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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4031687" data-attributes="member: 198">The next morning, the Angels and the members of the expedition emerge from the magnificent mansion – and Luna from the rope trick, accompanied by the cat Valthera. As before, the Angels take a lead of about five hundred feet and proceed further into the Mournland.Though strange sights continue to abound, the first truly inimical experience the group has occurs about an hour later, when half a dozen hulking creatures appear over the nearest rise. They are as tall as ogres and similarly muscled, at least below the waist. Above the waist, each consists of a pair of linked bodies, each slightly larger than human size. Thick, mottled gray hide covers their bodies and their faces are a bestial mixture of the worst features of human, orc and hobgoblin. As soon as the creatures sight the Angels, they scream wordless war-cries and charge, waving pairs of knotted warclubs wielded by the separate bodies that make up their composite forms. At Six’s suggestion, the Angels hold their position, Nameless and Luna summoning a screen of large and huge elementals to block the attackers, while Six and Gareth use their bows. Korm, however, sick of staying at a distance, summons a phantom stag, leaps on it and rushes forward to join the summoned creatures. The Gatekeeper fires an empowered arc of lightning along the line that the attackers are being held at by the elementals. But he quickly discovers that while they lack his skill with a blade, the aberrant creatures possess even more strength than he does, and fighting off two clubs each as long as he is tall simultaneously is harder than he expected. Engaging two of them at once, he cuts one down, but is badly wounded by the time he does so, especially since he cannot use the healing spells he would normally do during a battle. To the amusement of the others, Korm shouts an orcish war-cry and then flees back to them as fast as he can.The amusement is quickly replaced by surprise as Luna summons another fire elemental to hold the line. The huge creature appears in the space that Korm occupied, its size dwarfing the enemies before it. And then turns around and rushes towards the Angels. Korm, just having brought the phantom stag to a stop, turns just in time to take a giant flaming fist to the face. “Ow!” he shouts, backing away and trying to put out his eyebrows, “Damn it – Luna! If you didn’t want me to back out you could have just said so!”“What the hell?!” A confused Luna shouts, “Get back in there!” at the elemental, but it simply responds by swinging another giant fist which Gareth barely dodges. Nameless quickly says, “It’s the Mournland affecting it! Dismiss it if you can!” Luna quickly speaks the appropriate words and to her relief, the elemental fades out of existence. Despite the minor setback, the Angels quickly dispose of the attackers, a pair of empowered arcs of lightning finishing off whatever the summoned elementals and arrows have left alive. Once they are done, Nameless puts up a rope trick so that the battered Gatekeeper can be healed. While doing so, they discuss what happened with Luna’s elemental.“We’re just going to have to consider the possibility that some of the things you two summon won’t work as they should,” says Six. “At least it looks like you can still get rid of them.”“This time,” points out Korm pessimistically.“On the positive side, we’re all fine thus far,” says Gareth. “This idea of Six’s for staying at a distance and bringing in support works pretty well. If it wasn’t for the visibility and terrain, we’d be able to deal with them from even further away.”“Can’t be helped,” says Nameless. “These hills don’t help.”The point is emphasized about an hour later. As the Angels pass over a rise littered with armored corpses, apparently slain in one of the battles of the Last War, part of the hill rises up under them, causing Gareth and Korm to tumble off their feet. As Nameless looks down in surprise, another section detaches itself from the rest. It splits down the middle and then clamps shut around his waist with crushing force. As the others scatter, trying to put some distance between themselves and the strange attacker, the alienist blocks out the pain and gasps out the words of a dimension door, disappearing and reappearing some fifty feet away. Or so he plans. Instead, the Mournland’s arbitrary influence on magic makes him reappear only about ten feet below the Dead-Gray Mist. As he reappears, Nameless sees an eddy in the fog above him and a dark shape moving closer, and he quickly flies downwards.