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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 3670703" data-attributes="member: 69">Session 5 - Chapter 1 REGROUPINGThe adventurers carefully secured the upstairs by barricading the staircase, this time with much greater care. A couch was tied securely to both posts of the stair’s banisters and the door remained blocked. The second story was much like the first abandoned house they’d stayed in. They closed and shuttered the windows and tried to capture something of a cozy feel with their bedrolls laid head to foot in a triangle. Jade was happily petted by all while Arianna and Gerrit answered Ashlyn’s questions. They didn’t see any reason to keep Ashlyn out of the loop- they immediately liked and trusted her more than the odd count. Ashlyn, who’d been alone in a strange place for days, was more than eager to socialize and feel like a peer instead of a scrutinized outsider for once. They’d broken into the abandoned house just after noon, so there was a lot of time to fill before nightfall. The conversation went on and on.Eventually, they fell asleep with a lantern burning for comfort. <img src="http://a132.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_8cb59b0bf1f8084d97818e3453a2be0b.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> THACK!Arianna sat up from her meditations with a reflexive snap. She clutched the bedroll’s blanket up to her chin as something large flapped against the shut window. Gerrit said “What is that?” Its silhouette, as seen through the window’s shade, was like a giant bat with a misshapen body that seemed to have no arms, legs, tail or head.Ashlyn shivered. “Those come around sometimes at night. I won’t tell you what they really look like. You’ll not sleep well.” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood. The thing fluttered at the window for a few moments and flew off. Arianna released a sigh as it did. They all laid back down and tried to relax. They were almost asleep again when glass shattered at the other end of the house. Immediately the three and Jade were on their feet, scrambling for their weapons. Jade snarled at the dark doorway. Gerrit picked up the lantern with one hand and walked forward, and Ashlyn followed with her sword.They crept out of the room and onto the second story landing. The noises were coming from the north bedroom, with its door open just a crack. Something inside was moving. It shuffled about softly, crushing broken glass underfoot with polite crunches, and breathed through deep, rasping lungs. Gerrit peered through the crack and saw melted faces, all together in one tapestry of skin, leering in the moonlight. He signaled to the door and made a kicking motion. The others nodded.Arianna, Gerrit and Ashlyn counted to three and burst into the room. Ashlyn stepped to the fore with a shout and her sword poised to strike. The creature turned, held its hands up and screamed. It was a half-orc. Its forehead was plastered with sweat and its arms shook with strain and fright. It reached back and pulled out a greataxe that was shaped like a meat cleaver, brandishing it against the heroes. It wore grisly hide armor made of sewn-together faces of  different kinds of monsters. “Get back!” It yelled.Ashlyn squinted and lowered her sword. “Toufghar?”The half-orc blinked in surprise. “Ashlyn?”Arianna loosened the slack on her bowstring. The two arrows nocked there remained ready to fire at a moment’s notice. “So you two have met.”“Urso be praised,” Ashlyn laughed as she sheathed her sword. “This is Toufghar! He’s one of my adventuring party. You’re back! Where were you for three days?”Toufghar, not yet over the shock of having things attack him from the darkness, continued to breathe heavily and look around the room with wild eyes. “I… I was looking for shelter from the vargouilles. I came in here and… hell, Ashlyn, I can’t believe it’s you.”The paladin gestured to his great cleaver. “Put that silly looking thing away. Relax. This is Arianna and Gerrit.”“And Jade,” Arianna added, tilting her head at the snarling black leopard. “Pleased to meet you,” Gerrit said, holding out a hand. Toufghar sheathed his cleaver and shook the halfling’s hand. “Toufghar, pleased to meetcha. Sorry about just crashing in here.”Ashlyn asked again “Where were you? Where is Thendrick?”“I don’t know. We got separated today, coming back. Got jumped by a group of zombies headed by three ghasts. He took off in one direction and I went in the other. I’ve been creeping around in the shadows like a thief all night, taking to the rooftops. Then I got a clutch of vargouilles after me, and I jumped in here. I was blocking up the window and in comes you guys.”“Okay,” Ashlyn said, scrunching her eyebrows as she thought. “So… what happened when you went to the church?”They walked Toufghar back to the room and gave him some fresh water from their skins. His nerves seemed shot and he talked at a good pace. “Um. We get there, right, and the priest guy is this crazy looking old man named Danovich. His robes are soiled and his eyes keep going all over the place. The church smelled awful. Anyway, he said that he was too busy preparing spells and prayers that would protect the village from the zombies and that we should go away. We said that we felt that the infection could be traced back to the church, and he got really angry. Said we couldn’t prove it. We left peacefully, but I think he was ready to fight. Guy was squirrelly. Cracked from the strain of dealing with the dead, I imagine.”He took another swig and said “So we left. As we were coming back up the road, the undead hit us. When Thendrick ran off, it was in the church’s direction. I think he might be back there.”Ashlyn nodded. “Okay. We’ll go get him first thing in the morning, as a group… but Toufghar, if this all happened today, what were you two doing this whole time? You’ve been gone for three days.”Toufghar blinked again. “Three days? What? Ashlyn, we left this morning.” He thought for a moment. “Right? I think. Didn’t we?”Ashlyn only stared back at him.Toufghar leaned back in his chair and put a hand to his head. “Hell. What’s happened to me? Where have I been?”Outside, bats hung from tree branches in the light of the moon. Their eyes glittered like drops of blood.Coming up DANOVICH.</blockquote>

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