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Message: <blockquote data-quote="VicsHacienda" data-source="post: 9851521" data-attributes="member: 6965574"><h3>Another Day, Another Storm, There Is No Need to Keep Us Warm</h3>We notice that we are all covered in a thin veil of ash, drifting from the sky. Had the battle gone longer it might have impeded vision.A black rain falls heavily for a few seconds, then stops. A small animal dies nearby.Trevor tastes it with a sour face. "Sulphur."Viggo sniffs and tastes it himself. "Not bad." He points out the necrotic sheen of the water on the ground. "Not of this world." He perks up. "It will be time to activate the Orb when we get over those hills."The land is getting hotter, the sky darkens.The villagers welcome our aid, especially food; the army had depleted much of their winter stores. Some of the children are ill, likely due to the rain. We help out before we depart, resting in a local barn. Fafnir casts aura of purity and create food and water in the morning.Riding north toward the castle wrapped in flame, we prepare the Orb, all working to focus on its ability to part the storm and keep us safe. We use our knowledge, our will, and our strength. The fire wants to lash us, and the Orb pulses, trying to control its surroundings. It cannot suppress the firestorm, only part it slightly around us, like a digging mole throwing earth behind it.I spy prints in the ashen ground, sets of unusually wide boots, and the wheel ruts of three heavy wagons. Occasional viscous droplets next to the wheels seem like some form of fluid that resists fire. We pass an area where the ground sizzles from heat, and noxious fumes rise. The red of lava pits can be seen, swelling with molten rock. A bright red glow is seen in the distance, and we realize it to be a great pillar of flame rising to the orange sky.[ATTACH=full]428778[/ATTACH]I misjudge the trail, and the fire sees an opening, reaching down to strike me. I grunt and blink against the sudden wash of heat. Trevor casts absorb elements to aid the Orb in its protective magic.We approach Castle Korstull, somewhere inside the pillar, entering a massive series of canyons. The walls are hundreds of feet high. As we traverse, we hear a constant, echoing murmur of the dead from above. The canyon turns and ends. A hundred feet away, beyond a swath of skeletal remains, charred siege equipment, and shattered stone, a colossal statue of a bear skull looms above. The road passes into its gullet. Countless arrow slits and siege bunkers look down upon the killing field.Black bolts of lightning slash down to the canyon floor, though the thunder is eerily silent.A trio of wagons are parked before the skull, surrounded by a group of gnomes. They turn to see us, shocked to see living creatures emerge from the firestorm.The bones move, and a chorus of thin laughter sounds. Skeletons rise from the ground. They gather, weapons clinking, and threaten the gnomes and halflings. One with a greatsword slashes brutally at a young gnome woman. Others fire shortbow arrows at Fafnir and me.[ATTACH=full]428781[/ATTACH]Viggo shies from a pale dead creature appearing suddenly next to him, and hits it with a blinding ray of light. Fafnir shrugs his armor better on his shoulders, advances, and brandishes the symbol of Nuada, turning the undead within thirty paces. Several nearby skeletons explode into fiery ash, blasting Fafnir with flame. One of the specters cries out and vanishes.Osnald magic missiles the skeletal warrior that attacked the gnome.[ATTACH=full]428780[/ATTACH]A specter lashes at Fafnir, scraping his armor with a tinny shriek. Two others float forward, closing with me, reaching out with translucent claws. A skeleton limps toward me, shortsword raised. I ignore them, sending an arrow over one of the wagons into the skeletal warrior's eye socket, and it collapses back into the ash. I send a second into the specter before me, dispatching it. A specter tries to lay its pale hand on me to drain my life, but I dodge. More gather around me. I assume they must hate rangers from Gate Pass especially.Trevor appears next to me and wraps the Aquiline Heart around one of the specters threatening me, and it wails as it vanishes into the bones crackling beneath. He reels in the whip and brings down the Living Blade onto another, drawing his shortsword and piercing it through. It too dissipates. Gathering himself, he follows up with another whip strike that hisses by my ear and takes out a third specter. It puffs away in a whisper, its soul freed.A dead spellcaster summons a wall of flame around us, which vanishes as Viggo counterspells it. The caster growls in Orcish: "Inquisitor Griiat has commanded that no one shall pass!" Viggo hurls another blinding ray of light at it but misses.A specter swipes at one of the gnomes, who yelps and ducks. A skeleton misses a swing at Trevor.Fafnir moves to place more foes within his range, ignoring an opportunistic slash from a skeleton, and turns them again with the power of Nuada. A specter among the gnomes dissolves. Several ash-caked skeletons somehow shrug off the holy energy. One of the skeletal warriors, a dark pyre soldier, is affected and turns to flee.Osnald sends a handful of magic missiles at the caster, striking unerringly in its chest cavity. One of the gnomes, apparently a spellcaster as well, adds their own missiles. Other gnomes bring forth heavy crossbows and send bolts. One hurls a set of bolas and restrains one of the dark pyre soldiers. Grinning, I take the opportunity to leap atop a wagon, stare down the warrior, and fell it with an arrow. I turn to the dead caster and with a nudge from Fafnir's war god's blessing, I send a shaft downrange and punch it through the ribcage. It snarls. I ignore the skeleton hacking at me.[ATTACH=full]428779[/ATTACH]A gnome with silvery plate armor and shield stands forth and wields a warhammer to good effect.Trevor casts jump and bounces across the field to reach the caster. His whip gives loud cracks in the canyon, and he follows with his shortsword and scimitar in scintillating arcs, peeling burning flesh away from the creature. It falls. "naughty word him!" he cries, looking around with sweat on his brow.Bolas whirl across the field to strike the skeleton next to me, and the last of the dead fall.Fafnir reaches down to pick up a fallen regimental banner from the Coaltongue era. "I want this." I find a handful of arrows wrapped in tar-cloth and add them to my quiver as I collect spent shafts. We find other useful items, such as some ash-salve to help with burns, some scrolls, and gemstones.We also find a blackened stone charm etched in Old Sindaire: The castle does not guard treasure. It guards regret.A charred message tube contains partial orders. It references "the storm that kills intent" and "watching the castle, not entering".</blockquote>

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