Selvin slowly drifts to the ground as his wings slow their flapping. He glanced at Zuni and gave her a smile from inside the symbiote. He turned to Tarrov and frowned, opening and closing his mouth a couple of quick times. Then he shrugged, "I suppose we should be thorough. Never know what the ghouls might've had, right? I mean, remember what we found in the sunken ship??"

Selvin takes a deep breath and begins quickly searching the bodies.

Zuni pulled a piece of cloth from the ghasts body and used it to wipe her blade clean.  Selvin caught her attention and she watched him land.  The Half-Elf and his companion still fascinated her and she almost walked right into Tarrov.  She caught herself and instead turned to inspect Tarrovs wound.  The scratches on the the handsome mans face did not look bad but who knew how septic those things were.

"You should clean that." Zuni said to Tarrov.  "You don't want to catch some infection from those ghouls.  You as well Belgar."

She turned to regard the dead undead around them.  "What could have animated them?  I'd hate to think that some plague going through town could do this."

A search of the bodies not charred beyond recognition does turn up a few interesting bits.

First, these weren't the bodies of the common poor. Their clothes, though torn and bloodied and muddied, is of fancy enough cloth to denote these were probably paid servants of a wealthy house. A few of them have a coat of arms embroidered on the sleeves or lapel.  It seems most of these people served House Arkona.

Another oddits are the coins. Each of the bodies have a few gold coins in a pocket or tied up in a kerchief. The coins are standard Korvosa issue. But it isn't common for servants to have gold on them. Or for dead commoners, even those heaped into a forgotten pile, to be buried with gold. Many of the bodies have five coins. A few have four. Two have three. No one has less than that. No one more than that. 115 GP total

Many of the bodies are lacking shoes. There are deep wounds in the soles of all of their feet. As if they had stepped on long spikes.

Lastly the two who have three coins are each missing their right eye.

Belgar nods at Zuni, "Aye, I suppose yer right."  He pulls out his healer's kit and begins to treat the bite wound on his arm.

07:18, Today: Belgar Ironclad rolled 18 using 1d20+13.  Heal himself.

Selvin frowned as he begin piecing through what he found. His frown deepened the further it went on. Finally, he came back to his allies and told them what he'd found. "This is...strange. Is the House killing off its servants and raising them? But then why let them just roam free?" The injuries on the feet made him think they would need to be careful of where they stepped when they approached the house.

OOC: Is there a custom for burial with gold, like in the real world with two coins to cross the river sort of thing?

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 338):

There may be Selvin. However most families would not use gold coins. Too valuable. If they did they would use a couple of coppers.

"It certainly seems too deliberate to just be the disease," Izzick said. He took a bit closer look at the bodies, but his nose shriveled and he reeled back a bit sickened, "Maybe we should move on and figure this out when we don't have rotting corpses underfoot."

"Maybe they weren't expecting them to get back up and wander around." Zuni added.  "Could the Arkonas be performing some sort of ritual on their servants?  Except that instead of dying, the bodies get back up again."

She took a few moments to look over the bodies and tried to ignore the smell.  "We'd best be on our guard when we get there.  It doesn't look like they do this to entertainers but one cannot be sure."

Selvin let out a long sigh, frowning a bit as he did so. "I don't like this. Not one bit. The city has gotten so messed up an' weird lately, it's hard t'tell up from down anymore."

He shook his head but then shrugged. "Oh well. I guess nothin' t'be done 'cept try t'save the whole city, right? Shall we press on?" He grinned.

You step over the bodies and head towards the dry dock. Slipping down along the length of the Gulley you once more move under the piers and up the shoreline.

The sun starts to dip towards the horizon as you emerge into the culvert. Along one side, a high stone wall runs. It appears you are on the border of the Arkonian estate. You can see nothing of the grounds from where you are standing.

You guys can climb the wall here. It's about eight feet high but an easy enough climb. You can also follow the wall to a gate. Your call

"I hope ya don't mind but I'm gonna have a look see."  Belgar whispers as he scrambles up the wall to have a peek over.  He's not a bad climber for being so stumpy.  Seems he's had a little training.  As he peers over, he holds his head at an angle that conceals him the most.

