FFD6 The Dicening, Group 1, Chapter 1, Mission 1

[Krylo]

Elsa and Bello's wounds both heal fully under the effects of Arden's magic and alchemical compounds, respectively, and the small group makes its way through some broken windows and out into the lot next to the hospital. Behind them, some rubble crumbles off the research center, and what is left of the hospital burns, the occasional shifting piece of concrete causing more of the building to collapse into itself.

The City below them stretches out much as it had before, but it is no longer so quiet. The corpses move. Nearly all of them have taken to their feet, and are moving toward the hospital. Behind them there is a crash, and on turning, they see a few living corpses stumbling out, their bodies on fire, yet still moving.

They weren't out of this yet.

[Teal Mage]

Snatching up Jhennek, Arden threw a cheerful glance toward her allies.

"Looks like we're running again!"

And they were off!

* * * * * *

> Escape Roll. Arden is willing to jostle Jhennek - if it means evading enemies, if it matters.

[phil_]

Bello fumbled through his sleeves and pulled out his (thankfully unbroken) harmonica again. "Hey, Blue Mage, remember that time we ran away from zombies and you carried me? Let's do that again." Bello started up a jazzy tune that went well with running from zombies. "Otherwise, I'll have to catch up."

------

Reverse Herculean Etude again.

[Menarker]

The android put the tiny wyvern down from his chest while he listened to their unofficial leader giving instructions as the pet grew calmer and wandered around for a while. It seemed quite sound so the robot really had nothing to say, not even a voice of affirmation.

Ark merely took point as it was starting to be customary for him to lead the group, his blade and shield held at ready as he started his dash. From his peripheral vision, Ark looked to the side and analyzed the curious sight. A hat skimming along the ground, with tiny little dragon feets. Jugan apparently located Jhen's misplaced hat and tried to run alongside its master carrying the loot over its head as much as its small arms could manage, proud of its new toy. Ark merely ignored what might have been mildly cute or amusing sight and led the way without comment.

-----------------------
Escape roll, leading the vanguard as normal.

[Riin Whitewind]

Feeling like a worn-out teddy bear, Jhen hung limply in the arms of the White Mage. Despite the occasional jostle, she felt secure - her friend wouldn't drop her! She spread her arms out like she was flying, the bangles on her wrists jingling with every step Arden took.

"I don't think there's anywhere really safe in the city to take a rest, do you? And we should probably take one, we're not quite dry but another tough enemy and we will be. And really, we only destroyed one building! There's no excuse for this kind of inefficiency."

The Tarut pulled her arms back in, holding her hand to her chin in a pantomime of heavy thought. Whether anyone could hear her over the running and jingling was a tertiary concern.

"Shall we see if the zombies will follow us outside the city? We should discover that anyway, it would be a horrible tragedy if we led them to an innocent town!"

[mauve]

The zombie-to-living-people ratio had once again jumped to alarming proportions. Undeads were practically - and literally - coming out of the woodwork on every side. It was, as Arden so accurately noted, a good time to leave.

"Go," Elsa said bluntly, shoving Raltz, Kole and Bello in the direction Ark and Arden had gone. "I'll bring up the rear."

-------

Runnin.'

[Krylo]

Moving through the streets, the small group finds it relatively easy to avoid the corpses. There are many of them, innumerable, and of all shapes, sizes, and living ages... including the children who had been in the park before, now up and walking, but the streets were wider, more easily navigable, and the living dead somewhat slow.

Though even so, it all seemed a little too easy, perhaps, until they came within sight of the city limits. A wall of undead flesh stood before them, with one more creature standing a few feet before it. Its flesh was a hodge podge of elvaan, hume, and viera stitched together like some sort of Frankenstein's monster, and one of its arms was replaced by a large blade like some of the other creatures.

But, what was truly interesting was only noticeable once the group got a bit closer... and two fold. Firstly, was the pendant it wore about its neck, the ring they were seeking, and bits of blond hair on its scalp and chin. Second, was the fact that it spoke.

