Continuing along the trail to the southeast after parting ways with the dwarven balloonist, the adventurers were faced with a choice: take to the water to speed up their travels or trudge overland back toward known lands?
After much discussion, they decided to stay on land since they were only a day’s march from Heartsbane — so long as no other diversions accosted them.
The air on the 30th day of Fallwane was chilly but not wholly unpleasant. The druidess Lucia Talene — now exposed as a Raven Sister to the rest of the party — led the way while the wolfkin huntress Zarah Wildthorn scouted ahead for danger.
It wasn’t long before the group came upon the ruins of what appeared to be an ancient outpost. Lucia was blind in one eye, so she couldn’t make out if the ruins were occupied.
Eager to display his knowledge of history now that he could talk, the former donkey and now restored half-elf druid Rudever offered his insight. Looking through his spyglass, Rudever determined that the outpost was post-Blood Mist but still quite old.
Seeing that no one appeared to be inside, Rudever poked around before stumbling upon a dessicated body. He determined that it was an ill-fated guard who had been slain by an arrow to his ribs. Examining the arrow provided an unusual find — the arrowhead itself wasn’t common to the era of the outpost’s creation, and its shape was strange but of undetermined origin. Keeping it as a prize, the Frailer druid lashed it to a leather thong and strung it around his neck.
Seeing that Heartsbane was only two quarter days’ travel away, the group pushed ahead enough, though they wouldn’t arrive until nightfall. Zarah the wolfkin was worried that the villagers would react poorly to her presence, but Lucia and the dwarven warrior Stermberg promised that their standing among the villagers would afford the entire group some deference.
“You can’t beat sleeping on a bed and having a fresh beer,” Stermberg advised.
Even in the dim hours of their arrival, the dwarf and the druidess were instantly recognized and met with joy. The villagers remembered their past exploits with fondness and ushered everyone into the inn.
Torben the Raven’s Fist quickly noted that, despite being a complete unknown, he was met with strangely long stares from almost all of the female villagers. Lucia quickly informed him of the lack of men in the village and jokingly told him he might want to lock his door if he didn’t want any uninvited guests overnight.
“That,” he responded with a pause. “Is not a misadventure I’m inclined to partake in. Just a bath and a night’s sleep is good enough for me. I’ll stick to the dormitory.”
“Your loss,” the Raven Sister replied with a laugh. “You’d be quite the catch in this town.”
The armored knight went rather pale at the comment and hurried to the bar hoping to slink into an alcove until the villagers cleared out.
Meanwhile, the aged innkeeper pulled Zarah aside.
“While I don’t want to insult friends of Misstress Talene and Master Stermberg,” he uttered quietly. “No one is going to sleep in the same dorm as a wolfkin. So you can either sleep in a locked room or outside the village.”
The scout was used to such treatment at human trading camps, but it didn’t make the sting of the insult burn less despite the polite delivery. Still, it was better than the conversations she usually had with humans. Slipping outside, Zarah found a cozy haystack within eyeshot of the inn and slept soundly for the first time in weeks.
Feeling refreshed the next morning, the party bid their goodbyes and finally tore themselves from the warm embrace of the villagers who begged them to stay awhile. Torben used the commotion to slip away quietly, not wanting the attention the villagers had accosted him with.
Instead of heading east, the group decided to travel directly south and into new lands. This required crossing a river, though, no easy task.
Wanting to be of service, the villagers who had not yet set out to fish lashed their canoes together to form a make-shift pontoon bridge. With no wooden slats to lay across the canoes, though, it was still rather unwieldy to traverse.
Lucia offered to take their remaining donkey across. Unfortunately for her, the beast stopped midway and refused to go further. Zarah tried to help, but the sight of the wolfkin spooked the donkey, causing it to kick Lucia, launching her over the canoes and into the water. Despite her injuries, the Raven Sister pushed the group on, hoping to get to Ogre’s Thorn and her people faster.
Their trek continued on the south side of the river, and the gentle riverbanks quickly gave way to steep hillsides. The ground continued to rise severely before forming a series of narrow, steep passageways between the hills.
