Tide of Shadows

[Academia Nut]

The mayor absorbed this information before he nodded grimly and said, "If your theory is correct then this army of undead has split in the two days you've been gone, as we have lost contact or recieved reports of destroyed villages since then, at least four and the news is generally always a day behind the actual attacks. Locations to the north and south of Blackdell have been destroyed. We are looking at a force of potentially half a thousand undead then."

The mayor then paused, a piece of information clicking and he then asked, "Wait, did you say that the priest of Blackdell went mad?"

---

Father Almos had a great deal of difficulty helping Bartel remove his armour, continually forgetting what he was trying to do or having trouble with the spatial relationships between the various pieces of the armour and how to get them off. Eventually though Bartel was free from his armour, at which point Almos suggested, "Could you accompany me into the basement brother? It is where I have isolated the sick to try and slow the rate of infection."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Yes he did, though the cause is unknown. It would take something other than hopelessness to cause a priest to go mad. In my experience it strengthens their faith. Have other priests gone mad? Is yours under a considerable amount of stress, you seemed to just put two and two together in your head. I would like to know what"

[LadyTevar]

Ceridwen jumped ahead, as she recalled the message to Bartel. "The local priest wanted to see Father Bartel right away," she said, giving the rest of them a sharp look of warning, before bowing to the Mayor. "Forgive me, sir, but I mean to go check upon your temple."

Without another word to the group, she turned and walked out, pausing only to grab the shield and weapon she had left in the mayor's foyer. Once outside, she strode towards the Church of Cuthbert, both to warn Bartel, and to aid if the priest was already afflicted.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Go with her my pet. Report back to me" Ophidian said to his rather large cobra, who rapidly followed behind the paladin after a quick nod.

[SirNitram]

Volemack spoke up. "There was a wierd undead haunting the church. It made people feel funny in the head and was really hard to get rid of." He tried to remember the visions it had given him. Human thoughts were like dreamsong; pretty, but indecypherable for the mostpart. "Ummm.. I think the mean undead told him to jump. That somehow jumping would make things better."

A pause. "Also there was a cave down the well." Feeling this covered matters, Volemack nodded to himself. He did a Good Job, he knew.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel looked at Almos with concern. "Brother, are you sure you're all right? You seem distracted." He feared for his fellow priest, harkening back to the spirit of the priest of Blackdell.

[Academia Nut]

The mayor said to those that remained, "For about the past day the Father has been confused and excessively irritable for no apparent reason. We thought it was just stress... but you say that this undead creature you encountered causes madness? Like poor judgement and rashness?"

---

Almos snapped at Bartel and shouted, "Of course I'm distracted! I've got my church full of dirty peasants I can't feed, they're getting sick, and now I can't summon forth the power of the Saint for some bullshit reason! I think I have the right to be a little distracted! Now come, we have to nip this illness in the bud before it gets out of hand and we have an epidemic on our hands. Don't make me make it an order!"

Bartel then angrily stormed out of the back room, the whole congregation looking on in fear before Almos turned back to Bartel and hissed, "Well? Are you going to help or not?"

[Charon]

A deep rumble came from the belly of the golem as the construct looked first to Ceridwin, then to Fehl.

[Rogue 9]

"Yes, brother, I will help," Bartel said firmly. "But I think you need help as much as your flock, if not more. The priest of Blackdell was driven mad by the forces that destroyed the village, Almos. I fear the same thing may be happening to you, and if it is, we're all in mortal danger." He regarded his fellow priest steadily. "Now, let us go see to the sick, but do not forget to tend your own needs. They need you, now more than ever."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"The undead creature was the result. It caused madness and rashness. I suppose one could have been harness and used against the local priest. But you would notice. Hmm... the priest's diary said that there was a stranger in the village that made everything clear to him as he was clearly going mad. I thought it was a hallucination but it could be an actual person. Has your priest been spending a lot of time with a particular person who is not familiar to you? Perhaps helping him with a particularly trying problem?"

[Academia Nut]

Frowning, Almos gestured and led Bartel down into the basement of the church, the older stonework quite clearly from the same architectural era as the structure they had discovered buried at the bottom of the well. Down in the dark room, there were a few cots, and a strange man standing in the midst of them.

"Oh, right... right. Brother Bartel, this is Joseph, a travelling medic if not a priest. He's been helping me with the sick," Almos said somewhat dismissively and casually.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel nodded to Joseph. "Greetings," he said in a neutral tone. He turned to Almos. "Brother, how long has this illness ravaged the flock?"

[Academia Nut]

Joseph remained shadowed over, his bangs hanging down over his eyes while he turned slightly and said, "It is a slow disease they have, the incubation usually takes a week, but the symptoms began yesterday."

