the Darkness of Khmol'ze Pt. 1

Our story begins, as every good story should, in a place far away, actually you have most likely never heard about it, a village far up in the highlands. Right by the mountains rests the small village called Gimni, by the villagers and That-Place-Where-Our-Iron-Comes-From by the proud family of Befverhanskenhjelm who owns most of the mines around Gimni. This is where we find our first actor, Sir Gregory II Befverhanskenhjelm's eldest son, Leopold Befverhanskenhjelm, sent to That-Place-Where-Our-Iron-Comes-From by his father to learn to look after the family's business (and to teach his no-good son what the world looks like outside their estate down by Uinford).

   Leopold walked up to one of the mines once, gave the unfortunate foreman a rant about all the dirt on the road (which was the road itself) and how dusty and dark the mine was, then walked back down towards That-Pla... Gimni. On his way back he realized that he should probably try to make the most of this useless trip and decided to go hunting. He had read it was a good thing to do as a noble, and a noble he was indeed. He paid the first hunter he saw handsomely to follow him into the woods, kill a boar for him and then praise him for the great hunt. Ah, the thrill of the hunt.

   Back in the village he made way to the ferry with which he arrived earlier the same day to return to Uinford. This was where he heard the most outrageous thing so far; the ferry would not make the trip back to Uinford more than once a week! He could not understand why the poor ferryman, for poor he clearly was, would not take money for doing the trip right now.

   Here he learned of our second actor, a seasoned (a generous word for this strange man) ranger who often visited Gimni, selling game, herbs and several different odds and ends he found or crafted in the forest. “As he is from the north he surely knows all the paths from here to Uinford,” said the ferryman, “go find him and he might help you.” As it happened the ranger known as Shrike was in Gimni, and after some convincing agreed to lead the noble back to Uinford. Between you and me, it was mostly to get Leopold stop talking.

   Shrike was an... interesting... person. He was as skilled as a ranger as he was strange around other people. Luckily people were as strange towards him and, to his delight, usually stayed away. This wasn't solely because of the way he stared at you when you tried to talk to him, but also the fact his only friend was a panther named Bágra. As you can imagine people weren't really used to having panthers around. It was not in the same way they weren't used to having wolves around, for they knew what a wolf was and that they existed in the forests around Gimni, panthers didn't. No one in Gimni had ever seen a panther, apart from Bágra of course, so in their eyes he was a huge cat, this didn't help as huge cats were as rare as panthers in their corner of the world.

    The ranger also had some mystery about him as no one in Gimni knew much about him at all. It was common knowledge that he was a survivor from a town destroyed in the great war some twenty years ago. He and his father were the only ones to get out when it was burned down. His father because he was out hunting, and Shrike through sheer, unexplainable luck. He had found his father’s hunting lodge empty and from there on searched for him. His father had taught him all the basic wilderness skills he had and over the following twenty years Shrike had perfected them. Having to learn to survive in the unmapped forests of the west he was hardened into what he was today, for better or worse that is. But what do I know? This is what they say in Gimni at least.

    But Shrike was not alone when Leopold found him, our third and final actor had already sought his expertise to leave Gimni, a young would-be wizard named Ewyn. She was from an even smaller village some way east of Gimni, Croyne. Croyne was famous throughout the lands for being home to the world's best fighters. At first glance it looks like nothing but a small farming community, but everyone, men and women, have been trained in the art of war since they could walk. As you might expect young Ewyn was not too fond of revealing it to the rest of the village when she discovered that she had magical abilities. Nearby, however, lived an old crone who was widely regarded as a witch. She gladly helped Ewyn as much as she could. Ewyn was also able to hide her magic training when training with weapons. She chose a staff as her weapon of choice as it could easily be used for her two types of training. She innocently used it as a weapon when practising arms but as easily used it for magic when she was visiting the crone. Even though the crone could teach her to control magic, and was able to provide her with a spell book, there was a limit to how much she could teach Ewyn, as witch-magic is not like wizard-magic. “Wizardry is your call,” she told Ewyn, “staying here will do you no good, your power will grow and I cannot help you use it. You must find a real wizard to help you.” With these words Ewyn began her journey from Croyne to Uinford, the largest city anyone from these parts will ever hear of. This is why she had made way to Gimni, and after consulting the ferryman, found Shrike.

Shrike looked at his new companions for the road ahead. He was okay with the tiny wizard, she had at least seen a forest before. The noble on the other hand... it was going to be a long journey.

With the actors assembled and the stage set, we can begin.

