Chapter 10

The group continues along into the Forest, following the stream. You travel for the better part of a week. The trees around you grow steadily larger and larger until they are almost surreal.

Over the course of the journey, Thorn has more incidents. She has at least one each day, and, as you near your journey's end, she has as many as three in four and twenty hours. The upper left half of her torso is mostly black on the front, and a few patches show through to the back. She moves her left arm with difficulty, despite Cael's best efforts.

Gwenh is the first to notice that the stream has begun to take on an unpleasant odor and everyone starts to see some dead fish.

At night, Thorn has taken to 'rooting' at the edge of the campsite. There have been some glimspes of strange forest creatures which have turned away as they neared her. Torque has heard of them in some centaur legends...some were good, some michevious, and a few harm mortal intruders in their realms (there are more of these as you get farther in). About the most excitement that befalls the party is when a crazed bear attacks them. Attempts at charming or befriending it fail, as it is utterly mad. Knowing this party, the bear is not long for this world.

Finally, the heroes get very close to the center of the Forest. They know they are close because they see their first dead tree. It is a vertiable fallen giant. Even shriveled and shrunken as it is by fell magics, it would still take four large men to put their arms around it, and it is as tall as some wizard towers.

Gwenh moves towards the dead tree and lays a hand on it. She looks at the others. "We have to be closer now...we must keep moving, I don't want to see the same thing happened to this forest as to the tropical..." She looks further down the way they were heading in silence.

Nodding agreement, Toshiro moves to the head of the column. "I agree, Lady Gwenh. I would suggest a bit more caution in our movements- the closer we get, the quieter we must be." Dismounting, Toshiro pulls his ruck and a few choice items from his saddlebags on his horse, leaving just his saddle. Whispering into his mount's ear, he removes the bit and tucks it into a empty saddlebag. Then with a sharp command in his native tongue and a slap on its rump, he sets the horse in motion back the way they came. After securing the ruck on his shoulder, Toshiro smiles and gives an 'after you' gesture to Gwenh.

Gwenh looks at the rest, trying to conceal the sadness in her eyes as she gazes at the death of this beautiful woodland. She shudders inwardly at the thought of whoever or whatever was behind this and began to noiselessly move down the path ahead, walking closer to their destination.

Torque frowns as the horse was sent away, moving from her position near the back she turns to Toshiro. "Im sorry if this is an obviously stupid question, but do you believe your horse makes too much noise to continue? If so what am I to do? Send my legs home? Or perhaps I should follow some distance behind, at least then I would not draw attention to the rest; a decoy as it were" The centaur waits for an answer, perfectly serious in her question. Walking on four heavy hooved feet was hardly light footed, and it was almost impossible not to thump the ground with each step, not to mention avoid the small branches which splintered under foot. Though for hunting purposes this was Torques soft tred, as the forest grew silent she sounded more like a cart horse.

"Good point, but you are a native of the forest, correct? I imagine that moving quieter than my mount would be almost a given, otherwise you would never eat." Toshiro motioned Torque to come along. "To be honest, I hadn't thought on it but now that it has been brought up... I think we can gimmick something for you when it is time. Trust me...." At that he gave a wide 'I-know-something-you-don't' oriental grin.

"Gimmik?" Not sure quite what make of the grin Torque returns a puzzled smile and falls back in line. "The forest is never this quiet, it's more of a keeping still and waiting, than moving silently when it comes to hunting. Some can move as shadows but personaly its just a tad difficult trying to make sure your back feet take good foothold"

"Just trust me," Toshiro repeats as Torque falls back into the line.

Cael stares at the downed tree while the others are still moving ahead. If the defiler drained that, among others, he thinks, then how much energy does he have? Suddenly wary, he calls quietly to the others. "Perhaps we should think about this for a moment. If this mage has drained much of this forest, he has enough power to stop us before we even get close to him."

Another thought stikes him. "And if Thorn can sense where the life force of this forest is flowing, then maybe this mage can sense where she is. Concealing us from scrying eyes may be our first priority here." Cael tries to wrack his brain for any prayers he can remember that deal with concealing magics. He was never very good at those....

