Epilogue

We don't go to Ravengro.

It began with trade caravans never reaching their destination. When an investigation was finally launched, the grim truth was revealed. Ravengro was burned to the ground. The dead husks of buildings lay collapsed into piles of stone and burnt ash. The few still standing served as eerie monuments to whatever evil had occurred here. Any attempts to rebuild the town were met with disaster, with few survivors returning if any. Accounts of these ill-fated ventures varied. There were stories of burning skeleton rising from the charred remains of buildings. Spectral children playing jump rope in the towns square at night. The church bell heard ringing despite it lying broken upon the ground. There were many such stories, but there were always four consistencies that stood out among them.

A particularly large zombie could be seen wandering in the graveyard, engaged in battle with several small frail skeletons, smashing one after another with a large mace until none remained. This bizarre scene repeating itself nightly.

A terrible apparition would occasionally appear to any who drew too close to the river. There it would hypnotically beckon an unfortunate soul into the river with it, where they would both vanish under the murky black stream.

A particularly nimble skeleton seemed to delight in chasing people around when they could be found. Tripping them to the ground before plunging an icy skeletal fist into their chests.

In one of the burnt out buildings, a small but stout figure could be seen running back and forth between the fallen pillars and framework. Strange colored smokes and awful smells rose from this area, and none with wits in their head dared to draw near.

After enough of these stories had spread, no one dared return to Ravengro. It had become an unholy place, overrun with the undead, doomed to crumble to ash and disappear with the breeze. Perhaps someday the whole truth of things will be revealed, and this cursed town put to rest. The tortured undead wait for such a day when those with the courage and strength enough to lay them low arrive. Until that day, those who were asked all replied the same way.

We don't go to Ravengro