Beware The Shroud

“From what’s left of him, I’d say it’s Yesper.”

Dare opened his eyes. The words were distant, yet his keen sense of hearing picked them up easily. At first, he didn’t quite remember where he was. Weak light shined in through boarded up windows. A little more than a dozen men, women and children were all around him on the cold wooden floor, sleeping.

The church, he thought. He was in the church. Then he remembered The Shroud and the horrible creatures within. They were in Darkon. He sat up and saw Lilvari stirring. She must have heard the voice as well.

“Aye,” said someone else, “I don’t remember seeing him last night now that I think about it.”

“Damn shame. Come on. Let’s get Sister Torin and do this before the others wake.”

The door to the church opened and in walked the two orc brothers, Aym and Azza. They were the ones who’d led the charge last night to save that girl. Following behind was Newl. He’d rung the church bells that, more than likely, ended up saving Team Ramrod’s lives.

“What’s going on?” Dare asked.

Aym put a finger to his lips. “One of our own was killed last night,” he whispered. “Just found him now. We have to burn the body.”

Dare and Lilvari looked at each other as the orcs, Newl and now Sister Torin all made their way outside.

“Wonder what that’s about,” Dare said.

Lilvari was already getting to her feet.

They woke the rest of the party and headed outside. They had to shield their eyes from the bright-white haze that surrounded them. While there was no sign of The Shroud, the haze limited their vision substantially. They could see the shacks and cottages of Bartov — some destroyed, all seemingly deserted. They also saw the edge of the woods which stood a hundred feet away or so, but not much more.

“There,” Mystic said, pointing.

Several streets down, beyond the last cottage, stood the shadowy shapes of the two orcs and the small statured figure who must be Newl. Sister Torin was easy to spot. Being a dragonborn, she towered over even the orcs. They all had their heads bowed, and Team Ramrod could already see flames licking the base of a funeral pyre.

As they neared, Sister Torin could be heard offering a somber prayer. Dare waited until she was done before asking her what was going on.

“We have to burn the bodies straight away,” Newl told him. “Otherwise, they’ll rise come nightfall.”

Team Ramrod was quiet for several moments until Dare thought of some words of comfort of his own. “Well, that sucks.”

No one responded but all eyes slowly turned to him.

“I think it’s time we headed on our way,” Lilvari said, breaking the silence. “You know, long trek and all that.”

Team Ramrod thanked Newl and the others again for their hospitality and then headed towards the road which was to would lead them south to Maykle.

“Remember,” shouted Newl just before he was lost to the haze, “beware The Shroud. Stay clear of it at all costs!”

“No issue there,” Dare shouted back. They had no plans of getting anywhere near The Shroud. Only, when they reached the road a short time later, they realized that they have little choice. The road followed alongside the river as it headed south, but that wasn’t the only thing it followed. About thirty feet into the water stood a wall of swirling fog that went along the river as far as the eye could see. The Shroud.

Team Ramrod stuck to the path. The path itself was about thirty or so feet to the left of the river bank. On the other side were dead, gray meadows that gave way to dark woods about one hundred feet out. As long as they kept to the path and stayed out of The Shroud, they figured, they’d be fine.

But there were some areas where The Shroud pushed inward — sometimes as close as ten feet from the water’s edge. It was during these times that Team Ramrod thought they could hear the sounds of movement from within. Low growls and the sounds of something big and heavy moving about. Whatever it was, it encouraged them to travel at an eager pace.

Even after a few uneventful hours of travel, the sounds were still unnerving. Then there was a different noise, a closer one — a loud grumble. Immediately, Lilvari drew her goat staff. The rest of the party saw her and readied themselves for battle — all except Dare. Instead, he gave them a sheepish smile. “Sorry, that was just my belly. I’m getting hungry.”

“We have been on the road for quite awhile,” Mercarri said, wondering exactly how long. Because of the haze, the sun had been nothing more than a weak glowing orb all morning, and now it was completely lost behind the X-shaped gouge at the apex of the sky. Light shined from the gouge, brighter than the sun. She had to squint. “What did Newl call that thing?”

“The King’s Tear,” Lilvari said.

Newl had said that the gouge of light appeared the same night that Dark Lord Azalin Rex escaped Darkon. At least, that’s what the rumor was. No one has seen or heard from the Dark Lord in the year since.