Gwenh looked at the group. "Maybe I can use some of my magic now..." She stopped and closed her eyes. She pulled a small square of silk and walking around, touched each of the party members with it, then she chants the spell in the lanuage of dragons. When she is done, she looks at everyone. "I couldn't hide our magical auras, so I gave us a new one. We now have the same auras as the forest around us, so if anyone tries to detect anything, all they will detect is the drained woods. I used the trees' aura." She gazed sadly at the fallen giant. "This spell will last for six days, or until I dispell it." She shrugs and turns to walk further into the woods.

Cael looks at the others strangely for a moment, then studies his own arms with growing amazement. "Why, I can hardly sense it, and I even watched you cast it!" As he walks, Cael continues to look at his arms from time to time with wonder.

Gwenh smiled back at Cael as she walked. "That's dragon magic for you." With that the smile faded and she again took to silently walking through the woods. She looked at the others from time to time, wondering when they would reach the defiler and when they did, how would they stop him? And more importantly, what if they couldn't?

The party continues to walk through the forest. Thorn still spasms on occassion.

After a few more days of traveling along the stream, they come to its headwater: a small spring that bubbles up into a pool. The pool is perhaps 30 or 40 feet across. On the opposite shore can be made out the form of some low, squarish structure.

Cael crouches in the underbrush before the clearing, studying the pool and the structure. He whispers "Thorn, Torque... what is that place? Any idea?"

The area around the pool itself looks much like the rest of the Forest, except that the vegetation at the edges of the pools is either black and rotting or brown and burnt. By the structure, another fallen tree is visible.

The structure is a rather haphazard assortment of stones arranged in an approximate rectangular box. It rather reminds Cael of an altar, actually. Right height, and you think you see a little altar cloth fluttering in the breeze. Nothing is growing on it...in fact, the ground is bare, blasted earth from the edge of the pool closest to it to the tree line, at least.

Cael shifts around to get a better look at the object across the pond. When he does, his blood runs cold. Oh, no.... Cael slumps against a tree, his worst fears realised. Throughout this journey, he held onto the belief -- the hope -- that whoever was pillaging this forest was some unknown variable, perhaps a rogue mage from the north. But the white cloth resting on top of the rough altar across the pool belied that hope. Even from this distance he could see the familiar occult symbols on it; the same symbols were on the ceremonial vestments he had worn in the monastery....

Noting the altar, Torque sees little more than stone and cloth, so is highly surprised by Cael's reaction. What could possibly be worrying about a lump of desecrated stone? "Whats wrong?" She asked, looking to the charred vegitation at the pool's edge.

Gwenh looks at Cael and the altar. "What is it?" She studies the 'structure' as best she can from the distance.

Toshiro looks a long time at the altar and the area around it. "I believe... it something of an religous nature that he finds abhorrent," he said as he locked eyes with Cael. "Most likely abhorrent in nature..." to him, judging by reaction.

Toshiro examines the ground for tracks. In this immediate area, he doesn't find any. But he squints across the pool. The ground is somewhat uneven by the altar...it could be tracks, it could be lumpy ground. With sunlight glinting off of the water, it's rather hard to tell.

Toshiro looks at the area immediately on the far side of the pool. Seeing no easy way across, he manuvers himself about ten feet or so away from what appears to be a slightly less wide section of pool. Looking to the others, he smiles. "I believe there is some thing on the ground near the altar. Stay here- I'll be right back."

Gathering himself, Toshiro drew in a few long slow breaths. Here goes nothing! Without a sound Toshiro launches into a sprint toward the water. Just short of the edge, he gives a short sharp shout (which vaguely sounds like "spoon!") and leaps the width of the pool, coming to a relatively effortless three-point landing just past the far side's edge. Peering around quickly, Toshiro makes sure noone resides in the area that they couldn't see on the other side and quietly shifts a bit closer to the altar, hand resting on his katana in a single-hand kenjitsu grip.

The party sees Toshiro go flying through the air and land near the altar.

Toshiro first notices how warm it is here. The altar seems to be giving off a dry, baking heat.

The second thing he notices is a sound like air leaking from an inflated pig's bladder. Something that had looked rather like an ovalish brown stone suddenly sticks a rope into the air.

As the snake's hood opens, it becomes very obvious that it's not a rope.

