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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 651756" data-attributes="member: 221">Sorry, for falling behind and not posting any updates recently.  I'll blame it on the weather.  My water pipes have froze up five times in the last two weeks causing me to have to spend about two hours at a time standing in the basement with a propane torch.  Anywho, I am trying to get caught up on all sorts of things including this storyhour... so...without further ado here is...Chapter 27: Elias’ Fort    As the companions discussed their camping options for the night the sun slowly crept towards the horizon.  They were aware that the locality seemed inhospitable to say the least, but they were not sure they would be safer if they sought to travel further south for the night.  Eventually Tilliana won out and convinced the other three that the safest course would be to take up shelter somewhere inside the fort across the stream.  Alairic did not seem convinced but he was outvoted and so they pulled the horses down to the stream and considered how to cross it.The stream looked to be about ten feet deep in the center, too deep to merely wade, and though it was only twenty feet wide or so, it was flowing fast.  Finally after much discussion on the various ways to get everything across, they decided to have Kinshag swim across with a rope and then anchor the rope to both ends of the band in order to facilitate the crossing.  Kinshag made it across with little trouble and tied the rope off to a small tree.  Alairic, still on the south side of the stream, tied off the other end.  Niccolo was next with the horses.  The horses were tied together along the line of another rope and spaced out so that one struggling horse would not injure another.  Using the tied rope as an anchor for himself, the half elf reached the other side without being swept downstream.  Soon all six horses where on the north shore, shaking themselves dry.  The wagon was next.  Tilliana tied a third rope to the front of the wagon and threw the end of the rope across the stream to Niccolo and Kinshag.  Then Alairic and Tilliana pushed the wagon into the water and the other two pulled it across.  It floated and the tied off rope kept it from being swept swiftly downstream.  On board the wagon, Two-socks, the wolf, whined a bit as he was ferried over the water.  Despite the ease with which the wagon was pulled across the stream, Tilliana fretted the whole time lest the demon stone in the back of the wagon should somehow fall into the water, out of reach.  Finally, when everything else was across, Tilliana and Alairic swum across, one hand grasping the tied off rope for support.  When they were on the other side, they helped Kinshag and Niccolo who were putting the two work horses back into harnesses for pulling the wagon.“Let’s get inside,” said Tilliana, “It will be dark soon enough.  It will be safer with walls around us.”“Sure,” murmured Alairic, “the village is crawling with vampires, some of them even came this way last night, how much safer could we be?”“You got a better idea?” asked Niccolo.  The paladin did not and so they made their way up the path to the gates of the small fort.  The gates were a twin pair of iron barred doors on hinges.  Niccolo stepped towards them first to examine them.  They were locked and slightly rusty.  There was a second set of gates five feet past the first.  The half-elf peered through the bars into the courtyard of the fort.  Something dog or wolf like ran swiftly past  the bars.“Yummy,” said Niccolo wryly.Kinshag walked up to the bars and knocked.  The sound rang out.  The other three looked at him quizzically and the half-hobgoblin shrugged and grinned.  “Doesn’t hurt to try,” he said.“We can tie the gates to the horses and pull them down,” said Niccolo. “What?” asked Kinshag, puzzled.“Tie ropes to the gate and then tie ropes to the horses and then have them pull.”“Ohh.”“I have a small portable ram in the back of the wagon,” said Tilliana, “we could try just battering them down.”That seemed a sensible suggestion and being the two strongest, Kinshag and Niccolo were the best choices for making the attempt.  The iron bound wooden ram was unloaded from its spot next to the demon stone and the two fighters went at the door.  Overhead Niccolo’s two bird companions wheeled and Two-socks, smelling trouble in the air jumped out of where he had been sitting on the wagon and watched the procedure with interest.The first set of gates crashed to the ground with ease but the second set of gates gave the two more trouble.  They crashed the ram into the iron once and then twice.  Nothing happened.“One more time,” suggested Niccolo and Kinshag nodded.Taking a step backwards, the two rushed forward mightily and tore through the iron bars, wrenching the hinges from their settings in the stone wall.  But even as they plunged through the gate, wolves leapt at Kinshag and Niccolo from both sides.  There were six of them and they were lean and hungry.  