"That is wise, catman. Should we wait for it to go away or try to sneak by it then? Some of our companions might be wearing too heavy of an armor set for us to try the shadowy approach, I'm afraid..." Hermenor says, clearly favoring the patient option.

Tyr thought for a moment "Does anyone have the ability to create a distraction, some type of sound or smell that may draw it away? It may help to sneak by or even fully draw him out of the cave long enough to get by him." he asked looking at the party.

Ragnir: (to the party) "I'm not very stealthy, so lets try distracting the bear, waiting it out, or putting it out of its misery. Although none of you seem to like the last one."

As you are contemplating your decisions another grunt can be heard coming from the cave.   It’s not as loud, in fact it’s higher pitch as well.  Coming from the cave is a bear cub walks out.As it whimpers towards it’s mother, no black ooze can be seen coming from its eyes.

Ragnir: (to the party) "We have to help the cub. if we're certain we can't save the mother, then we'll have to put it down and find a way to care for the cub."

"How about this," Hermenor suggests, "We put mama bear out of her misery, and trap the cub within the cave until we are able to return from the Grotto. We can then escort the cub back to the village. I am sure your people could use a trained bear, right Shayna?"

Hermenor knows this is a sort of wild idea, but it is worth a shot.

Shayna looks back at the group.  “We will take it back for meal and fur before we make a pet.  the cub can still be infected and we not know.  Death is part of nature, either it gets stronger or it dies.  I say we avoid them if we can.”

Ragnir: (to the party) "Well maybe i can take care of the little guy until he is strong enough to be on his own. the guild probably has stables or pens to keep animals at."

"Aye. If Shayna is just going to kill it for meat, then I'm with Ragnir." Hermenor gives up on his original idea.

Tyr just looked at the party and listened to what they had to say "If we kill the mom and take the cub it may die from the fact that none of us know how to take care of a bear I'm assuming. If we trap it in the cave until we get back, we are assuming we are going to make it back or come by this way again. I'm also not for leaving something motherless, if what we are about to do is going to cleanse the mother. As for keeping a bear in stables with other animals...the thing about carnivores, they eat things that are easy to kill, like horses or mounts."

He thought for a moment "How about this - we go cleanse whatever this is. Come by this way and check on the baby and mom - instead of just killing somethings mother and hoping it forgives us down the line when it's bigger and could kill us?"

"The catman does make a lot of sense..." Hermenor says looking at Ragnir, and completely undecided at this point. The elf is so confused from agreeing with everyone over the last few minutes, that he looks at Priton for some idea of what to do: "What do you think, dragonborn?"

Priton looks back to Hermenor “we’re supposed to remove the curse from these lands, yes?  I think that means we remove that which is infected.  We know fire works for that.  I don’t think the cub could be danger enough for quite a while to where we would have to worry about that.”

"Perhaps we should just focus on our direct mission after all. For all we know, whatever is infecting this bear will heal itself once we cleanse the source. Let us just move past these bears, I say." Hermenor sighs, giving up trying to come up with a unanimous decision.

The elf then looks around to see if the mama bear has moved away from either the cub or the mouth of the cave, hoping that over the duration of this conversation she has moved away from the group.

-> Perception: 11

Ragnir: (to the party) "Alright, i'm counting on this. i'm not sure if i can forgive myself if something happens to that cub because of our decision now. Where to next?"

As you have watched the bear, it has become obvious that it’s very preoccupied with whatever is afflicting it. It has wandered and stumbled further away from the cave.  The cub just following behind; calling out.  

Hermenor - you can tell this bear is completely blind.

Shayna states “nows our chance”. As you all scurry down the path, unnoticed.

you continue making your way through the brush.  The trees get bigger and the shrubs get more dense.... more foreign. Vibrant colors, pls tell that retract as you get near, the sky begins to turn to colors of pink and orange,  the smell of pollen is heavy in the humid air seemingly collecting in a lump in the back of your throats.  It makes travel slower trying to make your way  for another hour. 

Coming to a clearing, the plants lessen and the skies go back to normal blue and partly cloudy.  In a short distance away there is a dark path going through a dense collection of trees.  5 bodies are laying on the ground scattered through the opening.  Motionless, all donned with red cloth on their shoulders.  

Ragnir - a cold feeling crawls up the back of your head.  You look down and your sword is beginning to vibrate and glow a faint blue hue.

Tyr looks at his party member a little curious when he calls the Tabaxi a catman - as if it were somehow offensive. He just shrugs it off though as the woman says move and begins to move with her through the tress and shrubs. As they come into the clearing he stops looking at the bodies that lay on the ground "Should we check on them or keep moving?" he asks as he keeps the bodies in his sight.

Ragnir: (to the party [in a whisper]) "Everybody hold up! There's danger nearby."

When Priton hears this he will grab out his mace and ready an attack

The bodies, though recently fallen bare no flesh wounds or blood.  You see black veins spreading up from their collars to their face like ghastly spiderwebs.  Their eyes dogged over with just white contrasting the ichor seeping from their tear ducts.  The begin to rise one by one.  

Z1 Z2 Initiative: 19

Z3 Z4 Initiative: 2

Z5 Z6 Initiative: 16

Hermenor Initiative: 18

Priton Initiative: 5

Ragnir Initiative: 17

Tyr Initiative: 17

(Tyr has higher initiative boost, he wins tie. Tyr acts first)

The zombies on the ground are grouped into 3 pairs about 10 feet apart from each other.  They’re back up against the trees.  1,2 to the left; 3,4 in the middle; 5,6 to the right.

Tyr just looks at the bodies rising and begins to look around as he drew his short swords "I'll sneak up on them from behind." he whispers to his party as he tries to hide before any of the zombies notice him and then moved to flank them.

[OOC] stealth check: 18

forgot to add the plus 8 to the roll - total: 19