As the trio continued their expedition into the forest, Zeroth and Ardric in the lead while Varic kept a few paces behind the two brothers, Zeroth could not fully ignore a feeling of dread that the path ahead will lead him unto something sinister. Zeroth instinctively reached around behind himself and ran the ends of his thick fingers across the hilt of his new axe as if it is the source of the unwelcomed feelings. As if a candle were blown out, the feeling disappeared, leaving nothing but the lingering excitement for adventure.
"I wonder what that was about." Zeroth muttered under his breath, ruffling some of his moustache.
Within a few hours of travel, as the sun passed its highest and hottest point, Ardric stopped in his tracks and with an eyebrow slightly raised looked towards Varic.
"Have you noticed, the further we go down this path that should cut through part of a rather unexplored section of forest, the air seems... heavier? I can breath better in a swamp yet here, even though the air seems crisp and dry, the pressure is abnormal."
Varic huffed, sliding his hand through his short black hair. "If you are asking if this is a magical driven pressure you will have to give me a moment to see if I can detect anything out of the ordinary, though I hope we aren't stepping foot where we ought not."
As Ardric and Zeroth walked towards Varic, He assumed a stance, his eyes glowing with a dark green hue as he reached out with his magical senses. After a tense moment of concentration, he released the magical hold, returning his eyes to their normal emerald green.
"There's something unnatural here. Someone's amassing magical energy for who knows what—destruction, I think."
Ardric sighed and pinched his brow. "Alright we have some options here for us, option one being to be the good people we think we are and investigate or we can add a week to our travel time and go around this whole ordeal."
Varic smiled wryly at the mention of ignoring the problem and moving on but Zeroth was having none of Varic's attitude. "If that is the way we have to go without adding a week to our time, we might as well tackle this little problem, if it turns out to be one."
Zeroth, with a massive grin on his face, patted Varic on the back. "Don't worry buddy, I know you are soft and you know we'll keep you well out of harms way."
Varic rolled his eyes as an answer. As they forged ahead, their decision was abruptly punctuated by a blood-curdling scream echoing through the forest, seemingly originating from a point further up the path. Instinctively, the trio sprinted toward the source, finding a grisly scene: a mess of mangled bloodied bodies lay amid the wreckage of a merchant caravan. Zeroth tightened his grip on the battle axe, flames flickering to life along its edges. Zeroth flinched as the it lit in flame.
"How the hell did I manage this?" he grunted.
But before he could figure out how it happened, the stench hit first, a thick, putrid miasma of rotting flesh and rancid earth, forcing its way down their throats like something alive. Zeroth gagged, gripping his flaming battle axe tighter as a monstrous decaying boar emerged from the underbrush, its bulk heaving and wrong. It was massive, easily the size of a horse, its hide patchworked with exposed muscle and sickly gray fur hanging in clumps. Its hollow eyes burned with an eerie, unnatural red light, leaking necrotic ooze with each labored breath. The thing shouldn't have been standing, let alone moving, yet its limbs were jerking and twisting as if something unseen were puppeteering its bloated corpse.
Ardric drew his sword, his knuckles white against the hilt, glancing at Zeroth and his flaming axe.
"By the gods…" he muttered, taking a step closer to Zeroth out of instinct.
"Not a goddamn thing holy about that," Varic gritted, fingers already crackling with arcane energy as he pulled together his unstable magic for an Eldritch Blast.
The boar moved first. It lurched, its head whipping unnaturally to the side before its legs caught up, its body slamming into the ground with each thunderous step. The ground trembled beneath its weight. Maggots, fat and writhing, poured from a gaping hole in its side, their movements pulsing in tandem with the rhythmic twitch of exposed sinew. Then it screeched. Not a growl or a roar, but a sound that split the air like rusted metal grinding together. Zeroth's skull vibrated, his vision swimming from the unholy wail.
Ardric barely had time to raise his sword before the undead monstrosity was upon them. He braced for impact, but it was like being hit by a mountain. The sheer weight sent him flying backward, crashing into a tree with bone-rattling force. Something cracked—Zeroth wasn't sure if it was Ardric's armor or his ribs. The paladin groaned and slumped against the bark as he tried to push himself up. Zeroth didn't have time to check on him. The boar had turned its sickly, drooling maw toward him now. He raised his battle axe, flames roaring in response, the heat licking at his beard. Then it leapt.
