Journal - Goblins West of Freeport

Beginnings

I am not used to writing things down. It's not something the Elvrahüm have ever needed to do much of. But as I may be the last of us, and in fear that my quest to confront and defeat the evil that spreads across Karmana might fail, I need to set down a record that others might follow if needed.

I will not dwell on the terrible events that befell my people, just that the Goblins that attacked us were driven by something worse, something not corporeal, something pure evil. That is what I hunt, and that is what I seek to destroy for the sake of us all.

Now I find myself in the human town of "Freeport" - a real hive of scum and villainy. The humans are wretched creatures, selfish and bigoted. I take what I need to survive whislt I try to find the trail I need to follow, using my size (often a source of humour for the humans) as a weapon against those that would underestimate me. The last few months have hardened me in ways I would not have imagined, and the barbed jibes I have to put up with mean little to me. I hardly even felt bad about having to kill some of these fools, in self-defence as it was, but at least I acquired a few more tools to help me get around this place.

At last I have a trail to follow, faint though it is. There is talk of goblins on the island just to the west of town, even a small settlement of them, so that is where I must go next. I prepare for a long journey, not knowing if I will be back, and even borrowed a strange potion when nobody was looking - perhaps it will help against the evil I might face. I wait until darkness and take one of the better rowing boats from the harbour, slipping out into the darkness with nobody any the wiser about it. I have arrived and morning is nearly here; the centre of the island is higher than the rest, so I decide to head there to get my bearings.

Well this was an eventful day, with much to record. I came to the centre of the island near to noon, and found the horrific but familiar signs of a goblin raid. The people here were human, but they were treated no differently. The only difference was that they were better able to fight back, with many goblin bodies amongst the others.

There was an obelisk, hexagonal, at the centre with Karmana's marks upon it. I was surprised to find this in a human village, a "bone of Karmana" as they were known, a holy place for the mother of creation, and I took a moment to offer a short prayer before moving on. That is when... well whatever happened, it happened then.

A figure appeared, kneeling in front of me, as I also sensed a prescence behind me. I rolled and backflipped to the side, wary and keeping both figures in front of me, swords drawn and ready. Behind me, now to my right, was an unfamiliar creature, nearly human but lithe and with different ears, a real Elvrabor or "elf" had appeared, seemingly a little confused. In front of me, now to my left, was a giant of a human (they were both male) with his hand on the obelisk. He was well over 6' when he stood, carried a sheathed bastard sword, a long bow with quivers of arrows, and had black well-kept hair, chain armour and boots. A white tabard with red trim to it marked some kind of allegience that meant nothing to me.

The other one was tall and slender, still young, dressed in faded browns and greens, leather and cloth mostly but with bands of metal across the vital parts. He had long blond hair tied in a neat ponytail, and was clean shaven. He also had a longbow on his back, and two quivers, but had long and short swords sheathed on his belt. His right hand hovered over his long sword but he did not draw it, although he took a step back in surprise. He seemed as surprised to be here as I was to see him appear, to be honest.

The large one looked hurt, or at least weak, and pushed himself up gradually until he was standing - fuck me he was huge, even by human standards. He muttered an oath "By Karmana!" under his breath before slowly turning. He was actually a very young man, he had looked older when stooped, with dark hair and brown eyes, although he kept them downcast - he seemed almost to be in thought, not reacting to us or his surroundings.

The elf said "I mean you no harm." I was more interested in who the fuck they were and how they had appeared there, and said so.

The large one reacted at last. I noticed now that his breastplate had a star (formed from two triangles) emblazoned on it, with a brilliant sapphire set at the top. He wouldn't make it down a single street in Freetown showing that kind of wealth off! In a flash his sword flew into his hand... perhaps he might make it down a couple after all. He also looked utterly shocked. "It's you!" he exclaimed, looking straight at me.

I replied with words to the effect of "I know it's me, who the fuck are you?"

After more of this awkward exchange I eventually established that the large one was Falcor of Maladan, who had been sent by "Mother", by that (he indicated the obelisk) to find me. He claimed that he was sent to avenge my people, having lost his own in an attack that was also accompanied by evil shades. I was very happy with this of course, and he claimed to be my guardian!

The other was Aradhelon Archarnion (Arad? I can't use that mouthful all the time) - and he had "stepped through a door created by his mentor" from another world. He didn't seem to be intoxicated, so I guess he genuinely believed that.

Neither of them had heard of Freeport or seemed at all familiar with the area, and I was apparently the only one that actually got here in the traditional way - by walking.

We had all had experiences with wraiths or shades or whatever those things of Treddar were, so we at least had a common enemy. Falcor told of how a "First Legion" had arrived at the gates of his castle, known for their black armour with a gold dragon (Elvradrak?) design - these were bodyguards to some emperor "Andivas" and were led by someone thought to be a friend by Falcor, but known as "The Butcher" by Arad, who hated him.

The city Falcor came from was Malladan, which Arad at first misheard as "Milada", the "Hidden One", counterpart to "Talada", the "Lost One" - could he mean Treddar? We all seemed to have different names for thing that might or might not be the same.

Finally we turned our attention to the present, and both had apparently been sent to aid me in my hunt. I confess I had not expected quite such a direct response to my prayers, even in this holy place, but any assistance was welcome.

The village had only recently been overrun and was still smouldering. We agreed to track the goblins to try and help any villagers that had been taken. There were clear signs to the north that the goblins had approached and left that way. Drag marks and blood marks showed clearly that they had taken bodies with them, although it wasn't clear whether they were alive or dead. The trail was so clear that it would not be difficult to follow.

As we started to follow the tracks the others suddenly became really hungry! They started rummaging through their backpacks as if it was the first time they had seen what was in them! What wasn't in them was anything to eat or drink, so I had to share mine and they ate over a day's worth in one go!

Studying the tracks, it seemed that there were about ten goblins that left, which was about half those that had attacked. They kept heading NNW through the sparse woodland that surrounded the plateau the village had sat on. We followed the tracks for two or three miles, taking about an hour, and they began to veer more northeast. Normally it would have taken me longer, but Falcor had offered to carry me... not something that I particularly liked, but if it meant we could save some poor wretches then I grudingly agreed to it.

We spotted some wisps of smoke ahead to our left. We debated which way to go, but I urged to follow the smoke - arguing that it might be another village that we could still lend our aid to. I didn't want to share my fears of finding another altar surrounded by bodies with their hearts cut out, bloody circles painted on foreheads, too late again to help them...

Regardless, we headed towards the smoke. We were near the coastline now, and approached the edge of a clearing where the trees had been felled. On the edge of the coast, about two hundred yards from the trees, was a crude fortified stockade, constructed from the logs that had been gathered. The wall stood about fifteen feet high, with some crude watchtowers on each of the four corners.

There was no visible entrance (perhaps being on the far side), and a little smoke from the centre of compound. What we had seen, though, was a pile of burning bodies about ten yards to the east of the compound, mostly burned out now. There was no obvious movement, and as it did not appear to be in immediate danger we decided to return to our previous target - the goblins we had been tracking. We headed east, hoping to pick up the tracks again, and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the woods. However, after a couple of miles we grew uneasy that we had not found the trail and decided to return west before going further south.

