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Chapter 18 - The Dark Ones


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#1 Guest_Clovis_*

Posted 13 July 2005 - 01:32 AM

Merella’s cabin had turned up several vital clues. There had obviously been a struggle, as evidenced by the door having been off its hinges and most of the furniture tossed about. Curiously, though, there had been no blood. The adventurers had also found the ranger’s private journal. There were several entries referring to strange goings on in the ruins to the north.


“Well, I think we have an idea where to start” Theodoric announced. “Merella was clear about her suspicions.”

“What about the ogre Madulf?” Yoshimo asked.

Theodoric shook his head. “As crazy as it sounds, Yoshimo, Merella is friends with it. From what she writes, the ogre and his cohorts were fed up with fighting for Sithsilla and just wanted to live in peace. I guess even an ogre has limits to its bloodlust.”

“Interesting. Do we depart for these ruins now?”

“Not yet. I was thinking we should talk with Madulf. It might know something of use to us.”

“An interesting idea. I hope Madulf likes paladins as much as he likes rangers.”


*


Merella had left notes about the general location of their camp, and Minsc had little trouble picking up their trail as they drew closer. Less than an hour later, the party neared a rocky outcropping, with a narrow trail winding around it. Overhead they could see carrion birds circling.

“Something’s wrong” Theodoric said. The wind shifted and they could smell the stench of spilled blood and death. It repulsed Theodoric, though not nearly as much as he thought it should have.

The adventurers fell into battle formation, moving carefully up the trail. As they turned the corner, the carnage was plain to see.

“Oh, Baervan” Aerie said, raising a cloth to her face.

A half dozen gnolls and ogres lay dead on the ground, their mauled bodies rotting in the morning sun. At the mouth of a shallow cave lay an exceptionally large ogre mage in the rags of a military uniform.

“This was a slaughter” Jaheira said, looking the slightest bit pale herself.

Theodoric looked at the ragged wounds and bite marks. “It looks like they were set upon by a pack of wild animals. Wolves, perhaps. But surely they could have handled even a large pack easily with their numbers?”

“No” Minsc’s face was dark as he spoke. “This was not done by animals. Something like an animal, but not. Boo cannot explain it any better than that.”

“And something not like an animal at all” Jaheira said as she knelt by one set of tracks. The impression in the soft earth was clearly from a biped.

Theodoric covered the ogre mage with a nearby blanket. “There’s nothing more to be done here” he said grimly. “When we return from the ruins, we will ask the villagers to give these creatures a proper burial. But right now I think it in our best interest to reach the ruins before nightfall.”


*

Though they did not know the exact location of the ruins, finding them was not difficult. The mysterious creatures that had slain Madulf had left a discernable trail for Minsc. Other, more ominous signs also pointed the way. As they headed further north, then west, they saw fewer and fewer animals. No birds sang, and the few remaining animals were skittish, fearful. Boo crawled deep into Minsc’s pack, and refused even to peek out.

By late afternoon they’d reached the woods Merella had written of in her journal. The forest before them was unnaturally dark, even for such thickly canopied old growth. A pervasive gloom, like twilight, permeated everything. In the gloom, the forest itself looked twisted and forbidding. It reminded Theodoric of the scary stories old Winthrop used to tell him and Imoen when they were little.

“Taily-poo, taily-poo, someone’s got my taily-poo” he said softly.

“What? What was that?” Jaheira asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Jaheira. Just an odd thought. Forget it.”

“One does not need to have a bond with nature to see that something is wrong here” Yoshimo said warily. “Do we continue, or stop and rest?”

“We’d best keep moving, Yoshimo” replied Theodoric. “Whatever has been attacking the villagers, and killed Madulf comes at night. It’s to our advantage to find the ruins and investigate them before then.”

*

They entered the woods cautiously, unnerved by the eerie silence. Any noise they made seemed to echo through the wood by comparison. It was no surprise, then, when they heard something moving through the brush ahead of them. It too, became silent when the adventurers approached. For a tense moment, neither moved nor scarcely breathed.

A shape exploded from the brush and sprinted away. Even in the gloom the lupine features and bipedal stride identified it as a werewolf. The thing it dragged behind it might or might not have once been human.

The adventurers chased after the creature, following it to a cave. The werewolf backed into a nook near the entrance, growling as it dragged its bloody prey with it. It bared its fangs as the adventurers approached.

