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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 608478" data-attributes="member: 96">Session Sixteen, Part Three: Hunger PangsCompiler's Note: I like you guys a lot.  How much?  Two updates in one day much.  How's that for Story Hour, eh?Dru stared at the corpse as it began to rise.  "No.  Oh, no.  Not here.  When I kill something I expect it to stay dead!  Her head swiveled towards the chanting form of the creature who seemed to be leading the attack.  "I hate undead," she said, running at the door.  "And wizards!" The enraged elf barreled through the creatures that were coming up the ladder, knocking one to the ground and using the next one's face as a springboard to launch her through the air. "And I really hate undead wizards!"Dru hurtled towards the spear-weilding corpse, who ducked underneath her aerial form with surprising agility.  She tucked, rolled, spun to her feet, lashing out with her blade.Di'Fier watched his partner hurtling into the mass of ghouls.  "Benares! Keep them back! If we kill the leader, it may win the fight!"  Raising a hand, he summoned arcane energy to twist time itself.  The world slowed around him, and he dodged the slow-moving ghouls easily as he, too, leapt from the hut, blade whirling above his head and coming down hard on the leader, shattering bone and flesh - but the leader seized his arm and ripped bloody flesh from it with his teeth, grinning crimson all the while.The undead surged forward, now that their foes were in their midst: clawing, biting, tearing at flesh.  Di'Fier's blade fended them off for a few moments, but then one claw and another passed his defenses, and he felt the icy leadenness of paralysis spreading through his limbs.Across from him, Dru whirled and stabbed, sending her blade into the cannibalistic leader, ducking the spear as it swung over her head like a staff, and then launching herself forward to bury her blade to the hilt: from sternum to scapula.The leader's head flung back and it screamed as Dru twisted the blade.Benares stood back-to-back with Shesara, bleeding from countless wounds, scattered across his body in parallel groups of four or twin opposing arcs.  So far he'd resisted the chilling touch of the creatures, but he knew he could not keep that up forever.A scream echoed across the darkened village, and the monsters seemed to hesitate.  Gaping wounds re-opened on some of them, and they dropped to the floor of the hut like stones.  The others hissed and drew back.  As one, he and Shesara leapt to the attack, battering and slicing at the things until they broke and fled.<img src="http://www.io.com/~jeffj/b2sep.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Di'Fier wrapped the tattered cloth around him more tightly as he shivered next to the burning hut.  It stank of corpses, but it was heat.  Dru and Benares fought their way up the ladder with one last grisly burden, the heat blasting at them as they flung the final corpse into the flaming maw."That should prevent them from getting back up again," said Dru, with some satisfaction.  "How are you feeling, Di'Fier?  I don't particularly want to stay in this place any longer, just in case the ones that ran came back.""I can walk," he said."Then let's go."<img src="http://www.io.com/~jeffj/b2sep.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Shesara stumbled, fatigue making the ground seem to grab at her feet with every step.  Dru looked back with some concern - she knew that she and Di'Fier could go on for a while if need be, but Shesara - and, to a lesser extent, Benares - looked haggard and worn.  If we keep up this pace, she'll walk herself unconscious..."All right," she said, raising a hand. "I think we're far enough out that they're not likely to follow us."  And if they do...well, we'll deal with that then.  "Let's rest for a while."The elven singer dropped gratefully to her knees, then toppled over on her side.  Di'Fier sank down, unusually quiet, his back to a tree.  Benares used his staff to help him sit, and Dru herself stood surveing the terrain.  "Get some rest," she told the others.  "I'll take first watch."<img src="http://www.io.com/~jeffj/b2sep.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Sometime the next day they stumbled into Burowao: filthy, bloodstained, trailworn, exhausted - and completely unprepared for the sight of a score of warriors, spears at the ready, leveled at them."Oh, what did we do now?" Dru snapped.  "We got rid of their stupid crazy Zombie Master for them..."The ranks of the warriors parted, and an emormous man stepped through.  His face was painted to resemble a skull, his headdress was of grey feathers, and curved bone pegs pierced both nipples.  "What Zombie Master did you slay?" he demanded, his flinty gaze locked on Dru."The one from Panitube," she said, grateful that he could speak their language at least.  "He was raising an army of creatures - I think they were ghouls, and I think he was trying to destroy the other villages."The Zombi Master of Burowao shook his head.  "Panitube has no Zombi Master.  He was slain by the worshipers of the dragon.  Describe the man you say you slew."  As he listened, he nodded slowly.  "He is known to me.  A great hunter from Tanaroa.  He was believed lost in the jungle with his companions.""What was his name?""We do not name the dead.  To do so is to call them back.  It is good that you have slain him.  We will hunt his serants by day.  Without him they will be disorganized and weak."<img src="http://www.io.com/~jeffj/b2sep.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Di'Fier looked down at the meal that he had been given.  He was still cold, despite the heat of the day, and the fire that he sat by.  He must have caught something, running around in the jungle while he was wounded.  He missed being able to go to the Temple of the Merchant God.For some reason, the food didn't look at all appetizing in his bowl.  He stirred it listlessly, staring down at it, fighting the feeling of nausea he felt...nausea and fear.Because when he looked out across the village of Burowao, he could see a group of children playing happily in the dirt beneath one of the huts.And only then was he hungry.</blockquote>

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