Re: To the 'Town' on the Hill

[Kara Winters]

"We probably won't be able to avoid a fight going in, but looking for the lord's home first," Risa nodded in agreement, "Would lessen the amount of fights we'll have afterwards."

"So a bit of column A and a bit of column B," Reed asked.

"Yea, something like that, hopefully, once we get into there, we can see a building that looks relatively like the one we're looking for..." Risa offered.

[Nara-pyon]

"If we can see through tha' fog," Zoltan muttered, looking at the fog apprehensively.

Aeris looked at the fog as well. She also had a sense of foreboding about it.

"At any rate, we should probably rest so that we can get an early start tomorrow," she suggested.

[Kara Winters]

The next morning saw the group stand before the fog/town, as Allen had said, he would ensure the camp would remain secure, that was why the merchants asked him to come along. This left Risa, Zoltan, Reed and Aeris. The sun shone down brightly, making the fog that just hovered over the area looking jarringly out of place.

For Reed, it was almost tempting to just poke the fog to see what would happen.

"You'd almost just think this was a white blob with all this sun," he commented.

[Nara-pyon]

"We'll fin' ou' when we go down jes' wha' tha' fog's all abou'," Zoltan glared at the fog as he pulled his bag onto his back. He checked his weapons, making sure they were all ready to go.

Aeris also checked her weapons, making sure her focus and her new shortsword were ready.

"I suppose we'd best be going," she murmured apprehensively.

Without waiting, Zoltan took the lead, heading down towards the fog-covered town.

[Kara Winters]

The moment the group dived through it felt like the thick fog had parted ways to reveal the area underneath. However, if they looked behind them, they would notice that the fog was just as thick looking back out, as if it was a barrier separating this area from the outside world.

While there was still a fog in the area, it was much lighter, just giving the area this feeling like it was still early morning before the sun rose on a foggy day. Through the fog anyone facing forward would see two houses on either side. Though they look pretty run down, they are in amazing shape for something that was left alone for a few decades. Beyond those four houses are shadowy shapes of the other buildings, and they can hear what sounds like water running in the distance.

Right beside them, only 15 feet away to the west is a building right at the edge of town. The windows and doors are closed tightly.

[Nara-pyon]

Zoltan led the way, Risa and Aeris behind him, and Reed pulling up the rear. They moved quietly, watching and listening for anything that might sneak up on them.

Ahead of them, Zoltan could see six tall shadowy figures - they could almost be pillars, except that there were shuffling sounds coming from them. Still, they were too far away to see clearly.

Aeris meanwhile spotted the building to the west of them. There were scratches on the door, as if someone - or something - had tried to get in, unsuccessfully. It seemed the building was probably barricaded. There was nothing particularly special about the building, either in size or appearance. It couldn't be the lord's manor.

"Careful," Zoltan growled quietly at the others. "There's sommat ahead of us, cannae tell what it is."

The group continued forward, slow and cautious.

[Kara Winters]

As the group got closer to the sound of the shuffling, they eventually was able to make out the sight of three zombies and three skeletons in group in front of what looked like a really large fountain that was still running even after all this time. Though water was just a mere trickle and there was water spilling out onto the ground a bit as the fountain had become clogged with leaves and debris.

The zombies, still had their flesh, but they looked quite decayed, and their clothes were ragged. While the skeletons were stripped of their flesh, but they all held short swords on them. Not the best looking short swords, but they could still do damage.

[Nara-pyon]

Leaving her position, Aeris darted forward until she was had closed half the distance between the group and the undead creatures, one hand on her focus. With a word of power, she thrust forward one hand. An icy knife shot forward, striking a skeleton and exploding into a shower of shards that struck both it and the zombie next to it. The zombie had frost on it, but aside from that there was no visible effect, while the skeleton lost half of its body, the remaining bones cracking from the cold. The skeleton on the other side of it dodged out of the way, avoiding the icy shards entirely.

Zoltan pulled a javelin from his belt and took careful aim, throwing it at the same skeleton that Aeris had hit. The javelin hit the skeleton in the mouth, jerking the jawbone down off the skull and then knocking the skull off the skeleton. The remainder of the skeleton's body fell to the ground, bones scattering.

[Kara Winters]

Risa stood where she was and pulled out an arrow, she shot it at the zombie in the middle and it hit with a thud. The zombie jerked back, but didn't make any move to remove it.

Reed dashes around and stabs the zombie that had gotten some cold damage from Aeris. The rapier slide in easily and when removed black gunk ended up coming out instead of blood.

