Hi All
A little later than normal, but here is your update. @zakludick decided to bring an annoying necromancer in his update in an amazing fashion, so I decided to remind you that we still have three outstanding adventurers!
I hope you all enjoy it!
Robert hated the forest they travelled through. While Millmor’s intimidating figure had kept most of the creatures that inhabited the forest to avoid them, they hadn’t always been alone. He was painfully aware of the stench of creatures he couldn’t see and the sword at his side kept screaming warnings of attacks that would never come.
Rex and Millmor seemed more relaxed, but the further they travelled into the forest, the more stoic and quieter they became. The solid forest floor eventually turned to muck and then swampy. Robert was sure that they had been traveling for weeks. It had felt like weeks. They should have exited out the other side of the forest by now, yet they were now wading knee-deep in brackish swamp water with no end in sight from all the water around them.
“The forest is much larger than I anticipated.” Said Rex. “I have travelled around it in the past and it would only take a few days. We should have been able to reach the other side by now.”
Robert was only too grateful for the man’s words.
“Did you think the undead were the reason this place was avoided?” asked Millmor. “No, there is a deadly curse placed on this place. Those who wander it are to wander it forever or exit as the creatures you have come to know as the ghouls and undead.”
That seemed to make the sword at Robert’s side finally end its endless screams and Robert could think.
“Are you telling me that the things that wander out aren’t the undead?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer.” Millmor lifted his head and looked around him as if listening for something in the distance before moving in a new direction.
Robert saw ripples coming toward them in the distance and his breath caught in his throat when he saw some grey floating on the surface of the water. It looked like a swollen corpse. Millmor stepped out of its way and indicated the others should too. Disgusted, Robert did but he couldn’t help but realise that it wasn’t a corpse but rather a large limb that seemed humanoid but not quite. The claws were massive, but chipped and damaged from fighting.
“Simmin.” Said Millmor as he shook his head. “If he’s been killed, that means we may have bigger issues on our hands than I first thought.”
“Is that some kind of creature?” asked Rex.
“Simmin is, or rather was, a massive simian creature that hasn’t been named by your scholars. If you have ever heard of sloths, that’s the best comparison I have for you, but massive and anything but slow.”
Millmor once more started moving, and Rex and Robert followed, aware of the faster pace he was traveling now. There was an urgency that wasn’t missed.
After a few more hours, the muck below their feet stopped trying to suck them in, as if below it there was something more solid. Then the water started retreating, but it wasn’t the water level that caught Robert’s eyes. It was the trees, or rather what was in the trees.
Skulls, thousands of them, all seemingly human but not quite, as if something had changed them. Rex looked up at them and seemed to recognise something but didn’t say anything.
“What?” asked Robert, genuinely curious.
Rex looked to Millmor and the large man only nodded his head. Rex looked to Robert and asked, “Did you ever meet Derric?”
“The boy that could transform. Very briefly.”
“This is what is left of his people.”
Robert, now knowing far more than what his fragile mind had been limited to months ago, took a closer look at a skull that was close to him. Gnarled moss strands held the skull trapped just at eye level. Robert could tell it was a human skull, but there was something about the teeth that seemed lupine.
“Likely killed in mid-transformation. Unlike true lycanthropes, Derric’s people didn’t change back after death. There are thousands of people here. It’s a miracle anyone got out.”
“Are you telling me there are more like Derric?”
“The ghoul with the yellow ribbon was once a nursemaid to Derric, a long, long time ago. Those that weren’t killed were changed.”
Robert stepped back from the skull and asked the question that had been on his mind for months.
“Why are we here?”
“To right a wrong. To determine who is placing the curses upon this land. To find a way to make amends.” Millmor fixed Robert with a stern look.
Robert felt like the creature before him could stare into his soul, and that realisation caused the sword to start shrieking once more. Rex seemed to flinch.
“We brought you with us for two reasons.” Said Millmor.
“You knew?” demanded Robert before Millmor could continue.
“You saw me fight; you know I am not human. Rex over there is cursed by what I am. You are not the same man I met. If a curse can be lifted, we need to find more information about those who laid the first curse. I believe it all started with Derric’s people. Their energy to transform was taken but why, I don’t know. If we can determine that, then we can be free once more. You carry a cursed weapon while hiding your own curse. Neither of these things were true when we last saw each other. You have two choices, three if you’re stupid.”
“Fight us, work with us, or wander the swamp for the rest of your natural life.” Said Rex.
Robert felt a mix of emotions. They had known from the start yet had reached out a hand of trust toward him. Rex was correct, those were his only three choices, and one could lead to his death if he was lucky.
Back to Zak!
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos
Sanguifex
Vetitum Nemus
| by @lex-zaiya | by @zakludick |
|---|---|
| Part 1 | Part 2 |
| Part 3 | Part 4 |
| Part 5 | Part 6 |
| Part 7 | Part 8 |
| Part 9 | Part 10 |
| Part 11 | Part 12 |
| Part 13 | Part 14 |
| Part 15 | Part 16 |
| Part 17 | Part 18 |
| Part 19 | Part 20 |
| Part 21 | Part 22 |
| Part 23 - You’re Here | Part 24 - Incoming |
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