"It's always fucking something," Gannis replied with a shrug.
He enjoyed a good fireside story and that the elf was enjoying his dramatic pauses. Gannis had crossed almost every type of curse found in the books and yet people still found ways to make even more despicable flavours of dark magic.
"Crossed plenty of dark and nasty bits of magic over the years," he said. He showed a bit of deference with his expression, remember that his years of travel were the equivalent of an elvish childhood.
"Food is excellent, by the way. So what kind of corruption bothers elves that can banish a leshen so quickly and efficiently?" he asked.
In Gannis' mind, it was far from the most blunt he had been.
The leader paused in contemplation, as if he was having trouble understanding the question. "Ah, you mean the Beleg Nimloth? You misunderstand the circumstance. We did not banish that being, we requested that it leave the domain for some time. The Beleg Nimloth has been a habiting member and protector of the Glad Tovon Eithel since long before our clan has roamed these lands."
"If you didn't banish it, how did you convince it to flee?"
"We didn't. We requested it to move on, speaking of the recent havoc and damage it has caused. While the thaw fána is strong...the corruption...it pales in comparison to memories of the elder trees. Even under the veil, the Beleg Nimloth maintains its responsibility, somewhere deep within. But should that finally over take it, then we would be a great risk."
"Then why not go to this tower, the...uhh..."
"Gwathren Mindon." The elder elf spoke up. "That answer is simple. It is a forsaken place, the opposite of what we might consider the heart of this place. We are forbidden from going there. However, we have viewed it from afar. The dead, new and old, roam freely in that place. Even if we were capable of going there, these things are beyond our means. They defy the laws of Time."
Gannis considered that - once again - he had been thrown into a desperate situation only for someone to point at an even deeper pit and shout: now jump in there.
"The dead?" he asked rhetorically. He had dealt with ghouls a few times and one of the Venari had dealt with a necromancer and a squad of skeleton servants the year before last.
"So, looping this back around to the stolen kid: you're thinking we need to look there? Cos I'm thinking if that's where they went it doesn't sound like it worth hoping they'll be alive?"
He sighed. He doubted the Baron was the type to offer even a pittance of a reward for effort in the event of failure.
"Could be the case." Filvendoor nodded. And then he shrugged. "Could not be the case. We are not ones to so quickly abandon hope." The silver haired elf took a sip from the chalice and picked out a piece of deer meat from a large plate near his feet.
"If the child is there..." Rain piped up, fiddling with his boots. "It's an impossible task to assume what has happened. Magicians and mages and enchantresses..." Each word seemed to be further steeped in bile, as if he was increasingly growing irritated with having to think about magic users. Or understanding their motives. "Have been known to take children for any number of reasons. Experiments, vivisections. Power sources. Grooming. The only thing we can truly know is that if they were kidnapped, there was a purpose."
"Yes." Filvendoor responded. "And based on the reaction of the Glad Tovon Eithel, we may be able to make some educated guesses regarding intent."
"In that it's not good." Rain responded.
"For simplicity sake, yes. But I would expect it goes deeper than that." Filvendoor looked back to Gannis. "We cannot accompany you, should you go to the Gwathren Mindon. But that does not mean we can not be of some aid for your journey."
Gannis was content to let the conversation sink in whilst he chewed on some more venison. Even when he wasn't forced to shift,
He had a vague input to the conversation as Rainer listed all the reasons a mage might steal children. He tilted his head from side to side, agreeing with the list and deciding it covered enough that he could continue chewing.
"By the sound of the place..." Gannis said, still chewing before he swallowed, "I think we'll take any help on offer. Didn't exactly bring my stuff for tracking wizards and warding off traps."
He always carried a few magical wards, but had a fraction of the equipment he reserved for those times he was employed to deal with a threat from within humanity. He wouldn't usually take such work, but sometimes the damage being done by a deranged sorcerer was so great that he couldn't turn away.
"Well." Filvendoor responded. "I am not confident we can help you with the wizard but.." He nodded to Elanaril, who extracted a large chest from behind the log she was sitting on. Standing, she moved over and placed it in front of the two hunters. Unclasping the lock, she opened the lid and returned to her seat.