Two of them latched jaws onto Niccolo, trying to pull the half-elf to the ground.  One of them tore a chunk out of Kinshag.  Niccolo dropped the ram and pulled out his longsword, slicing into one of the animals.  Two-socks rushed through the fallen gates to aid his companion.  Tilliana was right behind the wolf, her greatsword already out, she charged straight through in and rushing to Kinshag’s side dispatched two of the wolves.Meanwhile Niccolo was faring badly.  Despite Two-socks trying to help, the half-elf was pulled to the ground by the two wolves.  Immediately the wild animals were after the half-elf’s throat.  Alairic rushed in through the gates and killed the last wolf going after Kinshag, shouting to Niccolo as he did so, “Slice their heads off!”Niccolo stabbed up at one of the wolves trying to do just that.  The blade slid into the creature, but it was far from a death stroke.  Kinshag swung his axe at one of the remaining wolves and struck, drawing blood.  In a mere second, Tilliana was closing in on the animal from a different direction, killing it.  One of the wolves grabbed hold of Niccolo’s shoulder with its jaws and clamped down.  Alairic stabbed the animal through with his sword, throwing it lifelessly off of Niccolo.  Kinshag swung at the last animal, cleaving his axe into its side even as Niccolo struggled to keep it away from his face.  Tilliana moved in and finished the job.  The wolves were all dead and Niccolo, though it had been close, was still alive.  Thankful for not being dead, the half-elf lay for a moment on the ground, quietly bleeding from a half-dozen bites and then pushed himself to his feet.  As the other three surveyed the courtyard of the fort, Niccolo looked at the dead wolves.  “Poor creatures they were half-starved,” said the half-elf sympathetically.The courtyard was surrounded on three sides with buildings.  Lining the west side was a series of stables.  A building that looked possibly to be a barn or carriage house was built just north of the stables.  Joined to this structure on the north wall was the house which was built in an l shape against both the north and east walls.  The house connected to a stone tower in the southeast corner of the courtyard.  There did not appear to be any door into the tower from the courtyard, suggesting that it was entered via the house.  The house itself had a second story, though straight across from the gates it was only one storied with a flat roof that looked to be a sort of terrace by which one could walk up to the wall of the fort and look over.  The roof of the stables was built the same way and was in fact connected to the roof over the front of the house.  In the corner of the house there was a well.“Where shall we stay?” asked Tilliana.“In the stables,” suggested Alairic.“Definitely not in the house this close to dark.”“We could put the horses in the stables,” said Alairic.“Lets try that barn building,” said Tilliana, “we can keep the horses with us.”That suggestion pleased the others and so they went to explore the large barnlike structure.  Inside, the place had a faint smell of hay, though any hay was long gone.  The first floor was a single room, fairly large, with empty hooks on the stone walls to hold saddles and harnesses.  “A carriage room perhaps,” said Niccolo eyeing the large double doors leading in.“Check out the floor,” said Tilliana, “lets see if any of the ground has been dug up.”The ground however appeared to be solid and the room empty.  Alairic went up the stairs in the northwest corner of the room to investigate the second floor.  It too was empty, with a set of double doors on the south wall leading out onto the landing.  The smell of hay was stronger up there but the room was barren and featureless.    “Can we bar the doors?” asked Tilliana when they had brought all six horses and the wagon inside.  There was nothing however to bar the doors shut.  As Alairic started to move the wagon up flush with the doors, Tilliana decided to take the time to heal Niccolo from the wolf bites he had suffered.As he grunted to push the wagon up firm against the doors, he asked, “What about the door upstairs?”“We could get the iron gate me and Kinshag knocked down, said Niccolo as Tilliana finished healing him.“But we are already inside!”“Well who’s bright idea was that?”“Alairic,” said Tilliana, surveying the paladins work, “You realize don’t you that those doors opened out?”The paladin looked again at the doors and then at the wagon.  With a shake of his head he started to work to push the wagon away from the doors and  back into the northeast corner of the room.  “Should we get the iron gates?” asked Kinshag.“We could just tie the doors shut and attach them to the post holding up the second floor,” said Niccolo looking at the stout wooden post next to him.“I’ll do it,” said Kinshag and started to get the ropes from the back of the wagon.  **********************************Night came and Alairic and Kinshag elected to take the first watch together while Tilliana and Niccolo tried to get some sleep.  