Encounter: Skeleton Archer

You push through the heavy doors of the old castle. The halls are silent, only the echo of your steps carrying through the dust. When you reach the throne room, the air feels colder. The high ceiling stretches above, and broken banners hang along the walls. Suddenly, movement stirs on the second floor balcony. A skeleton archer rises from behind the railing, bow already drawn. The string snaps as it looses an arrow, the shot cutting down toward you from above.

You approach the abandoned watchtower, its wooden frame leaning and half-rotted. The grass around it grows tall and unkept, muffling your steps. As you near the base, the silence breaks. An arrow whistles down from above, striking the dirt at your feet. You glance up to see a skeleton archer on the upper platform, leather armor hanging loose from its frame. It nocks another arrow with slow, steady precision, never breaking its aim on you.

You walk through the ruined village. Houses are burned out, roofs caved in, and the smell of ash clings to the air. Bodies lie scattered across the ground, some half-buried under rubble. As you pass one corpse in leather armor, the bones shift. A skeleton pulls itself upright, a bow still clutched in its hands. Its skull turns toward you with a slow creak, and the empty sockets fix on you as it raises the weapon.