Within the box were two items, a small medallion and a brass censer. "The medallion is an obol. We recovered it from a battlefield north of the Fal'Addas tree line. These medallions are said to only form during warfare, born from blood soaked soil and minerals. If you should find your child on the steps of death, place this in her mouth and bring her back to the Calen Duin. The other..."
He stood up and reached into his pocket, pulling out a pouch of incense. "Is a relic of our people. Add this incense to the censer and ring the bell. It will temporarily ward off unnatural beings but will have no affect on anything else. It should help you with overcoming the initial obstacles for your journey to the tower."
"How did you find the obol?" Rain asked, not sensing anything in particular coming off the item. By his regard, it looked like nothing more than a poorly hammered coin of iron with the face of a soldier on it. "This formed naturally?"
"We do not know, we simply know that it treads the line between our understanding of time. As such, we have only cautiously inspected it."
Gannis watched the elves carefully. He had seen the use of burning essence to ward against spirits. He had seen it being completely ineffectual. He had seen it prepared properly and doing the job.
He was a pragmatic man who cared more about results than where success came from.
"Haven't seen nothing like that," he said of the coin. There was no suggestion that he didn't trust it in his tone.
He did not trust it. He didn't like the idea of being given artefacts with magical properties that the elves feared to test.
"So...we dry off, get a bit of rest and then you send us into the worst part of town and we hope something horrible in there took the kid?" Gannis crudely summarised.
"Yes." Replied the elven leader, as he sipped from the chalice. "But we Virvyre, and the Glad Tovon Eithel at large, would be forever in your gratitude. And we are clan of eternal memory."
"Could be worse." Replied Rainer, still dealing with the dampness of his boots. "Could do it without any rest or drying off. Or any of that venison." He smirked as looked towards Gannis.
The Venari was right though. This did feel like they were being used a bit. But at least these elves were willing to give them tools, albeit untested, to try and mitigate the request. "Not really much for leads beyond this."
Somehow the expression on his face didn't look friendly. The worst of the scars pulled it to one side and made it look like he was gurning.
He doubted he would find a way to take advantage of their eternal thanks. It would take something extreme to force him to set foot in this bog again, after all of this was done.
"If there is somewhere to sleep, I'll finish my food, dry off, get some rest and be good to go when you want," he said. The elves were being hospitable, so he thought it was polite to decide when they would be leaving.
Rain had completely forgotten about the trinket given to them by the council member. Retrieving it from the vest pocket, he looked it over for a brief moment before stowing it back away. As far as he could tell, it hadn't shown any change - so they were either no closer to the child, the thing had a specific range to it, or the child was dead. Time would tell, he imagined.
"Yes." Replied the leader. "We have a small abode for Feredirs. Though, it is rarely used...so it should suit your needs. You should be able to get everything you need there." It wasn't much, a small structure built into the trunk of a great redwood that had a pair of beds and general beddings for comfort. It also had a fire place which could be lit with a particular set of firewood, burning the same magenta hue. "Elanaril can take you to it, it's not far. Once you are done eating, of course."
Eating, thought Rain. He nodded and quietly contemplated the road ahead. "We can get some rest and head out at first light. Tell me...what is the distance and direction from here to the tower?"
"A days walk in the direction of the rising sun."
Rain nodded and re-adjusted his boots. "Well, I'm ready whenever you are." He looked towards Gannis.
Gannis pronounced it slowly as he looked down at the boundary of the place. They didn't need a map from here.
Gannis had barely a modicum of magical talent. The odd seeking spell and ward were within his capabilities. He didn't need a great deal of magic to sense that things were not right here.
He stopped, resting the brass censer on his shoulder.
"Would be nice to think that if we get through this shit..." Gannis called over his shoulder. "...We'd have something to look forward to."
The position of the elves around them and their body language gave him the impression that they weren't going to be going any further.
"But we got that cunt Chermain to go back to at the end of this. You think we're on the right track?" he asked Rainer hoping that the amulet gave them a better reason for pushing on ahead.
Fuck that Chermain and his hatched crest, Rain thought quietly as he looked upon the expanse. But the thought brought the amulet to mind, something he continued to forget was on his person. Extracting it out, he looked down at the thing and felt a bit of energy radiating off of it. It wasn't quite humming but it certainly felt like it was getting there.
