Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 5.4 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 5.4
Bannihar The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse
The explorers from the Banniharian Caravan have decided to make an escape while they can. Elias is going to take the lead and create a mobile defense, and hopefully everyone else can keep up with his plan; it's not that complex, but a lot can go wrong! Let's see what happens.
After the first several dozen undead poured into the open roadway of the square the party quickly closed ranks. Everyone's weapons came quickly to the ready; Iskiy continued launching arrow after arrow into the undead horde as it shambled closer and closer. "At least they don't move very fast." he noted, taking down yet another Corpse with an arrow through a decomposing eye.
"Regardless of how slow they are, we're surrounded." Roarg pointed out, hefting his stone axe, "We need some kind of defense."
"Breccia." Elias noted under his breath, eyes gazing down at the cobblestone road.
"Breccia?" Elesin smirked, "That's probably the worst curse word I've EVER heard."
"It's not profanity." the Geomancer replied with a scowl, "It's a classification of rock... many kinds of stone combined into one." he knelt down to the road and brushed a clawed hand across the surface causing many of the small rocks to start vibrating, "I should have thought of it back at the river..."
"Whatever it is you should have been thinking of at the river, Mr. Hewen," Lord Raes noted, taking a step back closer to the rest of the group as undead continued crowding into the square, "now would be a good time to transition from thought to action."
"This can't be rushed." Elias noted, brushing his hands across the road's rough surface.
"Nothing with you can." Elesin noted snarkily, but the armadillo ignored her, focusing instead on his work.
"Stick together..." Kayte noted, moving toward the center of the party, holding onto Lizzy's paw with her own, "Don't let them separate you from the group."
"That doesn't include you, gryphon." Roarg noted, "Get into the air."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, badger." Sebastian noted, glancing around, "but I don't really have the room to get a running sta--" the words stalled in his beak once Roarg had put his axe down; the badger grabbed hold of the gryphon and, with a heave, threw Sebastian into the air. Letting out a squawk, the gryphon spread his wings, and sailed over the heads of the undead.
"Tah'Aveen, preserve us." Lord Raes announced, his shield blazing with holy light. Kayte lowered her head, her paw tightening around the chain attached to the holy censer as her own prayer was added to the dog's. A vibrant, divine energy permeated the air as the party was wrapped in the guarding wards of the faithful. Though everyone felt the loving embrace of the divine protection, few felt much ease as the undead horde continued to lumber forward, their numbers swelling to over 100.
"Priestess..." Roarg noted, moving to the front of the group, axe again at the ready, "Can you force them back?"
Kayte let out a faint whine, "They do not respond to the holy word... something is allowing them to resist Her decree."
"At least TRY." Elesin snorted.
The Priestess flicked an ear, her knuckles going white as she clasped her Divine Shield and then, suddenly paused once Roarg announced "Look!" and, pointing with his axe, indicated a section of the Corpses that balked... and fell to the side as they were pushed out of the way by more undead moving to take their place.
"I WOULD say it's a start... but that really didn't do much." the kangaroo noted flatly.
"That..." Kayte paused, "...wasn't me."
"Well whoever did it..." Elesin glanced around the party, "Try to leave a bigger impression next time... like this." she motioned over her shoulder and an enormous explosion in the middle of the street sent decomposing body parts flying. Despite her bravado, the hole left in the undead ranks was filled almost as quickly. "Well damn it." the battle mage stated blandly.
"Gather up." Elias directed, cutting the discussion short. With a heave, the ground gave a jump, and rose up beneath the party's feet, growing into a small hill several feet higher than the surrounding land. The Geomancer balled his fists, raising his arms higher, causing striated, bumpy, and uneven walls to grow around everyone, "It's not pretty, but it will work." the armadillo announced and then, as if to combat his own words, he began to smooth the stone, even out the coloration, and fill in gaps between cracked rock.
"That will do, Mr. Hewen." Lord Raes announced, "Undead are more pressing than rock."
"No they aren't." Elias countered, "This wall needs to hold when I start moving it."
"Moving it?" more than one voice spoke at once.
