Aria, Ember, Galina, and Wiztiyc the minotaur went into The Beautiful Caves to take out a group of orcs that were sitting outside of Ilona. What they found instead was a cult of goblins, possessed by a rot god; Aria was possessed by this rot god, temporarily. Beaten and scared the group retreated back to the surface, only to find the orcs had been trying to besiege the goblins. An alliance was promptly formed.
The sun came up, as it always did. The orc sentries relaxed, even if only a little; goblins were afraid of sunlight. As much as orcs loved battle even they did not care much for their foe, for these goblins worked for the rot god. They were stronger, faster, meaner, more intelligent. With day the orcs could continue their scouting, which had been continuously interrupted by the falling of the sun. Their backs were turned when the goblins came pouring out of the Caves like fetid water out of a sewage pipe. The goblins washed over the surprised orcs, leaving blood and corpses where once were living bodies.
Ember, who was just waking up, heard the commotion. He blinked in disbelief; how were goblins out in broad daylight? The energy comeing from these goblins, which Ember could see with his arcane sight, was even stranger. Bits of Aria's aura were now in the eldritch strings that the rot god was using to boost the goblins. Looking at how the goblins were being strengthened by the rot god's aura Ember came to the realization that aura is a sort of language. Life is communicated in the way the object could best receive it. But what if one confused this language, confused the recipient? Ember realized he could do that. And so he did. He reached out to as many of the rampaging super goblins as he could and scrambled their ability to "hear" the rot god. He couldn't do it for long, but one doesn't need long for a group of terrified and confused creatures to be slaughtered. The eyes of the rot god were upon Ember; he could feel the gaze boring into him. No matter what Ember did he couldn't make the eyes go away. They hung in the air, as if they were purple smoke.
Galina and Aria had run up to one of the goblins who hadn't been slaughtered and-
It had Aria's eyes. Aria's eyes were staring back at her... and Aria found she couldn't see anything else. "What... what is this, Galina?"
An orc came running, scimitar out. Galina interposed herself between the goblin and orc. "No! Keep this one, for questioning! Back off! Go!" Growling, the orc went back to a campfire and sat down, kicking the campfire before him. Galina turned back to the goblin and looked at its aura; it thought of Aria as a mother! It looked at Aria with no small amount of adoration as it sat there, hogtied. Aria's revulsion was total. She'd hope the look on its face was-
"Aria... Aria...! Return to me" boomed the goblin. Who returned to his nervous giggling a moment later.
Galina and Aria stared, horrified. And yet fascinated.
Wiztiyc was staring at a fresh orc corpse. No one was looking. Galina and Aria were squabbling with some goblin, the orcs were driving off the rest of the goblins, Ember was just staring into space... the orc's arm looked so good. Just one nibble... it had to taste like chicken. Shaking, Wiztiyc picked up a severed orc arm. It loomed in his vision, blotting out all else.
The arm tasted like pork, raw.
No, that couldn't be right.
Wiztiyc knew orcs tasted like chicken and he'd had a hankering for months. There was a cooking fire just over there. Maybe, just maybe...
The orc shouts didn't matter. Not anymore.
The wind fled his lungs.
Just reach
REACH
"Mmmph.... chick- OOMPH!"
Ember didn't want to stop looking at The Eyes; he was scared they would become a face and the face would become a body and the body would come after him, if he so much as turned his back. But Ember could still hear things and there was orc shouting and Wiztiyc grunting in pain. Ember wrenched his gaze away.
And then looked back.
The eyes had not grown into a face. There was that much, at least.
Well, tried to anyway.
The orc leader's web was frozen into a hierarchical configuration. Forcing him to love Wiztiyc like a brother meant breaking and reforming that configuration. And the eyes were still watching, even here, even while Ember was deep within the orc leader's soul. Fright turned to fury; Ember pushed on the hierarchical web with all his strength.
The orc's eyes narrowed in the fury forced upon him. Running over to the pile of orcs and minotaur, he began breaking necks and ruining bodies. Pulling what was left off of Wiztiyc, the orc leader asked "You get in battle?"
The orc leader grabbed the arm from Wiztiyc. And took a big bite out of his fallen compatriot. The other orcs gawked in astonishment. with a gulp the orc leader clapped Wiztiyc on the shoulder and returned the arm to the minotaur. "Spoils sacred. Eat, friend, eat!"
Aria and Galina walked up to Ember and Wiztiyc, who was greedily chomping down the rest of the orc arm before the orc leader changed his mind. "I'm going back in," Aria declared. "I need to know why this... thing.. this god has done..." she gestured at the goblin in disgust and terror. "I would appreciate the company."
"Mmph. In a minute. Earned this," grunted Wiztiyc, as he pulled more flesh off his grizzly trophy.
The four returned to the cavern where Aria had been possessed by the rot god. The torchlight revealed more objects in the unreal feces. Everyone started collecting the gold they had found. But Galina was the only one to find anything other than small handfuls of gold: a chipped diamond, shining crooked rainbows in the light of her torch.
Aria began to look at the chute she had seen before, where she knew that the rot god waited. She felt the pull again and... and...
The floor opened beneath Aria.
Darkness.
Darkness.
Darkness.
WHUMP
Aria grabbed whatever it was she'd bounced off of, even though her fingers tore. There wasn't time to think; she pulled herself up in a hurry. She was in pitch black, true darkness. Aria felt out the small island she'd found in this sea of fuligin she'd discovered.
