".....that was when I knew I was in trouble, unliving things lumbered through the trees, those that still had eyes glared at me with evil intent. I wasn't far from the Great Circle, if I could make it there I could transport myself elsewhere, leaving the unliving for the Were to find...but it was not to be."
"So many, too many. They were all around, and something else, something that made my nose bleed and my head pound. A figure in the darkness of the forest, huge but hunched over, draped in rags. I instinctively knew it was the reason the link to my magicks had been severed....."
"..running faster,faster my hammer soiled with putrid entrails yet still more came, then I heard it, the gurgling howl, the triumphant fanfare of my demise as the unliving Were strode forth from the darkness. Denied my magicks, devoid of silver weapons and with nowhere left to run I dropped to my knees and prayed to Anu. Perhaps she was listening, for I awoke sometime later, a lump the size of an ologs fist on the back of my head."
"It seemed I was being held captive on-board a ship. Naked & chained to the wall, I kicked out at the rats that crawled hungrily over my feet. Although no lanterns were lit, thin slivers of moonlight shone through cracks in the deck above and I could see that I was not alone. Chained and beaten like myself, at least 10 others, possibly more beyond those barrels, too dark to make out features. I began to call out but was quickly silenced as one of the unliving beat me across the face with its mace.
I hadn't noticed it, standing motionless, not even needing to breathe but now I saw them. Silent sentinels one near each prisoner it seemed. The dark, hunched figure was down here too. Still covered by filth encrusted rags, still severing my magick, but now my head had a new reason to pound and my nose was actually bleeding....."
"....the hatch creaked open and slammed down onto the deck above. Wooden steps were lowered down on black chains and our captor decended once more. The heels of his boots tapping their way down each step, the fine clothes, jewelled and emboidered with strange sigils, his cloak as black as his noble Drow features that twisted into a cruel smile as he reached the last step."
"..found us under-nourished, tortured, but determined to break free. So by now we were sure the crates held at least some of our weapons and I knew one of my own weapons - Girly Sword - was still embedded in one of the ship's crew from our fight in The Great Forest. All of us were watching, waiting for a chance to break our chains and reap revenge."
"...a fierce storm, the wind howling like a Banshee, waves crashing against the bow. Finally our chance came. A thunderous noise, like a ritual gone wrong, the ship groaned as if in pain and her side splintered, then split asunder. Great, jagged rocks speared through the timbers, breaking the thick chain that linked our manacles. Still cuffed but able to fight, the time for revenge was at hand.
Even as the briney water rushed in around us, we tore open the crates and fell upon the unliving like a pack of ravenous dogs. The main deck had collapsed and we clambered up, our eyes near blinded by the spray as wind and wave laid curse on this ship of the dead."
"...not knowing whether alive or dead. My eyes opened once more to daylight, cold and grey but I was outside, on land. Chilled to the bone, soaked right though, bleeding from untold wounds but yes, I was alive."
"...that Anu, Godess of all things had saved us. So with what little we could salvage from the shipwreck we began to make shelter."
"..still no sign. Zombies, Skellies - well,bits of them - even what we think was a goblin/ghoul thing but no sign of the Drow or the Hunched, be-ragged creature. Perhaps lost to the sea, maybe saved by foul magicks?"
"...A settlement of some kind, long since abandoned...." [more about this in 'The Onyx Isle' - R. McTourist, scribe]
"...taken what little tartan we could find and stitched it to strips of the ships dark sails to make ourselves kilts. A little unusual but at last we have become our own clan."
"...making more weapons and training the youngfolk. We are not alone."
"..our worst nightmares confirmed. Unliving roam the island at night, and on more than one occasion I have felt the dreadful pounding in my head, the pressure in my nose. Somewhere out there, I fear the Drow and his Hunched companion hide and plot our demise."
