To Pass a Mountain, Writhing

[Phallic Swindler]

"Writhing? What is that, Dwarfish?" Emil began patting his belt for a tattered Dwarfish dictionary that he knew wasn't there.
"No, that's writhing. After nightfall this mountain comes alive."

The shop keeper was a scrawny old fellow, even for a Dwarf, and his thin elderly frame lacked the stocky form familiar in their kind. His skin was riddled with wrinkles and bright pink veins that throbbed with every heartbeat. Two thick glass lens, acting as bifocals, were suspended before him on six spidery legs that extended to the counter-top to keep up their weight. It was an odd, almost tragic sight that made Emil wonder how many times the lone merchant's stall had been ransacked before. There was no one else for miles.

"Is that liveliness dangerous? I don't see an immediate pass around it, and it is a straight shot to the next town." Emil had asked because of the fleeting day. The songs of birds had long faded and the air now rang with chirping crickets. The sun had sank into the horizon and an orange blanket had fallen over the land. In the eastern sky there was a bounty of stars spread thin across its black expanse. One couldn't even rush before nightfall.

"Quite dangerous. No, you'd better stay here until sunrise. There's an extra bed for rent behind the stall." The frail keep gestured behind him and Emil laughed.
"I couldn't fit on a dwarf's bed!" The comment was every respect a joke, but invalid. Emil was small enough for a pixie's cot. "How much?"
"On a night like this... 800 Gold Pieces." The crooked old man must have tried to size him up financially, but missed his mark by a long shot. Emil attributed that to the twin telescopes the old man had to look through.
"I don't have that kind of money... no one does!"
"Oh... How much do you have?"

Emil tugged the edges of his cloak over his shoulders sternly as he set down the mountain's pass. The night had continued its growth and he somewhat regretted not purchasing a lantern from the dwarf, but the erratic prices had put a bad taste in his mouth. Besides, mountain was easily Emil's preferred travel terrain, much better than the swamps he'd been stomping through for hours. Writhing or not, dirt and pines beat out mud any day. Tree sap scented the whole way like Elven cologne, and a chilly breeze blew through the layer of grime and sweat on Emil's neck in a most refreshing way. The only thing writhing was that shop keep's wallet.

Pushing just past the mouth of the pass, before Emil had adjusted to the creeping darkness, a light appeared in the converging trail to his right. The orange flicker danced and, lantern or torch, made Emil hopeful. He had yet to be concerned with the potential of highway men and looters on his travels and always saw another wanderer as an opportunity. Sometimes they were potential allies, mentors, and, in this case, Emil hoped a guide. Sweeping the iron sole of his boot back and letting the weight of his belongings rest in a familiar place, the fisherman let weight onto his lead foot and began trotting up the trail to where the fork appeared. He wanted to appear just ahead of the other travel, as not to approach like a threat from behind. Odd, perhaps, that Emil didn't concern himself with the inverse.

(Partner quest, reserved)

[Luka]

The slow retreat of the sun began to cool the mountain, casting a blood sky in its final fury. Night started to settle like a black cloak over the land, silence following as animals scattered from pine to rock in cover of the nocturnal hunters that roamed the cliff face. Luka's hands reached down along the rocks that littered the trail ahead, finding two that matched his requirement he brought them to his front and cracked them together. At the impact of the two stones sparks rained down on a moist branch that lay upon the ground, and after a few more strikes that branch roared into a small fire that consumed the moist parts of the stick in a bright light. Luka raised the branch and gave a quick glance around the illuminated area that seem to expanse ten fight out in any direction. Light showered the man holding the branch in a warm glow, giving his features to anyone nearby.

