Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 4.3 Doen
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 4.3 Doen She's Miss-Taken
Most of the group has elected to chase after Narissa as quickly as possible, bypassing any combat unless necessary in an attempt to catch the Fey that are running off with her. Dillan, on the other hand, is staying in his wagon.
"I'll kill em all!" Lord Rust growled, crashing off into the wilderness, spines on his back rustling in pure rage.
"No." Jasper said from off to my right, "If we chase after every sign of an imp out here we'll be running in circles for days. We have to find her, and we have to do it FAST if we want to find her alive."
The echidna slowed for a moment, stopping as he gripped a tall sapling in his good paw. I could tell that there was an internal struggle of sorts... that his anger demanded satisfaction, but that the more reasonable side of him understood what Jasper was saying. In the end, the sapling lost the contest of wills as Lord Rust's hand crushed it. Looking back at the rat, his scowl was still deep, but he relented, "Alright... just find her."
Jasper stepped into the lead, followed moments later by Zeke as the two guides took off into the forest, followed closely by Lord Rust, then Haldyn and finally Taggart and myself. Traveling off of the roadway meant that we were forced to leave the caravan and the guards behind; that concerned me more than a little, especially since we were guardless and they were Divine Shieldless... but there really wasn't time to think about that if we wanted to save Narissa.
I still don't know how they realized the right way to go; everything looked the same to me, but Zeke and Jasper never stopped or even slowed. They kept shouting back behind them to keep going and to not slow down... only later did they bother explaining that we had hundreds of imps coming after us-- apparently the don't like it when their prey doesn't stop and play... even thinking about that now sends chills up my spine. Either way, we kept going... until we got to the clearing.
Everyone came to a halt the moment we passed though a wall of black oak trees, blasted and twisted as if they'd somehow managed to survive a powerful firestorm. They created an entire ring around a clearing in the forest, the open sky allowing the moonlight to shine down and illuminate the eerie black mushrooms that grew in a perfect circle around a large stone slab resting in the middle of the glade. Laying atop the rough-hewn boulder was Lady Hearthsinger. She was staring up at the moon, unrestrained, and completely naked.
"Narissa!" Rust noted, pushing past Zeke and Jasper. As hopped over the mushrooms and approached the stone slab Narissa sat up. "Are you alright?" he asked, "Did they hurt you?"
The tigress stared at him with blank eyes, and raised a paw. Even from the distance I could hear her begin the incantation for a spell, and little wisps of flame came to her fingers. At the last minute, Rust grabbed her paw, interrupting the spell, "What are you doing?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.
Narissa's other paw reached out and backhanded him across the muzzle, and reached to the side of where she sat. Her knife jabbed outward and Rust was barely able to step back in time to avoid being stabbed, "Come to me." she murmured, at the same time as an enormous four-legged buck spoke aloud in a strong, clear voice words in a language I didn't understand... but I had no doubt that they were the same ones she spoke, albeit, in his strange language. All eyes went to him immediately as a sea of imps appeared from the forest in all directions.
The stag's fur was as black as raven's feathers, broad, obsidian rack stretching high above his head like a majestic crown. His eyes were pools of midnight and his razor-sharp ebony hooves hovered just above the ground, not quite touching it. The hart appeared to have been carved from a lump of living coal, seemingly a single piece of twisted perfection as his pupilless eyes gazed around from traveler to traveler, before finally settling on me.
For a moment I didn't realize was going on but, as the flashes of thoughts and images flowed through my mind, I realized what it was: he was showing me... things. I only caught glimpses of his message, but it was clear enough. The stag showed me what he intended to do with Narissa... that she would be his slave, and that her very life's essence would be used to empower him and his followers. She was going to be used to spread the corruption.
"No." I said firmly, and my call was picked up by those around me; the images were not meant for me alone.
"This is what I want." Narissa said in her cold, emotionless tone; I didn't miss that the stag had spoken at the same time, and I wasn't about to believe it. Apparently neither did Rust.