07:22, Today: Belgar Ironclad rolled 14 using 1d20+7.  climb.
07:23, Today: Belgar Ironclad rolled 36 using 1d20+17.  Perception. (38 if there's anything to notice about the stone masonry)
07:25, Today: Belgar Ironclad rolled 33 using 1d20+14.  Stealth.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

In reply to Belgar Ironclad (msg # 344):

Belgar shimme and then shallies up the wall so well, you might mistake him for a halfling  with a thyroid problem.

The view from the top shows the estate. A small manse sits atop a crook in the nearby wooded hill. A path winds upwards from a gate in the wall about a hundred yards north and east from here. Besides the wall, the only noticeable defenses is a small three story tower set halfway up the path between the gate and the manse.

There appear to be a handful of guards at the gate. And you can spy a few figures at the mansion. But otherwise, it seems fairly dead around here.

Belgar hops down.  "The gate is about a hundred yards that way.  There's a few guards there.  They also have a tower on the path leadin' up to the house.  Looks like there's a few folks at the house as well."

"We were going to go in the front door disguised as entertainers and I think that might still be our best bet."  Zuni said.  "In spite of what we're learning about this family, I think that sneaking in might be a little too dangerous.  We don't know what's on the mansion grounds."

Selvin made a worried face for just a moment as he spoke but couldn't hold it long and smiled. "But what if those ghouls were the last entertainers the family had?" He gave a shrug and a chuckle. "I'm up for whatever. Still not sure about being entertainers but if that's plan I'll do what I can."

"That is a possibility." Zuni replied.  "Those bodies looked more like servants than outsiders.  Pretending to be entertainers might let us get a measure of the mansion without rousing any suspicion..."

Zuni paused, looking over at Selvin.  Would a Half Elf wearing a magical cat rouse suspicion?   Selvin had certainly caught Zuni's eye for certain but that might not hold the same for the Arkonas.

"If we go up the main path like we're entertainers," opines Chandanar , who for some reason sounds more handsome than usual, "...we should at least reach the Manor in safety. One would think at least. And we can do some recon. The flip side is they get a chance to recon us as well. If we sneak in, we might...I dunno...trip on a dragon or something. But even if we raise the alarm, all they'll know is that they have intruders. The flip side of that is we lose the chance to assess the situation before all hell breaks loose. Both ideas have pluses and minuses. So what day we wanna do then?"

"It wouldn't be the first time we've gone in disguise. This might be a bit nicer than pretending to be a plague victim," he recommended, knowing his Disguise Self spell would come in handy once more.

Oriental dokie. Sounds like ya'll are going the disguise route. Let me know how everyone disguises themselves...if there's any particular type of entertainers or such you become that is... please and we will move ahead. Thanks.

Izzick's hands weaved his spell, turning him into a less orcish figure. He took on the form of a fortune teller, a human Varisian one, taking on the guise of a harrow reader and pulling out his deck.

Selvin wished he had a big bouncy ball or several smaller balls or something to be more...entertain. He tucked his holy symbol away. "I suppose I should let my companion go home for a bit an' then...summon him as part o'the show?" He seemed unsure of what to do.

"If I'm goin' ta look anythin' other than a dwarven fighter, we'll have to stash my armor somewhere...  handy."  Arms folded, a bit of concern on his face.

"I can carry your armour." Zuni said to Belgar.  She shrugged her backpack off and opened it up to show the edge of another bag within the pack.  "I have...extra space in my backpack."

She pulled out a small bundle of clothing and started to take off the chain shirt that she was wearing.  Putting the armour into her pack, she then shook out the dress that she had brought with her.  "I brought something to change into, an outfit more befitting an entertainer.  I'd appreciate it if you would turn away while I change."

Belgar nods at Zuni.  He quickly turns his back to her and begins to unbuckle his breastplate.  He glances over his shoulder a bit as he works, fortunately dwarves heads don't turn that far around.  "Say Tarrov, ya got anythin' for me to dress up with?  Clown make up er somethin'?"

Belgar, the party got a hold of two different items that act as Hat of Disguise before you joined. So you can use one if you like. Sounds like ya'll are going with circus performer type theme then. I will us to the new thread tomorrow. Thanks.