OOC: A warning this post is a bit dark at later stages
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A week later found Calson stealthily following a track of what he had determined as being undead, most likely zombies. His trek had taken him to the north up the mountain side again. Another group of people were with him as well but they had strayed behind losing the trail that Calson had so easily marked for them to follow. "How hard is it to follow zombies?" He thought pulling his cloak tighter about him as the wind howled by. Eventually the path divided one heading to the left int a set of crypts, the other to the right into the caves that Calson recalled with a shudder contained the large spiders. "First things first." He thought and headed into the crypts to the left.
He soon found his quarry shambling around mindlessly on a bridge. "Piece of pie." He muttered his presence still not seen by the mindless undead. Calson slowly uncorked several vials of holy water, and flasks of both acid and fire liquids. Tossing two of each at the zombies on the bridge the results were either they fell off the bridge or died where they stood. An odd thought passed through Calson's mind as he watched one undead burn and melt from the dangerous combinations of liquids and oils. "Wonder if they feel pain?" He thought.
Calson shook the thought away it didnt matter what mattered was that they were destroyed. Nothing else then the total destruction of there kind would ever make him happy. His life was one of silence and a road traveled alone. "Nothing shall detract me from that." He thought.
Taking the last melting and burning form of a zombie down with an arrow shot to the head and pushing it over the bridge side Calson slowly made his way out of the crypts. "Now for the other pack." He thought, hoping that if he did run into the spider guardian she would understand what he was doing and allow him to do it. "Sides, in a way I'm protecting her brood from the undead." He thought reasoning with himself summoning up his courage. As he did this he took note of another form moving into the cave almost without a care for what was around them. Even from his vantage point Calson could tell the form was probably either an elf or a small human, wearing heavy armor and laden down with weight.
Taking another breath and slowly following from a distance behind the form paused at the entrance to the cave. Soft mutterings Calson over heard identified the person in question as an elf and a woman at that. Though the tone and accent of the voice he could tell wasnt the spider guardian. After a short delay of imbuing herself with several blessings she glanced back a moment near where glance stood as a rock slide away from his boot and over the edge. For a moment Calson thought she had heard him which surprised him. But then he felt a cold form brush by him which caused him to glance slowly back. He thought for a brief moment he caught the sound of a form but passed it off as being just the wind.
The elven woman went inside the cave then and Calson carefully followed. "Perhaps she saw the undead tracks too and is also hunting them." He thought as he slide inside the cave entrance. The painful memories flooded his mind as he looked about the entrance area and noted the webbings. The elf took off at a slow jog which Calson followed.
A small infestation of small spiders attacked the elf which she soon smashed to bits. By this point Calson took note of the also destroyed forms of the zombies among the smashed forms of the baby spiders. "Least one job taken care of now for this one." He thought moving to right behind the elf woman as she went to smash another small spider. He slipped from the shadows taking the woman by surprise grabbing her mace arm and stopping her from killing the spider. It in turn fled off into the cave depths.
"WHAT?!" She said in surprise her strength belaying her smaller form taking Calson off guard by retching her hand free. She backed off from Calson fear and worry in her eyes.
He held up his hands showing his had no drawn weapons though it wasnt hard to see the longsword, shield, and bow on his person. "Easy lass, aint wanna hurt ya..." He said in his most convincing voice. In truth though if it meant preserving these spiders, and avoiding the wrath of that spider guardian again he would if he had to.
"Who are you?" She asked still not letting her guard down.
"Names Bolson, a tracker and hunter." He replied. "...and ya lass?"
"Luna....priestess of nature." she said.
"Luna huh?...fair enough pleasure ta meet ya." He said glancing about a moment to make sure no more spiders were coming there way.
"Are you here to destroy the infestation too?" She asked.
"If thats you then yeah." He thought but held back the words. Instead he gestured to the undead. "Was tracking them when I noticed ya. Lass look ya in danger here. Far greater then I think ya realize."
"You destroy the undead too?! Thats great!" She said happily giggling as well. The action surprising Calson for a moment.
