Merth

Argile was pleased the group seemed to function together, at least in the majority aspect. While there may be personal issues that arise between anyone, considering there were four races present, he truly hoped they would meld together into something formidable. After a short while, he would mention that there were rounds to be made, and the journey itself was still calling. Having Teryvyl accompany him wasn't a bother, and it was interesting to see how curious the elf was over the status of the people. The general consensus was that the people felt safe in Hampton, but they all knew what loomed just over the horizon. Argile's duties seemed largely ceremonial, but at every turn, people waved and spoke to him about seemingly trivial things. How this aged human was able to keep up with so much at once was a wonder unto itself.
Once he had fulfilled his duty to the people, his ultimate goal was the main gate itself. A sense of lingering dread hung over the valley just outside town. Farmers had refused to go out this day, citing a bad feeling, and calling upon local lore and supersticions. Patiently he waited, then saw it down the road. It moved at a very slow pace, with buzzards circling over it slowly. Argile looked to the guardsmen, and nodded for them to ready their spears. Something certainly wasn't right. No advanced rider to bear news. The guard with the caravan seemed to be absent too.

"Steady yourselves, and sound the general alarm. I fear death walks towards us, brooding and certain in it's method."

The guards blared a trumpet, summoning forth archers to man the walls. A dozen soldiers piled out behind Argile. They stood ready, waiting for the wagons. They slowed as the approached the group. The teamsters on the wagons were bloodied, and missing large chunks of their flesh. Carrion seemed to have fed upon the corpses. With a low rumble, the wagon began to rattle, with the sound of bones snapping, and flesh tearing rising up. The archers upon the walls wasted little time in firing their first volley directly into the wagons. The unearthly howl that echoed out would chill even the most hardened soldier's heart, and it caused many of them to back up. Within moments, the first wagon of three blew apart, sending shards of wood and fabric in all directions. Laying on the earth, was a putrid heap of flesh and bone, a creature that even the most stout individual would be revolted by. Bodies had meshed together, flesh upon flesh, bone into bone. It was a blob of the most horrific kind, blood and pus oozing out of all of it's orafices. Even Argile took a few steps backwards at this creature, as it groaned and wailed in deathly tones.

Ria was sad that they had to leave, she seldom had a chance to read. She put the book in a satchel that she carried with her, not caring if Ludark saw or not. When they reached the gate she was uneasy about the coming caravan. She had spotted the buzzards way before she had noticed the missing crew. When the sound of snapping bones started, she drew her daggers, ready to fight if she needed to. When she saw the thing that came out of the wagon, she stepped back, disgust filling her very soul.

Shrilara had waited silently at the gate while Argile had done his rounds but as she waited she hadn't been able to shake a cold feeling of dread and when she had sighted the buzzards it grew stronger. Then the thing appeared and she stepped back, drawing her sword in one smooth motion feeling slightly sick but she gritted her teeth, ready to face this evil. Her people may have been seen as dark or even evil but even in necromancy she hadn't seem something so grotesque as this. She kept alert waiting to see what would happen next. Her pose was one similar to a bolt and string of a crossbow being held tightly before being flung into motion. Tense and alert.

The wizened old Argile proved a worthy specimen for Teryvyl to apply social deconstruction in this city. He knew everyone! And beyond that, they came to him with their simplicities and complexities! It wasn't long before the mage had a head full of information and idiosyncrasies to digest. The pleasure it gave him to more fully understand Argile and the society came out as joyous laughs and the clapping of his hands as he had time to think between these chance meetings. After his meeting Shrilara, he decided it would be best to keep those moments tucked away in privacy so as not to offend his new acquaintances.

Approaching the gates, Teryvyl becomes increasingly aware of a looming shadow. He slows his pace to a few feet behind Argile and watches the faces of the troops standing guard, reading the ominous countenance worn by all, burdened with the struggle to summon their courage. It isn't long before the overt mood causes Teryvyl to stop and close his eyes, whispering quietly his prayers, "Jireh of fate and providence, turn this darkness into glory as the morning sun. Give us cause to rejoice. May we be that cause. We shall be that cause, Jireh. We shall be that cause."

Finally, the caravan arrived and along with it the stench of death and foul magic. Some hacking and coughing could be heard from the guardsmen choking from its power. Teryvyl bends his knees into a horse stance and straightens them again, drawing a wide circle with both hands. He draws his left hand towards him with his gloved hand outstretched before him and bringing it back close to his chest he quickly pushes forward again. A warm breeze begins to blow, putting them upwind from the approaching caravans and drying the sweaty hands of the archers and spearmen. "Argile, the Light shall be victorio..." and before his statement was through, the explosion rattles the young elf's resolve. Teryvyl ducks his head and views the mass of corpses with awful disgust, but shakes off his surprise and drops into a fighting stance.

The mage's cloak dims from its' usual white to the bright orange of glowing embers and those standing around him begin to feel an intense heat emanating from him. With two outstretched fingers on his right hand, he taps four points of a square and draws a line from corner to corner summoning five fiery stones that bob and float in front of him. With his sight on an extended appendage, Teryvyl lets fly two of the stones at a comet's pace toward the mound of writhing flesh and bone.

The mass of flesh and bone would emit howls and moans of torture and death. It would appear the very souls of the lost were still trapped within the creature, trying and yearning to be freed from their torment. Argile could not believe such a creature could get this close to Hampton without being seen or noticed. A powerful magic was at work within that creature.

"Teryvyl, fire magic will only anger it! These creatures are made of the foulest black magics, and thrive on violence! If you know any arts of the white light, use them, they are most effective!"

The soldiers were apparently unwilling to step forth to challenge the thing. When it began to move, loud cracking and slushing of flesh and blood could be heard, the screams of the tormented louder and louder with each movement. Not only was it seeming to cause physical pain, but spiritual pain as well. A few soldiers mustered up courage, and charged the beast, their swords and spears readied for a strike. In one fluid motion, a large section of the beast grew out, smashing down onto a soldier, causing his body to literally explode, showering the immediate surrounding with blood and flesh. The other soldiers quickly retreated, after seeing that one attack.

"Archers fire into it!!" Argile screamed.

Even they too seemed locked with fear at the giant creature before them. Within moments, Argile's staff was raised, and be began to whisper softly, in ancient Draconic. Spellcasters could recognize he was summoning forth a strong magic, as the aura in the air seemed to grow heavy as the power soaked into him and his staff.

With fell magic such as this it was best to try ranged attacks first so she readied her crossbow not sure how much damage it would do or if the poison she used on the bolts would have any effect but she had to try this before she attempted a head on attack. She aimed and fired at the largest portion of the mass hoping that it would cause some damage. Even before it was barely gone she had another locked and loaded in case she needed it.

Ria took her fellow rogues cue, and switched from her hand held daggers, to her throwing daggers. She didn't have a lot of them, so she hoped she wouldn't have to use very many. She threw two at a time, aiming at what she thought was the thing's face. She had two more at the ready within seconds, hoping that they were working.