Kaufman’s Farm, Near Eaglesford
July 10th
At the farm, orcs vanquished for now at least, my companions loot their bodies, then burn them in accordance with religious tradition. How funny it seems to me, having seen the spirits leave the orcs’ bodies already.
Moving toward town, I see the rats before my friends do. Unable to call a warning, I watch as large rats attack them. Tieran uses a flaming sphere to great effect, while Reena lays about her with the orcish battle axe that we found on one of the orcs near Alder’s Look. Mor’Elandi shoots two of them as well, using his bow.
So, rats now defeated, they continue toward Eaglesford, reaching town near dusk.
A quick trip to the captain reveals that nothing new or of interest had been discovered.
Many, many birds fly above the town, circling, well out of bow range. Corpse ravens.
Farmers and townsfolk speak of omens. I think that it is much worse than they imagine.
Eaglesford: Late Night
July 10th
Everyone settles for the night, Thaile at Mrs. Faegan’s house, Tieran and Mor’Elandi staying with Mrs. Wiggins, while Reena and Kefk bed down in Mrs. Wiggins’ stable.
I am uncertain who to watch over, so I move to the top of Mrs. Wiggins’s house and sit, listening to the voice. Being a ghost is very strange. No one even knows you are there. If it weren’t for the great voice, I would be very lonely.
In the darkest hours of night, all in the town are awakened by a mighty crash! Lightning rains down, striking people as they scatter and run. The gatehouse seems to be the main target, people run everywhere, guards leaving their posts in a blind panic to escape the lightning.
Reena and Kefk run to the gatehouse to help the men inside. Reena is hit by one of the bolts of lightning as she runs, but escapes without major injury. They save several of them, only one dies that night and very little damage was actually done. Thaile rounds up some of the guards in the confusion and rallies them to return to their posts.
The dead man is confused as he rises from his body, but moves toward the voice calling to him. Humans, orcs, all move toward Alder’s Look. What is happening? Why are things so different than we have always believed? Has it always been so, or has something changed that has caused this?
During the battle, nine corpse-ravens perched atop the roof of the keep. The Orcs must have many animal-masters with them. This cannot be good for the town or the surrounding area.
The town settles back to sleep and morning comes with no further incident.
Eaglesford
July 11th
A quiet day in town. Mor’Elandi and Tieran spend the entire day scribing scrolls. Thaile assists Mrs. Faegen with treating some of the wounded from the attack last night.
Reena goes with Kefk to Burlywire’s. Kefk has used the circlet we took from Calableed to disguise himself. He has become a halfling sized copy of...ME! Tiny, with curly red hair and my features. It is quite amusing. Even more amusing are Reena’s attempts to convince Burlywire that Kefk is not anything out of the ordinary. Even when he plies her with free ale she does not give away the truth, though he doesn’t believe a word she says either!
The night is uneventful. I listen to the voice all night. It seems to be growing, swelling as more voices add to it. It is as if the souls moving toward the voice are being absorbed....joining with it. I wish I understood it all. If I go to the voice, I will understand, but I will not be able to come back. Deep in the night, I feel the tug toward the voice and the peace that it may offer, but I stay, my ties to my old life are still very strong.
The corpse ravens still fly far above the town, well out of range of Mor’Elandi’s bow.
July 12th
Another day like the one before. Mor’Elandi and Tieran scribing away, Thaile assisting Mrs. Faegen.
Night is uneventful, no attacks, but still the birds circle. There are so many of them.
July 13th
My friends decide to go out and patrol the area around town, so, I follow. I feel that I must stay near them, or I will never find my way back.
As they move down the road, hedgerows blocking much of their view of the fields, they find themselves suddenly facing an orc, battle axe still dripping blood. He seems surprised to see them too.
Mor’Elandi and Thaile make short work of him. As they continue on, they find several dead orcs. They seem to have been torn to pieces. The bodies were indeed torn to pieces, upon closer inspection, it is also clear that something had been eating the bodies.
I try to warn them about the centipedes, but I forget that they don’t hear me anymore. Kefk notices something moving on the other side of the hedgerow, a glimpse of movement and is lucky enough to be able to get out of the way when the first centipede pops out of its hole.
Three more giant centipedes pop out and begin attacking.
