"Looks like we were expected." Alessa was quiet not only because she was listening her familiar (who, by the way, warned about the fortress, however useless that warning was - not the thing you can miss anyway). She would not admit it openly, but Sezsu's words quite ... resonated with her own feelings. She did want an adventure but that implied free will on their part (and in her mind included merry travel with singing and campfire stories). Horrible! Now she stopped not sure if she wants to go ahead. "And feels like a trap. The one we have to go in."

Ed continues to move forwards towards the gate, at Alessa's urging he starts scanning the cliff tops for potential ambush on their approach, "That isn't attempting to be the least bit foreboding... Creaking hinges and gates opening as you approach. Still, at least it saves us having to find a way to open them ourselves." Impressed by the massive statues, even if they were decapitated.

With a firm grip on his club, Ed moves steadily and as quietly as he can manage, up to the gates to see what lies beyond them.

Through the wide opening of the gates, Edlanar can see that the road continues through similar terrain.

Alessa stepped after Ed under the arch of the huge gate looking at the weathered ancient walls with renewed curiosity. "You think we are at the Barovia's borders? I wander what made the doors open - a warding spell or a guardian who wishes to stay unnoticed." She looked around for something to sit on. "If it is the borders, and we are about to walk for the rest of the day, can we rest a bit? I could check for the presence of magic around then." Alessa looked behind to see what the mist is doing - she still did not want to it to catch up with the group.

((Detect Magic as a ritual (take 10 min) - just to see if anything stands out, mostly to break up the routine of endless walking))

As they carefully continue through the gate, Sezsu is keeping an eye out for any movements, sounds, or other signs of life.

"I thought the home of the Vistani would be a bit more lively and colorful. At least less...stately. Those gates and statues are so 400 years ago."

"What would you find more fitting Sezsu, perhaps statues of a lute and wine bottle? Stanmir's tale told of an ancient land, a land of kings which these statues would be in keeping with... Though this Barovia he spoke of was the Prince's home, not the Vistani's, for why would they have been granted sanctuary in their own land?" Ed shakes his head and waves off his own question, despite his clerical training he had never been apt at pondering out hidden meanings and truths. His accepting nature had grown stronger because of that. Trust what you are told unless you have reason to question it, and then all you have to deal with is the truth in front of you. 

"A quick stop doesn't seem out of order, though questions of why and how the gates opened are much the same... They opened and we benefitted from their opening, simple things sometimes do not need an explanation."

Zied had been quiet, not entirely sure how to react at all this. "I'm under the impression-particularly now that we were snatched- that they have been traveling and looking for quite a while. Which clearly wasn't good for their sanity. Or manners." Shuffling to his bag and pulling out an end of a cord. "I could probably check up higher with some time.. See if there was someone working a mechanism. Though doesn't seem like folks want to say hello." 

As a glancing comment to Ed, "Everything has an explaination, just a matter if its important to you or not. I would like to know if they had apparently sent word of their "volunteers" and thats why they opened. or if they slipped something on us that triggered it."

"That's a fair distinction to make, though the knowledge that there is an explanation does not mean to say that any being knows what that explanation is. Small differences with big implications, I believe those are the sort of things Alessa and Sezsu thrive on at court! You raise a further good point... If we are under some sort of geas that is signalling our presence or maybe even keeping us here, it would be good to know. Maybe Alessa's spell can assist with that question?"

"Do hope so. It's nice to see you still have energy to climb," Alessa smiled, indicating a joke, "but if there is someone - you will be alone against it up there. Not good right now. And if this is indeed some magic, better to be prepared." She concentrated on her spell.

"To be honest, I didn't expect statues. And certainly not gigantic, imposing gates! It's hard to imagine a people with a passion for the frivolous like the Vistani settling anywhere without leaving their mark." Sezsu shrugs. "Well...we might as well get going. Maybe they have cake."

The gates swing closed behind you with the same screeching hinges.

