Ch. 1 - The Keep on the Borderlands

"They are too distant to make out," the illusionist says, "and number close to three dozen! We will need to approach the area with caution..."

"Three dozens? Isn't that a bit of a large group to be drunk in the woods?"

"I mean, the larger the party, right?" Robin says coyly, as she lazily peers off in the same direction. Her mind was rather set on finding a good spot to set up her bedding. Perhaps one of the larger clumps of grass and weed would provide a softer headrest?

"Maybe we could get closer, to see what we are dealing with?"

Turning to the mail-clad blonde, as the party prepares to embark back down the hill and move closer to the clearing and the ruins, the bald prestidigitator asks, "What say you, Morgan Ironwolf!? Who is it we’re seeing down there, crawling like ants on a sweet pie?!"

"Whomover it is, they're sure happy down there. Worries me." She takes a closer look, squinting. "I know of no adventurers who like to travel in such a large company. Though it's not uncommon. The king sends knights east all the time, but knights wouldn't act like . . . that. There are others who would, though: bandits, barbarians . . . beast-men? I think it wouldn't hurt to treat this like the worst case."

Looking at the party below Ezra suggests: "Maybe some of us stealthier types could approach with some care to see who is in our way?

Farem is still willing, and proposing, to scout ahead.

"A group of bandits who celebrated too much last night perhaps?" Offered Father Petronius as a plausible explanation. "Still, you'd expect them to sleep their hangover instead of walking around in a daze like that..."

"Are you all too yellow to strike down your competition while they're drunk? Bah, perhaps I measured you all wrong." The dwarf complains about this very unwise course of action (charging them being unwise, not taking a long way around). Perhaps it would be better had he remained silent as he had on the journey to the keep.

"Could they be the shambling dead? I have heard stories of those that rise without purpose, unlike our dwarven crypt guardians. I'd love to put a few back in the grave."

Nodding at Ezra and Farem, Delfarious agrees. "Agreed!" he says agreeably. "Let us all make for the woods and then take up a concealed position. Then you scout ahead, and report back!"

"Shambling dead?" Father Petronius mused at Kraagor's suggestion. "Hmm, yeah, I suppose this could be a possibility, but what would create about thirty undead creatures in the middle of a forest... This is disconcerting, I suggest we progress prudently."

"I'm all for scouting ahead!" chimed Robin with a grin. "I AM of a stealthier persuasion, if you catch my meaning. Please, allow me to join~"

So the three of us will scout ahead? Ezra asks the group while looking at Robin and Farem.

Kraagor makes a small racket as he shifts impatiently in his plate armor.

"And report back as soon as you understand who it is, and what they are up to!" Delfarious says as they walk, closing the distance before the trio splits off.

Farem nods at Ezra.

After some deliberation, the party decides to move into the forest to the north of it, then send three scouts ahead to see what can be seen. As the party picks its way carefully down the hill and across the road, the sun sinks a bit from its zenith in the sky. Atop a rise, the edge of the forest is dark with knotted trees, yet the party enters.

The party digs itself in before sending Farem, Ezra, and Robin to scout ahead. Once they disappear through the dense foliage, all is quiet for some time.