Hours started to pass and nothing had bothered them.  It couldn’t last.About three hours after dusk, there was the sound of movement on the stones outside the door.  Kinshag and Alairic stirred themselves and drew their weapons.  The door was pulled and the rope came loose as the poorly tied knot gave way under pressure.  The door swung open and outside Alairic and Kinshag could see five figures.  The one in front was slightly shorter and wore a robe.  To his left was another man in a blue robe and behind him a giant of a man with a beard and a greatsword.  To the right of the center figure was a woman and behind her a man in charred and burnt clothing.  Alairic and Kinshag recognized both the woman and the man with the sword from the previous evening.Alairic and Kinshag felt something pulling at their heads and felt a compulsion to drop their weapons and walk meekly to the five.  With an effort both fought off the compulsion and held their weapons tighter.“Surrender now intruders!” commanded the robed man in the middle.In answer Alairic yelled, “Wake up!”Twosocks jumped from his place on the floor and giving one yelp he ran up the stairs and away from the intruders.With a suprising speed the female vampire rushed into the room at Kinshag, arms outstretched.  Kinshag tried to hit her with his greataxe, but the blade bounced harmlessly away from her as she grabbed him by the throat and plunged fangs into his neck.  Kinshag cried out as he tried to wrestle her away, feeling his life draining away as he did so.  With a wrench he pushed her back and away and then tried to hit her again with his axe.The one who had spoken rushed at Alairic, slamming into him with a fist that buckled the paladin’s knees and drained him physically.  Alairic responded by swinging his blade up in a perfect arc that cut straight into the man’s chest.  The blade flashed with a holy light that burned the vampire badly.  Alairic yelled again as he sidestepped a second attacker trying to reach for his throat and slashed again at the injured vampire, striking him once more across the chest.    Kinshag, weakened, but hardly out of the fight found himself parrying a sword-stroke from the greatsword wielding vampire at the same time as he continued to try and keep the woman from his throat.The remaining vampire meanwhile had turned into a mist which drifted lazily across the room to a spot behind Kinshag.  Alairic’s shouts had woken Niccolo who grabbing his longsword, lurched to his feet and surveyed the room.  He saw the female vampire lunge once more past Kinshag’s axe, shrugging off the bite of the blade as she plunged her fangs once more into Kinshag’s neck.  Kinshag once more managed to push her away, but not before she had drawn more blood.  With a smile on her face the vampiress licked her lips.  Alairic meanwhile was holding his own against two of the creatures even as a third creature turned material and moved to attack Alairic from behind.  With a yell Niccolo rushed to aid Alairic.  Snarling, Niccolo leaped into the fray and plunged his longsword into the vampire Alairic had already injured.  The sword went in but as Niccolo pulled it out, he realized it had not even slowed the vampire. “May Naemae smite you!” yelled Alairic as he swung once more at the wounded vampire.  There was a brilliant flash of holy energy and with a cry the vampire fell backwards, cut in twain.  But even as the body fell to the ground, it was turning to mist and drifting away from the floor.  “Yes!” said Alairic and then one of the other vampires slammed a fist into him.  Alairic turned swiftly and his sword cut into the offending undead.Kinshag meanwhile was definitely having difficulty.  He had managed to avoid having the large vampire skewer him on the greatsword, but he could not shake the female vampire.  Once more she was at his neck, drinking deeply and Kinshag could feel the life draining from his body.  “Daylight!” cried Tilliana from her place upon the floor and suddenly the room was filled with a bright light, almost as bright as the sun.  The vampires snarled and moved to flee the light.  Alairic plunged his sword into one even as it was starting to run towards the door and then turning swiftly he caught the female with his blade as she threw Kinshag away from her and moved swiftly away from the light.  All four of the undead were out of the door in seconds and as the companions rushed to follow, they saw them turning to mist and dissapearing into the night.“The light will last about an hour and then will be gone,” said Tilliana, “And I cannot summon forth such a light again tonight.”As they went back into the shelter of the barn Tilliana looked to see which of her companions was the worst off.  Kinshag had suffered the loss of a lot of blood and Tilliana knew there was not a lot she could do for him until the morning, if even then.  But there were also some physical wounds she could mend.  She pulled scrolls of healing out of a pouch in the wagon and used four of them in tending to Alairic and Kinshag. “I need a better weapon against those things.  