[M]Ravenloft: Night of the Walking Dead IC

[Nazgul]

In the moment Mendel went down the pipe, a strange fog began to rise form the floor of the dungeon. Subtle at first, but then as if erupting as if lava form some unseen volcano. Whatever feeling the fog might have triggered in you, it caused the two headed giant to spring to it's feet in surprise. The heads appeared as if they were going to say something before they took notice of Gilder. Quickly, the giant picked up two very large clubs, one for each hand, from behind a boulder.

"Oatmeal!" The heads shouted and the giant rushed at Gilder.

Quickly, the fog surrounds you its dampness caressing you like cold, dead hands. The dungeon seems to retreat from the mists, its sights and sounds disappearing into some unseen distance. All that remains visible is the cold, choking fog. Even your companions seem far away. The consistency of the floor seems to change beneath your feet and you start to sink down very slowly as if into a shallow pool of muck. For a moment, everything is quiet. What few sounds you can head are amplified by the surrounding mists: your own breathing, your beating heart.

The silence is broken by a shout, followed by a splash, and then some curses being muttered in Gnomish. Then the fog begins to dissipate, fading away as quickly as it appeared, leaving you and your companions alone in a dismal swamp. The first thing you can't help but notice, other than Mendel in the shallow water, is that Torvah, Irin and Dryden aren't with you. As well, one of the uniducks is there and is quacking nervously. There is also what appears to be a Halfling, though he doesn't appear to be of any of the types that you're accustomed to seeing.

The swamp is very dark, the nearby trees have become twisted shadows with claw-like branches reaching out, and a foul odour rises form the murky water. Overhead, through the tangled branches, the sky appears strange. The stars are out, and the moon is close, nearly full, which it shouldn't be at this time of the month. Menacing clouds begin to roll across the western sky like a curtain of black smoke. In but a few moments, the clouds blot out the feeble starlight completely.

A storm is brewing-a very bad storm.

Tied to a tree, just a few feet away is a large raft. On the ground nearby are five long, wooden poles; presumably for steering the raft. Unfortunately, it will have to wait for morning, as with the clouds rolling in, blotting out the moon and stars, in a few minutes it will be too dark to travel.

[Korvis]

Kass opened her eyes slowly, pulling her shaking hands from her face and as she remembered the last seconds before the strange fog. She had grabbed her daggers, anticipating danger... but quickly fell to her knees as a strange vertigo feeling caught her off guard... "Oatmeal?" it was the worst thought she could have conjured. Wretching, she leaned forward as far as she could before new, disgusting smell of the swamp, the vertigo, and the oatmeal, converged to force her to expel any food she had in her... which happened to be minimal.

Taking a few breaths and recovering, she looked around. She couldnt see very far in the sudden darkness, but the smell and muck underneath her gave away the setting. She could see a large raft, and the stars fading away behind the clouds told her that the weather was about to take a turn for the worse. She could make out several members of the group she was accompanying before entering the dungeon before, as well as a new one.

She worried about that boy and his father... wondering how this could have happened... but she knew she didnt have time for dwelling on things she couldnt control. The situation she was in was very real, and she was ready to make the best of it.

Standing, she closely examined the raft, as well as the surrounding area, for traps. She didnt detect any, and after searching around in the darkness for anything that could be of use, again finding nothing, she began gathering some of the less soaked greenery, placing them down next to the raft as she collected them with her hatchet.

[Meinolf]

Barely making it to a stretch of land, Mendel coughed and sputtered out the putrid water from his lungs, and promptly vowed to forget, in their entirety, every memory associated with what happened during that horrid pipe excursion with the dwarf. Looking about in an anxious and confused manner, Mendel managed to drag himself out of the swamp waters, shivering as his body rapidly dropped in temperature. Scanning the locale of its bared trees, wispy fog and decayed decor, Mendel was immediately reminded of his trip through the Gnarled Forest on his way between Verbobonc and Dyvers. Laying on his back to calm himself, Mendel noticed the rain clouds off in the distance, and the magnificent gnome's mind started prioritizing what needed done. First was the need to get dry, and to create a shelter from the harsh reality of nature. While some may like feeling nature on their face, Mendel was wise enough to get out of the rain!

As the world began to intrude on his thoughts, Mendel took note of the further splashing of water around him, 'Oh no! Not again!' Rushing to his feet and backing away from the water's edge, Mendel finally saw the bodies of those adventurers from Castle Greyhawk. Settling his startled nerves, a sly grin soon spread across the gnome's lips. 'At last, some good news. My servitors have arrived.'

