Skeletons in the Graveyard

Tai and Torinn had been training together, the big dragonborns arguing over the advantages of axe vs maul.  But when having dinner with Glesni, Khalid, and Ana, they had seen the group return the night before with news of the kobold stronghold, and they decided to visit Arnari in search of gainful occupation.

The next morning found the five Freelancers in Arnari's office, marvelling at the state of the half-elf's mahogany desk.  It seemed to have fewer papers on it, but remained a mess.  Arnari quickly ran through the available missions:

• Eggs
• Pollution cleanup
• Strange noises from cemetery in Parkside
• Sheep going missing from the hamlet of Sceap.

Khalid looked up sharply as Arnari listed the cemetery mission.

Ana:  I'd vote for the graveyard; potion is okay.
Tai:  same, but in other order.
Torinn:  do not care.
Khalid:  cemetery!
Tai:  Glesni's quiet.
Glesni:  actually, I agree with Ana.
Arnari:  Mayor Kaiea is funding this.  Should you succeed, it would be 100gp each before Freelancers' Cut.  There are strange sounds from a mausoleum.  Mostly at night, so you can go now, but probably want to go tonight.

Tai considered his axe, and started talking about getting it silvered.  Arnari did not think he'd be able to do that before the evening, and it would not do much good.  The others started arguing over the efficacy of silvered weapons, except for Torinn, who was obviously secure in the utility of the great maul strapped to his back.

Still arguing, they departed Arnari's office and Freelancers Tavern, walking north across Cliffshadow to the cemetery in Parkside.

The cemetery in Parkside was a reasonably large affair, and very open, not locked.  It was dotted with familial plots and mausoleums for the rich.  There were no guards, but daytime caretakers were in evidence.  Ana and Glesni stared around it all in fascination.

Ana roused herself.  "Let's ask the caretakers," she suggested brightly.  Perhaps she was happy not to have to take a mission in nature.

Casting about, they located a short but burly human man with salt&pepper hair, carrying a shovel.  His name was Dinkin.

Ana put on a façade of formal politeness and asked him cheerfully, "We've been sent to investigate something weird here overnight, but we were wondering if you'd noticed anything or seen anything."

Dinkin looked down at the shorter-than-himself Maker gnome, and said condescendingly, "There hasn't been any damage to the graves or mausoleum, but there's been sounds from the western side.  I can be happy to show you there."  He put his shovel on his shoulder at that last.

Ana told him, "Thanks, we would appreciate that!"  Her reply was so devoid of her usual snark that the other Freelancers all winced, and Dinkin led them across the graveyard, giving them the "5-copper tour," pointing out famous family plots and mausoleums.  Ana recognized House Thomas, who are hunters, by the statues of beasts on the graves of the House members slain by the beast.

Dinkin walked slowly, shovel on his shoulder; they couldn't tell if it was exaggerated deference to Ana or he just had a slower pace in his life.  After about 10 minutes, they were beyond the "fashionable" part of the graveyard; there were some mausoleums here and there, relatively plain; and smaller family plots.  Dinkin stopped, then said, "Please try not to desecrate or destroy anything," demonstrating he had figured out they were Freelancers.

"We'll be respectful," Tai rumbled; and satisfied, Dinkin left.

Ana didn't quite visibly sigh with impatience, summoned Hawkie, and sent the red-tailed hawk to circle above and see what there was to see.  The Freelancers watched the hawk circle against the clouds scudding across the sky.  Ana's eyes unfocused slightly as she "talked" to the familiar separately.

"Hawkie found a mausoleum with the door slightly cracked," she told the others, and they headed to go check it out, a bit westward of where Dinkin had left them.

The mausoleum was on the larger side, with a row of trees in front, and the name WENDEHALS carved proudly into the stone.  It did not sport any particular device, and as Ana had reported, the door was cracked.  She gave it an experimental push, and turned to the two dragonborn.