Luka gave a small nod at his handy work of the torch, being surprised that he didn't sit there for an hour attempting the trick that he was still attempting to perfect. The need for shelter would fall into anyone whom traveled these mountains, giving him the chance to get to the pass without being bothered by lost men. His left hand reached back, undoing a small latch on his pack and removing a map and clasping it in his hand as he moved toward the fork he knew was coming up. Luka knew better then to think he would be completely alone here in the mountains at dark, but at least those who didn't know where they were going could be easily given false directions to the dwarf shop just on the next slop. It wasn't that he didn't want to help others, but he wanted to get through this mountain as quickly as possible. His green eyes glanced around as he looked ahead of him toward the fork of the road. His ears caught the sound of footsteps just ahead of him, and he prepared quickly, placing his torch in the left hand, crushing the scrolled map against his palm, and dropping his right hand to his hip, touching the hilt of his throwing knife. "Hello there?" He said aloud, seeming more like a question then a statement. He was used to running into strays along the road, but a few incidents taught him to simply be prepared for anything.

[Phallic Swindler]

The pass sank into tiny impressions under Emil's feet. The shadowy trees left him unaware that he had passed the fork, so he was startled to here the voice behind him. Turning slowly, Emil's hands closed around the edges of his cloak to hold it over his arms. His eyes swept down to the rock strewn course and followed it up to a pair of nimble legs. Sweeping across the man's figure, the fisherman noted the plain colors and roundness of the features: it was a fellow human, albeit it a larger one than himself. Rotating his view carefully around, but never at, the figure's face, Emil observed everything he could before meeting this man's eyes. He appeared to be a forester or a hunter of sorts, which was a score for the hope that he could guide, but his facial features seemed... harsh. The clash for boyishness and fiercety had him at a loss to guess the man's age, but Emil decided young enough to get lost.

"Hello," Emil offered, somewhat relieved to speak in somewhat more basic tongue. His voice carried an innocent confidence that made him no more threatening than weak. He wasn't sure that an introduction was appropriate, but at a late hour he could hardly pass off as casually walking the same direction. The appropriate route then, he decided, was to approach in a business fashion. "You wouldn't happen to be crossing the mountain, would you? I'm not sure I know the way." He posed the question in a way that didn't obligate the man- he found that helped. With the torchlight now fully illuminating the both of them, Emil could make himself in the eyes of man. His reflection was much smaller, seemingly weaker, hardly armed; most people wouldn't say armed at all. This look made him approachable, if not funny when he extended his hand in greeting. "I'm Emil,"

[Luka]

Luka's expression was slightly more than surprised at the small figure that stood before him, the light making his way over the mans dimly lit features. Luka's right hand slowly came off the hilt of his dagger in response to the small man that stood before him, figuring if he needed to he would be able to beat him away with a torch rather than the dagger. The fact that Luka had caught the man from behind gave him enough reason not to be threatened, for if the man meant harm, it would be the only way around.

"Hello to you as well." Luka spoke slightly more soft than he had before, not wanting to alert any other strays that may be walking the trails in search of the pass. The pure bluntness that was placed into the question he was asked gave him reason to believe this man was simply lost, and in need of assistance. The one thing he had been trying to avoid. With a sigh Luka looked over the man and nodded that he did indeed know the way through the mountain. Not feeling the need to be offensive at this hour, Luka in turn extended his hand and clasped it with the man in front of him, giving the firm grip and small shake as he was accustomed to. "I'm Luka." He said calmly, still attempting to figure out how to measure the man up. It was rather hard for the man to seem a threat to him with as little weaponry that he carried, but it wasn't impossible. "I don't exactly know the way stranger, but I've a map and a compass." Giving into the very thing that he had been attempting to get out of, Luka figured he had no choice but to help the man. Besides, two were better than one when attempting to get through a mountain. Things had a habit of happening at times like these, and the rumors of this place didn't make it out to sound any more safe than toying with goblins.

[Phallic Swindler]

Emil was relieved when the man shook his hand. Luka seemed a formidable threat, perhaps even against a mountain, but he had passive attitude to him. He didn't greet Emil with the kind of overt friendliness that might have been an illusion or a trap- that much was great.

"I think that'll do fine. I'll let you take point." Emil gestured for the man to go ahead, hoping he'd maintained a harmless enough appearance for him to go behind. The horizon was dying out now with its last streaks of orange turning the eastern sky from a well lit twilight to an unforgiving darkness. If not for Luka's arrival, Emil probably would have been blind during this dark of night. Following the woodsmen, he couldn't help but concern himself with the Dwarf's claim of mountain danger. The area seemed fine, almost devoid of dangerous wildlife, and the shortened man was likely trying to pitch a sale more than anything else. Yet still, what could pose a threat that made the mountain writhe?

