Chapter:2 Traps and discoveries

Arwendur and Oswald, the Seneschal, with their city guard escort, went of through the dense undergrowth in the near-swamp forest. The Drow tripped along, avoiding to disturb the ground, looking for any clues. Oswald, being a former adventurer also walked careful through the bushes, eyes flicking from tree to tree, trying to find any signs of an ambush, before they walk into one. The militia man tried to follow the lead of his leaders, but he was not nearly as experienced as those he was supposed to protect, but he was doing his best.

For the better part of an hour the team searched, finding no clues to where the swamp thing went. Then suddenly, Oswald stopped Arwendur and the militia man.

He whispered. "I think there’s something up in that tree. This can be an ambush site."

Arwendur smiled, and looked at the possible ambusher. "You got keen eyes, Oswald, they serve you well. Indeed there is someone up there, and in a moment, I can detect any traps in the area."

She turned to the militia man. "What is your name, soldier?"

The militia man straightened his back. "My name is Turolf, Milady"

Smiling, Arwendur looked at him with her silver eyes gleaming. "Very well, Turolf. I want you to watch our back, while Oswald here keep a look out in the front. I will be casting some magic here."

The two warriors took their stances, while the Drow began casting a spell. When she looked up again, she could see the outline of any traps with in sighting distance, and there it was. A well hidden pit was located in their path. Probably containing sharpened sticks too, Arwendur thought. Whispering she said.

"I think that the ambusher up in the tree can see us. I got a plan to let him spring the trap, and reveal himself. Turolf, walk behind me, about ten paces, and Oswald, walk on my left about ten paces. That should keep you out of the reach of the trap, while I trigger it."

Oswald looked worried. "Lady Arwendur, I don’t like to see you get caught in a trap, why can’t I trigger it?"

Arwendur smiled. "Don’t worry, dear. I can take care of myself."

Oswald murmured. "Of course you can, Milady, but I don’t like it anyway."

They set up their approach formation, and walked on towards the trap and ambush site. They passed the point where the trap was located, and Arwendur heard a twig break, and fell into the expected pit, but before she could trigger her Levitate spell, a weighted net fell over the trap. At the same time, a creature jumped down from the tree, swinging a rusted sword at the baffled, but determined Seneschal.

Oswald snapped out his sword, and took the wild swing with the sword. The creature stank horribly from swamp gas, and Oswald almost gagged. Turolf began to look around for any more ambushers, seeing that Oswald could handle the creature.

Arwendur fell into the pit, narrowly missing several nasty, sharpened sticks, crusted with drying blood. She could hear the sounds of battle from above, and struggled to tear the net from her. She cursed the foresight of the ambusher, for setting double traps on one place. Someone with intelligence was surely behind this. A knife cut through the rotting strands of the net, and surely, Arwendur was free once again.

The battle was violent and fast. The creature launched into quick strikes with the sword, Oswald defending, and retreating. The tactics of the creature was evident, it tried to force Oswald into the now sprung trap. Turolf approached, unsure how to reach the thing, but at least providing a distraction so Oswald could fight back.

Arwendur looked around her, noticing several skeleton remains from animals and humans alike. Several pieces of armor and weapons lay in the pit, all rusted and dented. She cast her levitation spell, and soared up from the pit. As she came up to the edge, she saw that the fight was closing in, and that the creature was easily defending from both attackers, and still managing to push Oswald towards the pit. She prepared another spell.

Oswald heard the sound of spellcasting, and smiled grimly at the opponent, help was on the way. A bright flash went through the creature, bouncing on a gigantic stone block, and returned to strike the creature from behind.

The lightning bolt was angled to produce the bounce and Arwendur timed the spell so that the lightning did not reach her. The creature howled in pain. Oswald and Turolf fell down by the force of the spell, and even the hair of Arwendur streamed out behind her like in a storm wind.

The creature dropped the sword, writhing in pain, and with tiny bolts of electricity arching up and down it’s limbs, it fell to its knees, and seemed to shrink. The green, organic matter covering it began to melt away, like a skin being peeled off. The creature was still shouting, still alive, and the stunned warriors began to back off from the monster, scrambling to avoid falling into the trap. Arwendur prepared another spell, but held it back, as the monster started to change.

Before the eyes of the Cormyreans, the monster shrank down to the size of a human, and it fell down, apparently dead. It took a while for the Seneschal to get his wit back, and to walk up to the remains of the creature. He gasped as he neared the body.

"Great Torm, protect us! It’s Torben, one of the members of the hunting party sent out to find the monsters, the one led by Lord Tiltsin!"

He prodded the body, but no reaction was made. Arwendur levitated down, and walked over to the body, to make an investigation. Turolf stood up, and began to look around for more of his former friends.

Arwendur made a quick search for signs of life, but found none, what more, the body had been dead for many hours. Upon closer examination, she found something strange.

"Look, there appear to be some kind of hole just behind the left ear, into the brain. Can you open the skull carefully, so I can see what has happened inside?"

Oswald shuddered. "Yes, Milady, but the task is not one I like to do."

Arwendur looked at the old warrior with twinkling silver eyes, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I’m sorry, Oswald. It needs to be done, so I can see what has befallen the other in the patrol. I can do it myself, but I think that as you knew him, you would be better suited to…. perform the task."

Oswald nodded, with grim determination, and stood up, gripping his sword. Arwendur stood up, and walked some paces away, to let the warrior do this grueling task alone. Turolf avoided to look at the scene, and Oswald swung his sword.

"It is done, Milady. I leave you to do the rest, I must have some time for myself, to mourn the dead."

The Drow nodded, and stepped up to the corpse.

"Aha! Just as I thought. The brain has been penetrated by the organic material, like roots have been sunk into it. Looks like Ju-Ju Zombies, but the similarities end there. What we have here is a dead body, animated by organic growth, still with some of his earlier skills and abilities, but controlled by another entity. I cannot say what powers the Swamp material gives, but I would hazard to guess regeneration, and possibly resistance to fire."

The two soldiers looked at each others, and then on the dead body, violated in death by some evil wizard, somewhere out there, waiting for more pawns to fall into his hands.

Would they be the next victims?