"Well we can't just stay here... so... yes." the armadillo noted, "Now, like Lord Raes said, stop worrying about the wall and start worrying about the undead... You do your job and let me do mine." and he continued to shore up their defenses.
The ground beneath the party's feet was about four feet higher than the surrounding roadway, and the wall rose up almost four feet beyond that, giving the party a workable defense against the undead, but also providing them the ability to attack over it, and down at the Corpses that very quickly surrounded it. Roarg was the first to take up defense. The short badger was forced to stand on the tip of his toes, swinging over the wall and down at a Corpse.
Even off-balance, Roarg was able to cleave its skull open, "One down... a few hundred to go." he noted. Sebastian soared by, releasing a large sized hunk of masonry into the midst of the undead horde, crushing one, "...make that two." the badger added, "We're making real progress." he smirked.
"Save your breath..." Elias announced, "You'll need it." he flexed his fingers against the wall, sending out several stone spikes from it in the direction of the undead. Many were impaled, but they continued pressing against the defenses with no regard to their personal safety. Some broke off sections of the brittle stone and the armadillo scowled, "Well I won't be doing THAT again..."
Alexander moved to the fortifications beside Roarg and pried a sharp-looking stone from the wall. Taking careful aim, the cat hurled the rock out into the sea of undead, catching one in the forehead and knocking it to the ground.
"That isn't going to do much." Elesin announced, then paused as several other Corpses quickly closed the gap it left, trampling the prone undead as they passed over it, "It's good for a laugh if nothing else." the kangaroo relented.
Raes took up position on the other side of the hill, swinging his sword at the hands, paws, and talons grasping up from below. He lopped several limbs clean off before one of the Corpses grabbed hold of his wrist. The dog planted a foot firmly against the wall, pulling with all his might, and hefted the Corpse out of the rest of the crowd. Bringing his shield to bear, the Champion slammed the undead's head three times before it let go of him. "By the Goddess, there's a lot of them." he breathed heavily, but went right back to slashing at grasping limbs.
Iskiy, claiming a section of wall between Raes and Alexander, stood well away from the reaching undead and fired arrow after arrow into the horde. Though few of his arrows missed their mark, fewer still actually seemed to have a lasting effect on the Corpses as they continued pressing forward. The antlered wolf slowed down his attack once he reached for his quiver, only to find that it was mostly empty, "I wish the supply wagon was closer..." he murmured, and drew his next shot, but ended up jumping away from the wall instead with a yelp; a section of the stone was crumbling beneath the onslaught.
"This is NOT good." Roarg announced, taking a step back as several cracks started forming in the defensive wall in front of him as well.
"What'd you do, Elias... surround us with sandstone?" Elesin quipped.
"Glorified sandstone." Elias responded, "It's sturdier, but it's not granite... if you want granite, then you'll have to hold them off for twenty or thirty minutes... this stuff is faster to work with so it'll have to do."
The kangaroo sighed, watching as a decomposing arm punched through the cracking wall. She waited until the arm had removed itself, and she casually replaced it with her sword, stabbing the attacking Corpse in the head once she had a clean shot, "I hope you plan on reinforcing it... right now we may as well hang sheets and hope they think we're not home."
"Keep your distance from the wall." Kayte warned, moving up beside Elesin to bash a grasping arm with her staff.
"I would love to, Priestess," Elesin announced, "but then it would be harder for me to put my sword in them." though, despite her comment, she did take a step back when two more holes appeared in it and a set of skeletal claws reached for her, "Oh fuck this..." she growled, and reached for the holy symbol hanging from around her neck, "Begone, you smelly shits!" and the silver medallion blazed with a fierce light... but nothing happened.
"Save your energy." Kayte announced to Elesin, and moved over to Elias, who was frantically moving his hands in midair calling upon more rocks and more stone and more support, "What can I do to help?" she asked in as calm a voice as she could muster.
"Other than smiting every last one of those things?" the armadillo asked in a terse, strained voice, "Get them away from the wall..." he panted, "I don't know how much longer I can--" but his voice stuck in his throat as the priestess rested her paws on either of his shoulders. She whispered quietly and, as each word left her muzzle, Elias stood a little straighter, less fatigued, and more confident.
