Chapter 3: Snakir. The ship touched about a mile west of the town. In the distance the Castle could be seen, to get there you had to get through the town, it was that or through the mountains, and there wasn't a safe landing spot there. "I'm not stayin' in here agin!" Forsythe shouted as he stepped out of the ship. "I'm gonna look in the town fur a place that sells a decent pint!" "I'll drink ta dat!" Crag shouted, coming up behind the dwarf. Gau, Phay, Diesa and Charlene all stepped off afterwards. "Gau!" Crag called to his friend, Gau walked over. "What's up Crag?" He asked. "Can we stop off in the town fur a while?" Crag asked back. Gau thought about it before agreeing. "I guess everyone needs a rest." He turned around to look at the rest of the group and shouted. "Everyone meet at the West gate at Sundown! We'll look for an inn after we've stocked up on supplies!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crag and Forsythe walked together to try and find the nearest tavern. After about five minutes walk, they came across one, it's name on the sign had been worn away, all that was left was a picture of an ash tree on top of a grave. Inside, the patrons seemed friendly enough, there was the usual noise of talking, laughing and stools being scraped across the floor. There was a hush as everyone caugtht sight of Crag, people turned to see the new arrivals and quickly went back to whatever they were doing. The noise carried on. "What can I getcha?" A lighthearted voice called out from behind the Counter. Crag and Forsythe looked over the wooden bar and saw a Halfling dressed in a loose fitting tunic. "Two pints of ya strongest ale pleaz!" Crag said smiling. A few minutes later, Crag and Forsythe where sitting at a table with two mugs of "Blacktoad brew". Crag was asking questions about how Forsythe had met the professor. Suddenly they were interrupted by a hefty fist hitting the table between them. The two companions looked up to see a group of men in brown leather clothes, all looking very angrily at Crag. "We don't like yer kind round here!" The leader (the one who had punched the table) called out so everyone in the tavern could here. Crag grunted and pushed the mans hand off of the table. "Why you..." The furious human started. He pulled his fist back to punch Crag in the head and then suddenly collapsed to the ground screaming in agony. Everyone nearby crowded around to see what had happened. There was a small crossbow bolt sticking out of the mans palm, blood was leaking on to the floor. "Leave him alone Burne." A strong but fair voice called out from the shadowy corner of the tavern. Crag turned to see a thin man in a huge hat sitting at a table alone. He was leaning back on his chair so that only two of its legs were touching the floor, his feet on the table, he was putting a crossbow back underneath the table. One of Burne's friends walked over to the man, ready to hit him with a mace. Faster than the eye can see, a sword tip stood touching the attackers throat. Some of the bystanders whent back to their drinks, and the stranger with the sword put the blade away, letting the mace-wielder go back to his business. Crag and Forsythe both went to express their gratitude to the stranger, he introduced himself as Kennor, a wandering minstrel and poet. After a few drinks and jokes, Kennor became a friend....... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gau and Diesa stood at the gates, the Sun was setting on the horizon, Diesa looked at it and sighed. "Isn't it romantic?" She asked Gau. He was about to reply when Phay and the professor came out of the gates behind them. "Where did you go then?" Diesa asked the two of them. "We went to the town centre." Phay replied smiling. "There were some performers and it looked so exciting." "Yes." The professor said "It was rather entertaining! There was a fire eater and a tumbler and lots of other things!" He added. Loud footsteps meant that Crag wasn't far off. He, Forsythe and a tall stranger appeared next. "Who's this?" Gau asked, pointing to the new arrival. He wore bright clothes, they were chequered in large squares, coloured an alternating yellow and red. On his head was a huge-brimmed hat, it shaded him and kept his face hidden in shadows. He wore baggy, bright green pantaloons and soft, velvet, purple shoes with the toes curled upwards. At the end of each of the curled shoes was a bell that made a twinkling noise everytime he took a step. One thing that Diesa and Phay both noticed was that he was strikingly handsome, he had long, grey hair that covered his ears. His face was somewhat angular and he had cool, icy blue eyes, he had a small, jade earring in his left ear. His teeth were perfect and they shined when he smiled (Which was alot of the time) he was well built, but not overly