The Hemenly Boys IC

[ribblle]

Olmbury Hill
http://i.imgur.com/WlMc8IM.png

You stand before the ruined keep, which squats atop a low, craggy hill. Walls of toppled stone and massive granite blocks hint at forgotten battles and the clash of mighty armies. Now the ruins seem host only to creeping vines and the foul miasma that drifts down from the keep.

The air is overrun with pestilence. Fat flies bite at you incessantly, and clouds of small black insects choke your every breath. The long-abandoned land is choked with thorny vines that drape the sickly trees and hang from the ruined walls. There is an odor of rot and decay, as if the hill itself were decomposing from within.



https://i.imgur.com/y7lgiU8.png

Whoever's within has terrorized you and your village for far too long. You turn to your companions and ready your meagre weapons. The time for retribution has come.


An overgrown dirt road leads straight to the gates, and wild goat trails snake up to the west and northeast.

[The Unborne]

The Novderevnia Trio

Staring up at the keep using one hand to cast shome shade onto his eyes, Bogumil whistles a little at the sight of the of black and crimson banner. "Looks like someone's home," he says to a frail, little man behind him. Of course, maybe the other was only small due to Bogumil's sheer size. "Looks like it," the other replies, coughing to punctuate his statement. A shuffling of feet follows behind the frail one, and both look behind them at the dismal sight of a young lass, hardly an adult. The two men seem to knit their eyebrows in unison as the curly blonde drops a large sack onto the ground, the sound of wood and metal cling together. She wipes some sweat from her brow.

"Is that it?" she asks.

"Da, and it looks like we have three paths."

A cough.

"Maybe we should wait for the others?"

The three give a nod of agreement and keep their eyes locked ahead.

[LordArgon]

The Crew from Akterdekk
Three more soon joined the trio already there. Gurlaf hails them. "Hello there friends, we are from the village of Akterdekk."
"Still not enough to take that place yet. Lets wait for more.", Freyja states.
Grunn grunts his approval. The three villagers walk up to the others and begin watching the ruined castle for movement.

[Amaril]

The Kagensford Levies

As the ruin resolves itself atop the hill, Peyton halts in his tracks. It takes the others a few steps to realize that the crunching of their footfalls has grown softer by a third.

Slowing, Cole and Erik turn around. Peyton's knuckles are white on the shaft of his pitchfork. His eyes are watery beneath his wispy blonde fringe.

"They're up there..." His voice trembles. "W-we're gonna..."

Erik turns to Cole, disapproval in his eyes. Before the miller can speak, Cole subtly shakes his head. Retreating the few steps, he claps a hand on Peyton's shoulder. "Hey--it's gonna be alright, y'hear? We're too pretty to get hurt."

Peyton rolls his eyes, but can't hold back a snort.

Less than a minute later, the Kagensforders round the bend to arrive at the meeting spot. Six others so far. Erik's brow darkens. "Tell me it's not just us."

[Mr. E]

Tarnburg Recruits

"It's not just you." The speaker, a tall, thin woman with ritual scars around her lips and mouth, rounds the bend followed by two others. "Mind you, there's only three of us, but..." Behind her, a short, dour man nods to himself, then spits in the dirt. Making the sign of warding against evil, he looks up at the flag, then spits again.

"For luck," he says somewhat apologetically, then grips his crude club more tightly. The leader of the small group scowls and says nothing, while the third member of the party, seemingly unaffected by the grim sight, shrugs and smiles instead.

Nodding to herself, she steps forward slightly, then looks around at the rest of the group. "I'm Fren. This one," she says, gesturing at the thin woman, "is Sigrun, and he's Mikkel. If," she continues, leaning forward and dropping her voice to a mock whisper, "he starts moaning again, just ignore him. It's what we do." The last comment earns her a dirty look from Sigrun, and a thin expression of distaste from Mikkel. Fren looks set to continue, but Sigrun steps forward and cuts in. "Any of you done this before? I have ideas, but I'll defer to experience if anyone has any."

[SorenKnight]

"Did someone say experience?" The final additions come up the trail, lead by a young man with a sword on his belt and his chest puffed out. "I'll have you know I-"

The woman to his left stomps on his foot and he cuts off with a yelp. A dwarf with a hammer steps around the human man and greets you, "I'm Urmbek, and this'd be Selena and Orson. I figure we be the last to arrive."

Selena nods and fiddles with her lone arrow, brushing its fletching with her finger tips. "No one else is coming."