"Why does it matter that I died?" asked Tonya's voice, without hardly a ripple in the darkness. "People die all the time, violently even. They're hanged, cut open, starve, jump off of bridges. Death is normal. So why does my death upset you so much?"
"HELP!" Aria called upward into the absolute darkness. "I'm down here! I'm alright, but it was a long drop!"
Back up in the cavern of shit and gold Galina, Ember, and Wiztiyc were standing by the new hole in the floor, trying to figure out a way down after Aria. They heard Aria calling out just as they were done splicing their ropes together. Ember looked down and saw the rot god's presence centered next to Aria. Terrified, he shouted down. "Hang on, we're coming for you!"
Wiztiyc went down first, torch in hand. The light could be seen by Aria who looked over-
-Tonya was hanging in the air, neck broken at a right angle, rotting eyes staring at Aria with a sight that she could not accept. She screamed and almost jumped off her island, heels in the infinite abyss. Wobbling, Aria forced herself back to the island, facing the floating corpse.
"Why do I sadden you so?" croaked the floating Tonya. "Is that you think you caused it? You've had to kill others before, have you not? Is death acceptable so long as you're not responsible for it?"
Wiztiyc was there, torch in hand, rope around waist, reaching out. Tonya was gone.
A few exhausting tens of minutes later and Aria was back with the group. The rot god's aura had retreated a bit, allowing Ember a little bit of a breather; he could feel there were spells living in this complex, somewhere. And they were calling to him. "There is a spell I can find, if you'll help me. I can use it to help us in the future." Everyone took a moment, and then nodded. "Thank you," Ember said. Wiztiyc went to the passageway that led back towards the surface and threw their rope high, managing to catch it a on something in the gloom.
The group pulled themselves up into the bright sun. The structures of an ancient civilization greeted them. Stone cubes with curious scrapings acrost the stone. But Ember didn't care to look. All he saw was the well; another way underground. The group, hungry and exhausted, lowered the trembling Ember down into the well.
The Eyes followed him.
The well broke off into a small room, covered in the usual shit, to Ember's right, and a rough shaft to Ember's left. After a second Ember could hear it: a low buzzing noise. It didn't stay low for long. Gigantic hornets, the size of Ember's forearm. But Ember saw the truth, even with the Eyes distracting him. These were what real hornets were imitating. This energy of rage... Ember could connect with it. He reached out, in his fear of The Eyes, in his helpless rage against them, and invited these hornets, the real hornets, into him. His soul. His very essence. Their energy filled Ember with warmth. The Eyes were still there. Ember was still afraid of them. But Ember didn't care.
They pulled Ember back up, out of the well. From beyond the ruins they heard the sounds of conflict; human and orc voices could be heard. Galina ran ahead... to witness what she hated most in the world: a nobleman leading. He sat atop his horse, full plate shining in the sun...
That's not what Ember saw. The man in shining armor, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, was an apparition, used to cover Ember's old foe, Lord Reynolds! Ember immediately hid himself in the crowd; if he was caught by his former mentor there'd be little he could do to defend himself.
Galina, however did not hide from the prancing jackass she saw. "There's something worse under the ruins! The orcs were helping us fight it!"
"Something worse than orcs exists?" asked Lord Reynolds, incredulous.
"A rot god, for one, you shiny fool!" spat Galina. The soldiers looked to their lord, but Lord Reynolds waved them off.
The orc leader came up to them. "We no enemies! Want rot god dead!"
"I see... I see..." Lord Reynolds rubbed his chiseled chin. "Would you be willing to come and help us eliminate this dark and heathen god?"
"Already trying to!" roared the orcs.
"Then let us battle together!" cried Lord Reynolds, and all cheered except Wiztiyc, Ember, Galina, and Aria. They were in various stages of pain and exhaustion.
The orc leader strode up to Ember and Wiztiyc, clapping them on the shoulders: "Friends come! Kill rot god! We have numbers!"
"Yeah, I'd love to die today," quipped Wiztiyc. "No thanks."
The orc leader, shocked, looked to the others. Not one was able or willing. "Die for glory better than live as coward!"
"I dunno, I like living to spend my hard-earned cash, so you can keep the death, thanks," insisted Wiztiyc.
The orc leader was forced to like Ember and Wiztiyc, thanks to the spell Ember had cast on him. So he didn't have his orcs kill them.
Just beat them within an inch of their lives. And then left them there.
Somehow the quartet dragged themselves back to the town of Ilona, practically penniless.They found the town inhospitable, particularly as Lord Reynolds was clearly solving the problems they had not. Not that anyone was paying attention, as new visitors had come to town: a group of gith monks, said to come from the stars themselves. The week was spent ignored, injured, and trying desperately not to let their wounds become infected. Finally they'd had had enough. It was time to go.
Creditors followed Aria and Ember, yelling about unpaid debts that both swore they'd paid. Just as weapons were drawn, one of the yellow-skinned gith everyone had been raving about. "Will this cover them, friend?" asked the odd monk, holding out a few jewels. The creditor's eyes were like dinner plates. He left happy.
The monk drew near to Aria and Ember, who were stunned to silence. "There is a weapon in the Beautiful Caves that had killed Neizbezhnyy, the rot god also known as The Inevitable, once before. The goblins you've seen had originally brought it to kill Neizbezhnyy, but he had used it to enslave them. You will know it when you see it. Bring it back to this town and I'll find you. Your debt to me will be rectified then." Ember and Aria nodded, and went to talk to Galina and Wiztiyc.
Lord Reynold's white stallion came running up to the gate of Ilona, were the four stood, white fur turned pink.
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