"What is she some kid?" He thought. Then shook his head slightly. "Lass this spiders be sacred to a guardian here. Ya killing them be gonna wind ya up in a heap of trouble. Look lets just leave here. Be a mining camp just to the north of here we can use to wait out the night, and talk fore a bit." He said in offering.
"What?..no no we cant do that these spiders hurt people we have to destroy them!...come on!" With those words Luna took off running around the bend.
"Blast it lass! Dont!" He shouted taking off in pursuit. But as he rounded the bend he could already see the group of large spiders and smaller ones already destroyed by some divine blast.
Calson sighed heavily reigning in his flaring temper. "Gonna get us both killed lass! Ya dont realize wha ya doing!" He said approaching her again his weapons still not drawn.
Luna eyed Calson again a moment. "Sure I do! I'm doing good! I'm killing these nasty things and saving peoples lives!" She said conviction clear in her voice.
Calson shook his head. "Lass evidently with those huge ears of yas ya didnt hear me right. There be a guardian in this cave, mean one too. I'm telling ya if'n ya dont leave here now she's gonna come after ya and probably me too and harm us both." He gestured to one of the scars on his face. "Trust me its painful. So PLEASE lass just leave for ya own sake and mine. Ya say ya wanna help folks, tha's all fine and dandy but right now the person in danger here be ya self. So think of yaself for once and leave here fore the guardian gets ya."
"NO! I have to destroy these awful things before they can harm others!" She shouted then took off around another bend.
"BLAST IT LASS!" Calson said his anger surging again. This time he drew his long bow knocking an arrow.
But as before he rounded the corner to find still yet another batch of spiders destroyed by the elf. Calson took aim at her and loosed an arrow over her head. "Lass, stand down. Last chance." He said knocking another arrow.
Luna spun eyeing him now with hurt and anger in her eyes. "Your just like the others! Always wanting to hurt me when all I want to do is help people!" She said.
"Lass, I dont wanna hurt ya but ya leaving me no other choice. Now please last warning, stand down and leave here." Calson said adding a bit of a threatening tone to his words. "I will fight ya if'n ya force me to."
Surprising the elf started to cry and Calson hoped this was going to be a sign she was backing down. Yet even still Calson kept his aim tracked on Luna's head ready for a kill shot if need be. "Come on lass jus stand down, please." He said again
"Just like all the others!" She shouted then and quickly chanted off a flurry of blessings the effects of such were that Calson's released arrow shot missed from the flurry of divine energy.
Drawing his sword and shield after slinging his bow calson scowled. Anger again flaring in his face. "Damn it lass ya got no idea the danger ya got us both in now!" Preparing himself for her charge.
The fight was not entirely one sided. Calson was able to strike several blows on the elven woman and for a time seemed he might actually beat her. But then after and series of chants a spider of all things came to the elf woman's aide biting at his leg with a sweep of its fangs. "GAH!" Calson cried falling back and feeling his muscles weaken from the poison. Soon after Luna came at him again and in his now weakened and out numbered state Calson soon felt darkness over come him.
Darkness reigned around Calson for a time feeling nothing but pain, then a solid kick to his ribs jolted him awake again. "Wake up!" A familiar feminine voice intoned. It took a moment for Calson's memory to kick in before he realized that it was the feminine voice of the spider guardian. "Urghh, I'm awake." Calson muttered as he brain slowly got into focus again. He realized he was tied and bound between the webbing of spider webs again. Just next to him though was also the form of Luna, further wounds on her showing that the guardian had struck her as well. Calson then shook his head sadly. "I warned her...." He muttered.
Slowly a soft light came about them and Calson was able to take in the features of the spider guardian. He was able to tell that it was an elf, though the skin was far darker and the hair a white grayish color. She had an exotic beauty to her but one that Calson could also tell was one of pure malice and deadly. A soft groaned from next to him indicated to Calson that Luna was also coming around.