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

"Greetings!" The young lass says, stepping forward. "I am Militsa, and this is-"

"Bogumil," the rather tall and wide man says from behind Militsa, "I'm in charge from village far up north. Novderevnia."

A loud, wet cough erupts from nearby. The frail man lets loose some yellowish phlegm. "You can call me Slava," he coughs one more time, "I suggest we leave any further introductions for later. As you all can see..." Slava motions ahead of the large party. "We have three routes. Storm in through the front like duraki, fools, or scout the west and northeast sides."

[LordArgon]

The Crew from Akterdekk
"Lets do some scouting. We can split half to the west and half to the northeast, then if we can take them by surprise we signal the other side to make a distraction, then we strike"

[Amaril]

Erik nods to Freyja. "Smart lass. From what I hear, we've got the numbers. We hit 'em from both sides, that advantage will be even bigger." Though his lined face still looks grim, there's a faint gleam of approval in his eyes as he looks over the assembled group. Half of them children, maybe, but fifteen is a lot better than nine.

"I'd listen to Erik," Cole speaks up. "He fought the Seafolk. Knows his battles."

[Mr. E]

Tarnburg Recruits

"Seems fair." Sigrun nods at the suggestions being passed around, then looks up at the two paths, contemplating. "We'll take the western one. Who's with us?"

Mikkel shuffles nervously in the dirt, muttering something under his breath, while Fren, still smiling, sniffs the air. Turning away from the group to admire the view, she seems barely to notice the serious matters occurring behind her back.

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

Bogumil chews on the inside of his lip, considering their options. He looks behind him to Slava, who in turn just shrugs his shoulders. With a sigh, Bogumil answers Sig for his whole group. "We'll go with you."

[LordArgon]

"Then we'll take the northeast side", Freya responds.
"We need to agree on a signal to attack", Gurlaf adds.

[ribblle]

(the signal is: ATTACK)

The keep’s walls rise 30 feet from their rammed earth embankments, ringed by a small, 8 foot moat that rounds a corner every 45 metres. The walls and all the fallen stones are covered in a patchwork of moss, sickly vines, and lichen. Rather than simple carved blocks, the keep seems to have been built of enormous standing stones and mighty dolmens. The blocks are fitted together crudely, leaving cracks between the stones for rotting vegetation and pools of water that act as host to the gnats and mosquitoes.

http://i.imgur.com/NykpVFo.jpg

The keep’s massive wall has collapsed here, spilling cyclopean stone blocks down the rocky slope. The blocks are precariously balanced atop one another, like a titan’s game of dice.


https://i.imgur.com/jpQpMnh.jpg
Mist blankets the slope. Tortured faces and writhing forms appear briefly in the mists above your heads, only to dissolve back into nothingness as quickly as they appeared.

[SorenKnight]

Orson eyes the teetering stones on the west. We'll help you with the northeast, I think.

Urmbek nods and Selena shrugs.

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

Some muffled hacking follows the group of six to the western side. Upon arriving at the dilapidated section of the wall, Militsa drops her large sack that she had been shouldering around. The sound of metal and wood clang thump against each other. She looks up at the wall and whistles: "You think we can climb it?"

Bogumil scans the ruins and ponders for a bit. "Da. I reckon we can climb it" He squints his eyes a bit more to get a clearer picture before continuing, "But I think we should play it safe, you see that section there?" He points at one of the arches. "Those are some heavy stones just balancing there. Lemme go take a closer look." Bogumil walks up to the wall and looks for the best way to approach a climb. So memorized at getting to scale over the keep to attack their shared enemy, Bogumil almost forgets about the moat. A quick, sturdy hand from Slava saves Bogumil a trip down who-knows-where. "Ah. Izveniti, Sorry." He stares down at the foul abyss below them and quickly thinks up a plan: "Horrorshow, good. Slava, grab me your rope, and tie it around me. Maybe you, Militisa and the rest can hold the the rest as I jump over?" Bogumil looks at the three others currently with them. "That okay with all of you?" Regardless of their answer, he unbelts his ten-foot pole and drops his handaxe near Viktoslav's feet.

[ribblle]

Skidding to a halt after his leap, Bogumil looks about but can't pick out a safe path from the medley of rocks.

[Mr. E]

Tarnburg Recruits

"How does it look, friend?" Keeping her voice quiet, Sigrun calls out across the gap to Bogumil. "Shall we prepare to bring the others across, or would we be better circling around to find another place to enter from?"

