Weekly D&D: Target practice

The sun was beginning to set on the small, abandoned town. The wilderness had begun to reclaim its land. Vines crept up the crumbling walls of the cave. One tree had decided to move into a lovely two-bedroom home, its branches reaching through the large hole in the roof. As the sun continued to descend over the horizon the air grew cold and sour.

Rurick, Finlore, Vatuu, and Zell stepped cautiously through the empty town. Something didn't seem quite right to the group. The town was silent; the wind refused to blow and the branches of the trees had ceased their normal creaking and rustling. Vatuu growled under his breath. He knew that the group was being watched, but he didn't know buy whom.

The travelers entered a small, lonely building at the end of a small road. Their quest had sent them searching for an artifact that could be of great value to them. Zell and Vatuu entered the ramshackle house first. They immediately knew that they were not alone in the dark room. Low moans permeated from far corners of the room. Rurick and Finlore, who both had eyes well attuned to seeing in the dark, immediately fixed their gazes on the source of the foul moans.

"They appear to be zombies," Finlore said in a perfectly calm voice "and they appear to be quite hungry." Vatuu lit a torch just in time to see Zell swinging blindly in the direction of one of the creatures. When his blade made contact with the zombie's torso, a puff of dark ash escaped into the air, blinding Zell temporarily. A second zombie began clawing at the fighter's breastplate in futility. 

"My friends," Rurick grunted as the holy symbol fastened into his beard began to glow "let me show you what a cleric is capable of." Rurick then recited words in ancient dwarven while lifting his hands towards the heavens. As he finished channeling divinity bright rays streamed out from his holy symbol. Upon gazing at the glorious light, all of the zombies began to hobble away. When they reached the farthest wall, the monsters scratched desperately at the cold stones in an attempt to retreat.

"Looks like target practice." Zell said as he readied a javelin. The other members of the party readied their ranged weapons as well. Fireballs, javelins and arrows rained down mercilessly upon the helpless zombies. 

Every undead creature was vanquished well before the holy light radiating from Rurick's beard began to dim. With the monsters out of the way, the party searched carefully through the abandoned building in hopes of finding the artifact. Sadly the search was in vain. The party found nothing more than a few empty barrels lingering in one of the corners. 

The band of friends left the building determined to search each and every building in the abandoned town until they found what they had come for. With hopes high, the band of friends headed towards the next dilapidated structure. Perhaps they would have more luck, and less zombies, ahead.

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I hope that you enjoyed this week's adventure. As always, happy adventuring.