The forest dwellers can see that it is a serpent, but do not know the type. Cael, still across the pool, quickly recognizes the sun adder. It is very fast, and its venom is never ever used by the assassins that the clerics of Eho have never ever had. Or so he was told...

Oh shit! Toshiro thinks. I HATE snakes!

Like a snake himself, he whips the katana out of its sheath and takes a swing. His strike, almost invisible to the naked eye....

And misses.

This could be bad... enters his mind as he draws his wakazashi and fends off a strike from the adder. When am I going to learn- altars are NEVER unguarded! Watching the movement of the snake he skillfully stays out of its target zone for two strikes, managing to cut the hood once in the process. This can't go on foever...

"No." Cael hardly realsies he's spoken. He's too far into the throes of righteous anger. He steps into the small clearing around the pool, and in a load, clear voice, starts a chant.

Fffffffzzzzzpppttt! a thin beam -- half flame, half blinding light -- jets from his hand towards the adder. As it contacts the adder, it explodes in a mini-nova of flame, leaving a small glassy crater where the snake was once coiled, and spraying Toshiro with bits or charred snake.

Cael yells out into the forest. "Blasphemer! You desecrate all Eho stand for. Your day of reckoning is at hand." Cael directs another of the flaming light beams at the altar.

Torque looks worriedly to Gwenh at Cael's sudden madness. It appeared to the centaur that he was threatening a man who was not there, and the attack on the stone alter caused her further unsurity. She hopes that this rage would not cloud Cael's aim with his summoned power, for Toshiro seemed dangerously close.

Gwenh looks at Cael then at Torgue, then back to Cael. "Cael..." She shimmers for a moment, almost thinking of changing into a dragon and pinning him to the ground. Instead she gets behind him and grabs his arms, holding them to his side. "Stop it! You could hit him! And you'll waste your power, you'll need it for the fight!"

As the adder explodes in a flash of light and flame, Toshiro dove to his left. "Damn!" Toshiro exclaimed as he sees the origin of the energy. I knew he had it in him but he needs to be careful with... Toshiro ducks again as an energy bolt shoots by him to light up the altar and begins to tear it apart. ... his aim.

Seeing Gwenh pinning Cael's arms and admonishing him, Toshiro picks himself up off the ground and dusts himself off. Looking a bit more carefully this time, he approaches the altar obliquely- taking care to stay from within Cael's line-of-sight to the damaged structure.....

Cael struggles, trying to break free from Gwenh's grasp. "You don't understand," he cries out, "the altar is his focus! We destroy it, and we weaken his grasp on the forest's lifeline. Maybe even break his hold entirely! That altar must be destroyed, and quickly, before he can protect it!"

Toshiro sees a (now damaged) pile of stones stacked into an altar shape. Most of the stones near the bottom seem to be local, regular rocks. They are not mortared together. The topmost layer of stones, however, is a brilliant red sandstone. These are covered with the white altar cloth, which is also embroidered in red. The heat he felt seems to be coming from the red stones.

The ground here is black and hard. It is uneven, but it seems as if once-muddy ground had been baked and burnt into the shapes.

Looking around, he also thinks he sees what could be a trail leading away from the pool.

After examining the ground, Toshiro takes his katana and lifts the cloth off of the altar and places it on the ground. He uses the wakazashi to quickly poke and knock stones from the weakened altar to the ground, after hearing Caels statement. Focus for his power eh? he thinks. Not overly bright but definately defended... A quick glance to the bits of the now-dead adder reinforces this thought. Once the sandstone is knocked off, Toshiro motions to the others to find a way across. "Come! I do believe our quarry has left a path to locate him" he calls as he pays very close attention to his second sight, silently vowing not to be caught with britches down again.......

Once Toshiro had knocked over the remains of the altar, Cael stopped struggling. "It is done, Gwehn. You can release me."

Making their way around the small pool, the whole party stands before the ruined altar.

As the others are staring down upon the broken altar, Cael picks up the cloth that had been sitting on top. "Defiled..." he mumbles. "Only one way to purify it."

Thorn's eyes burn as she looks at the altar. Then she cries out and clutches her leg in the manner which you have all become accustomed to in the time you've been traveling. She chokes off the sound and straightens painfully.