Moving next to one of them, Mendel began to roughly shake them, "Are we awake?"

[Lord Tully]

Panicked at the sight of the charging giant, Gilder drew his mace and prepared to jump to the side. However the sounds of the charging giant cut when as fog swallowed him up. He did not know what sorcery summon the fog but he was thankful for the timing. When the fog cleared enough for him to see Gilder lowered his mace and turned to survey his surroundings, "A swamp," he said when the smell reached his nose, "Just wonderful."

He then noticed the girl he'd been searching the dungeon with doubled over and vomiting, "Are you alright?" he asked when she seemed in a condition to speak. Though before she could answer he heard an unwelcome yet very familiar voice from nearby, "Shit, he's here too?" he said to no one in particular when he turned and saw what was unmistakably the gnome from earlier. ~Just great,~ he thought at he went to inspect the raft, ~I've lost all my rope, I'm stuck in a swamp at night, and HE'S here. Which god did I offend to deserve this?~
"Well, looks big enough for all of us, the problem is we don't know where we are." he said commenting on the raft.

[Miss Fortune]

Eccawen had watched from the other side of the bridge as Mendel flew back in the air, and tousled with some invisible creature only he was able to see. Could have possibly be suffering from type of hallucination? She sniffed the air; it stank of stagnated water and a displeasing smell of Earth. Normally, she would have been happy to take in the smell of dirt, but in this condition... the rancid smell of water overpowered it.

"What has possessed you, gnome?" she asked, taking a few steps onto the bridge. Before he had a chance to respond, he disappeared down a pipe.

She was struck with a strong feeling of confusion. She felt torn between helping the gnome, and leaving him to rot where ever he ended up. Looking behind her, she seen no sign of the knight that had started the journey with them. Where was she? For the life of her, she couldn't recall the knight's name. Fog began to rise up from the floor all around her. She looked back at the pipe, and down at the eerie water flowing beneath the bridge, and to the fog that send chills up her spine. Did the water just gurgle?

Shaking her head, she mentally chided herself for her stupidity. She quickly crossed the bridge, and took a deep breath and slid into the pipe, thanking her small stature for being able to fit. She didn't realize she let go of the rim as the fog exploded in the room behind her.

Her body hurt, but more importantly, her head hurt. She groaned as she was shook awake. "Are you awake?" She opened her eyes to see the gnome crouched down beside her, shaking her to her senses. All the shaking made his face blur, but she could not look past his bulbous nose.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," she said, feebly swatting him away.

[Enigma]

One moment Sabine was peering over the edge of a stone railing - then the next the floor was gone and she fell screaming - into a swamp. Brownish-green water closed over her and she touched bottom. Somehow Sabine got her feet under her and she pushed up - and broke through the surface.

The water was up to her arm pits, but the half-elf priest could stand upright. Coughing, Sabine looked around. Moonlight was streaming through the dark trees - incredibly, it was a full moon! But last night the moon was in the first quarter! And nightfall was hours away - wasn't it?

"Illusion?!?" she gasped - but the cold murky water pressed around her felt all too real - and the smell! There were others splashing around her - she recognized them as the others who'd undertaken the quest of finding the boy's missing father. They were headed towards a raft tied to a tree - land!

She still had her quarterstaff, thank Fharlanghn! Leaning on it, she trudged towards shallower water and the raft.

"What happened?" Sabine demanded as she got close. "One moment we were under the castle, and now where are we?"

[Korvis]

Chopping several sturdier hanging vines from the trees, Kass plopped down next to the raft and piled bunch of boughs, twining the vines through the greenery, twisting, then tightening them. Moments after she sits down, Sabine drags herself from the mucky water.

"What happened?"
Looking up from her self-assigned task, "I havent the slightest... but judging by the cloud cover..." Thunder violently explodes, shaking the ground and putting a bit of a quiver in the strongest heart... much closer than before... "I would say we have more important things to think about." A bit louder, and directed to anybody in the vicinity: "Somebody get a fire burning. This storm is going to soak everything, and make it much more difficult to do it afterwards."

Looking back down toward her task, she continues weaving, slowly creating a heavy curtain of brush.

[Anne Bonny]

"Oh dear!"

Morwyn covered her mouth with both hands as the two headed giant snatched up it's clubs and made a rush at her ally. But from her place on the balcony, what could she do to help? The elf's heart was pounding in her chest, and the uniducks were quacking loudly in warning and moving about, to and fro at her feet.

