Deep beneath the craggy peaks of The Teeth, an old malice stirred. For decades it had festered and crept along, claiming territory even as it sunk its teeth into the bones of the earth and the Aetheric Leyline below. The tunnels and halls of its domain were choked with the lifeblood of its existence, a miasma foul and twisting.
What it had been once, it didn’t know except that it had been a vessel, a vessel that carried immense power. But whatever the vessel had been used for before it was now a corrupted container. The power within had curdled like sour milk and all manner of foulness now spilled forth. It wasn’t alive, not really, but it did have a semblance of being despite its fallen state.
Recently a part of itself had been severed and violently. It didn’t feel pain but whatever had done the severing had burned, burned in a way that spoke to something lost. The old malice didn’t have thoughts or a mind. It was a concept and an aspect twisted by fallenness and abandonment into something near the opposite of what it had once stood for.
The vessel of the old god of nature Thalvar stirred as it subconsciously stretched toward that painful touch. It wasn’t aware enough to know what it had lost but the power spoke to it nonetheless. Unthinking and uncaring, the black fingers of its corruptive tide began to seek out the source of the burning. Whether it sought to corrupt further or simply achieve full absolution there was no sign.
The result was clear, however. The valley where Dug’s home had arrived came under attack. It started simple enough. The many cave systems dotting the valley were consumed easily and many were the unfortunate creatures that fell to corruption. One of those locations had fought back and while at first the corruption was satisfied, the meal did not have the same flavor nor burned as fiercely.
So it continued its search by sending out its fingers to prod and push. The result on the forest and streams was immediate. Animals darted for cover and birds took to the sky as corruption spilled forth. From the mouths of caves came oozing manifestations and interspersed among them were animals and other beings. Like spilled ink on a white page, the corruption began its inexorable spread.
The trees darkened and the earth bubbled, hissing as the oozes led the way, perverting the ground for their brethren to travel upon. The sun engine overhead burned at them but it was a largely artificial kind of divinity and it wasn’t what they sought anyway. They stayed clear of running water but consumed all they touched.
That is until they met resistance. The first encounter was with a small creature, a squirrel. It was caught but those creatures that encountered it burned. It radiated the same kind of power that had lured the old malice into action, albeit to a lesser extent. This was not what it sought but it was evidence so it consumed the thing and went on. Even as it did so the squirrel’s corpse remained, incorruptible even in death.
POV Dug Shardaal
The human shifted as Dug gave his name and the old goblin watched him carefully. He knew what the young man represented and despite that, he had saved him from certain death. He could have let him die but Dug wasn’t cruel and it was a cruel thing to watch a brave man die when he had the power to save him. Still, caution would be prudent here.
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Tall-folk were many things but being kindly disposed to the ugly things of the world was not something he had come to expect from them. Then there was the subdued religious heraldry that the young man wore, a cog-like gear set in a shining sun rising from a verdant green plain. If the tall-folk hadn’t come for the shard of sunlight he would eat his beard. So, he repeated his question from before with a little more insistence.
“Whatta you do ‘ere den tall-folk? Come-Come now, speak den.”
The young man gulped and spoke from where he still sat. “I came seeking an artifact that had been lost here in the mountains. It was in the care of an adventurer.”
“Youz came alone?” Dug said, cocking an eyebrow at the brazen nature of the man’s answer to his question. Perhaps he had overestimated the importance of the gem but he knew he hadn’t. There had to be more going on. The man’s wild flight through the forest had a larger story.
The widening of the man’s eyes seemed to confirm his suspicions, as did the next words out of his mouth.
“No, no there’s a whole company of us. Bloody fool, how could you forget such a thing,” he said, with the last comment obviously aimed at himself. He leapt to his feet turning wildly back the way he came. He whipped back around in the next instant his eyes flashing once more with the golden light that had convinced Dug that he saw more than he let on.
The boy seemed to gather himself before bowing his head in Dug’s direction. “Sir, please, I know you must have some connection with the sun, the threads don’t lie, and my company needs help. I may already be too late. I must find the artifact and I believe you know where it is.”
Dug wanted to cackle at the image of the young man almost bowing to him. It was a rare thing to be sure, having one of the tall folk bow to him, and he wanted to savor the moment. But the serious panic and terror in his voice was enough to cut through the humor of the situation.
“Whatta you all get into den?” He asked seriously even as he cast his senses outward in an old druid trick that he had picked up while masquerading as one. There. On the wind was a foulness that hadn’t been there a day ago. It came blowing up from the south and through the valley. He could still hear wildlife but as his senses expanded he met with the sounds of fleeing animals and terror.
“Please, sir! The artifact, where is it?” The boy’s voice was insistent, unaware of the wider concerns of the forest. Dug held up a hand before kneeling and placing his palm on the forest floor. He sent his senses down and connected to a mycelial network nearby before feeding it the Aether it needed to grow and connect to another nearby. Painstakingly he created a web of information that spread outward down the valley under the ground until it found what he expected.
The corruption had found another place to seep from only this time it wasn’t content to remain within a cave. No, this time it was attacking and taking ground. Dug grunted before reaching for the Waag, slipping the fragment of Waaglight from his satchel. He heard the young man gasp before he let the Waag shift and flow through him, into the network. The Aether flooded through him and he drew on both the crystal and his daughter to fuel the work.
Power flooded into the mycelial network, shining brightly enough to be seen through the earth. As it reached the end the result was felt even so far up the valley where he now knelt. There was a mighty FWHUMP as the part of the network closest to the corruption ignited into a wall of flame driving back the encroaching foulness. For a moment, before that part of the network fully burnt away, he could sense the corruption’s response and it did nothing to reassure him.
The corruption attacked the flames, Oozes attempting to put them out and failing to do so. Twisted creatures dived into it only to flinch back as the fire peeled away the darkness holding onto them. Dug humphed to himself, putting the gem of Waaglight back into his satchel and rising from where he had knelt. The young man was staring southward, his strange eyes still staring at something only he could see.
“How did you…” he started to say before Dug interrupted him.
“Notta important now. Youz can come or stay bud isa need tah go.”
Startled the man turned even as Dug began stumping off.
“Wait! What do you mean? You have to help my company! And what did you do to that Sun Core!”