Post by iceberg on Sept 4, 2007 14:51:12 GMT -5
Beyond the forest of Darkovia, there are not many places that humans inhabit, due to their less than friendly neighbours of Darkovia. There is one place however, a small village named Krepingwhisp. Only about fifty people live there, and that excludes the dozen Guardians who are stationed there. Their task is to keep an eye on Darkovia, and report any suspicious action to Battleon, and to other towns which might be targeted whenever a large amount of Vampires or Werewolves would begin to gather together.
That village had suddenly fell silent. When the last report had been sent well over a month ago, it was not thought of much. Reports could be delayed, accidents could happen. Monster attack, or that the message was lost somehow. Burnt, misplaced and forgotten.. but when it had been over three months, and not a word from Krepingwhisp had been received, the Guardians started doubting that everything was well back there. A team of four was sent to Krepingwhisp, and find out if anything had happened there.
"I wonder, is this Darkovia's effect, or does this place have it's own "ghost town" feel to it?"
Four Guardians had rode all the way from Battleon to the outer rim of Darkovia, and kept a safe distance until they reached the village. What Bate had said was right. The town did not feel alive. Only wind made noise there, nowhere in sight were people working, children playing, livestock minding their own business before reaching the state they could be turned into food. Somewhere, a door was slam shut, and open again, moving by the winds wishes.
It really was a ghost town. Well, ghost village.
"Okay kids, let's get going, stay sharp. Something happened here, and I bet it was no darn festival which left everyone inhome tending to their headache."
They rode into the village, and got down from their horses backs. The team of four consisted of three males and one female. The oldest of them already had his hair turning gray, although he insisted it was because of a curse that some malign witch had cast on him for breaking her wand. ...that, and her hands. Those spells she had been throwing at him back then had been rather annoying. He was a man who knew battle, and a skilled swordsman. His name was Hanson, sometimes referred to as "Sly Hanson" although he really did not think of himself as too sly.
He was in charge of teaching new Guardian recruits about the basics, battle, scouting, and in this case, investigating mysteries. And he had been given three of them as backup in case he needed any.
Bate, a bald young man, who was actually the youngest out of the three, he had a bad habit of talking too much. And usually about subjects that anyone did not like to hear about.
Mira, he had red hair to his shoulders, and at a quick look, it was tough to say if he was male or female, which did annoy him to no end. That, and his name, which seemed to back up the "female" guess that people decided on.
Shirley, a rather normal girl, except that she had started as an Adventurer, and eventually raised to the ranks of Guardians. With her long golden hair, she looked like someone to stay home, raise a few children and make food for her husband when he came home. But she was more interested in fighting monsters, questing and travelling than a peaceful life in Battleon.
Hanson did not feel too comfortable about having such fresh recruits as his backup, but if all went well, there would be no need for that. If nothing, this would teach them that everywhere things did not go as well as they did in Battleon.
"So, we leave the horses here or what?" Mira asked, looking around him. No surprise welcoming party. A shame. "Why do that, when we got a stable right over there?" Bate said, pointing over to a rather large building near them with "Stable" on the sign above the doorway in appropriately large letters. "Doesn't seem too bad of an idea to me. They are seeming restless already. Might as well take them there, if the place is even half what stables Guardian Tower has, they will be just like in home." replied Hanson.
They walked the horses towards the stables, although they seemed strangely disobedient. As Bate walked his horse in as first, the reason for the horses behaviour was quickly found out.
In the back of the stables, were the remains of what seemed a horse, nothing but skin and bones now, but still having a few flys around it. Bate shouted out from surprise, and his horse kicked up, backing away from the stables. "Woah, maybe not!" was what Bate said, grinning nervously on the sight of the corpse in the stable.
They ended up tying the horses to a few wooden poles standing outside a shack at the entrance to the town. The four of them had entered the stables, Hanson leading the group. Besides that one withered body, there was no sign of other animals within the place. Hanson had knelt down, seemingly ignoring the smell that the body still had. He looked carefully around it, like he had found something interesting. He then looked at the wall which the horses remains were laying on. "Gotta admit kids, I haven't seen anything like this before." he said as he got up, shaking his head a little. "..what, you never seen a dead horse before?" Bate asked, his eyes still looking at the corpse like the other two were. "Look at the wall." Hanson simply said, and got their attention shifted.
