Paciview, a quaint little area that, despite having the population of a city, comes across more as a small town. The houses are small and reminiscent of colonial housing, the roads are made of cobblestone, and the docks span the entire stretch of the beach front. There is always that salty ocean scent spread across the town but not in an intrusive way. Even though you can always hear chatter of some kind by the docks or the joyful calls of children, there is a peaceful quality to it that tends to lull even the most apprehensive of people into a state of security.
Throom was at home next door to his parents, simply enjoying his life as one of the three Loxodons in the city. The entire family was known for being successful sailors in the community and for being dependable. Zym, sent by the king himself to keep an eye out for possible trouble in town, was at an ambassador's quarters going over his orders. Quinn was an adventurer. He came and went from port to port but Paciview was one of the main hubs. On this particular day, he happened to be on the docks getting ready to set back out onto the waters. Morton, on the other hand, was just in town for supplies in order to continue working on his projects back in the capital and spent most of his time in the shops around the plaza. Bendeg, a dwarven priest, was in the church praying. Then the cloud came. In the chaos, only Throom saw a lone figure floating above the water for mere moments before darkness consumed everything.
The cloud of darkness cleared and only those five remained. All of them could breathe again as the light began to return. Around them, the town that they had just stood in was all but leveled. Buildings collapsed, sounds silenced, and the pleasant smell that had been a welcome constant now replaced with the stench of oil and ash. The ocean itself has turned black and the waves that lap at the shore leave behind a residue that seems to stick to the sand. The five survivors, the only color amongst the rubble, saw each other clearly even through all the wreckage. Despite everything, they all look unharmed. Only one part of the town besides each of them remained and that was the road, though now just reduced to a dirt path. With Throom’s trumpeting of his trunk, they all gravitate towards the center of the town. Any time they touched something within the buildings they woke up in, it turned to dust.
Not quite sure what to do or where to go, they quickly introduce themselves and begin piecing together what little they remember. Throom and Quinn turn towards the city and begin poking through the rubble, which unlike their own homes melt rather than disintegrate. This leads to them not seeing the shadows and eyes darting in between the trees that now tower menacingly over the small ocean village. Zym, ever curious, ventures towards the woods to investigate. It takes him only moments to find footprints. Or rather, hand prints where foot prints should be. They seemed to have walked around in a circle just on the edge of the path. Following just behind Zym was Morton, who instead of focusing on the ground turns his head upwards and sees a body impaled atop a tree missing a head. A single drop of blood lands right on Morton’s forehead before the body vanishes. Reaching up to where the drop hit, he found no trace of it- which meant he kept his mouth shut.
Meanwhile, Throom and Quinn (who is now wearing an eye patch on his right eye when he wasn’t wearing one before) stop shifting through the rubble and begin walking back to the group.
“What’s your name?” Throom asks, realizing that Quinn had been dodgy about the question before.
“Addison,” Quin responded, his right eye still covered.
Before they could continue speaking, they noticed the rest of the group began moving down the path and stop talking to focus on catching up. Once they are united, it took no time for the dark wood forest to swallow them up and any trace of Paciview vanished behind them. Just as the last bit of wreckage vanished from view, the world (which had been dead silent before) erupted in a cacophony of whispers that varied not just in volume but tone and language itself.
Picking up the pace, the group marched onward and only stopped once Quinn, who now had the eyepatch on his left eye and was going by Adley, noticed three figures approaching them. With only instinct to react with, Quinn calls out and asks for diplomacy but as the creatures get closer it is increasingly clear that these undead abominations mean nothing but malevolence and harm.
With some quick thinking on Morton’s part, the first of the undead monsters falls quickly to a well placed arrow but just as it is launched Throom causes vines to rip out of the ground and entangle almost the entire party as well as the undead, which are now clearly soldiers. Morton then almost gets a second kill but the thing seems to revive itself. Simultaneously, Quinn makes quick work of the unharmed undead. Throom gets impaled and immediately drops to the ground just as the brave cleric Bendeg smashes the final soldier’s head. After the party searches the dissolving corpses, they find gold coins that hadn’t been in circulation for at least ten years as far as they knew.
“Maybe we’re stuck in the past,” Quinn offered but no one was convinced.
“Are we dead?” Throom asked, but that didn’t seem quite right either.
Zym continued to inspect the bodies but not much more information was gained except for the fact that the undead’s armor was stitched to their flesh. But then the rotten flesh began to melt off the corpses and seemed to be drawn together and… stitching itself into something. A piece of map was formed from the skin of these creatures, whatever they were in life. After plucking it up and placing it in his pocket, Zym and the party decided to continue on.
Along the path they come across a small path that diverged only a few paces into the forest before opening up into a small clearing of bare dirt and dead grass. In the center, a small decrepit shack sat with sagging walls and a partially collapsed roof. The only window it had was shattered and through it you could see a single chair still standing, a book placed on its seat. Off to the right, a cracked well was left open to the sky, the top that used to cover it on the ground not far away. The stones that formed its base are chipped or broken but it still was standing.
Morton decides to walk up to the shack and open it up but remains cautious, which allows an old man to call out and warn them off. After some deliberation, everyone but Zym and Bendeg enter. Almost immediately breathing becomes a bit harder given the stench of a man who hasn’t bathed in years and the amount of dust that filled the room. The old man was dressed in plain Paciview sailor clothes and Throom seemed to be able to recognize him.
