Excavate This!
Log Info
- Title: Excavate This!
- Emitter: Robert
- Characters: Eztli, Nemori, Slixvah, Dirk, Jay
- Place: Alexandrian Outskirts
- Time: July 21st, 2022
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Players =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dirk 4'11" 295 Lb Mountain Dwarf Male A rugged old dwarf, dressed for the outdoors. Eztli 4'6" 140 Lb Sith-Makar Female A two-toned, short sith-makar. Jay 5'9" 145 Lb Eaglefolk Male A perky male Blue Jay with a discerning eye. Nemori 4'10" 110 Lb Mul'niessa Female A tall and slender, dark skinned elf. Slixvah 5'8" 130 Lb Eaglefolk Female A rust red and white Egalrin covered in veils, ribbons, and shawls. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Robert 6'3" 235 Lb Human Male A middle-aged Cerenzan with a friendly, fatherly vibe. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
It's just after dawn and the escort mission is little more than an hour out of the gate from Alexandria. The wagons, soldiers, and half of the contracted adventurers are driving straight for the townlet of Vieshance. The other half of the mercenaries were sent off onto a north fork to collect a score-or-so laborers from Marcus 'Meek Marc' Woodgrain's Lumber Mill. Or, as the competition is fond of calling it: Meek Mill.
The plan was to pick up the relatively small number and reassemble at Vieshance. The mill workers have been notified and responded that they're ready to go. So this'll just be in-and-on, easy-as-pie.
Absolutely.
The group crests a hill and can make out the lumber mill in the distance, nestled comfortably in a valley with sparse woods stretching north and east into the shadow of the mountain. A main building sits on the north side of the road, easily tall enough for two-storeys with a cylindrical section on the northwest corner. Living quarters are split between two buildings on the south side of the road.
The whole compound is dark as the rising sun sets the Redridge aflame. Perhaps the laborers are heavy sleepers.
Easy-as-pie.
Slixvah wasn't sure why she signed up for another one of these. It was a close call last time with the stubborn dwarves. But some recent tricks she's picked up might help better in a pinch than fixing boo boos in the defense.
And, well, someone needs a light, right? Slix is bobbing along with a feather stuck atop her head, it lit up bright like a lantern. Her wings are somewhat in tatters, patches missing where feathers should be, and many fall out behind her as they go. "I hope this goes smoother than butter like that one time," she hums.
GAME: Slixvah casts Light. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
"I have a bad feeling about this," remarks Nemori as she gazes down upon the still sleeping... or perhaps more than sleeping... mill and barracks. She rolls her token between her fingers, then holds it between thumb and forefinger to rub at its smooth side. She looks sideways at Slixvah, almost accusingly. "I would rather forget about that one time."
Jay also needs light, so he's been sitting close to Slixvah to borrow some of her sun helm. He tilts his head, "Okay. I won't ask."
His gaze moves to the mill, "Do you want me to have a look around, or should we roll in banging some bells?"
Slix gestures forward. "If ya want, Blue, ya can snoop around. I gots some mojo to keep tabs on ya and let us know what's goin' on," she amends to Jay's suggestion.
Dirk peers towards the lumbermill, astride his pony Thistle. His owl Lulu perches atop his shoulder, her usually wide eyes drooping. It's morning, so this is usually when she'd be sleeping. "I'm nae seein' much in the way o' movement," he says. "They -did- know we was comin', didn't they?" He looks over at the others. "I could send Lulu out scoutin'. Might be safer than sendin' one of us, aye?" The petite little owl ruffles her feathers, twisting her head to narrow her eyes at her master. "Hoo!" she hoots indignantly. She doesn't seem to be a fan of the idea at -all-.
Nemori turns her gaze towards Jay, considering his suggestion for a moment while Slixvah responds to him.. then finally she nods. "Be careful. Be ready to back out. If you are forced to make a decision, remember that we are too far from you to offer immediate aid." She frowns, for emphasis.
When Dirk makes his offer of Lulu's expertise, Nemori looks at him. "Send both."
"Okay. Okay!" The bluejay says cheerfully, nodding quickly to Nemori, "I will. If I see anything I'll come right back." He looks at Slixvah, "A little mojo will help."
He takes a few moments to get ready, which is largely finding a safe place to put his briefcase down, and inverting his cloak so the purple side is facing outwards. The egalrin looks at Lulu and Dirk, "She would probably see better than me, and be less conspicuous. If you wanted her to circle the other side, or ride on my shoulder. Either works."
