8: Army of Darkness

 The forest broke into a narrow valley through which we needed to cross. We made our way down into the bowl of the valley but were stopped as platoons of troops began to surround us from all sides. We were trapped. Hundreds of creatures that looked like rot had begun to consume their bodies stood erect and at the ready. We looked around for a weakness, a soft spot that would grant escape. 

Vorden, the apparent master of this army of darkness, apparated from nowhere. He spoke plainly to Teletestin, telling him to turn over something called the Tekton stone. I assume he meant the jewel that Telestin, or Agoron as I knew him, had given me for safe keeping just minutes before. It was our secret he said. He told me to keep it safe.

When Teletetin refused, Vorden said that he would kill us all and then looked at the rest of us. "Would you sacrifice your lives for him?"

I spoke up. "Yes, to the death."

With that I grabbed a Javelin and threw it at Vorden, hitting him in the shoulder. That's when all hell broke loose. As I chased after Vorden, the rest of the army surrounding us advanced on us. Bowman from the flanks rained volleys of arrows down upon us and the troops from the front and rear were pinching us between them.

Vorden disappeared and reappeared several times. I gave chase while Miresta and Damaia targeted him from a distance. Carrick, Norah and Bhodi joined forces with Teletestin and his companions who had begun to work a section of the troops down to expose an exit plan. Finally, Vorden fell.

After he dropped to the ground, Miresta and Damaia focused their efforts on the hole being made in the back forces. But a new problem arose. A giant troll had been set loose on the battlefield. He ran towards the group and began slashing and clawing at everyone. They were battling it with all their might and it didn't seem to be going down. 

I picked up the staff and ring that Vorden was wearing. I thought that if I could wield these items that I could somehow stop this army and the troll that was killing my friends. They were too far away for my short legs to get me there in time to do anything else. So I put on the ring. 

Almost as soon as I put it on, it seemed as though the army stopped advancing and began retreating. The troll exploded into a noxious gas, knocking Bhodi unconscious and killing the Direwolf belonging to the lady who'd brought us to Teletestin.

At first I thought it was my actions that had halted everything. I later learned that the troll had been killed by everyone else. The death of the Direwolf broke that lady. She blamed me for it. I can't say that I didn't feel guilty for not being able to do more than I had. 

After they all realized I had the ring on, Teletestin frowned and the wolf lady could only glare and call me a selfish prick for being more worried about those items than the people I was fighting with. I tried to explain that I thought this would stop the army, give us a chance to escape. It was no use. So I remained silent as Teletestin told me that the ring was cursed and that I would essentially turn into a lich and replace Vorden.

The rest of the group looked on in a variation of emotions. Some contempt, some fear, some sadness and pity. Norah fashioned a makeshift cot of sorts, to put the direwolf on. Wolf lady said she would take him off in the woods and revive him on her own. I agreed to carry him to her cottage, our apparent destination. 

It was at her quaint little forest cottage, a massive hollowed out tree next to a small waterfall and wading pool, that we lay down our heads for the first time in a while. Wolf lady took her direwolf without a word and disappeared into the woodlands while we rested and Teletestin relayed the remaing bits of our fate with the wizards of the towers who were trying to destroy the events of time.