"What have you heard about this mountain?" It was an innocent enough question, Emil thought. His instincts as a fisherman left him a lot more accustomed to detecting aquatic threats than woodland, but perhaps Luka had cold hard knowledge of the mountain's danger.

[Luka]

Luka’s eyes glanced over Emil as he gestured for him to take lead, but the thought of a stranger lingering behind him was a little uneasy. He hesitated for a moment, but nodded and gave a slight nod in thanks to the gesture. Although Luka wouldn’t admit it, he was actually looking forward to having company whilst traveling through this mountain. Mountains were by far his least favorite terrain, the steep cliffs and narrow passages could be extremely unforgiving. This mountain was just as much a mystery to him as any other he had climbed and passed, but he had experience this time. A little, but it had the ability to carry him a long way.

Glancing back as he was asked the question, Luka raised a brow at Emil’s question. He hadn’t heard anything of this mountain, this might be in part to the fact he didn’t stop to ask questions on the regions. Usually he was able to bypass any threats that would cause others harm. The fact that he didn’t use trails either also made it hard for him to come in contact with those who had seen danger. “I’ve heard nothing about it.” He said with a grin. “I presume you have heard something?” Luka asked in return.

Luka’s eyes wondered along the dirt that was being kicked up lightly as he stepped, the dark dirt let him know that it could be awhile before they actually encountered harder ground. The trees were too thick here, which meant that they were still at the base of the mountain. Luka knew that at this distance from the peeks they would have two options; they could go around, which would take more time, or they could go over the mountain, facing the harder terrain, but also getting through to the other side much faster. Luka pondered this as he used his left hand to scratch the underside of his jaw, the small hairs that had grown starting to irritate and poke the soft skin under them. It wasn’t something he found very pleasing, but scratching it seemed to always take his mind from the irritation.

[Phallic Swindler]

"Just the name." Emil said, letting his voice reflect the grim nature of the pass. The woodlands at this time of night were usually singing, littered with insects and night fowl. But as they crowned a small hill at the base of the mountain, all Emil could think about was how utterly quiet it was. In all of his travels he had never heard such a silent night beyond winter. Glancing up to the sky, Emil let his eyes drift across the starry mass for a moment before letting out a small, inaudible sigh. His Guiding Star was no where to be seen.

There was a valley beyond the hill where the path had been flooded over with swamp. Weeds had sprung out of the dull green water and a colony of dragonflies whizzed back and forth across the surface. The path mustn't have been used for weeks. The swamp stretched up for a ways until the trail emerged some 30 meters away. Emil considered the pass, wondering if perhaps there was a tar pit underneath, or any large game that may live just beneath the surface. Either way it wasn't an ideal route, but the swamp seemed to stretch on in either other direction and there wasn't an immediate way over the valley.

At the surface of the swamp a bubble emerged. Emil almost wasn't paying attention, starting to concern himself with the water-tightness of his bait bag, but jumped when he noticed. The thick texture of the swamp water welled up with another bubble before popping, and then another, and then a small flurry of them as ripples began to form closer and closer to the water's edge. Then a hand emerged. Black, skeletal fingers reached out with thick bands of tar stretching from their tips to the swamp below. The tight form of the digits followed down as the wrist and arm began to emerge and the hand came grasping at the dirt of the trail before it. A cranial dome began to surface, black with tar, and a sickly thin torso began coming up out of the water. The creature raised its face to reveal a shriveled head with skin stretched tightly over an angular skull. The black wells of eye sockets held a piercing red aura, and the open maw between its jaws held a series of crudely eroded black teeth. The creature did not cry out or make a sound, but instead hastily began pulling its lanky form from the swamp below. Emil was nearly frozen in place as he watched, grossly intrigued, as he muttered just loud enough for Luka to hear. "...they call it the Writhing Mountain..."