"The Goddess blesses you with her favor, Elias Hewen." Kayte smiled.
"If it involves more of that, she can bless me any time." the armadillo noted, pausing for a split second when he realized what he just said. He hastily dove back into his work, ears blushing a fierce crimson. Kayte smirked, and moved back to Lizzy, who was huddled in a little ball at the center of the hill, rocking back and forth, paws folding her ears down on themselves as she cupped them.
"It's okay, sweety... it's alright..." Kayte noted, kneeling down to embrace the trembling bunny.
"Make them go away!" she cried, "GO AWAY!" she screamed.
Back at the wall, Elesin's ears swiveled first one way, then the other. She didn't miss the bunny's cry, nor did she miss the fact that a good sized throng of shambling bodies suddenly fell back. "Hmm..." she murmured to herself before reaching out to swipe off the head of a Corpse attempting to scale the wall.
"Come on...." Elias growled, reaching down to the ground again before rising up, forcing new stone to fill in the cracks and holes in the wall, shoring up the crumbling facade, "Everyone get ready... I'm going to start moving us."
"Go that way." Elesin advised, motioning toward the direction of the rapidly-filling hole left by the fleeing Corpses, "It's a little less.... congested." and, to further open up the path, the kangaroo sheathed her blade, extended both her paws to create an enormous cone of fire, incinerating scores of the Corpses as she created an aisle of travel.
"Everyone keep up." the Geomancer declared, taking a step forward, causing the hill and wall to shift with him, "Rolling everyone along would be harder than you walking yourself... so don't fall behind."
"Come on, sweety..." Kayte announced, helping Lizzy to her feet as everyone began following Elias. They were hardly moving at walking speed, the Geomancer forced to take deliberate steps as he worked to keep their defenses up. It wasn't long before he was straining again, despite the divine stamina granted to him by Kayte.
"Focus on the front of the wall." Roarg suggested, moving to the leading edge, where he reached down and cut the head off of a Corpse moving around the barricade. Lord Raes was beside him in an instant, swinging his sword like a field hand would use a scythe, clearing away scores of the Corpses from the moving wall. Sebastian soared over head once again, loosing what appeared to be a fractured gargoyle statue into the midst of the undead, crushing its intended target, and bowling a second off its feet as the stone rolled.
Alexander flicked an ear, turning to regard an undead gecko that had climbed its way up onto the wall. He squared off against the lizard, which had just risen above the top of the defenses. With a quick kick, the cat knocked one of the Corpse's suction-cupped hands free from the stone, and then, while it was off-balance, delivered a double-bladed stab into its eyes. The lizard fell backward, and the cat twirrled his blades around, severing the undead's feet from its suction-cupped toes.
Iskiy moved quickly to where Roarg and Raes stood; numerous Corpses were beginning to mass ahead of them. He drew another arrow and paused, glancing to Elesin, who was beginning to draw forth large amounts of mana, creating a fireball. "Excuse me a moment." he noted politely, sticking his arrow into the growing orb of flame, "Thank you." he added, and turned, launching the arrow into the roaring maw of a Corpse alligator; it caught fire as if it were made of straw. "Well that works." the antlered wolf remarked, rubbing the back of his head. The gator spun around, swinging at the air, stumbling into several other undead as it did so, "...that works really well!" he added as they too caught flame.
The group continued its mobile defense of their fortification, but with each step the wall appeared to grow weaker and weaker, "Elias..." Lord Raes announced, turning to regard the armadillo, "Stop, and repair the wall... we can't keep--" but his words were cut short as the wall behind him exploded under the combined assault of dozens of flailing undead. The dog managed to spin around, raising his shield at the last moment to intercept two of the Corpses as they bowled into him. Directly to his right, another Corpse reached for Roarg, but was too slow as the badger brought a foot up, catching it in the midsection and stopping its forward motion; he stopped it altogether next by embedding his axe in its head.
Several undead pushed quickly into the enclosed fortification, climbing up into the breach. Iskiy was attacked next, but he backpedaled, bringing the tip of his bow from ground-level up under the chin of the zombified fox that had been reaching for him in a powerful upswing; the fox was sent sailing back into two other Corpses, knocking them all off the raised hill.