Having caught sight of the stockade again, Arad noticed some movement on the tower. Whoever it was was definitely not human, and from his description it sounded like an orc. That didn't mean they were hostile, but they could be aggressive so we would do well to stay clear.

Goblin Pit

We finally found the original track further south, and only had to follow it for about half a mile before reaching a small natural clearing in the woods. There were clear signs of excavation in the centre that suggested something had dug a hole here, and the tracks led right to it.

I started moving quietly towards the hole as Arad and Falcor covered me with their bows. A goblin head poked up, but its lazy scan around missed me. Falcor whispered "what was that", but I didn't want to make any sound, so I just pointed down and ran my finger across my throat, hoping that he would understand that they were the enemy we sought. I kept moving forward, but just before I was able to reach the edge the head popped up again and looked straight at me! It dropped straight down, with a startled look (at least I think that's what the look was, hard to tell with a goblin). I ran forward, hoping to catch it, but the hole dropped steeply at first before becoming a more gradual slope and the goblin had clearly slid quickly out of view.

I called for my friends to join me, with Arad jogging up followed by Falcor who was trying to rummage through his backpack for something that might provide light. Not waiting, I leapt into the hole, somersaulting over the lip and then dropping onto the slope and sliding quickly out of view. Arad was a little more cautious, offering a rope to Falcor to lower him down in case he needed pulling out of danger.

I (very quickly) emerged into a crudely hacked-out dirt room about fifty feet square with large ten-foot wide and six-foot high exit tunnels to our right and in the far-right corner. A low smouldering firepit in the centre provided enough light to see by, and the reek of goblin shit and erm... "pork" (they had probably been cooking humans) hit me like a physical blow to the face. There was a pile of body parts and bones in the far left corner, but the more immediate concern was about half a dozen goblins in a loose semi-circle watching the entrance, presumably warned by the lookout.

They probably didn't expect a fast-moving halfling to come charging straight at them, though, and I continued with my momentum, charging ahead and slightly left to close with a goblin I picked, running it through with my short sword before it could react. Arad followed at a slower pace, but then dropped his shoulder and charged the one nearest the fire, causing it to stumble back and its clothes to catch alight. He then turned to attack the one next to it, but his swing was put off by the rope attached to him going tight and it went wide.

The goblins seemed shaken, attacking but only half-heartedly and not managing to land a blow. I worked my way down the line to the left, skewering another vermin with sword and dagger. There were goblin reinforcements coming now, though, from both tunnels. Probably half a dozen more came to aid their kin, and Arad shouted to fall back to the entrance. The burning goblin collapsed, removing another threat, but I was stabbed by the last goblin on the left. I flipped backwards, moving too fast for his stab to connect, and saw that Arad had also been hit and was moving back towards me.

Falcor finally squeezed through the gap, which to be fair was a bit narrow for a giant like him, and moved ahead of me. Arad cut one goblin down, but was being surrounded. He killed another and managed to move back into the entranceway, which was much more defensible. Unfortunately he backed into my thrown dagger, aimed at a goblin attacking Falcor, but thankfully it bounced off his shield. Falcor caught the goblin's dagger in some kind of spiked guard on his off-hand weapon, ripping it out of the goblin's hand. Arad was frantically parrying blows, clearly hurt.

Falcor was raked across the face by the goblin that had lost its weapon, but this exposed it to a riposte and Falcor cut it down. Interestingly he then sheathed his sword and dropped his other weapon, instead pulling out a book and started to chant. A fan-shaped dazzling array of bright coloured light appeared, enveloping Arad and the goblins around him. All of the goblins fell unconscious at his feet - incredible! Almost as shocking was Falcor's armour disappearing as soon as the lights appeared... and from the terrified look on Falcor's face, I guess that it wasn't part of his plan. It would have been comical had our lives not been in danger. Fortunately, for all of us, as another goblin attacked the armour reappeared just in time to turn the blow aside. Phew! The sapphire on the armour flashed with light, no doubt playing some part in this weird magic.

Arad also started chanting, dropping his weapons and touching himself, which hardly seemed like an appropriate time. There was no immediate effect as far as I could see, but I noticed afterwards that the goblins started to shy away from him, focusing instead on Falcor.

Falcor quickly stooped to pick up his dropped weapon, then used the swing of his shoulders to cut up into the belly of a goblin, almost cleaving it in two. Arad called upon the "great creator" (whoever that is) to heal Falcor's wounds, which started to miraculously disappear, and then some of his own. Falcor was raked again by a goblin, but the gouges almost disappeared as they were made, such was the power of Arad's healing.

Falcor finally moved forward so that I could get back in the fight - it was great having a giant friend to fight with you, but he did tend to take up a lot of space and get in the way! Falcor killed a goblin to his left, so I moved to the right and stabbed a goblin that was intent on attacking Falcor, sadly only getting its attention rather than finishing it off. I dodged a blow and followed up with my short sword, which did the trick. Arad killed another, using the advantage that his prayers had given him to get behind them. Falcor slayed another, and now only two were left - one fighting Falcor and the other running for its life!

Arad charged into the one fighting Falcor from the side, cutting it down just as Falcor was trying to shout to stay his hand. I guess he wanted to interrogate it about what lay ahead, but it wasn't to be as it fell before Arad's onslaught. Arad tried to treat both of our wounds, which stemmed the bleeding but it still hurt like buggery.

With two tunnels ahead we could not move forward without the risk of being surrounded, and Falcor and I violently agreed that we needed to do something with one of the tunnels before we could proceed. Falcor offered to set a trap on the tunnel to our right, as I kept watch on the other exit to the front. I helped to move some bodies to disguise the trap as he set it, although it took what seemed like forever and used the rope that Arad had brought. I used a little oil and set fire to a faggot of wood that Falcor randomly had attacked to his backpack. I rolled it down the tunnel to give me better warning of anything trying to approach, although there didn't seem to be any movement.

Well, there was no movement to the front, but behind me something was stirring. The first I knew was when a giant centipede thing with tentacles and teeth dropped from the ceiling beside me! I screamed a warning as the tentacles lashed out. A couple hit me, causing my skin to go numb in places, but thankfully I was able to keep it at a distance, although I also couldn't land a blow on it. Falcor rushed over to help, swinging with a strong attack that sent fountain of goo spurting up from its torso. Arad followed, getting behind it and finishing it off before it could do any damage.

Before we did anything else we paused to talk seriously about what we would do next and why, especially as we didn't know the danger we were yet to face. We also had to face the possibility, especially given the remains in this room, that the captive humans might all be dead anyway. Falcor was particularly concerned about pressing on when we could be cut off from escape as there were two tunnels, a concern that I certainly shared! I pleaded with him to continue - I needed to find out what evil was driving these goblins to raid villages like this, and highlighted the horrible sacrifices and bloody marks left on previous victims. There was more to this than simple goblin hunger, and this was the only lead I had that might allow us to discover more! If we left and returned in greater strength we would risk the goblins moving on, destroying this hole, and lose our only chance to dig deeper into their motivation. What finally swung it was Arad noticing that there were marks leading down the tunnel we had not trapped that might have been made by feet being dragged, so we should at least try to determine what had happened to them before abandoning them to their grisly fate.

