Snippet #1520380

Balthazar took Tedrin's orders, stepping off behind a brush at the back of the group. He walked as quietly as he could; examining everything he saw. For the first while the only thing that would catch his eye was the slight scurry of something in the corner of his eye. Once, off to his left, he thought he heard someone cough; and then a half minute later, some far off creature screamed. He lifted some low hanging vines and looked out ahead of him. What he saw made him stop in his tracks. Ahead of him there was a massive pile of naked Punyimpa corpses; black with decay, oozing forest molds just touching at the base of the pile. Balthazar braved forward, approaching it; the squishy marsh ground beneath his feet adding to the racing thoughts inside his mind. When he'd reached the pile, he had to bring a hand to his throat in order to prevent himself from gagging. The small creatures were torn to shreds, mangled in grotesque ways; one dead reaching inside the body cavity of another... It was terrible. But it grew in its atrocity as Balthazar slowly came to the realization that the corpses had not been placed there. They had brought themselves there. An unwelcome image of the still living punyimpas writhing over each other, bathing in the blood of the one next to them as they slit their abdomen open, or another spilling his own intestines and feeding them to another... The foul orgy pile faded from Balthazar's mind as quickly as it had come; but it was too late, and it had left a scar on his soul.

Balthazar The Reknown, one never known to retreat, decided that backing away - for once - was the most sane thing he'd ever done. The Drag'Konin slipped through the vine curtain he'd come through, blocking the sight from his eyes and granting him respite. Even so, the Knight shivered as if someone had just walked over his grave. He took a breath to compose himself; before trudging off back towards the vicinity of the group.
The Knight suddenly felt very alone.