“So we have found the cause behind the attacks on the village” Theodoric said, advancing on the creature.

“Rrrrrrrr…I not kill village!” it growled. “I not…I did not attack the village!”

The creature shapeshifted, its limbs lengthening and becoming hairless. A woman, once beautiful but now painfully thin and haggard, stood before them. Her eyes still held a sharp and predatory gleam.

“A wolfwere” Jaheira whispered.

“I am Anath” the woman said. “I did not attack the village. I only want to avenge my pack! Please, have mercy!”

Theodoric raised his sword. “You dare to ask for mercy as evidence of your crimes lays at your feet?” he snarled, pointing at the half-eaten corpse of the man Anath had dragged to the cave. “Base creature, I can smell the evil in your heart from here!”

“I did not kill this one!” she hissed. “I found his body near the ruins. I am eating him only because I was starving. They have driven off all of the natural prey. I needed to feed to become strong enough to face my enemies.”

“The man looks to have been dead for some time, Theodoric” Jaheira whispered. The she-were may be telling the truth.”

Theodoric made no sign of relenting, and held his ground. “If” he began, “you are not behind the attacks on the villagers, what is?”

“The dark ones!” yelped Anath. “Creatures of blackness. Dark beasts, led by old women. They came weeks ago, in the ruins. The darkness has spread from there. They hunted my pack when we would not flee. I am the last.”

Anath pleaded with the adventurers. “I no longer care if I live or die, but do not deny me my vengeance! The dark ones have murdered my pack and now they attack the village. They are the evil that you seek, not I!”

Theodoric’s first instinct was to slay Anath. Surely this creature was no innocent. But something inside held him back. He remembered the words of Delainey, the woman – the werewolf - he had befriended so many months ago on his ill-fated quest to find Balduran’s ship. She had given her own life to protect him from her pack’s vengeance. Perhaps this creature held some of the same nobility. He told himself that was the source of his hesitation, ignoring his deeper fears about his instincts.

“Very well” he said slowly. “I will spare your life this day, creature. I do not trust you, and will not allow you to travel with us. But neither will I deny you your…vengeance. Go. And do not seek to cross paths with us again. I will not be merciful a second time.”

Anath dipped her head in acknowledgement and shapeshifted into wolf form, running off into the deepening gloom of the forest.

“Do you believe her?” Jaheira asked.

“I do, in as much she isn’t the cause behind the attacks. There is no way that creature could have created the darkness that covers this wood, nor could she have been any match for Madulf and his soldiers. There is something far stronger and more wicked in those ruins than that creature. Which is all the more reason to challenge it now, before it grows any stronger.”

“I was afraid you were going to say something like that” Yoshimo sighed under his breath.

*

Anath prowled through her wood, hoping to find one of the dark ones alone, like she had a week ago. The flesh of the beast had been too foul to eat, and her efforts had gained her nothing but exhaustion. But Anath had hoped to live then. Now she was resigned to her fate. But she would taste the sulphurous blood of the beasts once more before her own death claimed her. Of that she was sure.

She sniffed around the trees as she neared the ruins, and she sniffed the air as the breeze shifted.

“Anathhhhh”

Anath froze in place. Again the growling voice called to her.

That voice! It can’t be! But…it must!

“Belti?” Anath cried out. “Belti, is that you? Belti, my mate, you live?!?”

Anath cautiously emerged from a thicket of trees to approach the ruins. “I cannot smell you” she called out, sniffing the air. It was then Anath realized she’d made a fatal mistake.

“Anathhhh” sneered the twisted old woman emerging from the darkness, the glowing eyes of her pets behind her.


*

“The ruins should not be far now” Jaheira said as the adventurers traversed a shallow washout. “Merella said in her journal it was just east of a dry gully and a final group of trees.”

Anath sprinted through the darkness, using every ounce of speed and knowledge of the wood to escape. But the old hag was right behind her. It leapt over a deadfall of logs and several large rocks with supernatural speed and ease. The wind shifted again and Anath caught a scent of the human and his friends that had spared her earlier.

It is the only chance, the only chance for vengeance now! I must –

At that moment the old woman reached Anath and raised a taloned hand.


“Did you hear that cry?” Yoshimo said. “It sounded like –”

“Like a wolf in terrible pain” finished Theodoric. “We must be close to the dark ones, whatever they may be.”


