(+2 to each if flanking )
Damon makes a 5ft step to attempt to flank with doppel.
hang on big guy, I got your back.
Astrid moves into position flanking with Damon. She gives the warrior a swift nod and falls into a battle stance brandishing her spear.
With the Advent of a second chance at hitting this recently-dead captain, the Doppel raises his mighty Zweihander and brings it down in yet another crushing blow, placing it firmly in the creatures chest, tearing away flesh and bone.
Taking his damage all from the towering Barbarian, and being completely surrounded making his escape impossible, the Captain, whether in a wave of poor decision or not, continues to attack; Focusing upon Doppel as the beacon for his rage.
The Blow is well placed, taking the wind out of the Barbarian yet again as the 2 exchange blows mutually.
Damon's furious attacks are enough to harm the creature even more, nearly severing it's head as both blades land against the neck.
Doppel
Wight
Damon
Beads
Dimitri
Astrid
Lizzie smiles softly, noticing her hex took hold.
She casts it again, determined to weaken the wight-captain as much as possible.
Round 3
The follow up blow from the captain puts Doppel too far off balance, so when he retaliates his swing sails wide.
Dmitri tries again.
Astrid raises her spear and thrusts with all her might. Her strike aims true and slams into the beast skewering it.
The Captain falls to the ground in a slump, with the red glow of hatred fading from his eyes as he dies once again. With him dead, the room seems... vacant somehow. Opposite the room are a set of stairs you're fairly sure lead up to the section above; where the man jumped down from.
Combat Over
Ignoring his wiunds, Doppel returns to his search for a map among the captains belongings.
Lizzie had noticed the harm the armored man had suffered.
Walking up to him, she taps his back.
"The count's minions will have a hard time."
He feels some of his wounds closing.
Doppel stops dead when Lizzie touches his back. However, he says nothing. He doesn't even give her a wicked glare. More courtesy than the masked merchant got earlier, at least.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Doppel goes back to his search, heading up the stairs into the unseen loft.
Lizzie wasn't exactly new to people giving her looks at the healing magic, it didn't much bother her.
She didn't speak, merely a small assuring nod, leaving the man alone afterwards.
Dmitri will check to see if the former captain had anything of use on him.
Astrid raiser her fist and gives a small cheer before moving off to check the upper loft.
While it isn't much, the captain of the ship had a Cloak of some sort, and while it looks like it could be magical, is in tatters. Just as well, a soiled ring with strange runes upon it lays around on a severed finger.
Atop the upper loft, there's little more than a broken steering wheel. It seems before the man had jumped down he made it a point to sabotage the instruments of the ship, so, in a manner of speaking, you're trapped her from what it seems. It seems fixable, but, as it is the ship isn't going any deeper into the mainland.
Damon spies the ring and bends over to examine it. He picks it up and holds it over his head.
What is this I wonder....
Lizzie's gaze comes upon the ring Damon is holding.
"Excuse me sir Damon, may i have a look at that? I might be able to find out if there's something special about those engravings."
If he doesn't mind;
If Damon did let her inspect the ring;
"Ah, a useful item. This ring has a protective enchantment on it.
Which of you wants it? Otherwise i can keep it with me."
not alot of good it did the captain. He says eying the ring
"True, but keep in mind that the captain was alone."
Walking into the room, Thomas, and the other man both walk in against the winds of the cold in a slight hurry. "Seems you guys finished off the captain then..." he says as he looks down at the body and people look around at the items present. "That ring isn't gonna do us a lot of good, either, if we don't get onto the ice flows and make for the castle." he says quite keenly. Thomas stands around gruffly, obviously trying to shake off the cold.
On the top of the deck, Doppel manages to find a ivory parchment that seems strangely resistant to the cold, thanks to not being paper.
"There's nothing left here. We should scuttle the ship and move on."
Says Doppel as he comes back down to the rest of the group. He stops at the Captains body and drops his sword down on it, decapitating the lifeless body. For good measure he kicks the head away.