"I think so..." He offered the amulet over to Gannis before checking his weapons. It was primarily a set of swords and a ball and chain. The last weapon was of particular importance. He didn't understand the general construction of it, though the magesmith had referred to it as sunsteel, which was highly reactive to solimancy. It would come in particular use if what the elves said were true and the tower was surrounded by unnatural and dead things.
"If we make it out of this, I might jam this amulet down Chermain's throat." He stated, intertwining passion with something approaching a whisper. All that mattered now was getting the child - he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of trying to fight off whatever conjured the tower. "Alright, waiting around isn't going to make it go away." He said as he stepped out of the living forest into something more sinister.
He believed the trees ahead of them were alive, but they were barren and without leaves. The black silhouette of the tower stood in the distance, shrouded in the darkness of the trees that overlapped each other like entangled rotan vines. If the elves believed this place was cursed, he was willing to accept that as the truth. It felt wrong.
Gannis kept the censer in his left hand, resting against his shoulder. He drew his sword with his right. Single-ended and with a slight curve to the blade, it was a tool for butchery rather than finesse.
As he walked he could feel the forest moving around them. They seemed to sway with the wind and creak. But there was no wind at all, none that he could feel on his skin.
Moving around a dense group of twisted roots and branches, he realised he could no longer see the tower.
Something detached from a tree. There was a quiet series of cracks. Then another one. For a moment he thought they were surrounded by dryads, but he soon realised the dead were pulling themselves free of trees that had grown around them.
"Censer...use it or save it?" he called out, trying to gauge how much trouble they were in.
"Save it." He whispered through clenched teeth as golden eyes lifted upward, scanning the canopy. Then down the branches, down the trunks, surveying the roiling nature of the dead within as they began to break free from the plated bark. "We aren't beyond our means just yet."
Moving his hand to his belt, the chains of the meteor hammer jostled as the round plated ball fell to the ground. With one hand on the handle, the chain hanging loosely and coiling against the detritus beneath them, he curled his free hand into a sign. Light illuminated from his finger tips and shined brightly against the forest floor. He moved the beam with a twist of his wrist, catching the steel ball with the rays. In an instant, the sunsteel turned beet red before reflecting the energy outward.
"May want to watch your head..." Rain uttered as he began to move forward, lazily twirling the meteor hammer until it began to whistle. One of the dead moved forward and Rain pivoted, stepping on the chain, as it shot out and smacked the creature in the chest. Bouncing back against the tree, the creature seemed to move to adjust what remained of its decomposing garb. But where the ball hit its chest, a chasm had formed and was encircled in a growing edge of fire. And as it grew, it quickly consuming the creature in a spit of fire and plume of ash.
"The chain will draw them in..." He looked back at Gannis. "Save the censer for when they overrun us." He wasn't ready to depend on it and even it if worked, it likely wouldn't last for long. They needed to ration it off for now.
Moving into a slow jog, he began to twirl the chain once more, expecting Gannis to follow in his wake and pick up the pieces of what remained. Or, if needed, draw the beasts off of him.
Gannis didn't know if they were beyond there means, but it would have been bold to use up one of the elven gifts already.
If he was to regret the decision, he would not have to live with it for long.
He took the censer from his shoulder, letting its weight carry it downwards. The rod slipped through his fingers and he grasped it by the neck, giving him some balance for his sword hand.
The first of the monsters coming towards them was now smouldering ash.
"That's some fancy bollocks going on," Gannis muttered of the exotic, spinning weapon. Hopefully it wouldn't spin out of control and smack him in the side of the face.
He slowed as something crawled out from behind a stump and launched itself forwards. Gannis brought his sword down hard, the resounding crack of a skull being split followed.
With his vampiric hearing and keen senses, he almost turned to respond to Gannis with a sarcastic fuck off and hit something with that disheveled piece of metal he called a sword. But as it turned out, as soon as he might have had the chance to actually respond, another tree birthed undead was on him. Sidestepping, he stepped down again and flung the meteor hammer out.
