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The Land of Lies
Part 1
Peltarch Commerce District, year 21
The boy, armed with a wooden sword, had approached the adventurers seeking aid in rescuing his sister. This, of course, had struck a chord in her heart. She thought that the sister had been kidnapped. She could understand that much. She heard her name, a question to aid in the rescue. She accepted and listened intently as strategy and tactics were discussed.
Natha was assigned to the rear guard. She had no objection to this. From the stories and tales, heard from soldiers during her upbringing, it was an important role. She would have no skill to add to the front in any case. A warrior she had met before, whose horse she had spotted in the strangest of places, would be by her side.
The boy leading the force, consisting of many prominent adventurers, some she knew, some were strangers for her, set out towards the abandoned camp slightly south and west of the city. Marching into the spider infested forest. A strong force. Mighty. Awe inspiring. Natha felt an honor to be a part of it.
Whatever band of brigands that held the sister would rue the day this action came to mind!
Natha had not the slightest of clue of the horrors that was to come.
Natha did not like insects in general. She did not like anything with more than three eyes and/or five legs. Well, perhaps butterflies would receive a pass. However, she outright hated spiders. And these were huge. Coming from ground and trees. Even though the warriors at the front cleared a wide path, there were spider attacking them from the sides and from behind. She had never been this deep into the forest before. She started to worry slightly as the spiders grew larger and larger. No, she was part of this and will do her best. She will be useful. The forest thickened.
The spiders in the forest beyond the abandoned campsite had been creepy.
The party had to squeeze between tree trunks that seemed to widen as they did. Tried to pin them, hold them. Ducking under branches that seemed to wish to grasp and pull them away to who knows what. An agonizing, crushing, death most likely. She could hear sounds of others but not see them. Infront of her, to the sides. Yells and curses as the woods seemed to be more a wall of massive trees, thorny leafless bushes and sharp low hanging branches. She did not want to know what caused the squishing sound at each step on the ground. Nathas short sword helped a little to clear away the worst but not by much. Thorns stuck in her cloak and clothes stung her when she moved. Twigs scratched her face and almost gouged her eyes out. After an eternity, the woods began to disperse.
The crawl through the dense, deep, woods had been intimidating.
An ominous pass seemed to lead through the ridges that loomed before them. The trees had finally given way. Natha took a deep breath of relief and rested as much as she could during the time the boy and the prominent adventurers discussed their course of action. The pass seemed to lead through the ridges. The call to proceed came. They ventured into the narrow, dark, pass.
Suddenly Natha heard shouts ahead. Soon followed the sound of metal meeting metal. Metal meeting flesh. Screams of pain and twisted yells of death. The warrior by her side rushed forward and her mind was divided. Should she abandon her post and follow? Or remain in the shadowy nook as instructed? Her dilemma was solved for her, as a heavily armored figure where approaching the red-haired novelist woman known for her no bullshit attitude. Natha hesitated, uncertain, calculating.
The fight between the armored foe, the novelist and someone else, that she could not see, began. She nocked an arrow while moving quickly around a boulder for a better position. Just as the hostile hulk of armor struck, sending a rapier flying, Natha loosed her arrow. It flew straight at the foe. Natha felt ice wrap her heart as the arrow shattered on impact.
The large man turned towards her and she reached for her sword, knowing full well that her skill would be no match for this enemy.
Suddenly, a roar. With the roar, a dwarf, sailing through the air, crashing into the armored man, knocking him to the ground. The dwarf swung his axe, burying it deep into the head of the enemy.
Although the adventurers were many, with several of the most skilled and fearsome warriors Natha knew of, they had been hard pressed.
The battle out of the pass had been brutal.
They had reached a temple in the woods. It towered above them as they approached in a slow, wary, march.
The front line charged. Several adventurers made their way inside. Natha and some others waited, acting as a second wave should there be battle. Nothing was heard. No battle cries, no banging metal sounds, no spells conjured.
A call to come inside was heard. They could not all be captured, could they? No, of course not. Someone would have made a ruckus, fought back.
Natha walked up to the entrance, looked inside, and froze. She did not see the somber faces of her companions.
Blood. Corpses. Stench of rotting meat. Piles of things Natha did not want to think nor know about. The inside provided a gruesome sight. Yet, in the middle, three figures kneeled while praying completely oblivious to the force of adventurers and the macabre surroundings. Behind the three, an ominous looking gate of sorts. A portal.
As those with better minds and larger muscles than her began discussion their course of action, Natha concentrated on her task, keep watch behind them as part of the rear guard. She did not understand how magic worked, however she hoped that this was it. That they could close the portal and they could all go back to Peltarch.
The call that she dreaded came.
They all entered through the portal…