"She's not a puppet... creature." Rust seethed, brandishing his iron fist.
"She. is. mine." the stag explained in simple, clear words using common.
Rust raised his hammer hand, "Only if you can keep her." The echidna pointed his hammer at Narissa, "Goddess, hear me!" he called, "I beseech you! Free her from this dark creature's influence!" A ray of pure light descended from the sky as an answer to Lord Rust's prayer, but we stood by helplessly as the dark cloud of power surrounding the stag spread the distance between him and Narissa... and Tah'Aveen's touch could not penetrate it.
"I. am. god. here." the stag noted, gazing straight at Rust.
"SHE is a goddess EVERYWHERE." I countered, and held my staff toward Narissa. Calling to Tah'Aveen, I begged her to free Narissa, and the roaring bugle of outrage from the hart signaled my success. He roared out a command in his strange language to the sea of imps lingering at the edge of the grove and, as one, they cascaded toward us. I could feel their dark energy as they got closer and closer; it pushed down on me as if it were physical... only later did I learn that they were capable of powerful acts of magic with no more a thought than a normal man might draw breath; that particular effect was one that sapped the will to fight... and, Goddess... it was effective.
The hart remained where he was as the imps continued their charge and he spoke simply, "She. is. mine." and, with that, the black cloud emerged from him once again and swirled around the tigress. She went rigid as the fog flowed into her body, and she slowly relaxed again, sitting down on the stone table and lowering her head, blank gaze clear in her eyes. "Kill. them." he ordered in a language we could understand.
Complacently, Narissa raised her paws, aimed at us. Little jolts of electricity arced between her claws as she began speaking the words, and she slowly got to her feet but, as she did so, her toes hooked underneath a root protruding from the ground, and she stumbled; her spell faltered.
Directly to my right, my attention was called to Zeke as he stepped forward to meet the wave of imps rushing us. With a battle cry, he swung his sword just as one launched itself into the air, coming down at him with a dagger in its grasp. He shoved his blade forward first, impaling it. The imp's eyes went wide, and it disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving a spray of ichor to rain down onto the successful fox, who declared his victory with a simple "bleh". I couldn't spend any more time watching him, however, as a powerful presence called to my attention, and I looked back to the stag, who was staring at me.
"Priests, is it?" the creature demanded, but this time its voice was in my head, "I'm not inclined to let you interfere again." it noted and, while I was distracted, the imps jumped on me, attacking with claws, teeth... one even had a sharp stick. Even though they were small, they were vicious, and I could barely keep them off of me. They jumped back and forth between me and tree branches, rocks, and the ground... and I thought I was just starting to get a handle on keeping them away from me when one landed on my shoulder, and brought a large rock down on my head.
I was seeing stars, and they went running off, laughing scornfully amongst themselves. I couldn't see straight and the pounding headache in my skull made me feel sick to my stomach. To my side, I saw the imps similarly swarm Lord Rust. I think I remember two or three of them getting skewered on the quills all over his back, but there were just too many for him to keep track of... and when one of them managed to get him by the nose, that was pretty much the end of it; Lord Rust stumbled forward, and they tripped him-- he went head-first right into a low-hanging branch.
"Rust..." I murmured, and little fingers of blackness started to encroach on my vision. I remember finding some element of humor in it-- I'd never lost consciousness before traveling to Zion, and, at that moment, I was about to experience my second go at being rendered unconscious... but, despite the splitting headache and the hazy vision, my body just wasn't willing to let me slip into the comforting numbness.
"And as for you..." the stag noted, deep voice dripping with vengeance, "You ran through one of my imps..."
"No!" I heard Zeke shout, and could hear the sound of him fleeing... but it wasn't apparently fast enough; the sound of the stag chasing after him was much faster, and I winced when I heard the resounding collision of antlers and body, followed by the thump of Zeke landing on the ground.
"Ugh... get... get offa me!" Zeke exclaimed, and I could hear him struggling.