One of the zombies began to shamble up to Zoltan and Risa, causing Risa to start as she didn't expect it to come up so close to them. The creature began to slam itself against Zoltan but only managed to bump the dwarf instead, it really didn't do much. Risa took this chance to move out of the way so she could get better shots. She wouldn't be able to strike the zombie that was trying to hurt Zoltan (and failing) at this moment.

One of the skeletons went for Aeris and tried to slash her with its short sword, but the movement was lanky and readable at best. It wasn't hard for Aeris to dodge that particular blow. A zombie joined the fray to try and get Aeris, which also put it very close to Reed, which startled the bard. Fortunately zombies weren't very good at hitting people and it only had it's limbs to hit her with, and its limbs did not hit her.

The final skeleton that was still on the field tried to make it's way to Risa, but she had put herself far enough out of the way that it couldn't make it all the way to her before she notched another arrow.

The only creature that managed to get a hit was the zombie that Reed was attacking. It head butt him in the chest knocking the air out of the bard temporarily. He gasped as he took a step back, not expecting it to do that.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris moved back so that she had a skeleton and two zombies lined up in a row, and thrusting her focus forward slightly and invoking a word of power, she cast Aganazzar's Scorcher, summoning a line of roaring flames that struck them all.

When the flame subsided, the skeleton was still moving, but it was very charred, flakes of burned stuff falling from it. The zombie behind it was on the ground, a smoking, charred pile, and the second zombie, closer to Reed, was also rather charred, but still moving.

Zoltan gripped his greataxe and swung at the zombie next to him, but overestimating its speed, his aim was off, and he missed it completely. The zombie looked at the axe and then stared at him, as if confused. Zoltan wasn't sure if zombies could speak, but he was quite sure he saw incredulity in its eyes, as if it was asking him, how could you miss?

He felt rage growing inside of him, and suddenly the world turned red.

[Kara Winters]

The zombie lifted it's arms and brought it down on the dwarf, but between the weak attack and the fact that Zoltan was enraged at the moment meant that it didn't do much damage.

The skeleton that Aeris had tried was shaking and not in the greatest shape, but it managed to raise its short sword and stab the dragonborn with it. It wasn't a deep wound though, but a wide cut.

Despite the fact Risa had time to notch an arrow the skeleton that was coming towards her managed to get near her and swipe at her with its sword. She moved out of the way and began to run around it and behind it to put more distance between her and it.

The zombie after Reed seemed to be doing better than it's peers and had the mind to body tackle Reed. Reed grunted at the pain and felt something crack, he grimaced at the thought that he would have to heal himself afterwards, but it seemed like he wouldn't have a choice now.

Meanwhile Risa took her shot and let her arrow fly. It hit squarely at the skeletons collarbone, cracking it and breaking into it. It lurched but continued to move.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris pulled out her crossbow and aimed at the skeleton furthest from the group. It hit and stuck it the bone of its arm, but the thing kept approaching them. It was moving slower now, as if the magic holding it together was having trouble.

Zoltan swung his axe at the zombie next to him, and this time his blade found its target. An arm and some flesh fro one leg hit the ground together. Despite the damage, it didn't seem bothered.

"Bloody undead!" Zoltan growled.

[Kara Winters]

Reed thrust his rapier into the zombie that had been attacking him once more and pushed off with his foot. It collapsed and he waited to see if it would rise again, but it didn't, which was a sigh of relief for him that it stayed down. He had heard there was a chance it wouldn't.

The skeleton attack Aeris managed to hit her again, and again it didn't do a great deal of damage, but she was bleeding from a wound.

The zombie attacking Zoltan on the other hand hit him but didn't do any damage, in fact it's body parts felt a bit squishy, in a icky sort of way.

Risa eeped as the skeleton once more caught up with her and took a swing at her with its sword, this time she didn't manage to dodge it in time. She still moved though moving back around the skeleton to gain distance. She shot her arrow but the shot went wide and didn't hit its mark at all.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris didn't want to exhaust her spells, so she drew her shortsword and slashed at the skeleton next to her. The sword was still too new to her, and she misjudged the distance, missing it entirely.

Zoltan swung his greataxe again at the zombie next to him. He sliced off another arm, sending more black and brown gunk pouring and oozing from its body.

"How is this thing still standin'?" he growled, his temper rising higher. His rage rose to a frenzy.

