Where the group confronts a hideous, twisted abomination in an eerie clearing in the corrupted Barren Hills.. THE CACOPHONY OF WHISPERS The group paused confronted with the hideous tree. Within their minds, a thousand voices whispered, some with familiar voices. All were unnerved by the sight of nature corrupted and twisted. They looked uncertainly at one another. Meanwhile, Dronk climbed the small mound nearby and considered the tree. It was crowned with a single, monstrous sunflower-like head, with a multitude of other heads dangling from its branches like so much obscene fruit. The voices were persistent. "Do you seek death? You will find it here!" *laughter* "Do you seek power? You can find it also.." Some of the voices were of people they had known, but they could not remember the people. The sun was high, but hidden behind clouds, casting a grey light. Dronk heard the whispering inside his head. "You'll never be as good as your brother" said a voice. "SHUT UP" he said aloud, involuntarily. Looking at the tree, he unslung his heavy crossbow, and licked his thumb as he drew a bolt carefully from his quiver, notching it and taking slow, precise aim. The group looked up, realizing what the dwarf intended. Cornelius started to mouth "NO!" but it was too late - the bolt was in flight. It arced through the air, then plunged into the mass of the tree. The whispering voices were suddenly silent. A PICTURE OF HORROR Then a cacophony of voices exploded again in their heads, this time a maddening laughter, and threats of death. Hugo, Red and Drake began to rush the daemon-tree, screaming oaths at the top of their lungs. Cornelius looked stunned at the turn of events, and could only gape for a moment as he recovered his composure. Dronk grinned, and began to load another crossbow bolt, winding the heavy winch. Edmee shouted a prayer to Manaan and advanced slowly, flail in hand, then threw a bolt of glittering energy which flew past the tree and struck the ground. It was then the tree quivered, and the branches writhed. The mouths of the heads opened, and from them vomited forth a tide of flies, black as the night. The flies swarmed everyone - except Dronk, who fired his crossbow again, and began again to reload - filling their mouths, ears, covering their eyes. They frantically swatted at the things, recovering enough of their composure to meet the onslaught to come. Huge vines the size of tree branches, covered in thorns which dripped with venom lashed at Hugo, Red and Drake. Drake found himself forced on the defensive by the assault, the thorns scratching long gashes in his armor. Hugo skillfully avoided the first strike, but the counter-blow then knocked him to the ground. Red dodged the vines, but felt the spines rake across his back, and the burning poison begin to enter his veins - but the battle rage was on him now, and no little thistle-venom would stop it. Hugo recovered his feet, and rushed forward, smashing the mass of the tree with his war maul, again and again. Drake dueled with the vines, slashing them in twain, occasionally severing a head from where it hung giggling. Red frothed at the mouth, chopping at the mass of the tree. These attacks produced a thick black ichor, not unlike blood, but the tree still laughed. OMENS OF DEATH Cornelius Heinrich began uttering the words of Power, clearly heard over the din of battle. Dronk continued, from his position on the mound, loosing crossbow bolts at the tree. Then a skull-faced head looked directly at Edmee and pronounced her doom. Inside herself, she could feel naught but pure terror as it told her in her mind how her soul would be devoured. She tried to block out the voice but could not, and became paralyzed with fear, unwilling to get closer to the daemonic Tree and that hideous face. Cornelius saw his companion overcome with terror, and unleashed a ball of glowing fire towards the Tree, striking the branches and causing them to erupt partially in flame. The sunflower like head suddenly unfurled, its petals swaying like snakes. The mouth of the central face opened, and from it a sickly green ray of light emerged. It burst towards Red, who was saved only by his innate danger sense, throwing himself to the side just in time. Where he was standing only a moment before was rotted and burned by the light, and a smoke came from the ground. The vines struck again, battering Hugo, Drake and Red, who were now all hard-pressed, and bleeding from many scratches, bruised from the lashings of the vines. The ground rippled like the wave of the river Reik, and they almost lost their feet, but managed to keep steady. The voices of the Tree no longer laughed, but threatened bloody murder, that their bones would litter its roots, like all the others before them. Cornelius again unleashed arcane energy, striking the tree with a shower of sparks. The heads retaliated, staring at Drake who felt himself weaken, but then the power of Sigmar flowed into him, and he pushed forward, severing the branch in front of him with a sweep of his greatsword. Red was a ball of fury, his greataxe swinging again and again, covering him in black ichor as he tore into the tree. REIGN IN BLOOD They felt it began to rain - then realized in horror the rain was blood. The blood burned, and everyone frantically wiped it from their armor as they felt it burning. The tree laughed. Seeing Hugo now on the defensive and heavily bleeding, Edmee muttered a prayer to Manaan, and healed him, reinvigourating him and allowing him to press the attack again. The group pressed the attack. Spells flared, weapons gleamed. Drake rushed in, seeing the Tree swaying, black ichor flowing. Hugo did the same, but as he did so, a face was lowered - a beautiful face, of an attractive woman with a forked tongue. She laughed, and he felt a curse settle on his soul. He stared at his scarred hands, and saw they had become webbed. He felt his joints warp and twist, and he became hunched of back. His eye swelled. Hugo von Wolfhardt was a monster now! Edmee, startled, stepped back. Hugo could only drool, then charged the tree, determined to slay it. Dronk now, seeing the group hard pressed, slung his crossbow and rushed forward, looking for a better shot. He was greeted by the flies, swarming into every orifice. He chomped down, feeling hundreds of them in his mouth, covering his eyes and ears. As he did so Drake reached the trunk and plunged his greatsword to the hilt into the trunk. Unable to see, Dronk fired his heavy crossbow blindly, but still managed to strike the tree, directly in the sunflower center head, right between the monstrous eyes. It was making a strange keening noise now, high pitched, like a kettle whistle. The tree-thing screamed, like a animal placed alive in a fire, shuddered, and the writhing limbs flailed, then were still. The Tree was dead, and as it died, a tree it again became, hardening and becoming a long dead tree, the fleshy heads and mouths becoming only a very hideous and very dead tree. TRIUMPH OVER ABOMINATION Drake wasted no time, and began to saw off one of the heads, the one that had cursed Hugo. Cornelius and Edmee began to examine him, his form hideously twisted by whatever fell magic the Tree had lain on him. Hugo now was a mutant, destined to be burned at the stake, or at least to be a beggar. No longer could he show his face in polite company. Hugo would need to be brought to a temple, they decided, to see if the curse could be removed, although there were some indications it was temporary. As Dronk spit out the remaining fly parts in his mouth, the group began to admonish him, led by Cornelius, for attacking the Tree without consulting them first. Dronk acted interested, but also searched the roots of the tree, for around the roots were scattered many bones, and rusted armor and weapons. At the very base of the tree trunk, he found a strange dagger, covered in a black ichor. Dronk handed the dagger to Cornelius, who began to inspect it. Then a horn sounded, echoing through the hills. A beastman horn. Closer this time. The group looked at one another, then set out at a quick pace from the cursed clearing...deeper into the Barren Hills. North.
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The WizardIn time, you will come to know the tragic extent of my failings... Past Journals
September 2017
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