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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1258553" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #249] Homecoming and The Mother of Monsters[/PLAIN]The fortified walls of Arundel manor were a welcome sight to all of the companions, but most of all to Ledare who had spent the Moonsdance of Readying within the manor house's familiar walls for as long as she could remember. It seemed odd to be here without her parents and with the weather so mild. Not that she missed the sleet and freezing rain of winter, mind you, but there was a sense of strangeness about her current visit that she never associated with a visit to her great uncle's home.On normal nights, there were never any guards stationed at the manor gates, but tonight was different. The raid the evening before had put everyone in the town on edge, and it was evidenced now by the two men standing outside the wall with crossbows raised."Who goes there?!" one of them yelled, and Ledare stepped ahead of her companions with her arms spread wide."I am Janissary Ledare," she said. "My companions and I have recovered the girl, Ilea, and we seek the protection of Arundel Manor.""Ledare?" the other guard asked and the Janissary recognized his voice. She had played with him when they were children, before the chagmat came."Yes, Knooris," she answered. "It's me." The guard lowered his crossbow and motioned for his companion to do likewise."We had heard that you came into town and went after our gift of the star," Knooris told her, clasping wrists with Ledare. "Gellir wasn't very happy to hear that you went out at night. He told us to wake him if you showed up before dawn."Ledare sighed and Knooris regarded her sheepishly."Sorry," he said and rang the bell set beside the gate."Of all tha repugnant, sliver-witted breadcrumbs I've e'er had tha misfortune ta meet, ye lot take home tha gold cup! O' that ye may be sure!" Gellir bellowed as he stomped into the great hall, his iron-shod boots striking the flagstones like hammer blows. He pointed at Feln, who was still disguised as a wood elf and was sitting near the hearth. "I'd expect this sort o' nonsense from an elf. An' a hobbit'll do whate'er seems fun at tha time with nae thought for tha consequences! But ye, lass? Ye shou' ken better'n tha!""Hello, Gellir," Ledare said, straining to her feet as the dwarf approached. "Well met.""Well met?!" Gellir roared. "Well met, she says! Are ye daft? Ye might've been killed! Ye ken right an' true that nae search paty's go inta the wood at noche! Always wait for tha morn! Always!""We found the girl," the Janissary said, knowing from experience that it was best to just let the dwarf rant when his ire was raised."Oh, and ye were right lucky at that, weren't ya?" Gellir pressed on, wagging his squat finger in Ledare's face. "I kinna believe tha ye went off into the wood at noche! After what happened to ya as a wee lass an' all, I'd o' figgered ye'd have more sense! Ye take too much after yer tree-climbin' father, ye do!""Enough, Gellir," another voice called from the stairs set beside the hearth. A willowy man of perhaps sixty winters with gray hair and beard descended the stairs from above. He was slightly stooped with age, but his honey-colored eyes burned with vigor and there was still a great deal of lightness in his step as he came across the room. "Leave my niece be, you old fool. Can't you see that she's injured."Gellir harrumphed. "Got off light if ye're askin' me," he said with a sideways sneer at Ledare's blood-stained armor."You can be quite sure that I didn't ask you - not that that ever matters. I think you love the sound of your own voice, too much to wait for an invitation to speak," Lord Arundel said and Gellir began to sputter. Before the dwarf could say anything more, the man gestured toward a doorway off the great hall. "Send someone to fetch Maerwynn from the shrine. My niece requires healing."Gellir grumbled as he headed for the door. "An' now he be givin' me orders like I'm one o' his lackeys!" the dwarf muttered as he went. "I ken nae what keeps me here with that rickety, chasm-hearted old snake's egg. If I were-" His words were muffled by the closing of the door although his voice could be heard  trailing off into the night.Lord Arundel took Ledare's hand in both of his and smiled at her warmly. "I'm happy that you could be here, Janissary," he said. "But what brings you to Hillville Junction at our time of need?"