Corpses

[Peridan]

Rumor has been circulating about a group of four or five adventurers taking on the Cartel all by themselves. Reports say that after the adventurers were done at the Cartel hideout, there was a knee high sea of corpses littered all around their base.

[nickbeat]

Dordleton addressed the group of young adventurers talking about what took place on that mountain, "That weren't no rumor son. We done took that hill and chopped down them smugglers good. Youda thunk ther'd be somethin all important they be protectin, but nothin were there of any value! In the end it were Mittens what made the difference that night."

[BattlePixie]

A patron sat at the bar, his clothes were torn, his face was dirty and he stared passed his drink and through the wall.

"Ye got the world on yer shoulders there son?" said the bartender as he cleaned a mug with a dirty rag. The tired patron kept looking through that wall moving only to take a sip of his now warm ale.

"Bad... bad day, is all" the patron replied

"Eh? everyone 'as a few of them son. Ain't nothin' te worry about i'm sure"

"No, no, not like this. I don't think you understand the weight of my words... they're gone... all of them, every last one of them!... gone..." The patron took another swig and wiped his lips with the back of his dirty hand.

"We were ready for them you see. Knew they were coming. We set the ambushes, laid the traps. It was an easy mark, and we were going to send a message to all them nosey adventurers."

The bartender poured the patron another ale and leaned in, hanging off every word.

"Oh we bottled them up on the bridges and in the narrow passes, but there was that line of dwarves, we just couldn't break it. We threw every stout blade we had at them and they wouldn't move, they were like the mountain itself, rooted in place. And if that wasn't enough they had a second line of humans, with the reach of their pole arms, they did as much damage from behind the dwarves as the dwarves did in front!" The patron picked up his fresh mug and took another swig.

"So we brought in archers, lot of them and we rained down black death, but we couldn't stop them, they pushed through. With our front line fighters gone our archers were cut down like wheat before the scythe." The patron chewed his lip in thought for a moment. "Then to add insult these adventures.. HAH!.. brigands I say, these brigands brought in their own archers and harrassed the survivors as they fled! Sometimes they seemed to appear out of nowhere... then everywhere!"

The Bartender shook his head in disbelief, "So whatcha do then mate?"

"We drew these godless barbarians to us, reconstituted out forces and held firm at the lodge. Our captain was there... confident that this is where we would have victory." The patron paused a moment to wipe something out of his eye before steadying himself and continuing.

"We had brough in arcanists to break the adventures' backs and it looked like we were going to do it too. We halted their momentum and surrounded their troup with our blades!" the parton ground his teeth as he played out the scene in his head.

"And?" The bartender leaned in on the bar, eager for more.

"And then the hells broke loose. We didn't see it before, but from somewhere in that troup of adventures ran a feral little creature, with the ferocity of one pissed of badger! She ducked under our front line and charged the main force! We were stunned seeing this dirty little hin screaming as she swung her axe at us, but then she called out the wrath of the heavens upon us! Lightning arced everywhere, our soldier, our archers, our mages convulsed as wave after wave of electricty charred our flesh and our muscles convulsed threatening to break our own bones." The bartender step back slightly, horrified at the news.

"Oh there was victory that day, though we never saw it..." the patrol trailed off as he continued to stare through the back wall.

"This... uh... this ones on the 'ouse mate." The bartender said as he filled a fresh mug of ale and put it in front of the patron.

[Peridan]

*Somewhere on a fishing boat on Aquor Lake, Samael chuckles*