Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 3.3 Doen
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 3.3
Doen A Wave of Crimson
The party will be setting camp and getting ready for the impending Blood Beast attack. In addition, it appears that Narissa will use her poultice to help Taggart. If the group continues to survive this Event Arc they will gain the following modifiers: - Danger, + Willpower, + Treasure, and something... special. If they fail, however, the other possibility is: -Luck, - Willpower, ++ Delay, ++ Danger.
Thank the Goddess most of us had managed to sleep that night because once combat ended Haldyn started putting us to work right away; he was convinced that we were going to have more problems in no time and he wanted us to be in a more defensible position... which meant that we lost a wagon as it was destroyed to suppliment our fortification materials. Between felling six trees and adding in wagon parts we actually had a pretty decent fort by the time it was starting to get dark... of course, we were all the more tired for it.
Just as Haldyn had predicted, we saw the tell-tale red-and-black fur of numerous Blood Beasts through small openings in the foliage. The Lordling didn't object when Dillan pulled out a short bow and loosed a few shots into the trees. The attacks managed to get a few snarls and growls from the assembling creatures, but they didn't attack. They did, however, move further back. I wasn't sure whether to feel better or worse about that.
As the sky continued to darken, Haldyn picked a piece of burning wood out of our fire pit and began walking the perimeter of our fortifications lighting makeshift torches he had created from scraps of the wagon's upholstery and floor boards. By the time the sky was turning a deep shade of purple we had a full perimeter of torches... and not a moment too soon. We were all up with our weapons at the ready once we heard the howling snarl that we'd come to identify with the creatures beginning the hunt.
We made the fortifications with only one real 'entrance', which we hoped would funnel their numbers down to a manageable amount for our most skilled combatants to deal with while the rest of us provided magical and divine support. Dillan, of course, was planning on putting the short bow to good use, and I wanted Taggart, who was standing only because of the mystical qualities of Narissa's poultice, to be a little further away from the front line. The moment the first portion of the Blood Beasts entered into combat at the entrance to our fort, however, things went down-hill quickly.
Jasper was standing on one of the wagons near me with his Sickle Moon Pendant out. I watched a glowing stream of life energy flow into him from one of his targets beyond the walls, but he was forced to sever the effect and leap for safety as the ground burst open beneath his wagon. Though he landed without injury, the carriage fell to its side and the hole beneath it opened wider-- Blood Beasts began streaming into our camp.
"They're digging!" I cried out in warning.
"Blood Beasts don't dig!" Zeke argued despite the obvious proof in front of our eyes. He moved quickly to the hole, which widened even more, "It's magic!" he gasped, "Someone is HELPING them!"
"Tah'aveen, protect us!" Rust shouted, his paw glowing white brightly as he gripped his holy symbol. I felt Her power flow through me, and I could sense that she would not let me come to harm. To my right, Narissa was one of the first to recover from the surprise of the opened hole and she splayed her fingers on both paws, sending a curtain of flame to incinerate the two Blood Beasts closest to her.
Zeke moved in quickly to stem the tide of creatures as they tried to rise up from the hole. He drove his sword into the open maw of the leader of the bunch, but had to quickly fall back as two more came at him, biting at his legs with spittle dribbling eagerly from their jaws. The fox stepped back and to the side, fouling the two up as they ran into one another, and he drove his blade down onto the left one's head, killing it instantly.
Jasper was quick to come to Zeke's aid, killing the Blood Beast the fox had missed, but Narissa and I both had to shout out a warning as more arose from the hole and came at the rat from behind. The first moved too quickly for him and its wicked claws lashed out and cut through the rat's leather armor, drawing deep lines of red across his back. Jasper spun immediately, managing to leap to the side at the last moment to avoid one that attempted to pounce him.
The overbalanced dodge sent him sprawling to the ground and a third lunged at him while he was prone. Before I could even say a word, the rat had rolled over onto his back and his tail lashed forward like a whip, sending a dagger right into the creature's chest. Although the rat had to push the dead creature off him, he was none the worse for wear. unfortunately, it also meant that he wasn't there to block more of the beasts from climbing up into our camp... which just left Narissa and myself.
The tigress, off to my right, swung her mandolin like a club in a right-to-left double-pawed grip. It collided with a solid *crack* against the lead beast. Though the creature didn't fall, the strike was effective, forcing it back into the others; she nimbly avoided the single, clumsy swipe one of them managed to execute. I prayed, desperately hoping that my own attempts would be even half as successful.
I was forced to fill in the battle line and three creatures came straight at me. Spreading my feet shoulder-width apart I sunk down into the battle stance Haldyn had showed me and I hoped that the Hundred Fold Blade was up to the challenge of seeing me through the next few seconds-- it was. Everything happened in a flash; my wide stance helped me move to the right when the first one jumped at me. I changed directions to meet the second one head-on and my sword landed before its teeth got to me. I felt the sickening impact of my heavy blade forcing its skull apart, but I didn't have time to dwell on the sensation as another came right at me.