I was still holding the wound in my side, with blood down my leg, and Falcor offered to help me. He muttered something with his eyes closed and then I felt the wound knit - being fully restored as if never scratched; miraculous! He said that he was blessed by Milada, which was not a name I recognised, and had been enhanced such that things he was good at before had become far more powerful.

Turning our attention back to the threat here, we planned to move cautiously forward, spread out to avoid ambushes. As the smallest and sneakiest, I went first, moving up to the corner of the next open area. It was pitch black, but I could see heat sources over to my right that seemed to be goblin-sized. There was a pile of something in the centre of the area, but no obvious threat there, and some exits or alcoves on the far side. I indicate danger with hand signals for Falcor's benefit, about thirty feet behind me, and then sneaked round to my left, trying to keep my distance from the goblins.

Falcor moved up to where I had entered, picking up the faggot I had rolled there earlier and tossing it into the centre of this new room. It landed on a pile of bones that had been picked clean, making an eerie rattle and sparking slightly. Then he looked over to where I had seen the goblins and started to freak out, blinking his eyes, rubbing them, and swatting around in front of him! I couldn't see anything wrong from where I was, and as I continued to sneak around I lost sight of him - the burning faggot coming between us.

Whatever had happened to Falcor, I heard him shout to Arad to be ready as the foe might be coming his way and then saw him step into room and into the edge of the light, I think aiming to keep the goblins' attention (still assuming that's what I had seen) on him. I continued sneaking, reaching one of the exits I had seen, which seemed to lead to another room, again in darkness. The heat sources were backing into a tunnel and out of the room away from Falcor.

I decided that now was the time to strike, starting to run at the retreating goblins and shouting to Falcor to charge them. But as I shouted, I heard answering voices from the tunnel behind me, so I checked my run, instead setting myself in a defensive position and listening. The voices were in common, and certainly sounded human, crying out "who is there", "please help us", "save us" - there were captives alive after all! Falcor moved ahead of me, keeping between me and the goblins, and shouted that I should investigate the source of the cries.

I made my way around the corner, seeing a huddle of heat to my right - there were lots of them! I asked them to identify themselves, but despite claiming not to be goblins they were strangely reluctant to reveal who they actually were. I moved forward cautiously, sweeping ahead with a dagger, expecting to find bars at some point. As I got within a few feet I sheathed my dagger and felt ahead with my hand, eventually feeling some crude wooden bars with the people inside pressed up against them. I felt hands, which were human, and they noticed that mine were smaller - asking if I was a child. I rolled my eyes and sighed, used to this sort of thing, and replied that yes, I was a child, but who were they and where were they from? The bloody ignorant humans seemed to get quite offended by being questioned, despite their dire situation, and for a moment I thought about just leaving them, but I couldn't do that. For one thing the whining would be endless whilst we were here. I started to cut at the bonds holding the bars together, trying to weaken them.

Falcor moved into the centre of the other room, getting out a second faggot of wood (who carries around faggots of wood, anyway?) and set light to it in the flames of the first, a little wary of the pile of bones in case any more tentacle monsters appeared. He then threw the faggots, one towards me and one towards the foe, to give him more light. This showed that there were indeed goblins in the tunnel, as we suspected, including one noticeably bigger and stockier than the others. After initially flinching away from the light, the goblins (including the big one) rushed at Falcor, landing one hit on him even as he parried other blows. I shouted "wait!" to the captives and ran to aid Falcor, ignoring their cries not to leave them, and Arad also moved into the room to help. Falcor was nearly surrounded, parrying and dodging madly. A couple charged at Arad as he entered, screaming unintelligibly. As the first one clawed at him, Arad loosed his notched arrow straight into its chest and it dropped gurgling to the floor. The second shot was not on target though, deflecting off some bit of the other creature's armour.

Falcor shouted to Arad to dispatch them and move back to cover our rear. He caught a dagger in his guard, breaking it, but the goblin dropped it anyway. I ran forward, throwing a couple of daggers as I got closer, and sticking one into the side of a goblin. Falcor cut deeply into one on his right, killing it, but was still hard pressed. Arad loosed another arrow, felling the other foe attacking him, but then heard a squeal as Falcor's trap was sprung near the entryway. The disarmed goblin scratched at Falcor, but only marked his helmet. The other goblin, though got a dagger into his ribs, and with spurt of blood Falcor dropped back onto one knee, visibly hurt. Arad paused, putting an arrow into the goblin that had hurt Falcor, allowing Falcor to finish it off with a grunt of pain.

Arad, seeing Falcor in mortal danger, left his post and charged forward to help. I also ignored the large goblin to my flank and tried to help Falcor with the other goblin. Fortunately my armour saved me from a swinging sword.. was that a cutlass? It scraped down my side, glancing off the metal studs as I engaged the other goblin, who was now trying to physically leap onto Falcor to stab him. Falcor gathered his strength somehow and managed to shrug off the goblin just in time to avoid being stabbed. Arad ran it through as it landed in front of him. I turned my attention to big guy, cutting it with my sword, but not able to get close enough to get a dagger blow in. Falcor shouted again to Arad to get back to passage, seemingly well again despite his obvious wounds earlier. Was he some sort of demigod, sent to carry out a divine mission here on Karmana?

Arad suddenly grew in height and size to almost as big as Falcor, was this all just some weird dream I would wake from? It was not so, as here I am writing this afterwards! Arad ran to where he dropped his bow, shouting "flee vermin!" in a deep voice down the tunnel. He could just make out some heat sources in the distance, back in the first room. The big goblin swung at me again, but I dodged to the side just in time. Falcor caught the weapon before he could use it again, trying to penetrate his layers of armour, and eventually found a weak spot, plunging his blade deep. The thing fell to the ground with its foul ichor spurting as Falcor pulled his sword free.

There were no more foes in the room with us, but Arad shouted that there were three in the entrance room, and roared semi-scarily at them, trying to get them to flee. Falcor shouted at me to help the survivors, and then ran up the tunnel the goblins had been in, hoping to flank the foe, picking up the burning faggot up as he went. He reached another room, which stank of shit and piss, but found no foes there. He had discovered the goblin latrine.

Falcor continued his flanking move, although possibly holding his breath, and saw that his trap had been sprung but then hacked at to free whatever had been caught. I moved back towards the captives, quickly for a halfling, testing the bars and then going to work with a dagger again - it helped that there was a burning faggot I could move closer to see with. I could also see that they were definitely human. I told them that we DO have to deal with the fucking goblins, so stop fucking whining!

Arad advanced on the goblins in the entrance room, but as he did so there was a great crashing sound and the entrance behind them collapsed, trapping them in with us. With no other option, they rushed to attack Arad and Falcor. Arad killed one of the two attacking him, fending off the blows of the other one, the blows seemed frenzied more than focused so he had no real trouble. Falcor caught the blade of his attacker and quickly ran it through, hardly pausing his advance. Arad shrank down to his normal size, which might have freaked the goblin out if it wasn't already foaming at the mouth.

The last goblin panicked so much that it broke its own weapon on the wall as he wildly swung at Arad! Arad, remembering that Falcor wanted to keep one alive last time, sheathed one weapon and dropped the other, then tried to wrestle the goblin to the ground. It squirmed around, bit, and scratched and wriggled free of his grasp, though. Arad was determined, and tried again, but still couldn't get a good grip on it. Falcor ran up behind, swinging the flat of his sword at it, and immediately knocked it to the floor, bleeding and out cold. He continued moving, heading back towards me and the captives. Arad tried to keep it alive, applying bandages to its wound, but also used some of the cut rope from the trap to tie it up, and removed any weapons from its vicinity. He then came down the tunnel into the room behind us to retrieve his bow.

