Nose-biter flies up to scout ahead
For several days they pressed on through the lands north of Stryre, while the conditions worsened. The vegetation, already struggling, gave out, and the occasional small streams they'd replenished their water at disapeared. The ground became a scorched grey-black surface, covered with a sifting, constantly moving layer of fine ash; occasional seared treestumps stuck up here and there, and small fragments of stonework hinted that people had once lived here, though not enough to give any clue to their nature.
Gradually, the feeling of not being alone crept over the band. One after another, they took to glancing over their shoulders, and peering at the treestumps and boulders they passed, unable to shake the sensation of being followed. Gradually, they became aware of the faint sound of singing; as it grew louder, they could hear that it was sweet, clear elven voices, lifted in a merry spring revel.
Then - suddenly, with no perceptible change - they were there; slender, graceful sylvan figures, dancing around and through the column of mounted men and led horses. More than two score elven dancers, dressed in simple white robes, with flowers woven into their hair, laughing and singing, perfoming one of the ancient and traditional dances used to greet the spring.
Ever suspicious of the supernatural and unexpected, the party glared around, wary hands poised near hilts, ready for attack. Nothing happened, however, and they relaxed a little as they watched the dance. But as the dancers revolved, their expressions gradually changed from joy to horror and fear, and their bodies began to disintegrate. Bits of skin, flesh and muscle detached, flew off to the side and disappeared as the damned elven ghosts continue to dance, until eventually the skeletons crumbled away to dust, leaving nothing but a mocking echo of the song.
Surya and Sack, hardened warriors that they were, reacted primarily with relief and some surprise that the phenomenon had not developed into something more hostile; and the iron nerves and strong faith of the dwarf Hildraft sustained him. Kobort, however, for some reason, was more affected, and the horror and pity shook him badly; it was some hours before he was completely back to normal.
Over the next couple of days as they travelled, they saw the dance of the damned twice more, and then it disappeared and they saw it no more.
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They now found themselves travelling through more undulating country. Once, this must have been pleasantly rolling, wooded hills, with odd outcrops of smooth rock; now it was a blasted, lunar landscape, with bare, rough hillocks showing protruding rocks which resembled the dry bones sticking out of a rotting corpse. There was less of a clear view than there had been, and Kobort sent Nosebiter up to spy out the lands ahead of them as they rode. |
| Towards mid-day on the second day in the hills, he returned to warn of half-a-dozen "beasts" lurking ahead. The sorcerer's link with his familiar was not sharp enough for details, but experience had taught him that the sense of what the owl was seeing was predatory and quite large. They were spread, three behind a hillock to the north-east, and three behind another to the north-west. |
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With conscious ostentation, the party made camp more or less where they were, and, under cover of this operation, Sack shed his armour and borrowed Kobort's spider-cloak. Swarming up the eastern hillock, he worked cautiously to the crest and peered over.
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Lurking below were three creatures like nothing else he'd ever seen before. At first glance they resembled huge black panthers, and in all probability their sylvan ancestors had been such. These, though, were dreadfully twisted. A third set of legs sprang from the middle of their bodies, their eyes were flat red slashes in their skulls, with neither iris nor pupil, and a pair of long, sinuous tentacles sprouted from their shoulders. So for the first time did Sack lay eyes on the Curst. |
The Curst beasts were clearly watching the party make camp, and waiting in ambush; while they prowled about, they seemed patient enough to wait for a good moment to strike. They had also arranged themselves so that each group could see the other; more evidence of reasonably organised pack behaviour. Sack observed them for a while, and then stealthily returned to his comrades.
A lively discussion ensued. After some debate, the party arrived at several conclusions:
Finally what they decided was this. Kobort wove enchantments of protection and invisibility over all four. Using his cloak, he climbed the eastern hillock, and descended until he was about 40' above the eastern group of Curst, while the other three crept invisibly around it on the ground until they were directly between the two groups of Curst.
Once everyone was ready, Kobort invoked the magic of his cloak and conjured a gigantic Web, anchored to the slope just above the three Curst. As it began to drop, the three creatures looked up, alerted by the sudden shadow, and desperately tried to get out from under the descending web; only one of them made it. It prowled around on the far side, eyeing the now-visible Kobort with hatred and snarling with fury. One of the two trapped ones managed to tear its' fore quarters free, but was unable to move position without becoming entangled again. Kobort set off down the hillock towards the web.
Seeing the attack on their packmates, the western group of Curst left their ambush position and bounded towards the eastern hillock. Of course, they couldn't see the three warriors standing in between, and so the impact as they ran into what seemed like a wall of steel blades half-way over was stunning.
A ferocious fight erupted, with the Curst slashing at the heroes with their tentacles. As they fought, the three noticed something peculiar; many of their blows, despite being properly placed, weren't going home, and somehow, their eyes kept losing track of the exact position of the Curst. Realising that this was some sort of illusion or optical effect. They did their best to adjust, and it seemed to help; just as well, as the Curst seemed to be formidable fighters.
Kobort, reaching the web, walked confidently into it; as his studies of the cloak had indicated, it conferred immunity to the tangling effects of webs - including its' own. Drawing his sword as he reached the first beast, he attacked it, finding that being trapped in the web had a spin-off in that the creature's displacement ability didn't function. While still not pushovers, he managed to account for the trapped two in reasonably short order.
The third Curst of the eastern three, seeing the appeared warriors fighting its' packmates, moved to join them, and came up against Surya. This proved a fatal error, as it soon fell to the Sword of the Dead Legions. A minute later, it struggled to its' feet again, a returned, but with no-one to fight - the battle was over. As they regained their breath, the band discussed what to do with it; they were still arguing about this when it collapsed into a pile of dust.