She flourishes her arms, and her hands are suddenly replaced by sharp, curving polished blades...or, they would be blades if they were metal. Instead, they are a glossy green-brown, like a young acorn. She plants her feet and braces herself. Vine-like appendages sprout from some of the places on her torso that are not black and scarred, quickly growing to lengths of seven feet or more. They move slightly under their own power, writhing menacingly.

"He is that way," she says, and points down the track Toshiro pointed out. Without waiting another second, she takes off at a dead run down the trail.

Toshiro draws his katana and takes off after the dryad. This is not the way to do this... he muses as he follows Thorn at a dead run. However, I cannot let her face the fiend alone... I only hope this isn't a disaster in the making...

"Oh, damn." Cael is about to drop the cloth he was holding and run after the others when an idea hits him. What if I purified this in front of him? At the least, it would focus his attentions on me, allow the others to get in close. With Eho's blessing, I should be able to withstand anything he throws at me... for a short time. Let us hope it is enough. Still holding the cloth, Cael runs after the others.

Gwenh takes off running after the others also, her hand going to the hilt of her sword.

The party crashes down the narrow pathway. It is not long before a makeshift cabin can be seen up ahead. The area all around the cabin is blasted and black. There appears to be something large and silver behind it...only shining glimpses are visible through the tress, and, well, everyone's looking mostly at...

The thin, dark-haired man hurrying down the path to meet you. He's carrying a twisted staff in one hand and a basket in the other. He stops short as he sees the dryad charging madly towards him.

He drops the basket and points his palm toward her. A blast of energy knocks her up into the air and off the path. As he sees the rest of the party approaching, he kneels down and draws a dark globe out of the basket.

Seeing Thorn get tossed Toshiro increases his pace and with a kai shout, hurls his wakazashi at the brute.

Spinning thru the air, the super-sharp blade sails straight and true. It's flight ends when it impales the hand of the villain to his basket, evoking a scream of pain-filled rage from the victim.

The flying wakizashi, piercing the defiler's hand as it does, also pierces the black globe that hand was holding.

There is the sound of shattering glass, and repellent fumes begin to rise up around the defiler in a dark cloud.

"Scum Defiler! How DARE you desecrate these woods!?!???" Toshiro yells out as he rapidly closes distance, katana back for a killing swing.

"Grrrr.... quite easily, hero", the villain replies as he causes the charging kensai to go sailing with the same gesture as done with Thorn.....

I HATE spellcasters.... goes through Toshiro's mind as he sails into the brush and lands... painfully. ...especially evil ones. Boy that was dumb.... Ow!

Gwenh skids to a halt and freezes, staring at the smoke and the man. Her hand goes to her sword, but she keeps shimmering, as if she's going to change at any moment but can't make up her mind. She looks at the others, wondering which form to use, which spell to cast, what weapon to use. She stands there, completely confused, this is her first battle against a non-dragon...

Cael comes running up behind Gwehn, the desecrated cloth still in his hand. He too screeches to a halt when he sees the defiler, but for a different reason. His eye grow wide with recognition and confusion. "You!?! You're dead! I saw you die!"

Gwenh looks at Cael now, then to the defiler. Her mouth is hanging open, and she appears mute. She keeps looking between the two, her eyes lingering longer on the defiler. She then just looks at the defiler and stares, slowly trying to come out of her shock and do something.

Torque moves from the open in to the surrounding tree cover. Slipping the bow from her back she fits an arrow across its span, steadying the point. Looking along the arrows shaft, she focuses on a point on the defiler's chest.

The defiler gives Cael an oily smile. His eyes alight on the altar cloth, then raise to meet Cael's, and the smile is gone.

He raises his staff like a javelin and throws it towards Gwenh and Cael. As it arcs down, the twisted wood untwists into three pieces...which hit the ground, hissing, as sun adders.

Thorn has picked herself up off the ground and approaches the defiler. She is nearly on him when he throws the staff and refocuses on her. He doesn't do anything.

Her vine-tentacles snake forward, but recoil when they encounter the gaseous cloud. The tips look putrid. He laughs and turns to watch her as she circles him.

Looking down at the snakes Gwenh finally moved. She jumped back, pulled a small hollow gold tube out of a pouch, and shoved a ball (formed of nitre and sulphur molded with pine tar) into the end. Reciting a quick clip of a spell in her native dragon tounge (she'ld been thinking of something like this when she was stunned) she blew on the end of the tube three times. Three tiny globes of fire (or meteors if you want to be specific) shot out of the end, one at each sun adder. When they hit they burst into a one foot sphere of fire and anything combustable within the spheres catches on fire.

