To Dominate While Unseen: Chapter Four
Monday, August 04, 2003 (06:00:46)

Posted by TerishD

Chapter Four

Jackal felt the tug on his pants forcing his body down into the mist. He had no idea about how far down it was to the bottom, but he did know certain things about climbing. Truthfully, the one he needed to save was at the bottom of the rift. He was thus not against the idea of descending.

The chase after Dethii continues as our heroes find out some of the troubles around them.


Chapter Four

Jackal felt the tug on his pants forcing his body down into the mist. He had no idea about how far down it was to the bottom, but he did know certain things about climbing. Truthfully, the one he needed to save was at the bottom of the rift. He was thus not against the idea of descending.

The major grunted as the weight of the man came upon him. The officer had felt himself lucky in gaining a good hold on the wall of the rift. The cliff walls of the cut into the earth were basically dirt, but they were solid enough to resist most erosive forces so could provide some stable points for grip. The armored military man definitely felt himself unable to do more in his predicament than hold on to his secure position. He expected to have to call on his soldiers as his opponent moved onto his form, but instead found the man to simply climb down his body.

The officer listened as Jackal climbed, slid, and otherwise safely moved down the side of the cliff. Hearing a grunt from the one descending reaching the bottom, the major considered his predicament. Understanding that his men were presently more worried about the wolves, the military leader decided to act on his own behalf.

"Sir, how far down is it to the bottom?"

Jackal was not moving. He could not see. The magically lit torch that he had been carrying was dropped to the ground above when he initiated the earlier attack that enabled him to grapple the military officer. That did not mean that the bard would not move, but only that he had yet to determine the best way to manage movement. The question from the major did help his mind focus on assessing certain facts, so he answered.

"About sixty feet. It is not straight down, so you should slide most of the way with your armor protecting you. Be careful though, because you don't want to start tumbling."

Jackal definitely had no plans to help the major, and moved along the cliff face to help assure that he would not break the officer's fall accidentally. The armored man did not descend in a nice straight fashion, but strayed in the opposite direction of the bard making their final distance apart further than either man wanted to move. Jackal raised his voice to assure that the other heard his question.

"How much do you know of this place?"

"None. It is called Lake Misty. Everyone knows that it really is not a lake, but there are not many facts spoken about it. When I gained this position, Baron Kedelt told me that he had a landowner that lived at the bottom named Yestinin. I was told that he was a recluse, but paid his rent without troubling anyone. Considering that he worked with wolves and bats, I assumed that Lord Yestinin was a druid."

Jackal had nothing against druids. He had a definite impression that something from this area had abducted Dethii, but accepted that it might not be the owner of this rift. As he quietly considered certain facts, the major supplied more.

"If you are thinking about treasure and adventure, this is not the place. Most of those seeking glory head into the forest."

The muscular bard finally decided upon a course of action, and explained himself to the distant military officer. "I told you that I have a friend named Dethii who was abducted by whoever controls those wolves. I don't know the reason, but she came to me stating her fear of someone invisible who was stalking her. The wolves rushed our camp tonight and my friend was taken. I am determined to regain my friend."

The major stated what he knew. "You have others that descended."

"Yes, my wife and two close friends. We have overcome some pretty dreadful stuff, so are not scared of whatever we might find. However, I have a reputation of rescuing ladies, and losing Dethii will be a definite black mark on my legend."


Sounds did not carry in the misty darkness. To be honest, light did not travel that far either. Rain and the two ladies with him thus moved and spoke to each other without much fear of others being able to track them. Of course, they would have preferred knowing the location of others, but knew that they had a job to do.

The three had come to the bottom of the rift, but the darkness prevented them from speeding up their progress along the path. They moved on ahead with the same careful pace that had gained them the safety of the bottom of the crevice. The welfare of Dethii was a definite concern, but understood that a foolish move in the darkness could possible ruin their effectiveness in making a rescue.

Watussin rattled the tall metal gate simply to verify that it was real. She saw the padlock sealing the entrance, but only considered it a bother. The gate itself was a work of metal rods spaced about six inches apart wrapped in another rod of metal shaped in the form of serpents. The bottom of the gate was reinforced with simple wide lengths of metal, but the top had thick metal circlets from which protruded contorted faces. No name or other identification was worked into the metal.

Rain and Fenshallit approached the gate as the armored elf lady looked at the fence. She did not consider the tall brick barricade to be a reasonable barrier to any attacking force. Watussin looked at the thick strands of what appeared to be ivy that covered the fence, but noticed a strange movement from the vines so quickly went back to the gate as she heard her husband and Fenshallit greet someone.

"Lord Yestinin gets few visitors."

