We found Slaughter

29th of Shar 358

We woke up with the sun rise. Luckily, we weren't disturbed during our sleep. Ferryman decided to introduce themselves as Karsus. They prefer Ferryman so I will keep calling them that. Ferryman said they don't know much about the figure that was chasing us, just that they weren't alone in that room they were locked in while they slept. Fathom noted that it doesn't seem happy about any of us existing.

Ferryman explained again that Hymn is a part of him and that he was his dream. Hornet is not sure what a dream is and Ferryman said that elves are weird. Hornet asked him if he has a heritage and he doesn't remember, it seemed to frustrate him. It doesn't seem like Ferryman picked up on Hymn's tracking skills, so I am leading the group to continue our search for Slaughter.

Fathom worked on his guns while we walked. They seem really interesting. They are shaped like a horseshoe and they seemed really complicated to me. Lots of springs and moving parts.

After some time, we started having to follow our nose rather than our eyesight. I could smell death on the path. Hrorilad is off in the distance, it looked so big from here. Reminded me of how Cyric looked from a distance. Fathom mentioned how Hrorilad is Slaughter's warpath and that we should avoid confrontation. He then talked about his weapon, the one we found in the crypt. Talking about the weapon really freaked me out, I feel bad for snapping a little. All I did was repeat not to touch it and not to even get close to it but I still feel bad. I guess... It's a bit of a touchy subject for me now seeing as I almost used it from the influence of it.

Fathom also told Ferryman about our interaction with Asmod. He was catching him up to speed, mostly. I brought up what that figure from yesterday said to me, and Ferryman reiterated he doesn't know much about the figure; he knows as much as we do.

Then I smelled smoke. We saw a pillowing smoke plume coming from close by, in the direction we were heading. As we approached, I picked up the scent of death. It's close, really close. I peek out onto the horizon and I see a village. Every building is burning. I see a figure. They had a set of white horns, a torn bit of armor around an orcish form, and a head of gray mangled hair. They were holding a giant sword. I saw them stab down with it after a scream, snuffing it out. Hornet says we have found Slaughter. I noticed at that point that Erafinyr fled from my hood into someone else's clothes. I am still not sure who she went to, but I'm guessing not Hornet because she is scared of them.

Slaughter goes into the village, a cloud of smoke descended on the path. Hornet questions if we can fight him and Fathom says we can't but we can try to divert his attention to find survivors. He started heading to the village. The body of who Slaughter just killed stood up, laundering back into the village. Hornet says this is out of our depth, and I very much agree.

We made a plan to stick relatively close as we entered the village. Ferryman casted an invincibility spell on himself and Fathom, I changed form into a cat, and Hornet got around stealthily. It didn't take long for us to get separated. Last thing I saw when I was still with the others was Slaughter dragging someone out of their house with their back on fire. They tossed them into the mud in the road and I heard screams snuffed out by a blow of their sword.

I was hidden underneath one of the porches, waiting to figure out my next move. I don't know where the others went. I peek out after some time and I see Fathom and Hornet being followed by a horde of undead and Slaughter. There was a strange woman a couple houses down on the porch. She had a black dress with slightly puffy shoulders. Her skin was gray and her arms were stripped. I couldn't see her front from here.

I slowly started to approach. Something in my gut was telling me that she was the one controlling the undead. Maybe if I got to her, I could stop the undead and help the others. I then heard Ferryman's voice in my head. He asked me if I wanted to do something about the woman. I felt like they were going to do something but whatever it was, it failed and had no affect on her. Maybe a sleep spell? I was frozen up and scared. I ran away, even though I had the opportunity to possibly get the person behind this.

I circled around the town, trying to crawl under buildings to avoid getting in front of that woman's gaze. I didn't want to be seen. I saw the others heading through a plains to Hrorilad on... unicorns? Fathom must have had another magic attack and summoned them. As soon as I made it to the clearing, I ran as fast as I could. Not long after, a unicorn made it to me with Ferryman on its back. I hopped on still in cat form and it teleported me to the others.

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