muscley. His voice was calm and fair, there was also a hint of hidden strength in there as well. "I am Kennor, wandering minstrel, poet, performer and fencer extraordinaire." He said with a flourish, removing his hat and bowing. "I met your two friends in the Ash tree tavern. They are quite interesting people." "Oh by the way I'm Gau." Gau put in quickly, followed by the professor. "I am professor Maximillian Omineon, at your service." Diesa stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Diesa." Kennor reached forward and held Diesa's hand before giving it a light kiss. He did the same to Phay when she introduced herself, both girls blushed. It was at this point that Charlene arrived, she was the only member of the team who didn't have any equipment, so the Professor had given her some money to go buy some. She had bought a new outfit, it was a black, leather all-in-one with buckles on the legs and arms. There was a tool belt around the waist with an assortment of sharp weapons like darts and daggers, she also had a long rope coiled around her shoulder. Kennor was visibly impressed, he bowed even deeper. "Oh fairest of beings that I have set eyes on! Art thou a beautiful Celestial creation from the highest heavens?" He kissed her hand. Charlene looked around in bewilderment. "Say what?" She exclaimed. Crag let out a small laugh, and said, "He sez yu iz a roight fit burd!" Charlene smiled nervously, "Oh....Uhhhhhhhhh thanks..........." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The team had all decided to stay in the inn that Crag and Forsythe had visited earlier that day. There were two rooms available so they had rented both of them, the girls got one room and the guys had the other. They all ate a good meal of cheeses and ale and were about to retire to their rooms when the tavern's door was knocked very heavily. The halfling who owned the bar, opened a small slat in the wooden door, he peered out, there was a commanding voice from outside, but none of the team could hear it, only Kennor moved, he reached under the table for his crossbow. The halfling wiped his hands on his apron and replied to whoever was outside. "Sorry sirs. Unless you've already booked a room for the room for the night you'll have to leave, there's none spare!" "Let them in Tulley," Kennor said calmly, loading a bolt into his weapon. "But I just said tha..." The halfling replied but the Rogue cut him off. "Don't worry, they won't be staying long..." Cautiously, Gau drew his sword, and Crag unstrapped his hefty axe. Tulley unbolted the door and it swung inwards. In stepped a group of armour clad soldiers, the man at the head of the group was holding a scroll. He looked to be in his late thirties, maybe early forties, he had deep grey eyes and greying hair and a neatly combed grey goatee. He unwravelled the scroll and read it, his voice was deep and gruff, it had a ring of drill-sergeant voice in their. "Kennor Valentino, I am given permission by the mayor of Snakir, Marcus Donestall to place you under arrest for assault to a fellow citizen!" Kennor gripped his crossbow tightly. "Come again?" He said, his voice had lost the charming poet ring but it was still lithe and enchanting. At that point, Burne walked in, his hand wrapped in bandages. "He's the one Sir Seymour! He did it!" Burne squealed. "Looks like theres no way you can get out of this one Kennor! I can finally take you down!" Said the knight that Burne had identified as Seymour. He Reached into his pockets and retrieved a chain a padlock on it. He tied them around the bards wrists. "Chains Sir Seymour?" Kennor laughed "I didn't know you went in for this sort of kinky stuff!" "Shut up Kennor!" The knight replied. He was about to lock the crude handcuffs when Kennor slipped out of them and hit the deck. "Everybody who doesn't wanna arrest me GET DOWN NOW!" The team hit the dirt as well, just as a window smashed, sending glass flying over them and a dark figure leaped in through the opening. Seymour and his knights wheeled around, and the barkeeper turned and fled upstairs. Kennor jumped up and fired his crossbow at the attacker, he intentionally missed, but the shot caused whatever the thing was to panic and leap into the light. "Aha!" The bard called out, "A ghoul! One of the 'Counts' minions I wouldn't wonder." The ghoul was tall and lanky, it stooped over as it stood staring at its prey, unsure of what to do next. Phay could smell the monsters foul breath even from the other side of the room. Two more ghouls bounded in through the smashed window and pounced on the knights. One of the peace-keeping soldiers obviously didn't have alot of neck protection, the smaller of the monsters tore out his throat with its powerful jaws full of rotten, sharp teeth. Gau charged it and pierced its back with his silver blade making