Vulūne 6, 653 DR: A new form of Zrū is introduced. The call to attack. Assault on the inn. The awful black ichor of many dead. The hog finally falls. A hidden treasure. Dangerous dust.

Continued from Children of the Worms, Part 1.

Iyldor, 6 Vulūne 653

Dammon Shroudson looked across the ghost village with alien eyes. The night no longer held secrets from him, instead it revealed its shapes in shades of muted gray. The Zrū had not moved from their hiding places and a deathly quiet had fallen across the broken rooftops. The magician stood at the inn window and thought about how he’d come to this place, where he was going, and how his life might change if they ever got there; standard musings for a man with a tenuous grip on life. It seemed at times that he was watching it all unfold like a play on a stage. It was a cliché to be sure, but unlike so many others that were swept up their life’s events, Dammon was unsure whether this life was his at all. He felt like an insurgent, dropped into the world from someplace else; a place without a past, perhaps with a history he was not allowed to know. The magician thought on this and many other things until his reverie was obliterated by a new and awful sound that roared through the valley. There was something else in the night, and it was big.

The thing’s head moved among the distant rooftops. Wherever it walked the Zrū scattered, repositioning themselves behind the old wooden structures. Dammon continued searching for opportunities, but did not want to alert the big monster until he learned more. His familiar returned with the news he’d suspected, a bigger monster was circling the outside of the village. Dammon’s Conscience could offer little else, other than it was big and fat. The magician called down into the inn and his companions readied themselves for an attack. Questions about what he’d seen were interrupted by a loud sound that echoed through the valley. The monster was calling the Zrū to attack. Within moments, the goat-creatures could be seen darting between the village houses as they drew nearer to the inn. The giant monster moved behind them, peering around chimney-pots and eaves as it strode toward the village center.

It stood the height of two Yrūn men. Its massive frame was slung with heavy rolls of mottled gray fat that swayed and shook as it stepped out from behind the final house. Though it stood like an Uren, its knees were reversed and its feet split like those of a hog. Small green eyes smoldered beneath a heavy brow, pinpoints of light in a broad night-clad face. As the hog-creature commanded the Zrū, the courtyard was flooded with the green eyes of charging creatures streaming toward the inn. From his vantage at the inn’s high window, Dammon Weaved a wall of air to keep the monster from drawing too near.

At a nearby window, Gældor loosed the first arrow of the fight, its tip sinking deeply into an oncoming Zrū. While the others readied themselves inside the broken front door, lightning arced from the magician’s window and arrows flew from the bows of Fyrgol and the Spiritrider. Hearing the hog-thing’s words, Fyrgol took a moment to understand its commands related to the others that it was instructing the Zrū to “surround and tear down the building!” As the Gældor fired at the hog, Dammon began Weaving a storm of ice. Inside, Zildara cast a stealth spell upon Zêla ma Ler. Tressta checked the back windows as Zrū raced around to the building’s rear. Below, the Zrū packed against the front door, tearing timber, chairs, and tables from the doorway. Jak and Ērēus waited inside for the first of the creatures to break through. As the first claws reached in, the Oðan stabbed with his spear.

As Zrū burst through the barricaded doorway, they found themselves pinched between Jak’s spear and the sword of Ērēus. One after another the monsters fell. Above, Gældor fired with great skill at the giant’s leg. The Odárad stopped to invoke a strange Weaving upon the determined archer, but the Spiritrider was able to resist its deleterious effects. Moving from window to window, Tressta and Fyrgol found more Zrū tearing at the rear door. Fyrgol knocked an arrow and leaned from the window, shooting at the invaders. On the same floor, Dammon Wove an arc of lightning at the charging hog-monster, stunning it as it ran through the storm of icy knives. The thing stopped moving as the shards began to slice into its blubbery shoulders and back; black rivulets of blood-ichor streaming across its folded fat.

Tressta waited at the top of the stairs with Tyv Tulm gripped tightly in her hand. In the room behind her, a shutter cracked. Zildara and Tressta turned to investigate and found a Zrū climbing through the window. As Jak and Ērēus pressed the slaughter below, the two women raced to the window to stop the invader. Zildara stabbed with her red-glowing sword and the monster howled in pain. Tressta was soon by her side, jabbing at the thing’s neck. Together they stabbed and swung at the monster, which feebly raked at them with its claw until Zildara was able to land a telling blow, and the thing toppled from the window. At the rear of the inn, Fyrgol dropped another Zrū with his arrows, sending another racing away behind the wagon holding Graiç. Below, a Zrū stabbed around the shield Ērēus before the Ðardor’s sword dropped it to the growing pile. Seeing a break in the tide, Jak scrambled across the dead and exited the inn.

Outside Jak saw the giant hog creature for the first time; it stood shakily within a hail of icy daggers, its blubbery skin streaked with ice and black blood. From a window above, Dammon unleashed a barrage of Arcane missiles that weakened the giant, which tried vainly to brush away the spells and icicles. Moving to the storm’s edge, Jak stabbed at the monster through the falling ice. Inside,Ērēus turned into the kitchen and killed a Zrū that had entered through the back door. Having done all they could upstairs, Fyrgol,Tressta, and Zildara joined Jak downstairs as the thing finally lurched toward the Oðic spear-man. It was weak and disoriented from its wounds and its powerful swings were slow and sloppy. The four circled the dying monster and finished the task.

As everyone retreated back into the inn, Dammon’s Conscience explained to the magician that there was something special around the hog’s neck. Producing a knife, Dammon searched through the blubbery folds of the thing’s neck until he found a gold chain with a green stone medallion. Cutting the jewelry free, he examined the stone and recognized its magic as Chaos. Prying the stone free, the magician placed it on a flat stone and dropped a rock from the high inn window, shattering the rock. He then spent the remainder of his watch grinding the stone to dust.

Continued in The Diving Bell.

Characters

• Dammon Shroudson = 3 CPs (218)
• Fyrgol = 3+1 CPs (136)
• Jak of Cænden = 3 CPs (215)
• Tressta Drynsval = 3 CPs (208)
• Ērēus of Amra = 2 CPs (304)
• Familiar = Unkn.
• Gældor of Nyn = 2+1 CPs (162)
• Graiç of Mazzam = 0 CPs
• Grymgrykalya = 1 CPs (78)
• Zêla ma Ler = 2 CPs (167)
• Zildara of Zalan = 2+1 CPs (196)

Played: 15 Sep 2007