“It must be close to midday,” she said.

“Please tell me we’re not thinking about stopping for a lunch break,” Lilvari said, “because stopping is probably a very bad idea.”

For the most part, they all agreed — all but a dejected Dare. Finally he relented. “I guess we can walk and eat,” he grumbled.

And so they did. But it wasn’t long before they heard another sound — this one definitely not Dare’s stomach.

“Please! Help me!” It was the voice of a young girl.

Everyone stopped cold. From within the blanketing haze, it was hard to tell what direction it came from. But then they heard it once more. “Helllllp!”

“There!” Dare said, hurrying South.

The others followed as he headed along the path. The sounds were coming from the water, closer to The Shroud. About sixty yards further, he saw the source. Knee-deep in the river were two thugs. One was standing over a small girl wearing a dress. Dare could see her struggling as the thug held her head under the water. She managed to break the surface for another gulp of air. “Help m–“

The thug pushed her head back under. The other started laughing, and the sound blackened Dare’s heart.

In a blind rage, he rushed them. At the same time, Lilvari fired a blast of Eldritch energy into The Shroud, setting it aglow like it was a cloud full of poisonous black lightning. Upon seeing Team Ramrod, the thugs bolted into The Shroud, leaving the girl behind.

Dare let them go. He was more concerned with the girl. He kneeled down and scooped her up. That’s when he caught his first whiff of sulfur.

“You’re okay now,” he said. “I got you.”

The girl embraced him tightly. Dare was surprised at her strength.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said in his ear. The sulfur smell grew stronger. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear it was coming off the girl.

“Hey,” Dare said, “loosen up the grip a little–“

Before he could finish the sentence, warmth flooded his body and raced to his head. There was a moment where it felt as if his brain had caught fire and was then yanked from its mooring. The feeling was gone just as quickly, but the world spun.

Dare had to close his eyes. He didn’t know where he was. Worse, he didn’t know WHO he was. The girl’s sudden laughter snapped him out of it. It’s all he could hear — slow and slurred.

“Your memories taste so yummy,” she said as she pulled away. Dare was horrified to see that her face looked numb, almost as if she was wearing a mask that didn’t quite fit. And then it began to melt and reform into something that looked a little like him, and in a voice not too dissimilar from his own, she said, “I want some more.”

Dare screamed.

Suddenly there was the sound of rustling feet as one of the thugs broke free from The Shroud. Dare managed to cut at him with his sword, but the thug was fast. He swung both arms at Dare. They might as well have been tree trunks. Both hits connected, and for Dare, everything went black.

“Oh that’s not good,” Lilvari said, watching from the edge of the path. It all happened so fast. Whatever these creatures were, they couldn’t be human — not with power like that. And there was something strange about the way they moved — the thug and girl both. It was like their legs weren’t in sync with the rest of their bodies.

Mercarri rushed by, pulling Lilvari from her thoughts. She was heading straight for Dare… and the danger. The thug and the girl turned towards her — both had hungry looks on their faces.

Mercarri knelt beside Dare and touched his shoulder while uttering a small prayer. Green light glowed around her hand and then completely surrounded Dare. His eyes opened.

“Wha–”

Mercarri pulled him to his feet before he could finish his question. At the same time, she casted Shit Hammer with her free hand. Unfortunately, there was no time for accuracy. The strange girl-creature easily dodged the attack. But while her focus was on the floating, shit-caked hammer, Lilvari hit her with Hexblade’s curse. The girl looked down, surprised to see her small body coursing with a blackish-purple glow. Lilvari followed up with an Eldritch Blast, and it hit her square in the chest. The girl screamed in anger and pain. Lilvari launched another attack at the nearby thug, causing him to cry out as well.

Suddenly, there was a flash from behind. A small mote of red fire drifted past Lilvari and Mystic and into The Shroud where it ignited. Nazzeth, it seemed, placed his fireball spell perfectly. While the blast hit both the girl and the thug, it didn’t hit anyone from his party. This time, when the girl and the thug cried out, they weren’t the only ones. From somewhere within The Shroud, Team Ramrod heard the pained growl of something else. Something large and very pissed off.

