The party looked out across the wide river that roared into a waterfall only a couple of hundred yards downstream and prayed it was shallow enough not to require swimming against the current. Williarth turned to the others and gave them a rousing pep talk to inspire and motivate. Tekhra was particularly taken with it and went splashing forth, leading the way and working out the shallowest route.
AID YOUR ALLY (Tekhra) - Strong Hit
UNDERTAKE A JOURNEY [2/10] (Williarth) - Strong Hit [3/10]
The crossing was tough going and at times deep enough that the current threatened to sweep them away, but mercifully they eventually made it to the other side, wet but together.
The forest here was thinner than usual and they soon found out why - a small keep sat nestled against a cliff face, sinister in its state of disuse and decay. They were prepared to give it no heed, but the grey-black heavens had opened and the rainfall was torrential. Rather than press on through the storm with reduced visibility and the deafening sound of a million raindrops striking canopy, they hustled into the fort to dry off and wait it out. Tekhra noticed an inscription above the entryway and translated it for the others - this was Kenjir's Fortress.
As they took a breath and regarded their surroundings they noticed down the dark passageway some torchlight flickered. Tekhra and Williarth had a tense debate about the wisdom of drawing attention to their presence and the bard just simply called out for anyone who might be listening. There was no response.
Since they were just killing time at this point it was agreed that they should seek out the current residents in case they might have any light to shed on their quest for the hidden temple of Kuolemasykli. Weapons were drawn and they slowly advanced towards the light.
DISCOVER A SITE (Ravaged Stronghold) - Make contact with the residents (Troublesome)
FEATURE - Barracks
DELVE THE DEPTHS [0/10] (Tekhra, Stealth) - Miss [0/10]
The torchlight came from the doorway to a room that was once for quartering soldiers - rows of bunks were just about discernible from the clutter of rubbish, rotten wood and detritus. They carefully picked their way through towards a stairwell on the opposite side, Williarth collecting a torch as he passed, and noted that the floorboards creaked most ominously.
Something stirred in the dark, rubble-strewn recesses near Tekhra and Luiden cried out a warning as the shadows took on the nightmarish form of five bonewalkers rising up with rusty iron weapons in hand.
ENTER THE FRAY - Small pack of Bonewalkers [Formidable]
...[Heart] Kabeera - Strong Hit with Opportunity (2)
OPPORTUNITY - Time to prepare
...[Heart] Luiden - Strong Hit
...[Heart] Williarth - Miss with Complication (8)
...[Heart] Bjorn - Miss
...[Wits] Tekhra - Miss with Complication (8)
COMPLICATION - Floor collapses
ENDURE HARM (Williarth) - Weak Hit
ENDURE HARM (Tekhra) - Weak Hit
Tekhra was taken completely by surprise and stumbled backwards, planting a foot heavily down upon a particularly rotten beam which promptly sheared beneath her weight and sent most of the floor and furniture crashing down to the level below. Tekhra and Williarth were dead centre and landed painfully on the mound of broken wood. The bonewalkers fell too, but were soon rising again with no signs of debility from the impact. Luiden and Kabeera had just managed to step back in time and Kabeera's instincts allowed her to prepare some rope very quickly, but Bjorn was not quite so quick and he was left dangling by a single hand gripping the splintered end of a rafter.
The bonewalkers were frighteningly quick and before she knew what was what two were upon Tekhra. She still had both swords and in her prone state swiped wildly to bat them away and give her room to maneuver.
CLASH [0/10] (Duellist, Masked) - Miss [0/10]
ENDURE HARM - Strong Hit
She sucked hard on the power of the enchanted mask to fuel her aggression, but carelessly so and the sharp pain that lightninged through her muscles was a costly distraction. One of the bonewalkers ducked under her wild swipes and drove boney claws and blade into her side. Her armour probably saved her life there and she managed to punch the horror away. Williarth came to her aid, batting at the other one.
CLASH [0/10] (Long-arm) - Strong Hit [2/10]
A solid swipe with his staff sent it flying and he helped the elf to her feet.
Bjorn cried out for help, knowing that to slip and fall would be perilous indeed, but Luiden was deaf to the scout's panic and dove over him down into the ill-lit room below.