Cael snaps out of it when Gwehn destroys the snakes. He quickly shunts the confusion aside as he deals with the ensuing battle. Raising the cloth in the air, Cael chants loudly in Ehosian.

The response to his prayer is quick. Several shafts of light shining through the trees shift to focus on the upheld cloth. As the rays touch the cloth, oily black smoke starts to curl off of it....

The defiler's head snaps around as he hears the Ehosian chants. Since Cael was in "street clothes," he hadn't realized til now where he was from, or what he was. He also appears momentarily confused.

As he turns his glance away from her, Thorn charges straight into the noxious cloud as Torque looses her arrow. It finds his mark and he staggers, clutching at the shaft, then jerks back as tendrils wrap around his neck and limbs. Thorn appears to not notice the arrow, or not care about it, for she begins to carve up the defiler on her own. She's also quickly turning black all over.

Coming out of the brush as Thorn snaps the defiler's neck, Toshiro looks about for the others and any further enemies. After spotting the rest and no more bad guys, he turns back toward Thorn and sees her obvious distress as the darkness spreads to most of her body while in the cloud. Realizing that the cloud is killing her, he yells for Thorn to get out as he attempts to run over to her while avoiding the vapors as much as possible. Steadying himself, he prepares to try and pull her from the cloud, hoping it isn't too late....

After several moments, the smoking cloth Cael holds bursts into flame. He drops it, and slowly walks towards the corpse of the despoiler. Please, Eho, let it have just been an illusion to distract me. Do not let it be him.... Cael thinks, in silent prayer.

Toshiro takes a deep breath and plows Thorn away from the defiler's body, which she seems intent on chopping into as many small pieces as possible.

They tumble together out of the cloud. Toshiro's exposed skin is itching like crazy and appears a little red, but he is otherwise fine. Thorn, on the other hand, looks like she got hit with a good dose of weed killer.

Cael is stepping towards the body, stopping short of the black cloud, which is beginning to thin out. The body is fairly mangled, between where the tentacles broke bones and the blades sliced it up, but it still bears a strong resemblance to one of Cael's old cohorts.

Cael slowly walks up to the body, his face pale, as if he had seen a ghost. He even seems to be struggling with the walking... almost as if he's being forced to walk forward by an invisible force he's trying to resist. Once he sees the face of the corpse he collapses to his knees, tears running down his face. "Oh, Eho, how?" He softly says. "Why 'Van'? He's been dead the past two years. What is happening?" Wrapped up in his grief, Cael is unaware of Thorn's condition.

Gwenh looks at Thorn, who she assumes is being tended by the others, then to Cael, who seems wrapped in his grief. She walks over to him and lays a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes the best among us turn to evil...I know, for my clan leader was tempted by the side of dark...he raised me as if he was my father, and when the time came to choose sides, I had to choose the side of good over the side of the one I called papa. Without his protection I was exiled from my clan, that's why I came here, to get away from the past. Those blades I sold where all that where left to me, and even though he is now evil and on the side of wrong, my papa was the only one who ever cared, so it was hard to side against him. Sometimes good test us, by making us face that which we never want to admit may happen, one of our own turning against us and all that we stand for." She didn't know if he heard her words, but saying them made her feel better, it was the first time she admited the truth about her past since her exile. Removing her hand she look down at him. "I may not understand your pain completely, but I understand why you feel it." With that she stepped back and looked at everyone, seeing where she would be needed.

Torque has come crashing out of the brush at some point, and has gone over to see Toshiro and Thorn.

Toshiro has been in a bit of a frenzy trying to help the dryad. Being so close to her, he could see that she only had a few moments, and the priest seemed mesmerized by the corpse. He knew some healing, but would it work on something so far from human?

The vine-like tentacles hang weakly now and her skin is blotchy and dark. She has essentially recieved a large dose of poison, and Toshiro knows he can't discover, then create, an antidote in time. He turns to shout for the cleric to come over, help, do something when the dryad reaches up - carefully, since she hasn't changed her blades back to hands - to turn his face back towards her.