[Kara Winters]

Reed touched his chest and began to heal himself, as he knew that another strike from one of the creatures would probably put him out, and therefore make him useless to the others. He would rather Aeris not have to make use of those healer kits now.

The skeleton also tried to hit Aeris, but it was having trouble using its sword due to the amount of damage it had taken. Parts were coming off and it missed its strike easily.

The zombie Zoltan was trying to fight finally managed to get another hit on the dwarf but like before it didn't do much damage at all.

Meanwhile Risa was doing a dodge and wave with the skeleton as it tried to strike her and she moved out of the way. Moving back towards the position she was before, she turned and fired an arrow. That final arrow did hit this time and the skeleton fell forward, its bones scattering everywhere.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris got a better grip on her sword and slashed at the skeleton again, this time hitting it. Like a deck of cards falling apart, the bones scattered to the ground.

Zoltan took one last swing at the zombie with his greataxe, dispatching it at last. Then he turned to the others.

"Everyone all right?" he asked as his rage left him.

[Kara Winters]

"More or less," Reed grimaced, "Didn't think a zombie could do a full body tackle."

He had been worse off in terms of being beaten on. As he looked to see if everyone else was alright, Risa was starting to go look for her arrows around the battlefield. The bard considered the skeletons and then replied.

"Pity the swords are in bad shape, they might not be worth picking up on the way back," he commented.

[Nara-pyon]

"Be glad they weren't in any better shape," Aeris grimaced, "or they would have done more damage. As it is, they got me pretty well."

She was still bleeding from a few wounds, and they were causing her quite a bit of pain.

"Reed, would you be able to help me out a bit?" she requested.

[Kara Winters]

"Of course," Reed replied as he put away his rapier and made his way over to Aeris.

He reached over and touched her shoulder. Now that he had time, he began to sing softly as it was his preferred method to cast magic. The wounds began to stitch together a bit, and it would do for now.

"That should do for now."

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris sighed softly with relief as her wounds closed up, and then she smiled at Reed.

"Thank you," she said softly. She looked back in the direction from which they had come. "There's a building back there that looked as though someone or something had tried very hard to get inside, but couldn't," she told the others. "I don't think it's the lord's manor, but should we check it for something useful?"

Or perhaps the others would prefer to wait.

[Kara Winters]

The others looked around, and everyone had make out at this point the three buildings that are flanking the fountain. To the west is a large building that is 45 feet long, and to the east is a not as large building, but a bigger building than they had seen previously. There was a smaller, standard building beside that large building in the east. This is as much as everyone sees.

Aeris, notices more, such as the shadowy form of a quite large building in front of them, behind the fountain. It's hard to tell if it's larger than the building to the west of the fountain or not, but it looks like a decent size. None of these buildings look fancy, but the larger buildings that the group can see do suggest that whoever is in these buildings either had more wealth or were more prized by the lord who had stationed them here.

Risa, who had finished looking for her arrows and only found two of the five, was busy jotting down notes of what they've seen on her makeshift map.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris pointed at the large building that she saw on the far side of the fountain. "There, that one looks like it might be our best bet," she told the others.

"Le's go then," Zoltan growled, having collected his thrown javelin. "Do we need te rest a' all?"

[Kara Winters]

"Nah, I think we'll be good, and I'd rather not rest here," Reed replied as he rummaged through his pack and got out a healing potion.

In truth a standard healing potion wouldn't heal as much as he could, but it was a good way to get himself through when his own spells fell a bit short.

"I think I'm fine," Risa agreed, "We can keep on going I think. Is that okay Aeris?"

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris nodded. "Yes, I'd prefer to get inside somewhere. At least then there are walls."

Smaller spaces, to be sure, but they could close doors and protect themselves far better than they could out in the open.

They circled the fountain and headed to the large building directly south of the fountain, but as they approached, Zoltan spotted a much larger building to the east of it. It was much larger than any of the other buildings they had seen so far, and had a second floor to it.

"Tha's go' te be it," he told the others, changing direction and heading towards it instead.

[Kara Winters]

Following Zoltan's direction the group found themselves in front of a large carved wooden door. It was still in good condition despite the neglect. There were bits of dirt within the creases of the carvings, but it still looked a good sturdy door.

Reed craned his neck up, there were large windows that would let in light, and the building had once been painted some sort of pastel colour. Whatever gold trimming there was, was dulled by time.

"Huh... yea this would have been very noticeable if it weren't for all the fog," he commented.

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