The Rescue

Falcor kept jogging until he reached me, pulling apart the remainder of bars that I had loosened. Almost immediately the mob inside started running for their lives, despite us telling them to wait as it might not be safe. Twats.

Falcor and I moved into the room with them, shouting for them to stay behind us, that we didn't know what might be out there, and behind us was the only safe place. Falcor noticed that the other passage in the room, that had appeared blocked, had a faint flickering light behind the debris at the entrance. There was a mixture of earth and stone, almost like a dividing line rather than an obstacle, and it would be easy to clear or climb over.

Arad was on the edge of the light in this room, and saw the captives for the first time. They were mostly adult humans, certainly at the front, and wore normal clothes - although they had been heavily distressed due to what capture by goblins had put them through. Arad tried to calm them as Falcor shouted "stand still!" He asked Arad to lead the bedraggled lot out of here. Arad walked forward, asking them to be calm as he entered the light slowly, and encouraging them to stay inside the light. I had no patience for the ungrateful fools, and just yelled "Get into the light if you value your lives" whilst looking for my daggers, which were just outside the light unfortunately. The humans screamed at the voice in the dark ahead of them at first, and when Arad was visible properly, saying "here I am, I mean you no harm" they screamed all the louder! "Elf demon, run for your lives!" They panicked again and some ran past him into the dark.

I ran into the light, shouting "Idiots, just because we look different doesn't mean we're evil, we're not goblins, we're not here to hurt you, just stop!" Arad was still trying to calm them, despite obviously terrifying them, walking into the centre of light and saying "we are here to save you, not to harm you - I am here solely to bring you to salvation. The evil has been vanquished." Well, it has apart from these racist pricks, I was thinking but kept it to myself.

It probably didn't help that Falcor had been investigating the stones and the light beyond, so he was out of sight. He found a dressed stone corridor beyond the rubble, wide and clear, and the rubble seemed to have been deliberately piled there. Torches mounted on the walls provided light in the corridor, although it was too long to discern what it led to.

Now he stepped back into the light, picking up a child that had been running away from Arad (and got a finger bitten for his trouble); the sight of him seemed to calm the humans. They were still wide-eyed with fright, and asked what "that" is (Arad) - was he a demon of Karmana's creation, they asked? Are you here with him? They spoke of the Elvrabor as if they were evil, but that wasn't right, and Arad certainly didn't seem to be. Falcor said that Arad was a friend, and that Arad should be a friend to them too, as he had helped save their lives.

I piped up with "I know nothing of any gods, but there were goblins here, now dead at our hands, and we are the ones that saved you. A little gratitude would not go amiss!" They seemed confused, thinking still that I was a child (a mistake I was not keen to correct given their reaction to Arad). Falcor urged them to follow Arad, being met with wails of "but he is an elf, he will eat the children!" But Falcor was firm, telling them to follow him and do what he says! Reluctantly they started to follow Arad, who picked up the burning faggot and started to lead them towards the exit (or what was left of it - do doubt they would suspect some demonic trap when they found it blocked).

As Arad entered the other room, he reached the bound goblin, where he found one of the missing captives repeatedly knocking the goblin's head against the floor - it was pretty certainly dead at that point. Then of course he saw Arad, screamed "Demon!" and started backing away in panic. Arad tried again to calm him, showing that his friends were just behind him, and asked him to follow the light to safety. Instead he shouted to the others, urging them to kill the demon. Falcor interjected again, urging them loudly to calm themselves, repeating that Arad was a human friend. "This one is not a demon," he said, "this is a friend, as am I. Please follow him." He also asked me to take a look at the stone corridor, but urged me not to go too far, not to step into the stone area.

I promised, sort of, I didn't want to go too far anyway; I just wanted a light so I could get my daggers! I easily climbed over the blockage, didn't find any obvious traps, and then took a torch from the wall. I could just about see a set of double doors at the end of the corridor, which was over a hundred feet long in total, possibly more like two hundred, but I wasn't in a hurry to go any further. There were regular torches alight all the way down, although they only provided a dim light. Rather gruesomely, there was a ring drawn crudely on the floor in blood (dry, but not that old) on the stone corridor side of the rubble... I avoided it.

I took a torch and climbed back into the goblin's room as Falcor shouted to me - the entrance had been blocked by the escaping goblins, causing it to collapse in such a way that it was unsafe to dig through. Now we would have to explore the new passage, regardless of what dangers lay ahead. Arad investigated the dead goblins by the entrance, and then the latrine, as I picked through the bodies at my end. We found some coins, and my daggers of course, but no weapons of any worth. Arad decided to arm the humans with them anyway, if nothing else to calm them down a bit. I also found what looked like a nice ruby... not sure whether I will mention that to the others. I'll see.

We gathered in the skull room with the stone passageway to discuss what to do next. Arad asked the humans if they wanted us to give the bodies a burial or burn them, but they dismissed the idea. Apparently they believed that once the soul had left the body (to go to their "great creator") it was just a husk of no value. Arad said a prayer for their souls, asking the great creator to ease their passage, which impressed and amazed the humans. They asked if he was the "one that Malek had foretold" - something about a demon priest of the great creator that would come to save them (an impressively accurate prophecy on the face of it). More importantly, this meant I was free to poke about in the human remains to see if there was anything of value. A lengthy search at arm's length (in case of tentacles) revealed a leather scroll case and a couple of jars with a viscous fluid inside.

The humans said that they had belonged to Malek and should go to the demon priest (Arad). He took them respectfully, and sniffed at the jars, announcing that they would be used for healing wounds. He also read the scrolls, recognising a couple of prayers that he could recite if needed. This ability to decipher the scrolls seemed to convince the humans that he really was the one that Malek foretold, and now he had gone from despised demon to trusted friend and ally. Gullible twats.

Falcor and I checked the rooms to the south now that there were more light sources to use, finding the cage to be a bare prison as expected. The other room seemed to be what one might generously describe as a throne room... so basically it had a chair and less shit in it. There was a chest, but it had been opened and emptied, which is probably why I had found a ruby and quite a lot of coin in my search of the bodies.

The only way forward, as we thought, was the stone passage. It seemed of fine construction, and the humans spoke of an ancient Duarev race (Elvradhil as I knew them) that once made their home on the island. It seems all the tales of Karmana's creations were true after all, but where were they now? The goblins' excavations had interrupted this corridor, but there were what looked like some kind of door at the far end. The blood circle, which I had seen in evil rituals on my own kind, was a worrying sign of a greater evil. At least we were on the right trail.

I moved ahead of the others, keeping to the left, as Falcor took a torch and followed further back on the right. Arad stayed with the humans at the pile of rubble, arrow notched in case of danger. The humans also avoided the blood circle, saying that they knew to avoid the mark of the "Destroyer" and saying that this did look like a construction by the "Lost Ones" (Elvradhil).