Tieran casts a web, but miscalculates the targeting a bit and ensnares himself as well as two centipedes. So, he spends a lot of time trying to get free while the centipedes attack him several times, he nearly dies, but Thaile reaches him in time.
Mor’Elandi moves back to use his bow against them to great effect, while Thaile, too close to the creatures to cast effectively, USES HER RAPIER! Were I not already dead, I might have dropped from shock! Thaile likes to stay safely at the back, shooting arrows and spells! Even more amazing, she hits the creatures several times, clearing her way to heal Tieran as he hangs insensate in his own webs.
Ultimately, after a long and hard fought battle, the centipedes are defeated and Kefk and Thaile loot the scattered orc bodies. Kefk notes that one of the centipedes wears a tag, which indicates that it was one of the ones that his clan kept captive. The others were wild, apparently. Kefk cuts off a few chunks of centipede to eat later.
They didn’t have much really, a few coins, weapons, shredded armor....these orcs were badly damaged and not all of the damage came from the centipedes. According to Mor’Elandi’s examination, something very, very strong literally tore the orcs limb from limb.
The owl and bat see the trolls before the rest of them. Green, hideous swamp trolls, two of them, walking toward the carnage.
Everyone moves back behind the hedgerow, hiding since Tieran says he is spent, his magic nearly gone for the day. So, they watch the trolls, safely unseen.
The trolls come to the bodies of the orcs, looking carefully in the grass among the body parts and various bits of gore, obviously looking for something. They don’t seem to suspect that they are being watched, but then, trolls are not known for outstanding intelligence.
One of the trolls isn’t as concerned with searching as the other, choosing instead to dismember one of the centipedes, eating some pieces, putting others in a sack to eat later, or so I assume. The other, meanwhile, keeps doggedly searching until he finds....a greasy rag. As he picks it up, it began to look like an amulet of some sort, but when he fastens it around his neck, it looks, again, like an old, greasy rag. I think only Kefk saw this, but the others may have seen as well.
The trolls then wander off to do whatever it is that trolls do.
And so, my friends continue their circuit, moving back toward Eaglesford. Along the road, they become aware that something is following them.
They see movement at a spot nearby, off of the road, along the edge of the hedgerow and move toward that spot. They find a dead dog, killed, according to Tieran and Thaile, by some sort of undead which sucked the essence of life from it. Thaile feels very nervous about running into whatever killed the dog.
Watching, I see the shadow rise, the form of the dog, black and unspeakably evil, moving toward them, waiting to pull them into its shadow. I can not warn them; I can only watch as it moves silently toward them, hoping that they will notice in time.
The bat and owl fly about, watching for threats.
The shadow moves through the hedgerow, attacking. Reena moves forward and strikes at it, Thaile turns it, but not before it drains strength from Reena. It runs away, attacking another animal once it stops fleeing from Thaile’s turning.
So, back to town they all go.
The ravens still circle overhead. The feeling of dread in the town is palpable, people speak in hushed whispers as they go about their business. Farmers stand in groups, unable to till their fields or even to venture far from the gates of the town.
Reena goes to Hara, asking her aid in recovering her strength. Hara asks what happened and Reena describes the encounter with the dog, Hara says that it sounds like the “shadows of darkness” that the “fool captain” ran into recently. Reena notices that in Hara’s house is my body, partially wrapped in cloth, symbols drawn on the cloth, the smell of herbs and decay in the air. Knowing Hara as she does, Reena says nothing, leaving quietly, used to Hara’s somewhat unusual lifestyle.
Everyone beds down, resting after the exertions of the day, each in his or her own place. Tieran and Mor’Elandi again share his room at Mrs. Wiggins’ home, Kefk and Reena in the stables, and Thaile in her own room at Mrs. Faegan’s.
Again, late at night, all are awakened by a commotion at the gatehouse. Tieran and Mor’Elandi try to get to the front window to shoot arrows should there be a need, but they are hampered by Mrs. Wiggins’ insistence upon dressing before they enter her bedchamber! Mor’Elandi reminds her that she could sleep in her armor if she wants to and thus avoid wasting time.
I suspect that he wastes his breath, Mrs. Wiggins does as she pleases and always has.
Kefk and Reena begin running toward the gatehouse. Entering they find guards being attacked by giant spiders. So, into the fray they go, between them, killing the spiders and helping to stabilize the wounded guards.
