[IC] Table of Monsters

[Evanist]

Deravan, who let out a sighed, cleaned off the dust from himself as he listens to Robert say something about fire. Fire... dry... and zombies... that would probably be the best way to attack them. He then take the lit torch, keeping it in one hand.
"Well... I guess we will need to take every torches we can. For undead creatures, they do seem to have some kind of defense." he then says, before waiting on everyone else to get ready to move on. Probably he could use those torches to throw at zombies later if they find enough of them.... though was that a good idea? Might hurt them a lot more if thrown, but it will make it that he would lose it. Probably if they fight something that is way tougher he would need to do that.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma gave a satisfied grunt as the zombie crumpled to dust. She wanted to explore the cave now but Robert said they should light the zombies on fire. Hmm, she didn't want to use a torch because that would take away from her hitting power. Eh she would hold a torch in one hand and punch with the other, simple. She snatched a torch of the wall quickly lighting it from one of the already lit torches and strode forward into the cave. "Ready?" Dorisma grunted out turning back to face them inquisitively.

[Lugia]

"Actually, Dorisma, I'd kind of like a short rest before we continue on. My magical energies feel a little depleted, and we can't really continue fighting these things without magic, can we?" I say to Dorisma before finding a good spot, and sitting down for a while. Backstabs was on the lookout for more zombies, though, I kept my eye on her given her history as well as her name. That short rest seemed to give me all of my energy back, which was certainly preferable. "Alright, NOW I'm ready to go on," I then say as I head down the path, finding an open and empty treasure chest, as well as a couple piles of dust with some old shoes, and ragged clothing which made me think that these used to be goblins. The path seemed to split after the treasure chest, though, it did so at an angle which made it resemble the letter 'Y' more than the letter 'T'. I waited for the rest of my team until Backstabs suddenly comments out of nowhere "I can't believe that this used to be my home... that THIS used to be the most prosperous goblin village on the continent. Whatever's making this dust... to reduce an entire village to no more than, well, dust, I guess, they're certainly powerful. Hey, Robert, mind if we continue down the path to the right? That's where I used to live," after my initial surprise, I look towards my other teammates, wondering which way they wanted to head. I, personally had nothing against visiting Backstab's home, even if there's no chance of it having survived... whatever hit this place, but the others probably either didn't trust her, or just wanted to see what was on the left path. Good adventurers head left... I wonder, though, do we qualify as adventurers? Yeah, I'm sure we do, I mean, sure we're not human, but we've already been through plenty, at least, enough to be considered beginning adventurers I think, later asking "So... what do you think? Should we head left, or right? I'd prefer to head right, where Backstabs' lived, I mean, she's probably worried sick of whoever's left in there, and rightfully so,"

[Evanist]

Deravan listens to what Backstab said, and then what Robert asked, before looking to the right, torch in hand.
"I think we could... And maybe we could find things to help us against those things possibly. I suspect you know some interesting places to hide stuff near where your home is... right backstab?" he then says, his torch lighting the way towards the path, hoping the nothing bad would come out to attack them right at the moment. Any dead body on the ground... they should burn quickly before they rise up... let them have a final funeral by fire he guessed.
"Remember to keep your guard up... any dead body we might want to burn before they rise up..." he then sudgest. They were zombies... so they probably would try to rise up from their spot to attack the group if the group went too close.

[Riddles]

Trey nodded when the Kobold suggested that they rest for a little while. "I think we could all use a break." He said. "I need time to restore my magical energy a little."
Once the group began heading deeper into the cave, Trey followed. Unfortunately for him, the ceiling was too low for him to fly, so he was grounded for now. Being forced to walk slowed him down, but he was still able to keep up with the group.

"So, I don't think I caught anyone's name, besides Deravan's." He said. He figured that now would be a good time to bring this up, since they weren't getting attacked by zombies at the moment. "I think he's the only one who told me his name when we ran into each other back at the campsite."
They then ended up at a fork in the path, and the goblin told them that her home was to the right.
"She used to live in this cave, so she'd know it better than any of us." Trey said. "I say we head right."

[Eklispe]

Dorisma sighed and sat down breathing deeply until the party was ready to contiune. Then they contiuned on, Dorisma spent her time making sure nothing snuck up on them. They were now given a split in the path, but first she answered the bird, "Name Dorisma, follows Stab right is good plan." Dorisma said contently and waited for the small goblin to lead the way.