Eventually I could see an opening on the left, just before the stone doors that marked the end of this corridor. I approached cautiously, taking a quick look around the corner and pulling back in case of a threat. There was none, though, or none obvious. It was a ramp, roughly cut into the soil, but reinforced with wood. It led up to what looked like daylight - a way out! I called back to the others, and Arad started moving forward with one of the humans, telling the others to wait until we knew it was safe.

I used my acrobatic skills to flip past the gap quickly, reaching the doors to have a closer look. They were completely made of stone, with two symbols carved on each door (the same on each) that looked almost like a mountain and an "under mountain" - not that I had seen anything like it before. None of the others seemed to know of them either. There were recessed handles carved into the door, offering a way to pull or push on them easily, and were each square-shaped... it reminded me a little of home - the narrow, tall doors of humans seemed wrong in proportion and these felt much more welcoming... if a little on the large side. I checked for any obvious traps, not finding anything. As I did so, Arad brought the humans up to join us.

We climbed out of the hole, emerging into sunlight once more, but light that was starting to dim. We reckoned that we had an hour or two of the day left, and it would take that long to get back to the village. Although I was keen to explore more, it was only right that we look after these wretches first and return them to their homes, so we set off for the plateau at the centre of the island again. We would have to stay the night with them, and they told Arad that if the temple could be "reactivated" it would provide protection for them.

As we got close, with the light fading, we saw smoke up ahead. Fearing the worst, we came to the edge of the plateau and sure enough the village was in flames. We asked the villagers to stay out of sight and moved forward, Falcor in the centre with me flanking right and Arad left. Falcor would reach the village first, then Arad and finally me with my shorter legs. Not that I'm complaining - it suited me to be the last one into danger!

As Falcor got closer he saw a circle of humanoids seated in the centre of the village, talking. They were orcs - well equipped and relaxed, not looking for danger. He walked up with his weapons drawn, shouting in common for them to drop their weapons. Knowing orcs, I thought that this was unlikely, especially when they clearly outnumbered him! They predictably jumped to their feet, drawing swords or notching bows, and one stepped forward shouting "you drop your weapons, human!" The archers fanned out slightly, moving back from their swordsmen, and both parties stared each other down for a second. The orc that had spoken stepped forward again, saying "declare yourself, human - you are not of this place!" The orcs' armour was marked with the symbol of a red skull, but they were not moving to attack.

Falcor took a step back, keeping his weapons ready, and shouted "close up friends, I don't like this encounter!" I started running forward, but was still some distance off. Arad was closer, using a burning building to approach without exposing himself to most of the orcs. Their leader shouted again "declare your allegiance, you are not of this place!" Falcor reacted by acting like a lunatic, shouting "what's going on!" repeatedly, waving his arms around, and jogging swiftly to the south, moving around but not at the orcs.

As I got closer and Falcor moved round, he came into my line of sight. I could also see a couple of the orcs, and I feared that the situation needed defusing as orcs can be hot-headed at times. Falcor was shouting "leave this village alone" now, continuing his movement around to their rear. Their leader moved with him, shouting "cover the one behind that building" - indicating where Arad was (not that I could see him at this point). He then said "you leave this village or declare your allegiance!"

I started shouting as well, saying "we are not your foes, we are here to aid Malek's people!" But as I did so, Falcor lost it and charged into the nearest orc, knocking him to the ground, before running at another and punching him, sword still in hand, causing him to reel backwards. Well that blew it, there was going to be a fight now!

The orcs attacked, without any commands, loosing arrows and charging into melee depending on what they were holding. Falcor was the main target, but his armour kept him safe initially. The leader engaged Arad, and he too was only saved by his armour. For fucks sake, why were they fighting?! Arad loosed an arrow at point blank range, hitting his mark and making the orc leader grunt in pain. Falcor continued to punch any orc he could reach, leaving one a bloody mess on the floor and another a little stunned. Arad dropped his bow and tried to punch the leader, but the blow was easily dodged.

I shouted "Why are you attacking? Stop fighting! We are not foes!" One had his bow trained on me, but my words and actions (I had put away my weapon) stayed his hand. Falcor was cut by a sword as he fought on, but the orc leader stepped back, shouting "what are you idiots doing?!" Arad responded by putting his shield between them and saying "you attacked me with a bloody sword, back off!"

Falcor shouted "Stop! Stop! Stop fighting!" but continued to engage the nearest orc, knocking his bow aside as he was about to fire. Bloody cheek - he was the one that started it! I cursed "for Treddar's sake, stop fighting!" I was walking now, hands open and forward, and had not been attacked. The nearest orc said "but the giant attacked us first!" There was not much argument with that, as Falcor knocked another orc to the ground! Their leader shouted "call off your giant - he's gone crazy!" but Arad countered with "he is still being attacked!" I pleaded with Falcor: "Falcor, please just stop and stand down!"

Falcor thankfully responded, at least partly, sheathing both swords. He still walked menacingly towards the nearest orc, shouting "back off, go away! This village burns because of you, does it not?" The orcs immediately replied "we tried to save this village, you idiot, who are you?!" I remained still and kept shouting, "Falcor please stop!" Whilst talking to the orcs, saying: "may we help your fallen, I apologise for my friend's actions, please let us help."

Falcor was confused, and still full of adrenaline, and I tried to explain that orcs were not necessarily enemies, although I could understand that the green skin might confused him, he should not leap to conclusions. The orc with a bow was still looking terrified and likely to fire, and Falcor was doing nothing to calm him down! Arad asked the leader to trust him, and then jogged forward, pulling out one of the scrolls I had found, reading from it when he was close enough. The prayer was quite entrancing and seemed to calm the archer down, stopping him from firing, although Falcor was still looking aggressive. The orc leader called again for us to "call off your giant" but made no aggressive moves of his own.

Falcor moved around the orcs, towards what looked like a simple temple - the only building untouched by the fire. He called "Don't kill them, leave them, come with me!" then promptly jogged straight into an invisible barrier and ended up flat on the floor himself. Yeah, we weren't planning to kill anyone you knob. I moved to the nearest orc, finding him breathing but unconscious; I said "thank goodness he is alive, Karmana is with us!" Arad said that "the giant has disengaged, please let us heal your people" and also moved forwards to help.

The orc leader said "there is no need for healing, Karmana will provide." Falcor picked himself up, again looking confused, saying "what is happening, I don't understand, I cannot enter this house!" He looked quite dismayed. Arad tried to insist that he should help with healing, as there had been a misunderstanding, but the orc leader was adamant that they did not need our help, and that Karmana would provide for them. Instead he asked what our intentions were.

We explained that we had rescued the villagers from the goblins, and that they were safe just a short distance away. They informed us that they had killed more goblins that had come to raid the village, and the dead lay in the hall to the south. This apparently marked the end of some kind of debt that they had honored for Malek, which they now considered repaid. Falcor was still a little confused, asking if they were not allies of the goblins. That angered the orcs - their leader said "the Red Skull Clan has honour! How dare you suggest we are in league with goblins?@

At that they started picking up their stunned friends and preparing to leave. They said, once again, that they did not need healing from an elf priest, when they could invoke Karmana's power. I hurriedly asked them if they knew anything about the evil driving the goblins to such acts. He admitted that the evil was from beyond this world, but that was all he knew. I thanked him, saying that the Red Skull Clan had acted with honour and they went with Karmana's blessing. At that he seemed to relax a little, and warned that they were fleeing from the "shadows of death" that drove them from their lands. It is these shadows that we hunt, and seek to destroy. I cannot remember how it came up in the conversation, but I noticed that the orcs knew of the legions that Falcor had spoken of - referring to their leader as the "false god."