After helping with the wounded guards, Reena decides to take the spiders to Hara. On the way there, suddenly, she finds herself holding two very small spiders. They had been magically enlarged! So, she drops the dead spiders and instead goes back to the stable to sleep.
After that, things settle down again, and the rest of the night is relatively peaceful.
July 14th
The next day, Mor’Elandi and Tieran spend the day scribing. Thaile works with Mrs. Faegen.
Reena and Kefk volunteer to stand guard that night in the gatehouse. Their offer is accepted quickly and happily by the captain.
Reena goes to Hara to get her strength restored and again sees my body, there on the table, now completely covered in the wrappings, symbols written upon them, the pungent smell of herbs very strong. Hara says she is almost done and is waiting for “that fool Graystone” to return so that they can perform the ritual.
I wonder why she is doing this. She has never made any secret of the fact that she dislikes me, well, all of us, really, except Riva. She seems to like Reena though. I am glad for that since she has so few who care about her.
Reena and Kefk sleep most of the day, in anticipation of watch duty that night. So, the day passes in quiet, though everyone in town is on edge, the birds still circling above evidence that something is certainly happening.
I am becoming aware that my tie to my friends and this plane is becoming less important. The time in which the spell can form a new body for me to inhabit is becoming short. Graystone has not returned. Will all of Hara’s preparations be for naught?
Night falls, and again, in the dark of night, another attack. This time, Kefk and Reena stand watch in one of the towers. The attack, of course, comes in the other tower, I see a corpse-raven fly down and cast through the window. So, moving quickly, up the ladder they go, then over the gate to the other tower.
Once there, they see the reason for the screams; a flaming sphere, burns one of the guards, while others lay, wounded already.
Reena notices the corpse-raven outside the tower and, battle axe in hand, strikes at it, hitting it. It flies to another part of the tower, peering into another arrow slit. Thaile is out by this time, summoning a celestial dire bat which attacks the raven. Mor’Elandi and Tieran fire arrows at it as well, having rousted Mrs. Wiggins from her bedchamber once again.
The bird is wounded, but escapes, flying upward to join its companions, high above Eaglesford.
The rest of the night is quiet. The voice seems louder now. Soon, I will have no choice but to go to it if Graystone does not return.
July 15th
In the morning, everyone regroups, planning to go “orc-ing” as Mor’Elandi calls it. As they set out, they see Hara on the road with a wagon. On the wagon is a bundle, wrapped in cloth with markings all over it, smelling of herbs and, something else. The bundle is human shaped. My body.
Graystone arrives as well, and bids everyone move quickly. This is the last day the ritual can work and it must be done in the place were I died. So, the wagon, and the small group of my friends moves along as quickly as the wagon allows, toward the place where I died...the place where I joined the ranks of the restless dead.
The wagon trundles over the road, Kefk, Hara, and Graystone ride on the wagon, the rest walk beside and behind it. I walk beside Thaile, who doesn’t even sense that I am here.
We begin our ascent into the hills and are stopped by the appearance of two trolls. Green and covered with trailing moss-like hair, they are the same two from the torn orcs. One has the greasy rag-amulet around his neck still.
Reena moves forward to enter battle as Thaile and Mor’Elandi shoot arrows at it. Hara, Graystone, and Tieran prepare spells. Kefk moves forward with Reena to engage the trolls.
The battle doesn’t last all that long. Flaming spheres, entangle, Kefk’s sword, and Reena’s battle axe all work in concert to produce the desired result: two very dead trolls.
The trolls rise and move toward the voice. I still do not understand, but I wish that I did. Perhaps some day I will. The others take time to start the bodies burning and then move on toward our destination.
We leave the wagon at the edge of the forest, unable to take it any farther into the dense underbrush. Finally, we arrive at the spot where I breathed my last.
It looks peaceful, just a small clearing in a forest.
They lay my wrapped body on the ground and all hold hands in a circle. I stand next to my body, not knowing what I should do at this point. Graystone produces a scroll and reads from it, concentrating intently as he does so.
I feel....strange....
I see my old body fading away as a new one coalesces next to it, born from the earth beneath Alder’s Look. I see, before entering the new vessel, that I am going to be human, but I will look very different than I used to. As I take my place, I note that Asmathias is near, coming to welcome me back to life.
I settle in....and take my first breath.