--------------------Morier used another two blasts from the Wand of Burning Hands to destroy all of the remaining eggs and to melt the hive into waxy slag, while Ixin went about the grisly business of destroying the senseless bug men."I am sorry I doubted your combat abilities, Morier and Ixin," Windstryder said, stepping suddenly out of the trees nearby. The hawk, Anta, was perched on her left shoulder. The bird surveyed the area with an approving eye. "I knew with a fully trained Ranger Team we would have been able to do it but as Team Leader, I did not want to put you all into jeopardy when I am at less than full health."Ixin snorted, wiping gore off her morningstar. "I'm tired of playing it safe," she announced. "What's that the smallfolk say? Risk is just a four letter word for opportunity."Morier grinned."You two can fight by my side anytime," Windstryder told them both. "But for now, I suggest you examine the area and pull any supplies we could use. I will remain in visual range of you both and scout the area. Anta will survey from the trees." The ranger gave the bird a command, pointing to the sky and Anta took wing."I want to check out the caves and insure there is nothing left alive and no interesting tools or clues," Ixin said, slipping her weapon back into the folds of her cloak."Agreed," Windstryder said. "If we are lucky we will not encounter anything there. But we can't leave any stone unturned. So let's move." And say thus, she vanished once more into the underbrush."I'm not much of one for pawing over dead bodies," Morier told the mage after a moment spent looking at the burned and battered corpses. Ixin nodded and sighed."Nor am I," she admitted. "But I've done worse."Ixin and Morier's search yielded nothing of interest, although they did spot some extremely large tracks that they called back Windstryder to examine. She couldn't readily identify the creature that had made them except to say that it was four-legged and at least thirty feet in length. It had entered and left the clearing by the same manner: it had flown. Leaving that mystery for another day, they back-tracked to the bolt hole entrance to the cave complex."Either of you any good with track?" Windstryder whispered as they paused around the concealed trapdoor. Morier and Ixin both shook their heads. "Okay then," the ranger said and indicated that Morier should open the hatch.Windstryder and Ixin covered the hole with arrow and wand, but nothing came up to attack them. A dark, cramped tunnel led down into the ground crudely dug from the muddy soil."Who's first?" Ixin asked and Windstryder stepped up."I'm the quietest," she said. "It should be me.""Can you see in underground darkness?" Morier asked, skeptically. "Without the moonslight, I mean?" She shook her head."Can you?" she asked with equal skepticism but the albino nodded."So can I," Ixin put in but Morier was already adjusting his sword so that he could more easily negotiate the confines of the tunnel."I'll go first," he said and descended the wet tunnel to the cave complex below, coming out into a squarish, high-ceilinged chamber roughly twenty-five feet on a side. The tunnel came out near the ceiling and a sloping mound of dirt rose up to meet it from the ground below. Fortunately for Windstryder, the wet walls of the cave were covered with a phosphorescent fungus that glowed with a pale bluish light. Of course, that also meant that she and her companions had a clear view of the horror that quivered grotesquely in the far corner of the chamber.A thing that looked as if it were once a woman lay naked there atop a bed of dried grasses and leaves. Her head and torso seemed normal apart from the fact that they were drawn and emaciated. From her hips down, however, the woman was completely alien. Her legs were gone, replaced by a bloated eggsack that was sprawled across the floor. Strange webbing seemed to hold the sack up as if it would collapse under its own weight. A few white, puffy larva about half-a-hand long were squirming out of a swollen, pink orifice at the end of the sack. At the foot of the bed, almost entirely wrapped in a cocoon was a man, eyes wide with fear. The only thing keeping him from screaming were the gossamer strands that covered his mouth. Giant larva wriggled over him, working their way into the cocoon.Morier recognized the man as his one-time mentor, Arwold Wyverneye and a gasped cry of "No!" escaped his pale lips before he could stop it. Ixin, who stepped out of the tunnel beside him, spotted what he hadn't seen: two more of the large sword-wielding bug men. They were busy stacking up more of the quivering pearlescent egg near the base of the dirt mound. But as soon as Morier's exclamation escaped his lips, they turned and drew their greatswords. An inhuman chittering filled the air as they charged.The creature on the bed seemed to be lost in a trance but began to stir when the two bug men started their ascent up the dirt mound.</blockquote>

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