[Luka]

Luka shrugged as Emil answered his question. What would make this mountain any more notable than any other, it was just rocks that stacked on one another. Sure, it was hard terrain once you went to high, also become rather hard to breathe, but nothing that would set it aside from any other. As they climbed the small hill Luka smelled something that made him glance around. It was a swamp, he didn’t need to see it to know, the smell always gave these marsh lands a distinct notability from a distance.

Turning to look at Emil, Luka shook his head. Swamps were even worse than the mountains, having them both not even a mile between made it even more of a pleasure. But as he looked around, it became noticeable that there was no way around these swamped out parts. They would have to go through, he gave Emil one more glance before turning around in time to see a hand closing the distance on the shoreline.

“What?!”, Luka let out a silent gasp and took a step back. His left hand gripped the torch, and his right went to his hip, grabbing the end of his bow string in preparation to flip it around. This wasn’t something you saw every day. Either someone had decided it a good idea to swim in the swamp, or this was something a little more critical. As the figure exposed itself into the torch light, Luka started to pull the bow up a little faster, hearing the words that Emil said last.

“Don’t you think that might have been important?!” Luka hissed back at him, his voice also low enough for only the both of them to hear. His eyes focused on the figure, moving slowly in a zombie like fashion. They had to cross this way…but if there was more of these creatures in the swamp it would be hell. Finally pulling his bow around, Luka dropped the torch to the ground between him and Emil, reaching back with his, now free, left hand and grabbing an arrow from the sleeve. The arrow founds its way to the bow with careful precision, Luka’s eyes never leaving his intended target. His left hand moving up the bow to hold the arrow in place, whilst his other clipped the arrow to the string and pulled back in a familiar motion.

[Phallic Swindler]

Emil's lips started to sputter out a retort, but he opted that it didn't matter as he saw Luka arming himself. The black fiend had pulled its thin frame from the swamp and gained to its feet. Its knees twisted inward in a disjointed fashion, but the creature was easily taller than either of the men when it stood. It's head crooked eagerly forward as it took a step, its bony foot fell forward with several cables of black tar stretching back to the swamp. The open mouth didn't let out a single breath as it stretched wide open for the men, but the eyes held their red glow fixed straight ahead. "That's unreal..." Emil muttered.

Taking a hint from Luka, Emil pulled the quick release that untied the grappling hook from his belt. The cold blue texture of the sink stone was familiar in his right hand, running the opposite along the length of its finely woven rope until gripping with just five meters of slack. With the flickery light of the grounded torch bouncing over his form, the aqua sheen of Emil's cloak glistened and his eyes fell onto the beast. It's steps were as clumsy as slow, but its long legs let it hastily close the distance between either of them. Somewhere, in the back of his conscience, Emil noticed the bubbles erupting all across the surface of the swamp beyond the creature. He didn't register or react to it, but was subliminally aware of the increasing danger of their predicament.

"Luka, was it?" Emil muttered in his boyish, mildly concerned tone. The rope slowly fed through his right palm as he began spinning the hook off to his side, feeling the weight and tug of it and calculating the space between them and the black fiend. If it was a direct hit then the fore spike would penetrate the chest cavity, but if he over shot it then he could reel to snag a leg. It was difficult to mess up. Four black domes began rising to the surface of the swamp, the balding heads of subsequent fiends that were raising their skeletal limbs from the water next. Emil let his eyes shoot back to Luka and his knocked back arrow in perfect form. "I think you should shoot... Like, now. I think you should shoot him now."

[Luka]

Luka held his form as he watched his target come closer, closing the distance between them with large strides. It wasn’t like anything he had seen before, rumors of the undead were vast, but he seldom thought any of them to be true by any means. Undead or not this thing in front of him gave him the creeps. Luka’s right hand kept the arrow firmly in position, adjusting it the taller the skeletal creature grew. One could easily tell he was experienced with this weapon, but Luka’s concern wasn’t his ability to use it. His concern was whether or not it would matter if he hit the creature at all. “Grab my torch.” Luka said letting out a deep breath as he prepared to release the arrow at Emil’s request.

