"And open the portcullis!" Gabriella shouts out to the necromancer.
Allie glowers fiercely at the necromancer, he's still lower on her list of 'people she likes' than Gabbi - so he gets the evil looks.
As he incants a spell, Allie and Rascal head for the gate - cautiously.
Kamosh flies over the portcullis and looks for a lever.
A large winch stands at the western edge of this parapet walk, opposite stairs leading down into a whitewashed building. Carved crenellations resembling roaring lions line the walk.
Ulrich spells instantly transports himself, Ellie, and Elka to the parapet. They can see three wights up here with them, hunched over the bodies of four dead knights. The wights are searching the bodies and preparing nooses to hang them like the other three knights.
Upon spotting the new arrivals, the wights snarl, abandon their efforts, and move to attack!
Hearing the snarl and seeing movement over the top of the wall, Gabbi pulls her bow and fires some of arrows at the partially concealed figures.
Ulrich tries to wrestle control of the wights.
"Kamosh, open the gates!"
Kamosh zooms over the parapet and dives towards the portcullis. He looks around for a lever or something that he could push.
The trio of wights resist Ulrich's commands. Gabby scores a single hit against one of the three! Kamosh finds the lever at the end of the parapet and perches upon it, pushing it down. The portcullis rumbles upward, allowing access to the yard beyond.
Allie and Rascal rush through the gates and immediately look for stairs upwards!
The scorched ruins of a building and a wall still smolder to the north of the gate. Only charred wood and blackened foundation posts remain. To the east, a stone staircase ascends to a steep ramp up to a whitewashed stone building above the high wall between the cliffs.
Elka rushes forward and slices the wounded wight with her claw. The wights retaliate, one of them slamming the changeling and draining her life force.
Down below, Allie rushes halfway up the stairs while Rascal runs ahead. A shattered double door leading north hangs open, revealing a room illuminated by a faint glow from a neglected fireplace. An overturned desk stands among a sea of paper, splintered wood, and some kind of slick substance covering the stone floor. A damaged armoire stands against the west wall, its clothes heaped nearby. A narrow wooden door leads east.
Upon seeing what type of creature resides on the top of the wall, Gabbi takes appropriate action.
Allie runs for the door and wrenches at it, clearing the way for Rascal to rush onwards. She follows as quickly as she can.
Ulrich and Kamosh work together to haul the knight out of the 'gallows'.
Ellie moves into combat, striking at the nearest wight.
She strikes at it as it falls.
If it tries to stand, she will strike at it again.
"Ah! I might need some help here!", the changeling stammers as the wights get the better of her.
Elly trips up one of the wights and smashes it with her flail. As it tries to rise, she finishes it off with another brutal blow. Gabby takes down the damaged wight with one arrow then strikes the last one with her third shot. Elka rips into it but fails to finish it off. Ulrich and Kamosh struggle in vain to haul the choking knight back onto the battlements.
Allie moves to the door and pulls it open, sending Rascal on through. The wolf runs up another flight of stairs into another room. This functional sleeping room includes a bed covered in wool blankets, an armor stand holding a suit of polished full plate armor, a footlocker, and a cold fireplace. Thick curtains tied off with leather cords hang above the entrance to a privy.
Two people are in here. The first is a grim, dark-haired woman wearing a red cloak adorend with crow feathers. The second is a burly, battle-scarred orc with an oversized jaw and dead white eyes. The woman scowls and casts a spell on herself, while the orc snarls and lunges at Rascal, biting the wolf! It leeches Rascal's life force, empowering itself and beginning to move supernaturally fast!
Meanwhile, the last wight on the battlements attacks Elka again but fails to hit.
Elká snarls and spits at the wight. Perhaps this would've hurt its dignity in life. "Sure, fine! I'll finish the soul sucker myself!"
Elka rips apart the wight, leaving the way inside the building free. Those outside can hear the distant yelps of Rascal from within.