As it smacked the creature, it crumbled into a pile of ash that was hardly discernible from duff and dirt. As Rain moved further forward, moaning escaped the dark woods as beings seemed to spawn from the ground. Slowly lifting themselves out, they let out grotesque wails, as they took on a standing position.
They were similar to most undead Rain had seen but differed in one particular, and significant, way. They were fully covered in large gulping and roiling worms. Worms in the sockets, worms covering the body and perforating the skin, and dripping like goo from their bodies. At each plop, the warms seemed to explode in a spit of burning acid that scorched the ground and curled leaves.
"What the fuck is that?" He hadn't seen something like this before, at least not that he could directly recall. But by all metrics, he assumed avoiding those worms was pertinent to one's well being. "Uhh, you got that censer?"
He took a few steps away from the nearest movement. They had not rushed forward quickly enough to become surrounded, but if they pressed only into the teeming mass of undeath they would be.
"Shit shit shit," went Gannis. He dropped his sword, point first, into the mud. Then he drove the hand of the censer into the ground.
One of the worm-laden fiends stumbled through the dark towards him. Gannis took a step forwards and planted a kick against its sternum. It sent the thing tumbling through roots, the ground hissing as worms were squashed beneath it.
With both hands free he opened the dome and started to strike his tinder against it.
"A few seconds!" he called out, shielding it from the breeze with one hand as it started to smoke.
One of the beasts stumbled forward and flung its arm at the air. Rain stepped to the side as a volley of warms sprayed through the air, hitting the ground and trees behind him. Within a moment, the worms popped and smoked released from the surface as the material began to burn.
"Take your time!" Rain growled as he flung the meteor hammer outward after a quick spin, smacking another beast in the chest. But despite his expectations, nothing happened except that it reeled backwards and recoiled, flinging another volley. With proof that the sunsteel ball was no longer effective, he stepped to the right and dropped the weapon to the ground, drawing the sword from the sheath on this back.
As he took a low fool's guard stance, with blade tip pointing nearly towards the ground, he considered a charge. And then he looked down as he saw one of those plump green worms wiggling up his chest armor. "Oh...fuck."
"There we go!" Gannis cried out as the censer started to burn. He blew on the embers and it started to smoke in earnest.
He heard Rainer cry out. In the chaos of the skirmish he couldn't work out what had happened.
Keeping his sword in one hand, Gannis took three long strides and grabbed the back of Rainer's tunic. He half guided and half dragged the man back into the mist around the censer.
Gannis released the man and seeing smoke curl upwards from his chest he reached for his skin of water and doused his companion.
He winced as his hand lifted to the hole where his armor used to be. The acidic worm had burned a whole straight through his leather and had started to go after his skin. Rain could smell the smoke and the acrid scent of his own flesh burning, fearing that it was going to go deep through muscle and bone. Sitting up in recoil to the water, he let out a grunt. "Fuck...Gannis...avoid the worms." He wasn't sure if the water was helping but it wasn't deterring the hurt.
Reaching into his back, he pulled out a vial and pulled the cork out with his teeth. The fluid was thick and red and he downed it with little hesitation. The smoke lifting from his chest seemed to diminish as the flesh around the wound shifted and swirled. forming a dark scar. Like the overhead view of a typhoon.
He took a deep breath and savored the taste of the blood, not taking into account what psychological effect, if any, that act might have had on Gannis. He had quickly decided that there was no reason to be guarded over it at this point. And looking up, the beasts seemed to stop their attack.
"Looks like it worked..." He gestured with a nod to their assailants. It was eerily quiet now.
"Yeah and it ain't gonna fuckin help if we can't push them them," Gannis said.
He complained a lot, but never shied away from a difficult task that needed doing.
The burning incense could allow them to go on the offensive. It was an approach he would have taken, but the worms changed that. Hacking through the line wasn't an option.
"Gonna have to take it slow," he bemoaned, picking up the censer.
"Are you good to move?" he asked, eyeing the bottle.
Gannis gave the censer a wave, advancing a few steps to clear a path forwards. It was down to whether it kept burning long enough to make it past the home of the foul creatures.