For something so massive, it moved impossibly fast. Zeroth barely rolled aside before a pair of rotten tusks, each longer than his arms, gored the spot where he stood. The ground split beneath the impact, dirt and shattered stone raining down. Zeroth swung and his axe connected, flames hissing as they bit into the creature's side. The boar screamed, not in pain but in rage. Its bloated skin bubbled where the axe struck, blackened flesh bursting, spraying putrid gore across the ground. A massive hoof then lashed out, catching Zeroth in the chest. His world blurred as he was sent sprawling, skidding across the dirt. His breath left him in a choked wheeze, the wind knocked from his lungs and he could scarcely feel the ground tremble at the boar's advance.
"MOVE!" Varic's voice cut through the haze as a crackling bolt of eldritch force slammed into the side of the beast's head. The impact twisted its neck at an unnatural angle with a grotesque pop, its skull hanging limp for a horrifying second before snapping itself upright again.
Zeroth gritted his teeth. This thing didn't die easy. Fine. He'd just have to hit it harder. The fire in his axe flared in response. His blood roared in his ears as he surged to his feet, charging forward. The boar met him head-on, its mouth gaping open, revealing a second, smaller jaw within, writhing hungrily. Zeroth didn't stop. He planted his feet, swung with all the force he could muster and buried his axe into the boar's skull. Flames erupted through its rotted cranium, pouring from its grotesque eye sockets. Even still, it tried to push forward, shoving him back multiple feet. The beast then convulsed violently, its body jerking as if trying to reject the death being forced upon it. Its hooves scraped at the earth, muscles spasming, but Zeroth held firm, pressing down with all his might.
Then Ardric was there. With a roar, the paladin plunged his glowing blade through the creature's throat, divine energy flooding into its foul form. The boar bucked and shrieked, its dying wail rattling through the trees. A tremor shook the ground as its body finally slammed down and stilled, black ichor seeping from its wounds. Zeroth took a step back, panting, wiping sweat and blood from his face. The air reeked of charred flesh and rotting death.
Varic approached cautiously, his hands still pulsing with residual magic. "Tell me that thing's really dead."
Zeroth yanked his axe free from the beast's skull, a thick plume of smoke curling from the wound. He scowled down at the still form, his fingers tightening around the hilt.
"If it ain't, We'll kill it again." he grunted.
The moment everything was truly over, Zeroth and Ardric collapsed to the ground, mildly exhausted and a little more than bumped and bruised. Once Zeroth hit the ground and let his battle axe fall next to him, he noted the second it left his hands the fire extinguished itself, whether from that act or if it sensed the imminent threat was passed, he didn't know. While Varic walked around the dead boar to inspect it and make certain it was gone, Grimbli, controlling the stone, zipped out of Zeroth's waistband and knocked him in the back of the head, less gently than anticipated.
"Ah, before you get comfy my friend, stay alert, while the air's heaviness has subsided, it is only by a small bit. Whatever is causing this has to be linked to the boar." Grimbli warned.
"Will do, friend." Zeroth chuckled before asking. "Did you see me with the axe? It was amazing to say the least."
As he chuckled, Varic turned towards the duo with a curious glare. "Who are you talking and laughing with, you fool?"
Before Varic could finish his sentence, Ardric butted in, waving Varic away. "It's that blasted floating stone he has, guess that axe is getting to him, or he's just crazy."
"How about a little of both, eh?" Varic teased.
Zeroth rolled his eyes at his comrades' lack of knowledge of his friend as he pushed himself off the ground onto his feet. "All jokes aside, we may want to keep up on this path and make sure to keep an eye on our backs. I don't want anything to sneak up on us, the boar was enough but I doubt it will be the last beast we bring down before the day is up." Ardric followed suit with Zeroth, picking himself up and dusting himself off.
"Well, thank the gods that be we are quite used to being thrown around and slammed into trees every once in a while or this would actually be difficult." Ardric laughed as he finished that statement, a little too full of himself.
"I for one hope there are more instances of possible negotiation instead of outright combat, sadly I am not made of magic and there is always a daily limit to how much power I can draw on," Varic noted with a slight huff.
Ardric nodded in agreement. "I also am somewhat limited on what little healing I offer but I've been blessed with a strong sword hand and you Varic, your yklwa is sharp and has reach so if push comes to shove, you are prepared."
"And we always have this stupid powerhouse here," he said as he elbowed Zeroth in the side.
