Lords of RPG

Fabian tugged on Timm’s cloak. “We’ve been here long enough. It's not worth the risk to stay here. Come with us.”

Timm took one more look at the town of Riverbend below, and took it all in. The river rising up out of its bed, corkscrewing through the air, and then falling back into its bed. The water spouts that roamed around the city, as if they were intelligent sentries. The puddles of gray goo seemingly crawling on the rooftops. On the fringes of things, the monstrosities roamed. Horrible twisted combinations of human bodies in freakish and unimaginable configurations. Heads and arms and legs sticking out this way and that, misplaced eye sockets, gaping twisted mouths with tongues hanging out over gnarled teeth. And then Timm took one final look at the dragon perched atop the Temple of Kempin in the center of town. "Yeah… not worth the risk staying exposed up here. Where are you taking us?"

Fabian started making a way through the dense woods, away from the cliff. "Somewhere safe."

One of the teenage girls spoke under her breath. "No where is safe."

--------------------------

The five surviving teenagers led the party through the forest to a small clearing, with a large stone outcropping rising up out of it. Climbing the stone, there was a gap at the top, no bigger than the entrance to a wolf-den. Inside though, it opened up into a chamber just big enough for the five teens and our heroes.

Sympos picked up an empty bottle of wine from the floor of the cave, and set it aside so that he could sit down. There were many such empty bottles, plus dirty blankets, the remains of old camp fires, broken plates and mugs, and other trash. "What is this place?"

Fabian answered. "Before the coming of the demoness…this was a place young people came to get away from adults…"

Shade snickered. "A love nest, Sympos. A make-out spot. A place you'd bring your girl to fuck her, and not get caught by her parents."

Fabian blushed, and shared a glance with the oldest of the two girls. "Yes…something like that.  But, since the demoness came, this has been our home. There were nine of us that made it out. There are five of us left."

Fabian looked to be around 17 years old, with dark hair that hung over his forehead, a face full of freckles, and a strong lean build. He had darker skin, as do the people of Gwent. He appeared to be the leader of the little group. He introduced the other youths.

The oldest girl was Victoria. She was likely 15 or 16, with long dark hair, a darker skin tone like Fabian's, and dark freckles as well.

The younger girl was Tomlin. She looked to 14 or 15, with light brown hair, a light skin tone, and sad eyes. It appeared she might be taking their current situation worse than the others.

The youngest boy was Macray, Tomilin's younger brother. He was no more than 14 years old. He shared Tomilin's lighter skin tone, and had an angry look about him. As if it would take very little to set him off.

The middle boy was Louis, Fabian's younger brother. The was thinner, and unlike Fabian, had not yet come into manhood.

Timm briefly introduced his friends to these teen survivors, afterward he asked, "So, what were you guys planning to do?

Fabian shook his head. "At first, all our time was focused on surviving. We lost Madi and Franky on the first day after our escape from the town. J. T. was killed the next day, and Zack the next. But, once we stopped trying to go into the town, and settled into this hiding spot we stopped....we stopped losing people. We weren't sure how far the demoness' corrupting influence had spread, but we started scavenging from the surrounding farms."

Sympos nodded. "And that is how you discovered the corrupted farm, and the hermit out a little further. But why did you not keep going? Save yourselves?"

Fabian and Victoria shared another look. Victoria answered the question. "We weren't sure how far the corruption had spread. Would the next town be just as bad? And our families and friends are here. Maybe some of them are trapped in the town. And so we watch from the cliff-top, in case anyone untouched by the demoness breaks free and makes a run for it."

Aed interjected. "What do you mean? Untouched by the demoness?" He self-consciously ran a hand over the holes in his side, where the monstrosity had stuck its fingers into him, and started to meld with him.

Fabian seemed to notice the gesture, and lifted his own shirt to reveal hollowed out finger-sized holes where perhaps he had been similarly touched. "These...these scars are the reward for surviving the touch of one of those twisted monsters. Once they grab you, if you don't break free...you are joined to them. You lose yourself in the twisted mix of flesh and bone, and become a part of the monster."

Shade reached up, and touched where he had similar holes near his collarbone.

Victoria added. "I don't worry about people with scars like that. That means they are still one of us. When I say touched by the demoness...I mean those that are no longer themselves. Those that have been corrupted and are lost to us forever. There is a chance...."

The young boy Macray barked out, "A SLIM chance!"

