3. Under the well

Under the well


  • Under the well - IV

    _"where are the others!?" Gruff said while holding his axe infront of him, ready to strike down should any more of the undead arrive. We where standing in a tight ring, almost shoulder to shoulder. "Where is Bottesini?" someone asked. Another screamed Bacelars name. None of them had returned to Sams flickering torch. It was the only light we had now. Mine had been smashed when i threw myself to the ground, avoiding a small dog like thing when it leaped towards me. Others where lost in the darkness. "What will we do?" The question was met with silence. If not Bottesini and Bacelar returned soon we would go on. We knew there where risks with this. We knew that we may never again see the light of the sun. Adam Bromley cleared his throat and said that we should move on with his usuall supercilious manner. But his voice broke in the end and even if his expression seemed as if untouched by the battle and the loss of Bottesini and Bacelar i saw fear in his eyes.

    We pressed on, none of use where unhurt but we pressed on. Our stock of food was depleteing to fast but we pressed on. The lack of sleep made us sway and stummble but we pressed on. We stopped only when Davin the druid collapsed of exhaustion. Not that we had more strength, he simply stummbled and fell and did not bother to get up. If it would had happened to anyone else the result would be the same. Sam pulled him up on his feets….. And we pressed on.

    Finding a hollow we relised we had to rest. I remember standing looking at nothing in particular in the cave wall, my eyelids felt as heavy as mountains when someone said "Linah, sleep". Someone must have put me onto a bedroll, i can not remember i used mine, but when i woke up after what seemed like only an blink of an eye, a few seconds at most, a saw Mayhtors face with a warm smile on it, telling me that there was soup ready. And that my watch would begin soon. Every mucsle in my body ached. I felt aching muscels i didnt know i had and with a oncomming headache i prepaired to join Sam wich whom i shared the guard duty with that time. I do not remember when a fell asleep again. I only remember that Sam woke me up whispering that our watch would soon end, and that the others should not see me sleeping. The fool had let me sleep during the watch! In a tired blend of shame and anger for this i mummbled a thank you.

    At least i got a good rest that "night". Blood and ash! For what happened next i needed it!_


  • Under the well - III

    _"I have lost track of time" i was thinking to myself. I could not say when we started our journey. Days ago. Perhaps a week. The constant darkness, except the little click of light our party consisted of rubbed away any sense of distance or time. The lack of sleep started to make evryone annoyed, disgruntled. We marched on very much in silence, hoping that Bottesini was not wrong when suddenly something happened that made evryone sharpen up. The sound of steps was heard. The sound flesh torn apart echoed around us from nowhere and from evrywhere. Karbeh and me was ordered to scout ahead and i must admit i was almost scared to death when i blended with the shadows, disappearing from the spot of light, before seeming so small but now so warm and welcomming, to find out what caused theese sounds.

    I quietly, thanking my elven boots, moved from rock to stalagmite, from a nische in the wall to a crack in the floor, tying to pierce the darkness. I could no longer see the others. The light eminating from the torches was quickly swollowed by the darkness, i could only hear them, their armors and low voices. i looked back towards them for but a second and was just about to move up from the crack when something almost stepped on me. The stench of rotting flesh rushed over me like a tidal wave and i could see a half decomposed foot lift of infront of my face, or drag itself is a better description. I could only quench a scream by biting my lips so hard i could feel the taste of my blood. The zombie did not notice me and as soon as it disappeared in the darkness i rushed as fast as i could without making a sound back to the group. Shortly after Karbeh arrived and by the look of her face she had seem something simular.

    We quickly breifed the group of what we had seen. Not had we finished until evry weapon was unsheathed. And lucky that. About the same moment we had formed up hell broke lose. Evrywhere i looked there where undead comming towards us. The magicly skilled lit the place up with magic light for us to see better, but it only hepled a little. They broke our lines. No matter how manny arrows i buried in the abomiantions they would not stop. I shot of arms, knees and parts of the faces but they just kept walking or dragging theirselves towards us. One came up behind me and would have smashed my head if it was not for one of the dwarves, i do not know wich, cut it in half with his axe.

    The battle went on for what seemed like hours. The last remnant of our line broke and we where seperated, fighting in small groups here and there. And just when we where about to loose all hope, we slayed the last of the living dead, and darkness once again ruled the battlefeild._


  • Under the well - II

    _After finding a location where we spent "the night", keeping guard two by two in turns, we pressed on deeper, reaching the tombs lower levels. Much of it where collapsed, visibility was bad due to thick layers of old dust moved by our steps. Even the air felt ancient and confined. Much rubble was in our way, some we cleared out very carefully, some we managed to squeese pass but we did not come far until we came to a complete stop where the proof had caved in. Had not one of us been able to change form to an umberhulk, digging through the rubble I fear the venture would have ended there. Perhaps it would have been for the better to be honest.

    We pressed deeper, leaving the tomb and its catacombs behind, or ontop, of us to emerge in a gigantic underground cave. We saw undergroundlakes and we could hear the sound of a raging river far away. Bottesini said that the lake could have something to do with the wild magic from the well and we went to the shores to investigate.

    This is where things started to go wrong. It turned out the lake was tainted with the wild magic. Bottesini ordered evryone to stay away from the water but it was to late. Karbeh had already been drinking from it. She startes to act strange, like she had lost her sanity, talking and muttering to herself about strange things. For some reason Yurana stepped forward and aslo drank water from the lake. The effects where the same. They both where mad! Insane! While Karbeh was talking without any sense, Yurana seemd to range from overly joyed to angry raged. More about what happened is a little blurry for me. Something hit me from behind and i was told i lost consiousness. Apparently the wild magic in the lake transformed both Karbeh and Yurana into random beings.

    Luckyly, the effects did not last long and we gathered ourselves to press on. Staying very far from the shores this time. We walked for what seemed like days in the thick darkness. The light from our torches did not lit the surrounding very well, as if the darkness around us sucked it in. Hungry and weary we found a spot, easily enough guarded to rest._