NEW CAMPAIGN - RAVENLOFT 1983

No bottles. It's as if the water is not meant to be transported away from the source. There is nothing more to noticed of the statue or the gazebo, other than it is very old, and has a faint etching on a small plaque that says: "Shrine of the White Sun".  Yes, a long rest, Grish.

I will describe what you see as you make your way to the Abbey.

ABBEY OF SAINT MARKOVIA

AFTERNOON

The switchback road that hugs the cliff is ten feet wide and covered with loose gravel and chunks of broken rock. The ascent is slow and somewhat treacherous, and the air grows colder as one nears the top.

The road from the village climbs above the mist to the wide ledge on which the abbey is perched. A light dusting of snow covers the trees and the rocky earth. The gravel road passes between two small, stone outbuildings, to either side of which stretches a 5 foot high, 3 foot thick wall of jumbled stones held together with mortar. Blocking the road are iron gates attached to the outbuildings by rusty hinges. They appear to be unlocked. Viewed through the gates, the stone abbey stands quiet. It's two wings are joined by a 15 foot high curtain wall. A belfry protrudes from the roof-top of the closer north wing, which also sports a chimney billowing grey smoke.

There appears to be no one around. You are in front of S6, just outside.

Martha opens the gates and would like to make her way to S10

The gates make a very loud squeaking noise as you open the gates. Looks like someone hasn't been oiling these gates. You hear rustling coming from one of the three trees ahead around area S7, and two figures emerge from sleeping and walk towards the group, non-threateningly.

They are a man and a woman, but..animal like, feral. Covered in rags, filthy, and do not speak. They look like two homeless people, but both appear to have been horribly genetically modified. They have various animal body parts for appendages and are horribly disfigured. 

They do not seem hostile, more like, remembering they have a job to do, but fell asleep.

Martha gives a stare to the rest of the group like “What is that?” And juts a gauntleted thumb to the ani-hobos.

Briella stares at the two beings. She puts her hand up to her mouth and swallows dryly, trying to keep bile from rising up in her throat. Her other hand reaches down for her bags and she grabs another one of the furry balls. She lets it fall out of her hand, unable to turn from the sight in front of her.

"This is disgusting." She says, her voice muffled slightly by her hands.

The ball falls limply to the ground and slowly unfurls into a weasel, that gives a quick look around before bolting up Briella's body to join the giant rat on her shoulders.She turns to look at the animal and gives a small grimace.

"No offense, Scout darling, but I was kinda hoping for Briarfang to join me this time."

Bors  approaches the two creatures "Do you speak? What is your purpose here?"

"Otto" is about 4'9" tall. He squats instead of standing upright. He looks like a beardless dwarf with patches of donkey flesh covering his face and body. He has one human ear and one wolf's ear, and a protruding wolf's snout and fangs. His arms and hands are human, but his legs and feet are leonine, and he has a donkey's tail. He is wearing a tattered wool cloak.

He can barely speak. He looks at Bors with curiosity and is extremely nonthreatening. He twitches and spasms as if something is very wrong with him, but he is not hostile.

"Zygfrek" stands 4'7" tall. The left side of her face and body is covered with lizard scales, the right with tufts of gray wolf fur. Between these tufts is pale human skin. One of her eyes is that of a feline, and her fingers and hands resemble cat's paws with opposable thumbs. She has a gruff voice and wears a grey cloak with black fur trim.

She mumbles something you can't understand, but it's a mumbling of curiosity, and wonder. Probably as to why you are here. She, also, does not appear hostile.

They have no weapons, but Otto is holding a very worn shovel.

“Does anyone have a piece of paper? Might allow them to communicate with us. Grishkar, you’re like a wizard, aren’t you? I’m sure your bound to have some parchment or something, right?”

While Otto and Zygfrek are distracted by our group, Imryll puts the hood of her cloak up and hides in the shadows of those trees (Stealth: 30).

OOC: Holy #@^%, that's a PERFECT roll!  Ninja skilz right there.

OOC: You broke the curse! YAY!

Kia stares at Zygfrek (the one with cat parts), and you can't tell on her feline face quite what she is feeling, but her tail freezes, then starts twitching quickly. She recovers, and moves quickly past them (giving them a wide berth) to the south, to look around the corner at the rest of S7.

Insight roll to see if she thinks they are capable of communication, or if they are too twitchy, crazy, etc.: 19

Perception roll to examine the rest of the courtyard at S7 for additional morlocks: 16

@ Imryll: You traverse space and time to transport instantly from one place to another. Up in the trees you take notes on cellular and atomic transference - in addition to whatever else you wanted to do.

@Kia: The two mongrel like humanoids are not really capable of communication. You do not see any additional humanoids in area S7, but this area you've entered a graveyard. Each has a name of some long dead priest or nun.

Zygfrek and Otto, seeing that you are not immediately attacking them, make gesturing motions to follow them.

Martha shrugs and follows, “I’ll take an invitation over a fight any day.”

The two mongrelfolk lead you to area S10, the abbey's main entrance.

A 15 foot high curtain wall joins the abbey's two wings. Behind its battlements, two guards stand at attention, their features obscured by fog. Below them, set into the wall, is a pair of ten-foot-tall wooden doors reinforced with bands of steel. To the right of these doors, mounted on the wall, is a tarnished copper plaque that reads:

THE ABBEY OF SAINT MARKOVIA
MAY HER LIGHT CURE ALL ILLNESS

Martha turns to the mongrelfolk, “Excuse me, may I ask you something? We’re looking for something, could you guide us to someone we might could speak with? You certainly know this place better than we do.”

Imryll, noticing that the mongrelfolk are leading the rest of the group to the gate, skulks around the curtain wall, staying in the shadows.  She attempts to hide in the fog & shadows in the area of S11, near the gate, such that she can peer into the gate and look for any trouble.  (Stealth: 23).

Noticing the two guards obscured by fog, she attempts to identify who/what they are (Perception: 18).

Martha, the mongrelfolk look at you as you speak, but do not answer, instead, leading you into area S12.

Imryll, you notice that the guards are merely scarecrows. How strange.

I'll wait to see what the others say/do before I present the area.