Delde awoke later in the night to take over from Baye for her shift of the night watch. Baye assured her that she had seen nothing that warranted concern and believed that there were no predators or scavengers that were willing to risk attacking them during the night for the wolves’ carcases. Delde’s own watch was entirely uneventful as well, with the only thing of note being a small spit of rain that ended almost as soon as it began to her great relief. The only thing worse to her than sitting in the middle of a cold, dangerous forest in the middle of the night would be to do so while it was pouring. Once her shift was over, she woke the snoring Igmar who took over from her and returned to her tent, once again having to shift her familiar from his assumed space on her bedroll. She spent the rest of the night in a surprisingly deep and restful sleep, which she assumed was down to the immensely tiring, by her standards at least, activities of the day, both physically and socially.
When Delde awoke she found Onyx lying on top of her, apparently determined to reclaim his spot even if she was underneath. Shifting him to the side she got up and changed into another robe from her backpack, her black one this time, then she cleaned herself with a minor prestidigitation cantrip and after completing her preparations and memorisations for her spells for the day, left her tent.
The light of the rising sun lit the camp in a warm glow, and the morning dew made the Fangwoods smell a little fresher to her nose. Everything seemed a little better than it was last night, although that could have just been because she was well rested. The camp itself was a bustle of activity as even though she was up far earlier than she would have preferred to be Delde still seemed to be the last one up.
Dal and Igmar were in the process of dismantling their tents, Baye had already packed hers away and was removing what little evidence there was of their campsite by covering the now dead and cold firepit with earth. There was no sign of the carcases of the wolves other than a single pelt that was stretched over a simple wooden frame that Baye had presumably made. That and some patches of earth stained with wolves blood. The sound of crows nearby though suggested to her that the remains weren’t that far away. Adriana was sitting cross legged in front of her still standing tent, holy symbol in hand, with a small brass incense burner alight before her, apparently lost in prayer. It would have seemed to Delde a waste of time, but she had experienced the power that she could channel from Sarenrae yesterday first-hand and understood the necessity of needing to properly prepare one’s spells. While the sources of their powers were different, there were some certain principles that she could comprehend and respect.
She went about the task of taking her tent apart, as Onyx casually wandered around the campsite. He was either aware on some level of the danger that the Fangwood represented to him, or he was more interested in the other people in the camp than he was the surroundings as he never ventured from the small clearing.
Igmar and Dal finished up taking their tents down and packing them away, helping Delde do the same when they were done. When Baye was satisfied with the state of the campsite she packed her pelt away and then went to help Adriana dismantle her tent once she had finished her prayers for the day. Everything was done in a relaxed, but efficient way, with little time spent on talk. Baye was very firm on them moving out as soon as they could, insisting that there seemed to be a storm approaching and that they needed to make progress quickly lest they get caught in it. Breakfast was some dried fruit, venison jerky and hard bread that was eaten quickly. While they had survived their late-night incursion nobody wanted to remain in the Fangwoods for any longer than needed now.
They moved out towards the Grey Lake in the same formation that they had the day prior; Baye taking the lead, then Dal, followed by Igmar, with Adriana and herself taking up the rear and Onyx in her backpack. They spoke a little during their journey, but not for any length of time, nor on anything significant, it was mostly small talk which Delde abstained from. The Fangwoods seemed less intimidating than they were in the night, but the entire environment still felt oppressive and claustrophobic to Delde. The dense clusters of bare trees, brambles and shrubs were becoming more difficult to navigate and it was only because of Baye’s guidance that they were able to make good progress. She appeared to be leading them through old ranger paths through the Fangwoods that, though not maintained, allowed for an easier journey for them.
After a few hours of walking Delde noticed that the trees started to thin out, and green grass started to make up the ground, rather than the ugly brown mass of muddy dead leaves that they had been trudging through. She could hear birds in the distance and even the air smelt a bit fresher to her. Baye paused and gestured for them to wait while she scouted ahead.