As she tried struggling against her bindings without success Calson looked over at her, as she caught his eye. "I told ya didnt I? But ya wouldnt listen." He said.
A harsh blow across his face silenced any further words. "SILENCE!" The woman said. Calson nodded slightly falling silence. "Now what were you doing here?" She said to Calson. "Was my warnings not enough for you last time? Or must you suffer once more?"
"Lass, I wasnt here to destroy ya pets, I was here to get tha elf there outta here, and then tried to stop her from killing more of ya pets. Only reason I was round here was to destroy those zombies ya proably saw at the entrance there. Was more concerned fore ya and ya spiders well being from those zombies then anything else." He replied.
"The godess would have dealt with them." She replied. "...so you say though you were here to stop this elf hmm?"
Calson nodded. "Aye, ya can see the wounds I caused no? as well as my own wounds from her weapon?" He added.
The dark skinned elf looked him over carefully slowly nodding a bit. "You provide proof of your deed but, nothing I fully trust yet." She replied.
The dark skinned elf then turned to Luna. "So why were you here?" she asked.
"You! you foul evil thing! Let me go!" Luna said struggling against her bonds again. A slap across the face to Luna caused her to cry out in pain, she caught Calsons's eye a moment. "Please, sir help me!" She begged before another slap shut her up again.
Calson closed his eyes at her words sighing softly. "Lass, I warned ya how many times, I pleaded with ya to leave those spiders alone, tried reasoning with ya. But ya wouldn't listen to me. Now ya want me to save ya? Fight something tha I know I cant beat? For wha? In the vein hope tha ya escape? While I do what? Rot on the ground dead?" Calson shook his head slightly then pausing. "...nay lass there aint anything I can do fore ya, and ya brought this on yaself." Surprisingly Calson expected a hit from the dark elf woman for his speaking out of turn but none came.
"Drudoc will save me! She always has!" Luna cried out struggling again.
The dark elf just laughed. "That hin?! She doesn't even know where you are, nor could she defeat the will of the goddess." She said.
Calson did what he could to take the strain off his feet and then rested his head against his arm a moment with his eyes shut trying to block out the sounds of pain and whimpers from Luna as the dark skinned elf went to business on punishing her. Several times Luna again begged for Calson to help her, but each time he gave a simple shake of his head and a simple "No, lass, ya brought this on yaself for not heeding my advice." As the time passed he tried blocking out the cries of Luna's pain but failed at it.
After almost two hours of it silence fell and he opened his eyes again looking over to the slumped passed out and bloody form of luna and the dark elf woman. "Ya done with her yet? I think she learned her lesson." Calson asked.
The dark skinned woman turned to him a slight coy smile to her lips. "I've hardly begun human, Bolson was it?" She asked.
"Aye lass, Bolson." He said.
"Mayhaps you would enjoy giving her punishment as well for what she did? Both to the spiders, and attacking you?" She said leaning in close to him her scent mixed with the feral scent of Luna's blood.
"No lass, she brought upon her wha she's getting here now. But I wont punish her for wha she did. Ezra shall do tha when she dies...." He paused a moment the comment catching him off guard. "...or this goddess ya talk bout..." He added then. The further comment seemed to cool the slowly building anger at his words about Ezra from the dark skinned elf.
"Very well, hang there then till I finish, if anything remains of her you can have her." She said walking back over to Luna.
Calson sighed softly guilt slowly seeping into his head, as the mixture of the memory of Luna's screams and pleadings for mercy and help echoed and mixed with the further screams that resumed as the dark skinned elf resumed Luna's punishment. Then after another short bout of this silence came again, and Calson chanced a look over again. Luna was not cut down and stripped naked tattoos and runes on the elven woman's beaten and bruised body. "Wha ya doing?" He asked the dark elf.
"A sacrifice to the goddess." She replied simply also stripping down to nothing. Despite himself Calson watched the slowly emerging ritual. To his horror Luna was still alive as the cuts were made down her chest, cut retching screams echoed forth from her as slowly the dark elf removed Luna's still beating heart, before tearing it away from the chest cavity. With a final twitch Luna fell still her eyes in her death throws boring into Calson's own and her last words seeping out. "...help....me..."