"Agreed, we gain nothing more by merely staying here."
Lizzie pulls her cloak tight as she prepares to head into the cold again.
Dmitri stands up and backs away from the body that he was inspecting taking the cloak and stuffing it into his backpack. Perhaps he could get it fixed later. "Yes we shouldn't stay here. Time to brave the cold."
let us go, the sooner we rid the world of this evil, the better. Damon moves to the edge of the ship, looking for a place to jump/climb down.
The party ventures onward, coming to the side of the boat and jumping down into the hard-as-steel ice flows below by using the ladder, looking back at the looming figure. The bald man smirks beneath his clothes; "Damned fool of a belmont's already ran off... Can't even see him in this godforsaken blizzard!" he exclaims as the wind picks up.
Doppel does nothing to acknowledge the man. Instead he utilizes the captain's map to lead the group through the icy wastes towards the village.
The treck through the giant icy fjord is brutally cold, but is mitigated in the fact that most people handle it surprisingly well. The chill is painful to most, but, thanks to the relative warmth of the stone that beads brought, it doesn't seem to do much in the way of actual harm. Thomas and the bald man, who eventually reveals his name to be Dunbar tag along as much as possible. The group comes, thanks to Doppel, to a massive ice spire that rises from the ground.
The group eventually comes to an opening, where their feet actually touch dirt. It seems the frozen sea finally gave way to land, and now, only a couple of hundred yards in the distance, is the village before the castle, bendt, lightless and quiet as death.
Lizzie was silenty very content with her bringing the heatstone in preparation, as the colder air turned her breath into a visible puff.
"You are skilled in this sir Doppel, i take it you've been through trecking many times before then."
As they arrived within sight of the village, her eyes turned a tad more serious. "A imminent sight, i have no doubt we're going to see action once we set foot in it."
Doppel stops within sight of the village to check his weapon and readjust his armor. "Nothing but fiends walk these grounds now. We could pass through and make straight for the castle. However, night will come soon. It may be wise to stop here in the village and moving out on the 'morrow."
As he speaks he watches the houses carefully, searching for any signs of movement.
Yes, We need to find a sheltered area first however perhaps a house though I fear we may find we are unwelcome guests there... Then again, It isn't wise to camp in the middle of a snowstorm.. or light a fire on a plains. Attracts attention, as if we haven't gotten enough of that yet. He sniffs, his face stubble covered in frost. He scans the area, trying his best to find a suitable place to hunker down, and one hopefully devoid of too much trouble.
"Perhaps that heat stone can keep us warm without the need for any fires. It is doing a good job so far but how long do you expect it to last you?" Dimitri asks. He is no survival expert and follows the direction and footsteps of the others.
"Heatstones last for 24 hours, so it should last for a decent more number of hours."
Astrid gives a cautious look around, staring down the empty streets and blank windows.
"Let us move quickly - I don't trust these quite streets."
As you look into the Village, and, begin traversing it's streets, you come to realize that it is completely and utterly vacant. The village is cold, unsurprisingly, and the windows blackened and broken. Bodies litter the place, long dead, seemingly. Many seem to have been reanimated and left there. In some places, the corpses heap into hills taller than 8 feet and, if it were actually warm, you could perhaps be defeated by what you imagine they would smell like. Completely in disarray, it seems the place has already had it's fill of necromantic subterfuge.. and yet... something catches the collective eye of the party.
On the hill, with just one torch lit outside, far and away, is a quaint structure. A strange building, in it's own right, that seems relatively undamaged and away from the chaos. It looms, looking out towards the castle in the far distance.
"If Dracula himself didn't raise the corpses, his underling necromancer would be likely to reside within that building."
Doppel is unphased by the mounds of corpses; they were to be expected - this was the domain of Dracula after all. Instead he heads towards the unscathed building sitting silently on the nearby hill.
"I have no want to sleep among the dead. That structure will make a good shelter for the night, regardless of its resident."