They waited for a tense few moments in silence, hands close to weapons just in case, all the while keeping a vigilant lookout for anything that could be a threat. But none of them spotted anything and eventually Baye returned to the group, although she seemed… off to Delde, perhaps shaken? She began to worry what would have her concerned, if something had happened to the Grey Lake for example that could be problematic for them as they were relying on that to refill their now mostly empty waterskins.
‘Delde, could you follow me down to the lake? Want your opinion on somethin’ I spotted’.
‘I can, but I’m not sure if I can tell you much more about the local flora or fauna than you yourself know’.
‘It’s not that. I saw… somethin’. Want to know if this is another illusion or if its real. Do you think you could tell if you saw it?’
‘I probably could, the only reason that I didn’t realise those orcs we fought were illusions was because I wasn’t looking for the signs. Now that I am we should be fine in that regard. Does it look like more orcs or other enemies?’
‘It’s… probably better if you see yourself. Come on, lets hurry up and find out. We’ve still a lot of ground to cover today’.
With that she turned and headed off towards the Grey Lake, with Delde rushing to follow her as the rest stayed behind. She was growing more concerned by the second, Baye seemed to be troubled but wasn’t giving any indication as to what the problem was. She hadn’t brought any of the other members of their group along with them so she hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be a significant problem. Still, there was a small part of her that was quietly pleased that she was being called upon to give her expert opinion on something. It felt good to be necessary, to be needed.
As they walked the trees began to thin out more, revealing a field of short, green grass that led to the wide shore of the Gray Lake. It was vast, yet calm, reflecting the dull overcast sky like a great mirror cast onto the earth. A dense fog hung over the centre of the lake obscuring the other side of it, but other than that Delde couldn’t see anything of note that would warrant Baye’s concern. It was only when she pointed out a dark form lying next to the water that Delde noticed it.
She stared at it for a moment, trying to work out what it was and why Baye was so concerned by it. Then a gust of wind brought a horrid smell over from it and it dawned on her what she was looking at, it was a corpse. A human corpse to be specific.
‘Well?’
Delde snaped back to attention. She had been brought over for a reason; she wasn’t some child who would go running away at the mere sight of a body. Even though she had never seen one before. She cautiously got closer to the apparent dead body until she was within about thirty feet of it, the area of effect for her cantrip of detecting magic. She uttered the words quickly and quietly, trying to keep aware of anything unusual around her. She could see nothing out of the ordinary though, then her cantrip was finished and she felt her senses expand. Delde could feel magic around her, not quite by sight, sound, or any other of her senses, the cantrip essentially created a new one for her for a brief moment that was difficult to describe to someone who had no knowledge of magic. But as she felt her new magical sense expand over the thirty-foot radius, she could sense no magic whatsoever. She turned to go back to Baye only to see her behind herself.
‘So? Is it another illusion then?’
‘No, I can’t sense any magical energies around it at all. What’s more, I can’t detect any of the normal indicators of it being an illusion like I did with the orcs, eventually.’
Baye frowned at hearing that and stared at the corpse in the water. It didn’t look like she was happy about this.
‘Di-do you know that person there?’
‘No. At least I don’t think so, I didn’t get a good look at them. But I know all the rangers and other woods folk who would be out here were definitely back in Kassen when we left. There’s a rule about no hunters or the like being in the area when the quest is goin’ on. It’s to make sure that there’s no accidents or extra help bein’ givin’.
‘So, it’s an unknown traveller who just happened to be wandering in the Fangwoods at this time of year?’. Delde asked somewhat doubtfully. It seemed very strange for anyone to be in the Fangwoods for any reason, let alone as winter was about to begin. There were no major or even minor roads or routes through it either, so it couldn’t be a case of a traveller just wandering off the beaten path.