This is followed by a contemplative gaze at the mill and yard. "Okay, I've picked a route." He slips off. His dazzling colouration becomes oddly hard to focus on as he slips in and out of shadows and sticks to the half-light.
Slixvah looks to the others and nods along. "Yeah, kinda sus, they should know we're here. Another birdy in the mix don't sound like a half bad idea."
As Jay is getting ready, a hand reaches out to pat his shoulder. "Keep it cool," she hums, a sudden breeze filtering through just the two of them.
And once they get close enough to start their recon, she rubs her hands together. A finger snaps, and a feather pops out of nowhere. She whispers into it. "I'ma keep casting this mojo, you just mummer what ya seein' and I'll hear it."
She flicks it off of her hand, and it vanishes in a >paff<.
The l-eagle can hear Slix's voice as if she was right beside him, whispering the same thing.
GAME: Slixvah casts Message. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14 <OOC> Slixvah says, "Hex: Ward on Jay, going to just keep casting message over and over but say nothing back so Jay can just blabber what he sees to us."
"Please, let this be the end of all of the people stupidly waiting out until the last moment to evacuate with undead roaming the forests." Eztli grumbles quietly as she finds a small tree to clamber up the side of to get a better look at the village below. "There should be more you know, activity though, if they're in the process of evacuating? I don't like that either, but I pray that I'm wrong about something bad already happening down there."
GAME: Jay rolls stealth: (8)+11: 19 <OOC> Jay says, "+4 if Urban, +2 if forest, as is if something else" <OOC> Robert says, "There're buildings and a road. So we'll say Urban." GAME: Robert rolls 1d20+8-10: (14)+8+-10: 12 GAME: Robert rolls 1d20+8-10: (20)+8+-10: 18 GAME: Jay rolls perception+4: (20)+14+4: 38
At some point, it's hard to see the bluejay or even tell where he might be. He can be heard though, by Slixvah and anyone close enough to eavesdrop on whispers.
"Hey, hey, can you hear me? I'm near the north building, that's the Mill. You should be able to see that. There's two buildings south of the mill, a barracks and a general one. They might be too far for you to see."
"And there's graves... and there's muffled screams coming from the graves. Kakkai'on! I think people are buried alive. There's some kind of raucous riot, I can't tell if it's battle or drunken revelry."
There's a pause, "I can get closer to look inside the Mill, but there's something going on, and it's still going on."
Slixvah has a hand pressed against the side of her head, listening to the bird's babbles and nodding along, constructing the layout in her head. But she stiffens. "Wait, what? Screaming? Buried alive? Raucous riot and I'm not invited? Agh, Navos' nitpicking stopwatch, c'mon cuties, we gotta be big bad heroes. Hang tight Blue, we're comin'."
She pulls her light off her head and shoves it into a robe.
Nemori lets out a long, suffering sigh. Of course, she wasn't privy to the conversation between her two feathered friends. But Slixvah's sort of summary is descriptive. "Ah. But do we really?" she asks, though in a manner that suggests she already knows the answer she's going to get. The only question is who would give her the answer first.
The token rolls a few more times in Nemori's fingers, then she sighs again. "Very well. Lead the way, I shall follow." While doing her best not to let everyone die is the unspoken, but certainly heard undertone.
Her rapier is silent as she draws it.
GAME: Slixvah used a Wand of Mage Armor. GAME: Dirk casts Longstrider. Caster Level: 5 DC: 13 GAME: Eztli casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
"They're burying people in the ground?" Eztli asks, aghast at the thought and immediately hopping off of her tree.
"Yes, we can't leave people to be buried alive and you know this." She answers just as quickly, but she stops, and sighs.
"Just, we don't have to save them if it puts everyone here at risk to do so. I'd still like to try, but yeah. Leave a way to leave if we have to, because I don't expect whoever is left above ground to be pleasant folk. If they are people, and not a cult around some aberration like last time."
Dirk's eyes get wide as he hears that ghastly report from Slix. "Beards o' me fathers." He bends down to scoop up a pinch of dirt, rubbing it between his fingers. "Fleet, fleet, fleet!" he mutters, before blowing the dirt from his fingers. That done, he pulls his thunderbelcher and racks the slide. "We best get in there fast!" Lulu blinks wearily. She was -so- looking forward to a nice day's sleep. "Hoo."
