What's left of it, anyway. The surrounding fields of grain rot unharvested. Houses lay empty with their doors open, save for one.

An old man, bald with a long gray beard, sits on a bench on his front porch holding a crossbow in his arms. A battleaxe lies on the bench next to him. He frowns when he sees you.

"GET OUT! IT'S NOT SAFE HERE!"

"We know, that's why we are here. We heard stories about zombies and strange worms. Care to give us a summary of the situation? Where has everyone gone to?"

He points towards the well.

"They come out at night. Jump back in before dawn."

"I... I meant the non-un-dead town people. Unless you are meaning to say that EVERYONE in town got converted, in which case I'll bid you farewell and wish you the best in your new life as a zombie"

"The lucky ones ran away. I'm the only one left. I'm too old to run and too stubborn to let a worm eat through my chest and ride me around like a hobby horse. I'm going down fightin!"

He nods solemnly.

"If you're here to go down that well and kill all them worms, well...may the gods be with you."

"What do they look like?! The worms, I mean. And has anyone tried to fight one? Maybe fire would work? Isn't this great having the band back together!?" says Jack, beaming.

Pyle's face puckers as he glares at the well.
"Never mind all that. How much time till nightfall? We'd better get ready."

It's about noon. You see four people entering the town square, they have the anxious air about them of volunteers in search of adventure!

They are a dwarf with a pick and a lantern, a female elf, a man in leather armor with a short sword, and a lady with a staff.

The four strangers walk up to the others at the meeting place, nervously eyeing their surroundings.  The dwarf with the pick is the first to speak.  He addresses everyone in a gravelly voice that sounds as ancient as he looks.  "Greetings all.  Horst Uberreiner here.  Pleased to make your acquaintance.  The guild chap said to come this way for a chance at some coin.  Spent all my life in the mine but when the ore is gone...well, nothing else to be done and a dwarf's still gotta eat.."  He hefts his pick and iron-hard muscles ripple under his sagging skin.  "My best days may be behind me but I can still hold my own when necessity calls."

A plain-faced human woman in her early 20's stands by the dwarf's side.  She's slim but not emaciated and obviously no stranger to manual labor as evidenced by her calloused hands.  She's dressed in simple home-spun clothes and examines everyone with a cautious expression.  Shrugging, she says, "I guess it's my turn?  My name's Mila.  I've served the Boddigtons as ostler and stable-girl for going on three years, I have.  Not my fault they turned me out over that tryst with their son, Tobias.  HE was more interested in ME than the other way 'round.  Said I was going to go and ruin that arranged marriage 'tween him and Priscilla.  Now I'm homeless and HE still gets to live his good life.  Anyway, some ol' well can't be worse than spending another minute with that fop."

A rotund elven woman peeks out from behind Horst.  She speaks in an annoying cheerful voice. "Hello everyone!  So good to meet each of you!  I'm Rota Iago, chandler at the Stalforth estate.  I always hear stories of the great heroes who find fame and fortune and thought, if they can do it why not ME?"  She giggles, a broad smile extending from ear to ear.  Her eyes twinkle in excitement.  "The Falforth's are SO kind and gave me a leave of absence to come join you.  I can't wait to learn ALL about everyone and engage in a bit of daring heroics!  Now if anything extreme were to happen..."

A shifty-looking human steps in front of her, cutting her off.  He gives a mirthless grin and stares at the others.  Spinning his short sword point-down on the palm of his hand, he says "You can call me Slik.  That's all you really need to know.  Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours."

Jack steps up to strangers with a broad smile painted on his face.
"Welcome one and all! The name's Jack. Jack Quick. Too bad we couldn't meet on a happier occasion, but what can you do?"
His glance lingers on the ostler for a moment too long and seems to avoid the man with the dagger altogether.
"Anyway, the plan seems to be we go down the well before the monsters come out. Any volunteers for first one down?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:23, Sun 05 Mar 2023.

Pyke stands back assessing each stranger in turn, weighing their prospects and liabilities. He gives a curt nod at their introduction and answers only with "Pyke." as an introduction of himself.

At Jack's suggestion, Rota squeaks in excitement and takes a step toward the well.  "I'll do the honors!  This is so exciting!  Let's see what's down..."

Horst gently grabs her by the shoulder.  "Whoa Lass!  No telling what we might find down there.  Why don't I go first and you can follow?  Make sure nothing sneaks up behind me?"  The elf pouts for a moment and then her infectious smile returns.  "It's a deal!"  The two carefully approach the side of the well and Horst looks for a rope or ladder that they might use.

Mila dutifully follows after them while Slik rolls his eyes and hangs back to see what everyone else will do.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't hear: every infected citizen is down there. We are talking..."

Urmdrak turns to the old man

"... how many? a dozen? two?"

"Going in there sounds like a very complicated suicide, is my point. We know they come out at night, so why not prepare until then? Fire would be a good first step, since they hide from the sun"

Urmdrak didn't bother with his name. Best to not grow attached to the new guys, specially since they seemed to be quite heroic. There is a reason why heroes are few and thin: most with the inclination don't make it.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Wed 08 Mar 2023.

The old man shakes his head.

“I can’t tell you how many villagers succumbed, but the worms…for every one I kill, two come out the next night. They’re breeding down there…and it’s only a matter of time before they claim the whole valley and spread from there. Unless they’re stopped.”

"Sounds like a job for... fire." says Pyke, darkly.
"We'll need lots of oil and a way to light it."

Urmdrak lets out a sarcastic (and unnecesary, really) "Great idea, did you come up with that on your own?", and gets to searching the town. Since it's abandoned already, he shows little care for the doors, as he starts kicking down the front entrances of nearby houses to search for any lamp oil that may have been let behind in the haste of the escape.

Make a Luck roll.