"Oof. Is this some of that brotherly love I was always told about?" Zeroth asked.
"Aye, it is brother." Ardric replied, laughing.
As the trio dusted themselves off, Zeroth suggested they stay vigilant and keep an eye on their surroundings. But before they moved on, Varic lingered by the remains of the merchant caravan, his eyes scanning the mangled bodies with an unreadable expression. He knelt beside one of the fallen, brushing a hand across the bloodied fabric of a ruined tunic.
"This happens too often," he said quietly, more to himself than the others. "Even so it still feels... wrong."
Zeroth paused, glancing back while Ardric said nothing, but their silence was agreement. Varic closed his eyes and placed his palm flat to the blood-soaked earth. Soft green light pulsed from beneath his hand, and slowly, the ground began to shift. The soil stirred, swallowing blood and flesh like the forest itself had opened its arms. It wasn't flashy, just a quiet, slow pull downward, as roots and moss crept over broken carts and bone alike. A simple, wordless ritual. Ancient and humble.
"I'm not much of a druid," Varic murmured with a bitter smile, "but I can still offer a small return to the earth." He then looked skyward as his face softened slightly. "May Eldrinacht guide your spirits where the roads are safe, and the stars shine clearly."
No one spoke. The air around them seemed to still, as if the forest itself was listening. Several hours passed in relative silence, broken only by the distant sounds of life returning to the trees. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the magical pressure in the air grew thick once more, the forest itself began to feel denser, more closed-off. Just as night began to settle in, the trio heard faint voices in the distance, accompanied by an eerie red glow that seeped through the trees.
Ardric squinted ahead. "Do you hear that? And look at that glow... What in the hells is going on?"
Varic, now attentive, strained to listen. "Voices and chanting... and that glow. We should probably go and poke around for the source."
As they began to venture deeper, the glow became more pronounced. The trio emerged stealthily from the thick foliage to witness an otherworldly scene: a group of sorcerers, their faces concealed by masks and hoods, surrounded a hazy red portal that seemed to spill flames from the depths of the earth. About 15 feet away from the hooded figures was a 10-foot by 10-foot wooden cage with what appeared to be medium-sized sacks, seemingly moving on their own.
"Now what do you guys think would be in those sacks?" Zeroth whispered.
Varic visibly winced. "A portal that appears to be hellish, surrounded by hooded figures chanting, with a wooden cage filled with moving sacks. You should recognize ritual sacrifice, dwarf."
As the last words left Varic's mouth, the chanting grew louder, humming and buzzing seemed to fill the air around everyone. Zeroth looked on and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as the portal flared and the door to the wooden cage was slammed open, splintering as it hit the exterior frame. Zeroth tensed, gripping his axe tighter, he needed a plan but he instantly realized it was too late. With a sickening sucking sound followed by a whoosh of air towards the portal, all the sacks in the cage tumbled out, seeming to exude whimpers and yelps, as every last one was sucked into the portal. As the last sack rolled through, everything went dark, as if a candle were blown out.
Zeroth nearly jumped as Adric whispered into his ear. "We can't do anything here, it's dark, we are heavily outnumbered and I don't much feel like dealing with what may be on the other side of that portal or whoever's idea it was to open it."
Zeroth frowned and squinted his eyes trying to see anything else beyond what may be flickers of shadows moving. "As much as I hate to agree, you're right. The best we can do is come back when it is brighter and see if we can find anything that was left behind."
With little hesitation, the trio slowly began to backtrack the way they came, tracking back for well over an hour to put as much space as possible between them and the possible threat.
Once everyone believed they reached a safe distance, Zeroth huffed in exasperation. "At this point, I just want to know exactly what was in those sacks."
"It was clearly a lot of something living," Varic stated, rubbing his eyes.
Ardric nodded his bald head in agreement. "We can be certain of one thing though, the air is very close to being back to normal. It seems that the portal, or the process of opening it, was the main cause for the pressure but that doesn't explain the boar."
Varic shrugged as he pulled some sticks and twigs together to begin a campfire. "Could just be a bout of bad luck on its end and good timing on our end, I vote that we rest up for the next few hours though, we don't know what we'll face when we return."
Everyone nodded in agreement as the fire was started by Varic and the two brothers got everybody's bedroll ready. As the fire burned down and Zeroth attempted to get some rest, he couldn't shake the questions that kept forming in his mind and the possible horrid answers he may uncover the following day.