Curse of a Home: XVII
Friday, August 13, 2004 (05:42:31)

Posted by TerishD

Chapter Seventeen

The forces within the mansion of Newuhal were resting. Their sleep was not peaceful, but most were so exhausted that the bad dreams due to the curse were unable to disrupt the slumber. None were expecting the calm to last, but all were glad that some respite to the horror had momentarily come.

Fenshallit walked the corridors of her house glad no longer to need to be out at the fence. It was hard staying awake now that she no longer saw enemies at every turn, but she knew that this curse was worse than any normal sickness. It corrupted the weak, and used physical and psychic tactics to erode a person's strength. The lady of the house thus felt a need to display confidence and not simply leadership.


The calm is appreciated, but events are set in motion to bring on the full fury of the storm.


Chapter Seventeen

The forces within the mansion of Newuhal were resting. Their sleep was not peaceful, but most were so exhausted that the bad dreams due to the curse were unable to disrupt the slumber. None were expecting the calm to last, but all were glad that some respite to the horror had momentarily come.

Fenshallit walked the corridors of her house glad no longer to need to be out at the fence. It was hard staying awake now that she no longer saw enemies at every turn, but she knew that this curse was worse than any normal sickness. It corrupted the weak, and used physical and psychic tactics to erode a person's strength. The lady of the house thus felt a need to display confidence and not simply leadership.

It brought a smile to her face to see the light elven frame of Watussin rush towards her. The violet haired lady was the other female in charge of the household. While she was presently in her annual cycle, her body seemed to be coping with the horrors of the curse better than that of anyone else. Fenshallit truthfully needed to see if she could get any rest, and could assume that her time of duty was fulfilled now that Watussin was back alert.

The elf lady gasped for her air from her short run as she asked, "Has the fighting stopped?"

"Basically. It is back to being the occasional cursed animal. Most of my soldiers are attempting to get some rest. Oh," it was definitely better to give Watussin some information than have her find out on her own, "Dethii arrived with a whole crew of sailors. I have not pressed them for their story, so I do not know how Dethii wound up signing on a ship. She only said that they liked adventure."

"Has the rain stopped?"

"No, the rain has not stopped."

"Is our stream flooding?"

"What? No, the stream comes up from the depths, so is not affected by the weather. Our men have already determined that the forces that made this gorge ripped it open, so the lips were pushed up preventing most water from above to flow down. We survived the storms before this without a problem."

"Rain, my husband," Watussin giggled that her husband's name was the same as the weather outside, "spoke to me of his concern of our gorge flooding. He said that he could find no evidence of such having happened in the past, but this situation is different."

"What is so different that would cause our river to stop flowing?"

"The bodies."


Dethii really had not been sleeping well. She was only comforted with having a dry room, a dry bed, and dry clothes that fit. The people here considered her family, and kept a place for her. Not being able to close her eyes due to the horrors that would fill her mind, she could look around and feel the peace of having walls around her that were friendly.

The knocking on the door was not a friendly sound, but the reddish haired lady moved to it considering that it would be a friend who was causing it. It was Fenshallit at the door. The white haired lady looked both ways down the hall, then rushed inside as if hoping that no one would see her. Considering that Fenshallit was a friend, Dethii allowed the lady whatever fantasy she felt a need to act out and only moved to assure that the door shut softly.

"Dethii, I hate to ask, but I need you to lead an expedition to the north end of my rift. I am much too tired, but was only staying awake until Watussin could take over my duties. She is in the melt however, and I do not want her to get away from the house. The men are away, so it is us ladies who must lead."

"This curse upon the land makes it hard to sleep, but I feel that I have gained enough rest to cast most of my spells. Why do you feel a need for this journey?"

"We have been unable to do anything with the bodies. We keep killing the cursed creatures by reaching through the bars of my fence, but their continual presence has prevented my men from taking a chance on going outside and disposing of the corpses. Some of the bodies are being dragged off by others, surely they need to eat, but it is feared that the bodies might be brought downstream where they could clog the drain at the place our stream drops back into the depths."

"How much activity is presently outside the fence?"

"Very little, so I believe that the mission is not necessarily suicidal. Would you at least go check with my officers?"


Viscount Nexelt allowed his baron to lead the march. Jackal had been on this mission from the beginning, and it was his home that the company of men were advancing upon. The high noble accepted that Jackal was a successful hero, and welcomed the man as a noble because of his reputation. He had a good track of overcoming whatever problem presented itself to him, and the viscount did not want to disrupt whatever method he used.

Jackal moved next to Rain to ask, "Do you believe that we need to take a left and head to the mountain?"