*Luckily, nothing follows and he can give his attention to the ‘hill’ below. Now that he has a better vantage, Nameless can make out that what seemed to be part of the landscape is actually a gargantuan creature, supported on eight legs and with two huge claws extended before it. The corpses covering it seem to be stuck to its thick carapace, and four eyes on long stalks extend above them and look around hungrily at the other Angels. “Corpse crab!” shouts Nameless, recognizing the creature as one of the species unique to the Mournland.“Hit it from a distance!” shouts Six, somersaulting in beneath a reaching claw to smash his chain into a leg, before retreating hurriedly. Korm and Luna have already backed away from the creature, which dwarfs even the shifter’s giant bulk, and while the Gatekeeper hammers the creature with a column of flame, Luna calls forth a huge elemental to keep it busy. Gareth, unfortunately, is a little slower than the others to retreat, having been tumbled off his feet during the first assault, and before he can reach a safe distance the corpse crab scuttles sideways at him. Gareth brings the Endless Blade down on the claw, putting a crack into it, but then it slams shut around his legs. As Gareth struggles vainly, the other claw clamps shut around his torso, pinning the paladin’s arms to his sides and leaving only part of his head showing. The elemental pounds into the back of its carapace, but the gigantic creature ignores it for the moment. The claws rise slightly into the air and then contract, attempting to crack Gareth like a nut.“Crap!” Korm runs in, casting a spell as he does so, and skids to a stop besides the claws, reaching up to touch the foot protruding from beneath them. If Gareth were anything like a normal human being, it would be far too late, but like his companions, the paladin has significantly transcended the limits of normal humanity. Though badly bruised and feeling ribs creaking under the strain, he is still alive, and as Korm’s freedom of movement takes effect he slips right out of the crab’s grasp. As the claws clash closed, Korm grabs Gareth and the two run before the surprised crab realizes what happened. Two more elementals pop up right behind them to cover their retreat.Once they are safely out of range, they join the others in hurling spells and missiles. The corpse crab has incredible fortitude, but it is almost buried under a crowd of summoned creatures and magical explosions. When the dust and smoke clears, the gargantuan creature lies still and silent. Nameless floats down to land beside the others, looks at the scene and frowns. “All right – that’s weird!”“This entire place is weird!” growls Gareth painfully.“No, not the crab. That!”Gareth turns to see a small tremor of movement between the giant corpse and an elemental still following its original orders and pounding at it. The cat Valthera, apparently completely unhurt, walks around the corpse and then gambols over to the Angels. All of whom immediately take a step back from it, except for Luna, who scoops it up with a giant paw and examines it carefully. “Oh, good – she’s not hurt!”“And that doesn’t strike you as strange?” asks Six.“Maybe she’s just lucky?” says Luna unconvincingly. “Anyway, you wussies need to stop complaining about her. Let’s go.”Six shakes his head, and then turns to the others. “Hold on. How are you all doing when it comes to spells? We just had two really dangerous battles, and the only reason we came out of them mostly untouched is because of all the summonings and being able to stay at a distance. Can you keep doing that much longer?”“No,” says Nameless emphatically. “I have expended all of my most powerful summons, including the one that calls Khat’vanga. All I have remaining are significantly weaker ones.”Luna shrugs. “I’ve got some remaining, since I can swap out a prepared spell for a summon.” She gives Korm a dirty look. “You could do that if you were a real druid!”The Gatekeeper chuckles and says to Six, “I’ve gone through my post powerful offensive spells too. But I’d prefer to go on. I think we can handle ourselves fine even without them, and in an emergency Nameless can pop out the rope tricks for healing purposes.”Gareth looks worried. “I’m not sure I like that idea. That means an extra ten or fifteen seconds before we can heal.”Korm sighs, “Yes, Gareth – I know you can’t heal here. Get over it!”