"My duty is done... I return to my Creators now... it is well. Please, see... no more of this... no more hurt to my Creators..."

She takes a deep breath and the body goes still. Whether she simply died or managed to 'return' before death you can't tell.

And there is still that cabin with the silver glinting behind it, which is obviously where the defiler was living.

After the putrid smoke clears, Cael still sits next to the corpse in a daze. He barely hears Gwehn trying to console him. Finding out you just killed one of your best friends will do that to you. It's even worse when you thought he had dies over three years ago. Almost unbidden, some of his training takes hold, and he starts to bless the body of his old friend. As he closes the man's eyes, he finishes the prayer with ::Eho, Lord of Light, allow this one's flame a chance to redeem itself. Allow it another turn on the wheel,:: he prayed in Ehosian.

Finally, Cael looks up, and the first scene he sees is Toshiro kneeling next to Thorn's body. "Thorn! No!" He jumps up and rushes over, but even before he places his hands to her he can tell that her flame is gone. He bows his head, cursing silently to himself. How many more, Eho? He thinks to himself. How many more will die before this is stopped?

Finally, the survivors investigate the cabin. Behind it is a great (20' across) silver dish - bowl-like - tilted up towards the sky, and somewhat south. Inside the house are documents...letters, it seems - from certain members of the Ehosian government/religious heirarchy to the defiler, mostly containing encouragement that his deeds are strengthening them, making Eho happy, and helping in the extermination of Immortals Who Seek to Outlive the Sun. If Cael sees them, he won't recognize any of the authors, but he'll know some of the authority figures who are referred to in the third person. Also, the name used in the address is not the name Cael knew his friend by.

They make it pretty clear that the death of the Forest and the elves and other beings within it is heartily supported by the Ehosian priesthood at some level.

After a time, Toshiro approaches Cael, a some what puzzled look on his normally passive face.

"So this is some weighty information to discover, is it not?" After Cael nods, he continued. "Cael, why would your pontiff of your church send you out without the knowledge you need.... this seems to me like a large problem that only can get much worse prior to becoming better. And to only send out one to fight it..."

Cael gives out a short, bitter laugh. "My church? I was excommunicated from the church in Ehosia. Those of us who are the true followers of Eho, we don't have a set leadership. Too few of us around here, and too spread out for that. Besides, I did not know of this at all. I stumbled into it, as did you. Eho has guided me into this, to help repair what is being falsely done in His name. " He smiled slightly, remembering the firehawk that forsaw Toshiro's involement in this. "Perhaps Eho felt we needed more help, and sent you, as well." Cael turns back to the desk of papers.

"This... these will help my people. There is enough information here to convince some of my land's people that the Church doesn't follow Eho's will. But I fear it may not be enough."

"Well then..." Toshiro replies, drawing out his pipe and a small contraption. "I suppose that a cleaning out of the guard might be in order"

Attaching a small steel vial to the device, he spins a small wheel on it and a tiny flame apears. After lighting his pipe with it, he then blows it out and faces the priest directly. "Cael, I have no small experience in carving out a cancer in such a orginazation. My own people had been ruled by the corrupt and decadent before events conspired to remove them. I believe this may be the time to start a bit of surgery, no?"

A few puffs, an enigmatic smile and a glint in his eye as he he turns and looks at Gwenh on the far side of the cabin tending her gear. "I also imagine that one will be willing to help and just may be more than any expect...." --- Before leaving this area, Cael will have regained his senses enough to recommend that Thorn be buried (or have her cairn built) where the altar once stood. The ground there is scorched, and will have a hard time promoting growth. If Thorn's body still contains those plant toxins, burying her there will prevent those toxins from killing more plants. If, that is not the case, her body will help return nutrients to that area. Torque elects to stay behind with her tribe, perhaps moving them closer to the center of the Forest to protect it. They also guard the site of the cabin with the large silver dish-thing behind it. The rest of the crew head back to Midway to stock up on supplies before heading to Ehosia, and to tell the friendly barkeep their success. You all enter the Rabid Wombat Tavern in the middle of the afternoon. It's fairly quiet except for a portly tonsured man loudly slurping his soup. Kvelti looks up as you enter, does a quick head count, and looks grim.

End Book 1