    Shrike led the party down to the docks, he knew there was another ferry going sail today. It wasn't going to Uinford but down the river nonetheless. “He's going halfway to Uinford, then turns east down the Semkan river to Riverfort.” He explained, after exchanging a few words with the ferryman. Not directly to his fellow travellers but just to say it, in case anyone was listening, “after a few days he will continue to Uinford.” Ewyn was thrilled by this, a few days on a ferry then getting to see the great city of Uinford! Leopold, however... “Harrumph! A few days of waiting?” He exclaimed, “We may as well stay here and wait for the real ferry!” Shrike avoided eye contact with the furious noble, not because of the fact he was furious, but because he didn't do well with eye contact overall. “It’s still faster than waiting here a week,” he mumbled under his breath. “I say we go as far as we can along the river,“ Leopold wasted next to no time breathing, even less time was spent on listening to others, “then get off and take a road to Uinford. That is what you forest-running folks are good for, no?” The ferryman who had been listening, it was hard not to when Leopold had something to say, met Shrike's glance and answered the question in it, “there is a place right where the Semkan meets Uin where I can let you off.” Shrike was about to comment, but Leopold was not one to be spoken over. “Ah! Now here is a man with a good head on his shoulders, take us there good sir!” He took a few fast steps past Shrike and the ferryman and on to the barge. “Um, yes, we can set out right away.” The ferryman said as he answered another glance. Shrike boarded and Ewyn, with no say in the matter, followed. Joining them was also the boar Leopold had “hunted” down earlier.

    Down the Uin the small barge sailed. The poor ferryman was still worried about what he had gotten himself into as he looked at his passengers. The one called Ewyn, who he understood was supposed to be a wizard, was looking at everything as if each tree was a new and exciting experience. She had long since passed the distance of her previous longest journey. Shrike was sitting behind some crates rummaging through his bag, every now and then taking something out of it, looking at it only to put it back in. As a ferryman who often visited Gimni he knew who Shrike was and this was normal behaviour for him, sooner or later he would be satisfied with the content of the bag, take out a couple of specific items and craft something... useful... out of them. He was weird but crafty, mostly weird though. He had not seen many nobles this far south, sometimes people sent to represent them in checking on the mines and such, sure, but not nobles themselves undertaking the task. If this was how all nobles were he could see why. This one stood at the bow leaning on his halberd looking triumphant, over what he was not sure. Also this act failed every time the barge rocked even a little. He was not going to jump in when he fell overboard. What really worried him, however, was that Bágra sat next to Shrike. Staring at him with unblinking eyes.

The sooner they got off the better.

    An uneventful day or so down the river they reached the aforementioned spot late in the afternoon. With Shrike's help, as he was the only one with any skills in this whatsoever, they moored the barge long enough for the passengers to get off with their belongings. This included the boar which Leopold decided Ewyn had to carry as she was travelling in his party. Ewyn was not very good at, or used to, arguing and before she knew it she was half carrying, half dragging a boar through the thicket on the riverbank. After getting it up on the bank she put it down and opened her spell book. She knew there was something there. Guided by the book's magical powers she opened the book on the rune Haschim, the invisible servant. Speaking out the magical words related to the spell she called upon the powers beyond this world, bending them to her will. Or... at least trying to. She felt the magic surge through her, building up and... a sound best described with the word “poof”. The rune in her book faded, its powers drained for some time forward. Looking around it didn't seem like any of her companions had noticed, she hastily closed her book and grabbed the boar again. Coming from Croyne, a village full of warriors, she was used to heavy lifting so this was not a problem per se, but she really wished she could just leave it behind. Leopold, however, would have none of it and was already questioning Shrike where the road is.

    From the barge the ferryman witnessed all this as he was setting out. He heard Shrike sigh, say something about “no roads in the forest” Leopold answering with a “harrumph” and walking off deeper in the forest, followed by Shrike and Ewyn dragging a boar. He could not help but to think of what he was getting himself out of. He had never travelled the wilds much. But in the villages and inns he visited there were always stories of exciting adventures that had taken place as soon as normal villagers had taken a few steps from the tried and safe paths. He had sometimes dreamed of joining merchant caravans as they left Uinford for some distant and mysterious place. He soon realised, however, that he was looking at couple of strange people heading down to Uinford led by the most skilled, and at least as strange, ranger these parts had ever heard of. Their journey would take a couple of days down paths known only to rangers and then arrive at the gates of Uinford. If he ever went on a journey it sure wouldn't be one as boring as theirs.