FACE DANGER - Strong Hit
STRIKE [2/10] - Strong Hit [5/10]
He made a perfect roll down a raft of floorboards slanting against the mound and finished on his feet with spear at the ready to come stabbing at them from behind. One lost both legs whilst another had its skull obliterated.
Kabeera went to aid the scout. His grip was loosening quickly.
AID YOUR ALLY - Strong Hit with Opportunity (3)
OPPORTUNITY - Get the rope secured
She had the presence of mind to quickly tie the rope to an exposed iron rivet then throw it at his free arm and be ready to pull.
FACE DANGER (Bjorn) - Miss with Complication (8)
COMPLICATION - Bring rope and Kabeera down too
ENDURE HARM (Bjorn) - Weak Hit
Bjorn grabbed the rope with his free hand and instinctively transferred his other hand to it as well. The sudden weight caught Kabeera unawares and was too much for the rivet - it sprang free and Kabeera was pulled over the edge to fall heavily on top of the scout. Bjorn took a walloping double-whammy of impact from the mound of broken wood and the young woman falling on top of him.
Tekhra meanwhile was just getting her bearings when she spotted a bonewalker running up behind Williarth. She pushed him aside and sprang fiercely to meet it.
STRIKE [5/10] (Duellist, Masked) - Miss [5/10]
ENDURE HARM - Strong Hit
STRIKE [5/10] (Duellist, Masked) - Strong Hit
END THE FIGHT [9/10] - Weak Hit
The elf stumbled on a broken plank and took a blow from a rusty old cutlass, but feeling it bounce off her armour overshadowed the pain and bruising and gave her the impetus to sever the thing's spine at the waist with a forceful backhand swipe and then bring both swords carving down upon the remaining skeleton, ending its ghoulish animation. She was just about to relax when she felt a familiar movement beneath her feet. She yelled for everyone to get to the stairs immediately.
FACE DANGER (Kabeera) - Miss
FACE DANGER (Luiden) - Weak Hit
FACE DANGER (Williarth) - Weak Hit
FACE DANGER (Bjorn) - Strong Hit
FACE DANGER (Tekhra) - Miss
Williarth and Bjorn were quickest. The bard ran and stumbled his way into the stairwell, crashing into the wall several times in his haste. He realised after that he'd carelessly crushed his lute against the stonework to the point that it couldn't possibly be repaired. He lamented the loss to his art. Bjorn got to the doorway impressively quickly, pulling Kabeera with him but he lost his grip on her at the last moment and turned to see her and Tekhra fall out of sight as the rotten floor buckled and broke under the combined weight of them and the wreckage of the floor above. Luiden nearly went too, but just about had the wherewithal to dive for safety and was left dangling, tired and aching from all the stress and exertion.
ENDURE HARM (Kabeera) - Strong Hit
ENDURE HARM (Luiden) - Weak Hit
ENDURE STRESS (Williarth) - Weak Hit
ENDURE HARM (Tekhra) - Strong Hit
Luiden and Williarth put their complaints to one side and with Bjorn hurried down the stairs to check on the unlucky two.
Tekhra and Kabeera were pulling themselves together and taking a moment. The elf in particular looked disheveled and disconcerted, but claimed she was still battle-ready and keen to keep going. Luiden insisted that he check out her wounds and sent Williarth to make sure the area was secure enough for them to take the time.
DELVE THE DEPTHS [0/10] (Williarth, Observation) - Weak Hit [3/10]
FIND AN OPPORTUNITY - Get the drop on a denizen
The space at the foot of the stairs served as a kind of nexus for connecting passages. Williarth inspected them one by one, torch in hand. The first two seemed empty for some distance and safe enough, but the third passed a door from which he could hear the faint strikes of knife on stone. He slowly swung the door open to find a short man in rags crouching on a stone tabletop, cutting at something with a small knife. Williarth walked forward and cleared his throat - the crouching man nearly jumped out of his skin and scampered to the other end of the table, knife raised in defence. On seeing that Williarth was also human and in a non-threatening stance he lowered the blade in slight relief. Williarth asked who he was and what he was doing here.