“Umm… might not want to get too close to The Shroud there,” Nazzeth said. He and Lilvari were still at a bit of a distance — fighting with ranged tactics. Dare, Mercarri, and now Mystic, though, were fighting right at the edge of The Shroud.

The second thug ran out of the wall of roiling fog, heading right towards Mercarri. She was so close that she didn’t see him until it was too late. The thug caught her in a tight embrace. Heat flooded her body and pulled at her mind, just like what happened to Dare. She felt as if all her memories suddenly belonged to someone else. And the pain! It was enough to bring her to her knees. Mystic, close by, managed to push the thug away, but as she did, something slammed into her from behind. It was the girl. Mystic hit the ground hard and didn’t get up.

“Mystic!” Mercarri screamed. She dove away from the thug’s oncoming attack, getting closer to her friends in the process. Mystic and Dare both needed help, but she couldn’t do it alone. Mercarri prayed to her god, and in the time it took her to stand, she saw her god had answered. A warm, green light had already begun to spread over Mystic, Dare and herself.

Mystic awakened with a gasp. Her eyes opened in time to see Lilvari run past her towards the girl — goat staff raised. She slammed it down onto the girl’s head not once but twice, and before the second blow, she focused all her anger and her hate until the staff glowed with it. When it connected, the shrill cry that came from the girl was ear-splitting.

Mystic tried to stand but couldn’t. She was too weak — at least for now. She closed her eyes and concentrated on something stronger. A moment later, she was in the form of a black bear. She easily got to her feet. From her periphery, she could see one of the thugs and the girl rushing in her direction. She braced herself for the attack, but before they reached her, both the girl and the thug suddenly stopped. As Mystic looked at them, confused, they grabbed their ears. Pain twisted their faces, and as they dropped to the ground, Mystic saw what happened. Nazzeth was in the distance, arms raised, casting the spell that took them down. Strangely enough, the other thug, the one who was nowhere near the attack, dropped at the same time. It was as if they were all connected in some way.

Team Ramrod watched as all three of the creatures melted and twisted and changed into other forms — an old wizard, an orc, a middle-aged woman, a gallant young man — each one of their faces screaming in agony. After a very long minute, the sounds finally faded. The bodies finally stilled. They transformed one final time into what must be their true form — red, tentacle-like appendages that disappeared into The Shroud.

As Team Ramrod stood there, catching their breaths, Nazzeth asked, “You wanna go see where those tentacles lead?”

His answer came swiftly and in the form of a piece of beef jerky that Dare had thrown at his head.

The Door to Nowhere

After a short rest, Team Ramrod continued south and was glad when the river (along with The Shroud) diverged South West. After another hour, both the river and The Shroud were out of view entirely. While they’d all agree that that was a good thing, it wasn’t long before they began to miss the babbling sounds of the water. Out here, without the river beside them, the world was filled with nothing but unnerving silence. To add to their unease was the fact that the sun, now beyond the King’s Tear, was getting low in the sky. They didn’t know how long they’d been on the road nor did they know how much longer until they reached Maykle. The only thing they were sure of was that night wasn’t far.

Mercarri had been looking at the sun’s position when she saw a flicker of light far to her left. In the briefest instant she saw what seemed to be a tower just at the edge of the woods, but it was gone before she could point it out to anyone.

Nazzeth, who was bringing up the rear, noticed her stop. “What is it?”

“Did you see that?”

“See what?” Nazzeth asked.

“A tower I think, but then it disappeared.”

“You feeling alright?” Dare said.

“Yeah, it was right over there. I swear. I can show you.”

Nobody moved.

“You don’t want to check it out?” she asked.

“I think we’re done checking things out for the moment,” Nazzeth said.

But Lilvari remembered what Newl had told them: The Shroud expands during the night.

“You know,” she said, “it might not be such a bad idea. It’d be a place to maybe hunker down in if it starts getting dark.”

Mercarri led the way across the gray, dead meadow towards the woods. While there definitely was no tower in sight, something else did come into view as they neared the edge of trees. A door — a free standing door with nothing to support it. No frame, no hinges. Nor was there a building behind it. The only other thing in the area was an unlit brass brazier.