Things gain a sense of urgency and the hangers-back surge ahead to join the Integrity. The legal egalrin hunches down in the brush, pressed up against a tree as he tries to make heads or tails of the muffled sounds of panic from the loose earth nearby.
He's forced to start and choke back a sound of surprise when the southern door of the mill slams open, spilling out a harried worker in traveling with a backpack held against her chest.
"No! Please, gods--" her voice is stolen when the ground disappears from beneath her feet, her backpack goes flying as she reaches for the edge of the hole as she falls, and she screams bitter denial as she falls out of view. There's a low rumble of agitated earth as her screams reach a fever pitch only to be smothered entirely.
The hole is the ground is replaced with a fresh mound of loose earth.
GAME: Slixvah casts Guidance. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
Slix takes a moment to twirl out a wand, her flicking it about in a one-two conductor motion. A wind passes over her, firming up what feathers were left on her. Smarter to be prepared and spend a beat to do when seconds aren't of the essence, but minutes. She jogs along to catch up.
Her eyes widen as she sees someone get yanked up into the ground, and the various mounds indicating fresh graves. She careens off the road, a crossbow being pulled out of- where the hell does she keep these things??
Her back thuds against a tree, hoping to use the roots to fuss with whatever is snapping people up. "Somethin's draggin' folks under! Watch your feetsies!" she calls out as a unravling feather extends out through the shrubbery to graze against Jay's back. "Eb rflucae."
GAME: Jay rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (16)+10: 26
"Rope. Rope would be great right now." Jay squawks, "Or a floating disc spell, or stronger wings. There's something in the ground digging holes and swallowing people!"
He repeats it much louder, shouting in the direction of the Mill, "THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE GROUND DIGGING HOLES AND SWALLOWING PEOPLE! STAY INSIDE!"
Unless, it's in there too, in which case, they're aware and his advice isn't helping.
He sets his bolas spinning, ready to throw at -something- should it appear. "Nemori! You were right!"
GAME: Dirk rolls knowledge/nature: (13)+9: 22 GAME: Nemori casts Invisibility Purge. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16
Nemori was right? The shadow elf doesn't hear that very often these days. It's really quite irksome, to be honest... she's sure she's 'right' more often than not, her suggestions just seem to be unpalatable to her current-days companions.
Regardless, having been committed to action by her allies, Nemori intones a spell, channeling the divine through her token to create an invisble glove of invisibility purging magic as she advances along the road towards the mill.
GAME: Jay rolls bab+dexterity+1: (8)+3+4+1: 16 GAME: Nemori rolls reflex: (10)+4: 14
<OOC> Eztli says, "move to 4,11 and scorching ray the thing" <OOC> Robert says, "Roll your attack rolls, please." GAME: Eztli rolls 1d20+5+2+1: (16)+5+2+1: 24 GAME: Eztli rolls 4d6+4: (10)+4: 14
The sounds of chaos in the mill had begun to quiet after the fleeing woman exploded into view. There was still... something going on inside but it certainly sounded less violent.
Then, a creature then steps out of the darkness; a corpse half-molded into hardpacked earth and clay. It's fresh-- bruises fading to purple and ochre and pink as the flesh turns pale-- but clearly broken. A pickax sticks from its shoulder as it surveys the sawmill.
"... in the ground... with me," she slurs, as tired as she is full of rage. She coughs, wet mud and worms falling out of her mouth as she slaps backhand through the air. Nemori barely has time to yelp before a fresh, black hole in the ground swallows her up.
GAME: Robert rolls 1d6: (6): 6 GAME: Eztli rolls reflex: (5)+5: 10 GAME: Robert rolls 1d6: (6): 6
Eztli barely had time to process what happened the first time the creature came out with a screaming woman, but it needed to leave the building, so all she could do was wait, lest the creature grab them when they got too close.
Unfortunately nemori was too close, and it didn't need to grab her to send the mul'niessa down into the dirt. Eztli blinks.
"Hang on!" She shouts over to the cleric, while summoning another pair of fiery lances out of the air next to her with a flick of the wrist that sends them spearing and searing through the creature, knocking off rock that was in the way.
A second creature surges from the mill, answering the sounds of battle. His face is almost entirely covered in clumped mud. A shovel is driven straight through his hollowed guts. The meat inside the cavity still glistens with sticky, only-half-dried gore.
