Vampyr?! *clutches her holy symbol tight and peers around and those surrounding her, searching for pasty complexions and pointy teeth*
This is truly an area of unholy abomination and must be cleansed! We should not flee like frightened children. No creature is too strong to be fought when we have courage and valor on our side. I say we march on in and wrest this land back from this foul beast!
@Rufus_hobart These are larger than man-sized, so they were probably not flesh to stone-d humans. Just statues, but still...
heh...fine point, but still...statues of any sort tend to give me the wiggins now...
OOC: Just statues, I fear them the most, I won't look away or they'll jump out and kill us all. Anyways, back to game.
IC: I'm not sure if this is a trap, luring people here to feed the wolves, or luring them to feed the vampires, either way we are here and the light still shines. None of you prepared negative plane protection I gather? It is too bad, but I feel I will be strongest against many of the evils about to be unleashed. This will not be a place for hidden traps, the dangers will be more overt.
Which way to the house, we have a meeting to attend, I dare say arriving late would not be wise.
*shakes her head sadly* I hasten to confess, negative plane protection was not among those powers i prayed for> i considered it briefly, but did not think we would be facing such foul creatures.
*Gazing up the road where we have not yet travelled* Your words are wise, paladin, we should make our way with all haste to this centre of evil. *setting off determinedly*
"What if we're being lured to this terrible place?" Aerie asks, timidly. "Maybe the original messenger was sent, murdered, hidden, and a replacement note and messenger sent to us. They mention the same things, and some of the phrasing is the same but more optimistic in the note we got at the tavern. The poor mayor...the grief and sacrifice he's making must be terrible. We should try to help, but I am unsure how much good we can do here."
OOC Was our letter written before or after the one we found?
IC We can't let this poor man's body unburied. I'll go get my shovel. Branwen would you be kind enough to give last rituals to this poor man and address his soul to the gods?
DM The letter you got at the Inn was written well after this one.
You bury the body by the side of the road, a task made more difficult by the water-soaked earth. Finally, you manage to cover him with earth and you remount your horses and follow the road. After you have gotten about fifty feet away from the gates, they close creakily and shut with a BANG that seems to resound through the woods.
Edwin finally looks up from his spellbook as they bury the body. He has a calm if somewhat smug and superior look on his face. Looking about the group he sighs to himself seemingly unimpressed with them.
"I fail to see why we waste time burying this fool, I'm quite certain the wolves would remove his body soon enough if left alone. That is the nature of things is it not?"
Edwin finally looks up from his spellbook as they bury the body. He has a calm if somewhat smug and superior look on his face. Looking about the group he sighs to himself seemingly unimpressed with them.
"I fail to see why we waste time burying this fool, I'm quite certain the wolves would remove his body soon enough if left alone. That is the nature of things is it not?"
This last was said to Cernd with a mocking grin.
Sadly I agree with Edwin, it is the nature of these beasts. I fear we will find more corpses, performing rites upon it is good and true, but more importantly we will need to confirm their final death *hefts axe* and then leave the rest to the beasts. All we've accomplished is getting a certain stench on our hands that will lead the wolves to us quicker at night.
Cernd, who had been quiet most of the trip, knelt down, comparing his hand to the large paws. He ignored the arrogrent mage, and glanced over at the rest of the party. "It might be the way of the wild, but I agree with our good knight, that it might just bring the beasts to us, like moths to a flame." He said, standing up, and dusting off his clothing. "I would say we continue on, and be wary of any clever devices that our foes might have set, like a spider spinning a web."
OOC: Sorry bout the no response yesterday, my net had decided it was a no go for me yesterday XD
Two letters from seemingly different hands... The gate closing behind us. I have a bad feeling about this. But the only course seems to be forward. We should go, now and not waste more time here...
I'd like to queue with Garrick. I can provide music to strengthen the heart, stories about knights and knaves and ... well I reckon that's all I have to offer.
"It must be obvious even to those among you with lower mental acuity than myself (ergo all of you), that we are heading into a trap. However being forewarned we have somewhat of an advantage, so I urge you all to be prepared."
The road continues on, and you hear wolves crying in the distance. Soon, tall shapes loom out of the fog that surrounds everything like a clammy shroud. The muddy dirt of the road soon gives way to slick, wet cobblestones. The tall, dark shapes become recognizable as buildings. You decide this must be the village of Barovia. But there are few lights in the windows- most of them seem to be boarded over, from the inside or the outside. The intact glass windows stare out into the fog like blind, unseeing eyes. No sound cuts the silence except for a single, mournful sobbing that echoes through the streets from a distance.
After approximately 800 feet of riding, you come out into the semi-circular town square. Here, only two buildings seem to be lit and occupied. One is a place billing itself as "Bildrath's Mercantile". The other has a dilapidated sign swinging from a single hinge out front, calling itself the "Blood on the Vine Tavern".