That’s for sure,” said Niccolo, “I plunged my sword into them and it did not even faze them.”“Hmm,” said Tilliana, eyeing the smile pile of weapons they had one the back of the wagon.  She walked over and uttering a small prayer smiled when the great-ax they had pulled off of a vampire earlier in the day started to glow.“Here,” said Tilliana handing the axe over to Niccolo, “I think this will prove useful to you.  Niccolo took it and placed his old greatax on the wagon.  “Do we have holy water?” Alairic asked.“Yes,” said Tilliana, its in the wagon.  She proceeded to give everyone a vial of the blessed water.“Kinshag,” said Niccolo, “That mace you’ve been carrying around forever is enchanted, the one you took from that guy on Dragon Isle, why don’t you use that, it might keep you alive a bit better.”“Oh, yeah,” said Kinshag, “I had forgotten about that.  Okay.”Noone went to sleep this time.  Instead they all stood guard.  Niccolo sat in the wagon his back against the wall.  Kinshag sat upon the bottom stair.  Tilliana sat in her bed, back against the north wall and Alairic paced in the center of the room.  The hour came and went and the Daylight spell faded into blackness.  Alairic retied the door shut, testing the rope this time to make sure it would hold.  Another hour past and nothing happened.  Midnight was approaching.  Tilliana lit a lantern and placed it on the seat of the wagon.  The horses shuffled nervously but slept.  Upstairs Twosocks whined a bit and refused to come down.A mist began to creep into the room, noticeable in the light of the lantern.  It flowed under the closed door and filled the floor.“Here they come,” said Alairic readying his sword.  Tilliana began to pray for blessing.  One of the creatures materialized next to the priestess.  He was the one who smelled of smoke and wore charred clothing.  With a snarl he swung at Tilliana, connected with a powerful punch.  Tilliana felt a bit of her strength drain away.  The female vampire materialized about five feet away from Kinshag and immediatelly Kinshag could feel her in his mind, trying to wordlessly seduce him into surrender.  One of them, the one with the greatsword, appeared on the wagon next to Niccolo and immediately Niccolo threw a vial of the holy water at the thing.  The water splashed and burned into the dead flesh.  With a cry the monster howled and swung his sword.  Niccolo raised his axe to parry but the weight of the swing caused the sword to push the axe back and at the half-elf.  The blade managed to cut into the half-elf'’ arm.  Kinshag fought off the attempted supernatural charm and rushed at the female vampire, black mace at the ready.  He swung the heavy end of the mace around and into the woman’s head.  It snapped her head back and Kinshag was gratified to see it left an imprent.Alairic saw the robed vampire he had already cut into pieces once materialize away from the fighting near the door and charged him.  The undead creature ducked easily away from the swing and looking into Alairic’s eyes, whispered, “Surrender!”Alairic felt his will weaken and for a moment was ready to throw down his sword and offer himself to the creature when he remembered himself and fought off the mental attack.A second vampire attacked Tilliana, this one wearing the blue robes.  Tilliana dodged the blow and then swung Razortongue around and into this new threat.  The sword cut true and the vampire stumbled back.  Niccolo, bleeding from the cut inflicted by the sword wielding vampire pushed away the blade and swung the enchanted axe up and into the skull of the vampire.  Already weakened from the burning holy water, the vampire was too slow to dodge and fell back and away as Niccolo wrested the axe head from the skull of the other.  But the body did not remain.  In a pattern that was all too familiar now, it vanished into mist and the mist sailed out and towards the door.  Meanwhile Kinshag was doing better in his exchange with the female vampire than he had done previously.  He struck her again with his mace and then as she moved in to try and bite him once more he struck her a third time.Tilliana swung and Razortongue cleaved into the blue-robed vampire again.  But her guard was lowered and the other vampire, the one smelling of smoke struck her from behind.  A bit more of her energy drained away.  Niccolo leaped between two of the horses and rushed into the fray to help Tilliana, swinging, but missing, at the one that had struck her from behind.  Tilliana, thrown off balance, swung but missed her target.Alairic was managing to keep the robed vampire in the corner, cutting him once and then dodging away from the deadly claws of the vampire before moving in to cut him again.  Kinshag stuck the vampiress once more and then again and she was down.  With a cry she transformed into a slow moving mist that floated towards the doorNiccolo plunged his axe once more at the vampire that had struck Tilliana and then it too was turning into mist.  Tilliana, feeling weak from the two hits she had received, left herself open and was struck by the blue robed vampire.  