Day 1, Evening
The blackened trees of the forest loomed overhead, their gnarled branches forming a web-like canopy above. Ahead of them, in a quiet clearing of dead grass, stood the ruined fort, solemn and decayed like the world around them. A certain tenseness swelled in the adventurers as they prepared for battle, mentally readying themselves for the fight to come, for their scouts had revealed to them what awaited within. In preparation, they cast a multitude of spells.
Alacor cast a series of spells on Hadric, who grew to a startling eleven feet tall. Once the wizard had finished his work, Hadric, now a giant, bent over and sniffed a particular spot on his arm.
He wrinkled his nose and muttered, “
It still stinks.”
“
Nonsense,” replied Alacor, delighting in Hadric's anguish. “
It's all evaporated, see?”
“
Are you trying to make me smell like undead, too? Is this supposed to be some sort of camouflage?”
“
Don't be silly. You smell like freshly-plucked roses to me.”
“
Ugh, what stinks?” asked Ziv.
Hadric shot Alacor a deadly glance, but the wizard, chuckling devilishly, went off to assume his position at the rear of the party.
{Alacor sucessfully cast Enlarge Person, Bull's Strength, & Cat's Grace}
Cabrakan began casting his own spells, but he seemed to struggle with his prayers. A soft light, beginning to glow about his hands, diminished as quickly as it came, the magic unraveling before him. “
Sorry,” he said, appearing disgruntled. “
It's been awhile since I've been in battle like this. I'm still a bit rusty.”
{Cabrakan failed to cast Hide from Undead & Magic Vestment ~ Spell Failure: Roleplaying Component missing}
Andriel's spellcasting was more mixed in her results, with most of her spells succeeding though with a couple failures among them.
{Andriel successfully cast Hide from Undead, Bless, Bear's Endurance, & Bull's Strength; Andriel failed to cast Resistance ~ Spell Failure: Roleplaying Component not met}
Johannes ardently made his own prayers.
{Johannes successfully cast Protection from Evil}
Having done what they could magically, they assumed their positions and gazed forward at the old ruin, the keep which they were about to storm. The sun, having begun to sink into the horizon, cast an orange, crimson band across the sky, that bathed the walls of the fort in a blaze. Its crumbling walls were outlined with heavy shadows, the blackness tracing into the contours of the stone. In many ways, the ruin became a metaphor for the isle itself; beautiful yet solemn, illuminated yet dark, waiting for them to breach inside and face the undead terrors within.
Lerdeth and Johannes mounted their horses; the horses nervously grinded their hooves against the earth.
“
Alright. . .” began Johannes, his voice barely above a whisper, and who exchanged meaningful glances with his companions before resolving his gaze on the gates of the fort. He snapped the reigns of his horse. “
Forward!”
With the giant-sized Hadric at the fore, the party rushed toward the gates, breaking from the treeline of the dead forest, crossing the crisp and brown grass of the clearing, and moving atop the crude wooden bridge that spanned over the moat of black water. And Hadric, using his enlarged armored shoulders, shoved opened the doors of the gate, bravely and boldly at the lead.
The eyes of party took in the sight, of which there was much to take in. Before them was a stone courtyard, roofless with the dusk-lit sky clearly visible above, and enclosed by stone walls; the stone walls that were part of the outside of the fort were without ramparts or walkways, being merely topped with sloped stone so as to make climbing over them difficult. To their immediate left was a door to a corner-tower and in a far right corner of the courtyard were a few raised steps, leading to the inner chambers of the small fort. And at the base of these steps stood exactly what their scouts had foretold: A Skeleton, surrounded by a horde of Raveners.
The daunting Skeleton wielded a shield in one hand and a flail in the other, whose spiked ball, frightening in its appearance, dragged on the stone ground next to it; it was also wore a rusted-looking chainmail and helm. And about the courtyard, huddled in packs, stood hunched some of the most disturbing creatures the party had ever seen, the Raveners, who were small and child-like in their features, deformed, with mouths full of razor-sharp teeth and possessing long claws made for rending flesh; they breathed quickly and heavily as they lingered, like restless and panting dogs.
The party stepped into all this, bearing the sight of all these horrific creatures and their skeletal master, and they felt a chill ripple through them.
And from the very moment they opened the doors of the fort, the Skeleton saw them, instantly, its empty black sockets narrowing upon their living pupils. It was not clear whom he saw and whom he didn't, but, without a doubt, he saw many whom the Raveners did not.
The Skeleton lifted his flail and released a high-pitched shriek – not one of terror, but one that inspired terror, and that could haunt the dreams of children for the rest of their days. Every Ravener in the courtyard suddenly perked up their heads, turned toward the gates of the fort, and lurched, on the verge of a rapid sprint to engulf the area of the gate, whether they saw any creatures there or not.
Bearing witness to the horde about to swallow them, the party tightly grasped their weapons.
Combat Rounds have begun.
Note: The doors seen on the map may now be ignored.
quote:
Skeleton (Challenging) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 1 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 2 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 3 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 4 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 5 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 6 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
Ravener 7 (Effortless) ~ Uninjured