    “We are far from any road,” Shrike sighed as the noble was looking for the direction to the closest one, “we will have to walk through forest before we reach an old path I've heard of.” Leopold looked shocked by the outrageous condition of this part of the world. With a loud “harrumph” he stormed off in the vague direction Shrike had indicated when mentioning the path mumbling something about his father getting to hear about this and such. Shrike followed him slowly, letting Ewyn keep up with him. “Um,” she started, not getting Shrike's attention more than anything else human would, “what is this old path then. If you've only heard of it I mean.” In Shrike's eyes something that might have been joy could be seen, if his eyes would've been facing anything with eyes to observe this. “There was a large road connecting cities of some nation which, together with its cities, is long gone,” the tone of his voice was a different kind of mumbling now, it was rare that strangers took interest in his arts, “the path is the only thing left that the forest has yet to re-conquer. It is wide enough for us to walk abreast, if not considering the roots stretching over the path, digging their way through all that is left of the paved road underneath.” His voice trailed off into something that sounded more and more like a storyteller enthralling people around a campfire than an eccentric ranger who still have enough fingers to count how many people he talked to over the last ten years of his life. “It follows the Uin north-south. I know many... several... a couple of rangers that use it regularly when having to travel long distances along the Uin.” He ended the monologue staring at the ground.

   They had caught up to Leopold who had realised he didn't know where he was going, he did not admit it of course. He had stopped because there was a small clearing in this terribly badly taken care of forest. “This is it,” Shrike said to no one in particular, “it apparently runs closer to the river here.” Ewyn looked down and saw a couple of rocks that were a bit too flat to be found naturally, she looked up to either side and when one knew it was there a tunnel through the forest could be seen. Leopold observed his companions and soon realised what was here. “Ah, but of course the... road... is here!” He exclaimed in a not so convincing tone, “Why would I have stopped here otherwise?” He did his best to look triumphant again, which was an art he had perfected over the years, he was arrogant if nothing else. “We should keep moving,” Shrike mumbled under his breath, not giving Leopold the attention he was fishing for, “we don't have a lot of sunlight left.” Ewyn followed right away, dragging the boar with her. Shrike soon left them to scout ahead, the path was easy for them to follow without him showing them every step. He didn't only think this was the smarter way to go about things, but he also enjoyed walking alone with Bágra, the way he usually moved in the woods.

But as the sun moved towards the horizon, shapes moved in the shadows under the thick foliage of this ancient forest.

    Ewyn walked right behind Leopold in the ever darkening forest, she knew he was saying something but had long since stopped listening to his egotistical monologues. Instead she was focusing on their surroundings, as this forest was nothing like the one back home. Amazed at how much can change after only a couple of days on the road, or river in this case, she could only think of what could be lurking behind the closest trees. The darkness had come long before the sun was below the horizon, and now that the sun was gone it was impossible to see further than a trees closest to the old, broken road they walked. Shrike was nowhere to be seen, she knew he was somewhere ahead of them, making sure nothing would take them by surprise. But the howling took at least her by surprise.

   The two stopped and waited, listening. It had been close. Leopold turned to look at her, looking for an explanation. She did live in the forest after all. “Well?” He asked uncertainly, “what is it, and why are we stopping?” She didn't answer but looked extremely focused on listening. Luckily, he had heard similar howling before. He tried to remember when and soon realised it was very similar to a dog or a maybe a fox. From there it was easy, only one of them lived in the forest! “Ah!” He exclaimed at this realisation, “I've hunted these before, back at our estate! No worries little one, I am not one to back down when it is time to hunt.” He brandished his halberd in a way no one who wielded a halberd would and looked extremely proud of himself, it was his time to shine. Ewyn didn't even spare him a look, where was Shrike?

   Shrike had also heard it, he and Bágra were also listening. His trained eyes swept their surroundings. He had to find out if it was a lone wolf or a pack before deciding what to do. Finding a tree with low branches nearby he climbed it and nocked an arrow in his bow while Bágra prowled beneath. Another howl, from the same direction. He realised that they must have sneaked past them when they had scouted ahead, for him to sneak past animals was nothing new, travelling with companions was. Leaping from the tree he landed running.

   Meanwhile Ewyn and Leopold now knew where the howling had come from, in front of them on the path a large wolf had appeared, followed by another. “Hah! Bring it on little fox!” Leopold, oblivious to the beasts' dark-grey fur and large teeth, took a stance showing some proficiency in handling his weapon. Ewyn, holding the boar and confused by the mentioning of the word “fox”, instinctively dropped boar and took up a defensive stance with her quarterstaff. This was it. She was actually going to fight these beasts, but quarterstaff wasn't her real weapon of choice, switching her stance she held the staff in one hand and let her book open in the other. This was more like it.

   The wolves charged at them, one of them leaping towards Leopold. But after a somewhat clumsy, but efficient block by its target it landed on the ground without bringing Leopold down with it. As it was turning around for a second try it learned that catching a halberd mid-swing with your spine is not recommended. Ewyn couldn't help but be surprised by the noble's movement, for the first time, since they met at the inn, it looked like he knew what he was doing. Her thoughts were abruptly cut short by a third wolf leaping out of the bushes behind him. Its teeth being deflected by Leopold's armour but caught him off-guard enough to miss his counter attack. Ewyn realised they had two problems, the wolves and the light, which there was none of. At her will her book opened at the right place and she cast an illuminating spell on the closest object, this happened to be the boar. The two wolves hesitated when the boar suddenly had a soft light coming off it, which gave Ewyn the time she needed to pick up the yellowish boar and throw it at the closer wolf that had realised Leopold was about to do with it as he had done with the wolf before it. Acting fast she let another page reveal itself she cast a terrorizing spell on the boar and link the last wolf's mind to it. With the desired effect coming to pass the wolf shot away into the forest, tail between its legs. Ewyn took a deep breath as Leopold executed the pinned wolf. “Guess I just did that”, was the only thought that was able to formulate in her mind.