[The Grey Dust]

Two Roads Diverged in the...
Well anyways. There should be a bad joke here.
No, joke, but there was a wooden spoon left in the middle of the road.

"Well, I suppose we could apply several theories regarding the statistical ventures however I am afraid I would require far more data to even come remotely close. As such I concur with the general idea of following the local goblinoid as they would most likely have the best knowledge out of the group of six to select the proper path yielding maximum benefit. Although, one could counter with the analysis of the super-intent dogma and suggest that, the proper path would only yield the maximum benefit for only one of any given number, due to the arithmetic proving itself to have some strong correlation when plotted. Thus I would suggest following the goblinoid with the most cautious advance as possible as I believe given her knowledge of the area, it would fall upon her to be the beneficed of this chosen path." R'lyeh began a pseudo-lecture on the art of S'Augwin statistics. "Given this, and her eagerness to find rewards for her endevors, let alone her name, perhaps it would be the best course to let her take the lead? If you would pardon my slightly warranted paranoia?"

"As for using fire, I suppose, although the fire would increase the rate of dehydration for me and as such I would elect not to carry such elements near my person. Oh, and my name is 'R'Lyeh' in my people's language it means 'great light' and I have become accustomed to calling the blue kobold 'Wasskal' which literally translates to 'water scale,' although the long form would be 'one who bears the scales of the deep blue waters.' It is a more honorable title than 'kapskal' or 'kelp scale' referring to anyone with red-brown-orange scales. Although perhaps should he prove himself quite able to join us in the seas, he would earn the name 'Skynskal' meaning 'one who bears the scales of the kin.' the highest honor we S'Augwin hold to the kobold races to mark them as our accepted brethren..."

And at which point, R'lyeh, or Riley as they called him, decided to keep quiet about the jars of undead viscera he had harvested from the undead goblins...

[Lugia]

R'lyeh went on and on about how he and the rest of his kind named things, all the while, eventually agreeing with the rest of us, who wanted to follow Backstabs to the right, and towards her old home. I then remember that I never told Trey my name, and while we walk along the rightwards path, I say "Oh, I'm sorry I forgot, but my name's Robert. According to my parents, though, that's a cursed name. I never really believed in curses, anyways," once I finished my introduction, the path seemed to widen, revealing a small village, or, at least, a part of one, where there appeared to be doors and windows carved from the stone, itself. There were several buildings a few of which had corpses hanging from one of the windows, or near the doorway. Wow. This place actually looks nicer than Birchvale, and it seems like there's even a higher population. I can't imagine what Backstabs is going through right now, seeing her friends, enemies, and other random villagers just lying there, as if they were going about their day and then died within the second. I think as I continue to look around the ghost town, all while still following Backstabs. I manage to peer through one of the windows, and even see a family, dead of course, sitting at what would appear to be a dining table, with some decayed meat sitting in the center of said table. I was still looking through the window when Backstabs suddenly took a right turn. It took me a few yards to realize that we were no longer heading straight, but I managed to catch up. I look past my teammates and witness Backstabs clinging onto a goblin corpse, crying. Said corpse seemed to have a stab wound of some sort on its chest, and it seemed to be in front of two other corpses, one of them smaller than the other. "Dad... Mom... and even Annoys-her-sister. Who... what... did this?" I would have answered, but, in all honesty, it seemed as though something else, something more powerful than a human did this. Backstabs, still crying, apparently noticed that I opened my mouth, and asked me, specifically, and loudly "WHAT DID THIS!?" Stunned, all I manage was a somewhat cowardly "I... I don't know," that didn't help her mood at all, and she went right back to crying. What was odd was the fact that all the 'valuables' were still in tact, even if they were dusty.

[Riddles]

The entire group seemed to agree that going to the right was the best option. As they kept going through the cave, they passed by a bunch of houses filled with innocent Goblins, all of whom had become decaying corpses. Trey kept an eye out for zombies, since any one of them could get up and attack them at any moment.

Eventually, they came across three dead bodies that appeared to have belonged to Backstabs' family. She was clinging to one of them, crying.
"This was a human's doing, without a doubt." Trey said. "No other species would have defiled a village of innocent Goblins like this."
This village had suffered the same fate his village had all those years ago. Completely destroyed, with only one survivor. Whoever did this, and anybody that was helping them, were going to pay for what they did.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma growled quietly as they passed through the ghost town. She didn't like this one bit. She watched angrily as Backstabs found her family and sobbed out her grief. "Come," Dorisma rumbled in her deep voice, "We will kill those responsible." Killing them was bad enough but if it was like last time there was something running around that was raising these corpses and making them into mockeries of life. And that was un-excusable. She looked out from the house they were in, her eyeballs piercing the darkness searching for foes.