"Together..." he growls, curling broken fingers into knots. Eztli, now, finds the earth betraying her and slams into soft earth below.
GAME: Slixvah rolls knowledge/religion: (3)+5: 8 <OOC> Robert says, "You are fairly certain these are undead."
Slixvah perks up as she sees both her friends vanished into the earth. Instead of panicking, she sucks in a breath and focuses. Don't know what these are, but they're undead... foot steps go towards Ezt-
No no, undead! Grab her instead!
Taloned feet pivot around as she bounds to Nemori. "They're undead!" she shouts to everyone as she gets to the hole. "Feather fun times, yoinking you out, Momo!" she calls.
Feathers unravel like wound ribbons into the hole, wrap around Nemori's waist, and she hoisted out with surprising strength as she deposited beside Slix. "I got you, boo!"
GAME: Dirk rolls 1d20+4: (17)+4: 21 <OOC> Dirk says, "Urgh, 22. Forgot my Int bonus." GAME: Dirk rolls Shoot: aliased to Ranged+1-2: (6)+8+1+-2: 13 GAME: Dirk rolls Dmg: aliased to 1d12+4+1: (11)+4+1+4: 20
Dirk's eyes get wide and his face turns white as milk as Nemori goes dropping into the ground. "Nem!" He trundles forward, but halts when those terrible deaders appear. He stares at them with wide eyes for a moment. "Great Gilead's Ghost! Those are gravebound! The power o' the gods can stun 'em!" he calls. With a snarl, he lifts his rifle. "So will -bullets-, I'll warrant! HAVE SOME O' THIS!" CHK-BOOM! His thunderbelcher roars, slamming into the gravebound closest to him. A spray of gore and mud slings off the thing.
GAME: Nemori casts Spiritual Weapon. Caster Level: 5 DC: 15 GAME: Nemori rolls spiritual weapon: aliased to cleric+wisdom: (8)+5+3: 16
Nemori barely has time to register that she's in a hole, with the wind knocked out of her.. before suddenly FEATHERS. She does manage to yelp as the ribbon-like plumage wraps around her and snatches her from entombment, setting her on the ground beside Slixvah.
The shadow-elf is bewildered for a moment. In the span of a only a few seconds she's been in and back out of a hole. But then people are yelling about undead and she's turning. She has a quick mind when she chooses to apply it, and as she summons what's becoming her trademark floating, rose-hued rapier, committing it to attacking one of the gruesome creatures, she scrambles southwards to stand upon one of the graves.
GAME: Jay rolls weapon2: (13)+8: 21 GAME: Jay rolls damage2: aliased to 1d6+1: (6)+1: 7
As soon as the unburied mud-person appears, Integrity flings his hunting bolas.
He misses.
This is followed by a caw of surprise as Nemori vanishes, only to be pulled out by Slix, "Nice! Nice!"
"I don't have the power of the gods or bullets, can they be stabbed? I'll see if they can be stabbed."
He lights through the underbrush and around the trees, circling, his rapier steady as he lines up his attack. He adopts an unusual pose, strange in a way only another egalrin might notice, and thrusts.
He finds fleshy bits, very fleshy. His stab pierces deep.
GAME: Robert rolls 1d20+8: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Robert rolls 1d20+8: (17)+8: 25 GAME: Jay rolls fortitude: (16)+3: 19 GAME: Robert rolls 1d6+4: (4)+4: 8
The female corpse skewered by the pickax grits muddied, broken teeth as she assailed by fire and bullet. "Sssssshaaaaaaaaare..." she exhales, her breath impossibly cold and racid. The frontline is left to puzzle at her invitation until they realize the hole hosting Eztli behind them is no longer there; replaced instead by a fresh gravemound.
The man turns towards Jay, looking down at the point of the rapier and following it up the egalrin's arm. The mud around his fingers shapes into hooked claws and he gropes ineffectively once before finding and tearing a hole through the lawyer's sleeve. The wound is hot and itchy.
<OOC> Slixvah says, "fortune nemori"
Slixvah sighs in relief as Nemori is getting her things going, but her gaze follows back behind herself to see-
She bristles, feathers floofing up. "EZTLI, STAY CALM! SAVE YOUR BREATH!" Girl's got a pair of lungs. She'll be fine. She'll be fine. Think through this, come on. Jay's there, Nemori's there, Dirk's there...
She huffs, jabbing the feather back onto her head and grabbing at something intangible. Hand twirls around the air and yanks tight.