Kicking off the ground, I planted a foot on the collapsed skull of the one I had just killed... and JUMPED. I have always been a good jumper, but I'd never really done it before in response to a threat to my life. Despite the fact that I managed to completely clear the Blood Beast that had attempted to charge me, I didn't see the next one that met me in mid air, and I was carried down to the ground, landing hard. With my breath knocked out of me, I was almost convinced that it would all end right there... but Taggart was faster than the Blood Beast.
The creature's blood poured down on me after Taggart wedged his sword into it back. Two more of the creatures were quickly upon us but he managed to get me up to my feet and fend them both back with a flourishing series of swipes, stabs, and slashes. "Thank you." was all I had time to say, and all he could do was smile in acknowledgement before we were forced back to back by yet more of them climbing out of the yawning hole in the ground. One of them ALMOST made it out, but fell back in after taking an arrow in the eye.
"I always liked bows..." Dillan noted, drawing another arrow, "so nice and clean... effective... impersonal." he maintained his perch atop his wagon.
"Mind coming down here to give us a paw?" Jasper asked.
"I'm doing just fine up here." he let another arrow sail over the wall with a resulting fleshy 'thud' accentuated by a yelp.
Despite the rush of combat within the camp and our desperate attempts to force the Blood Beasts back to the hole, things were going amazingly well at the opening in the fortification; Rust had all but slaughtered a half dozen of the creatures in less than a minute, and Haldyn's pile of dead Blood Beasts was nearly as large. Between the two of them it looked like they were going to completely block off the entrance with corpses, and neither looked to have even taken so much as a scratch.
On the other side of the hole from me, Jasper fought back the Blood Beasts climbing out. He slashed out at one to his right, holding it at bay with his sword, but one rushed him from his left. Without even a moment's thought, the rat shoved his holy symbol against its forehead. The creature howled out in agony, recoiling immediately as wisps of vitality flowed from its seared flesh and into the rat's waiting paw, "Apparently Tah'Aveen still doesn't love your kind." he cackled at it.
Beside me I saw Narissa slump, breathing heavily as she whispered words of prayer to Tah'Aveen. I recognized the words she spoke and knew that she was asking for a second wind... but that prayer did not nothing to the one speaking it. As the Goddess' answer was felt by the rest of us, the tigress seemed only more exhausted. Thankfully I wasn't the only one to notice; directly by my side I heard the same prayer spoken anew, this time by Taggart. Tah'aveen's love wiped away some of Narissa's fatigue and she stood again, resolute.
Words of prayer came from my own lips at that point, but I realized that stamina would do only so much for us if we didn't have the ability to put it to use. The Pregnant Moon could grant energy, but it could not grant the strength I knew we would need. Thankfully, the New Moon heard my prayers, and, as the understanding of the Goddess' empowerment filled me, I was suddenly much less afraid, and much more eager to put down the abominations that tested Her will.
Zeke traded a quick series of blows with the last Blood Beast near him, dodging one of its attacks before driving his blade into its chest with all the strength afforded to him by my prayer. He followed up by kicking its lifeless body off his sword and back down the tunnel. Across from us Jasper continued fighting the remaining two Blood Beasts on his side. Although he was back on his feet he was flanked; when they both attacked at the same time he tried to dodge away from the hole and, though he avoided one, he only had so many options to defend himself, and those options ran out; the Blood Beast latched onto his left arm, biting down.
Narissa, much closer to the edge of the hole, looked into it, "Goddess... there's dozens!"
"Get back then!" I warned, and moved quickly to her side.
"No... YOU get back." she directed, and quickly motioned down at the earth. With one single gesture the tigress had pushed a section of bedrock out from beneath the side of the tunnel... and it quickly lost stability. All of us moved away as the hole imploded. She fell to her knees after the surprising display of magic, "Goddess..." she breathed, "please let that be enough." and she collapsed. Several of the Blood Beasts still on solid ground turned to finish her off, but that gave Dillan the opportunity HE was looking for. Two arrows later and those Blood Beasts were dealt with too.
With only a few more creatures digging themselves out of the rubble it was no great feat to secure the camp. Taggart executed two of the creatures as they pulled free of the dirt and Zeke killed one after it emerged but before it could attack anyone. Back at the entry way into our fort Rust and Haldyn finished off the last of the attackers from outside and blocked off the passage with a combination of bodies and spare debris.
Near the remains of the hole, Jasper stole the life force from his last opponent, his own wounds that much less severe for it. Taggart slowly helped Narissa back up to her feet, whispering another prayer to the Goddess to help the tigress with her fatigue. Everywhere I looked I saw the signs of a successful defense. Although some of us had wounds they were nothing the Goddess could not abate and, despite the tunneling, our fortress had held. Closing my eyes, I spoke a prayer to Tah'Aveen, thanking her for our victory, but my attention snapped back to the temporal world when I heard a bone-chilling, snarling howl.
"There." Jasper motioned, pointing to an open area, a hill devoid of trees. Every last one of us looked onward as we saw something that froze the blood in our veins: the outline of what appeared to be a humanoid Blood Beast. It howled, its silhouette outlined by the faintest sliver of the moon rising above the horizon. Whatever the creature was, it did not seemed bothered by the presence of the dozens of Blood Beasts that came to its call... indeed, as it disappeared over the horizon it almost looked like it was patting one like a hunter might do with a hound. All of the good feelings I'd had moments before suddenly left.