"Wait here." Elesin ordered the ball of flame she'd called into being, then moved in fast to fill in the breach in their line, head butting the first Corpse to get near her, and then spun around, sweeping another's legs out from under it with her tail. The spin, however, cost her precious time to defend herself as a third reached out and grabbed hold of her neck, leaning forward to bite her on the shoulder. The kangaroo grunted, then brought her knee up into the Corpse's groin. When that had no effect, the kangaroo glanced back toward the hovering flame behind her, closed her eyes, and pulled her head back as far from the Corpse as she could, "This is going to smell BAD." she announced to nobody in particular. The Corpse was burnt to a crisp... and Elesin was right.
Another Corpse pushed past the front line of defenses, and Kayte jumped up quickly, moving to place herself between Elias and the Corpse that eyed him, "Back, foul creature." Kayte ordered, brandishing her staff, "Away with you! The Goddess forbids your existence... now BEGONE!" she swung her silver staff down in a double-pawed bash... then paused when the zombified bear stopped it midair with one paw. The Priestess shivered at the feel of the bear's paw breaking transferred through the metal of her staff... but she had more pressing issues as the Corpse's other paw swiped at her, claws leading the way.
Kayte let out an exclamation of pain as the bear tore into her shoulder, drawing long lines of blood as it ripped through her robe, fur, and flesh. She fell back, gripping at her arm with her other paw, staff fallen to the ground and forgotten. "Goddess!" the priestess exclaimed, gritting her teeth as she watched her fur wither and fall from her flesh; the skin beneath it was turning greenish. The bear roared, raising both of its arms as it regarded Kayte, then paused as a blade emerged from its throat.
"You don't know how to treat a lady, do you?" Elesin inquired from behind the bear, pushing him to the side, and over the wall. She moved to help Kayte back to her feet, "You alright?" the battle mage inquired but the priestess did not respond, pausing when she saw the festering wound on the kangaroo's shoulder. Elesin's eyes traced Kayte's to where the priestess was gazing, "Well that doesn't look good."
"Raes!" Kayte announced hoarsely, "Don't touch them!" she warned, "They... have some kind of infection."
The Champion turned around, and, for a moment, the determination and confidence in his gaze was replaced by sheer horror... but that moment passed, and a steely resolution replaced it, "No." he snarled, "Not while I live... not while Tah'Aveen is in our prayers." his shield flared a pure silver and holy flame licked at its edges. Elesin winced and Kayte cried out as purifying light seared their wounds closed, burning the contagion from their bodies and closing their injuries.
"Thank you... Lord Raes..." Kayte panted, falling to her knees.
"I only serve Her will." the dog nodded humbly, and turned around to wade back into the breech, forcing the Corpses away.
Elias rose to his feet again, panting as his shoulders heaved with exertion. He took another step forward, what remained of the wall ramming the undead back. Lowering his hands to the ground, the armadillo stood again, pulling skyward with all his might as he raised an entirely new wall around them.
"Thank the Goddess..." Kayte whispered, and she grabbed hold of Lizzy. The party continued forward as Elias trudged along at his slow pace, each step shaky as more and more of the corpses continued pounding against the risen wall.
"Mr Hewen!" Lord Raes called, "A city wall to the right!" he announced, pointing down a side street, "Can you get us to it?"
"To it?" the armadillo panted, "Aye... THROUGH it?" he stumbled, the wall around the group shaking, "Hell... I don't know anymore." and he fell to one knee.
Elesin hauled the Geomancer to his feet, "If it's open, can you close it?"
"Don't touch me." Elias scowled blearily.
The kangaroo backhanded him, causing the armadillo to fidget, suddenly much more astute, "If it's open, can you close it?" she repeated.
"How could--"
"Can you close it?" she demanded again.
"Yes... but..." Elias began, but Elesin let him go.
"Goddess damn it... I hate doing this..." the kangaroo murmured, and she pointed both paws at the wall. Letting out something that sounded like a mix between a bark and a yelp, Elesin rose off the ground almost a foot as an enormous blast of concussive force broke right through Elias' wall, bowled over every last undead between the party and the city wall, and sent the Corpses flying with enough power to knock the rest of the undead away. When the blast reached the stone wall, the whole ground gave a shudder as an enormous hole was torn into the barrier. "A little help here..." Elesin murmured... and collapsed.