The orcs left, and Arad went to fetch the humans. While we waited, Falcor and I located the village well and started extinguishing what flames we could. It wasn't very effective until the villagers arrived and we could set up a proper chain to help, and even then we could only hope to tackle the blaze in one building. Only the temple stood untouched, surrounded as it was by protective magic of some kind.

The Chosen One

The humans were expecting Arad to "activate" the temple so that they would be safe. No pressure... this had better work or it would be back to "demon child eater" in no time! He walked towards the doors whilst praying out loud to the "creator" and, to everyone's amazement (including his own probably) he was able to walk straight up to them without impediment. I followed on behind, as did the humans, with Falcor stood to one side. Up close you could see a clear circle of untouched grass around the temple where the protective barrier had been, but we were able to pass freely this time.

There was a curious symbol above the entrance, like a knotted symbol almost like a flower but sketched out in green, one I had not seen before. I entered slowly and the humans followed; the doors had swung open as Arad reached out to them, but without him touching them! Falcor muttered a prayer to M'laada and followed behind everyone. Lights sprang to life as Arad entered, brighter than torches, and it was clear that there was a lot of power here. Despite this it looked like a fairly standard arrangement of pews before an altar, although there was also a stone sarcophagus before the altar, making almost a "T" shape, but separated.

Arad turned and beckoned to everyone to take seats. There was another symbol like the one over the door here, but far more vivid and large. It seemed to be like halfing tunnels, such as I had known before the slaughter, all intertwined to make a symmetrical shape, but this vision was three-dimensional and not attached to the wall behind it. Arad noticed before we did, looking back as he was, that all of the fires in the village had been extinguished - it seems that this is what the villagers had expected all along.

The humans seemed more relaxed now, although tired, having seen that Arad was indeed "the chosen one" and had the power to protect them. I walked past him, headed towards the altar, as Falcor entered last, looking around as if confused. Arad bade him enter, saying it was safe, but Falcor just said that it had been a "surreal day" and stopped just inside, allowing the humans to take their seats. The humans bowed their heads to Arad and took what looked like familiar seats, now with a few gaps where folk had been lost to the goblins.

I reached my hand out towards the altar, wondering if Karmana had power here, but I stopped as I felt some resistance as my hand drew close to the surface. Falcor was staring at the wall where the symbol I had seen was still suspended. Arad willed the doors to close, which they did, and as that happened baskets of food - fruit and breads - appeared on the altar with water to drink. Another miracle!

Arad asked Falcor what he saw, as he was still staring. He said it was like a dream between two worlds, old and new, but nothing he could make sense of. He finally snapped his head away and started looking at some tapestries hanging at the sides of the temple, two on each side. They all contained a six-sided obelisk just like the one in the village, with an artist's depiction of lines of forces emanating from the obelisks. A large human, with a small lucern hammer in his belt that bore a six-pointed star symbol like the one of Falcor's armour, was walking away from the obelisk in each of the pictures. In the far background was a smoking volcano, very small as if far out to sea. The pictures to our left showed him carrying infants and walking with children, one showing halflings (Elvradhum) approaching some low hills and the other elves (Elvrabor) approaching a forest. To the right it showed the same but with dwarves (Elvradhil) approaching the mountains and creatures I had not seen or heard of, merfolk (Elvramar - children of the sea) approaching the ocean.

Arad said that we should all eat after a harrowing night. The "leader" of the humans, the eldest one that Arad had spoken to before, stepped up, bowed, and waited with his arms out - he was obviously filling a role he had done or seen before. Arad gave him one of the baskets, and he recited "creator be blessed" before passing the food on to the people behind him, coming back when the basket was empty. This was repeated until everyone had food, and as they were doing so I met with Falcor in the middle of the room to discuss what we had found. He said that he did not see the symbol I had seen, but instead an erupting volcano! He described it as like a gap between one world and another.

I touched the tapestry with the halfling young ones on it, something I hadn't seen for a long time. I wasn't sure whether to feel happy to see such an image, angry because of what had happened to them, or just sad that I had lost so much. Falcor seemed to be taking it badly, probably because the children were all non-human, although wasn't the one carrying them human? What did that mean? Was this just because this was a human temple? But then why have Karmana's children clearly shown with all the races... not that I knew of any from the ocean. So many questions, and no answers.

Arad had been conversing with the human leader, and again knelt in prayer by the altar. This time there was an audible click and a trapdoor opened just to the side of him, on the eastern side. The human was in awe, now, saying that it had been Melak's place, but it was his place now. Arad entered and the door closed seamlessly behind him. I looked for the join, but it was as if it had become part of the stone with no sign that it was even there. Falcor knelt as well, saying a prayer, but nothing happened - this place was clearly tied to Arad in some way (and he to it as would become clear).

We both looked more closely at the sarcophagus, which had plain sides but a carved top. A relief showed a large human male, similar to the one in the pictures, with his hands on his chest. There was a small hammer in his hand, again like the one on the tapestries but smaller, and this was real, not part of the carving. The head of the hammer had the star shape, like Falcor's armour but smaller, and there were clearly gem sockets at each point, although they were all empty.

Falcor asked me to lift the hammer, which was a strange request, but as I reached over the lid the congregation gasped or looked angry, so I quickly drew my hand back. Falcor had no such qualms, reaching straight over and lifting the hammer free. The human leader made a strange noise as he did so, but did not dare challenge him directly. He remarked that there were no gems, which made me remember the ruby I had found in the goblins' hole. I offered it for him to try, but there was no reaction either with his armour or the hammer, so he gave it back. Falcor thankfully placed the hammer back where it had come from with care.

Arad then emerged from his magical hiding place, carrying a parchment, and said "what do you make of this?" It read as follows, with the remarks at the beginning and end in a different hand:

My dearest General, (Which legion I wonder...)

The pursuit of eternal life has ever been our quest. How many friends have we driven away by the grandeur of our dreams? How many allies have turned their backs on us in my time of greatest need? They claim that we are insane. They claim that our work is a perversion, that we will surely fail. We will succeed despite them; we have come so far that we have no choice. My power is too strong to be stopped by mere death and with your legion at our backs, we will be unbeatable.

Even now, as close as I am, the prize continues to elude my grasp. All my waking hours are spent in study, poring over the tomes that Kraldar himself used, in the hopes of finding the last ingredient that will end this torment and bring me life everlasting.

I am close but I still have much to do and I will not let our work be for naught. I have removed myself to this remote island, far from the sight of the False God. I cannot doubt myself now. I will take the steps necessary to complete the transformation even as I sense Kraldar resisting me from the Land of the Dead and the Lost. Please send the first two companies of your men that I may share the gift as soon as the work is complete.

Ů

(Too recent to be Ulric, but this is his mark?)

The human leader spoke to Arad, sensing we needed to talk about weighty matters, and said that the people would rest in the ruins outside - it was a warm night and it was safe now that the chosen one had taken up the mantle of Melak. Arad tried to gently tell them that he would have to leave this place to do the creator's work. The human seemed happy with this, saying that Melak often went on his own travels, but that he would, of course, return within the moon's cycle. Arad was not sure that he could guarantee this, but the human insisted that if he did not then the village would surely perish - the temple had to be reactivated for each cycle of the moon or the protection would fail and they would die without it. Apparently with great power comes a great pain in the arse! Still, we had no plans to travel too far just yet...

