There were many sights that Fland wished that he had not been witness
too. He had watched comrades die in battle. He had seen the boddies
of men that were tortured to death. He had even seen a man futily
tried to put his own bowls back in after being gored by a boar. What
he saw now, though, would easily rank at the top of things he would
rather forget.
Goblin were strewn about a small cavern writhering in pain. Their
flesh looked melted and many bore open wounds where the skin had
burst open. They were all greatly mishapen, their bodies growing
bloated in what seemed to be an inconsistent manner. Some looked
taller while others had one or two limbs stretched out. Most had
swollen heads and their bottom jaw had split down the middle. Their
skin looked like melted candle wax, excpet where tuffs of fur had
sprouted.
Despite rolling on the ground and obviously wailing in pain, no sound
entered the tunnel where Fland and Elarr stood. While Fland felt no
need to hear cries of pain, the silence made things that much more
errie.
"Silence wards up ahead, four around of the tunnel," Elarr
said in a cold whisper. Fland glanced around and could indeed pick
out four sigils scratched into the stone.
"Whoever is in charge probably doesn't want to spook away the
rest of the tribe," Fland responded, "Goblins are calous to
one another and like torture, but I don't see them wanting to stick
around if they think they are the next one in here."
"Indeed," Elarr said, "However...I think these are
likely volunteers, though they may not have realized what they were
getting into. I must have a look at the process.”
“Fine,” Fland said as he creeped forward t move past the silence
runes, “but make it fast, those guards have probably found the ones
we kiled by now.”
Stepping past the runes was an assault on the sences. The air
suddenly came allowed with the sound of a dozen wailing and moaning
goblins. The ward had apparently blocked more than just sound, Fland
also found a thick scent of putrid flesh filled his nostrils. It hit
him so suddenly that he nearly retched. In addition to the noise of
the twisted goblins, Fland also faintly heard chanting coming from
around corner up ahead. Stepping over a curled up goblin, Fland slyly
checked around the coner. Even with the invisibilty, instinct told
him to seek cover when spying. What he saw was just another horror in
the long list of abominations he had witnessed since waking that
morning.
Around the conrer was a chamber with a pit at its center. The pit was
filled with a foul, bubling green liquid. Suspended above the liquid
on a crucifix was a naked goblin with bloody runes cut into its body.
Any time a drop of blood dripped down into the pit a flash of smoke
would billow out. The goblin’s screams blended in with the pained
moans of those that must have gone before it. The chanting came from
a cloaked figure standing near the pit. As the incanter spoke, it
slowly ran its hands over the surface of a black orb that seemed to
glow from within with a malignant energy. Fland had a feeling deep in
his core that the orb was the source of unease that had been eating
away at his resolve. The only other creatures in the chamber was
another pair of burly bugbears working a winch to lower the
desecrated goblin into the pit.
This was the center of it all, where
the coruption was pouring out into the world. This vile chamber was
leaking out its evil magic to pervert the land. It was why cave felt
so unatural and the forest was becoming twisted. Deep in his bones,
Fland was certain that the orb was the key to it all.
Fland crept forward, intent onf finding
a better position. He knew Elarr would have counciled waiting, but
the opportunity to end all of this in one swift action was not to be
missed. He gripped his maces tighter as he tensed for the attack.
A flash of fire out of the corner of
his eye was the only warning Fland had. He threw himself forward and
went into a roll. That was all that saved him as a web of flames
sprung up where he had been only a moment before. A slower man, or
goblin, would have found burning lines of fire criss-crossing their
body. Fland could almost hear the epitats that Elarr would be hurling
at him later for setting off the trap.
Fland came up from the roll on his
feet, still moving forward. With the fire web trapping him in the
room with at least three enemies, he needed to even the odds
desperately. The activation of the trap had turned all eyes towards
him. The invisibility spell was fading away from his sudden burst of
movement. That was still enough suprise for him though. He lept up so
that he could bring both maces down with more force on the nearest
bugbear. They made a loud cracking noise, but the creature still
stood, though stunned from both the twin blows to the head and the
unexpected attack.
Fland delivered a solid kick to the
massive creature's abdomen and sent it realing backwards where it
colided with the other bugbear.
With the two brutes tangled with
eachother, Fland turned to the spellcaster, wanting to take him out
of the fight fast. Now facing eachother, this was Fland's first
chance to get a real look at the one he determined must be at the
center of this abomination. At first he thought it was just another
goblin, but that was not right. It was taller, lankier. Its head
seemed elogated, almost conical. More than anything though, was the
wicked intelligence behind its eyes. This was not some dimwitted and
cowardly goblin.
He charged forward, covering the
distance swiftly. The creature only grinnned with its mouth full of
razor teeth. Fland had a bad feeling about that grin, but attack was
his only option. When he was only a few strides away, the creature
pointed its hand at him. All of the dread of the forsaken goblin
warren were suddenly compressed on Fland.
Fland screamed in utter terror as pure,
unadultered fear flooded his mind. The creature before him was the
thing of nightmares. Here he was, trapped in a cave with it, no way
to escape, no where to run. He looked about in panic for any place to
escape. He backed away, shoutting at the monster to keep back. Then
he looked over and saw the bugbears. They were huge and impossing.
How could he have possibly have thought to fight such demons? He
backed into a corner and cowered, knowing that surely these were his
last moments before his heart exploded in his chest from the mind
numbing fear.