The only foes that she can see having been defeated, Gabbi invokes Judgement and races through the portcullis and towards to the stairs to join her sister.
Ellie grabs the knight, adding her strength to Ulrich's in order to try and rescue the man.
The changeling spits at the wight's remains before running off to Rascal's aid. If Rascal is yelping, something is amiss.
Ulrich and Kamosh try to lift the knight back onto solid ground with Ellie's help.
"Leave my wolf alone!" Allie commands, racing in and aiming a punch at the creature's throat.
Rascal bites hard at the creature's leg, attempting to upend it.
Working together Ellie and Ulrich haul the hanging knight back onto the battlements. He coughs hoarsely and gasps for breath as they loosen the noose around his neck.
As Elka and Gabby both move towards the sounds of battle, within the structure, Allie rushes to Rascal's aid. She punches the pallid orc, but fails to stun him. Rascal's teeth rip at his legs, but he maintains his balance.
The cloaked woman invokes a prayer to Urgathoa, and the orc-thing laughs as he glares down at Allie. "A more scrumptious meal!" he bellows before tearing at her with teeth and claws.
Leaving the knight to catch his breath, Ellie runs full-tilt towards the sounds of the next fight.
Sensing that something very wrong is happening, Gabriella hastens her steps.
Elká runs as fast as she can to the sounds of trouble. Her heart is beating like crazy as her mind tries to stave off thoughts of what could possibly be going wrong.
Alessandra takes a step back and lays a hand briefly on Rascal, imbuing her friend with divine power.
Rascal goes for the creatures leg once again, biting hard but unable to trip the sturdy orc.
As everybody converges on the room within the gatehouse, Allie bolsters Rascal, who bites the orc's leg again. The cloaked woman move up behind him and channels crackling negative energy to completely heal his wounds. The orc snarls and assaults Rascal again, tearing into the wolf!
"Undo the magic on him, Ulrich! Don't leave us hanging!!!", the changeling yells at the wizard as she dives into the fray. What would it be like, to be buffed by powerful magics? To move faster, strike with the blessing of the Gods, and know no fear, but only murderous intent? At least you got the latter in you, Elká.
Gabbi witnesses the use of negative energy and focuses her attacks on the woman wielding it.
She seems to have a little trouble sighting in on the woman on the other side of the large orc.
Rascal withdraws with a pained yelp as Allie slaps her hand down to heal him.
Ellie moves forward, disregarding the orc's attack on her as she moves. Swinging her flail, she does her best to knock both foes to the floor.
As she knocks them to the floor, she smacks them both with her flail.
She remains vigilant in case either of them get up or the woman tries to cast a spell.
Ulrich casts Dispel Magic on the Orc.
Kamosh turns invisible and starts flapping towards Ulrich and the others
Elka scores one good hit on the orc, her claws tearing through his pallid flesh. Ulrich fails to dispel the magic bolstering the hulking orc. Allie heals Rascal and sends the wolf back out of the fight. Ellie fires a trio of arrows at the enemy cleric, but only one pierces her armor.
The orc's claw rips through Ellie's armor as she moves past him, drawing blood. The fighter retaliates, knocking both the orc and the priestess to the floor! The orc wards off her follow-up attack, but her flail cracks the woman's rib cage, badly wounding her.
The woman attempts to cast a spell defensively, but loses her concentration! She remains prone. The orc climbs back to his feet and lunges at Ellie, sinking his teeth into her neck and draining her life energy.
A frenzied Elká relishes the sight of the necrotic witch taking a brutal beatdown. "Ha! Down into the earth you go! Splattered over stone!" Frenzied or not, she tries to reposition herself with a couple of small steps in order to get an advantageous angle on the orc.
Ellie hits the orc as it stands back up, before focusing her attention on the spellcaster, doing her best to mash the woman into paste.
Ellie smashes the priestess's skull with her flail. The women's head cracks open like a grape, brains spilling out onto the floor.