Father Almos nodded and said somewhat worriedly, "What he said."

"The progression is slow. First it starts by stealing the senses of the victim, rendering them somewhat deranged before they fall into a coma, at which point their muscles rapidly start degenerating until they can no longer breath. It is a very fatal disease if not stopped before the coma stage," Joseph replied quietly.

[Rogue 9]

"I see," Bartel said evenly. "It seems it's most fortunate that you happened along when symptoms set in." He started to examine the patients. "First thing's first. Who's worst off?"

[Academia Nut]

"Other than the one who just died, this man here is the worst," Joseph said, gesturing to a man lying on a small, rough cot who was breathing in a very shallow, rattling manner, as if every breath was a massive labour. "He has not much time left."

[Rogue 9]

"It progresses very quickly indeed, then," Bartel said darkly. "Let me see what I can do for him." He touched the victim's head, and spoke a short prayer to Cuthbert. Blue spell-light appeared at his fingertips and seemed to flow into the man before disappearing.

[Remove disease. We'll see. Oh yes, we'll see.]

[Academia Nut]

Just as Bartel's hand rested upon the dying man's body he let out a final strangled gasp and died, the final tensions in his body.

Joseph then grinned slightly and said, "Oh, it would appear that Father Almos has the same disease as the flock and has no longer has the strength of will to summon forth spells and thus consecrate this temple daily. How inconvenient."

A shadowy face, twisted up in rage then appeared from beneath the cot, lunging out to strike at Bartel's leg, its incorporeal fist passing through his flesh, the unimaginable cold of the undead trying to steal away some of his life.

Joseph then began to laugh, a sick hysterical cackle akin to a rabid hyena with lungs half full with fluid.

Up above Ceridwen and her serpentine escort arrived at the temple just in time to hear the laughter begin to pick up in the basement.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Naja heard the cackling and via the empathic link between them, Ophidian was aware of it.

The snake hissed loudly and raised itself five feet off the ground, spreading its hood.

Back in the mayor's office...

"Bartel is in trouble" Ophidian declared, before turning to leave the room, quickly.

[Academia Nut]

The church was packed full of terrified people who had been displaced from their homes, hadn't had enough proper food, drink, or sleep for days on end and had been stalked by some sort of disease for the past day. Their priest, the guiding light had become increasingly secluded and irate and performed fewer miracles for them. Then he had a quite vocal disagreement with a strange priest, the two of them then went down into the cellars, where a psychotic laugh was now emanating.

A heavily armed and armoured stranger and a giant cobra rearing up and flaring its hood threateningly showing up at the church was the last thing these people needed. Someone started screaming, someone else started pushing, and in seconds the church packed full of terrified villagers became an ocean of limbs and shoving bodies, a mob trying to move in all directions at once and the only way out was through the doors... the main ones being occupied by Naja and Ceridwen.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Now, Naja was not the brightest thing in the world. He was a snake. A snake with the intelligence of someone born with a jaw that was too large who liked hugging strangers. But he could still recognize that Throng of Humanity heading for the door would be really bad juju. He was also smart enough (just barely) to know that biting the problem would not solve it.

So he moved out of the way, over to the side.

[Charon]

Eight didn't need any other enticement and quickly turned and followed after Ophidian. What did the fleshbags say? Never a nights rest? No rest for the wise? He couldn't remember. But it applied here. Eight's long strides quickly threatened to overtake the wizard. "Where are they?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"They are in the church of St. Cuthbert. It is some way from here" he said as he broke into a trot.

[LadyTevar]

"GoodFolk, Calm Down... Just Calm.. Calm.. oh Godsblood," Ceridwen cursed as the mob surged her way, trying to get out of the way of the frightened mass of people and tripping over her own feet. The mass of humanity literally ran over her, and if not for her armor and shield she might have been badly injured. She tried to stand, only to continue getting knocked down by panicked people escaping the church.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel's holy symbol was already in his hand as he'd been using it to channel the spell. Now he put it to channeling something else as he roared in surprise and yanked his mace off of his belt.

[Turn Undead]

1d20+4 = 1747764106

2d6+9 = 238351911

[Academia Nut]

The wraith howled in panic as the energy washed over it, while Joseph just blinked a little before he said, "Nice try," before he moved up and casually backhanded Bartel as if the priest's defensive stance didn't even concern him, the blow transferring little momentum but causing an infuriating amount of pain.

For his part Almos tried to get out his own holy symbol, to which Joseph just laughed louder. Especially as the sounds of the mass panic above became evident.

And then with a horrific moan the spirit of the man who just died detatched from his body, manifesting as a fresh wraith.