Moonlight and Shadow

[Eclecticon]

Agreed.  Matt, let me know if you'd prefer Grimbeorn to be off doing something else. 

[Eclecticon]

The bridge sways and shakes beneath Esgalwen's feet as she races across the gap between platforms, the water beneath bright in the moonlight as it gurgles around the piles.  Hathcyn and Arbogast follow quickly after.  The thudding noises from the indistinct forms' assault on the doors ceases, and the Ranger thinks, but cannot be sure, that she hears sobbing from within the nearest. 

Such Mannish noises are drowned out, however, by inhuman voices - one high, weird and warbling and two deep and cold, seeming to echo from some other place unthinkably distant. 

   There are secrets of humanity
   Things you keep inside.
   Foulness you shall never see
   Hidden under lock and key

   Flesh and guts and blood and bone
   Horrors lurk beneath your skin! 
   All you see is what you're shown
   Flesh and guts and blood and bone.

   It's commonly known as a matter of fact
   People are all the same.
   Putting their deaths far from their minds
   Fawning on their good names. 

   But all of your striving is vanity
   As is decreed by Fate . 
   For you will lie at last unsung
   'Til all that's left is hate. 

   Flesh and guts and blood and bone
   What's mine is mine and mine alone!
   Death will come to you in time,
   Flesh and guts and blood and bone. 

   Ashes come to ashes.
   Dust becomes to dust.
   The spite within will never die
   As your bodies surely must.

   Come join us beneath the ground
   With reeds and roots entiwned!
   Invisible and sinister
   The things you leave behind.

   Flesh and bone and guts and blood
   Plant the seeds beneath the mud. 
   When you die only this is gone:
   Flesh and guts and blood and bone.

The rhythm of the song continues unabated, mixing with shambling footfalls as the three forms resolve themselves into terrible creatures.  Though they wear the shapes of tall Men, their bodies are an amalgam of ancient armour, the detritus of river banks, and here and there the dullness of long-buried bone. 

"Wights," whispers Arbogast, his face ashen beneath his helm. 

[Eclecticon]

I'll do the preliminary rolls.  The wights will try to Strike Fear into the companions before the fight gets going properly. 

Matt, obviously ignore the results if Grimbeorn isn't here.

Battle rolls
Arbogast

Rolled 1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 4d6 : 2, 3, 1, 4, total 10

Esgalwen

Rolled 1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 2d6 : 2, 3, total 5

Grimbeorn

Rolled 1d12 : 2, total 2
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 3, 6, total 12

Hathcyn

Rolled 1d12 : 5, total 5
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 6, 2, total 11

Laeral

Rolled 1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 3, 2, total 8

Fear tests (Valour vs TN 16)
Arbogast

Rolled 1d12 : 9, total 9
Rolled 5d6 : 3, 3, 6, 5, 1, total 18

Esgalwen

Rolled 1d12 : 10, total 10
Rolled 4d6 : 6, 4, 3, 3, total 16

Grimbeorn

Rolled 1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 4d6 : 4, 5, 4, 4, total 17

Hathcyn

Rolled 1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 2d6 : 6, 6, total 12

Laeral

Rolled 1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 3d6 : 3, 6, 3, total 12

[Eclecticon]

Arbogast could've thought this through better - I'm a bit disappointed in him.  Grimbeorn and Hathcyn score well on the Battle roll, though - they've obviously worked out some sort of tricky tactic between themselves. 

Hathcyn and Laeral both blow their Fear tests, though.  I'll spend a Hope for Laeral - Tom, you can either do the same or be unable to spend Hope for the duration of the fight. 

for everyone except Grimbeorn (pending Matt's decision). 

[Telcontar]

  Hathcyn's fears are realized! I'll burn a point of hope. I might need it to live later.

[GandalfOfBorg]

  Grimbeorn parts ways with his companions, wishing good luck and to stay safe.  He heads off to a confrontation of his own -- the Beorning thegns -- to discuss with them the business of the council and to seek their people's aid to keep an eye upon this city.

[Eclecticon]

Thanks, Matt.  I'll have a separate thread up for you later today.