hem! - Part 1 he illage f onstead

The companions took the ingredients to Mora in the market. She studied them and pronounced that they were of a high quality.
"I will go and prepare them." She said. "I will be no more than an hour." She pushed a side a curtain and disappeared.
"In that case." Said Jodotha rubbing his untidy beard. "I will go for a shave and a haircut."
The others waited impatiently for Mora to finish her work. Jodotha joined them, looking a lot smarter than he had when he had left them just in time for him to see Mora to emerge from her workroom bearing a clay jar and a handful of hollowed spines.
"Inject a spoonful of the gel each day, morning and evening, until he recovers, or he dies. Good luck."

Ako took charge of the jar and the spikes and returned to the skyship once more. As Trimus flew the Phoenix back to Lakeside House Ako gingerly administered the first dose of the cure to Rintrah. He sat hopeful beside the mage but it seemed to have no effect.
"Don't worry." Said Jodotha, "There is plenty more in the jar, the poison was a strong one, it will take an a cure equally strong to save him."
Having left the Phoenix in the subterranean cave Trimus and the others set about stowing the treasure they had received from the dragon before calling upon Madam Thuly to prepare a meal.

"Ah you have returned." Said Madam Thuly warmly as Darkhawk stood in the doorway of her cottage. "A message came for you while you were away." She pulled a scroll from out of her apron and presented it to Darkhawk who thanked her and returned to the others.
Trimus broke the scroll and read the message out loud to the others.
"'We require your immediate assistance on a matter of grave and serious civic concern. Report to the town hall at your immediate convenience.' It is signed by the leader of the town council and dated three days ago."
"I will stay here with Rintrah" said Cain. "You go and see what the council want."

After a swift lunch of fresh bread, fruit and cheese they road into Akasoli a few hours after noon. They headed straight for the town hall and after handing the reigns of their horses to a stable girl they waited for the councilman to come to them in a high ceilinged meeting room. They did not have to wait long. A haggard man with short-cropped hair and the build of an ex-soldier entered and bade them sit at the long dark-wood table.
"I will be blunt. We have a serious problem. The village of Lonstead has come under attack from a group of strange humanoids. Those that manage to flee describe them as having large eyes and mouths that open side to side. Some villages were slain as they defended their homes while others were captured and taken away. We sent some soldiers and another group of adventurers to find out what was happening but no one has returned."
"Where is this village?" asked Darkhawk.
"About a day's journey to the south west." Replied the councillor pointing to a wall map behind him. "We have one of the survivors if you wish to talk to him. He is still shocked by what ha happened but he may be able to shed a little more light on what happened." He picked up a small bell and rang it, which summoned a young page that then went to fetch the villager. The man looked haggard and a nasty wound on his arm had soaked through a bandage.
"This is Murran." Said the councillor. "Murran, these men are here to help you and the village."
"I am sorry to hear of the fate of your village." Began Trimus. "We have come to help. If there is anything you can tell us, no matter how strange of minor it may seem to you."
The refugee thought for a moment before starting. His voice was quiet and shaky as he recalled what happened. "They came out of the forest, from the west. Big shiny black eyes and a hard shiny skin they had. We tried to hold them off but they were strong, our simple weapons had no effect on them. Some had weapons of their own but most just used sharp claws and their mouths. They carried some away, the strongest of us. The rest they killed." Murran put his head in his hands and wept.
"Take him back to the clerics." Said the councillor quietly to the page, who lead the weeping villager away.
"We will leave straight away." Said Trimus.
"Thank you." said the councillor, "And good luck."

They returned to Lakeside House, told Cain what was happening and took off in the skyship for the village of Lonstead. They flew low over the village but could see nothing but smoke rising from one of the thatched houses and a number of bodies lying on the ground. Landing to the east of the village they approached carefully through a wood using the trees for cover. As they reached the edge of the village they came across the first bodies, a man with his throat ripped out pinned under an overturned wagon. Ahead of them they could see more bodies, all human, men, women and children. Already their bodies were starting to bloat and blacken and clouds of flies hovered around them. Trimus put a silk handkerchief over his nose as a breeze blew the stench of decay towards them. Jodotha signalled that the others should stay put. He then scurried to the nearest building, a granary supported on stone mushrooms. He climbed the ladder and peaked inside and whistled quietly but no one responded. He searched another few buildings before returning to the others.
"There are no survivors that I can see, and no bodies of these strange attackers. They didn't stand a chance, it looks like they attacked at breakfast time and no one was expecting it. The young and the old were slain in their beds, others only appear to have been killed if they were a threat to the attackers. We need to take care, these creatures are strong and their claws are sharp."
Ako held up his finger for silence before standing up and walking towards a large barn on the edge of the village. He returned a few moments later leading a packhorse. "Jodotha, get some grain from the granary, Bobbin here has been fed for days." The cleric stroked the nose of the stocky grey mare. "She says that there was a lot of fighting a few days ago, she could smell the blood. Large fly like man-things came in and killed her master before going away again."
"Some tracks lead into the woods." Said Colloran. "That appears to agree with what information we have."
The others agreed and after spilling a sack of grain at the feet of Bobbin they followed the tracks into the trees. A few narrow trails none appeared to be particularly well travelled and for a while Trimus despaired of finding any signs to follow. Then near a small stream, where the ground was damp he spotted some unusual footprints. As they followed these through the wood Jodotha cut blazes into the trunks of trees to ensure they could find their way back to the village. The further west they went the rougher the ground became and it slowly rose eventually changing from deep woodland to more sparsely forested hills. Emerging into the late afternoon sunlight Trimus blinked a little until his eyes became accustomed to the brighter light. Looking towards the horizon, he saw silhouetted against the ruddy sky a strange ovoid mound set amongst the hills. The hills themselves even part hidden in the shadow, also revealed a secret. Small caves, probably not natural, dotted the hillsides.