[Evanist]

Deravan looked at the corpses and looked down sadly, thinking a bit. He sighed.
"Humans.... always humans.... and it seems like someone that is a mage of the necromancer type..." he says, annoyed. He breath deeply before going near Backstab.
"We will find who is responsible for this and make them pay... but we need to move if we want to find whoever is responsible for this." he says, sad. He then moves forwards, torch at hand, searching the area, but not finding much at the moment. He sighed. He just hoped there won't be more zombies all the way while they moved. Those things are already hard enough for him to hit hard.

[The Grey Dust]

"Do not rush into conclusions without considering the evidence here. While humans are a barbaric race, they are not without their merits. That being said, judging by the cause of death here, it appears there is definitely an element of the arcane involved. Although the direct cause of death seems to be exvivification, I am unfamiliar with the methodologies involved in necromancy." R'lyeh began to examine the male goblin rather casually as if it was the norm for him to begin corpse studies on another person's loved one. "I am not accustomed to goblin death rites, however I discern cause of death here to be related to this stab wound, given the angle and, depth of penetration, and shape of the wound..." Yes, he had a webbed finger exploring the body. "It feels like a dagger, slight bruising around the entry suggests a hilted dagger of significant force. A coupe-de-gras which, had unfortunately met a wall of flesh. Yet the lack of wounds from the others suggest the rest were magically slain. Or poisoned. Or suffocated. Either way, their biological processes had suddenly came to a stop without external injuries."

"What's this? Oh. Oh. That is unfortunate. It appears I have found a slight blockage in his coronary arteries. A slight build up of fatty deposits it seems." R'lyeh withdrew his hand, covered in blood as he wiped it using a nearby cloth. "I am sorry Ms. Friends, however your father would have suffered a fatal cardiac arrest within a few days regardless of his current state. Shall we consume your family members in their memory? Or do Goblins also bury their deceased?"

[Lugia]

I was about to say something about this, but I felt as though R'lyeh explained the situation enough. Backstabs, through the tears, said "N...no... we usually burn our dead, and not just with any torch, either, we'd do that in the village's heart, a campfire we set up, and keep fueled for as long as the village lives. This village's heart seems to have gone out, though," I, again, couldn't find anything to say, nothing, at least as far as I could tell, would help her calm down and continue onwards to wherever it was we were heading... oh, right, the humans, but where were they, anyways? Weren't they supposed to be ravaging this place? Maybe they already left? Of course, if they did, then they probably took from their treasure room, or whatever equivalent they had here. I think as I try to think of what to say. Maybe a quick check in the treasure room would tell me what happened. After a few moments of basically fighting with myself over whether or not it would be right to ask her where their treasure room was at this point, I eventually say "I think I know where the humans are. They're in your village's treasure room, do you know where that is?" Backstabs nods, and as I leave, she weakly says "I'll take you there," she did just as she said, leading me to the back of the cave, and thankfully, along the way, no zombies attacked myself, or my group, however, once there, I see three human bodies, one slumped over the chest, one near the entryway, and one on the back wall, as well as one goblin who seemed to be hugging the chest. These corpses seemed to be in even worse shape than the rest, and, after a quick look at their weapons, the only one with a dagger was the goblin. The human on the chest had no weapons, and some sort of robes, meaning he'd be a monk like Dorisma, the one on the back wall had a mace, and the one near the entryway had some sort of staff. Only the one with the mace seemed to have any sort of armor, but, it seemed as though the treasure wasn't taken, which meant two things. One, we could take the treasure for ourselves, and two, the humans might have less to do with this than we thought... and heck, these could very well have been the ones that the greysmith was talking about. I then have trouble deciding whether or not we should take what's inside, as, for once, Backstabs seemed hesitant, not only that, but she didn't seem to want to take any of the corpses' weapons, or other belongings. "Any idea what happened here?" I ask everyone as I try to figure out what I could from the corpses. It seemed like the humans were fighting the goblin over the treasure, and yet, they didn't kill any of the villagers... the goblin did?

[Riddles]

The treasure room had several corpses in it - three humans, and a goblin. The only one that had a dagger was the goblin, though, which meant the humans probably weren't responsible for the death of Backstabs' father. That didn't mean they were innocent, though. The fact that they were here meant that they were trying to raid the village.