A moment of assuredness. "This woe is going to suck so much di-"
Gunshot!
GAME: Dirk rolls Shoot: aliased to Ranged+1-2: (11)+8+1+-2: 18 GAME: Dirk rolls Dmg+4: aliased to 1d12+4+1+4: (10)+4+1+4: 19
Dirk yelps as Etzli tumbles into a hole. He racks his rifle and lifts it. "Share?! FINE! HERE YE GO!" he roars in a fury. CHK-BOOM! The bullet flies true, slamming into the gravebound's sodden head. It explodes like an overripe melon, showering filth and gore and crumbling what remains into a sloppy pile of rancid glop. Racking his rifle, Dirk spies the pickaxe that remains sticking out of the gravebound's remnants. He's a dwarf--he -knows- what pickaxes are good for! He trundles forward, intent on grabbing the implement. "Hold on, friends, we'll get ye dug up!" he bellows as loud as he can. Hopefully they can hear him.
GAME: Nemori rolls spiritual weapon: aliased to cleric+wisdom: (19)+5+3: 27 GAME: Robert rolls 1d20+5: (5)+5: 10 GAME: Nemori rolls 1d8+1: (5)+1: 6 GAME: Nemori spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY. GAME: Nemori rolls 3d6: (14): 14
"Eztli!" Nemori's scream is... unpleasant. It's not that it's rare for the woman to display her rage or fury. She tries to make a show of being calm and collected, but the facade has been broken on more than one occasion. But the rawness of this scream is... well, a certain egalrin might be reminded of a certain time in a certain smithy. Her visage is pure, snarling hatred as she turns her eyes from the creature Dirk felled to the last one standing. A thought has her floating rapier thrust towards it, piercing its dead hide.. and then she's holding her muse's token forward. The token glows, spilling light between her fingers... the same white that is now bleeding from her eyes.. and then it releases with a pulse of cleansing energy. A wave that washes over the creature, cracking and burning its flesh and internals.
GAME: Jay rolls weapon2: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Jay rolls damage2: aliased to 1d6+1: (3)+1: 4
Integrity keeps up his attack, raising his rapier to his beak in a guard and looking down the blade as he stands tall and then thrusts once more.
The chosen spot is hit, the rapier slides in, slicing through tendons, sinew, flesh... and mud. Whatever odd bag of offal this undead is, he's ripped the seams, and it falls to the ground. Motionless.
"Is that all of them?" Jay calls, unwilling to let his guard down, casting his head from side to side. "I think that's all of."
He relaxes out of his awkward guard, standing their panting, his thoughts running in circles or simply stalled. Then he snaps out of it.
"We need to unbury them! There's... a shovel and a pick-axe." He picks up the shovel, wincing at the slime on the handle. His grip slips. "Focus... focus on the graves where you hear noise."
Nemori is already pulling that odd thing known as a goblin army knife from her haversack. It takes a moment to work the right levers, but soon enough she's turned it into something resembling a spade. Or some mad inventor's idea of a spade.. and she's digging frantically at Eztli's 'grave'. "Shadows take the rest of them if we do not get you out," she snarls, each word punctuated by the spade's blade digging into the soft earth.
Hopefully she doesn't actually hit the makari's head with the tool.
Dirk lets his thunderbelcher drop as he takes up the pickaxe in both hands. He immediately starts hacking furiously at the nearest dirt-pile, scooping out great gouts of earth. When a hand bursts up from the ground, he drops the axe and digs furiously with his hands, clearing the dirt away from a coughing and gasping miller. "I've got ye! Just hold on an' breathe, I'll come back fer ye!" he cries. He grabs the pickaxe and moves on to the next. He may be an overdweller, but his people's natural mining instincts are deeply ingrained, and he's able to free another one of the loggers. He leaves the next one half-buried in the dirt--they can breathe now, and that's all that he cares about. He reaches the third pit and starts digging. "C'mon c'mon -c'mon-," he growls, his face by now dirt-streaked as he works furiously. But the body he drags from the third pit remains limp. He shakes the unfortunate's shoulder frantically. "No no -no- NO, c'mon, damn it!" he cries. But it's no use--the unfortunate logger has expired. Dirk drops to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes as he pounds his fist into the dirt. "GRAAAAH!" He casts his agonized gaze to the other dirt piles. So many they've been able to save. So many they -couldn't-.