“Wait.. you’re Kernan Vaughn.” Throom exclaims as he gets a closer look, “Didn’t you used to work out on the docks?”
“Yeah,” Quinn nods, “He was a sailor on The Marauder.”
“Yesss,” The old Kernan Vaughn hisses as he backs towards the chair with the book, “But that was almost seventy years ago.”
While Morton, Quinn, and Throom process that they were whisked away for over half a century, Bendeg and Zym’s focus shifts to the well. When Bendeg pears over the edge, he is greeted by a completely black pool that sends his mind for a spin, his entire life flashing before his eyes but also a few memories that weren’t his and didn’t make much sense. An empty capital, the burning of Paciview, and moss people all had flashed before him. Luckily, being a religious man, visions were something he was used to and it didn’t put too much mental strain on him. When Zym peered into the well, however, it took a bit of a toll and Zym was taken aback for just a moment. However, there was also the half-eaten body of a young elven woman hanging inside the well from the rope that was attached on the outside. Bendeg and Zym pull her out without much hassle and examine the body.
“How do you reckon this happened?” Bendeg questions as Zym pokes and prods.
“No way to tell.” Zym says very matter of factly, unfazed by the presence of the body, “But I don’t think that old man is what he seems to be.”
Still seeing visions of his murdered family, Zym spits into the well and the entire vibe of the clearing shifts. Inside the cabin, the hermit becomes erratic, his head snapping to the window for a moment and freezing before returning his attention to those inside the cabin. Without much hesitation, Zym begins defecating and relieving himself inside of the well and it takes but a moment for what once was Kernan Vaughn to turn into its true form. Vaughn’s bones all broke at once and his flesh expanded outwards as if he was bloating up and melting at the same time. A giant flesh beast began to charge at the party members inside.
During the scuffle, Morton ends up getting absorbed into the beast and is almost lit on fire by the party as they, in pure desperation, attempt to light the thing on fire. Zym barely pulls Morton out as Quinn lights Vaughn on fire and Throom gets his weapon stuck. After a couple back and forths between Zym and the beast, Zym comes out on top as Kernan explodes into flesh chunks and gore that covers the entire party.
Bendeg picks up the book that Kernan seemed to be protective over and finds that it has a pentagram symbol on a cover that was made of flesh and sewn onto the book. Quinn thumbs throw revealing that it is mostly just gibberish except for a page with a picture of a town that appears to be moving. Out of fear, Quinn slams it shut and the party hesitantly taks the book with them while preparing to rest despite their short journey. Luckily, they are able to stay in the cabin as the gore begins to turn to dust much like the other creatures but this time its different. Morton recognizes the substance as something that can be used akin to salt to preserve things and scoops it into a few vials before the dust vanishes as well. Just as the sun sets, in an abnormally fast time of 30 seconds, the group settles into the cabin for the night. Awaking at around 6:30 am the following day, the group heads back out onto the path.
Not much farther down the road from the shack, a ritual circle is crafted out of a bunch of traditionally white candles. A single black candle is lit in the center and four heads are placed on pikes, one at north, south, east, and west. On the ground surrounding the candle, there is something written in blood. As the party discovered, it’s elvish for “Give Life, Get Marked”. The heads are all unrecognizable as the party never met any of them. However, they do move in closer and opt not to touch anything. Then a twig snaps behind them.
A creature that has hands for feet and long slender arms stands before them, her black hair falls past her shoulders and she stands watching the group. When the staring contest continues for a good minute, she makes her way towards the ritual circle. The entire party splits down the middle and allows her to enter the circle. This creature bends down, puts her mouth around the lit black candle and exhales. Almost immediately the ground rumbles and they knew they fucked up. An undead ogre came up from behind them and now they were pinned between the beast and the zombie.
The fight lasts only for a few minutes but it feels like it stretches out for ages. It's grueling on everyone as not only does Throom and Zym struggle to deal with the Ogre but Quinn and Morton try to handle the ritual circle. This ends with Bendeg trying to make sure no one dies only to go down and bleed within the circle himself and cause a purple flame to burst out of the candle. In addition to that, Morton gets impaled by the creature’s long nails and has the sudden urge to tear his face off as he gains the creature’s powers. It dies and Morton swaps faces with it. He doesn’t swap back.
A mark also begins forming on Bendeg's hand, as if it is being seared into him by some unknown force. This happens simultaneously as he finds a key in the deceased Ogre's limited pockets and as Quinn hides the black marks slowly making their way up his arm whenever he holds his sword and a creature dies nearby.
Not even a moment later, the group hears a cart rolling down the path towards them. Diving for cover inside the forest, they watch as an old lady makes her way towards the body of the creature and begins calmly disassembling it into chunks of meat. She then also proceeds to toss it into her cart. Zym recognizes her as Margaret, someone he used to have relations with over 70 years ago, but before he can react Morton gets up and walks straight towards the lady.
“I want your face.” He says dead panned, still with the creature’s face on and his own face in his backpack.
Of course that is when Zym runs up and smooths it all over. Luckily, Margaret is used to the craziness of the new world and informs them of all that's changed: most notably the capital being completely empty and Clearwater being called Darkwater now. She also reveals she’s a salesman and sells spell components to the entire party, two healing potions to Zym, and a book that can morph into any title or a collector’s pouch but can only be used once to Bendeg. When they turn to ask her how far Darkwater is from here and if there is any more information she could give, they discover Margaret has simply vanished.
And now they’re alone upon the path in the woods once more..
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