Von Fanel opens up and asks the Sage the first question. "Who could lead such an attack of Undead, against a Church?!"
The sage looked across the room, and a book floated to his outstretched hands. He peeled back the cover, and opened the book towards the middle. He looked up, eyeing Von and began to speak, placing his finger along his reading path in the large book.
"None would have thought that a horror such as this could exist. My men, nearly two dozen strong had heard rumors from the local village folk of Undead raids against their small village. I took my company to the village, it was near the sea, along the Sword Coast. We walked in daylight, and saw the bodies littering the ground. The smell of Blood and Death filled our nostrils, and we used cloth to cover our mouths and noses, lest we retch from the stench. The bodies were everywhere, we had no time to count them, only some time to gather them in the square and burn them. Before they rose to their masters calling.
The gathering of the dead was torture to our souls. Everyone of us weapt at the sight of women, and even small children, flesh hanging loosley from their gray, dead skin. I myself took a baby, no more than a couple months old, into my arms. It's tiny head was so bloddy and eaten away, that I could tell if it was a boy or girl. The whole company cried as we carried, dragged and pulled the dead village people to the square, and we sat and watched as the fire took their bodies, the perverted part of their existance now, and obliterated their remains. The pile of dead was taller than the locale Tavern, and as big around as a Cloud Giants Leg.
When the grimmest part was done, and the Fire had burned low, we noticed the sun retreating past the sea. We began to get ready, armor being donned, and weapons readied. The sun finally dipped behind the sea, and the darkness that followed was only light by the dying bonfire from the villagers bodies. Then we saw them, zombies. Dozens of the smelly, ugly, slow moving creatures of pure evil shambled out of a nearby home. Their moans of eternal torment called to us, a sign that they knew we were about, fresh meat."
The sage looked up, and eyed the gathering, making sure everyone was paying attention. He snapped his fingers at Lynx, and shook his head as the thief's fingers retreated from a fine platinum glass. He bent down and continued.
"Our six priests, all men of high faith in church and higher beings stepped forward. These six, with powers that have turned zombies like this into dust, began their chants. We were watching all around now, as an army of undead emerged from the darkness. close to 50 skeletons, bones and decaying weapons and armor clicking and clanking together as they walked towards our group. Ghoul's, quick, ugly green monstrosities, leaped back and forth behind the skeletons. Even a Wraith, it's unearthly wail echoing into the night, reached our ears. The priests ended their chant, and all raise symbols of their faith to the heavens, and belowed, 'Begone, Back to your eternal rest, by the power that has been granted to me by my Patron Deity, I banish You from this Earth!!'
Yet they kept coming. Not even a single Skeleton, the weakest of the undead, turned away. These six priests, the most powerful I have seen in my lifetime, could believe what they saw. I guess our faith faltered at this moment, for the battle begun. My men fell, one by one to the massive undead horde. I have never seen this many undead before in my time as a Hunter. I have many Liches, even a few Vampires have a small undead guard, but Even those of the most powerful Liche I have fought, never excedeed 25 undead guards. We were frightened now, and my men fell, dying to the earth.
Then I remembered my Sword. A gift from a great King long dead. I drew the bladed weapon from it's sheath, dropping my axe to the ground. The moonlight hit the blade, and lights seemed to leap from the glistening blade, wherever they touched an undead, th beast fell, burned to ash in a matter of heartbeats. With renewed faith, I swung my weapon at the mass of undead, cleaving arms, legs, heads, and bones. Limbs flew to the ground, and instantly turned to ash, as well as the body from whence it came. Me and two others survived that initial assault. At our ground lay 20 of my comrades at arms. Faithful Hunters, and Slayers of Undead. All around us, the ash of the undead I vanquished rose to our knees.
I held my sword high, and screamed my defiance at the world. I had wone. I had beaten the odds and survived. And that's when He appeared. He was tall, a bit over 6 feet, and well muscled. I could see the play of his muscular arms against the silk black shirt he wore. He looked young, no more than 23 years of age. His black hair was short, stopping just behind his collar. His black cape was several inches off the ground, and his strides were fast. He made no noise moving among the ash, I saw a small cloud of ash rise into the air around him, yet heard nothing. I feared a spell was cast over us, to hide the battle, but then he spoke.
'Who dares destroy my army?!!' His voice boomed loud enough to make my head hurt. And looking to the shocked and horror stricken faces of my two remaining friends, I saw from Elenon, my Elven companion, blood trickle from his ear. I raised my sword, the one that had slain the whole undead army, and then He attacked.
I must have blinked, for one second he was 10 feet from me, and the next, he had Elenon in his grasp. With one hand, he raised the Elf into the air, I saw poor Elenons' legs kicking as his booted feet were lifted out of the ash. Then He smiled, and I saw the fangs. They were an inch long, each. Longer than any Vampire I had ever encountered. Dorman ran to Elenon's aid, swinging his Mace at the monsters head, and connected. The creature didn't even flinch. It's head was unaffected by the mace! I knew our lives were over, yet I still held that sword, the one that had defeated his army. So I raised it and swung.
