Born a Monster

540 Hatton’s New Greetert is said that no plan survives contact with the enemy; so it was with our plans.

My first warning was the fleeing of animals from within the fence, parting like a curtain. Well, I had time for a brief look...

"We have incoming!” I screamed.

Zoltar looked up to the sky.

"Hostile walkers!” I clarified. “That way!”

I had already pulled a meager slab of wood from my inventory. Properly speaking, it was a targe. It worked as a shield for me. <1 >

"Nogar! You said they were nocturnal!” Doran shouted.

"They’re supposed to be!” Nogar shouted. “All near me! Anti-Undead Ward, Extended Area!”

Were they ghouls, or morlocks? At this range, it was hard to...

.....

They were spearmen. As in, they were carrying spears. Something neither were known for.

"I see weapons!” I called, approaching the wavering dome. “Shields to the fore!”

Have I mentioned that while magic is primarily resolve and aura, it is helped by gestures? That larger spells benefit from both hands? Yes, you can count on one finger the number of us who had a shield ready.

Damnit!

Mohr chuckled. “He looks so silly, up there all alone.”

"Yet earnest.” Negla said.

"All the more silly, because of that.” Mohr said.

Doran and Negla made assenting noises.

And then, first one and then a second spear were in the air.

"Good range on those throwing arms.” I said. “I can block either...”

"Icarus Defends!”

"Distance Ignition!”

Both spears caught flame, which meant I had to block a burning spear, the other having broken apart during its descent.

"Sorry.” Mohr said, “I thought we had longer.”

"It’s okay.” I said. “They seem to be thinking.”

"Can anyone tell me if those are ghouls or not?” Nogar asked. “I don’t want to renew the ward if it’s useless.”

"It won’t stop them.” I said. “They’re tanned.”

"Tanned?” Negla asked. “I’ve only seen morlocks get sunburned; I didn’t know they COULD tan.”

"Are you sure?” Zoltar asked. “It seems like they’ve just smeared themselves in mud.”

I squinted. “I don’t see the cracks, but I might not at this range.”

"I thought you had eagle eyes!” Zoltar accused.

"I never said that.” I said. Besides, being able to see things at ten times the normal range doesn’t mean as much when your basic vision was like mine.

Whatever. Nobody else could tell differently.

So Nogar let his ward expire after the first minute.

And we waited.

And waited.

[Your two minute timer has expired.] my System told me.

"Okay.” I said. “Does anyone else here speak morlock?”

"Anyone ELSE?” Doran asked. “Why do YOU speak morlock?”

"Well,” Nogar said, “only one of us is a trained diplomat. They should go speak with the morlocks, mend a fence, so to speak.”

I may have grumbled a bit, but I set off in that direction.

[You have resisted level 1 Taint of Death. 0 points of Taint acquired. You now have 0 points of Taint.]

"Ick!” I said, bolting to my right.

I ended up watching where I was stepping a bit closer after that. The morlocks, whom I could clearly see, decided to squat down just behind the worst of it and wait. <2 >

Assholes.

So we ended up talking to each other over a bit of discolored earth about twenty feet across.

"I’m so glad I could be of amusement.” I said.

"You leap around like a ghoul.” one of them said.

"Or a scaled frog.” another said.

"So,” the one closest to me said, “you are far from your lands.”

"And you?” I said, gesturing at the sun.

"Not our favorite time of day.” he admitted. “But we have learned to patrol the fences, especially this broken part.”

I looked left, and then right.

"Like a set of blood veins.” I said. “And, I noticed, stronger here than at the unbroken places.”

He snarled. “One reason of many, don’t you dare think you understand us.”

One of the ones to the left was drawing in the ground with his claws. “He’s right, though. We could just let it out.”

"As if it would just go.” the one talking with me said. Then, “You mean to put up the fences again, to mend the … wall of will and words … before it comes undone entirely?”

I shrugged. “It is our main reason here, yes.”

"And if we don’t want the wall restored?”

"Then you haven’t thought things through.” I said. “Whatever he’s talking about, whatever is causing... this?”

