[ +- ] Elspa and Rygnar talk to Ulupoka on the Beach
Elspa looks decidedly uncomfortable discussing things with corpses, much less those that speak as one. It reeks of the arcane. "Wh-what is going on? Why's the dead standing up and fighting again?"
The corpses respond to Elspa's query unison.
"The way to the Lands of the Dead are closed here."
"Then my reward is for you to open the way to the Lands of the Dead," Elspa states plainly.
The eldritch voice breaks into a disturbing noise that might be laughter or crying.
"I do not hold dominion over the gates to the Lands of the Dead. Do you seek to restore them to their natural state? If so, I will put you on that path as your reward, She-Wolf."
Rygnar shakes his head, trying to stave off passing out, between heavy puffs he growls "Jarveena. Here now. Safely."
The voice seems to hesitate just for a moment.
"One cannot judge what a great warrior desires."
One of the zombies suddenly shudders, then again and again. Its belly swells into a horribly bloated mass, then suddenly explodes into a mess of guts and bile. As if birthed, Jarveena spills out from the corpse's torso onto the rocks, curled up in a fetal position.
The now-gutless zombie falls to the ground, discarded, its eyes growing dark. It collapses in a heap and does not move again. The other two zombies now turn to Elspa.
"And what shall be your reward, She-Wolf?"
Elspa looks down at Jarveena's body, then to Rygnar. "Fine, if you can't fix it I guess I have to. Tell me and my companions how to stop these dead folk from moving again. Despite the satisfaction of killing something twice, it's very annoying."
The voice responds to Elspa.
"Very well. There is an island within the island where a golden temple lies forgotten. In its belly lies a massive black pearl. If the black pearl is destroyed, then bodies of the dead will no longer animate and all of the walking dead will fall, including the monsters that bar you from leaving this island."
One of the corpse's shirt tears open, and symbols and lines crawl across the dead man's flesh. The patch of skin rips from the body and gracefully falls to the ground, curling into a scroll. A thin cord of sinew ties it shut in a neat bow, a the bodies dissolves into sand.
"The humans in the villages would rather plunge a knife in your heart than permit you to accomplish this task. Remember: in the end, we are all but pawns in a larger game. You must choose a side eventually, mighty warriors. Destroying the pearl will result in your freedom from this nightmare. If you fail to do so, your soul will be trapped here forever."
Elspa reaches down to retrieve the scroll, but her hand pauses before she can touch it. "Why do the villagers want this to continue?" she asks, rising back up to address the last floating corpse and leaving the scroll alone.
Now the eldritch voice comes only from the final zombie, and its eyes fix on Elspa. Without hesitation, it says:
"To answer that question, I must tell you of myself. I am Ulupoka, once a God millennia ago. I am also the first to be trapped on this island, although my circumstances were engineered by my enemies rather than by chance like yours."
"The villagers are the descendants of the worshippers of those who trapped me here. They believe they are a chosen people, sworn to protect the black pearl. They think they bear this burden for the good of the world, for the black pearl was built to hold me here, and they believe I will undo all of creation if I become free."
"And you will, yes?" Elspa asks, temporarily ignoring both the scroll and Jarveena. "Once the pearl is destroyed?"
"This I vow: I will make those who are responsible for my imprisonment pay for their treachery. I will murder my brothers that imprisoned me, and put them to endless torment. I will murder their followers, and will journey to the Lands of the Dead and find their follower's ancestors, and their ancestors' ancestors, back to the first generation that helped locked me here. I will murder them over and over for eternity, in a hell of my own design.
THEY WILL WATCH ALL THAT THEY HAVE BUILT BURN IN GLORIOUS FIRE.
I WILL DESTROY THE WORLD, UTTERLY AND FOR ALL TIME."
The zombie is now floating five feet in the air, its eyes so bright that it hurts to look at them. But, it pauses and returns to the ground.
"But my world is not your world. I have little power outside of my own world. I will return to my world through the Lands of the Dead once I am free, never to return. What power I have here I will use to express my gratitude to you, but I suspect that, like me, it is your freedom from this island that you will cherish above all material rewards."
Elspa slips her axe into her belt loop now that her rage has subsided. She reaches down and picks up the scroll, feeling the eldritch-infused skin with her thumb. "This is my pack," she says, sweeping her hand to include Rygnar and Jarveena. "Whatever freedom or reward I earn for myself extends to them as well."
The flesh puppet sweeps its hand in mimicry of your own action.
"Whatever freedom or reward you earn, you earn for your pack as well."
Although, coming from that voice, it almost sounds like a threat as much as a promise. At the end of its sentence, the zombie collapses into the pebble beach with a crunch, the starlight in its eyes extinguished.