In a time of danger people go to their churches, for these people that most likely means the tavern. I say we go there first, if anyone lives, they will be there.
"I agree, we should hit the tavern... to look for survivors of course. If it's abandoned, then nobody would mind me helping myself to some of their potent potables."
"It must be obvious even to those among you with lower mental acuity than myself (ergo all of you), that we are heading into a trap. However being forewarned we have somewhat of an advantage, so I urge you all to be prepared."
Edwin smiles at Alora.
"Alora my dear, might I have a word in private?"
Alora has had a private conversation with Edwin. She comes away looking smug and self-important.
Aerie follows along with the band looking around fretfully. "This place is wrong. It makes my skin crawl." She's reconsidering her list of prepared spells and resolving to tailor them more towards undead smiting the next time she rests.
@LadyRhian OOC With Int 16 and Wis 17 (from the tome), do I get bonus spells of any kind?
"Let us not bluster like the wind. Tread carefully, even the most peaceful creature will lash out, if backed into a corner." Cernd said, glancing around at the town. He wasn't so sure, how welecoming the inhabitants would be, to their presence, if they where any left.
Branwen shrugs. "They will welcome us, or they will not. It makes little difference in the eyes of the Gods. We have a duty to fulfill, and we shall do it. We have buried one body already, I am sure that the townsfolk have done more of the same if the tone of these letters is to be trusted. "
She squints around, at the seemingly abandoned buildings, and the signs on the two dimly lit ones. "Storekeeps often have all manner of information, and are often more reliable than drunken peasants. We should not neglect a visit to this Bildrath after the tavern."
I apologize for being so late, but I worked today. And one of our librarians got some really unwelcome news. I live right across the mainland from Long Beach Island, and she lives in Beach Haven. New Jersey evacuated the Island before the storm. However, apparently several people were determined to ride out the storm. Six people (so far) have been found dead on the Island. Beach Haven, where Francine, the librarian I was talking about, is, in the words of a patron who either knows or was told this, "Mostly gone". Houses washed right off foundations and the entire house is missing, and even the water and sewer system was ripped up to the point where it will take an entire year to repair to the point where it was before the storm. The police aren't letting anyone onto LBI except for rescue crews, so nobody knows if they expect to find more bodies or not. Everyone who lives on LBI wants to go home, but the time frame stated by the authorities keeps changing. At this point, they are saying perhaps another 3-5 days before people are allowed onto the island.
It's just horrific. And there is another storm coming this way, and a possible system in a week or two that could dump snow on this on top of everything else... >:P
Comments
This is truly an area of unholy abomination and must be cleansed! We should not flee like frightened children. No creature is too strong to be fought when we have courage and valor on our side. I say we march on in and wrest this land back from this foul beast!
*waves her warhammer all threatening-like*
IC: I'm not sure if this is a trap, luring people here to feed the wolves, or luring them to feed the vampires, either way we are here and the light still shines. None of you prepared negative plane protection I gather? It is too bad, but I feel I will be strongest against many of the evils about to be unleashed. This will not be a place for hidden traps, the dangers will be more overt.
Which way to the house, we have a meeting to attend, I dare say arriving late would not be wise.
*Gazing up the road where we have not yet travelled* Your words are wise, paladin, we should make our way with all haste to this centre of evil. *setting off determinedly*
IC We can't let this poor man's body unburied. I'll go get my shovel. Branwen would you be kind enough to give last rituals to this poor man and address his soul to the gods?
You bury the body by the side of the road, a task made more difficult by the water-soaked earth. Finally, you manage to cover him with earth and you remount your horses and follow the road. After you have gotten about fifty feet away from the gates, they close creakily and shut with a BANG that seems to resound through the woods.
"I fail to see why we waste time burying this fool, I'm quite certain the wolves would remove his body soon enough if left alone. That is the nature of things is it not?"
This last was said to Cernd with a mocking grin.
OOC: Sorry bout the no response yesterday, my net had decided it was a no go for me yesterday XD
Edwin smiles at Alora.
"Alora my dear, might I have a word in private?"
Magic missle, Mage armor, protection from evil, chromatic orb, mirror image, shield, melfs acid arrow, fireball, skull trap, dispel magic, haste, confusion, cloud kill, dominate person, dismissal
After approximately 800 feet of riding, you come out into the semi-circular town square. Here, only two buildings seem to be lit and occupied. One is a place billing itself as "Bildrath's Mercantile". The other has a dilapidated sign swinging from a single hinge out front, calling itself the "Blood on the Vine Tavern".
@LadyRhian OOC With Int 16 and Wis 17 (from the tome), do I get bonus spells of any kind?
She squints around, at the seemingly abandoned buildings, and the signs on the two dimly lit ones.
"Storekeeps often have all manner of information, and are often more reliable than drunken peasants. We should not neglect a visit to this Bildrath after the tavern."
It's just horrific. And there is another storm coming this way, and a possible system in a week or two that could dump snow on this on top of everything else... >:P