Leaving is Painful

17 Lamashan 4709 AR
Cairnlands outside Absalom

After talking for a while, we realized that there was not much holding us to Absalom, and we did not (with the possible exception of Salma) seem to be adapting well to city life. Tythe likes the ocean, and Deaglan and I just like to be anyplace that is not a city. We decided to leave, get away from the backstreet machinations, the assassins, and the degenerate upperclass with which we had managed to entangle ourselves. Maybe we can find a ship. Well, we will have to find a ship, since we are on an island….

On the way out of town, Tythe remembered that she owned a horse, and after debating whether the rest of us should get horses, decided to sell hers. I thought she had sold all that went with the horse, but she and Deaglan seemed to be fussing with some things— I confess I did not pay attention, as I had decided, while we were walking close to the docks, to look for Marlis’ warehouse, and see once and for all if he was truly a dealer in “antiquities.”

Spotting the large, nondescript wooden building that was supposed to be his, I peered in a window and saw a dim light somewhere deep within. I could not see or hear anyone from there, and was planning to investigate further when I heard Deaglan and Tythe giggling as they sped away from the building. While I was looking through the window, they had somehow produced a bag of horse manure, dropped it on the front steps of the warehouse, lit it, knocked on the door, and ran. Mortified, I followed with Salma and Zandu, and we watched from an alley as an older man opened the door and threw a bucket of water on the mess.

Having finished our business in Absalom, we walked to the gates of town. I changed the color of everyone’s hair before we left, on the off chance that we were, or would be, wanted for something by the authorities.

Under the gibbous moon, we traveled through the Cairnlands beyond the city, giving wide berth to broken siege engines and graves. Soon, however, we saw some humanoid forms in the distance, digging in the ground with their hands. Quiet as we were, they noticed us, all turning to stare with their undead eyes as we tried to pass 80’ from them. A brief and unwanted battle ensued— I got to slice a few of them in half, and Deaglan and I were both briefly paralyzed by their touch. We climbed into a ruined building to fight them off, eventually re-killing most of the attackers, though I am quite sure there are more lurking about.

Dogged

18 Lamashan 4709 AR
Shoreline of Kortos

I thought we might have a bit of a rest while the ruin’s courtyard was empty. Setting an alarm, we planned our shifts and Salma and I decided to rest first. That lasted less than a minute until Deaglan and Tythe were yelling and the alarm was going off. We re-killed the rest of the undead, and, exhausted, we returned to our planned shifts. Thankfully, the rest of the night was uneventful.

In the morning we prepared to depart quickly, and, doing a head-count, noticed that Rufus was not moving. Well, not moving normally— his skin and fur were rippling in a rather unhealthy fashion, but he had obviously expired during the night. I wanted to see what was going to burst out of the dog, but my friends opted to put the dog on the same pile as the zombies we were burning, thinking that it might be a flock of those one-eyed bat things.

We walked along the shoreline for several hours, wanting to get as far from the Cairnlands as possible, when we saw a body just at the waterline ahead. The human male we found was quite dead, and was clutching a map case in one hand. We pried that out and opened it, finding a map of Kortos Island. Tythe recognized a mark on the map that indicated pirate treasure near the edge of some mountains near the center of the island— we are going to head towards that, I think.