it scream like a cat in a blender. The other knights began to fight the ghouls as they began to leap and bound around the room. Yet another two ghouls crawled in through the window. "Sweet Olidammara!" Kennor shouted letting off shots at the beasts. "Don't these things ever use the door?!" As soon as he said that, the doorway began to become crowded with what, at first, appeared to be men. But they were not, not anymore, their flesh hung in tatters around their shrivelled bodies, their hair was matted and caked with blood, their faces were falling apart, just like the rest of their bodies. Those that had eyes had deep-set, sightless, white orbs. "ZOMBIES!" Phay screamed, "Crag, close that door!" The half-Orc sprinted up to the other side of the room and put his back against the door, slamming it shut. A single, cadaverous arm remained trapped in the doorway, writhing around, its hand opening and closing frenziedly. Forsythe ran towards the door with his scythe gripped in his meaty hands, with one mighty blow, he removed the arm from its rotting owner. The door slipped back and clicked shut, Crag bolted it back up and turned his attention to the ghouls. One of the knights had cornered a ghould, "Die foul creature!" He shouted, rushing at it with his longsword. Before he could bring it down however, his opponent punched forward, puncturing the knights armour and piercing his soft flesh. Blood sprayed everywhere, the knight gasped and stared blankly before collapsing backwards and falling silent. Another knight battled his opponent sword to claws. The ghoul was pressurising the soldier, making him stumble backwards. The monster stopped the onslaught and jumped inhumanly high, it grabbed hold of a rafter with its bony fingers and swang, knocking its feet into the knights chest, the warrior was lifted off the ground and went sailing out of the window, to the waiting zombies... His shriek pierced the night, but it became silenced under the moans and wails of the living corpses, a loud 'SNAP!' sounded and the man stopped screaming. The ghoul jumped down but didn't have time to savour its victory, an enraged Gau burst forward and decapitated it. The ghouls could see that they were losing the fight and they began to retreat, two of them escaped back through the window they had arrived through. The last, however was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Charlene!?" Gau shouted, a scream from upstairs answered his question. Charlene pelted downstairs, pursued by the final ghoul, she tripped and sprawled on the floor, the ghoul leaped high, just as it was about to come down, it exploded in a shower of dark purple gore. Charlene turned towards Diesa, who was blowing a wisp of smoke protruding from her fingertips. The shower of blood poured onto Charlene, much to her disgust. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So does anyone know what in the NINE HELLS that was!?" Gau shouted, Kennor turned a dead ghoul over with his foot. "An attack party from Castle Snakir." He replied. "I can explain, but it might take awhile... You see the castle was built about eight hundred years ago and since then, a history of war and bloodshed has built itself up around this city.................." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Eight hundred years ago, when the Castle was to have its grand opening, a man in a black robe entered town. He stood in front of the congregation and placed a curse upon the castle and the city around it. The guards reached him and slew him, he was buried in a vault beneath the castle, everyone ignored the strangers threats, they thought that he was just a raving lunatic, but a week later, the curse began to take effect. "The city was approached by a vast army of armoured humans, they attacked and destroyed everything, they didn't take anything, they didn't loot the treasury, they just killed. They were monsters who lived for slaughter, they massacred the townspeople, until eventually, the city guard managed to stop the onslaught, the enemies leader was cut down by none other than the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of sir Seymour over there. The warriors retreated and we were left to lick our wounds. Surely a coincidence yes? Thats what our ancestors thought, until their descendants met a similar coincidence, the city became attacked by hobgoblins and other goblinoids. Once again the invaders were defeated, but at a major loss of civilian life. Then nothing happened for a century or two, until the revolution, hundreds of normal people were killed and the nobles were executed, blood ran in the streets for years. The cemetery began to fill up and we had no choice but to bury the dead under the castle. However the scary thing was, the stranger who had brought the curse upon the city, his body wasn't there. His coffin was empty, no remains, no skeleton, no nothing... Anyhoo the revolution ended and as the townspeople, as history always shows they do, got back to their usual way of living. Now everyone had decided to believe that the castle really was cursed, another stranger entered town, dressed in the same way as the cursebringer had been all those years ago. People distrusted him until he claimed he could reverse the curse that had been put upon the city, all he asked for in repayment was the castle, naturally we were quite happy to let him have his way, he could have the castle, we wanted nothing more to do with it!