But she suddenly noticed a heavy mist that seemed to grow from the cavern's floor. The fog's onset was unnaturally fast, covering the ground beneath the giant and Gilder's feet, then ranger himself, then the giant (who looked altogether confused at the sudden disappearance of his prey). As the cloud seemed to grow and swell, to drift upward to her location, Morwyn felt everything inside of her scream to turn down the corridor and run. But her feet wouldn't move. She was powerless to watch the fog envelope the balcony, the uniducks, her own feet...

She awoke on the damp ground, with the smell of musty vegetation and rot in the air. With a start, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, but didn't make it much farther before a wave of nausea swept over her. She pressed her palm to her forehead and looked around, frantically trying to place her surroundings.

It was a swamp, dark and gloomy, and it was night. Had they really spent so much time in that dungeon, Morwyn wondered, or had she been unconscious for very long? The full moon was bright enough to shine through the storm clouds overhead, giving the entire world a silvery glow.

Some of her new friends and allies had come along to the swamp, it seemed, and many were already up and moving around. Her cheeks grew warm as Morwyn wondered if she was the last to wake up, or perhaps the only one to faint at all. There were a few who had traveled with her through the caverns, and a few others who had come down with them and then gone their separate ways. It was curious that they should find themselves here in the swamp, all together. The elf frowned. Where were they?

Quack? Quack?

Her attention was drawn to the solitary uniduck that seemed to be with the group. The small bird sat beside her, just at her knees, pacing back and forth and quacking in displeasure and uncertainty. One didn't have to speak uniduck to understand what the thing was so worried about. Morwyn felt an impending sense of dread at their surroundings too. Why the rest of its flock, and the rest of their friends hadn't come along, she had no idea. Closing her eyes briefly, Morwyn said a silent prayer that the others would be able to defeat the giant and save the poor boy's father. But for now, there were more pressing matters at hand.

Morwyn gathered the lone uniduck into her arms and rose to her feet. "There there," she spoke to the creature in soft, soothing tones. "We'll get you back to your flock. You'll be safe with me."

Stroking the soft feathers on the uniduck's back, she turned to watch the others in her party. Everyone bore equally confused looks in their eyes, so Morwyn quickly discarded the idea of asking where they were. Kass called fore a fire, but the little elf girl was fairly clueless on how to start one. It only added to her sense of helplessness.

"Oh dear," she repeated with a sigh, feeling completely and utterly concerned for them all.

[Mask]

The barefooted Kender was crouching, studying animal tracks so he could find something worth eating out in the forest. He left home a week ago compelled by wanderlust to search and explore the world. Pip stood back up and began following the tracks, it was safe to say he was new to this but he was taught most of the basics to survival. The trees suddenly parted into a clearing and upon a closer look it seemed unnatural. A mist rose up out of the ground and surrounded him, he felt his body move, not as if he was walking but as if the land was moving around him. When it all stopped his stomach became uneasy but he was able to keep everything in. The air was damp the ground wet. He had the feeling he wasn't in Krynn anymore even though he knew little of the rest of the world.

Pip looked around at all the new things, a group of adventures were there as well. They looked as if they been through the same experience. Maybe the tinker gnomes set up an elaborate prank, he has heard stories. One of them called for a fire so he rushed over to find some wood that was roughly dry so he could start one.

"I can handle a fire." he said out loud so the others would know what he was up to.

Now that he thought about it the sky was pretty dark, a storm looked to be in the making. He found some small sticks around the tree so he used those to build a place to set tender on, larger pieces of wood surrounded it to have something for the fires to feed on after it starts going.

[Nazgul]

With the approach of nightfall, the sky becoming pitch black and boiling, yet it is strangely silent: no thunder booms, no lightning flashes, no rain falls. You can hear the sounds of scurrying as well as the calls of whatever creatures are roaming this foul place. Some of the calls you recognize, some you don't. And the ones that you don't send chills down your spine. Oftentimes throughout the night, some of the sounds come nearer to you and you can swear that something is stalking you from the brush just outside of the campfire's light.

When morning comes, the sky has cleared somewhat, but is still overcast and seems to grow darker as time passes. A light mist drifts across the water, while a light fog hangs in the air, adding to the gray hue of the surrounding area. After making whatever preparations you need to, the party moves the raft into the water, and using the poles, begins to navigate through the swamp.

After a couple of hours, the raft sips through a tangle of tall reeds growing up from beneath the black murky water. The mist and fog have dissipated, but the surroundings are still gloomy. Overhead branches entwine to form a dense canopy. The sounds of the swamp are louder now. Unseen creatures slide through the reeds below the water's surface. A chorus of croaks and ribbits begins as if to greet you, growing so loud that every other sound is drowned out by their raucous song. Then, all at once, the chorus stops.