Victoria continued. "Yes...a slim chance that some of our loved ones are hiding yet. In a cellar or attic. In some clever hiding place. Hiding...and waiting to be rescued...or helped in their escape from the town. That is why we have stayed here."

Macray spit on the floor of the cavern. "It is dumb.  They're all dead.  We should leave soon, or we'll die...or become one of those monstrosities. We should have left days ago, if you ask me."

Fabian shot Macray a stern look, but said nothing in response.

Timm chose this moment to refocus the discussion on what mattered to their survey mission.  "So...this corruption.  The demoness.  How did this happen?"

Fabian shook his head.  "It is hard to say.  The mothers of Riverbend have always tied red ribbons to their children, to keep Al-Ana away.  To keep her from replacing our babies with one of her babies.  With a monstrosity.  This tradition is followed in many of the nearby towns as well.  Before...well, just before.  My dad said some of the women had been secretly worshipping Al-Ana.  The men were going to put a stop to it."

Victoria continued the story.  "But, men started disappearing.  No one knew what was happening.  Looking back, I think the women worshipping Al-Ana killed them men."

"Sacrificed them!"  Macray rasped out.  "Let's not beat around the bush.  The first monstrosities were those men...sacrificed to the demon by the women."

Fabian added then, "Well...some of the first monstrosities were the men.  But, some were woman who were not part of the cult.  The ribbons removed by cultist, and the babies replaced by the demoness.  Then the babies set about attacking their mothers.  It was madness.  Screams in the night.  All night.  No one knew what was happening..."

Victoria grimaced at the memories.  "The screaming did not stop with sunrise, as the corruption was spreading through the town.  Monsters made of water rose from the rivers...and the river rebelled against its banks.  Ooze crept up out of the abandoned riverbed.  The scarecrows in the fields came alive.  And the monstrosities rampaged through the streets and people's homes and businesses.  The nine of barely made it out...and were lucky to find each other."

Macray scoffed.  "Five of us were lucky.  Can't say much for the other four.  Can't say yet for this lot either."  The boy gestured at the survey team.

Timm took this all in, and shared a glance with Sympos and then Shade. 

Shade took the lead.  "So, give us the lay of the land.  Why do you think some of your families are still alive?  Are their tunnels?  Do we know for a fact that Al-Ana has taken up residence in the Temple of Kempin?  Is that why the dragon is perched there?  Protecting her?"

Fabian grabbed a stick, and sketched a very rough sketch of Riverbend in the dirt on the cavern floor.  "There are tunnels beneath the Green Glory tavern.  They lead to several nearby buildings.  They were dug during some old war, as a hiding place.  Everyone in the town knows they are there beneath the tavern.  But, there were rumors of other tunnels, separate networks beneath the town.  Also dug for the war, but now used for various purposes.  It is our hope that our loved ones got into some of these hiding places.  Hiding places that not all the cultists would know about."

"When we were watching the town, yesterday...we saw the demoness enter the Temple of Kempin.  She was huge, and seemed to be growing.  She barely fit through the doors, and she was dragging a massive root system behind her.  I don't know for a fact that she's still there...but I believe she is.  Because of the dragon...and because we see cultists coming to and from the Temple all through the day.  And that root system she was dragging behind her has spread out throughout the town.  It all seems to center on the Temple."

Fabian paused and seemed to be thinking hard.  "Okay...we've talked about the dragon...the monstrosities...the demoness, and there are the oozes, the water monsters, and the living scarecrows.  But we haven't discussed the lights."

Shade was curious.  "The lights?  Globes of light?"

Fabian nodded.  "Yes...bright balls of light, floating in the air.  Appearing when something dies, and disappearing once they have fed.  You've seen those too?"

It was Shade's turn to nod.  "So they are feeding on the dying...their spirit or something?"

Sympos was grim.  "It is unnatural to disturb the fleeing spirit when Rukin collects his toll.  A sacrilege upon the natural order."

All was quiet for a few moments.  Likely, all present were considering whether it was a better fate to simply die, and have your soul eaten by the balls of light...or to be corrupted as a monstrosity, and keep one's irrevocably damaged soul.  (Well, to be honest we can only be sure that Sympos was considering this.)

Gabe looked up from a recipe book he as casually thumbing through.  "We're going home now, right?  I mean, we found out what's happening in Riverbend.  Case closed."

Sympos spoke aloud what everyone but Gabe was thinking.  "Can we simply go home?  The corruption is spreading.  How far will it reach before we've alerted someone else to the problem?  How powerful will the demoness be by the time someone else is able to take this on...or by the time we come back with help?"