As the light faded, I began my hunt. The soft ground of the jungle made tracking easy. My foot falls were muffled on the wet leaf litter and the paw prints of some beast were easily visible. After half an hour of following tracks through the undergrowth, it happened. From the side, I heard a deep, menacing growl.My eyes darted left to the origin of the sound. A pair of black, luminescent eyes approached me from a dark recess between impossibly large tree roots and a large panther stood above me, ready to pounce. With our roles reversed, I decided to charge.
I place a foot on a low root and leap up towards the great cat’s face with my sword. The blade glances past as it nimbly darts back towards the grotto it had alighted from. The giant creature leaps again to gain the high ground above me before pouncing down for the kill. The impact knocks me back as I quickly roll to the side and am at the beasts flank, ready to strike again.
I lunge forward again to strike the decisive blow but the terrain is all sticks, moss and roots. My foot is caught slightly and I lose balance. We vie for position, back and forth, claw lancing for the kill and sword turning it away. The great cat is bleeding from multiple lacerations and drives forward for one last attempt at the kill. I stand my ground with my weapon held firmly in a double handed grip; the impact will be great. The beast charges at me, its survival instincts fueled to full as are mine. The cat is upon me. I let out my own roar as we met. My feet give way as the huge bulk of the black beast crushes me down onto the forest floor. However, my sword struck true. As I push the corpse off me, I see my sword lodged deep in its heart. It will hunt no more in these Ironlands. My arm is flowing with blood and I have a carcass in front of me, time to tend to my wounds, skin the animal and eat fresh meat. It took more than I thought to skin the animal. In the morning I buried it as deeply as I thought to. Elven traditions were closely guarded here, perhaps the animal was sacred and this was seen as an insult to them. I had only just won my passage in their territory and didn’t like the idea of ruining that so quickly.
I began to follow the river Nakata pointed out on his map. The river rushed past me, down to the coast, as the seemingly endless descent out of the Hinterlands turned back into a gentle ascent as I moved towards a mountain range which I was sure looked like Lothgar’s Stand but I wouldn’t know until I moved closer. The water raced downriver next to me as I could hear the pounding of a waterfall somewhere up ahead. It was hard to know exactly how far as the mountains had begun to switch back on themselves, creating a sharp, zig-zagged raging rapids. The water in the air was mainly from the spray of river water which crashed against the rocks in an unending torrent. “So this is where all the snow ends up from the Hinterlands and beyond,” I thought to myself. Giving myself a small moment of mirth in this lonely, dark jungle. Just a few hours more and surely I’d find the waterfall the elves mentioned.
It seemed the jungles of the deep wilds had their reputation well earned. As I rounded the last bend before the mighty roar of the waterfall, I could just make out the sounds of another battle taking place. My wounds had only begun to close from my panther dance two days previous. Before I made myself known, I peeked at the scene from hiding. A man stood on the rocky shore of the turbulent lake and before him, rising out of the water, a large, reptilian creature raged. Blood rushed to my head. Before I charged into another battle I took a moment to survey the scene. Ithela had said to me that I am too rash, too hasty. As I saw her face once again, I decided to be smarter this time.
The valley descended steeply on all sides and the creature had long appendages which wrapped around rocks and the shore. They appeared to keep it anchored in place against the violently flowing water. That is where I would strike. Keeping out of sight, I moved to flank the horror. Down on the shore, Pemba looked hard pressed as he slowly moved backwards, away from the huge jaw of teeth.
It didn’t take long to reach the side of the fight. Now was my chance. The distance between my cover and the creature was too great to go unnoticed so I stepped out and roared with the fury I had choked down until this point. The horror’s attention was divided. It wasn’t the maw-like mouth which came at me but one of the leathery appendages. I slashed my sword at the slimy thing but not before water had splashed into my eyes. A sudden panic set in as I wiped frantically my eyes. I raised my shield and braced for the impact of another ferocious strike. It came as an immense weight upon my defending shield and my leg buckled slightly beneath me. My thanks to you Vigo for making my gift so sturdy.
I forced my way into the shallows of the lake. All the while the thin, grasping appendages tried to impede my progress but my sword kept them away. As I drew near to the body of the creature, water thrashing about in white foamy swathes, I struck true. In quick response, the horror dove down. With my sword still lodged deep in the creature’s flesh, I held on tightly. It swam madly deeper into the darkening water and thrashed its body about. Death was close. I wrenched my sword free while holding onto the horror by jamming my hand into the gaping wound. It continued to rush through the water, my breath was running low and my strength would fail soon. Time to end this. I struck again into the gushing wound. The momentum of the creature subsided as it began to float, unmoving, in the water. My head grew dizzy as my breath began to run out.
With the corpse of this horror floating atop the lake behind me, I dragged myself onto the shore. Exhausted, I flop onto the hard stones and stare at the clouds in the sky. Pemba’s disfigured head came into view shortly after. I saw his mouth moving but the water in my ears and the breaths I desperately sucked into my burning lungs drowned out all sound.
“Sibillia…” came a raspy voice through the ringing in my ears. “Sibilia! What are you doing here?” he asked as he knelt down beside me and helped me come to a sitting position.
“I could ask you the same question, Pemba.” I replied. “My guess is that Nakata is a scheming old goat and didn’t think one of us would do the job properly. The bastard.”
“Well, I am glad you came when you did. My life would no longer be mine had you not. For that, I give you my thanks.” His face was so serious as he said those words. Always the loyal soldier back in Mournhill, I wondered if he was even here on the promise of pay.
“Look, I’ve had enough run-ins with those who could turn into enemies. Would you join forces with me? Perhaps our swords, together, are more likely to make it back to Mournhill unscathed?”
He had knelt down beside the water. His arms cupped water and washed himself with his back turned to me. He stood up after a slow and deliberate amount of waiting. “No. What Nakata promised, I do not wish to split it with the likes of you. You were once greatly respected, but your wailing ways have been noticed by all.” He began to walk away towards the bank I had just recently snuck along.
Maybe he was right. It seemed like my skills were tarnished. First the elves had caught me completely unawares, then the panther had turned hunter to hunted. I needed to at least try and let him know not to come try to slit my throat in the night so I yelled as menacing as a toothless child at his back, “Just don’t come sneaking around my campfire at night then Pemba. You’ve made your own bed now!” I watched him scramble his way over the water side rocks then up into the cover of the underbrush. It would be best to camp the night, rest from this battle, and let Pemba make good time away before she swam out to the waterfall and to the entrance of this tomb. The night passed uneventfully. I could see a torch, flickering as it passed behind the dense undergrowth, across the bay. Pemba made his way towards the right hand side overpass. I slept soundly by those gentle and now safe waters of the lake.
When the sun rose the next day I found a recess in the rocks a little ways off the rocky shore and stashed my goods. The waterfall was a ceaseless torrent of pounding water and extra baggage would do nothing but drown me. With my precious goods covered, I waded waist deep into the chill waters of the lake. Today, as I dove under the surface, nothing came to me except a shudder down the spine as the cold water enveloped me whole.
RPG Downtime 