A single sword was struck through it, and a bit below it, were two holes, one on the left and another on the right. "...what is that?" Shirley asked, a shiver going through her. "Oh, nothing much. Someone just apparently crucifixed this horse to the wall." Hanson said in a rather unsurprised voice, which still did not help the three from being both surprised, and shocked. "WHAT!?"
"The highest sword was stabbed through the horses throat. There were two others, but I guess when the horse began to rot, it just slided down from the highest sword, and when it got free, the body fell down, and the two other swords were tossed somewhere. Or then it fell down a few minutes after being put up there in display."
"Who could do such a horrible thing?" Shirley whispered, and just by imagining the scene, she suddenly felt like she had to get out of the stable. She did not hear what Hanson replied. "We just might find that out."
Besides the houses and the stables of the village, there was one other building. A small tower, only two floors, it had been taken by the Guardian group which stationed to the village. It had been said that the tower had already been there when the village had been built, and already it had been abandoned. It was said to be a place where some ancient religion watched and predicted the future by the stars, but to all anyone knew, it could have been someone's hunting spot. Or an ancient outpost. Or it could just be a tower that someone built. As it was on the back of the village, they decided to check on it as the last.
"Bate, you come with me. Mira and Shirley, you go a pair. If you find out anything unusual, give a shout to us. And if you feel at any moment that you are threatened by something, give ME a shout. We don't want anyone getting crucifixed here." Hanson said, and the others just nodded. At least he didn't order them to go through the houses all alone. That would have been like in horror stories. One by one they go into places, and one by one they meet their grim fates. That didn't happen when paired, right?
They began searching through the houses, but found no one inside, alive or dead. But the insides of the houses were a mess. Plates shattered, chairs and tables broken and shattered.. on the house that Bate and Hanson searched, a snapped off chairs leg was stained red with blood, which had dried already. The second house that Mira and Shirley went in, had same dried blood stains in them, but they were scattered all over the rooms, like someone had been painting the house red. ...that, or swinging a bucket with blood, or something. This same house also had a few beds in them, the sheets on the larger one were clean, but the smaller bed, which probably belonged to a child, had changed from white clean to blood red, along with the exterior of the bed.
"Whatever happened here, it had to be the most insane thing ever." Bate muttered, waving a plate which had been snapped in half to Hanson, it too had red blood stained on it's surface, and on the sharp broken edge.
They went from house to house, but the silent story that was told to them was the same. Destruction, mayhem, blood. Had it been a werewolf attack? It couldn't be vampires, they preferred their blood within their prey. The last house that Hanson and Bate checked, actually had something in it. A dog's corpse, skin and bones now, just like the horse. "Fun. Someone didn't like their pet, so they tore it apart by it's limbs." Hanson said, looking around the body. The legs had been thrown away from the corpse, and even the head had been torn off. Then, or maybe earlier, tough to say, someone had broken the spine of the dog. Then again, considering the nature of the things they had seen, the dogs spine had probably been broken before it had been dismembered. Hanson could only pray that it had died at that moment. "I once had a dog. Then one day, this fat guy stepped on it and it died." Bate suddenly said, looking awfully sad.
"You found anything worth telling about?" Hanson asked from Mira and Shirley, who shook their heads. "It's the same everywhere. Everything is just destroyed." Mira was first to reply. "And bloody. Can't forget the blood." Shirley said, looking around her a bit nervously. "Well, that leaves us only one place then." Hanson said, and to everyone's disliking, he turned to look at the dark gray tower which stood in front of them.
The first thing they noticed, was that the door had been shattered. From the inside. The wind was getting louder now, like it was trying to tell them something. "I really think we shouldn't go in there." Bate said, trying to get others to back him up on that, but to his bad luck, the others did not share his idea. "And tell the others that we got a bit scared and ran off?" Hanson said, and stepped into the tower, the doors remains crunching under his steps. Next to enter was Shirley. "I didn't join Guardians to run away from things." Then in went Mira. "Hell, I don't want to be worse than her." Bate was left alone, outside, just the wind to keep him company with it's wailing. At least.. he hoped that he was alone. "WAIT FOR ME!" he yell, and ran inside.