"I can't very well do that, fox... not when you'll run away." the stag chuckled, "I wouldn't want to make my tigress have to chase you." the chuckle came out even darker before I heard the stag speak up, "Tigress... come to me."
"Yes, Master..." Narissa's hollow voice spoke in monotone; I heard her light steps head out into the distance before stopping, "What do you wish of me?"
"Take your knife..." the stag directed, "and cut his throat." the hart noted with relish, "and, after that, return to the table, and make yourself ready for me." his voice spoke the last words with barely restrained lust.
I'm not sure what happened next... but I heard glass breaking, followed by a gasp, and coughing, before the stag spoke up, "What... is... what did you... you're MINE!"
"That is Hefflys." I heard Narissa speak up, "It's a numbing agent... but it causes paralysis if you take too many doses..." her voice was full of anger and scorn, "...you just got about twenty."
"You... can't do.... this." I heard the stag fight to steady his breathing, followed by the sound of his heavy body collapsing onto the leaf-strewn ground.
"Of course I can... I just did." Narissa countered.
"But... you're mine..." the stag argued, his voice sounding far-off and vacant, "I control you."
"You probably hear this a lot already but, 'I was faking it.'." the tigress stated.
"The imps!" I heard Zeke shout, and the sounds of combat filled my ears. I remember trying to move, but even the littlest motion was impossible despite any expenditure of will. I was helpless. It didn't sound like things were going well, but suddenly that changed; a loud, clear peal of metal on metal caused everything to fall silent... followed by countless tiny screams and the sound of an army of imps fleeing.
"What... was that?" I heard Jasper's confused voice.
"Cold iron plus iron." I recognized the voice of Dillan Flynn, "I supplied the Cold Iron, and our friendly muscle-headed echidna here was nice enough to let me borrow his hammer.
"Eew... that thing comes OFF?" I heard Zeke gag.
"He is unconscious, dear boy... I'll give it back before he misses it, but in the meantime, it appears I've saved the day." the ferret chuckled.
"Apparently you're not as much of a coward as everyone thought you were." Jasper countered; he sounded pretty agitated, I think.
"You're welcome." Dillan answered.
"We should get out of here in case they come back." Taggart suggested.
"Right." Narissa acknowledged, followed by the sound of cloth being folded, "Thank you, Mr Flynn."
"You're most welcome, my dear... and might I say, that is a very fetching color on you."
"No, you may not." Rust mumbled groggily from beside me. I would have laughed if I hadn't felt like he sounded.
"Ms Hearthsinger..." Jasper questioned, "Are you done here?"
"I think we all are." she confirmed.
"You...." I heard the eerie, otherworldly voice of the stag wheeze, "will... not.... get... away...."
"What do we do with him?" Taggart asked, voice shaky at the hart's threat.
"Threat reduction." Dillan offered.
"Threat reduction?" Zeke questioned.
"Threat reduction..." Jasper confirmed, as the pain in my head FINALLY gave way to blessed unconsciousness, I heard the sound of Jasper's blade cutting into the paralyzed black hart.
* * * * * *
The Doenian Group has completed Chapter 4.
The travelers rescued Narissa from the fey onslaught and emerged victorious!
After respective healing, injuries now show thusly: Lord Rust, Zachary, Jasper, Narissa and Haldyn all have 1 Lethal Wound. This includes magical healing and mundane healing distributed throught.
All characters also lose 1 Major Fatigue and all Minor Fatigue. Lord Rust has 2 Major Fatigue and Zachary has 1.
Since Lord Rust has no more Willpower to use he cannot spend one to remove the Fatigue.
This chapter marked matured due due to the violence involved and suggestive sexuality.
After slaying the Black Hart, the party was able to recover its partially magical hide. Someone will get the benefit of having the Black Hart Leather armor, and that will be based on a party vote.
Black Hart Leathers: +1 Defense, +1 to resist supernatural effects.
Please watch for upcoming contribution opportunities as Chapter 5 will soon begin. Congratulations to the Doenian party for surviving Chapter 4!