Zenari into giant owl, carries Idris down the mountain. Siax and Falcon make up the toboggan and go down that way, leaving everything else. Tokk decides to stay and look at the dragon loot.
Part way down, Avalanche, but the group are out of danger. Tokk probably a Tokk-sickle
Zenari and Idris find the dragon first. Idris divine senses undead, but its weak and fading fast. Cuts Pine out of the dragon with the remnants of his sword.
Pulling Pine out, you see him covered in blood, dents in the magical armour, there is no breathing, there is no movement.
Pine is basically liquidated inside his armour from the sheer force of the impact. He is very much dead dead. Idris uses the all the rest of his ability to heal, the last of his 'lay on hands' to heal Pine, but like Gundren before, nothing happens. Siax and Falcon arrive. "He's over here. He's not breathing!" Idris said in panic to Siax.
Zenari changes back to her regular form and does a medicine check. As she tries to open the armour to see the damage. With a gasp, she realises that the blunt force as the body hit the ground has almost liquified what was inside the armour. Pine's body isn't just broken, it is mangled. That the limbs and head have stayed attached is only because the dragon's body was wrapped around that form. Pine is definitely dead. Idris has to look away, unable to cope with the view.
Idris starts to question whether Pine is actually dead, despite the evidence, because he is still sensing undead. It is weaker than before, but he does still feel that ping on his senses, but he doesn't know what that means. It does seem to be getting weaker as time is passing for sure, almost like a scent fading.
Zenari speaks to Idris, "You have your God that you can speak to. Do you think you can try to speak to those figures that helped Pine?"
Immediately Idris would bow down and call out to them, praying, his hand laying on Pine's head because he doesn't want to touch the body.
"The three shadows that have followed Pine, please respond to my call."
They are there, everyone sees them, as if they were always there and they simply did not notice them. The three figures are now less shadowy and more corporeal and distinct, standing midair above the dragon looking down upon Idris. One of them is wearing a cowl and looking like an older sage, another wearing armour and looking down at the group imperiously, and another, a hulking figure, just clutching a black claw in and out.
Idris looks up at them and immediately shouts "What's happening to him?"
The wisened figure would speak. "He has entered the halls of our father. Beyond our reach. Death has claimed him."
Siax would cry out to them, "But he passed your test! He passed your test! There must be something you could do. You can't just leave him like this. He passed your test."
The hulking figure of Bhaal lets out a huff of amusement. "We brought him back the once, puny human, as reward for what he did now."
"And look what he did do for you. Look what he can continue to do for you. You HAVE to bring him back."
The imperious figure looks at the group and says "Does this figure mean this much to you?"
Without hesitation or question, Siax would say "Yes," and Idris would agree.
The Three figures look at each other, and the wisened one in the centre turns back towards them. "Perhaps. Perhaps we can make a deal. You," he points an almost skeletal finger towards Zenari, "have the power needed to bring him back, but we can guide it, ensure that it does what is needed. But if we do so, I would like a pledge from you all. If we bring this individual back, he will have another mission, a quest. Your pledge is to assist him. Insure that he succeeds. A simple enough task."
The hulking figure of Bhaal. "Heh, simple enough."
Bane: "Yes, simple."
Effe would pop out of the dagger at the notion of Idris making a deal with someone else, disgruntled.
Siax would ask "What is the quest? Pine didn't talk about it much."
The figure of Myrkul would respond "Oh, he did not speak of it, for he does not know. There is great change coming on this land. The cult you dealt a blow with, they have spread, everywhere. And they are fighting our interests, for what comes next will change what the land appears. Death has died, Siax, and this is the fight that sees who claims it."
Idris interrupts and says immediately, "I agree!" There is no hesitation in him, in the agreement or the quest. He maintains direct eye contact with the Three.
"And the rest of you?"
Zenari was more reserved in her agreement. In her mind, she reached out to the Three, and told them that her past, her heritage, was chasing after her, and that she felt that was putting the rest of the group in danger because she is being hunted by the creature. Bhaal would acknowledge it, "Erradin. I know him. The assassin." She then went on to say how she did not yet know how to defeat the nightmare creatures, and that she might, for the sake of the others, to leave them until she can figure it out.
"Noble," The imperious figure of Bane would say, "But know that the creatures that haunt you are but one of the players in this fight. They are involved, so like it or not, you will have dealings with everything that is happening. You may choose to take the road alone, to protect these people, but by agreeing to this, they have already thrust themselves into grave danger."
She would nod, and sends a thought back that she will give it a lot of thought, and agree to their terms, but if she feels like she needs to go on her own to do that thing, that should be part of the deal.
"And you, elven heir?"
Siax would look at Pine, and then slowly look up to the Three, and nod. "I agree. I only have one condition. That you continue to guide Pine, and through Pine we will do as you ask."
The figure of Myrkul in the centre responds. "It is, as is said. And fear not, as this deal is made, you will be able to speak to us like this. You are all part of this story now."
In her mind, Zenari feels the voice of Bane. "The energy within you, push it, push it against this spot, exactly like so." She gets almost a complex five dimensional mathematical puzzle in her mind. She doesn't understand it, but by following his instructions she should be able to push the surge of wild magic that still resides within her into Pine.
The three figures look down upon you as the energy gathered by chaos, and the bonds that unite you all flow into Pine's destroyed corpse. And then his eyes open. Pine is once again in the land of the living.
As Pine stands up, still dazed, the body of the dragon starts sizzling, looking almost like its melting. All of the group feel strange, but none of them can see magic at that time, and so the reason bypasses their notice. Very swiftly only the bones of the dragon are left behind, but little else. The Three figures are gone.
Later, the group would realise that they each have a mark on their skin, one that looks a bit like scales, and they also have gained some small measure of draconic power that stays with them.