The night had been blissfully peaceful, and the morning found the three eager to embrace it, except for the barbarian who woke up to a hangover.
Each of them began preparations for the journey ahead. Galen retrieved a full waterskin and a leather pouch that he filled with a day's provisions at the camp's canteen. He hung both on his belt before turning to Aan, who had accompanied him. The northman was filling a backpack with enough foodstuff to feed a family.
- "Umm, you know we'll only be gone for one day, right?"
- "What's your point?" the barbarian gave him a confused look.
The paladin just laughed as Dana walked up beside him, her own preparations done. She had placed Bloodraven's bow into her back sheath and was using Lydia's spear as a walking stick.
My spear she reminded herself. My bow. My fight.
- We should get moving," she prompted. "We need to reach the woods while it's still light outside. If they're as dark as they say, searching for the right tree at night will be impossible."
- "Agreed. It doesn't sound like a nice place to sleep in either. You ready, Aan? If that's even your real name," Galen added mysteriously.
Ignoring the remark, the barbarian secured his backpack to the strap that also held his axe and followed them to the waypoint. Teleporting to the plains outside the burial grounds would cut down on the time it would take them to reach their destination.
When the paladin tried to activate it, he found it responded to his touch.
- "Guess you're not the only one with magic hands," he smiled at the amazon.
He was confused when she blushed.
Traversing the plains was uneventful, they had already been cleared of all corrupted creatures. The stony field where the cairn stones stood, however, was an entirely different matter. As soon as they stepped foot on the rocky terrain, they began encountering roaming bands of fallen, which they made short work of. They had just dispatched another group of the diminutive demons when Dana spotted something in the distance.
- "Those menhir-like shapes...those must be the cairn stones we're looking for, but they're of little use to us now. We follow the Rakkisroad east."
Leading the way, she moved slightly ahead of the other two to scout out any potential dangers, her senses on high alert. The terrain here was uneven, rife with rock formations for enemies to hide behind, and going uphill put them at a tactical disadvantage.
The sun followed its arc as the two men trekked behind the amazon.
It was midday when they arrived in view of a sheer cliff face with a large entrance carved into its surface. The road disappeared into the heart of the mountain. They had finally arrived at the underground passage.
Dana held up her hand, her body suddenly tense. Something was wrong; a faint rustle...a smell on the wind...a sense of foreboding. She gripped her spear with two hands. Just then, she heard the all-too-familiar sound of a bow being drawn.
- "Ambush!" she called out.
Galen and Aan burst into action as arrows were loosed at them and a party of corrupted rogues jumped out to attack them. Dark spear-maidens were charging them under the cover of their archers, and already the barbarian had taken a few missiles to the chest, which was thankfully the most armored part of his body. Galen moved in front of him, blocking further shots with his shield.
Dana relied on her incredible reflexes to dodge the arrows and take cover, planting her spear into the ground. She took out her bow and began shooting back. The paladin moved to her side to intercept the spear-wielders while Aan stunned the archers by bridging the gap with one great leap and tearing into them with devastating swings of his axe. The amazon shot a few more arrows to help Aan then took up her spear again and held the line at Galen's side.
The first two rogues to run into his shield quickly fell to her jabs but she could not outreach the others. Before they could overwhelm her with their number, she gripped her spear like a quarterstaff and used sweeps, counters and spinning strikes to parry their thrusts and get inside their defenses. The spear-tip ignited and her flurry of attacks became a fiery dance that blinded and scorched her foes.
Galen kept pace with her, keeping her flank secure, but she noticed his fighting style was strangely passive, mostly consisting of hiding behind his shield and pushing the enemy back. It was almost as though he were afraid, but Dana had seen him boldly smash through an army of undead.
- "What are you waiting for? Fight!"
Stung by her reprimand, he grit his teeth and surged forward, no longer simply blocking spears but splintering them and shattering bones with his war scepter. The corrupted rogues fell left and right under the combined assault, until only seven remained.
They fell back and reformed into a double ranked defensive phalanx, while the archers who had survived the barbarian's onslaught formed up behind them and aimed shots between their sisters' shoulders. His golden aura blazing stronger, the paladin charged shield first into the phalanx, shattering it instantly and sending most all the rogues sprawling to the ground.
Dana and Aan were quick to exploit the breach, dispatching their enemies before they could recover. Galen lifted his scepter, ready to smash it down on the bow-woman on the ground before him; her eyes went wide with terror and she raised her hands protectively in an all-too human gesture of fear. His hand froze before it could launch into its deadly arc; all killing intent had vanished from his eyes.