Slixvah watches Nemori's wrath for a beat, eyes half lidding in that moment as she files that memory away for later.
Once the last one falls, Slixvah barely has a moment to shout out a 'Good!' as she barrels towards where Eztli was along with Nemroi. She throws her equipment to the ground as she pulls out a complicated looking contraption. As she's pulling levers on it, "Oi! Blue's true! Grab some tools, start diggin'!" she barks in orders.
Strong feathers grab the shovel that was extended out from the tool, and they break into the earth, tossing more and more dirt out of the way with fervor. Each toss makes more feathers break off, yet others take their place.
Her wings are slowly becoming bare. Until finally-
She gasps, pulling for Eztli. "Ez! Baby! Listen sugar I know you're freaking out but we need you right now. I heard part of a 'make people big' spell, can you do that to us? We gotta dig people out!" she speaks briskly yet calmly, helping the makari out before rushing over to another mound before it becomes an early grave. Before she's out of feathers on her wings.
Jay is not a natural digger. Even with a shovel, he's lightweight, average strength and unused to manual labour. He's a pen-pusher, occasional sword stabber, and his digging goes about as well as his hunting bolas throws.
Which is to say, wild and somewhat off the mark.
He does pick a grave with muffled screams, and throws dirt everywhere as he digs down. A somewhat louder, much clearer scream indicates success as he adds injury to burial, hitting the evacuee on the head.
"Sorry! Sorry! We have a healer, I'll get you out!" He's brushing away dirt, helping the survivor free and clacking his beack awkwardly.
Eztli was stuck in a hole. And before she can clamber out of it, the dirt closed in on all sides, sticking the small makari in place.
Being a sith-makar is a great boon in the moment, as their whole body slows down to stretch what oxygen they had out as long as possible.
Or extending the agony of a slow suffocation out even longer, but there was no telling what would happen. Thankfully, with Slixvah and Nemori's effort, they're able to dislodge a hand that was stuck when she was trying to climb up and out, one with wickedly sharp elongated talons that swiped around wildly for a moment until it stops, and she works on tearing out the rest of the dirt so she can shove her head out of the dirt.
She looks around quickly, pulling the rest of herself out of the ground with the help of the egalrin. Her expression softens slightly when she sees Nemori is safe, but she continues climbing out until she can see everyone else was okay.
"Yeah, you're right Slixvah." Eztli sighs, raising both hands for a moment, before pointing them at the egalrin, causing them to grow much, much larger. And then she's off to help if she can, dropping to her knees and using the unnaturally long claws to shovel out the remaining graves.
A big Slixvah. If the situation wasn't so dire, there'd be many jokes. Like being the big bird, or being a lotta woman, or some other jest or tease.
But such fun moments must be saved for weal, as it was time to staunch the woe. Enlarged ribbon-like feathers all but throw hundreds of pounds of dirt out of the way, getting one folk to the sweet safety of air before moving on, her losing feathers off her wings with each bout of shoveling. Onto the next one. The next one. The next one...Before long, the living graves are uncovered. Not all still living. Slix glances to the side to watch Dirk's baying. A sigh leaves her nose holes.
Featherless wings fold behind her.
"It's something," she surmises to everyone, exhausted. "... better than nothing."
Nemori stumbles back when Eztli is free, breathing hard. Not quite panting... the exertion has been just as much emotional as physical. It takes her some moments to collect herself enough to take up her temporary shovel again... and what assistance she lends for the other graves is not nearly so energetic. Almost more of a 'just need to be seen doing it' mode. But that could just be because she's so drained from the fight. Dirk's own cries of anguish... well, she tunes them out. It may be rather cold of her.. but then, would that really surprise anyone here? "Stop regretting the ones who died and celebrate the ones you saved." Okay, she doesn't entirely tune him out.
All told, there are two survivors still hiding out in the rooms, and three in the general area, who tentatively emerge and congregate around the excavations. They help.
There's still only so much that can be done. Thirteen are exhumed, five didn't make it; they had been in the ground too long. Of the remaining eight, there were some close calls but they'll pull through.
The survivors are very tight lipped about what transpired, feigning ignorance regarding the gravebound undead. There's a very strong impression they know more than they're sharing.
Allegedly, as Integrity would put it.
Packed and ready to go, it's hard to say who is more anxious to get on the road to Alexandria. No one is in a good headspace. The trip back seems longer than it is.
Secrets have a way of dragging out a journey.