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Well," Kennor sighed, "Its been four hundred years since then and..." A loud belch interrupted Kennor's story. Everyone turned to see Crag with a half empty tankard of 'blacktoad brew' in his hands. "What the..." Gau jumped up, no-one had even noticed Crag move. "Crag?" He asked suspiciously, how did you do that so fast?" "Do wot?" The half-Orc replied confused. "Get behind the bar, pour a glass and drink it in the blink of an eye?" Gau replied. "I dun more dan dat!" Crag laughed. "Dis is me furd pint! I've bin 'avin a load of 'em whilst you'ze lots bin listenin ta Kennor's long story. You wuz all sittin' there like ya waz in a trance!" Everyone turned to look at Kennor. "Yeah well..." The storyteller said, an embarrased look on his face, "One of the good things about being a bard is that you can saptivate almost any audience. There are two types of people who are not affected though, those who have an extremely high intelligence, and those who are completely oblivious to there surroundings." "Say wha!?" Crag asked, picking his nose. Kennor smiled. "No prizes for guessing which category our friend Crag falls into though!" "Carry on with your story Kennor," Diesa asked, "Four hundred years ago, a man moved into the castle, claiming he could remove the curse. What happened after he whent?" "Whent?" Kennor looked confused. "Well yes..." the sorceress said, "After he died... Did the curse come back? "Well, actually, you see, he didn't die..." Everyone gasped, "But how?" Gau asked. "He was a necromancer," Kennor replied "he found a way to prolong his life, maybe indefinitely, nobody knows, nobody's ever got a chance to find out..." "What do you mean?" Diesa asked. "What he means is..." Sir Seymour approached the assembled group. He had finished bording up the windows, the zombies had no way of getting in now... "What he means is, no attempt to enter Castle Snakir forcefully has ever succeeded, either the hopefuls were fought off by the skeleton guards at the gate, or they found a way in, but not out..." "But we have a way of sneaking in," Gau said, "And we're going to find a way out. Cha-, hey wait a minute... WHERE IS CHARLENE!?" Everyone looked around but the girl had dissappeared. "What're you shouting about Gau? I had to go have a bath to get rid of that disgusting ghoul blood" Charlenes voice called out from the doorway leading to the stairs. She had her new suit on and a towel wrapped around her hair. Gau sighed in exasperation. "So anyway, we're going to enter the castle tomorrow and rescue a wizard, we're not interested in any necromancers or undead hordes, we just wanna get in, grab the wizard and get out." "The Count doesn't care," Seymour said, turning over pieces of destroyed furniture, trying to find his soldiers. "The Count?" Charlene said, sitting down next to Phay. "Thats what we call the necromancer." Kennor said. "Obviously he has it in for you, he's probably been scrying you from his Castle." "Well, I don't care," Gau stood up, "Tomorrow we infiltrate Castle Snakir. You in Kennor?" Kennor loaded a bolt into his crossbow as an answer. "What about you Sir Seymour?" Gau asked, turning towards the knight. "Not if that... that... criminal is coming as well!" Seymour shouted, pointing at Kennor. A groan peeled out, coming from a corner of the tavern. Seymour kicked over a table to see a knight sitting, holding his stomach. There was blood spewing out of his wound. "Sir..." The wounded knight was battling for breath, "I c-can't move... It's s-s-s-so cold..." He lifted his head to look Seymour in the eye. "Sir... Tell my wife I love her... a-and that I'm s-sorry" His head slumped to the side. Seymour's hand clenched into a fist. "I will avenge your death soldier. Yours and the others." "So thats a yes then?" Crag said, setting down his tankard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Woop-ti-frikkin-doo! Three Chapters finished! If you enjoy drawing or anything like that, then please draw a picture or pictures of your favourite character/s and send me a copy to Princethaime@hotmail.com Thank you very much, and please be patient for the next action packed chapter! ^_^