Rashemen - Book 3

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It was approaching dusk, the sky and clouds washed with pastel shades of pinks, golds and peaches darkening to cherry on the horizon, as Maron and Ciana approached the temple of Silvanus; after talking to an acolyte, they were directed to the gardens and an old priest named Torgar. Torgar invited them to sit and offered them a glass of Ice wine and to enjoy the sunset with him, gently sipping on the perfectly chilled wine the three sat and watched the fabulous colours fade and darken as the sun bade farewell.

“I’m sorry for making you wait,” said the old priest “ but now that I am of little use in the ceremonies and other paraphernalia of the temple, I like to sit here and watch the sun set bidding the world farewell, much like I will soon. The youngster told me you were interested in Hargon is that right?

“ He was a sickly child Hargon, the trial of his mother, and of course the other children gave him a hard time, of course, we tried to stop it when they were at the school, but outside…” the priest paused as he remembered and then carried on “He became adept at hiding, staying in the shadows, trying to keep out of the way, I suppose, and that was probably why he found the catacombs. The tunnels start about a mile north of town, the entrance marked by a cairn of blue stones. He played in there and started to learn the art of Necromancy, we didn’t learn how until later, with time as he was slighted, bullied, cajoled or just glanced at the wrong way; the person responsible would be attacked by Undead creatures later. It took us a while to ensure that it was Hargon’s doing

“When we confronted him, he sneered at us and told us one day he would show us all what he could do and then we would be sorry. It looks like that day may well have come. There’s only a little more to tell you, first Hargon fled east first, and we heard nothing for a long time, a few years back rumours came of a Necromancer taking up residence in Pyreswamp Manor. Second is this, out of our little catacombs was a tunnel that went north, we put together a party and explored it and found Hargon’s teacher, a puissant Lich, after a fierce battle we destroyed it, but at a coat we lost a Paladin and a Mage that day. The swamp got its name after a nearby battle had finished, normally the practise is to build a huge pyre and burn the bodies of the dead of both sides, to stop disease. There wasn’t enough wood so they dropped the bodies in the swamp, which they jokingly called a pyre and the name stuck.

“The Lich raised many undead from the swamp but amongst his special talent was the ability to raise Ogres and their kin as Ghouls and Ghasts, I fear he passed that ability to Hargon. You are going after Hargon and I think you may need some help, Peleane is a strong Paladin and will follow your orders until such times as Hargon is brought to Justice, good luck” with that the priest rose and started to leave, he paused and looking back remarked “ we sealed the tunnel by collapsing it with the aid of some dwarves and I’ve already had it checked and it still is, I’m afraid you’ll have to go overland”

Maron and Ciana left the gardens and as they reached the entrance a Paladin awaited them, standing there in chain mail, a longsword one side of her belt and a flail the other, “Torgar tells me I am to join you and aid you as I can, I am yours to command”

The bard and priest looked at one another with eyebrow raised

 

Atten and Nakia moved through the forest. Both employed completely different techniques but the result was the same. Nakia, with her padded feet, superior balance, and instinctive ability to find just the right shadows. Atten, with a supernatural affinity with life around him, not so much being stealthy, but simply becoming as one with the forest. The outcome, travel that was virtually undetectable by eyes or ears.

 

Maron looked the paladin up and down and smiled. "Welcome. My name is Maron, and this is Ciana. You must be Peleane, the paladin. Good to have you along. Anyone with divine magic is a great boon against the undead."

Saying that, she pulled her holy symbol, the head of a woman with vibrant red hair and golden skin, from beneath her tunic.

"I guess I'll need this before long, huh?"

 

Suddenly Atten and Nakia both stopped, ahead of them they could hear crashing in the forest. The air smelled of the grave, musky and damp. They looked at one another silently then moved apart circling around the noise.

Through the shadows of the trees Nakia saw six large, ugly, slimy ogrish creatures bashing their way through the undergrowth. She turned and headed back to where she had parted from Atten. He arrived back at the same time she did and they headed back to the town.

Arriving back at the inn they found Ciana and Maron waiting for them with a third woman heavily armed. There were quick introductions and exchange of information. Nakia said she would get Del and Elendie and meet them on the northern edge of the town. She went off muttering about dead that wouldn't stay dead, something in halfling that included the word necromancer.

 

Ciana moved up to her room and collected her gear, picking her bag up she pulled out her bowcase and strung the bow ready for action. As she left she knocked on Kongol's, pleased to hear his greeting she ducked inside, after quickly explaining, the half-giant wasted not time picking his gear up as well.

They made their way downstairs where the Paladin waited, Ciana introduced Peleane to Kongol, as thet waited for Maron, they saw her descending the stairs the Drow brothers behind her, the Paladin gave a start but recovered quickly and said nothing as the group left the Inn joining Atten and heading north...

 

"Are you people still not ready yet? For bark's sake, sort yourselves out! The undead beasties are coming. I guess I'll have to find a way to slow them down."

Atten ran back to the edge of treeline, slowed his breathing and reached out into the living force of the forest. Before long, a slithery, crackly sound could be heard and the ground appeared to buckle and shake.

Spikey green thorns emerged from the earth and twisted their way skywards, writhing and bending from side to side.

"There, that should hold them for a little bit. Hopefully....."

 

As Nakia went to collect Del and Elendie she passed a couple of priests and a soldier that looked like a captain or better. She stopped and quickly filled them in on what Atten and she had seen.

"Could be a ruse though to get your attention. Be Careful." With that she sped to where Del was and quickly filled the two women in. They headed north skirting the town.