Rain actually had to pause before answering that question. He well remembered the adventure that he had with Jackal. It had been in that mountain he had first met his friend, and his wife. He and Jackal had left a powerful being from the plane of Limbo beneath that mound of dirt and stone. Considering that Limbo was the realm of chaos, and this curse was from the time of chaos, suggested that there could be a connection. Rain however knew that the time of chaos was not named because of its association with the non-structured plane, but because it was before the coming of Vintagelle who forced the gods to enforce a more dependable set of rules upon the physical world. Rain did consider the association of the Slaad Lord Gipellar, but had to rule it out.

"I really do not want to enter that mountain again. Unless Derinda has lied to us about the events surrounding the start of the curse, I feel no reason to take a left." Yes, Jackal was laughing, but Rain kept his features plain. "Besides, we do need to check on the quality of life in this city that somehow is avoiding the other miseries of this curse."

A number of voices sounded an agreement to that statement. While the rest of the kingdoms of Einglippon and Formorll were suffering from a constant rain and threat of stretched creatures, Jantirl was bathed in sunshine and no group of stretched creature were attempting to attack. Those marching were glad not to have their vision obscured and their every action weighed down by fresh water. They felt a hope that those of Jantirl had figured out a solution to removing the curse upon the land, although held their weapons with the fear that the physical signs of the curse had moved on because there was no one left in the city to torture.

Cries of alarm sounded from the men as they spotted a sentry walking the battlements of the city wall. It was probably once a human, although now stood taller even as its stride was disrupted by its stretched form working to keep its bones properly supporting its stance. All in the group felt that their fears of Jantirl being completely filled with cursed people were realized, and saw no hope in moving on.

Derinda reached out and tugged on the sleeve of the one who had once courted her. "I did not live in the city, Jason. Take me home."

The baron nodded to the lady, then pointed as a signal to the men to return to their march. The mixture of soldiers, nobles, and holy men did not refuse the command. They felt that retaking the mansion of a gentry would be easier than conquering a fortified city.

Derinda's home was protected by a wall, but it was not the massive blocks of stone that separated the city from the surrounding countryside. While Jantirl was built to properly defend its citizens from raiders, all that Derinda's family could provide was sanctuary from most normal threats. While they had the liberty to not have to constantly abide by the whims of the baron, they also had the fear of being overrun.

The lady started crying as she saw the gates to her home hanging open. The men picked up their pace to match her run as she rushed to see the devastation of her home. There was a horrible odor from a number of corpses scattered about, although most realized that the number was not as great as it should be. Beyond those of Derinda's family and servants, the household managed a number of farmers. Considering that the curse also affected the animals, there was potential for a great number of burials. Most understood that those affected by the curse would have moved off, and that the bodies of others were surely fed upon. With the gates open, there was nothing preventing the remains from staying put.

Derinda kept wiping her eyes as if the rain were again pouring upon her, because tears kept flowing from her body as she moved from body to body. None of the men stopped her movement. Jackal did stay with her just in case a monster remained in the mansion. He did not ask the lady what she was looking for, because he felt certain that he knew. He did not speak to her in an understanding that there were no words he could say. The lady did move against Jackal and cry for a time. He felt her loss. Although his relationship with her family was never completely friendly, he had spent a year of his life associating with the people here attempting to win their approval. He thus knew them all, and shared the sorrow of their destruction.

The viscount was directing the men to begin burial of the bodies when he noticed Derinda and Jackal return from the mansion. Seeing the two return unharmed gave him hope that the house could be used as a base of operations. He did not argue with the lady moving to the priests of Wrossin, because he also felt that a proper blessing of the estate was needed.

The elder priest held out his hands to accept what Derinda held out to him. Gaining a hand that was only a number of days old did not seem appropriate, but he did not drop the item. He only looked to the lady for an explanation.

"I have kept it, keir. This curse has lost me everything else, but the hand of Nevillen has stayed with me. He came down with me into the depths beneath the lair of the goblins. I cut off his hand after a rock slide doomed the rest of his body. I watched a dragon, the one affected by the curse that we killed before your arrival, kill and eat my second brother who father had sent after me. Where the other two are, I do not know, but I am certain that they have been claimed by the curse as well. My father surely was active about my home, so fell prey to the curse. Why I did not find my mother, or some member of my brothers' families, I cannot say. I need to restore my home, however, and this hand of my oldest brother is all that I have."

"You are asking for more than a simple restoration of life, dear lady. I will need to ask Muysdian for a mighty generous use of his power to bring your brother back to life."

"How bad do things have to get before Muysdian will help?"

The priest started signaling to others in his group as he responded to the lady, "He created dragons to force the other gods to see the need to help us. He saw our need from the start."

It took some preparation before the elder felt able to work the appropriate spell. Once he began however, everyone else felt that he should have taken more time. Thunder sounded from a distance. The viscount already had put some men to repairing the gates to the fence, but rushed others to speed the process. There were people working burial duty, but they were told to simply move the bodies outside the protected property. By the time that the restored body of Derinda's brother opened its eyes, the horrors of the curse were again coming to the land.


Events start to be pushed to a climax in the next installment.