   “How fortunate we are!” Leopold broke the silence exclaiming, “Two foxes mean double the fur! We need to bring them with us and give to my servants, they should know how to use these.”

The otherwise incapable noble look overly pleased with himself. Ewyn was having a hard time figuring out if he was still incapable or actually come from a place where there are foxes the size of wolves. Her mind slowly tried to form a question without knowing where to begin. Once again her poor thoughts were interrupted by the sound of six legs running towards them and soon Shrike and Bágra entered the small circle of light illuminated by the boar on top of a dead wol... fox.

   “You two are okay.” Shrike did no effort to hide his surprise in finding his two companions intact. He, however, had not run here to have a casual chat. “We have to get out of here. The first ruined city of the old kingdom can't be far from here.”

   He and his four-legged companion disappeared back into the darkness whence they came and soon the six running legs were the only thing bearing witness of their short visit. Ewyn's thoughts had nothing against being interrupted by something that would get them out of this wolf (as she did know the difference between them and foxes) infested darkness. She was off as fast as she could, leaving the noble behind. Leopold could not just run away from his trophies. He was sure fox pelts were quite valuable. But deep inside his troubled mind something awakened in him, his survival instinct. Soon the glow of a lonely boar faded over nothing but two dead wolves.

   With her short legs the small would-be mage was slowly but surely catching up to her guide. Somewhere behind her the heavy steps of an armoured noble doing the same thing. Shrike clearly did not try to keep stick to his own pace. Being used to moving quickly and silently in the forest he could have easily outrun both of the ones behind him, but even though he preferred being alone he knew he had given (or Leopold had at least taken) his word and had no intentions to go back on it now. As he had anticipated he soon saw signs of ruins ahead of them, square stone formations faintly outlined themselves against the dark midnight sky. Leopold and Ewyn had caught up to him and he now kept a steady pace a couple of meters ahead of them.

   Soon they passed what once must have been the city's wall for after it houses in varying stages of decay lined the now much wider path. Nature had long since re-conquered this land and now trees rose higher than most of the buildings. Most of these building could not be called houses as much as heaps anymore, but every now and then there was house of two or more stories defying the wilds. A house would be good. But running into a ruined house would do as much good as running into a cave; the wolves could still follow them inside. But luck was on their side.

   “There!” Shrike exclaimed and cut across a courtyard, “a standing door!”

The other followed and following him across the courtyard they too saw the building they were aiming for. It was a large tower, once it may have reached for the sky, now it was in a crippled state of two seemingly intact stories crowned by rubble. Even now its silhouette proudly erected itself towards the moon, dominating the sky ahead of them as a last bastion of those who came before against the slowly advancing forest.

   The massive gate was ajar and they all slipped inside into a large dark room. As far as they could tell this first floor spanned the entirety of the tower's round shape. But the moon only let them see a sliver of stonework on the opposing wall. Following Shrike's initiative they tried to close the reinforced gate that would not budge until Leopold put his back against it. Budge is the correct word. It moved, not by a lot, but it showed promise. No matter how promising it was, it was not before one of their furry adversaries showed it feral head inside the room. Shrike dashed away from the gate to release an arrow at it. This proved difficult. Not only due to the lack of light in the room, but he realized that he was not used to having allies that he shouldn't shoot arrows at. Ewyn was already in melee with the wolf as she had been closest to the opening. Without having time to ready spells she swung at it with her quarterstaff, doing not much beyond keeping the wolf from attacking her. An arrow eventually found an opening, whizzed past her and struck its mark with lethal effect. Leopold had stepped in front of the opening and had made short work of a second fox.

“Was that all?” he asked with uncertainty mixed with a dash of victory in his voice, when both foxes lay still.

Shrike stood silently and listened.

“No,” he finally said, “these were most likely part of the pack that attacked us earlier. The rest of the pack is surely on its way, so let’s close this gate for the night at least.”

   No one questioned his decision of locking them inside as he was already lighting a torch. Soon the large circular room was lit by a couple of old torches on its wall. To their right were stairs going up along the wall with its opposite to their left. What really caught their attention, however, was the door right across the room. It was another reinforced door with a beautifully engraved vault surrounding it.

With the massive door shut behind them, the lack of windows and the gaping darkness of either set of stair their boundaries were set. This was all their world consisted of now.

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