As the group prepares to depart for Scrapwall, Khonnir suggests that they head first for a small fort called Aldronard's Grave.  Located on the west bank of the Sellen River directly across from Scrapwall, the fortress is often unoccupied, but if any crusaders or worshipers of Sarenrae are there, they could have some information about the current situation in Scrapwall to share.

It's a 105 mile journey northeast directly from Torch to Scrapwall.

Despite the distance, the journey is relatively uneventful.  A network of small forts lines the Sellen River, and while most have only a handful of tenders, they prove safe enough at night.

When Aldronard's Grave comes into sight, it looks much like those other forts, though somehow both larger and also... less?  The central keep shows old damage, which seems to have gutted it.  That isn't inherently much cause for concern.

Of somewhat more concern is the thick of smoke rising from the other two major structures in the fort.

"Oh... my. I thought Khonnir said it was unoccupied." Telastor said as he looked at the smoke rising from the buildings.

OOC: how far are we from the gates (?) of the fort? The smoke is thick like buildings are on fire? Just want to make sure I'm clear.

"Well, that does not look good. Maybe we should consider a stealthy approach until we find what exactly we are dealing with here?" Kaelyn asks as she watches the rising smoke.

Telastor nodded to Kaelyn, "not sure what I can do against largescale fires, but yes. Let's see what we can find out before we charge into a building fire."

As the closed on the site and the flames, Telastor cast a spell on himself to help resist the flames should it come to that.

OOC: Resist Energy (Fire), 40 min duration; ignore first 10 pts of fire damage per instance

"I'll try to see what we are getting ourselves into." Kaelyn dismounts and, after taking a moment to cast a spell of protection, moves ahead of the party to approach the fort, taking advantage of whatever cover she can find on the way.

Mage armor up. I kind of assumed we are on horses. Also, what lighting are we dealing with here? Bright or normal? Makes a difference for my stealth roll.

"Oh! Ah, very courageous of you." Gizzos smiles meakly at Kaelyn.

OOC: Whew, it's been a week.  Anyway:

You're about a mile from the fort when you spot it.  Given the terrain (open, river), a stealthy approach on the fort would be impossible if it were fully manned.  As it is, if anyone is posted on the main watch tower, they may have already seen you.  If you want to try sneaking up, you'd need to venture inland and loop around to use the rougher terrain and the smoke from the fires as cover.

The lightning is mid-afternoon, slightly cloudy.

Kaelyn reconsiders her course of action. "Oh, hell. We'd need a big detour to have any chance of remaining hidden, and we have likely been seen already if there was anyone watching anyway. Maybe we should just get there quickly. Someone may need help, or the smoke is just from harmless bonfires." It's obvious that she does not believe that herself.

Sorry, I read the situation wrong there. Thought we were closer and not already obvious to anyone watching. I'm still going with casting Mage armor though.

"I agree, no point in skulking around. There's a perfectly good front door."

She smiled at Kaelyn, "I have some sausages I think, if there are bonfires. They're delicious roasted over an open fire."

The group moves closer to the keep.  As the mile dwindles down to a few hundred feet, a couple of figures become clear, standing watch on top of the remaining tower.  One of them stands up and waves its arms in your general direction.

"We've been struck by the plague.  Head on up river if you don't want to be exposed!" the figure yells.

Plague. The word caused her to rein up sharply.  She spoke first to her companions.

"I know nothing about any plague, except that I don't want any part of it. But as much as I will regret saying this, it seems unlikely it's unrelated to our work."

She raised her voice and shouted back at the gate guard, "What sort of plague? What are the symptoms? Where does it come from?"