The Eldritch Forest

As you make your way to the front of each group, you cannot avoid the dispiriting influence of this place. An uncanny silence hangs about this region as you ruminate further upon your impressions of it. You had of course entered this part of the forest before, it seemed both malformed and malnourished then but it appears even more so now than before. Every tree here in Gidul's Sanctuary was a grotesque sight indeed, with unnaturally shaped protrusions extending from their distorted trunks and boughs. Despite having spent your entire existence in the wilderness you had never before known any place like this. The shadow which loomed over this area was not one of ****, you had lived under that shadow all along, rather it was one of emptiness and desolation. Looking at each tree was like gazing into a vacuous void of preternatural malevolence. A part of you already knew that Gidul was not the only threat lurking here. It doesn't take long for you to realize that Rigga, while she is maintaining a mostly southward course, is following your tracks toward the place where you had fought Gidul. If she led your forces there you would once again enter the vast shadow of that monstrous Black Tree, and for some yet undetermined reason you were certain that the dread aura of that tree had to be avoided, this conclusion further hastened your advance to the front of the march. The sun was falling quickly on the horizon and descending behind the hillocks and mountains in the west, when you took your place at the head of the march. Immediately you led the people around the tree, keeping as wide a breadth as possible from it, without deviating too far off of your southern heading. Dusk had fallen quickly upon you here in the valley, but the thought of making camp here never even crossed your mind. The uneasiness which you felt here was evidently felt as much or more by others, even those of your own party who were considered exceptional hunters and fighters seemed to be losing a small degree of composure from moment to moment. It became clear that you would not be stopping here, this would be a night without rest of any kind.

Darkness was quickly upon you, and the stars now came into view. Those distant beacons shimmered above you brightly, guiding you closer to the world you were so eager to free, but one light was still absent. No moon had climbed into the star-strewn sky aloft you, as time passed it became clear that this would be a moonless night as well as a sleepless one. This development was not the chiefest of your concerns, however. A short while ago you had begun to witness strange movements in the forest, movements which apparently went unnoticed by everyone else in your group including Rigga. At first you believed these sights to be nothing more than illusory apparitions conjured up by anomalous shadows and your own tired thoughts. They disturbed you nonetheless with their aberrant shambling and shuffling in the unlit gloam of the wood. In time their forms became clearer but nonetheless perplexing, a number of asymmetrical bodies shifted about in the distance, just beyond the view of others. Only once did one of them come into full view, and it was then that you regretted ever having seen it at all. It's unnaturally formed soma was riddled with holes and gaps, an odd and asymmetrical number of limbs protrude from it in several nonsensical places. Writhing masses of parapodia and other repugnant protuberances extend outward from the main body and its larger appendages, giving the entire creature the appearance of being in a state of perpetual motion. Here and there, clusters of fish-like oculi bulged out from the main body on stalks like a snail. You manage to look away from that disgusting sight and begin to clear your head in an attempt to stave off whatever madness it was that you were certain had seized your mind. For what feels like hours you hear and see nothing unusual, only the sound of your people talking nervously amongst one another while the night air takes on an unexpected chill.

Suddenly a multitude of screeches ring out behind you, unearthly and shrill sounds unlike any creature you have ever heard before. These sounds are followed almost immediately by the shouting and screaming of a number of people. The sounds were far away, far enough at least that you decided it wise not to trouble yourself now with the task of assisting those who are making them. It isn't long until the screaming dies down to only one every few minutes, and it is then that a messenger arrives. "I bring word from Hjalund!" she says in a panicked manner, "The third group is compromised!" "Compromised how?" You ask as calmly as you can manage. "We are under attack by strange creatures! Hjalund has taken a party of hunters and separated them from the group in an attempt to hold the fiends off long enough to let the fourth group pass safely."She finishes.

"Hjalund can handle this himself then. He has no need for my aid, let him carry out his own plans for now. If he fails, then he should pay the price for that failure." You say coldly. "The creatures already killed a score of our group and tore them limb from limb! If Hjalund fails then the fourth group will surely suffer the most!" As she finishes you can see something in her eyes which is rarely seen in an Ardri, you see fear. You cannot risk the future of your kin on the possibility of Hjalunds failure, and decide to aid him in repelling the threat for now. You turn to Rigga and verbalize your intent, "Rigga, keep heading south for now. I have something I must attend to." You don't wait for her response but instead rush in the direction of the screams you've been hearing. With speed and agility that even the swiftest beast would envy, you weave deftly between the trees to reach your goal. You are still a fair distance away from the location where the shouts appear to be coming from when the scene before you erupts with a burst of yellow light. You continue to approach it initially, although at first the pulsing light is blinding in its intensity. A mighty roar rings in your ears, and the chill of the air is replaced by a building heat. The sound that now echoes throughout the area is one that you have never heard before, but you know it somehow nonetheless, it is the sound of a wildfire. Wildfires were quite rare so far north, the lands of the Ardri were typically too moist and cold to be suitable for such phenomena. It was in the earliest days of your youth that you saw one only once, the pillars of its smoke billowing from afar. Now, as then, you feel the same mixture of awe and horror. There is no true fear within you anywhere, but there was no ignoring the power of fire. As you near the infernal blaze, you can just barely hear the screech of the repulsive creatures over the crackling roar of the flames. Still through the fire comes another sound, one which all but stuns you.