Once we were alone we discussed what we had seen. Where Falcor saw a volcano, and I an intertwined symbol, Arad saw a vivid tree with its root in the dark soil. Falcor believed that the hammer was the same as the one shown in the tapestries, and urged Arad to take and wield it as he was obviously linked with the power here. He spoke of finding "soul stones" - presumably the gems that fitted the sockets he had tried the ruby in. As he spoke he lay a hand on Arad's shoulder, and the other on the sarcophagus, and his hairs raised on his arm, visibly, before he exclaimed that there was great energy here, taking his hand away warily.

Arad cautiously reached out for the hammer, but it leapt from its resting place into his hand! It grew slightly, to about two feet in length, and as he swung it in admiration he seemed to find it natural to use. Falcor seemed extremely excited about this - he was losing the plot again! He grabbed Arad and shouted "This is the gift! You've got it, you've got it!" whilst practically dancing around him. He at least seemed happy and not about to slap anyone. He said that in his whole life he had been the only one to bond with an item in this way, and he was really pleased for Arad, embracing him. All very strange.

As he released him, the hammer seemed to swing towards me, nearly dragging Arad with it, and I noticed the pouch on my belt lifting up as if something inside was itself being drawn towards the hammer. Realising that this is where I had put the ruby, I quickly fished it out and it flew out of my hand and embedded itself into one of the sockets in the hammer. The hammer immediately grew again, reaching it's full size, but Arad was able to change its size with a thought. No wonder Falcor had sensed great energy! Falcor called this bond between a person and a weapon "Telca'men" - the soul was linked to the item and it could only be used by one person (soul) in the world, which is why it was so rare. Apparently Arad knew the "weapon song" (please tell me nobody is about to start singing).

The tapestries, when we looked closer, showed the hammer with all of its sockets filled with gems. The colours, in order from the top, were: red, orange, yellow, emerald, sapphire, and purple. The red gem had gone to the same place - at the top of the star - as the pictures showed.

The sarcophagus was very unusual. We don't usually keep the bodies of the dead in this way, although Falcor's folk do. Falcor wondered whether we should open it, although the humans seemed to revere it as holy (despite not caring about the bodies of their own dead). Falcor decided to try, heaving the lid up just a crack, but as soon as he did so he collapsed to the ground unconscious! I checked he was still breathing and tried to make him comfortable. I rummaged through his pack (which he had taken off) and found a convenient women's muff (I didn't want to think what he might normally do with that) to rest his head on.

Arad, somewhat crazily I thought, decided that he should try, as he might have some protection or control over the power it contained. "Knock yourself out" I said, sardonically, but it seemed to go over his head. He spoke a prayer of protection to the Creator and heaved the lid sideways. No ill came to him, and he just looked upon an old, grey haired human man wearing simple white robes with a gold amulet over his neck and a gold ring on each finger, one with a small purple gem inset. The amulet bore the symbol of the sun.

I was wary of touching anything, and Arad prayed for guidance rather than reach inside. As he did so Falcor awoke as suddenly as he had passed out! He said that we should leave the tomb alone. Arad took this as a sign from his god, saying "so be it" to the heavens and closed the lid again. Falcor put his hand on him again and said "thank you." He continued: "I would not discuss what I would call the past life in a temple to the future life, but I would have a conversation with you both. I know not your races, and I fear you hate mine. I need to discover your beliefs and thoughts, and maybe uncover some of mine. I know that you, Garret, are special to my folk, but that I need to lead you. I was scared of you, Arad, but now know that you are not to be feared. I did not understand that one greenskin is different to another."

We all agreed that we needed to discuss what we knew, what we believed, and how we had come together. Arad noted that he at least had something in common with Falcor, as they now had bonded with items bearing the same star and sockets. As we made to leave, we looked up for the first time and noticed that the central beam of the roof was carved with a dragon, an Elvradrak, which now made six races in the temple - the five Elvra and the human. There was only one dragon and one human, but many of the other races, although I don't know whether that was significant. Once we had left, Falcor knelt and prayed again, asking for help as he did not understand this world. I also asked for help, from whoever might be listening, as there were bound to be more challenges ahead.

We sat and shared the money we had taken from the goblins, as well as some of the items from Falcor's rather randomly packed bags. Then we settled down to sleep, and I slept like a log after the day's exertions.

Falcor also slept well, but Arad had a disturbed night. He told Falcor that he now understood more of his beliefs, but would talk more of it later (he had seen the volcano but extinguished by six dark shades). The villagers had started work on repairing the village, although there was much to do. I went off to fill our waterskins ready for more travel.

I heard a bell tolling and made my way to the temple, where Arad stood with breakfast, which had appeared on the altar. Arad served the congregation through the human leader, as before, but Falcor ate hungrily himself. I joined the congregation, taking food in turn, not wanting to stand out.

The leader directly asked Arad if he intended to stay, to which he replied that he had seen a disturbing vision last night and the purpose of his quest was now clear. He was the one that Malek spoke of, and he did save the village, but there is something he must test first as he believes that there is another quest for him now. I noticed now that he had returned the hammer to its resting place. He took a step forward, held out his hand, and the hammer flew to him as it had done before, growing to full size as it did so. This perhaps did not quite have the impact he was looking for, as the humans seemed unimpressed - Malek must have done this before. He spoke about having an unusual bond with the weapon, but the leader just said "of course; you are the one!"

Arad asked what it was that Malek had actually said to them. He had spoken of one that would come, that was demon born, and that he would save them. Arad to be fair, said that he now believed that he had a holy mission to avenge my people's death and relight the forge of creation. He promised to return at the will of the gods, rather than committing to returning within a moon's cycle. The leader reminded him that he would condemn them to death if he did not renew the temple once each moon.

Arad urged them to look after themselves, saying that the Creator would provide in a different way, and presented them with a coffer of gold and silver that he had found in the secret room below (not that he mentioned this when we were sharing last night)! He told them to use the money to rebuild and look after themselves

A New Track

As the light grew we noticed that there were six lines of scorched earth radiating from the obelisk. A child came up to tell us he had seen more tracks to the south of the village, leading into the woods. The leader warned that the villagers were forbidden to travel south, as there was a dark wood there, so they could not tell us what was in that direction. The shore was only a couple of miles from the village, though, so it seemed strange not to know. Investigating, I found the child to be right - there were some tracks leading south off the plateau, although not as obvious to follow as the last ones we picked up. I could also see that the scorch line from the obelisk went right to the edge of the plateau where it met a lump of granite, about head sized. The stone was slightly warm to the touch.

Falcor tried touching the obelisk, feeling light-headed and weak for a moment, but recovered quickly. He believed that it was an obelisk that had transported him here, with the other being in Karmana's garden! Arad knows of these artifacts as the "bones of Karmana", and that this would be one of six. There was another in the heart of Arad's forest.