As soon as he lowered his weapon the dark rogue's expression turned to a sneer of pure malice and she pulled out a dagger that she planted in his thigh. He screamed and fell to one knee but before the rogue could pursue her advantage the amazon's spear was in her throat.
When he had pulled out the dagger with a grunt and closed the wound with healing magic, he looked up to see Dana's grey eyes scrutinizing him. She offered him a hand up.
- "You're going to have to get used to fighting women if we're to bring down the demon queen and her entourage," she said as she raised him to his feet.
His only response was to lower his gaze. She decided to drop the matter for now.
- "Let's move, but stay on your guard. They may have sent word of our approach to others."
The dark tunnel lay open before them like the mountain's black maw.
They had been walking carefully but steadily, for how long Aan couldn't quite say.
The amazon's ardent spear and the paladin's aura lit the way ahead, and he followed closely, but it was still dark enough for his sense of time to get distorted. The road was winding, which made things worse somehow.
He spotted torches on the walls but none had been lit for a while by the look of things. He wondered whether that was cause for relief or concern; either the tunnel was empty, or whatever lurked inside could see in the dark. He remembered one of his mother's many sayings: he who whistles in the dark cannot hear the wolf approaching. He gripped his broadaxe tighter.
- "I think I see a light ahead," Dana spoke up.
- "Maybe it's the exit," he asserted hopefully. There was little in the world that could scare him, but the idea of having a whole mountain above his head made him uncomfortable. Northmen were made for the open air, under the sky where the ancestors could witness them.
- "It's a little early for the exit, isn't it?" Galen asked uncertainly.
As they moved ahead, he could indeed see a pale light growing brighter. It came from just around the bend, but the barbarian was no longer so eager to reach it; the closer they got, the more it seemed eerie and unnatural. Behind him, shadows began to move.
Just as the trio was about to turn the corner, the light began moving towards them. Before they could share so much as a suspicious look a dark shape pounced on Aan, sinking fangs into his shoulder. The northman screamed in surprise and pain but it quickly turned to wrath as he twisted to shift the creature's weight towards his front and shoved it hard with the haft of his axe. It went tumbling into the radius of light provided by his friends.
It was a brutish creature with horns and massive jaws, looking for all the world like some wingless, misshapen gargoyle. Aan's warrior instinct kicked in and instead of rushing the thing he turned just in time to bury the blade of his axe into the gaping maw of another attacker.
Galen was quick to crush the fallen demon's huge skull and hesitated for one moment between helping the northman or joining Dana's side to face the approaching glow. He decided the devil he knew was the lesser threat and took up position next to the amazon.
More of the beasts poured in, followed by what they could finally see was the source of the pale light. It was yet another one of the creatures, but this one was bigger and its whole body was wreathed in lightning that danced on its scaly skin.
Dana used her reach advantage to spear the first demon that leaped at her, then pushed forward through its dying body to impale another, while Galen launched into a blindingly quick succession of crushing blows against the three tainted creatures facing him, allowing the recoil of each strike to return his war scepter to its initial position.
The remaining demons retreated back to their apparent leader who opened his ridiculously large mouth and spewed what could only be described as ball lightning at the two warriors. Its minions followed suit and the surprised amazon took two bolts before Galen stepped in front of her to shield her. Regaining control of her spasming limbs, she took out her bow and began shooting from behind the cover provided by the paladin, her missiles bursting aflame midflight.
The demons proved tenacious, however, and each took several arrows to take down, while the paladin's body was shaking from the shocking barrage, his shield unable to fully absorb the electric charge. Then, his aura began to shift, acquiring a rainbow hue with small bursts of color that seemed to harmlessly dissipate the lightning bolts that impacted upon him. He stood taller, now unfazed by the elemental projectiles, and surged forward.
Dana used the distraction to grab her spear and make her own charge, and she was soon joined by Aan who had dealt with the demons in the back. The three fell upon the creatures with a crash, felling most of them before they could react.
The barbarian delivered a huge blow to the glowing one's side but as soon as his axe connected his body was wracked with a devastating surge of lightning that snaked its way from the creature. A lesser man would've been killed instantly but he had been exposed to the elements since he was a child and he was protected by Galen's iridescent aura. He worked through the pain and struck again, and again. Each time his body sizzled with a thunderous shock.
By the fifth blow, the demon was nothing but a bleeding mess on the ground.
The paladin was finishing off the last of their foes. Aan allowed himself to fall on his back and rest his shaking limbs.
- "I can't wait to get out of here," he said with a sigh.