The party broke into an all-out sprint for the gaping hole in the city's stone wall. Roarg carried the prone kangaroo over his shoulder while Kayte guided Lizzy. Iskiy moved to provide support for Elias, but the armadillo shoved him away, "Just get moving." he directed, letting the party's mobile fortress sink back into the earth; he looked much less fatigued when he did so. One by one the group got free of the city and, as the last person out, Elias stopped just outside the stone wall, and quickly began calling to the rubble, pulling it together into a large pile before he began to fuse it together. The Geomancer didn't stop until the wall was whole once again... flawlessly so.
"Isn't that... a little... overdone?" Elesin murmured blearily from Roarg's grasp.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing right." Elias countered, admiring his patch job, "You didn't do too bad opening it." he begrudgingly admitted.
"Anything... worth destroying..." Elesin smirked, "is worth destro...." and the kangaroo trained off as she slipped into unconsciousness.
"If she keeps doing that then maybe we won't have to kill her." the armadillo offered. A number of responses to his comment were about to be spoken, but the group didn't have a chance; three clear soundings of a horn blared across the countryside; nobody had any doubts about what that meant.
* * * * * *
Welcome, Zion fans, to the last post of Chapter 5 for the Banniharian Caravan. This also happens to be the last post before the Milestone.
At this point, I feel obligated to note that the group has sustained a good amount of damage and, since we're not yet moving to the next chapter, these injuries and the fatigue will remain... this means that the group is hardly fighting-fit.
That being said, it is up to the Contributing Readers to decide just how they will enter the Milestone. Please keep in mind that the theme of Milestone 1 is "Loss", which is to say, this is a very VERY dangerous Milestone. That being said, Contributing Readers are encouraged to look at the following options and choose the one they find most fitting.
Unlike prior voting opportunities, the Milestone vote also includes pros and cons of each option along with different ways to view it.As always, the highest number of votes win.
1) Get back to the caravan! Positive Viewpoint: The caravan is obviously up in arms, and they are ready to defend against the undead horde. Negative Viewpoint: They are probably signalling for help, so any attempt to join them will result in lethal combat. Pro: Keeping the caravan alive could obviously provide a great boon on the trip to Zion. Con: Out of all of the options, this one carries with it the most risk and will providenon-contribiting reader voters a negative in their attempt to keep characters alive.
2) Sneak back to the Highway and regroup with any survivors. Positive Viewpoint: Providing a rally point for any of the caravan who survives means the party can rescue those who stand the best chance of survival. Negative Viewpoint: The party will essentially sit idly by while any attacks against the caravan leave the guardsmen without reinforcements. Pro: This option maximizes the chance to retain some degree of support without overexposure to more slaughter. Con: This option carries some risk in the event that the group is found out, and minimal reward... assuming any of the caravan survives the Corpses.
3) The caravan is doomed... get away while possible and head to Zion. Positive Viewpoint: The group is injured enough already and won't be that much help, but at least they can complete the pilgrimage and make it to Zion. Negative Viewpoint: Are you really going to leave the caravan to its own devices? Pro: Out of the three defined options, this one is the safest for the group. Con: Leaving the laborers and wagon masters of the caravan to die is NOT heroic... and it leaves the party without any support.
4) Try to make sense of what the party discovered and attempt to unlock the mystery behind the horrible undead plague. Positive Viewpoint: This option might result in a better-than-expected outcome if the party can piece together the clues they've found and come up with a plan. Negative Viewpoint: The group did not discover all of the clues that might help them find out why the undead scourage is plaguing the countryside. Pro: The possibility of discovering a resolution to the problem lays within this option. Con: Failure to come up with the resolution pretty much spells disaster for the caravan and the group.
Contributing Readers will have until midnight on Saturday, September 17th to place their vote. A unanimous vote will result in a minor benefit to the party. Any non-participation by a Contributing Reader will result in double the normal penalization.