With the twang of a bow string snapping in, the arrow released from the bow and glided toward its intended target. At a range of only several feet, it was clear the arrow would hit the chest cavity of the target. Before the arrow would even strike though, Luka’s hand was already on its way to draw another arrow in preparation. The bow string vibrated for only a moment as another arrow was placed at his finger tips and again in the string. Then, and only then, did Luka look up to see where he had struck his target.

The arrow punctured the target with power that would stop a doe dead in its tracks, the only thing visible after impact was the feathers themselves. The arrow had struck dead center in the chest cavity, right where the sternum would be in a human. But he wasn’t so sure this creature would even waver with such a blow to its chest. Luka drew the next arrow back and aimed slightly higher toward the neck from only a few feet away.

[Phallic Swindler]

The arrow punched through the black fiend's chest cavity with enough force to knock him down. A black oil spit out from the wound and reached the ground at Luka's feet. It looked to be a mixture of blood and the swampy tar the creature was coated in, but the consistency looked moving in the flicker of torch light. Emil scrambled to pick up the torch in his right hand and raised it to the scene, showing the fiend on his back just feet away. "What is that?" He muttered with a twinge of disgust. The fiend arched its head to see the two of them, bearing the crimson glare of its two gem-like eyes. It only now seemed to register that it had been struck, scratching at the arrow in its chest with futility. When this did nothing, he started to clamber to his feet.

Just beyond, at the edge of the swamp, four more black fiends were emerging. Their frames raised and their heads twitched, their red eyes piercing the night. Neither of the creatures were exceptionally tall compared to the first, but all retained the thin abdomen and lurching gait. The original fiend was gaining to his feet again, but his torso had visibly collapsed around the wound. His shoulders bent in where the sternum had fractured and his arms knocked limp between his legs. His head slumped forward as his jaw opened and his mouth spread wide, but this motion only gave way to a hacking cough that sent a black spore cloud from his raspy throat.

Emil was visibly stunned at this point. Luka had scored a killing shot on the creature, yet it still crept towards him. It's red eyes hadn't wavered, hadn't blinked- they were fixed on the man with the bow and arrow. With the torch in one hand and the rope to his hook limp in the other, Emil felt the anxiety of the approaching threat. "We've gotta go..." He said, moving a foot back with caution. He surveyed the path ahead- too far to jump, swing, or dodge over. His eyes then shot to the woods... leaving the trail was stupid, but... "Can we take these things out?"

[Larcius Kreston]

Luka's eyes widened with surprise as the creature barely seemed to register the arrow that now collapsed his chest cavity. The impact of an arrow at this range should have easily dropped a deer, or something of equal size. It was easy to tell this wasn't something that was going to go down easy. Luka took a firm step back toward Emil who now held the torch, his eyes darting from side to side as he watched more of these creatures arise from the swamp like dead from a graveyard. In all his years he had never seen something so vile and persistent. His arrow seemingly had no effect on the creature besides a minimum amount of damage. With results like that he wouldn't have enough arrows to simply kill one, let alone several that seemed to be advancing on them.

As the creature opened it's mouth, spores spewing from within, Luka retreated a little more. He had no idea what the creature was doing, but he certainly didn't trust it. His hands were steady, but his will to fight these things was quickly fading. At this rate they would have to retreat. Crossing the mountain through this path wasn't going to be an option, at least not at night whilst it was harder to see creatures like such. Without lurching his head to look at Emil for an answer, Luka shook his head, focusing on his next shot and where he should place it before retreating. "No, we are outnumbered..." his voice trailed off as he glanced around again, the creatures that had once been slowly rising from the swamp were now almost upon theme. "Our weapons will do us little good here." Just by his tone one could tell that Luka had calculated the odds on their chances of winning like this. They were going to either have to leave the trail, or make haste through the swamp, only attacking when they absolutely had too.

Lowering his bow from his intended target, Luka glanced back to Emil, his face showing what could look like humor. "How fast can you run?" His brow raised and a grin crossed his dry lips. "I believe we should make a break for the other side." His expression changed as he waited for confirmation from Emil on the silly idea.