AA3 46 - Abnormal I

Verdan waited a few moments before asking Barb about the implications of what had just happened. He could already see that the thearns of the two Chosen were paying more attention to his group.

“It’s more of the same from what we discussed about Benlen,” Barb said, her voice pitched low enough not to carry. “She only spoke directly to the two Chosen and you, after all.”

“Ah,” Verdan said, restraining the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Wizard Blacke!” A voice called out from behind them as Magnus hurried through the town’s gates, clad in armour and with an axe through a loop at his waist. “May I ask a favour of you?”

“You may,” Verdan said, though he felt he knew what favour would be asked just from their erstwhile guide’s garb.

“I wish to come with you. I can’t join either of the groups with the Chosen, but you determine your own retinue.”

“I thought you were staying in Dunkirn. Why the change of heart?”

“I thought about our conversation on the way here, about other paths forward. I realised that while I’m not a gifted warrior, perhaps I can help in other ways. To know more, I need experience, and this is a way to get that.”

“Very well, work with Benlen and his people. They are experienced enough to help guide you.” Verdan gave Benlen a look as he spoke, making sure that the other man would take care of Magnus.

The older Kranjir nodded, absently itching at his healing eye, before moving over to speak quietly with Magnus.

The Pathfinder and her scouts had already started moving off, so Verdan set off, sticking to the established order of march where his group would be in the middle.

Maeve and Osran would be leading the group as a whole, with their thearns marching to the left and right respectively of Verdan. With each Chosen bringing fifty Kranjir, they made a solid force, but one that would be easily spotted by the Darjee.

In some ways, Verdan had the feeling that the visibility of what they were doing was half the point. The heavy losses among the scouts had been unexpected and had hit the morale of the town hard. They needed a win of their own, and it was down to Verdan and the others to produce it.

Verdan made sure to cast a detection ward as they moved into the thick forest that sat around Dunkirn, anchoring it to his staff as he did. The ward had a range of several hundred feet and would send out pulses of Aether once a minute, which would hopefully be enough to catch any potential ambushes or issues before they could happen.

Verdan had no idea if the Bonecallers he’d been told about would have ways to bypass such efforts, and it was limited to just Darjee, but it was better than nothing.

Verdan gave their formation a last check to make sure Dirk was close and that all the enchantments he’d given out were fully charged with Aether. Once they were completely out of view of Dunkirn, anything could happen.

-**-

Time crept by steadily as they made their way through the forest, tension building as they saw no sign of the Darjee. The Pathfinder had returned to the group twice since they left, her already dour expression growing more profound each time.

Eventually, they came into view of the village, which was now suspiciously absent of any and all Darjee activity.

The majority of their force moved to secure the area around the village, while a small group led by the two Chosen headed inside, accompanied by Verdan and his companions.

“It certainly looks like the village was occupied at some point,” Verdan remarked as they carefully made their way into the village.

“Indeed,” Osran said shortly, his brow furrowing as he looked over the damaged buildings around them.

As they approached, the village's exterior had looked mostly normal, but the interior was a mess, with almost every building showing signs of damage.

The damage ranged from broken windows to caved-in walls, seemingly without rhyme or reason as to where and why it had occurred.

What truly grabbed their attention, though, was a small cluster of houses that had been ripped down and used to build a pair of ramshackle hovels that were much larger.

An itching feeling had been building between Verdan’s shoulders from the moment they entered the village, and a glance over at his companions showed matching worry on their faces.

Verdan’s detection spell hadn’t alerted him to any Darjee, but he found himself waiting for the other shoe to drop as Osran moved to investigate the strange structures.

Maeve and the rest of the thearns had split up to look through the nearby houses for any sign of what had happened, but Verdan’s group remained out in the open to keep watch.

“Something’s wrong,” Kai said, his eyes narrowing as he stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the nearby buildings. “Do you still not detect any Darjee?”

“No, why? What have you seen?” Verdan followed his gaze, noting the damaged houses around him.