"I'm going to take a look at that mound." Said Trimus. "I won't be long." He then cast a spell and vanished. Despite being invisible Trimus still moved cautiously, knowing that creatures could still hear or smell him. He crossed the open ground between the edge of the forest and the mound and started to walk around it. Looking up he estimated it to be eighty feet or more tall and at least twice as wide. He studied the wall of the mound closely and found it to be made up of mud and sticks much like a termite mound. In the southern side of the mound he paused, there was an opening, some fifteen feet in diameter. Standing in it was a tall insect like humanoid. It did not seem to have noticed Trimus but still the mage took a few quiet steps backwards until he was well out of sight of the guard. He swiftly cast another spell and closed his eyes. His vision shifted to that of the conjured eye that floated before him. Concentrating intently he sent it towards the opening in the mound. Floating in Trimus could see at least seven of the insectoid creatures standing in a large entrance hall. It was dark inside but he could just make out several passages leading off of this chamber. One of the creatures suddenly started to move off and Trimus sent his eye after it. The darkness closed in but Trimus followed the heat signature of the creature through several passages. Other shapes similar to the humanoid he followed passed Trimus' eye by. The creature then stopped and proceeded to do something to the wall. It appeared to be either eating or regurgitating something onto or into the wall. Trimus silently cursed that he could not see what was going on and nearly lost control of his eye.

The creature spent a few more moments at the wall then turned around and retraced its steps back to the mound entrance. Taking a final look at the creature Trimus could not make out what it was, he had certainly seen nothing like it before although there was a certain orcish cast to its features. Sensing he still had some time before the spell expired Trimus sent the eye across the hills to the nearest cave. The eye was at its limit and Trimus was beginning to get a headache but he pushed on to get a look in the cave. He saw bones outside, splintered and gnawed out of all recognition. He gave the cave a quick search but could find nothing of any interest. He brought the eye back to his location and let the spell expire.

He rejoined the others noticing in a small gully the body of one of the creatures along with a long sword. Trimus recounted his tale in detail and waited for a response.
"Did you see anything that might be a queen?" asked Colloran?
"No but there was some slight variation in form and size." Replied Trimus. "It is a warren in there, it may take us some time before we find the captured villagers."

They waited for nightfall, resting in the forest while Colloran and Darkhawk discussed battle strategies. It was clear that Colloran disagreed with Darkhawk's plan but eventually the older fighter shrugged his shoulders.
"It is a risky plan but I can see that you will not be persuaded from it. "I will do my best to ensure its success."
They crept forward towards the mound until they were close enough for Trimus and Ako to cast spells. Ako and Darkhawk started to shout and bank weapons against shields. At first nothing happened then a few of the creatures emerged to see what was going on. One retreated back in while the others waited. Jodotha and Darkhawk fired crossbow bolts at two of the creatures, Jodotha's bolt struck home but Darkhawk's shots were wide of the target. Six more of the creatures emerged then another eight.
"Now would be a good time." Muttered Darkhawk to Trimus who needed no second bidding. Muttering a few arcane phrases the mage sent a ball of fire towards the creatures. It exploded amongst them killing six instantly and wounding several more. To add to the confusion, Ako cast a spell of continual light upon the mound itself, lighting up the whole area to the south of the mound. One of the unwounded creatures pointed at Trimus and the others.
"Duck and scatter!" shouted Trimus diving clumsily to one side as a small fireball exploded where they had been standing. Trimus was caught in the blast and rolled along the ground as he tried to extinguish his robes. He got to his feet slightly shaken and cast another spell. Two of the creatures keeled over asleep but the others converged on the companions at a trot. Heavily out numbered they made a fighting wedge with Darkhawk at the front and tried to hold off the creatures as Trimus recovered his breath enough to cast more spells. To their horror another pair of creatures emerged from the mound, these were different to the ones they were fighting, smaller and more human.
"I think I have just worked out what happened to the villagers." Muttered Ako has he smashed his hammer into the hard carapace of the creature attacking him. "We're fighting them."

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