*


The adventurers moved carefully through the remaining woods, warily looking about. Soon they spotted the ruins laying just beyond the trees.

“That must be it” Yoshimo said.

The ruins were non-descript and as gloomy as the surrounding wood, but for an ornate pedestal and a narrow flight of steps leading down into the ground. There was no sign of Anath or anything that matched her description of a “dark one.” Theodoric began to wonder if Anath had been playing games with them.

“Do you suspect something?” Jaheira asked as Theodoric hesitated.

“I suspect everything in a place like this” he replied. “But nothing specific, right now. Let’s just be careful.”

The adventurers moved forward, slowly emerging from the trees into the clearing. A loud crashing noise came from some bushes to their right.

Anath staggered into the clearing, blood gushing from terrible wounds on her back and neck.

“It’s a trap!” she rasped once, before collapsing on the ground.

Exploding from the darkness came the old hag and a dozen mastiff-like beasts with milky eyes and fiery breath.

“Barghests – hell hounds!” shouted Theodoric.

The pack set upon Anath first, ripping her to pieces and devouring the remains. The hag screeched at the pack and they abandoned their victim for fresh prey.

“Into the ruins!” Theodoric shouted. “Now!”

The adventurers sprinted for the stone steps and the small entrance beyond it but the hell hounds were swifter and cut them off. The hag screeched again and the hounds leapt to the attack.

Terror filled Aerie’s heart as she saw the pack of vicious creatures and that terrible ugly woman set upon the warriors in the party. Theodoric was facing three of the beasts by himself.

What do I do?!? she thought. Her panicked mind raced. They’re too close to use a fire magic. What do I – wait – yes, that’s what I’ll do! Remembering a tactic uncle Quayle had taught her, Aerie quickly invoked Baervan’s name and chanted a priestly magic.

Theodoric thrust his blade into another one of the Barghests, spilling more sulphurous ichor on the ground. His own blood was running freely from a nasty bite and he was facing several opponents at once. Minsc and Jaheira were in a similar predicament.

Aerie threw her hands wide as she finished the incantation. A rain of brilliant light showered down on the party and the hellhounds. The streams dazzled the adventurers but cut into the hellhounds with razorlike precision, stripping flesh from bone and eliciting howls of rage and agony.

Theodoric slew his stunned enemy and waded into the rest, Minsc and Jaheira following suit. The wounded hounds fought on but the balance had been tipped. Eventually, the last of the infernal beasts lay dead on the ground. The gagging stench of brimstone hung thick in the air.

“Where is that woman?” Theodoric growled. “She and I have unfinished business!”

“That ‘woman’ is an Annis” Jaheira said. “A wild hag that haunts places such as this. And she likely is watching us from the shadows even now.”

Theodoric looked around suspiciously.

“A little help, here” Yoshimo said, sinking to his knees. The thief had gotten the worst of the fight, his leather armor ripped and scorched in several places.


Aerie and Jaheira cast several healing spells on Yoshimo before tending to the others.

“That was fine work back there, Aerie” Theodoric said. “A most useful spell.”

Aerie blushed slightly “it was uncle Quayle’s strategy, really. He told me to always pray for at least one holy spell like that one, in case I didn’t have a clear shot in combat. It only harms the wicked.”

“Well, I’m glad you heeded his advice” Theodoric smiled. “It may have saved our lives this day.”

“Oh! I’m sure it wasn’t all that – I mean, I - thank you!” Aerie flustered, turning scarlet at the tips of her pointed ears now.



*


A brief search of the ruins above ground turned up nothing unusual. The ornate pedestal had a mounting on top of it, but whatever had been in it was missing. There was also a dark ravine to the east of the ruins, and an impassable thicket of trees to the south.

“Poor Anath” Theodoric said to himself. “That creature sacrificed itself to save us. Was I wrong about her, Jaheira?”

“I do not know” the druid said plainly. “But I would suspect her motivation was less for our well being than the hope we would exact the vengeance she could not.”

“Perhaps” Theodoric said, his expression strange.

“What?” Jaheira said. “Does it have something to do with…whatever has been troubling you?”

Theodoric dismissed her question. “Now is not the time for such things. Forgive my woolgathering.”

“Is everyone ready?” he asked, addressing the group. Nods all around.

“Let’s begin our descent into the ruins then.”




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