The dark elf intoned some words in an unknown language that Calson didn't recognize, as she laid the corpse and oddly still beating heart of Luna into a cocoon. It slowly moved and bulged then a large ghostly like spider coming forth in a burst of what Calson could only tell was divine energies. The spider seemed highly intelligent and spoke in the same dialect as the dark elf woman. Slowly it advanced on her biting into her chest leaving two small puncture marks. The dark elf went still then a moment, and the spider turned towards Calson slowly making its way to him as well. Hunger clear in its many eyes. Desperation filled Calson as he tried to get free but failed. "Ah come on!...I was trying ta save ya kin, look if this be from before I'm sorry! But I didnt know! I cant be blamed for tha can I?!" Calson got out as the spider slowly crawled on top of him venom dripping from its fangs onto his chest. Slowly it seemed to enter into his chest and disappeared
Calson inhaled sharply as a pain lanced through him for a moment before passing. Shaking his head slightly to clear it he found his bindings fade away and he slumped to the ground. He eyed the still form of the dark elf woman then Luna's destroyed body. Moving over to the dark elf he found her alive but her breathing shallow. Rummaging amongst his pack he took out a herbal salve, and dressed the bite and wound on the dark elf. As he finished her hand shot up grabbing his frightfully hard. "Gah!..." he got out wincing slightly at her surprising strength. "...Easy, just tending to ya bite." He said as she left him go and he moved back.
The dark elf woman looked at her chest noting the bite and bandages which Calson noted didnt seem to have any effect on the poison. Clearly it was something different then he had ever seen. She eyed him slowly then as if something or someone had spoken to her with a slow nod. "I understand my queen." She said then once more looked at Calson. "...for reasons I can not fathom the goddess has released you. And granted you mercy for your service in your attempts to save her brood. You are to take that elf garbage out of here, and yourself. Do with the elf as you wish." With those words the dark skinned elf dressed herself and gathered her belongings before disappearing amongst the gloom.
Calson took a moment to gather himself. His head felt heavy as did his chest. He felt a guilt weigh down on him unlike anything he ever felt before. The last words of Luna's dieing form begging for help from him. Slowly he took a breath again shaking his head again and pushed the guilt away. "Ya brought it upon yaself, aint my fault." He said reasoning. Then looked to Luna. "Now wha to do with ya?" He thought gathering her things and what remained of her body.
He emerged from the spider cave carrying her body blinking a few times at the first rays of the morning. "Could always leave her here. After all she got what she deserved." then another wave of guilt swept over him and he sighed a bit. "...no I cant do tha, wouldnt be right." He said outloud laying the body down and softly praying to whomever would listen.
Surprising himself a gasp of breath filled Luna's form as he extensive wounds healed up miraculously. Calson had taken a short time before hand to wipe up the runes and markings on her body. "What?" She said rubbing her head slowly. Then eyed Calson. "What happened. And who are you?"
"She doesnt remember, me or anything that happened." Calson thought. Trying to decide what to tell her. "Well, I lying once got me outta trouble might as well do it again." He thought once more handing over her weapons and items. "Ya were attacked by..werewolves just down from here. They killed ya I came upon ya a short time later driving them off. And with ezra's prayers brought ya back." He said putting on his best convincing tone.
Luna nodded slowly taking her things back. "I see, thank you." She said gratefully then smiled. "Your a good man sir!" She giggled a bit then. "I'm sorry I caused you such trouble here take this." She said handing over several hundred coins to him which he took. "I got to get going now though! So much to do and people to save" She said getting ready to run off. Calson quickly grabbed her wrist tightly.
"Lass, before ya go. One thing I'd ask for ..." He paused. "...for saving ya life. Dont go into this cave here ok? No matter wha." He said.
Luna slowly nodded then. "Well, ok I guess I can do that since you did so much to help me and save me." She replied.