The Vedymin strain was one of practicality. The wound was healed and he was back to functional in no time. But wounds on this particular strain of vampirism, unlike others, would often scar and take months to fade. Depending on the nature of the wound and how exhausted or malnourished the Vampire was, the scars could in fact be permanent. It was simply their nature.
"Yeah..."He grunted as he stood, using his sword to prop himself up. Taking slow steps as he took measure of their surroundings, he gathered his meteor hammer and tied up the chains on his belt frog. Following behind Gannis, the creatures didn't seem to move out of the way. Instead, the undead and the worm creatures - whatever the fuck they counted as - seemed to be frozen in time. Rain didn't dare to disturb whatever hibernation was occurring here, instead pivoting to graze by them.
He whispered as he moved behind Gannis. "Up ahead, there's a clearing." At least, it looked like a clearing. From the distance, it seemed to be a greyish green break in the tree cover, like some pollen impregnated thunder storm was ready to greet them as they exited this part of the forest. But it was difficult to tell if it was a storm or simply the shadowy canopy of trees that seemed impossibly large. It seemed out of the realm of possibilities, like the evergreen monoliths were so great in stature, they were trapping weather beneath their leaves.
"What the fuck..." Lightning clattered out from the heavens, erupting in yellow and green arcs that gave light to the shadowy obelisk tower that stood across the opened and cursed valley. It was largely open plains with ghost forests peppering the view - gnarled and twisted trees, clinging to life. Rain squinted and spotted what appeared to be meandering herds of undead creatures, picking at the ground and sniffing the air like beasts. So far, the hunters hadn't got the attention of those things.
Gannis chocked off the censer. There wasn't much left to burn, certainly not enough to do the same return trip with it burning. If they had to relight that last pinch then they were going to be in trouble.
He took a deep breath at the sight ahead. Rescuing a child was outside of his usual remit, but he had never expected to be dragging the girl back out of a layer of hell itself.
Gannis held censer and sword low at his sides. They knew enough about lightning and what it did to people who held up metal spears and swords to meet it. Not that he expected this to follow any natural order.
He picked a path to take them around the wraiths he saw meandering through the bones of the trees. He silently steeled himself for what was to come.
"I think we need to be honest," he said quietly. "Might have to grab this daughter and run. Extinguishing great evils might have to wait for another day. Come back with more people. Maybe a few catapults and grand mages just to be sure..."
Rain got the impression that Gannis was being a bit optimistic in his regard on this whole endeavor. If the old hunter was being truthful, he was starting to lose hope that this would come to a fruitful conclusion at all. When they were given the gifts from the Elves, it had felt like a blessing. Now, it felt like they hadn't provided them quite enough.
A magic carpet or teleporting machine would have been more suiting.
The path they took was one that wandered a bit through the trees, finding themselves in tunnels that seemed to wrap around them and were composed of prickly brush. "You'll have no disagreement here. To be honest..." He paused and grabbed Gannis by the shoulder, forcing him to stop in their tracks.
Above them, a wraith, bathed in pale white light crossed over them. In its hands, an ethereal lantern clanked and shined light through the brush. It wailed as it moved passed them, whipping about as if it were searching for something. While he didn't notice it immediately, the brush seemed to move around them, tightening and constricting against the light. It was just enough the see the wraith through the voids of the stems.
As it moved to patrol another area, Rain looked up to get a better view of the tower they were approaching. It was, in fact, a tower. But one carved from a tree that was so monstrous, it disappeared into the heavens. The lightning that cracked across the sky was, in fact, illuminating foliage of this place. He wondered what sort of leaves and fruits such a thing could produce.
"I'm wondering how easy it will be to run from this place..."
He could almost feel the chill in the air from the passing of the wraith. He couldn't remember being in a place as dangerous as this, but he still looked at that risk with an objective calm.
It was a calm that might not last, but Gannis had survived a lot. He was not the strongest of his kind, not be a long way. He knew that death was always at his heels and that he could trip and let it consume him long before he could consider retirement.
"We're going to have to commit to killing whatever is at the centre of this or we are going to have to walk away," he decided. If the undead were bound to whatever creature inhabited the tower then they would either disperse or lose their direction upon its death. Either might give them a chance.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