"There might be something around here that can help us find out what happened." Trey said. "Keep your eyes peeled."
He looked over at the human mage. He had a staff on him, which would probably be much more useful than the moldy stick that he was carrying around.
"I could make good use of this." He said as he began to pry the staff from the dead mage's hands.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma sniffed the air and growled. She didn't like this one bit, the whole thing was fishy. "Lets go quick smell like death. And like not death." she muttered somewhat perplexed and eyes the corpses suspicously waving her torch near them. If zombies didn't like fire they should wake up right? She didn't like this place at all, very creepy, she hoped they found what they were looking for and left.

[Evanist]

Deravan smelled the air also, and frowned.
"I agree... something smells off...." he says. He stays back, his torch ready. Already he knew that zombies were rather hard to kill with normal conventional weapons, so he needed to use something else. He was going to dual wield a torch and a dagger at the same time. Hitting with a torch though might not do that much damage as hitting with a dagger usually... but it might actually cause some serious burn and with how dry the air was, it might be best. He looked around a bit more. Maybe more torches could be used here... or even wooden sticks that would be burning with one of the mages fire if possible.

[Lugia]

Dorisma and Deravan seemed concerned with the smell, while Trey seemed more focused on the mage's staff. "So, do you think it's okay if we use the stuff in the treasure chest?" I ask to Backstabs, who nods, though she still seemed a little distant, as if she was still thinking about her dead family, and how she could have just as easily been a part of this whole mess. I try to open the chest, but as soon as I do, I hear a gurgling voice from the goblin thief's corpse which was just on top of it "The treasure must not go into human hands!" The shouting surprised me, but what surprised me more was when it tried to attack with its dagger. It managed to land a hit, however, it wasn't a very good one, which left it open for attack. Considering what happened at the entrance of the cave, I figured that traditional attacks wouldn't do too much, I looked for a torch, and thankfully, there was one hanging on the wall just behind the rotting corpse of a goblin. I used my lightning magic to try to light the torch, which I did easily enough, I then picked up the torch, and smacked the zombie on the back of the head with it, making sure to light it on fire, even if it was just briefly. It didn't seem to like that at all, and turned towards me, ready to attack again, though, it must have had eyes in the back of its head, as Backstabs tried to attack the thing with her dagger while it had its back turned, and yet, it somehow dodged the attack. "Backstabs! I don't think normal attacks will work all too well against this one... try a torch, or something!" I shout to Backstabs, whose previous attack was probably doomed to fail from the start.

[Evanist]

Deravan, seeing how the zombie just got up and started to attack, just knew that this was bad. Now.... he knew he would need to use something else then his weapons on those zombies, cause of how weapons didn't affect those zombies much. He looked at his unlit torch, before quickly using the fire from Robert's torch to lit his own torch. Then, he went and threw the torch right at the zombie's back after moving quickly, striking it hard, making the torch burnt part hit and make the zombie cry out from the fire. Deravan knew he would need to find another way probably to hit this zombie... He would need to be able to lit 2 torchs maybe and dual strike with them.... Though fire kinda.... scared him a bit... no matter. He had to use it.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma was about to give the zombie that was attacking a massive kick to the head but stopped when Robert warned them that normal attacks wouldn't work. She paused at looked at the torch, that wasn't normal right? So she gripped it in both hands and heavily stabbed down on the zombie with a dull meaty sound as it sunk into the rotting flesh and roasted right through it creating a terrible stench. While she was preoccupied removing the torch she felt a dull thud, turning around torch in hand she found another of the bodies had risen. It appeared to be wearing robes like it was some sort of acylote. Give the way its hand was smashed and she had icky zombie residue on her armour she guessed it had ineffectivly punched right into her soild metal protection. She grinned ferally ready to attack him next.

[Riddles]

The mage had quite a grip on the staff, and Trey was having a lot of trouble prying it out of his hands. While he tried to release the mage's grip, he noticed several of the corpses rise, and thankfully he jumped away just in time to escape a swing of the mage's staff. He then tried to engulf the zombie in flames, like he'd done to that other zombie outside, but that didn't work nearly as well this time.

"What's going on?" Trey asked. "That zombie outside died in one hit from the fire spell. What makes this one so special?"
He backed up, trying to put as much distance between himself and the zombie mage as possible, but he didn't get as far as he wanted to. The treasure room was tiny compared to the outdoor environments he was used to fighting in.