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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 1169546" data-attributes="member: 221">Chill Winds – Part 2The fire blazed cheerfully as the cold winds blew through the ruined remains of the desolate stone village.  Despite the chill of the night, the small party was upbeat as they talked amongst themselves and made plans.  Neither the cold nor the threat of nearby goblins dampened their spirits and they laughed easily and traded stories as they had done each night of their journey.They were heading north to meet another.  Or at least three of them were.  Leesarel, the cousin of Hulmar, the elf in the party, had sent word south to certain of her acquaintances that their was adventure and money to be made in the north and it was in answer to her summons that they now traveled.  Hulmar was driven by a desire to not only find adventure but to see his cousin, who had been away from her home for the last two decades.  Durunak, the shaggy dwarf sought freedom from the expectations of his clan.  Leesarel had been a friend in times past and her summons provided him the excuse he needed to leave, if even for just a while.  Minlion also had known Leesarel.  He had met her in Shyta-Zybaj while she had been training to be a priestess and he had been working with horses.  He had no family and few friends and one prospect seemed as good to him at the moment as another.  Of the five, only Zurmak, the dwarf, and Bo, the halfling, did not know Leesarel.  That self-same clan which Durunak wanted to escape wanted to keep track of him and so had sent along the more responsible Zurmak to keep an eye on his cousin.  Bo was a close friend of Zurmak’s and had invited himself, eager for an opportunity to travel.  Thus there were five and thus they traveled north.  Despite their different backgrounds they had gotten along easily enough from the start.  There was a certain amount of common interests amongst them for one thing.  Minlion, the only human, was more than a little conversant in the art of smithing and so had that in common with the dwarfs.  Bo was an archer and had that in common with the Elf.  In such a manner they found things to talk about during the night after long days of weary walking.  And so it was tonight.  Hulmar worked quietly fletching arrows by the fire while Durunak and Minlion discussed the fine points of sword making.  Bo and Zurmak talked and joked together after the manner of old friends, which they were.  Behind them shadows danced with the flames and around their primitive shelter the wind whistled through the stones.  And all the while the air grew colder.  But around the fire it was warm and friendly and it little seemed as if anything could break the moment of comfort.Elsewhere it was harvest time.  A time when the fruit was ripened and ready to be hauled into barns and stored through the long winter months.  But tonight in the steppes for one entity at least it was the time for planting.  It was Durunak who heard the footsteps first.  A low shuffling gait, barely audible over the sound of the wind.  “Hush up!” he barked in his deep gruff voice, “listen.”  The others, surprised by his sudden intensity quieted and did as he told them.  They listened for a time to the whistling of the chill winds and struggled to hear something else.  Durunak strained as he tried once more to hear that which he had thought he had heard but it was Hulmar who was the first to plainly hear the steps again.  His sharp elvish ears caught the sound of a shuffling step.  The step was followed by a brief pause and then by two more awkward steps.  “Footsteps,” said Hulmar as he pointed to the southwest.  That was were the sound was coming from.  In the darkness someone or something was slowly moving through the night towards the light of their fire.  Quietly but surely, each of them readied their favored weapon and waited. Soon the sounds were close enough that all could plainly hear the unmistakable sound of someone walking, albeit awkwardly, towards them.  Rising from the comfort of the fire they slowly walked in skirmish line formation towards the sound.  Except for Minlion, who’s eyes could make out little beyond the glow of the fire, they could see that walking slowly through the ruined buildings with a strange sort of jerking motion was a man.  That it was a man there seemed, from his size and general shape, to be little doubt.  But even aside from the strange movements of his body as he propelled himself towards them, there seemed something else odd.  “Who goes there?” barked Durunak.The man did not answer but instead moved slightly faster in their direction.  Now he was only about thirty feet away and they could clearly see that it appeared as if some sort of plant was growing around his head.  Indeed, much of his torso also seemed to be covered with some sort of plant growth.  And then as he shuffled forward another step it was clear that the plant was not just attached to his head, it was in fact, in one place, growing out of his skull like some strange hybrid of man and plant.  The sight was both revolting and alarming.“I say we kill it,” said Durunak but Zurmak was already charging forward.  Bo and Hulmar both drew their bows though only Hulmar fired.  His shot flew wide to the left, as he tried to avoid shooting the charging dwarf, and thus he missed. “Oh well,” muttered Minlion and started running forward as well, his eyes straining to make out potential obstacles in his path.  Behind him Durunak followed, axe at the ready.  Zurmak naturally reached the unnatural plant-man first but despite its jerky movements, the thing possessed both a sense of self preservation and enough quickness to dodge aside from the hasty blow.  Zurmak’s axe cleaved only empty air and then Minlion was there his sword descending down at the things head. It again dodged aside from the blow and then swinging a fist around at Minlion, it tried to catch him alongside his head.  But Minlion caught the blow not on his head but on his shield and though the punch seemed unnaturally strong, Minlion held firm.Then Durunak was in the midst of the melee.  With a great two handed swing he cleaved at the thing.  It staggered back away from the blow but was a fraction of a second too slow.  The axe caught it in the chest albeit slightly.  Despite the fact that Durunak’s axe had failed to fully connect the creature staggered backwards.  Its foot caught a stone and tripping it fell flat onto its back.  Its head struck a stone as it fell upon the ground and with a sound like that of some dried gourd breaking the head of what had once been a man cracked open.  Even Minlion saw what happened next.  Something like seeds seemed to roll out of the split skull and land upon the ground.  Compelled by a macabre curiosity, all of them, including the two archers who had rushed closer during the melee, pressed in a little nearer and bent to the ground to see what they could see.  To their astonishment it appeared as if the seeds, for such they must have been, were already beginning to grow roots.  After another few moments there could be no doubt.  Slowly but surely the seeds were growing and the roots, which were already half an inch long, were trying to find their way underground.“I say we burn it,” said Hulmar with conviction.The others agreed and Bo and Minlion ran back to the camp to fetch a piece of burning wood and some oil from the packs.By the time they had returned the roots had entered the ground and small slender green stalks were beginning to shoot up.  With a growing sense of horror they poured oil on the new shoots and on the plant covered corpse and then set it alight.  The man caught fire easily and burned as if he was a dried husk.  The oil insured the seeds and shoots burned as well.  But only when they were satisfied that all of it was good and burned did they return, albeit with a sense of numbed shock, to their own fire.</blockquote>

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