“The buildings behind us are damaged,” Kai said slowly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he gestured over to where Osran was approaching the closest of the new structures. “But all the ones around those two hovels have had their doors removed and entrances widened.”

“You’re right, but why….” Verdan trailed off as cold dread trickled down his spine. He’d been overconfident and relied too heavily on his detection ward. After all, it only alerted him to the presence of Darjee, not anything else.

Kai saw the realisation in Verdan’s eyes and acted without hesitation, rushing after Osran and the others as he shouted. “Ware! Ambush!”

To his credit, Osran reacted immediately, drawing the flanged mace that hung at his belt and hefting his shield up as the five thearns with him drew their own weapons and faced outward.

The Chosen hadn’t quite made it to the strange structures, which meant that he wasn’t surrounded as monstrous creatures came boiling out of the houses with the enlarged doorways.

Patchwork bodies formed from creatures of all varieties led the way, their ungainly loping gait closing the distance to the small knot of Kranjir quickly.

“Thralls!” Osran roared out a warning as he met the charge of the closest creature directly, smashing it aside with his shield before planting his mace into the head of another as one of his thearns dispatched the first.

“Thanr laif!” Verdan threw a lance of flames out past Kai to strike one of the Thralls, burning into its flesh and clearing the path for the Sorcerer to join the beleaguered Kranjir.

Kai was a blur as he cut through the Thralls, his spear flaming brightly as he severed limbs and struck down the hideous abominations.

Verdan could hear fighting behind him as more Thralls emerged to engage Maeve and the rest of their group, but he had no time for them, not when he could finally see why those doorways had been enlarged.

“By the goddess…” Gwen breathed out in horror as half a dozen large creatures clambered out of the houses they’d been hidden in.

Each was twice the height of a normal man and was made of a patchwork of bodies, much in the same way as a normal Thrall. Unlike their smaller brethren, though, Verdan could see a dark intelligence behind their design, which made it clear that the rest of the Thralls were made using their castoffs.

Bone spurs, spikes, and scythes were on display among them, as well as implanted metal weapons that had been fused into them. These were creatures designed only for slaughter.

The closest of the creatures was already starting to charge towards Verdan. All four of its arms ended in sharpened scythes of bone, and its head was almost fully encased in metal, giving it a ferocious appearance.

To make matters worse, what Verdan could see of its face looked human, and with sickening certainty, Verdan knew what the Darjee had been doing with those captives.

“Goddess guide me,” Gwen called out as thunder pealed across the darkening sky. A brilliant flash of light came, and lightning cracked through the air, slamming into the chest of the oncoming creature.

Long-trained instinct had helped Verdan close his eyes in time, but for a moment, he doubted them as he looked at the Thrall. The strike had knocked it back, and parts of the bone stemming from it were smouldering, but it was otherwise unharmed.

“Grym thanr laif!” Verdan intoned, feeding as much Aether into each word as he could, releasing a lance of fire twice the width of his arm that struck the Thrall center mass.

The creature staggered back, most of the bone spurs smoking and burning away as it did, but in the end, it was left with only a mass of burns on its chest.

Shaking its head and screeching out some sort of growl, the Thrall began to start forward once more, picking up speed as it closed the distance to them.

“Gwth!” Verdan threw out a hand, casting a bolt of raw force at the creature’s legs, knocking it momentarily to one knee and giving him time to think.

Lightning cracked behind him as Gwen engaged a second of the larger Thralls, followed by a cacophonous cawing as dozens of crows swept past, but Verdan was busy reaching out with his Aether senses to try and understand what he was dealing with.

Verdan’s lips drew back in disgust as he beheld the creature and saw the abyssal energy coursing through it. The bones that had been damaged by the spells were anchor points to some sort of foul working, one protecting it from Aether and Exeon.

The protection of the one Verdan had been targeting was weakened compared to the others, but it was still protected enough that any spells cast on it would be heavily blunted.

Verdan’s disgust turned into a vicious snarl as he dug deep into his Aether. A proper Wizard wouldn’t be deterred by something as rudimentary as this.

“Drea nercreth macha challyn!”