She stumbled back and away and the vampire moved in gleefully, closing the gap again just as Kinshag bashed him on the head from behind with his mace.  As the vampire mistily followed its companions out the door, Tilliana shrugged off her weakness and with Niccolo rushed to help Alairic.  Niccolo managed to cut the vampire who cried out and moved to defend itself.  “I’ll get it!” shouted Kinshag and he hurled his mace across the room.  It missed, striking the wall behind the vampire.  But it was enough of a distraction to allow Alairic to plunge his holy blade into the vampire, causing it too to turn to mist once more and flee the room.Tilliana tended to their wounds, at least their physical ones.  There was nothing she could do for the spiritual drain the party was starting to feel.  “Do we have any stakes?” said Niccolo, “There has to be a way to finish them off so they don’t keep coming back again and again.  Even burning didn’t seem to work.  I’m guessing that char-boy there attacking Tilliana was the one in the house we burnt down.”“Sunlight worked,” said Alairic.“I have tent pegs,” said Tilliana, perhaps we could use those as they are wooden.”“Holy Water worked,” said Niccolo, “but not as well as the axe.”  Tilliana handed out the tent pegs and then they settled back down to wait.        “This ain’t right,” moaned Kinshag as his head swum from loss off blood and he looked at his own skin, “I ain’t suppose to be pale.”    Time passed.“Perhaps,” mused Alairic, “We could anticipate right where they will materialize and plunge the stake into the mist just as they are turning.”More time passed, a total of three hours since the second attack, as they sat and waited, once more in the positions they had occupied most of the night.Movement could be heard above them.  Stealthy footprints on the dry boards.Music started up from above, a harp.“Here we go again,” said Alairic.  Niccolo got down off the wagon and moved closer to Tilliana.“Plug your ears,” said Tilliana as she moved to do just that.  There was a snarl upstairs and then a whine.  It sounded as if something had happened to Two-socks.  The music continued.  Mist started to drift down through the floor-boards.  Kinshag looked up the stairs.  The female vampire that had plagued him all evening stood at the top of the stairs, harp in hand.  Kinshag felt his will being sucked away as he watched her.  The vampire with the greatsword was suddenly once more at Niccolo side, the greatsword descending in a vicous arc at the half-elf.  Tilliana was struck from behind as the vampire in the blue robes punched her.  Alairic barely managed to dodge aside as the shorter robed vampire lunged at him.  Things were looking bad.  Tilliana swung around and Razortongue cleaved into the vampire that had struck her.  Niccolo shrugged off the painful wound and ignoring the sword wielder turned swiftly to swing his axe into the smoke smelling vampire who was about to attack Tilliana from her other side.  The axe  bit deep but Niccolo was not swift enough to move out of the way as the vampire snarled and turned on him, punching hard.  A cry from the steps sounded.  Alairic, Niccolo and Tilliana looked over just in time to see Kinshag fall limp in the eyes of the vampiress.  Gleefully the woman carried the stout body of the half-hobgoblin up the stairs.“No!” shouted Tilliana and Razortongue once more cut into the blue robed vampire.  In seconds he was mist.  Niccolo once more struck the smoke smelling undead as Alairic fought to hold his ground against his opponent.Niccolo sidestepped another sword stroke as Tilliana turned and swept Razortongue up and into the vampire Niccolo had already injured.  The man fell to the ground as he turned to mist.  Niccolo swept his axe up and into the sword-wielder as Tilliana took a step towards the stairs, her heart bidding her to follow and try and save Kinshag.  She turned her head and saw that Alairic and Niccolo were still fighting.  Should she chase after a bloodless corpse or stay and help her still living companions.  She made her decision and turned and rushed at the large vampire with the Greatsword.  He was already injured from Niccolo and Tilliana managed to finish him off.  Niccolo for his part rushed to help Alairic.  In seconds the last vampire was mist and the three companions stood alone in the room as the horses sweated and stamped.  Upstairs they found the rope untied and the doors open.  Two socks lay on the floor dead.  With a heavy heart Niccolo drove one of the tent pegs through the heart of his former companion.  They retied the door, though it was obvious that such a device could not stop evil creatures that could turn into mist at will.  They sat and waited till dawn but no more attacks came.  As the sun crept into the sky, Niccolo summoned his two feathered friends and had them watch as the three of them lay and got some sleep.  Sleep that they would dearly need before they went in search of the vampires and of Kinshag.</blockquote>

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