Alessa experiences a nauseating sensation as a large boil erupts on her forehead. Within seconds, it swells to the size of a marble, and busts open to reveal a slimy, white arcane eye. She finds no magical auras, not even from the fog, though she is burdened by an inexplicable sense of impending dread. When the spell ends, the eye fades, leaving no trace on her brow.

Towering trees, whose tops are lost in heavy gray mist, block out all but a death-gray light. The tree trunks are unnaturally close to one another, and the woods have the silence of a forgotten grave, yet exude the feeling of an unvoiced scream.

You catch the scent of death on the air.

The foul scent leads you to a human corpse half-buried in the underbrush about fifteen feet from the road. The young man appears to be a commoner. His muddy clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. Crows have been at the body, which is surrounded by the paw prints. The man has obviously been dead for several days. He holds a crumpled envelope in one hand.

The letter has a large “B” set into its wax seal. The parchment is worn and flimsy.

The letter is written in beautiful script:

Alssandra shook her head shocked and disgusted. "This is not how the spell should work! Agh!" She waited for the effects to pass and then revealed what she saw. 

"No magic, at least not that I can recognize. I thought that mist can be something a spell would conjure but even that seems natural. No, wrong word, "not of arcane origin". And ... it is so dreadful here... Don't know how to describe it but certainly do not like it." She looked at the fores on the both sides of the forest. "Strange, I can swear I have never heard of the place and yet it looks somewhat familiar. Must be just tired."

The corpse under the bushes only added to the general feeling of uneasiness and the lone wolf howl far off in the forest felt like the the final stroke of the brash on the horrific picture. (with the mentioning of the vampire around it was really fitting). "Did you hear that? Hope this is not our welcoming party." 

Grano took to the air again, sent to the sound of howling - if they were about to meet the wolfs, at least she wanted to know how many.

"There's no question in my mind that the mist is magical in some way. If it doesn't register for Alessa and her spells work in strange, new...disgusting ways, it stands to reason that magic might be of a wholly different nature here. We'd best be careful.

Sezsu reads the letter and passes it to Ed as he looks back at the body. "Vampires, eh? That doesn't bode well."

He pushes poor Kolyan's head to one side with his boot to check his neck for the telltale marks before rummaging through his pack.

"Good news/bad news: I found my old medallion from my early days in the church!" He smiles as he holds up a beaded necklace in one fist. "At least I'll have something tactile to help me meditate and focus. The bad news is that I didn't anticipate a need for holy water at dinner so we'd better figure out a way to sharpen some sticks. I'll be able to consecrate some water tomorrow if we want it but I hope we won't need it today.

(If the gates closed behind us, we're inside right? But the forest continues beyond the gates?)

(As far as we can see. And now wolfs are howling)

When Alessandra's  spell goes awry, Zied is facinated, having been a scholar of some decent skill. Albiet not remotely within the realm of spells or magic mutations it still awakens an old spark of his former times.  He pulls up and holds Alessandra's chin and examines the eye, and attempts to understand where the spell mutated. "I wonder if its all magics being mutated by the fog.. or perhaps only magics of observation or understanding?"  Taking a moment to examine his kit, and pulls a pill. Taking a moment to smell, tap and chip a small bit off before consuming it.   Zied waits for the effects to see if it changes, as well as ponders Alessandra's new optical makeup. 

Guidance spell, linked. Zied is testing to see if his alchemy  based magic, that serves an alternate purpose also messes up or not. If it does not mess up, he'll try some light Prestidigitation effets to test as well.   I am hoping to do something like an Arcana or investigation to figure out what happened there. Preferably with Guidance bonus if it worked.

----

"How long do you think they've been dead? The letter states a few nights, but also a hundred years. That is.. an odd span of time. " As Seszu examines for Bite Marks, it occurs to Zied "I should think we should remove the head, or otherwise bash in the skull.  Bite or not, if he comes back as undeath we're under equiped. He clearly wasn't claimed. Ideally we could burn it; but we don't have supplies time, nor do we want the attention. "  Zied is aware his coworkers likely aren't inclined to this kind of work.. But Zied has no intention of risking their lives while under prepared.   Zied makes one last observation, "The marks could be the wolves, given the paw prints.. but he doesn't look eaten by wolves. Just birds. They didn't kill for hunger, nor for a fight.  I'm worried the wolves are trained. And not friendly."