The tower was dark, but that quickly changed when Hanson grapped a torch which he had barely seen hanging from the wall, and asked someone to light it. Shirley, being rather gifted in Magical abilities, created a quick flash of Fire around the torch, and it lit rather easily. As the indoors began to get lighted, they saw that the tower had not been saved from the destruction of the houses. It was like anything which could be lifted by hands had been wrecked. Hanson walked forwards, and found the stairway leading to the upper floor. "Let's go." he said, and took a few steps on the stairs, before noticing that the three were having second thoughts about it. "..you want to stay down here instead?" he asked, and the three just nodded. Hanson sighed, and walked down the stairs again, and grapped another torch hanging from the wall, lighting it with his own torch. "Then you can check the living quorters that this place has." he said, and the three suddenly looked surprised, and shocked. Again. "Better than standing still, right? If nothing else can get you to move, then consider this an official order by your squad leader. Now get going before I get you all demoted!" Hanson shouted, his voice echoing a tad in the Tower. Without waiting for any response, he began to walk up the stairs, all alone.
Bate, who was holding their torch, quietly waved it towards the path which led to the living quorters. "..shall we?" he asked, and only after Shirley took her first nervous step forward, did he move. Following him, was Mira. Like that, they went forward, one step at a time, feeling that any second now, something would leap out of the shadows at them.
Hanson had been quick as he got to the second floor. There were only three rooms there, the first from the stairs had been a storeroom, which had a sturdy, and rusty lock on it. The second room had nothing in it, well, anymore, it too had gotten through the same shattering act that everything else in the village had. The third room however, surprised him. Everything had stayed intact, which was like a small gift from above. This was the room where the Guardians had kept their logbooks, and other books, some for amusement, others were research on this part of Lore, from both plantlife, to the nature and behaviour of vampires and werewolves.
He stepped in, and started looking for something of use. A logbook, from this years beginning even. He opened it, and was met with a cloud of dust. He coughed a few times, and began to read.
On the first floor, Bate and the others had gotten to the living quorters. The door looked like something had torn it off, from the inside, again from the insane. What had gotten out of here!? That was what they were thinking. The beds were stained with blood, along with the floor. Sheeths and blankets were scattered around, like something had intentionally moved them out of the way. Besides the blood in the beds, there was nothing wrong. Nothing had been broken besides the door. Just as Bate was about to mention that they should leave, Mira pointed out something. "Look at the floor."
There was a trail of blood, which went back where they had came from. They had been too cautious of their immediate surroundings to notice the stain on the floor on their way here. "Oh man, you want us to follow a darn blood trail in this scary frigged up tower!?" Bate asked, he really disliked the idea. "Then give me the torch." Mira said, which Bate quickly did. Without saying anything else, Mira began to follow the trail, leaving Shirley and Bate behind. They just look at Mira and the light which got further, and further, before they snapped out of their state of being, the same moment that both of them thought they heard something from behind them. They screamed after Mira, who was rather surprised that they had not followed him from the start, like he had guessed they had done.
The blood trail went past the entrance, which showed that it was already nighttime outside. It circled almost to where the living quorters would have been if they had been on this side, and where it ended, none of the three liked. It was a hole on the floor, actually, a tile which had been removed. Mira lowered his torch a bit, and unlike Bate and Shirley had instantly imagined, there was no ghastly face to suddenly scream out loudly at the sight of light, no, there was something worse. Stairs. Which led downwards. Along with the bloodtrail.
Hanson was still reading the book, and had not found anything too surprising. Halfway done, being a quick reader, something suddenly echoed in the tower. Screams. Their screams. He quickly dropped the book from his hands, grapped his torch, and ran towards the stairs leading down.
Mira had began his descend down despite Bate and Shirley trying to talk him out of it. It was a narrow staircase, just barely could a human walk there without having to squeeze through. Again they were being left in the dark, so they just followed Mira. First Shirley, then Bate. First thing they could think of, was how dusty the stairs were. Each step they took, a cloud of dust raised into the air, causing them to cough out loudly. But when their coughs echoed down the small stairway, they forced themselves not to cough anymore, fearing that something would suddenly appear from below into the torches light. Something horrible. Like.. some kind of cave demon. They might not make it out alive.
