The Burgomaster is a rather hefty man. Not overweight but what one might call big boned. His body is laying on a table in the drawing room, surrounded by flowers and burning incense in an obvious attempt to keep his rotting body from completely stinking up the cottage. When you go into the drawing room to move his body you see his skin has turned red and his abdomen is bloating from his organs accumulating gas.
[The Burgomaster has been dead for 10 days in (thankfully) cool weather. Out of curiosity, do you guys plan to just lift him from the table or put a blanket under him or remove the legs of the table and use it as a stretcher or something else?]
Rhodric suggest that they use the table as a stretcher to avoid disturbing tyres body to much, otherwise the body may explode from the build up of gas.
"Agreed, but we will not be able to use the horse. And it will take four of us."
Eloric moves to take a corner of the table. The wizard is not overly strong, but he does his best to hold up his end of things.
Reion moves to another corner of the table and gets underneath it. He pushes upward to help hold up his corner, surprisingly he is quite strong for a little guy.
[Sorry for the delay...]
You prepare the table to be moved by removing the legs so you don't stumble if they catch on the ground. The four of you each pick a different corner and after someone calls out, "3... 2...1..." Everyone lifts up the table to waist height. It takes a little maneuvering to tilt the wide table on an angle just enough to squeeze through the door without spilling the corpse off the table.
Once outside, you see the fog is still as thick and chilly as ever and the sun is already setting. While the four of you begin carrying the body toward the church, Aly, Ismark and Ireena (who has now changed into armor and weapons) take the horses by the reigns and follow closely behind. Barovia is not a large Village so you make good speed, even through the thick cold fog, but you still have this sense of dread as if time were running out. Like the setting sun was trying to race you to setting before you could reach the church.
Atop a slight rise, against the very roots of the castle's pillar stone, stands a gray, sagging edifice of stone and wood. This church has weathered the assaults of evil for centuries on end and is worn and weary. The bell tower hangs to one side, its sweet tone long silenced. Flickering light shines through holes burned through the roof shingles. The rafters strain feebly against their load.
Reion struggling to keep his balance under the table, though it really wasn't that heavy to him, calls up to the others, "Are we there yet?"
"Yes we're here." Eloric grumbles and huffs trying to catch his breath. "One of you in the front going to knock? This fellow's not getting any lighter."
Aly walks silently with Ismark and Ireena as the men carry the Burgomaster body through the town. She could have lent a hand. Despite her rather thin frame, Aly was sure she was probably stronger than any of the men. She had usually been stronger than the boys of her villiage. Her mother said it had something to do with some mystical connection the Wood elves could naturally draw from the wilderness and some just had a stronger connection than others.
The Priestess was studying the broken down church when Eloric calls for someone to knock on the church doors. Aly complies and slowly walks to the front doors of the church and gives the doors a firm knock. She then waits for a response. If there is no response, she will bang again but a little harder.