Chapter 2 - A Glimpse of Hell
As I saw the wooden pier beside Vehl past a heavy wall of raindrops, I sensed the air heavy. I was sure that it was not for the storm above the fort. Something was really wrong.
The docks were totally clean. Not a single soul in my field of view, except the man who sells tickets, but he didn't say a word about what was going on. I walked inside the Fort. Nobody by the streets. Some people were still working inside their shops, with fear in their eyes. However, I wasn't able to find out what was happening, nor anything about that halfling. I spent the night inside an Inn and woke up under a brighty sun. Then, I decided to walk back to Hempstead and ask Storold about what could be happening, since he has his
power stuff and probably would be able to help me.
That was still bothering me a lot. On my way, I bought a sort of Pot Helmet, hoping that this way, people wouldn't bother me so much for being inside their precious town.
Back to the port, and a little sad about the fruitless expenses, I went to the townsquare. And there was Storold, sitting on his bench, staring at the void, like a vegetable. When I greeted him, he woke up a little bit scared and looked at me. Then I remembered about the helmet, took it off and introduced myself again. Then, I asked about Vehl. He said that there was nothing about Vehl. Well, he may have his sensitive powers related to magic, but the fear I saw on the people from Vehl was not common. However, I considered it as a side distraction and decided to forget about it. Then, I saw a friend from Storold wich I hadn't before. That worried me lots, since I could be blinded in combat also. That helmet wasn't halping so much, at last. Anyway, his name was Kalin, and he was a sort of protector of the weave, such as Storold. Then he asked me what I knew about the weave;
Me - Little to nothing. Just that it is like a sort of balance, wich Storold helps to keep "safe"
Kalin - Yes. Actually, it is much more than that. You should study about it; it would be helpful in your line of work.
Storold - Yes. There are many spells wich could help you. One of them, in your case, is...
Suddenly, a girl appeared with a bow in hands and sat next to Storold. We all looked at her and she arrived babbling anything about Dark Elves and how she would personally like to tear some of them open, pluck out their bones and stick them in their eyes slowly. I just starred at her, thinking about if I should or no show my face, but since she was with her bow in her hands, cleaning some of her really pointy arrows and everybody thinks that I'm an elf at first, I decided to zip my mouth and watch how the conversation would go.
A little bit after she arrived, Elb'ren passed by.
The girl - Hey, cutie pie!
Elb'ren stopped running.
The girl - Yeah, you with the big sword.
No answer.
Storold - He must be deaf.
Me - Or dumb...
The Girl - Or possibly even blind...
Everyone laughed, except for the girl and Elb'ren.
Then he muttered something wich I can't record now, for he is always muttering stuff and I evolved a special ability to automatically ignore whatever he mutters higher than he should, and ran away. The girl stood up and decided to go after him.
Me - Sorry to spoil your desires, but I think that the elven man over there is already compromised. I've seen him some times with another elven girl.
The Girl - Then he didn't see me yet!
She went after Elb'ren. Kalin decided to stalk them to see what would happen. He became invisible and went after them. I used that to try my senses. Took ou the helmet, closed my eyes and focused. A while later, I pictured the whole square in my mind. There was the town crier, the statue, a guard roaming around, and finally Kalin. However he was invisible, he was making too much noise. A cheap trick I could say. Then, I felt an anergy my way, like a punch. Opened my eyes and Storold was staring at me. I bet he knew what I was doing, however, none of us decided to comment it.
We went back to our previous issue.
Storold - Where was I? Oh, yes. You see, one spell that would help you is Cat's Grace.
Me - What is it for?
Storold - Well, it sharpens your senses. It helps you when you are searching for something, and may even help using some weapons, mainly for aiming.
Me - I see.
Storold - Also, another that would help in situations like this is called True Sight. True Sight allows you to see invisible people or anything that might be hard to see.
Me - Well, I've seen some potions with such names in their labels, but I already know how to use the spells, so the problem would be to find them.
Then we saw Kalin coming back.
Storold - So, what happened?
Kalin, sitting next to me - Well, they decided to explore a cave nearby.
Storold - Just the two of them? Well, that would be interesting to watch.
Me - Pff... If I know Elb'ren, he won't even get close to the girl. The guy is totally nuts, unsociable and too much troubled to pay attention on anybody except himself.
Kalin looked at me, then, and said - How do you know that all.
Me - Well, I've already been down the sewers with him killing those weird frogmen and took note on his behaviour. He is very lonesome and looks like a kind of zombie, seeking punishment on himself for something he could do anything about in his past. I've seen some people like him before, also, and it is always a sort of post-traumatic behaviour.
Kalin was about to say something when the town crier screamed something. He got pretty nervous at that and we all decided to move away from that annoying bard.
Then, some people approached, a barbarian and a knight of sorts. The barbarian was only known as Colo, while the knight's name was Berak.
Suddenly, a girl appeared. She has been kind of stalking Karlin for a while and did not introduce herself. Meanwhile, Elb'ren and the girl arrived. Now, without a helmet, I could see that she was an elf. That explained much about why she hated dark elvens and why she was so interested on Elb'ren. He had a completely irritated look in his eyes, sat away from everyone and kept muttering about how there was no respect about people's personal space anymore. The girl seemed a little angry at him to. They sat on different sizes of the fountain.
Storold and Kalin sensed some disturbances on the weave and a little bit later, Storold teleported to somewhere else.
Then, we all sat as a kind of crowd and asked Kalin to entertain us. Firstly he told us a tale about a halfling he met once and then showed us some of his magic. He even summoned a metal golem of sorts. Then, after some of the people went away, Colo, Barek and Kalin decided to go to the Haven Caves. They invited me and I accepted.
We traveled for some days on foot until we arrived at the Castle. There, a man told us that some creatures had dominated a mine nearby and the Castle now was in danger. We went to the Cave to see what was happening there and to see if we still would be able to find anything valuable. There, Kalin casted many spells on us, to protect us and such, and there, for the first time in many years, I was afraid. Colo, Berak and Kalin were much stronger than me. When I thought that the creatures would had us surrounded, Kalin 'd cast some magics that could take them down. I couldn't do much than keep watching and hiding from the creatures, as they turned the mine into a slaughterhouse; a pool of blood.
We went to the heart of the cave and ripped off the head of the monster controlling the invasion.
On the way back, I got stuck in one of the many narrow corridors. I stood there for several minutes, until I finally managed to slip off, with a little help of Kalin. We walked back to the castle and got our reward. Later, we splitted and went different ways. Then, I found out that I was without my canteen. After thinking for several minutes, I decided to sneak back into the cave to search it. It was by far the worst idea I have ever had.
All of a sudden, the monsters surrounded me as soon as I layed my hands on the empty canteen. It looked like a trap. I ran as fast as I could, but there were too many monsters. Last thing I can remember is one of them raising it's sword and then everything turns into a red blur. I felt ethereal for some moments, like walking into the void of death, and all of a sudden, woke up near a high cross on Hempstead. Perhaps, some good soul has healed me and carried me to the town, or just teleported me there. One way or the other, I was feeling terrible, and my soul kept reflecting about my recent taste of the other side.
