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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 961790" data-attributes="member: 1674">The heart of darkness- part 1They rode out into the hills, leading their mounts by the reins whenever the ground became too rocky for their steeds. Looking at the maps the elves had given them, they saw that they had to cross merely 100 miles of these badlands. The bloodsteppes ended somewhere to the east, but they found that the lands weren't any more hospitable here.Occasionally, they saw indications of giant spiders and other monstrous predators, but they succeeded in avoiding all of them. The air and the ground were hot and the winds were dry and blowing fine sand, which constantly whipped against all exposed flesh, roughing it up like sandpaper.It took them over four days to cross the hills, never encountering any truly dangerous foes. It was almost as if the world around had gone into a lull in order to spare them for the horrors that lay ahead of them.On their first night, around the campfire, as the air was quickly cooling down around them, Niklas said:" My teacher, Brother William, had once told me about the Hornsaw. Before Mormo had been killed there, it had supposedly been the most beautiful of all of Ghelspad's forests. Back then, it was still called the Broadreach Forest. But with her foul essence spread everywhere, it transformed into something wicked and twisted..." For several years, all divine life in there was on the retreat, until the elves of the Ganjus had offered the remaining Broadreachelves to join them. Most of the dwarves were already gone by that time, of course.""I didn't know of any mountains within the Hornsaw", Ben said."Oh, you mean because of the dwarves?" Niklas said and laughed shortly, " Well, William told me that there had been a different kind of dwarves. They had no affinity to the mountains but to the forests instead, and they were supposed to be fabled woodworkers."Ben's brow furrowed and he shook his head: "I find this hard to believe.“"Well, I don't think that my teacher lied to me. Anyway, the Broadreach elves decided to stay, even though the forest had been fouled and there was Titanspawn everywhere. In order to save the forest, they decided to melt with the forest, and after a major ritual, they were all gone, their souls merged with the spirits of the forest:""Do you mean that they merged with a tree each, like dryads?“ Torn asked.Niklas shrugged:" Even William wasn't sure about that, and you know that there was very little about which he admitted his ignorance. The way it looked, they merged with the entire forest, slowly healing it to a certain degree. And there are reports of elvish spirits who came to aid divine people within the forest."Then, after a century, the elves returned, and they are living within the forest until this day. However, it is still a wicked, evil and very deadly place. But supposedly, it would have been even worse, had the elves not merged with it."Nobody said a word for the rest of the night, as they looked up to the stars and each of them wondered about what lay in store for them.When they finally reached the Hornsaw, it looked even more horrible than they had expected. The trees loomed menacingly, their branches scraping together in breezes, which should have been too weak to move them and their shadows stretched before them in directions, which were completely at odds with the ambient light.The heat was oppressive, and the soil was thick sticky, as though the blood of Mormo was still moistening and corrupting it. There was no birdsong to be heard; instead the only sounds, which weren’t swallowed by the ground and the bushes, were the screeches and screams of twisted animals born to a life of endless pain.Right when they entered, Ben had to put down the wolf-skull he was wearing as a helmet and which gave him the fine olfactory senses of that predator. The sickly stench of rot was everywhere, as if behind every tree and every bush a decaying carcass was hidden from view, and it threatened to overpower the incarnate when he first entered.After they had entered the forest in silence, Torn commented: “Niklas, are you sure about the stories your teacher taught you? This place is horrible.“Niklas was at a loss of words: “ Well, he sure told me about it. The forest probably would have been even worse without their effort.““I wouldn’t want to see how it could be any worse”, Jan said, stepping out of what looked like an inch-deep puddle of blood.They walked deeper and deeper into the forest, hoping for some clues that could lead them to the citadel of the Dar Al Annot. They all of them felt the futility of their search, after all the broadreach was huge enough to hide almost anything. And even if they would find it, there was no guarantee that they would find it in time. Still, none of them gave up, and they tried to be as cheerful as possible, trying to at least create some hope for their companions.In the afternoon, as they were just walking past a dark, muddy pool which smelled even worse than the rest of the forest, something stirred in the water. Trepat, who walked at the rear, was just about to shout a warning, as two huge crustaceans with giant claws shot out of the water, one of them grabbing Niklas, who was caught completely unaware.</blockquote>

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