We took some basic supplies and decided to follow these fresh tracks rather than explore the Dwarven passage again, as that would not be going anywhere. I led the way, making sure we did not lose the track, and we entered the forest as soon as we left the plateau. We rapidly lost sight of the coast, but knew it could not be too far. After about a mile, and still following the tracks through the undergrowth I stopped. About half a dozen yards ahead the tracks just seemed to disappear completely! I waved for Falcor to join me and pointed out the problem, with no way of explaining why they should vanish so. Falcor called Arad to join us as well. As he approached, he frowned and said that the forest ahead felt wrong in some way. Very ominous, if not actually useful.

Arad moved forward, most at home in the forest, but disappeared as he stepped ahead! It was the same place that the tracks disappeared, so obviously linked. He reappeared a moment later, having stepped backwards. He spoke of finding himself in a different forest: dark, unwelcoming, and with thick webs above. Falcor tried it as well, and saw the same dark and foreboding place before returning. We joined hands to step through together, not wanting to be separated, and indeed we all found ourselves in the dark forest. I could see that the tracks continued as if unbroken, so there was some sort of illusion or portal that the creatures had known about.

I continued following the tracks, with Arad, but Falcor walked behind as he was more noisy. As we went forward, giant spiders dropped from the trees onto us, Falcor saw them but we were unaware until it was too late! I was attacked by two spiders, one landing on floor beside me, and another sinking its teeth into my shoulder as it nearly dropped on top of me. It's bite was weak and it slid off as I spun around, thankfully no poison seemed to affect me. I should say that these were no "giant" spiders that scare folk in their homes - they were each about ten feet, fucking huge spiders! One landed right on Arad's head, also biting him and causing him to stumble - again, though, it didn't find a purchase and fell off as he moved.

Falcor loosed arrows from behind, killing two with clean hits. I stabbed one spider, whilst screaming in terror - these things were three times as big as me! All I could see was legs, eyes and teeth! I did a fair bit of damage, causing it to rear back with a hissing sound. Arad hits with one arrow, which passed straight through a spider with a spurt, but it kept coming for him. More spiders dropped down, this time around Falcor. The injured spider tried to lunge at me, but seemed slower and I easily dodged aside.

Arad was set upon, one bite being stopped by his armour but other reaching skin, and another bit Falcor as his attention was focused on us. Their poison didn't seem to be too virulent, though, as it did not slow either of them down. Arad took a glancing blow from another spider, but only a scratch. Falcor exploded a spider with one arrow, finding the sweet spot to do the most damage, then fired at one of the creatures attacking Arad, killing that as well.

I stabbed the wounded spider with my dagger, finishing it off thankfully. Falcor quickly drew his sword and sliced one spider clean in two. Arad hits last spider near us with two arrows, causing it to curl its legs up in its death throes. Falcor was bitten, but this time his armour stopped the fangs from penetrating. He responded by flashing his bastard sword out and downwards, pinning it to the ground, lifeless.

We came together to assess wounds and talk, although I took out my bow to cover around and above us, as the others did. It looked like more movement in the canopy, perhaps... it could have been the wind moving the branches up above, although no breath of it found its way down here. Arad was hurt more than the rest of us, and Falcor knelt in respect as Arad prayed to his Lord Creator to heal him, sealing up the wounds.

Falcor took out a faggot, which I managed to light for him using flint and tinder; he wanted to be sure of his footing in the half light. As it started to properly catch, there was an angry rustling up above, and branches near to him almost seemed to draw back. Arad said he sensed a slight, vague anger at the flames. Falcor and I did sense a change of some kind and were wary. Arad was worried that we were angering the trees, so Falcor reluctantly extinguished the flame. I gave him the flint and tinder anyway, in case he needed to light it again.

I went ahead, following the tracks again, with swords drawn. Arad followed about twenty yards behind, then Falcor behind him. Both covered the advance with bows. Just a couple of minutes later, as we moved forward, Arad became aware of some things moving at ground level, one to the south east, another south west. He called for us to stop. Looking back I saw him point to the south west, meaning for me to look that way as he turned his attention to the south east. I did, recognising the immediate threat, but I had also noticed that all signs of the track behind us had disappeared! I hunkered down in the vegetation, meaning to remain unseen by any approaching assailant.

Falcor moved forward, whilst scanning behind us, towards Arad - asking what was going on. Arad replied in a whisper: "something on the ground, can't make out its shape or form - about the size of a large dog." I remained still in the undergrowth, which was a bit spiky and coarse but did provide some cover, listening more than looking for any threat.

One of the creatures suddenly broke cover, bounding straight towards Arad. It was a two-headed big dog and didn't seem friendly! Arad shouted "we're being attacked!" and loosed an arrow, hitting it as it approached, but not even slowing it down. I waited in my hiding spot until the two creatures (the other I heard pass to my right) crashed past through the undergrowth. They sounded big and there was lots of snarling and gnashing, probably because there were four heads doing it. They crashed into Falcor and Arad with all their weight, as well as snapping and biting at them.

Falcor was knocked to the ground by the impact, despite his size, and also bitten. Arad managed to stay on his feet, and his armour protected him from the teeth despite the thing getting a grip on him. Seeing that Falcor was down, I rushed up behind the dog as he tried to fight it off on the ground. He dropped his bow, which was now useless, and grabbed his swords, sinking the tip into its chest, causing it to yelp in pain. I forced my sword into its side as it was distracted, and it fell twitching to the ground, dead.

Arad also dropped his bow, drawing his sword with a flash and stabbed the other dog, doing more damage but still not stopping its attacks. Falcor was in a bad way, covered in blood and unable to stand, but suddenly all of his wounds vanished and it was as if he had never been attacked! He had healed with the power of his mind before, but I had never seen it so potent. Arad was not so fortunate, getting bitten by one of the other dog's heads, and was now bleeding from his side. I rushed to help, sticking my dagger into the side of his foe. I must have found its heart, as it immediately dropped dead as well.

Falcor stood and asked "what the fuck was that? That was a close shave!" Arad, seeing him for the first time since we entered combat, noted that Falcor looked surprisingly hale. Falcor explained that he was able to heal himself and others, sometimes, it had limits and he didn't fully understand it. He conserved his power for moments of dire need, such as he had just found himself in. Arad used a pot of healing ointment on his wounds, as he had apparently found a stash of them in the temple. Now he handed us a couple each, in case he wasn't able to aid us.

It was at this point that I thought I should draw attention to the lack of a trail behind us, and we feared that the forest itself was working against us... or leading us on. The undergrowth had closed up behind us leaving no mark of our passing. The others collected their dropped bows, and I drew mine as they did so. Arad started hacking off the creatures' paws to use as markers in case we could not find our way, but as he did so some of the blood splashed onto his skin and started to burn it. He quickly washed it off with all of the water in his backpack, then applied a bandage to keep it clean.

Falcor had suffered another near-death experience, and Arad had been badly hurt. Although now healed they were reluctant to continue. Falcor in particular did not want to continue... and it was a fair point - there was great danger here and we did not know what we would find if we continued, so we decided to return to the village and rest. We cut our way through the dense undergrowth (well for me anyway), heading back north, until we suddenly broke clear and instantly found ourselves in the open, bright forest again.

I wanted to try walking back in a different place to see how localised this transition was, but Falcor was not happy with experimenting and Arad even physically stopped me! Narrow minded cowards! Instead we made the easy walk back to the village, arriving without incident.