GATHER INFORMATION - Strong Hit
Williarth put the man at ease with assurances and courtesies. He revealed his name to be Kori. He and his kinsmen had cause to flee their village some months prior and had made a temporary home in the bowels of this disused fort. They'd made it homely enough (Williarth now realised they were in a kitchen and food had been gathered and stored here) but a week ago they had visitors and now there were bonewalkers stalking the ruins. The rest of his people were barricaded further below - Kori had missed the window to get to safety and had had to survive on his wits. Others who'd been shut out had not been so successful.
Williarth called the others into the kitchen and they wedged the door shut behind them. Williarth set about gathering food for their packs, correctly confident that Kori wouldn't object to five armed strangers, whilst Luiden prepared muddy salves for Tekhra's wounds. The skirmisher winced as he watched metal being pulled from open wounds, glued to the skin by blood.
RESUPPLY (Williarth) - Strong Hit
HEAL (Luiden) - Miss
ENDURE HARM (Tekhra) - Strong Hit
Luiden misjudged the pressure needed to treat the wound, slipped and inadvertently pushed his fingers into the wound in Tekhra's side with great force. She screamed and thrust him away. Panting as the agony subsided she gave him a bitter glare and set about reattaching her armour.
Bjorn was also in need of medical attention, but a little deterred from Luiden's help. Williarth snatched up a hot poker from the fireplace and approached him sinisterly. The scout tried to back away, but wasn't decisive enough about it - the bard ran the poker down the long gash on his leg, cauterising it.
HEAL (Williarth) - Strong hit
Now it was the scout's turn to bellow in agony, but it seemed to do the trick and seal up the wound.
Once they'd topped up their supplies and stopped complaining about their various aches, the party prepared to venture on. Koji gave them directions to the barricaded area and they stepped back out into the close passages. Bjorn took the lead with haste, keen to get to proper safety as quickly as possible.
DELVE THE DEPTHS [3/10] (Bjorn, Haste) - Strong Hit [6/10]
FIND AN OPPORTUNITY - Marks left by Mayatanay
On the way Bjorn spotted a mark on a doorway that looked familiar. On closer inspection it was another of Mayatanay's scratchings - a clear sign she had been here and that they were still on her trail.
REACH A MILESTONE (Defeat the Cult) - [1/10] [0]
LOCATE YOUR OBJECTIVE [6/10] (Bjorn) - Weak Hit
They rounded a corner into a wide passageway that terminated at a large archway blocked up with furniture and broken doors. This was the place, but besetting the barricade was another pack of Bonewalkers. At least this time surprise was on their side.
ENTER THE FRAY - Small pack of Bonewalkers (Formidable)
...[Shadow] (Kabeera) - Miss
...[Shadow] (Luiden) - Weak Hit
...[Shadow] (Williarth) - Weak Hit
...[Shadow] (Bjorn) - Miss
...[Shadow] (Tekhra) - Strong Hit
They approached softly and then all of a sudden Tekhra launched into a sprint with a battlecry. The skeletons turned and in horrifying silence raised weapons and charged back at them. Kabeera and Bjorn weren't ready and both took nasty blows in the sudden fray.
ENDURE HARM (Kabeera) - Strong Hit
ENDURE HARM (Bjorn) - Weak Hit
A bonewalker scratched Kabeera's face with a vicious swipe, but she rallied quickly enough to strike back.
STRIKE [0/10] - Weak Hit [1/10]
Her dagger struck bone and severed an arm. A start but not enough to stop it.
Tekhra, meanwhile, was hacking and slashing through the centre of the pack like a thing possessed.
STRIKE [1/10] (Duelist, Masked) - Strong Hit [5/10]
Bones clattered to the floor as she sliced through the horrors.
Luiden was on the flank and holding them at bay with his spear.
FACE DANGER (Skirmisher) - Miss
ENDURE HARM - Miss
He misjudged in the close environment and one of the bonewalkers clamped his spear against the wall with one arm and stabbed with rusty metal held in the other. Impaled on the blade and effectively disarmed Luiden feared the worst.
Williarth joined Kabeera, hoping two on one would help swing things.
CLASH [5/10] (Long-arm) - Weak Hit [6/10]
ENDURE HARM - Weak Hit (Burn)
He struck the thing several times and broke more bones, but took a couple of painful cuts in the process.