‘That’s what made me think it was an illusion. That or the body was goin’ to come at us as a zombie. Or it would turn out to be one of the townspeople who staked out the place to scare us. But I watched it for a while, whoever it is, is definitely dead. Haven’t moved once. But somethin’ else has been botherin’ me. Ever since I spotted it, there’s been no scavengers about it. It smells old, but from what I could see its pretty much untouched. That’s not normal… Unless’.
‘Unless what?’
‘Let’s head back, I’ll tell all of you at once’.
Baye walked with purpose back towards the rest of the group with Delde following behind. She refused to elaborate any further on what she suspected about the dead person, insisting that she didn’t want to keep repeating herself and would tell everyone all at the same time. When they got back to everyone else Delde could tell that they were all tense, everyone had their hands on their weapons and were looking at her and Baye expectantly.
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‘Alright, so there’s a dead body at the Grey Lake’.
The rest of the group looked surprised and there were even some gasps, but Baye held her hand out to stop them from speaking.
‘I don’t know who it is or was. I didn’t get too close because I thought it looked fishy. Had Delde check if it was another illusion or if it was some sort of zombie, but it wasn’t’.
Delde nodded in silent agreement beside her.
‘Now, I don’t know how someone wound up at the Grey Lake. But I might have an idea over how they died. Y’see, from what other rangers have told me there’s a giant snake that makes its layer in the lake. A giant poisonous snake. Its normally found in the deeper parts of the lake to the eastern side, the opposite of where we’re, and it’s not usually active this time of year. But if I had to guess how this person died, I’d say the snake probably got him’.
‘Woah, wait. Are you saying that we’re going to need to fight this thing?! I mean we need water, don’t we? Why the hells would the town have us go right past the home of a giant monster?!’.
Dal seemed to be particularly concerned with what Baye was revealing, and honestly Delde wasn’t thrilled at the idea of wandering past the territory of a giant serpent either.
‘We’re not goin’ to need to fight it. Like I said, the snake isn’t that active when the weather gets this cold. So long as we stick to the west side of the lake, stay close to shallow water, and keep our eyes open we’ll be fine. I don’t know who’s dead but I’m thinkin’ that they weren’t local. Didn’t know to watch out for the snake and wound up bitten by it. We’ll be fine so long as we stay on the lookout. We just need to fill up our waterskins and go. No need to stick around. Now come on, we don’t have all day’.
With that Baye turned around and headed back towards the Grey Lake, with the rest of them all following in their usual formation. The darkening clouds above them spurred everyone on; no one wanted to have to make the long walk in a cold rain. Eventually they all reached the Grey Lake and looked upon the dead body lying next to the water.
‘We should move them; it is not right for us to leave this person exposed to the elements’.
Adriana walked swiftly towards it only slightly wavering when she got close enough for the smell of it to hit her. She turned towards the rest of them.
‘I do not recognise this man, do any of you know who it could be? Dal, might you recognise them if they passed through the Seven Silvers?’.
With a resigned sigh Dal trudged over to the body alongside Adriana, and after a moment Delde followed along with the others. She wasn’t going out of some morbid curiosity but rather she wanted to see if there was some way she could help identify the person. She didn’t know many people from Kassen, and she was even less likely to know if they had passed through lately, but she did pride herself on her keen intellect and wide depth of knowledge. She believed there was a good chance that even if this person couldn’t be identified then she would at least be able to pick up on any clues that could give them a general idea of who they were and what they were doing so deep in the Fangwoods.
As they reached Adriana the stench was almost overpowering. Delde had smelt rotting meat before, but it had never smelt as bad as it did now, she wasn’t sure if it was due to how long the body had been exposed to the elements or if it was because she knew that the source of the rotten smell used to be a person.