"Which of you two barbarians going to open this door?" she demanded, trying and failing to make it sound humorous.  Torinn walked up and inspected the mausoleum door gravely.  Satisfied there were no traps, he pushed the door open.  Nothing obvious stood out.

Weapons in hand, Torinn and Tai stepped inside, Khalid behind them.  Ana had Hawkie perch on the top of the mausoleum as Glesni climbed the stairs to stand slightly in front of her.  The front entrance had four sarcophagi in the corners, and stairs leading downwards opposite the door.  The two in the back were up some stone stairs.  Khalid walked past the two dragonborn, looking around, and missed that there were steps up; she tripped and did not actually fall prone, but instead caught herself on the lid of the sarcophagus in the back left, shoving the lid aside with the loud, scraping, sound only stone-on-stone can make.

A somewhat-fleshy, disembodied hand and two disembodied feet crawled out of the opened sarcophagus.  Well, the feet sort of hopped, not crawled.  To the Freelancers' growing horror, the same happened with the sarcophagus in the other back corner.  Two disembodied hands and a disembodied foot each crawled out of the two sarcophagi in front as well.

Khalid drew her short sword and dispatched the hand that had ended up between her and Tai.  She drew her dagger and stabbed at one of the feet, too, but missed.

• Ana stepped into the doorway of the mausoleum, determined to kill these with fire, which we know because she was crying "Kill it!!  Dead!!"  She cast burning hands, trying to avoid everyone, and scorched 5 of the hands and feet to the right of the door, as well as Torinn.  The Bronze dragonborn shrugged off most of it, but the hands and feet were no longer animated.
• Tai, who had started cracking jokes with Torinn, deftly dispatched a foot in front of him.
• Glesni sized up the placement of the remaining hands and feet, wanting to send a piercing arrow through them.  Alas, there was no good line, so she shot one of the feet next to Khalid, dispatching it.  She stepped up to the doorway.
• Torinn flattened the foot next to him with his great maul, and moved to the left side of the crypt.
• There were still two hands and one foot moving.
  • The foot hopped up to Torinn and tried to stomp on his toes, to no effect.
  • One of the hands crawled up to Tai, and scratched on his shins, deep enough to draw blood.
  • The other hand tried to do the same to Khalid, but was rebuffed by her leathers.

Khalid tried to dispatch the hand that attacked her with her shortsword, but missed.  She struck the stompy foot with her daggar, and sliced it up.

• Ana shot a firebolt at the hand Khalid missed, dispatching it, and then she moved against the wall to the right, far away from these weird undead hands & feet.
• Tai dispatched the remaining hand with his axe, kind of like a golf swing, but with axe.

Everything was re-dead.

Glesni stepped further in, and glanced into the nearest sarcophagus, to the left of the door.  An embalmed body was within, missing its hands and feet.  This person died a long time ago; the corpse was very decayed.  There was no odor of rotting flesh, and she noted that.

All the Freelancers realized there was no odor, and upon checking the rest, all of the bodies were missing hands and feet, and none of them were recent enough to match the decay levels on the attacking hands and feet.

"This is not a normal way to protect the deceased," Ana stated.  She thought a moment, then added, "We fought twelve… things; there are four bodies missing hands and feet.  What's up with the other 2 hands and 2 feet?"

Torrin speculated, "We might be facing a body builder," as Tai started replacing the sarcophagus lids.  "What do we need to do here to prevent reanimation?" Ana wondered out loud, but she was pretty sure they would not, and so was Glesni.

Suspicious of what else would be found if they descended the stairs, Ana performed a ritual cast of detect magic.  The familiar tavern song she sang for the ritual was muted, almost under her breath, as she was not going to belt out a song to alert those below.

Once finished, she checked the sarcophagi, and nothing lit up; she "saw" fading necromancy on the mangled hands and feet.  Ana moved to the top of the stairs, but detected nothing in range down the stairs.

It was pretty dark down there.