Seeing the spiky green thorn wall she commented; "Guess the boy has learned a few things maybe he'll amount to something someday."

Meeting up with the others she greeted Kongol and the Drow brothers warmly.

"Glad to see you, Kongol, thought maybe you had gotten lost."

They headed north to Pyreswamp Manor hoping to locate the necromancer Hargon.

Actually Nakia wasn't too happy about it but didn't see any other choice.

 

"Nice to meet you Peleane" Kongol reply looking down at the knight.

Then his attention turn to Nakia,

"I'm glad to see you to Nakia, after you guys left me guarding the door, I got sleepy and went to my room to rest. I actually thought that we were waiting for Jex, but I see that Atten has finally meet with us"

Kongol smiled warmly back to Nakia and continue, "So we're going to get a Necro...what?"

 

Our brave adventurers moved north through the forest with Peleane leading. Traveling along a faint trail they soon passed the cairn of blue stones . After several hours of travel, they topped a small hill and looked down on a feculent, malodorous swamp that stretched out of sight both east and west and was filled with strange twisted trees with large roots showing above the surface and strung with grayish, cobwebby moss.

The smell made Nakia feel like throwing up but she forced it down. The manor lay on a hillock in the center of the swamp and there was only one way in. A narrow path probably guarded lead through the swamp and fighting would be difficult if not impossible. Some one observed that there were channels of mostly clear water flowing through the swamp and if they had flat bottomed boats they could pole their way in. Peleane thought about this and replied there was or used to be a village about a half hour distance to the west. Therefore, they set off to find the village or at least maybe a swamp boat left behind.

[ August 14, 2006, 06:33: Message edited by: Nakia ]

 

Arriving at the village they find it deserted, many of the houses smashed as if by giant hammers or clubs. Near the shore they find some of the swamp boats in various states of disrepair. While the others explore the village Nakia and Kongol pick one that is almost whole and begin to work on it.

Atten watches them for a while then with a sigh says, "Here, let me take care of this." For a moment he is very still then he touches the wood and a green vine flows through the wood to create a strong but flexible vehicle.

Nakia raises one eyebrow, smiles and nods her head. The others report that there is no sign of life or even bodies. Pushing the boat into the turbid water they begin their trip towards the manor everyone keeping an eye out for danger.

 

As Kongol pushes the boat thru the swamp, the stench of the death and putrefaction can be not only smell, but seen all over. The feeling that your being watch also invades your senses.

As this wasn't enough, darkness starts to envelop the area. The further Kongol pushes, the darkest the swamp becomes. After a while you can detect the image of small red dots covering the whole swamp.

"Nakia, my low light vision is not gonna help here, there is no light at all. I need you to help me be the eyes on our direction"

 

"Sure, Kongol." Nakia stands beside him and as Peleane directs them Nakia warns Kongol of thick growth and guides him to the clearest water, which is still mucky. Occasionally they hear the splash of animals but mostly the swamp is eerily silent. The Drow brothers join them helping with guidance.

"Peleane, what are those lights?"

"Will-o-the-Wisps, they are actually floating bubbles of marsh gas but some believe they are alive. So far everything we have seen or heard is natural to the swamp not evil. If you fell into the swamp there are creatures that could kill you easily but not out of evil just the natural instinct for food." She smiles rather grimly and returns to concentrating on watching their path and checking for evil and unnatural beings.

 

Ciana murmured and made a strange gesture, her eyes flashed momentarily, now she couls see clearer in the gloom. She opened her bag an carefully pulled out several quivers of arrows getting the one she wanted, she put the others away again.

She nocked an arrow in readiness, the head larger and cylindrical looking as opposed to a normal head, she had chosen fire arrows ready for any target, the fire would aid others in seeing the attacker.

 

"So where do we think this manor is then?"

 

Maron descended out of the gloom and landed lightly at the back of the boat.

"The manor is only a few hundred feet ahead. There are shapes moving around near it, but I couldn't see what they were. Can't see in the dark, after all."

She unslung the glass mace from her belt, and whispered a prayer over it. The mace shone brightly for a moment before settling down to a dull gleam.

She looked around the group in the dim light, her face set.

"Are we all ready?"

 

Suddenly, a small shape came flying out of the swamp and latched itself onto Atten’s arm. After much flailing around, he managed to detach the creature and hold it still. It was small and furry and hissed menacingly. It’s eyes were dark pools that looked somehow wrong.

“It’s a possum! But undead! No wonder I did not detect the approach of its life force. An undead possum. I have never heard of such a thing. We must be wary.”

 

Maron gave Atten a solemn look.

"You should be wary, noble druid. This swamp could be full of lemmingliches, rat revenants, vampire voles and even the dreaded skeletal squirrels. Formidable foes, all."

Her solemn look held as she held out her holy symbol, comfortingly.

"If any more rodents accost thee, I can turn them."

 

“These things are an abomination of the cycle of nature! My world is that of the living. I have little power over the living impaired such as these.”

 

Nakia prepared explosive bullets which would help those who couldn't see in the dark. This was one time even she would have liked a little light.

"Aye, Atten, necromancy is the lowest form of magic I have never seen any good use of it. It isn't even the true person only the shell. Evil."

She spoke softly to Kongol guiding him to a spot on the shore that was clear of any tall growth,

 

"I don't feel any life signs around here at all. What dread has occurred here that there is no life to be found. Has EVERYTHING been turned undead? What power could do something like that?"