Delde stared at the corpse that used to be a man in a strange mix of horror and fascination. She knew what happened when a body decayed but she had never seen it herself, she had never expected to. The man’s flesh was turning green and rot had already sunk in, although she was surprised that he was a well preserved as he was. But then again if Baye was correct in her assessment, and she had no reason to doubt her, then his body would most likely be filled with potent venom which would have warded off most scavengers. He was a human, with short dark hair, he wore no jewellery and had no distinguishing scars or tattoos that that she could spot. There was nothing Delde could see at a first glance that could suggest who this man was.
She didn’t pay close attention to his face; she knew that she wouldn’t recognise him and found the experience of looking into a dead man’s face to be disturbing. Instead Delde looked at his clothes, trying to determine what she could from them. They seemed to be of good quality once, but they were as rotten as the body that wore them now, and they included what seemed to her to be a suit of studded leather armour. He looked to be properly equipped for travel in the wilderness, his boots, cloak, armour and clothes all seemed to be suited for hard traveling. That suggested to Delde that he had not wandered away from a road or camp that was close to the Fangwoods, he most probably entered it on purpose. But as for any other clues from his clothes, she couldn’t discern any. They looked to be of the same general style that people around the area wore, but Delde couldn’t work out anything more. The corpse had several deep holes in it, they seemed to be stab wounds to her untrained eye, but she couldn’t be sure about more than that, she had never been especially interested in anatomy or the work of a healer in her readings. It was posable that they came from the fangs of a great serpent, but they could also have just as well have been from a spear or a sword as far as she could tell.
Disappointed that she hadn’t discovered anything more telling from the body Delde looked around it, hoping for some sort of indication for who they were or why they were here. It was only a half-hearted attempt as she didn’t seriously expect to find anything, which was what made it all the more surprising when she did spot something. It was several meters away from the body, but a gleam from the object caught her eye, as she walked over to it, she realised what it was. A short sword halfway out of its scabbard, she didn’t know much about weapons, but judging from its scabbard and the ripped strap on it, it seemed to have been torn from the man during a struggle. It had a little rust on it, but that seemed to be a recent development, most likely due to it being left out in the elements for so long.
Unable to discern anything else about the sword she alerted everyone else to it and handed it over to Igmar. She figured that out of all of them, the one who worked in a forge part time would be able to work out the most from a weapon. He turned it over in his hands and drew it from its scabbard, putting the blade so close to his eye that Delde was afraid that he might cut himself. After a moment he put it back in and looked to the rest of them.
‘Well, it wisnie made by ma uncle or mister Renet at his forge. The makers mark daesna match either o them. I dinie recognise it at aw, s’probably frae oot a toon. That said, it is o high quality, uncle Braggar wid be proud o makin sumit like that. An a sword like that’s no gonnie be cheap, whoever he wis he had some money that’s tae be sure. Either that or someone liked him a lot’.
‘Oh, he had money’ Dal’s voice came from behind them as he was examining a cracked leather coin pouch that was hidden underneath the mans tattered cloak. ‘Eight gold coin and six silver! The man could’ve afforded a horse and carriage for that kind of money! What the hells was he doing out here?’
Something suddenly occurred to Delde, not about what he had with him but what he didn’t.
‘Where is his equipment?’
Now everyone was looking at her, but she was too lost in her own thoughts, vocalised though they were, to notice.
‘If he had a good quality sword and as much money as he had he should have been able to purchase some proper camping equipment. But there’s no backpack nearby, nor is there any sign of a camp. The only reason I can think off the top of my head is that he was traveling with a larger group and for some reason split off from them, maybe to collect water? But if that was the case then why did no one look for him? Presumably they would want the remains of their traveling companion, or at least his money and weapon. This just doesn’t make any sense. Baye, do you see any tracks nearby that suggest that there has been other people through the area?’.
‘I’ve been lookin’, but whoever this was it looks like they’ve been here a while. Can’t see any sign of anyone walkin’ through here, but I can’t see any sign of his tracks either so that doesn’t tell much. Sorry.’