"Why do you resist?" it asked, its voice devoid of human emotion, sounding almost robotic in its calm. "You could be one with us. Never lonely. Never dying. Why do you resist?"

It seemed genuinely confused, and did not move to attack, but behind the small group more of the undead were coming.

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OOC: Battle hasn't started yet. Front liners (probably Ark and Kole) are medium distance from the talking zombie, long from the ones behind him (he is medium from them). Everyone else is long distance from everyone. There's the talking zombie and he has five zombies behind him. Behind you is an entire city full of undead heading your way.

[Teal Mage]

"Shall we see if the zombies will follow us outside the city?" Jhennek asked, shortly after they'd left the ruins of the Research Lab. "We should discover that anyway, it would be a horrible tragedy if we led them to an innocent town!"

"We should be safe passed the city limits." Arden replied, keeping a firm hold on her hatless Taru passenger. "The only body outside Maris looked like it had run away - with luck, it's the Shadow Element suffusing the area that keeps them going. They may not be able to function outside its reach." It was a faint hope, but given the situation, it was also all they had.

"Besides," Arden added, "Altair's guards should be capable of handling these things." Certainly, the seven of them had survived on their own; a city full of trained soldiers would be more than a match for these undead wimps!

She hoped they wouldn't need to find out, just the same.

* * *

Arden's steps slowed as they neared the final blockage of Undead Flesh between them and, what the White Mage hoped, was safety. Arms tightening on Jhennek, Arden continued to press forward, undaunted, toward her more melee inclined counterparts. Her expression grew hard as her eyes fell on the talking creature's necklace. Frustratingly good, she reflected, or bad, luck. The amalgamation’s movements were more coordinated than most of the Undead she'd seen, but at least they'd found their secondary objective.

"Jhennek," Arden murmured softly, fingers digging into one of her outfit's hidden pockets, "I want you to be careful with your Thunder Spells - we don't need to accidentally destroy the ring." Withdrawing the Ether she'd saved for such an eventually, she offered it to the Black Mage, "Test your magic on the others, then take this when you're dry."

Arriving a pace or so behind the front-liners of her team, she carefully set Jhennek down. "Ark," she stated, voice still low, "scan the talking one. We need to immobilize him quickly and break through." Her now-free hand gripped her pistol's hilt, the weapon's holster still mostly hidden by her cotton half-skirt.

She wondered if any one would try to talk their way out of this.

* * *

> Move a Medium Distance toward the Enemy.

> Transfer Ether to Jhennek's Inventory.

> Set Jhennek down.

> Disguise check to hide Arden's intent.

[phil_]

Bello took the harmonica out of his mouth and started tap-tapping the beat of his song on his tiny chest, keeping the music alive but allowing him to talk.

Stepping up to Arden, he spoke. "Let me try to talk to him. I just need a second to think of what to say." He took another step forward to the front of the group and added, "Though, it's a little embarrassing to admit that I need a moment." He cleared his throat and tried to come up with a few good words.

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Move medium distance towards Ark and Kole (since Kole apparently didn't pick Bello up). I'll either edit in some talky-talk towards Adam or I'll post it within this turn if someone posts after this in such a way that talking is still on the table.

[IHateMakingNames]

Kole was clearly ready to just slice at something. Walking through a city filled with enemies he could clearly see did not bode well for him. For every enemy Kole seems he assume there are three he can't. On top of that, they were surrounded by zombies the entire time. Despite the easy time they had avoiding the zombies, the blue mage was expecting something to happen the entire time.

The talking franken zombie is not what he expected. He recognized the pendant on the lead zombie as the one the stable owner had asked the group to find. How much of that zombie was his lover was questionable., but the ring was still usable.

For now, Kole stood still, as the group seemed to be making plans for how to handle this. The blue mage only planned to make sure no zombies got past him. Except all those zombies filling the city behind them, but he tried (and failed) to not think about that.

---

Do nothing.