"We simply aren't equiped for this right now.. tomorrow we'll have a bit more preperation-I should be able to get to some of my backup tools.."

"Well I'm certainly not doing it. That's nasty work and my knife is gone," Sezsu protests. "Ed, find a rock or something and drop it on him." He scowls and backs away from the splash zone.

Looking around, he asks "Where do you suppose that Eva woman could be? We should probably press on, eh?"

"If no one's got a better method. I'll dispose of it. We simply don't have time for a buriel. But very few anyones would enjoy being a murdery corpsicle."  Zied offers.  its distasteful, but its not inherently against his personal code. its the next best thing to a funeral.  "Keep an eye out for trees; if a pack of wolves beset us, height is the next best thing to armour."

Unless anyone stops him; prior to our leaving Zied will either bludgeon the head with his club; it shouldn't offer much resistence after this amount of time.  Zied will pause however, prior, for any of the more religious to give a send off for the dead.

Alessa did not allow Zied to enjoy the revolting decoration for long - she dropped the concentration on spell the moment everything around proved to be non-magical. "Don't look, it's terrible." She did not see herself, of course, but the feeling was enough and imagination did the rest. Alessa was truly relieved to learn that this effect was temporal.

"The corpse it old, as you say. I do not know much about necromancy specifically, but I say if it is still a corpse, it would not turn undead unless some necromancer specifically raises it. And in this case broken skull would change nothing. If you are still worrying, I agree, Zied, burning the body is the way - there is enough wood around and magic will speed up the process. Though... I am not sure how I feel about using magic anymore."

As the group confirm that the mist isn't magical, Ed wonders briefly at it's nature. Whilst Zied rushes over to inspect Slessa's new appendage, he tries to juggle the pieces of things going round in his mind. Her surmation leaves him further wondering whether there is something dark that may be more than their simple spells could divine, though that was something to continue later. Though he could cast his own detection, from their sharing of the task in the past it seems unlikely that he would see any different to she, plus the decrepit smell wafting in the air signalled something more pressing.

---

As Seszu hands Ed the note he appreciates the ornate hand that wrote it. "My first concern is how this Burgomaster can claim to have known of this creature's presence for four hundred years, yet only decide now that something needs doing about it... He should have had the temples involved to help sanctify these lands, oh, I don't know, about four hundred years ago!" The rest of the letter is largely lost on Ed, the lands being sealed to save those outside seems a ridiculous concept. 

"As for the corpse, I absolutely WILL NOT bash it's head in with a rock, or anything else... Zied is correct, cremation is the only correct option here, I'm not sure how we acheive that with what we lack - I was never a woodsman. Though I agree that were the creature to have risen, from what little I know of such things, it wouldn't have sat here decaying to carrion to feed the wildlife. So we will have to make do with what we can manage." Ed takes a moment to pray for the corpse, giving him a brief last rights. That Sezsu had treated the deceased with such callousness unsettled Ed, the faiths of the land might have had different ceremonies to honour the dead, but he wasn't aware of any that openly shunned funeral rites and sending people into the afterlife with a prayer or two for their betterment.

As the four continue onwards and Zied returns from his disposal of the corpse, Ed decides not to let the issue rest, "Sezsu, does your order care so little for the passed?"

Grano alights to the tree limbs within range, but doesn’t see any wolves. Of course, the dense trees and misty air do little to aid their vision.

Seszu examines what remains of the man’s neck. It’s been ripped open. If there were fang marks, they aren’t discernible now.

Zied finds his pill grants him the expected benefit. (What sort of prestidigitation? If you describe the effect I can tell you the result.)

Another wolf joins in the chorus, as a chilling duet of howls floats through the trees.