A/N: And here the next chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 46: Down the Trail
We followed the trail leading west out of the village of Stillwater. I was on edge, this place smelled of wrongness. The pervasive darkness seemed to creep closer with every step we took. After some time, we stopped a narrow footpath leading north into another area of the forest, but we stuck to the main path for now. shortly after this, we saw something ahead.
The faint glimmer of steel was visible on the narrow trail which wound through the gloom. A closer look revealed it to be several chainmail shirts, metal shields, spears, and swords strewn about the path. Mixed in among the discarded arms and armaments were tunics, breeches, and boots. It was as if the wears decided they longer wished to be encumbered by weapons, armor, and clothing and hastily shed them. From the darkness around us a trio of shadowy forms emerged.
The first of these shadow creatures came after me. Its shadowy claws struck true, and I snarled in pain. Its fell power tugged at my essence, but I fought it off. I retaliated with my own claws, striking twice. It seemed to resist my strikes, but it was still damaged. Narcrath moved over to aid me, his had sparking with power. The shadow was struck but didn't fall. Krisyra gestured towards the other two shadows, and a shaft of pale moonlight shined down upon them. Ghostly flames began to dance around the shadows. She then morphed into a large bear and moved up to ready for the enemy's approach. Charles also moved up to the shadow near me, slashing at it with his greatsword. On his second swing, the strike seemed particularly effective, and the shadow seemed to be weakening, but it wasn't down yet. The shadows within the range of Krisyra's spell started to move up, when her spell took effect. Both of the shadows were seared by the ghostly flames as they moved up. One of the shadows went after Charles, striking him twice with its shadowy claws. He seemed to resist their dark power as well. The third shadow moved up to Krisyra, and slashat her with its claws, striking once. She growled at the shadow, but managed to maintain her spell. Lydratir moved over to assist Krisyra, driving his rapier into the shadow twice. Due to the weapon's magical nature, it overcame the shadow's defenses.
The shadow swiped at me again, but only struck once. I once again resisted the side effects of its attack, and countered with my own. I slashed at the shadow with my claws, striking with an unexpected surge of strength. The shadow fell, and it turned and struck at the shadow troubling Charles, weakening it. Narcrath joined me on the assault of this shadow, striking it with lightning. I could see that it was quite weak now. Krisyra-bear growled at the shadow, and went on the attack, biting and clawing at it, finishing it off. Charles raised his sword once more, and defeated the last of these shadow creatures.
"What was all that?" asked Krisyra once she changed back.
"Based off the symbols on this armor, these might be what happened to the soldiers that were sent to investigate. Maybe they slew them".
"Or maybe those were the soldiers," said Narcrath, "the power in this place is twisting everything within these woods… perhaps the soldiers succumbed to the darkness".
With that troubling thought, we continued down the path. The trail continued to wind, and soon we could see small rise in the distance. However, before we could reach it, we encountered something else. Trundling out of the forest was what at first looked like an owlbear, but something seemed off. The shadows seemed to cling to it, and veins of darkness pulsed around its body. It saw us, and moved in to attack.
Lydratir reacted first, firing off two arrows at the owlbear. The struck true, but the owlbear's form seemed to almost ripple as the arrows passed through it, and striking the ground beyond. The owlbear moved up to Lydratir, and tore into him with beak and claw. Lydratir reeled back, and didn't look good. Krisyra launched a flame at the owlbear searing it a bit. I moved it to attack the owlbear. My first strike was off target, but my second was a hit, but it was like striking at some viscous fluid, which flowed around my claws. Narcrath summoned a chromatic orb, and launched as lightning, leaving the owlbear looking weak. Charles moved it, and slashed at the owlbear with his greatsword, striking twice. With his second swing, the owlbear fell its form slowly dissipating into shadows.
With the area clear we continued down the path. We soon came to what we'd seen. The ground rose slightly here, forming a 10 foot high hillock in the midst of the gloomy clearing. In the side of the hill was a wide, low doorway bracketed by thick timber posts and lintel. A well-worn path led to the tightly shut door. Above the door, there was assign reading 'Welcome to Thislehill' in Gnomish.
"Well, it seems we found the Gnomish settlement," I said, "This doesn't look good".
"What do you think we should do?" asked Lydratir.
"There's a chance the Gnomes may have sequestered themselves deep within their home," I said, "We should search for survivors".
"Good plan, but let's rest up first," said Charles, "Are you alright to take one of the later watches?"
"That I can do," I said.
My companions made camp, and I lay down to rest for a time. I slept fitfully, by nightmares filled with monsters of shadow attacking and leaving me weak as a newborn hatchling, before twisting me into one of their own. Several hours later, Kirsyra woke me up. I jumped slightly, but quickly realized I was alright.
"Are you alight?" asked Krisyra.
"I… I'm fine, just a bad dream," I said.
"If you say so," said Krisyra, "if you need to talk about it, I'm willing to lend an ear".
She sat by the campfire, and entered her trance state. I thought about her words. Was I really alright? That dream, it seemed so real… too real. I didn't want to spend more time in this forest than I needed to. I occupied my mind with better thoughts, recalling the lessons Baeshra had shared about his own adventures. So long as I kept my mind in the right place, no darkness could take me. I would not allow it.
A/N: And there we go! Next time our heroes delve into the halls of Thistlehill. See you then!