And then I realized.

"How many morlocks has it killed?”

"Only three.” he said, before turning to look at a mansion of a mausoleum. “It has been less kind to the others. It has... they are no longer morlocks.”

"But it is still less than what dwells below.” one said, before a glare from their leader silenced her. <3 >

He shook a spear. “We, gifted with claw and fang, have to use things like THIS. Tools of people who are food. And still, still that thing mocks us by its presence.”

"It sounds like you have a substantial problem, if one thing can cause... this.”

"You,” he said, “will help us.”

"I will? I suppose I’m going to do this in exchange for my life?”

He made that smile that shows off way too many conical teeth. “You would rather fight with morlocks than against them.” he said. He pointed to where my allies waited. “Them as well. We attack at dusk. Either you, to feed to it, or we can attack the thing itself.”

I sat with legs crossed on the withered ground. “Tell me about the thing.”

And as he did so, my hope dried up, like the grasses around me. My mouth went dry, my lungs seemed unable to pull life from the air, and my bowels reminded me that five stomachs make for some epic bathroom sessions. But I sat there, soaking in dread...

<Tap Fear.>

[Your Fear mana storage is at maximum. Raise your attunement, or pay...]

<Dismiss. Resist Fear. Tap>

Between the two, I managed to hear the entirety of his tale.

Then I rose.

"Let me talk with the others.” I said. “We might just decide to fight against your people, instead.”

"That would be a mistake.” he said.

"Both actions are mistakes.” I replied. “We must talk among ourselves.”

"Dusk.” he reminded me. “Be here no less than an hour before. And pray that our mightiest warriors like the smell of you.”

I paused.

"What are you waiting for?” he asked.

.....

"Just seeing whether you’ve spoken truly, or you mean to leap across this soured ground to fight me.” I said.

He rose, made a clicking sound in my throat, and they made their way clockwise along the fence line without another word to me.

I let out my breath too early. The one in back turned her head to smile at me.

Well, nothing to be done about that. The Death Ground hadn’t shifted; I was able to retrace my steps back to the others.

"I can’t read your expression,” Zoltar said, “But your aura speaks volumes. What do they want in order for us to fix the damn fence?”

I scratched at the sole of my left foot. “What do you know of abominations?” I asked.

Zoltar scoffed, and looked sideways at Nogar.

"Which kind?” Nogar asked.

"Merge Flesh.” I said.

"Gods!” he said. “No. We CANNOT let one of them become one of those.”

"Well, they don’t want us to make one.” I said. “They are, sensibly, thinking instead of destroying one. With our assistance.”

"Hell’s Pox we will!” Doran said.

Mohr shrugged. “Will it burn?”

"I suppose like any other flesh.” I said. “But that’s not the problem.”

Negla produced a handful of barbed darts, similar to those the Neonen use in bullfighting. “It sounds like it’s mortal, so it does bleed?”

"Listen to me!” Nogar said. “We cannot fight that thing, not even if the morlocks aid us.”

I resumed a sitting position. “If you won’t listen to your loremaster, listen to me.” I said. “I am Truthspeaker, and literally cannot lie to you. Let me tell you their story, as it was told to me.”

"It sounds like time we should be walking toward where the sun sets.” Doran said.

"Know that I can run for hours and not rest.” I said. “I would outrun them, and escape. Do all of you have similar abilities? Is running an option?”

"In a dozen words or less, what is a Merge Flesh?” Zoltar asked.

Nogar closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Tell them.” he said. “Tell them, and let’s get running.”

I began speaking. “We who live beneath the Earth, we are not as you. We come not so easily unto fear...”

<1 > But, because of my System, it didn’t stack with other shields, or even other targes of different shapes or sizes.

<2 > And yes, Zoltar was right about the mud. I was also right about the tanning, but for reasons of morlock vanity, they were doing what they could to slow the process down.

<3 > Even as I narrate these events to the scholar, to be transcribed and compiled into a volume whose main purpose is probably to keep back surgeons employed, we still don’t know what dwells below. Whatever it is, it scares morlocks.