named Olive runs the shop. This module says that Laurel is a hag's assistant, but doesn't say anything other than that. Thank goodness for online searches!)

A human woman greets you from across the room as soon as you enter. "Welcome, welcome! I am Stillwater, running this shop. Laurel, that is, not me mum Olive. The hag is away, so the the assistant doesn't get to play, heh heh heh." She doesn't seem dangerous, but she has that odd glint in her eyes and disheveled hair that makes you worry about her stability.

She is adjusting a rope that is wound around a post. There are 3 zombies with dog collars, all of them "corralled" by ropes. The zombies sway slightly, but otherwise seem more dead than undead.

Laurel has a pair of pirate mummies on either side of her. They both stare intently over her shoulders as she works, but she is pretending not to notice them.

"Oh, adventurers! You must be here to purchase some zombies. Only 3 left, but you can make good use of them. They’re great for setting off traps!"

Quillary, in the lead, glances briefly at the zombies and winks at Laurel. “I think we’ve had enough of zombies for a while. We’re here about a key you gave Mugrub 300 gold to acquire?”

Quillary us both overtly friendly and also blunt. 

(OOC: It is coincidence that two of these recent adventures has a zombie shop. Mea culpa.)

"You may have seen other zombies, but not ones like these. Notice how dynamic they are."

She stares at the zombie next to her for a while. Then pokes it. Pokes it a few more times. Finally... it twitches. "Have I mentioned that they are ideal for setting off traps?

"For your other question, I can't just give out information about any sales that might or might not have happened in this store. Privacy, you know... Besides, I'm much too busy, as these prime, grade-A zombies should be sold before Olive gets back from her trip."

A pirate mummy on one side is almost in her face. She gives it a shove back. "Keep your distance when I'm with a customer. Olive told you to watch over me, but this isn't what she meant."

Jorin steps next to Quillary and rests how hands on the pommels of how weapons,"Mudgrub is dead, bound and beheaded in her home.  We are here investigating her murder as well as the location of this key."

"That is a shame about Mugrub. Seemed like a nice person, and she can't even be zombified without a head.

"I still don't think it would be right to talk about Mugrub's business dealings with other beings. They might not like it.

"I don't know where her house key is located. If she dropped it somewhere, it wasn't here.

"Think of how many traps you'll be avoiding if you buy one zombie. Now think of how many traps, if you had three of these zombies!"

After Jorin mentions his kraken story, Hildigrim perks up, reliably excited about any adventuring story, no matter how many times he's heard it. "Tell it again, Jorin!" he says encouragingly.

Upon entering the shop, Hildigrim begins taking in the shop first. Are there just the zombies, or other stuff as well?

Why not? Perception: 25

At present, only the 3 zombies for sale, Laurel, and the 2 pirate mummies monitoring her work. (There is a door behind the counter, which presumably leads to the rest of the shop: work space, supplies, living quarters, etc.)

There are signs that the shop can (and in the past did) hold more zombies and other supplies, but for now the shop is relatively bare.

Hildigrim adopts a look of curiosity while looking at the three zombies for sale and the two pirate zombies. "I'm afraid I must confess to zombie-use ignorance. Besides 'setting off traps', what are these fine creatures' features? My only experience with them is the process of returning them to the state from which they were reanimated."

"The pirate mummies are not for sale. My mom is a little overprotective while she is away, so there are here to make sure  I actually do the shop work  in case there are any bad customers. But looking at your group, you five are certainly..." She trails off, thinking about what to say, then decides to say nothing.

"These fine zombies will do whatever you command them to do. Stand behind them, and use them as meat shields. Have an unwanted bill collector at your door? Use the zombie as a door stop. Most importantly, which I haven't mentioned before because it is their prize feature... they are ideal for setting off traps.

"Here, let me demonstrate what they can do. Closest zombie, go to that wall." (It doesn't move.) "Go to that wall." (Still no movement.) "Go to that wall !" (She lifts her leg to kick/shove the zombie as hard as she can. The zombie stumbles three steps towards the wall, then just hangs there.) "What dynamic action!"

Jorin is now intrigued by the zombies, "How would you rate their wrestling skills?" he asks.

Quillary grits her teeth. "How much to get you to stop talking about the zombies?" she asks putting a gold coin on the counter.