Lilvari stepped around the door. Behind it was a circular clearing made of compact dirt as if something heavy had been pressing down on it. By her estimation, it had a diameter of about thirty feet. “Mercarri?

Mercarri joined her. “What?”

“Do you know about how big the tower was?”

Mercarri shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe tweny-five, thirty feet.”

“Thought so,” Lilvari said to herself.

“Hey, you guys should check this out,” Dare shouted from the front.

They all headed over to Dare who was looking into the brazier. Inside were the remains of a dead, charred cat.

“Well that’s pleasant,” Lilvari said.

“But that’s not all,” Dare said, reaching in. It looked like he was going to do something odd — like maybe pet the cat, but instead he lifted something from under the cat’s burnt paw — something small and wrapped in leather. It was tied closed with twine.

Dare untied it and threw the wrapping aside. “It’s a deck of cards.”

He held them out to show everyone, and sure enough, it was a deck of cards. The whole deck seemed accounted for. It had all four suits — hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds — and all fifty-two cards. The face cards were regal-looking felines. The two jokers were mangy dogs.

Dare scratched at his chin with one of the cards. “So now what?”

Lilvari picked up the leather wrapping. There was writing inside. She read it aloud: “Our small feline friends, their wit most distinguished. Full of heart they are, though their lives must be extinguished.”

“I hate riddles,” she sighed.

Dare had an idea. He lit the brazier — cat and all. Mystic looked horrified.

“What?” he said, “It says extinguished. Gotta light it before we extinguish it. Am I right?”

They all watched the fire expectantly, but nothing (apart from the worsening smell of burnt cat) happened.

Then Dare, surprisingly, had another idea. Maybe he should get his memories sucked out more often. It seemed to be doing him some good. He remembered an old nursery rhyme he’d read to his sister. It had to do with cats and their nine lives. He flipped through the deck until he found the nine of hearts and tossed the card into the fire. It smoldered, and as it did, he swore he saw the cat twitch.

“You see that?” he shouted.

Lilvari nodded.

But nothing else happened. “Can I see the cards?” Lilvari asked.

Dare handed them over, and Lilvari threw the whole deck into the fire. There was an immediate reaction. Several in fact.

First, the cat let out a loud, disturbed groan, like it was having a nightmare. Everyone stepped back. A cloud started forming above the fire. This cloud wasn’t like The Shroud. This one pulsated and churned and had a dark light at its center. At the same time, the cat surprisingly stood up inside the brazier. It then jumped out and stretched. Looking at it now, the cat didn’t seem burned at all. It gave them a pitiful glance before heading to the door where it started retching.

“Is it coughing up a hairball?” Dare asked.

“Ummm, guys?” It was Nazzeth. No one paid him any attention. They were too busy watching the cat. Indeed, it was coughing up something, but what came out wasn’t a gooey, lump of fur. It was a key. Finished, the cat gave them one last pious look before bursting into flames.

“Guys!”

“For fucks sake, Nazzeth,” said Lilvari, “What?”

They all looked to Nazzeth and immediately saw what. The pulsing light that had been growing was now the shape of a five foot long rat. It charged Nazzeth, seemingly going right through him with its ghostly form. Nazzeth fell to one knee.

Though the rat attacked fiercely, it was greatly outnumbered. Within moments, Team Ramrod had dispatched it. After doing so, Lilvari went over to where the cat had burst into flames and picked up the key.

She unlocked the door and peeked inside. It wasn’t the open clearing that they saw on the other side of the door. It looked to be the inside of a tower. She wanted to check things out carefully and not put them (or at least most of them) in any danger. “Nazzeth! Come here, check this out.”

Nazzeth came over, walking slowly, still feeling the effects of the ghostly rat that had attacked him. Lilvari opened the door a little wider. When Nazzeth peeked inside, she gave him a shove.

Nazzeth cried out in surprise but stopped the moment he was inside.

“Guys, you have to check this out!” His voice echoed.

Lilvari, Dare and Mercarri went in. While they did, Mystic took a quick look on the other side of the door from the outside — the side facing the clearing in the woods. Though she’d seen her friends go through the door, there was no trace of them here.

“You coming?” Lilvari called.

“You sure it’s okay?”

Lilvari thought on it a moment. “No.”

Mystic swallowed and made her way inside.