Bjorn focused on his sworn vows to keep Mayatanay safe and destroy the dark brotherhood and his resolve strengthened. He kicked away the bonewalker taking swings at him and gained just enough time to draw his bow and line up a shot before it came back at him again.
SECURE AN ADVANTAGE (Archer, Honourbound, Turn the Tide) - Strong Hit
STRIKE [6/10] - Strong Hit [9/10]
END THE FIGHT [9/10] - Weak Hit
His arrow split the thing's skull in two. He turned and did the same to the one about to kill Luiden and then again for the one on Williarth and Kabeera. Clattering bones echoed down the stone passages. They stood in silence looking from one to another, each wrought by the fear and horror of the two encounters.
ENDURE STRESS (Kabeera) - Strong Hit
ENDURE STRESS (Luiden) - Weak Hit
ENDURE STRESS (Williarth) - Weak Hit
ENDURE STRESS (Bjorn) - Miss (Shaken)
ENDURE STRESS (Tekhra) - Weak Hit
Kabeera seemed relatively unphased - their utter victory serving as proof of their prowess - but Bjorn was clearly suffering. He shot arrow after arrow into the twitching piles of bones, sweating like a madman in his fervour. only when his quiver hit empty could be be stopped and calmed but still there was a twichiness to him that concerned them all.
They made vocal contact with the survivors beyond the barricade. Convincing them that that they were not a threat was easy enough - they'd just killed a bunch of bonewalkers and had Koji's name to drop. Plus they were speaking in Ironlander tongue and clearly not (all) elves. they were bidden to enter through the secret side-entrance and round the corner they saw a faded and torn tapestry on the wall being pushed away by the opening of a door concealed behind. They were ushered in quickly and the door close behind them.
Inside they found a few connected chambers crowded with humans, something close to 20 of them. They all looked traumatised and suffering. Williarth quickly enquired about their circumstances, building upon what Koji had told him previously.
GATHER INFORMATION - Strong Hit
It turned out that the visitors Koji had mentioned had indeed been the cultists. They seemed benign enough and were welcomed in to enjoy the sanctuary and supplies. Then, just two days ago, others arrived with an elf prisoner. The elf matched Mayatanay's description and clearly the meeting had been planned. The cultists took possession of her then turned on the kidnappers, killing them all. They then turned on their hosts, many of whom were killed immediately whilst the rest ran down and hastily barricaded themselves in. The bonewalkers appeared soon after the cultists left and it was the general consensus that the cultists had summoned them with darkest magic to finish the job.
REACH A MILESTONE (Defeat the Cult) - [1.5/10]
The party made camp there, sharing food and tales with the beleaguered souls.
MAKE CAMP (Tekhra) - Weak Hit
All but Tekhra used the time to soothe their physical wounds and apply dressings. Bjorn was still twichily unnerving people, but held himself together just enough. Tekhra meanwhile removed her mask and took it off to a corner where she sat and meditated, focusing on her relationship with the carved wood and its ties to her community.
They couldn't rest for long though - the cultists were still two days ahead and time was of the essence. They gave their hosts some advice on how to combat the rest of the bonewalkers, hoping there wouldn't be very many left, and ventured back out.
ESCAPE THE DEPTHS (Williarth, Retracing steps) - Miss
They made it to the wooden stairwell without incident, but found that the topmost flight had been sabotaged by the cultists to hinder escape. Luiden suggested that they plug the gaps with debris and Tekhra immediately set about carrying large sections of broken rafters up from the bottom floor. Luiden pointed out the most useful pieces for her and Bjorn made a daring jump to a small extrusion from which he could help wedge the other ends into place.
AID YOUR ALLY (Luiden) - Strong Hit
AID YOUR ALLY (Bjorn) - Weak Hit
SECURE AN ADVANTAGE (Tekhra) - Strong Hit
The solution worked well enough for each of them to crawl up the wedged debris to the floor above. Now back in the barracks they carefully skirted the gaping hole in the middle of the room and hurried for the exit.
As they emerged from the ravaged stronghold and into the green daylight Williarth couldn't help himself.
"Oh look, it's stopped raining!"