It wasn’t long before Zarah could sense something in the air. Looking ahead, she could see a dreadful sight forming.
“It’s the Blood Mist,” the wolfkin hissed to her allies. “We need to get to high ground quickly.”
The party had stumbled into a pocket of the dreaded living fog. The phenomenon was known to envelop entire caravans and leave behind nothing but wreckage and gore.
Zarah and Torben launched themselves up the walls of the passageway and made it to the top of the hills. Lucia tried to climb but only made it a few meters before falling. The impact left her broken and unable to move.
Seeing his companion injured as the mist drew ever closer, Rudever rushed to her aid and broke out his bandages. The druid didn’t believe he had time to make use of his magic.
“I’ll do the best I can to get you moving again,” he said. “And then hopefully Torben can pull you up while Stermberg and I climb.”
The dwarven warrior kept a grim watch on the mist while the half-elven druid worked feverishly. Stermberg had encountered the demonic fog before and wanted no part of what was likely to come.
While Rudever was able to heal Lucia enough to get her moving, the crimson vapor already enveloped them. The trio was hit with a wave of strange and intense feelings.
The adventurers suffered heartbreaking feelings of homesickness and fear as the mist swirled around them. Lucia and Rudever were able to steel themselves against the effects, but Stermberg lost himself to the attack and his memories of fallen brothers.
As the dwarven warrior’s will buckled, two grotesque Bloodlings formed from the mist and advanced on the trio.
Driven to defend his friends despite his fear, Stermberg launched himself at the monsters and swung his demon-bone blade at the first one within striking distance. The wicked weapon left a deep cut, but the demon quickly healed some of the damage.
Now that she was on her feet again, Lucia drew out her magical blade Narsica. The vain sword hated all things ugly and implored her master to cut down the bloodlings. An order the druidess eagerly agreed to.
The monsters responded with a deafening unearthly howl. Their demonic aura swept over Stermberg and Lucia, causing even more intense feelings of fear and despair. The attack was devastating for Stermberg, and he lost himself completely in the memories of his previous failures.
The once-mighty warrior had lost his will to live. Even if he managed to survive the ordeal, suffering such intense fear while being confined in the narrow passages would no doubt leave him claustrophobic for weeks.
With Sternberg paralyzed and Lucia recovering from a recent injury, it fell to Rudever to save the trio from the Bloodlings. The Frailer drew upon his arcane power and cast the spell Primal Soul. Pouring more energy into it than he intended, it not only filled Stermberg with the defiant spirit of a honey badger, but Lucia and himself as well. The effect was immediate. Stermberg’s mind was flooded with enough raw courage to allow him to shake off his malaise and launch into a berserker rage.
Meanwhile, Torben and Zarah watched the chaos from the relative safety of the passage’s hilltop edge. Turning to the wolfkin, Torben said, “I cannot leave them to this madness. Hold tight to this,” as he handed her one end of his rope before diving headlong into the crevice.
The knight landed with a thud on his feet and shoved the nearest monster with his shield causing it to topple over.
Chuckling at his wild descent, Zarah notched an arrow and let loose a flurry of shots at the Bloodlings.
Back on the floor of the passageway, Stermberg directed his considerable rage and skill at the injured mist monster. His strike was decisive and cleaved the creature in twain with his demon blade.
With one creature dealt with, Lucia moved against the second with Narsica. Her slash landed cleanly, but the monster responded with a whirlwind attack against the druidess and her two closest allies. While Stermberg was able to shrug off the blow, Torben suffered a wound, and one of Lucia’s toes was severed.
Determined to end the fight quickly, Rudever once more called upon his magic and knowledge of monsters cast his Lightbringer spell. The blast of radiant energy ripped the shadowy creature nearly to shreds as it shrieked in pain.
Coming to his feet, Torben lifted his sword high and brought it down with a slash through the Bloodling’s torso.
With one last shriek, the fight ended as quickly as it began. The mist disappeared like a gust of wind and seemed to be sucked away from the passage to an unknown place.
Battered, bloody, and barely breathing, the adventurers looked at one another with exhaustion and hoped that was the end of it.
JesseFolk.com 