Behind her, Mikkel shrugs heavily, looking at the gap. "Not sure I can cross that." Fren smiles, still in good humour, before replying in a slightly too loud tone. "I'll just hoist you onto my shoulder's and we'll jump across together..."

Sigrun gives both of them a warning look, and they lapse into slightly chastised silence, while she waits for Bogumil's response.

[LordArgon]

"Well at least the mist will cover our approach. Lets get moving, we don't want to be out of position when the others attack."
The trio slowly begins to try to sneak up to the castle wall. Gurlaf and Grunn take point, with Freyja taking up the rear.

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

The large woodcutter sighs a bit. A terrible thought crosses his mind, the kind where he could pull out a boldface lie and get the non-Novderevnians to be guinea pigs and climb up the wall without abandon. He shakes the idea out of his head, since he'd probably need their numbers once inside the castle's walls. "It's climbable, but I can't see a safe route up..." Bogumil rubs his chin and continues, "If it's dangerous, we could probably...pull a stone and let it collapse. We'd either have better route in or at least a decent enough distraction to let the other group get in." He nods in approval of his own idea. "Horrorshow, Good, here's the plan. I'll wrap this rope around one of the stones, you all hold the very end, and we'll see if we can knock some stuff over. If we can't, we can use the rope and the pole over there," he points to other side of the moat where he left some of his tools, "We can cirle the keep from this side and see if we can enter from another spot."

He walks up to one of heavier stones and looks around it to see if he could manage to wrap the rope around it without upsetting anything above. Bogumil gulps. "If this doesn't work out, I'm sure the rope will at least be nice and tight for all of you to crossover..."

OOC:
Woodcutter probably has plenty of experience making knots around trees that are felled into rivers...So...a use rope skill? AGI check?
AGI Check: [roll0]

[ribblle]

After a minute or so, The Aterdekks have the eerie premonition that the earth is hollow beneath them, as if they were walking on a frozen lake.

Meanwhile Bogumil secures the rope, and after he backs away a heave from a right angle to the slope sends it tumbling.

https://i.imgur.com/QNjQRhv.gif

The collapse is deafening, and as the moat is filled with rocks you are all splattered. A good 20 feet of the rope is buried under the wreckage.

Once the dust settles, you see

http://i.imgur.com/8LZQQQe.jpg

The courtyard is overgrown with sickly weeds and thick brambles.The smell of rotting vegetation is pervasive, and a deathly silence hangs in the air. The ground sucks at your boots with every tentative step.

Nearly all of the courtyard’s buildings have fallen into ruin. A single https://i.imgur.com/NBryGbD.jpg set against the keep’s east wall is the only remaining structure. Set near the heart of the courtyard is a well, framed with a crude pulley system. South looms a tawdry gatehouse, and southeast the keep’s http://i.imgur.com/ncLMiWr.jpg

[Mr. E]

Tarnburg Recruits

Sigrun is the first to recover, flicking a small shard of rock out of her cheek with a grunt and a dissatisfied look at the blood that follows it. She shrugs, then picks her way across the moat with careful steps, Mikkel and Fren following behind. Peering into the undergrowth and at the tangled shattered tower, she sucks in her breath with a hiss.

Behind her, Mikkel makes the sign against evil again, and even Fren's usual chirpy nature does not show itself. Pale faced, she surveys the scene with worried eyes, watching and waiting.

"Well," Sigrun says, after a long pause, "shall we continue? I should think that this is not a good place to stay..."

If no-one objects, she will pick her way across the courtyard, trying to move towards the tower.

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

As the aftermath settles down, the three from the newly formed village in the north stare at the wreckage. Slava motions to Militsa. "Stones," he says with one hand open to the lass, his other reaching up to cover his mouth from an inevitable cough. Militsa nods quickly and digs into her sack for the spare slingstones she picked up at the last village. "You owe me a few copper," she smiles as she turns them over, "I'll take the first piece of treasure you find as interest." Slava growls and takes up Bogumil's handaxe and pole, walking ahead to meet Bogumil who's already on top of the rubble.

The trio make their way into a courtyard and scan the place. They notice all the structures and fixtures inside. It had seemed this place was abandoned a long time ago. Bogumil notices Sigrun's haste in moving on. "I think we should wait for the rest of our party." He looks up towards the northeast. "I haven't heard from them, so maybe they are coming back around?" Militsa chimes in, "Can't we explore the courtyard first? Obviously, there's no defenses up insider here."