All my strength went into that swing, and as the sword connected, I heard the faint popping sounds as Elenon's neck was crushed under His grip. And then Elenon's body fell, the Fiend's hand still wrapped around his neck. The arm was severed just above the elbow. The cry from the that creature was horrendous, I dropped my sword and held my hands over my ears, and felt as my ears exploded in pain. I felt blood trickle between my fingertips, and saw the creature turn to flee, holding it's arm. Dorman stood in it's way though, and as the creature fled, I saw Dorman's head fall to the ash and go underneath. His body followed soon after, a cloud of ash chocking my lungs.
I never saw the creature again. I did live, and penned this story for those to hear. I know not whether this creature is still alive. But the Sword that was given to me by the King was named Slayer. It is a Longsword, and has special powers when fighting the Undead. I am now deaf because of this instance, and no longer am a Hunter. Two Companies were formed after my tale reached the local Town and the Sheriff and his men researched the incident. One is called The Hunters of Undead. They are like my old company, and hunt down and kill the undead wherever they may rise from the grave. The other is called Seekers of Slayer. They are on an eternal hunt for swords like Slayer. There have been rumors and tales of other such powerful weapons arising in the realms. The Seekers do have several of those weapons in their possession."
The Sage lifts his head, and slowly closes the book. It glides back to the same spot where it came from. He looks at Von, and speaks in his aged voice.
"I know there is a chapter of the seekers in the small Town to the North of my home. It is many days travel from here. You all can rest here for the night, and be off in the morning. Or you can go to the town now, and camp along the way. I do have one story to tell you of my own. I believe it does have importance here. That book, by the way, was penned nearly 400 years ago. And those two Companies of men still exist to this day. I know, because I was one of them. I had joined The Seekers, and found that book in their libraries. I took it to translate it and re-write it so that it can be read easier."
The old man settles back into his chair, and begins.
"About 30 years ago, when I was quiet younger, I was with a dozen of my Companions from The Seekers. We were following up on a report from a village not too far from here, in fact the one I mentioned to you where the Seekers are. The rumor was of an Undead attack in the outskirts of town. The main fear we heard in the report, was that the attack was on a church, and targeted against the Leader of a Group of men travelling through the Town. They were members of a Company called, The Hunters of Undead.
We arrived, and saw the aftermath. the townsfolk were scared, beyond anything we have ever seen. We had one man in our group that had a weapon like Slayer. It was a Spear though, and had proved to be very usefull against all the undead we had ever encountered. When we arrived, we got the stories from the vollage folk, as well as the men from the Company. The Undead had barged into the church, much like your story states, but killed only the Leader of the Hunters. They harmed no-one else. And for a group of Zombies and Skeletons, mindless undead, this was some interesting news. To be able to identify and kill only one person in a group og a hundred or so, we were shocked.
We went to the local Tavern, to discuss what had happened, and was approached by a man. He was well dressed, black silk cloths, black cape. And black hair, it was long, to the middle of his back. He had rings along his fingers, looked very wealthy indeed. He even had a small moustache across his upper lip. He asked to speak to the Lore man among our company, which was me.
I met him in private, as he asked. Our Elven companion already cleared him as human, as well as the fact that he was walking about in daylight. Even though there have been countless rumors of very old Vampires being able to walk about in the light of day, they are easily identified by their pale skin, this man was tanned to some extent. Plus, with an Elf's keen night vision abilities, Undead are, well, Undead. They have no heat to give off, and so look to be cold to the heat sensing eyes of humanoids. And our Elf assured me that this man was human, and very much alive.
In my private room of the Tavern, he began his tale of when he was a younger man, which seemed a little odd to me, for he couldn't have been more than 25 years of age. He recounted to me his friend, and lifelong companion, that he adventured with and grew up with. They found themselves in a lot of trouble, they had found a way into the pits of Hell, and met with the Dark rpince of the underworld. The Prince stated that one of them would be allowed to live and leave, but one would die a horrible death and be tortured for eternity in Hell. This man i was conversing with stated that he accepted the death, and told the prince to take his life. Expecting his friend since childhood to disagree and offer the Prince his life instead, he was shocked when his companion stated, "yes, yes, take him!"
And his friend was set free, to roam the world of the living again. Cursing his friends name, this man was then asked what way he would like to die. Upon this he mused, and finally stated, none. I wish the offer to live once more, but to bring to you the souls of hundreds of victims. Grant me power, and the ability for revenge, and you shall have countless additions to your souls here.
The Dark Prince thought of this, and agreed. He could see inside this man, and he saw the change. He knew this man would be able to give what he offered. And so he changed him, with so much pain involved in the turning, the man's soul was twisted even more. He was granted the powers of a Vampire, with the benefits of being human. And as I looked at this man, I saw his incisors grow, they shot out to an inch in length, and he smiled at me, looking like the Devil himself. As I yelled for my friends, reaching for my silver Dagger I always carried, the Curtains to the private room fluttered, and the man was gone, with his name being carried on the winds and a warning.
" I shall be back, and the world will know the terror and bow to me, T.J."
I have seen and ran into this man many times in my career as a Hunter and a Seeker. Each time he looked different, but had an aura of Power preceed him. My advice to you, is to search out the Seekers, and tell them T.J. has returned. He is ammasing an army, and they shall help.
Again, you all can stay here for the night and set out tomorrow, or you can start now. What shall ye be doing, I shall get drink and bread for us while you converse about it amongst each other.
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Edited by Torr Jerlein on 05/21/01 05:08 PM.</FONT></P>