The speaker was probably human. Watussin felt that he might even be handsome, but that he definitely needed to take better care of himself. The man was hunched over as if something was wrong with his skeleton, although no hump or other physical deformity revealed itself. The hair and beard had the style of someone who occasionally combed them, although generally just with his fingers. He was dressed in a fine suit, although the knees and arms showed signs of dirt. The man drooled as he spoke.

Rain again appraised the quality of the gate as he said, "We are here because we believe a friend of ours was brought here."

"The master did return with a lady. I am to treat her respectfully." The bent over drooling man lifted his gaze to look at Rain, but his eyes moved elsewhere. "There are ladies in your party."

Rain heard the surprised sound in the servant's voice, but kept a smile from his face as he made the introductions. "I am Keir Rain, an advocate of the god Muysdian. This lady in armor is my wife, Watussin. The lovely white haired lady is the wife of a friend of mine who I expect to show up. My friend's name is Jackal. His pretty wife is Fenshallit."

The drooling man did not show discomfort as he had to straighten his form in order to unlock the padlock on the gate. "My name is Rechick. I am not allowed in the house, but you may approach. The butler, Durobok, will determine your status."


Jackal took a few steps in what he believed was the proper direction to the path down, then yelled back to the major, "I hear water. You don't know anything about this place?"

"No. The elves might know something, but as far as I know this place has always been here." There was a short pause, then the major added what he felt was the proper answer to the question. "I have never heard it called anything but Misty Lake, and have never spoken to anyone that has visited Lord Yestinin."

The bard heard the information, then took a few more steps. He noticed that the ground was rocky, and that there was not an abundance of plant life around his feet. When he reached down to grab something around his leg, he only felt the fronds of a large fern. Jackal again stopped and heard the sound of a shallow fast running stream nearby, but realized what he did not hear.

"Hey, are you coming?"

"I can't see!"

"Well, stand around in the dark then. I have a friend to rescue."

Now Jackal heard the sounds he recognized as being missing. The major was not careful with his movements, but simply forced his mind to send the signals to the rest of the body to start walking. One hand did stay stretched out to keep contact with the wall of the rift, but the other hand was also used as support as the feet did not always find a secure place. The officer was rather loud as he stumbled forward.

The muscular bard spun and drew his rapier as he suddenly heard the major make a painful exclamation. Jackal could not see, but waved his blade before his head as he moved. What he heard along with the sudden sound from the officer was the flapping of a number of wings. The bard hoped that the major had only disturbed normal animals, but was not going to leave the man should he be in actual danger.

Jackal stumbled and had to move quickly in order to regain his footing as he attempted to move faster. The sound of the bats had faded, but the major suddenly screamed with what was certainly an exclamation of pain. The bard wished that he had a light. If the officer was being directly attacked by a bat, it would be next to impossible to swing a blade without potentially harming the military man. Jackal simply told himself that he could do nothing to help the major from a distance, so moved to contact the man.

The armored man was lying on the ground. The bard felt good that his feet had encountered the body without stepping on it. Jackal knelt to search for wounds, but what he found was a large furry mass at the officer's neck. In reaching for the mass, the bard found himself wishing that he was wearing gauntlets. That thought had the man reach for a dagger, and as one hand grabbed at the mass of fur the other used the tactile sense to direct the other hand.

There was no wet warm sticky feeling from a release of blood, but the creature on the major's neck released its grip. Jackal felt his hold slip as wings expanded and the animal at the major's neck acted as if it was a large bat. The bard drew his rapier and swung in the direction of the sound of large wings attempting to gain air. A piercing squeak brought a smile to the man's face, although he knew that to repeat the act would require a rare combination of luck.

Jackal spun about unsure of what to do. The sounds from the bat did not seem to be fading as it flew away, but neither were they the noises of the animal dying. The bard did swing his weapon in the hopes of again connecting with the beast, but such did not happen.

"That is no way to treat a lady."

The voice was definitely feminine. It was a playful high pitched voice more of the tone of a human woman attempting to sound girlish than of an elf lady. Jackal did not allow the words to cause him to cease his attacks, but he thrust his rapier towards the speaker knowing that it was truly no normal female. There was the sound of feet backing away as again the feminine voice sounded.

"Gersain, Thorkel, come here! Protect me!"

There was a distant answer, then the sound of feet splashing through water. The voices that responded to the lady spoke of being hungry. The female answered that the one standing could be paralyzed and eaten, but that the one on the ground was not theirs to be had.

Jackal heard the mention of paralyzation. It was a final clue to enable him to understand that the coming monsters were ghouls. The bard had no fear of his muscles being frozen, because the scabbard for his rapier was magicked to protect himself from such. Still, the understanding that the lady could command such intelligent undead creatures caused him to wish that he had been able to inflict more damage to her. Knowing that he was going to have to face this battle alone, Jackal swung his blade before him hoping that it would make contact before the creatures got close enough to use their claws and teeth.

I cannot say that things are going to get any better.