[ribblle]

Everyone in the courtyard hears a faint rustling noise, barely perceptible above the ringing in your ears.

[SorenKnight]

Gurlaf and Grunn take point, with Freyja taking up the rear.

Urmbek walks in the front with Gurlaf and Grunn, while Selena hangs back in the middle with her bow out and Orson bravely volunteers to guard the rear.

[Mr. E]

Tarnburg Recruits

"Did - did you hear that?" Fren is the first to notice the sound, nervously looking around. Sigrun nods, reaching into the folds of her cloak and pulling forth a short curved bladed dagger. Holding it loosely in one hand, she peers into the shrubbery, the rest of her crew fanning out behind her.

As silently as possible, they stand, looking around with nervous glances, weapons held ready for action.

Right, my three are going to roll to try and spot the source of the sound:

Sigrun: [roll0]
Mikkel: [roll1]
Fren: [roll2]

[The Unborne]

Novderevnia Trio

Militsa, Slava, and Bogumil each ready their weapons as well. Slava holds back his coughing as he draws his sling, ready to let loose anything that came at them.

"Da, we heard it. Should we make our way to the burned down shelter?" Bogumil points over into the direction of the abandoned structure. "I doubt our enemies would be in there, the foliage might also offer some cover."

[ribblle]

The rustling seems to be coming from behind the wall to the west. It's getting closer.

[Mr. E]

"I, uh, yeah, let's do that." Sigrun straightens up with a concerned expression writ large on her face, then moves towards the burned out building. "We've got company," she announces in an undertone. "It's coming from thataway, whatever it is."

Fren and Mikkel fall in behind her, evidently eager to avoid being caught out in the open. Mikkel clearly wants to ward himself again, but as the club makes this impossible, is forced to settle for twitching gently.

[ribblle]

This once-proud edifice has fallen into ruin like the rest of the keep. All that remains of the building are fire-scarred high stone walls and toad-faced gargoyles leering from above. The singed, bronze doors—cast with hundreds of wailing demonic faces—are barred from the outside. The portal is marked with a single word drawn in flaking red paint: REPENT.

The rustling fades, and instead you hear the crunch of shifting stone some 10 meters west of the opening in the wall.

[SorenKnight]

Orson gulps as he looks at the ground beneath his feet. In my professional opinion as a seasoned warrior, Selena rolls her eyes, we should probably leave this obvious trap and back up the others. Who knows what else heard that sound?

Urmbek snorts and stomps one heavy boot on the ground. Nonsense boy! This probably leads down to the dungeons, in other words, a perfect opportunity to encircle the enemy! We can break through easily!

Urmbek raises his hammer back to strike the earth. Selena steps out of the immediate area and raises her bow, while Orson is too horrified to react in time to do anything.

[The Unborne]

Novoderevnia Trio

Bogumil snaps his attention back towards the western wall. He looks a little conflicted before trying to open the door. "Here, we can just hide in the doorway and check to see what comes here."

OOC:
Going to open the door if possibly, will roll a perception (I'm guessing Intelligence?) check for Bogumil looking into the location: [roll0]
Militisa will look back at the courtyard as well: [roll1]
Also Viktoslav: [roll2]

[ribblle]

Urmbek snorts and stomps one heavy boot on the ground.

https://media.giphy.com/media/GwchnWRFB2Fgs/giphy.gif

The earth crumbles into a sinkhole.

Everyone in the mist needs to give me a reflex save to grab the edge and a strength check to pull themselves up. That includes you, Amaril, since it would make sense for the Kagensforders to keep pace with the rest.

Friendly reminder Luck is a thing! Now might be the time to burn some for a bonus to your rolls.
Screams carry from the northeast.


Bogumil shifts the great wooden beam aside, and gripping two enormous rings held within the maws of fiendish demons

https://i.imgur.com/IfbFOGP.gif

https://i.imgur.com/nyAxGBA.jpg

Six charred skeletons lie about the chapel, some buried under burnt fallen beams. A statue of a squat, demonic toad lies at the head of the chapel, with a foul black ichor seeping from its lips to a basin at it's feet.

Looking closer from the security of the archway, Bogumil sees scorched chainmail on the bones and blackened, blunt weaponry. 3 hauberks, 3 maces, a flail. The dull gleam of tarnished gold catches his eye, drawing it to a golden censer suspended from the end of a long bronze chain hanging from the rafters. Carefully looking over the ash, he notes a seared iron coffer emerging from the rubble in the corner to his left - and a suspicious glance at the statue is met with the ruby stare of gemstone eyes and jeweled fangs.