"Shall we proceed?" Ana inquired, adding, "I can keep it up for ten minutes, with concentration."  The others agreed, but at the top of the stairs, Torinn held up a clawed hand.

"Wait," he said, "We're about to descend into a crypt.  If this is teenagers, they're prodigies!  We should let Arnari know."

Glesni touched the silver figurine around her neck.  "I can use the raven," she offered, and everyone waited while the wondrous figurine manifested as a large black bird.  Glesni cast animal messenger and bade it find Arnari, with the message:
We are at crypt.  Already fought necromantic appendages.  About to descend below.

The raven flew off, and the Freelancers felt better; although Arnari would not, as it had not occurred to any of them at all to inform Arnari which crypt in the large graveyard.

Ana took point, with detect magic still going, with Torinn and Tai right behind her.  Khalid followed next, with the light cantrip cast on the pommel of her shortsword; and Glesni was in the rear, arrow nocked.

The stairs opened up to a long hall of catacombs, and no magic was detected.  They moved cautiously down the hall, and Torinn checked a sarcophagus just in case; but still nothing out of the ordinary.  He told the others, "seems the bodies are more recent as you go back."

The hallway ended in a dogleg; turn to the right, turn to the left.  Ana, Tai, Torinn, went around the corner, and saw… skeletons.  Standing there.  Four had weapons out: two with spears, two with axes & shields.  Two others were unarmed, but appeared more… fleshy.  They all had their hands and feet.

Tai raged, and Glesni saw that, but she could not see around the dogleg.  The Silver dragonborn moved forward, his great axe lightening with the power of his rage.  He threw it at the nearest skeleton, striking it with force, and it returned to his hand like a boomerang.

• Ana cast chromatic orb, and sent it at one of the "fleshier" skeletons behind.  It settled on acid before it struck, melting the flesh off the skeleton.  Ana moved right into the nearest alcove, too small to hold a sarcophagus.
• Torrin moved up slightly behind Tai, and also raged.  Scowling, he moved in front of Tai.
• Khalid moved up slightly behind Tai, and loosed an arrow from her short bow into the skeleton Tai'd hit with his axe.  It struck the sternum, collapsing the skeleton into a pile of bones.
• Glesni came around the corner and saw the skeletons.  Lacking a clear shot, she sent a seeking arrow at the remaining skeleton armed with a spear.  It struck the undead creature with force and pierced it, but did not collapse it like Khalid's arrow had.

The skeletons shambled forward; the lead axebearer went past Torinn, ignoring him.  Torinn swung his great maul at it and was blocked by the shield.

• The spear bearer missed Tai.
• The two "fleshier" skeletons attacked Torinn.  One of them landed a blow, and Torinn was starting to look worse for wear.
• The axebearers each attacked Torinn and Tai, and missed.

Tai stepped to his right, and inhaled, checking where Torinn was in front of him.  Then the Silver dragonborn exhaled the cold breath of his ancestors.  Crystals of ice formed on them all, and the two which Ana and Glesni had injured collapsed in a heap.  Tai stepped back to his previous position, not wanting the remaining skeletons to go past him.

• Ana emerged from her alcove and moved up behind Khalid.  She cast an upleveled chromatic orb on the remaining "fleshy" skeleton, which settled on acid with the same result of melting flesh, but it remained uncollapsed.
• Torinn moved into the alcove to his left, and the axebearer next to him slashed him with its axe.  The not-so-"fleshy" skeleton tried also, but missed him.  Then the Bronze dragonborn spat lightning at the three skeletons conveniently lined up in a row in front of him.
• Khalid, eyes watering from the bright lightning, stepped up to the axebearer in front and missed with her shortsword, and again with her daggar.
• Glesni moved past Torinn, and since the skeletons were conveniently lined up, she sent a piercing arrow through them all, slamming them with force.  The closest axebearer collapsed into a pile of bones with a shield on top.  The "fleshy" one did not seem to be hurt as badly by it.
  • This close to the undead, Glesni rode her surge of adrenaline and sank an arrow into the "fleshy' skeleton at close range.  It too collapsed into a pile of bones.