Seconds passed, maybe minutes, but the stairway still kept on going. Finally Bate had had enough, and started talking out loud. "Let's just turn back and get Hanson to see if this place is worth checking ou-" he said, and in that moment, he tripped over his feet, falling forwards. First he tackled down Shirley, who hit down Mira, screams and shouts of surprise let out by all three of them. They were expecting to fall down the stairs, but no. They had reached the end, the basement deep under the Tower. "Aww dammit.. sorry about that yo-" Bate said, and got up, and his sentence was broken from the middle. He just opened and closed his mouth, his eyes glaring around wildly of the room they had stumbled in. Shirley pushed herself up, and felt something break and snap under her hands. She too looked around, and was unable to say anything. Mira had landed on something strange.. leathery.. but tough. He lifted his face, put the torch in front of him, and saw a skull stare back at him with it's empty shadowed eyes. He stopped breathing for a second, and just looked around. Corpse. Skeleton. Another. Men, women, children. Dead, all of them. Tens of them. All looking, staring. Screaming with their dead eyes and mouths, screaming at THEM, silently.
They just screamed back, quickly got up, breaking a few more of the bones they had landed on, and began running up the stairs, Bate first, Shirley second and Mira as the last, without the torch, which had fell down and died out already, leaving them, and everyone in the room in the darkness again. Bate was running, and screaming back "THE DOOR IS CLOSED IT'S CLOSED I BET IT IS CLOSED" which really did not make Shirley and Mira feel any better, especially when repeated and echoed down the stairway, and there was the fact that there was nothing that showed that the entrance to the underground horrorroom was still open. There was no light in the tower which had been around the entrance.
Bate ran, ran, and just as he was betting on hitting his head onto the tile which someone had moved on top of the entrance after they had went down, he got back to the first floor, tripped, and fell down loudly. Shirley was right after him, then Mira. A second after, Hanson arrived. "What the hell are you screaming about!?" he demanded to know, and was rather surprised to see Bate laying on the ground, curled up, sobbing. The next second, Shirley began crying, and Mira just shook his head. "Down there.." he was able to say, before he went next to the wall and sat down, he too curled up. His body was shivering, and his ears were trying to pick up the imagined sounds of something drag itself up the stairway. Hanson was ready to admit that something had happened, that even these new recruits wouldn't turn out like this over seeing scary or two things. He looked at the floor, and then at the stairway, and went down himself.
Eventually he reached the bottom, and picked up a faint hint of rotting flesh. He was shook by the sight of all the bodies that had been gathered to this small room, which by the looks of it, did not have any underground pathways to some beasts hidden lair, which might explain the corpses. But there was only this one room, what for were the bodies down there? Something metallic gleamed, and as he turned his torch, he instantly recognized what it had been when light had gotten to it. Guardian armor.
After a few painfully long minutes, Hanson got back to the others, who had now somewhat regained their senses, although still shaking. "What is it down there?" Bate asked, dead serious this time, his eyes looking like glass. "I'm not really sure. But there's one thing that I found out. There are twelve Guardians down there, about on top of the pile. I guess they were killed, and dragged down there. By what, or who, I don't know."
"I guess.. we now know what happened to the villagers too." Shirley said quietly, none bothered to answer "yes" to that. Hanson cursed on his mind, this is something for a group of trained Guardians, not kids like these. Lords know what kind of traumas they might get from seeing the room downstairs. "Did you find anything up there?" Mira asked, trying to shapen up. "No.. nothing that is useful at least. You know what, we've seen enough of the first floor, let's go upstairs, I got something for all of you which doesn't involve walking down dark pathways."
That something was reading. There were a few logbooks, three actually, one for Hanson, Bate and Mira. Shirley was forced to browsing through the bookshelves, while the others read. As she walked sideways, she suddenly bumped into something. She looked down, and saw a small blue-covered book. She picked it up, and noticed something on it which the room lacked. Bloodstains. She opened it, and began to read. After a few lines, she talked to the others. "I think.. I found what we're looking for." Hanson and the other two turned around, and saw the blood on the book, which Shirley was obviously trying to show to them. "Well, read on then." Hanson said, and Shirley did just that. "The past days have been full of sorrow, and things that I could never forget. I hope that one day, someone will find this book and learn of what took place in this village. Everything about it."