Militisa and Viktoslav peer through the doorway, left ever so slightly ajar. The clink of shifting stone continues for several seconds. Slowly, something green slithers into sight, winding itself around large chunks of rubble. With a pulse of motion, more green things follow, spikes growing visible as they undulate around the corner and secure themselves in turn. They all seem to constrict as one, forming a viney lattice. Something larger rumbles flat across the rocks as the things strain. A head? A body. You can smell the rot from here, even over the stench of charred flesh and sour incense the chapel is full off. Slowly the body is propped up by the things, head lolling forward, puppeted forward one step before catching it's foot miserably in the rocks. The things try to tug it free. Slowly another body joins it. Lurching free of the stones, the corpses stagger towards the east wall, roughly in the direction of the screams.

[The Unborne]

Novoderevnia Trio

Slava curses under his breath, "Chyort..." Militsa copies him but adds, "Mila, we have something coming this way...hey! You three! Get in here!" Militsa opens the door more for Sigrun and the others to join them. "We can reinforce this door and keep them out."

Inside the ruined chapel, Bogumil runs straight to the chainmail to put it on. "Militsa, let Slava and the others cover the door. Help me put this on and grab those weapons for everyone! Bistro! Fast!"

OOC:
Bogumil will put on the Chainmail, Militsa will help and then grab a mace and hauberk for herself and help others retrieve some new weapons.

[ribblle]

As Bogumil and Militsa set foot inside the temple proper cinders crackle. Sparks fly with every step and the smell of smoking leather grows crisp from their uncomfortably hot boots. Wearing the chainmail feels like the inside of a smithy.

As Militsa grabs a mace, she draws closer to the statue. Heat pours off it. Sweat streams into her eyes and she suddenly wishes her flasks were filled.

As far as Slava can tell, the corpses are headed slightly up the wall from the church.

Chainmail gives +5 AC, -5 to non-violent physical checks and -5 speed. The maces and flails do 1d6, and the flails gives you +2 to disarming or tripping enemies.

[Mr. E]

Sigrun curses, as her two compatriots join the rest in the temple. Together, Fren and Mikkel put their shoulders against the doors, trying to shut them, while Sigrun looks around, searching for a window, the better to observe the zombies. As she searches for a viewpoint, she also checks for other entrances into the chapel.

"Pass Fren one of those," she says, gesturing to however is collecting the weapons, "he's the strongest of us."

[ribblle]

The windows are bare of glass, and the roof is open to the heavens. There are windows to the left right and fore of the church, and opening the door left of the alter reveals only a small ashen room. The door clinks shut.

The dead have crossed the courtyard, and veer against the east wall of the keep. The green things knot themselves into it's vines and begin to suspend the corpses like flies in a web as they crawl upward.

[Mr. E]

Sigrun lets loose a string of curses, invoking several deities in turn. "They're going past us. They must have seen the others."

"Fren, Mikkel, get ready to open those again. Does everybody else have their weapons?" Assuming they answer in the affirmative, she heads towards the doors.

[ribblle]

Pending on OOC!

With a heave, Fren and Mikkel open the doors with a squeal from the hinges. The corpses stop their ascent with a lurch, and one of their green strings snakes out into the air and sways there. After a moment their heads swing towards you with staring blind eyes.


Corpse-puppet 17

Tarnbergs:

Mikkel 12

Sigrun 11 Fren 11


Corpse-puppet 5

Novoderevnians:

Viktoslav: 3

Militsa 1 Bogumil 1
The strings unravel from the wall, fall to the ground with a thud and whirl up to catch the husk in a cocoon. Like spider legs 8 green strings uncoil and descend to earth, and in a frenzy of lashing motion they tear across the ground towards you, holding the swaddled body above it, covering 30 of the 75 feet between you in seconds. The other puppet struggles to unknot itself from the wall of vines.

[SorenKnight]

Urnbek, Orson, and Selena scramble to grab hold of anything that might support their weight.

Hells, Urmbek, this was a terrible idea!




Urmbek Ref [roll0]

Selena Ref [roll1]

Orson Ref [roll2]

[ribblle]

https://i.imgur.com/kQVhy9Z.gif

Anddd all your characters are dead. I'll pm you if the party manages to find some new recruits, but see ya until then! You might want to spend luck next time ;)

[ribblle]

Sigrun watches as the husks hobble past the church.