The remaining skeleton attacked Tai twice with its axe, but missed both times.  Tai struck it with his axe, the force killing it.

In the sudden quiet, Tai observed, "There are more skeletons than empty alcoves."  This reminded Ana to "see" what had lit up detect magic – well, the six skeletons had strong, but fading, necromantic magic – and she realized one of the axes was magic, and also boots on one of the fleshier ones; and the other axebearer had a magical pouch.  Ana wondered why a skeleton would wear boots, but mostly kept that out of her voice when she noted it to the other Freelancers.

Ana moved to retrieve these magic items, and found the skeletons had tokens of wealth as well, which was possibly more surprising than boots.  She retrieved 130 gp in assorted coins and 8 gemstones worth 50gp each: 1 Carnelian, 2 Chalcedony, 1 Chrysoprase, 1 Onyx, 1 Quartz, and 2 Star rose quartz.

Glesni was also looking at the piles of bones, trying to tell if any of the hands and feet of the skeletons were from a different origin.  But she really was not sure.  Ana also tried to figure that out, but just laughed nervously as she lifted the gems.

On a hunch, Tai went to the far end of the catacomb, and tried to check if the backmost sarcophagus was at all special.  It was closed but not sealed; on lifting the lid, he saw it was empty.

Ana paced back and forth, trying to figure out if the necromancy required to power these skeletons was "left behind", or if the necromancer had to be in a nearby tomb.  "I'm just not sure," she said, "if the necromantic control would be nearby."

Failing that, both Ana and Glesni tried to recollect how long it would take to raise skeletons.  Necromancy was outside of their magical interests, though; all they could remember was that the true challenge was finding the bodies to raise.

Torinn started lifting the sarcophagus lids.  Ana would look to find the expected skeleton still there.  As they did that and reported these findings, Glesni declared, "We need to come back."

"We need to find the necromancer," Ana retorted.  They both looked at the piles of bones on the floor, which were clearly not from these catacombs.  Glesni said, "So, is W… Wendehals using this crypt for necromancy, or did some other actor use this as a base?"

Tai ventured, "I'm thinking the latter."  Glesni replied, "We need to return after dark," and the others agreed, and they climbed back out of the mausoleum.

As they emerged from the mausoleum into the light of the Daystar zenith, the raven from Glesni's figurine flew up and landed on her shoulder.  She rather liked that.

They looked around and saw Dinkin puttering about in the distance.  Tai and Ana exchanged a glance, then moved towards him, and the others kept up.  He stopped and waited, putting the shovel on his shoulder again.

Tai:  we took a look in Wendehals mausoleum and, uh
Torinn:  it was weird, deeply weird.
Tai:  yeah.
Dinkin:  weird like the dogleg in the storm tunnels where the teenagers like to crap?
Torinn:  much weirder.
Glesni:  someone had animated the hands and feet of some of those bodies.
Dinkin <alarmed>:  we'll lock this!
Tai:  we manage to avoid any structural damage
Glesni:  except for hands and feet.
Tai:  those are not getting reattached any time soon.
<Dinkin freaked out, glancing nervously past the Freelancers at the Wendehals mausoleum.>
Dinkin:  we'll uh make sure the stonework is put back
<Dinkin left swiftly in the other direction.>

Tai and Ana looked at each other again.  "It's not Dinkin," Ana declared, and they headed back to the Freelancers Tavern.

Arnari was glad to see them return so quickly, but upon hearing their tale, mused unhappily that since it was not a teenage dare, "There will probably be another mission to investigate."  She doled out 90gp to each, and helped identify the magic items.  Khalid claimed the +1 battleaxe, intending to reforge it to a scimitar; the Winged boots fell to Glesni; and the pouch was a Handy Spice Pouch, which Ana took.