“I realize this may make Gareth a little more nervous,” says Nameless, “But that was my last rope trick for the day. All I have left is the mansion.”After some discussion, and a lot of complaining from Luna about how boring it will be to stop so soon after they started the day, the Angels decide that they are not going to continue onwards. By the time the discussion ends the expedition party has joined them, and Six explains that they will be stopping for the day.Lamaan d’Cannith looks surprised at the information. “Are you certain that’s a good idea? We broke camp less than three hours ago, and we’ll be losing six or more hours of travel time. My people and I will go on even if you stop, but that does make things much riskier for us.” He glances at the gigantic carcass of the corpse crab lying nearby. “Admittedly we – well, you – seem to be running into far more creatures, especially really unusual and powerful ones, than any previous expedition I’ve heard of. Well, the ones that returned, I mean. But you seem to be doing just fine, so I’m not sure I understand why you’re so worried. If it makes you feel better we can stick closer to you and try to help.”Nameless shakes his head. “We appreciate the offer, but the sort of things we’re running into are well out of your league, I think. And actually, I have a theory that we’re somehow attracting these creatures, and if we’re right, you’ll be safer without us. And once we do begin to move on, we can catch up to you in a jiffy. You’ll see us in less than 24 hours.”Lamaan doesn’t look any the happier, but he nods. “Very well. Is there anythi…,” he begins, when Luna, who is sitting off on the side and grumbling to herself, interrupts. “Hey, guys! Come look at this!”She points at the north-east. To the members of the expedition now standing near her, she is indicating a large black blur, the details of which are indistinct against the backdrop of the Dead-Gray Mist. But Luna’s preternatural sight sees thick vegetation. “It’s a forest.”“What?” Lamaan hurries over and stares at the dark splotch for a few seconds. “Are you sure?”“Yes,” says Luna, and Six corroborates, “It’s a forest. A really big one.”“There’s no large forest in this area,” says Lamaan. “Or anywhere in the Mournland, actually. One of the things the Day of Mourning did was eradicate most of the large vegetation.”“Maybe it didn’t eradicate it. Maybe the trees just walked away?” Lamaan and many of those around him look at Luna as if she were crazy. She snorts at the expressions and waves a paw. “Because that forest is moving.”“What?!”Korm, his vision only a touch less acute than Luna’s, peers carefully at the distance. “She’s right. It’s coming closer. Moving slower than a human, but moving.”“Come on!” says Luna excitedly, “Let’s go check it out!”“NO!” chorus her companions.As the druidess scowls, Six turns to Lamaan. “As you can see, especially strange things seem to happen around us. Why don’t you move on now? You don’t want to be caught by some strange mobile forest.”While the expedition prepares to move on, Nameless puts up another magnificent mansion. The Angels then have to spend some time explaining to Luna that it is not a good idea for her to do a fly-by over the forest, and then persuading her that it’s preferable – especially considering how many hours they will be inside – for her to join them and leave the cat alone outside (since Nameless still absolutely refuses to take it inside). Once she finally agrees, they all step through the portal that leads to the extradimensional mansion beyond. Again, the others note that wisps of mist enter behind Nameless, this time thicker and darker than on the previous occasions. “I’m sure we’ll find out what that means sooner or later,” says Six, “And one thing’s for sure. If that forest is outside when we come out, we know it’s us the Mournland’s after.”“It’s us,” says Korm with certainty. “It’s always us.”Nameless nods. “I am forced to agree. Sometimes I get the feeling there’s some sort of omnipresent malign entity watching our activities and manipulating them so that we have the maximum possible amount of suffering.”“You mean the gods?” asks Gareth.“No, something different. And much worse.” Nameless shrugs. “Anyway, there’s nothing we can do about it. So – who wants to get the Endless Blade to run another game for us?”* I rolled randomly for a mishap and Nameless should have appeared inside the Dead-Gray Mist, but Rackhir pointed out that he’d just bought me a Pepsi, so I relented. My generosity knows no bounds.</blockquote>

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