‘Micht a been a bandit. Armed an armoured, travelin’ wae a group that wisne tha’ bothered wae yin less person tae pay. Only thing is whit they’d be doin’ oot here in the Fangwoods, nae travellers tae rob oot here’.
‘In any case we cannot find any way of identifying this individual. We should contact Guard Captain Wisslo when we return and give him a description of this person and their affects to see if he can locate any next of kin. In the meantime, we should bury this man with his things so that his soul can rest, and his remains can lie unmolested’.
Adriana worded her statement like a suggestion, but the commanding tone in which she delivered it made it clear she fully intended for them to do as she said.
‘Sigh, we don’t have the time to do that. The clouds are only getting’ heavier as the day goes on and we’ve wasted enough time here. If we don’t head out now, we’ll get caught in a downpour before we reach the crypt’.
‘No. This man whoever he may have been in his life deserves to be treated fairly in death. If he was just and merciful then he will be embraced by the Dawnflower in her light, if he was wicked then he shall be punished. But as I cannot make such a judgement just now, I will choose to give him the benefit of the doubt. In any case, leaving a body out like this only makes it more likely that he may raise as one of the undead, and as a cleric of Sarenrae I will not allow that to happen. If you wish to you can go on ahead without me, I will catch up later’.
‘This isn’t some light-hearted walk through the woods in spring! You can’t just “catch up”. You’d probably never even find the path we walked if you weren’t shown it’.
‘I have my duties and I will carry them out to the best of my abilities, I do not ask for your help only that you respect my choice.’
‘Your choice is goin’ t- ‘
‘Let’s have a vote on it.’ Delde interjected. ‘We’re wasting even more time just standing around arguing. If we all bury the man it won’t take as long, but if more people are in favour of pressing on then we’ll just have to do it on our way back. We will have to come back this way on the return journey so it will get done at some point’.
Delde didn’t enjoy taking charge of a social situation, she would normally prefer to just fade into the background and read her books. But she didn’t want the group to devolve into arguments and accusations now after they had been getting along relatively well so far. Having a vote seemed to her to be the most reasonable route to take, and hopefully one that wouldn’t lead to bad feelings.
Baye and Adriana both nodded in acceptance to her proposal and looked to the rest of the group to see what they would decide. Dal was the first to speak out.
‘I think we should bury him here and now. It’s not right to leave someone’s body lying out to rot in the middle of nowhere, even if their a stranger. I wouldn’t want it for myself, and I wouldn’t want anyone else’.
That caught Delde off guard. She had expected Dal to say it was a waste of time to bury him and be pocketing the man’s money and sword, arguing that he didn’t need them now he was dead. Instead, he was being surprisingly respectful towards him, his hands were clasped, and his head was downturned as he stood nearby.
‘Aye. Ah agree wae Dal and the cler- er Adriana. It’s no right for us tae just lea’ a man tae rot in the wild. It’ll no take us any length a time tae gie him a burial if we aw pitch in’.
Baye sighed in resignation, with three in favour of burying the stranger it didn’t matter what Delde voted for, they would be burying him. Delde herself was rather grateful to not have to worry about being the deciding factor in the matter, but she felt it was only right for her to voice her opinion on the matter.
‘I personally don’t have much of a preference in what order we do things, burying the man then going to the crypt or vice versa. But I do agree that it should be done if only to make the chances of the remains transforming into an undead creature lower. Anyway, it is three in favour out of five so we should get started’.
Adriana seemed pleased as she began to organise everyone, while Baye was more resigned to carry out their task. Neither seemed to be taking their argument further though so that was a positive in Delde’s eyes.
Igmar and Dal dug a shallow grave as she and Baye collected large stones to place over it, whilst Adriana began to pray to Sarenrae to bless their efforts and ensure that the man’s soul received proper judgement and that his remains would not become an undead creature that would haunt the land. After a few hours the deed was done and they went on their way towards the crypt of Kassen as the clouds began to darken and the first cold, fat drops of rain began to fall.