The Church | Dark Invasion of Lani

The rain was still coming down heavily, pinging loudly as it struck against the church’s high walls and stained glass windows. The face that Al had seen through the window had turned its attention to the rogue’s companions inside the church, but Al had his own problems to deal with. Above the sound of the splattering rain was something else. First one, then another, then dozens of snaps and cracks echoed through the air as a horde of creatures lurched out of the woods.

This could be bad, Al thought to himself as he sought some cover behind a raised stone crypt. They were still a little ways off, but the things that were shambling towards them through the trees were moving awkwardly, as if their limbs weren’t quite right. There were seven, or maybe eight of them rushing straight toward the church, seemingly oblivious to his presence in their mad rush.

It’s the eyes, he finally decided, settling an internal argument as to what was bothering him the most about these undead creatures. The fact that the bodies moved awkwardly as if pulled forward like a puppet was not the most disturbing thing. It was the not-quite-human appearance of the eyes staring out with an insatiable hunger and hatred.

And he was the only thing to feed on.

That brief moment of taking in the situation nearly cost him as he ran for the corner of the building. The billowing form of the borrowed cultist robe flared as his powerful strides drove forward at the onrushing mass. As he and the first wave were just about to collide, Al pushed off and grabbed at the stone outcropping that had been carved into the wall, just above reach. He swung around the corner, his tail nearly slapping one of the undead in the face as it reached for him.

That’s it, follow the leader…

Looking over his shoulder, Al’s draconic face broke into a toothy grin. They were no match for his trained sprinting. All those years running errands in the tunnels had honed his fitness levels before leadership had even given him his first mission. Al had already put two lengths between him and his pursuers immediately after hitting the ground and he knew he could keep them chasing him for a while. The rogue turned to face forward and then he turned serious once more as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

There were another several dozen charging out from down the road, across the field, and through the forest. The group he had seen were only a part of the horde and he was about to be surrounded! He could see the main doors to the church now, just a few steps away…

His shoulder slammed into the heavy wooden double-doors, sending them flying open as he careened into the main hallway. In front of him were the others, putting fires out and trying to find and eliminate whatever creatures were hiding in the dark behind the wooden pews. They seemed to have things well under control

“Company is coming!” he yelled, trying to get his companions’ attention.

His boots seemed too loud in this hall, reverberating echoes came back at him as he rushed forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the others. They only had a moment… time to make it good. The dragonborn nocked an arrow and turned to face the oncoming horde that was hot on his tail.

This better work…

Peering Through the Glass

There was an eerie lighting inside the church. The creatures that had been hiding here had never needed torches or mage lights to get about, so the only light inside was coming through the massive stained glass windows. Even then, with the heavy storm outside, the light coming in was dim and barely illuminating anything. Shadows dominated the high, vaulted main chamber, with streams of dim, but colourful, light playing along the pews. In those shadows, something was moving…

The goliath’s long strides easily closed the distance across the church, leaping over pews that stood between him and his target. The white-faced creature in the corner was trying to sneak away, but Audak had his scent and wasn’t about to let it go. The creature’s companion already lay in pieces in the middle of the aisle and Audak was planning on making another decoration for the corner.

He brought his axe up high, ready to swing down upon the cowering creature, but despite his best efforts it fought him off. The strange eyes of the once-living soldier were focused on Audak, its long dark blade swinging skillfully in a defensive form. This creature was not some wild animal, it was trained, and trained well.

“Why. Won’t. You. Die?” Audak grunted, punctuating each word with a massive swing.

Their blades struck again, Audak nearly cutting the creatures hand off in the process, but still it persisted. It was backed into a corner now, quickly scanning for some way to escape. Behind Audak, a new light source began filling the space with a golden aura. Brylla must be getting close again!

“He’s mine!” he shouted, warning the others off as he pressed his attack.

A high-pitched noise escaped from the creature’s mouth as it used some sort of whistle device. Audak lowered a shoulder to knock the soldier down only to be distracted by the doors slamming open behind him. As he turned to find out what had arrived, he saw the dragonborn charging in at full speed, bow in hand, seemingly being chased.

Sensing a weakness, the cornered creature lunged at Audak, trying to take advantage of this moment of distraction. Audak caught the movement from the corner of his eye and barely brought the haft of his axe up in time to ward off the creature. Suddenly, the side of the white-skinned face exploded as an arrow pierced through it. A momentary stillness held between them before the creature slid to the ground.

Turning around again, Audak found the dragonborn looking his way, bow still drawn and aimed in his direction. Audak raised his arms, questioningly. Al simply shrugged at him and then turned to face the main church entryway, which was still open. What were the others waiting for to come through that door?

His answer didn’t take long to come.

He first saw the shapes as they started charging towards the pane of glass to his left. They slammed into the wall, their arms banging against the glass as they tried to break through. These windows that had stood for thousands of years held them back, but Audak was close enough to see their gaping mouths and dead eyes. They wore the clothes of townsfolk, though no semblance of their former consciousness seemed to shine from behind those pupils. Unlike the creature lying motionless at his feet, these other things seemed mindlessly hungry, throwing themselves at the barrier between them and their prey.

Behind the snarling faces, Audak saw dozens more streaming out of the forest, charging for the church. He stood poised, ready to fight them off should they come through the window but many of them were going a different way. They seemed to be running towards…

That was when he heard the first slapping of feet against the marble floors behind him. When he checked over his shoulder, a stream of these awkwardly-moving monsters was charging through the door. They were under siege on all sides!

It’s a Trap!

Tanis had wasted no time when the dragonborn had first charged through the door. While the others cleaned up the few stragglers inside the church, the elf was shoulder-to-shoulder with Al and rapidly prepping their defenses. Back at the inn, that first night, they had faced a similar onslaught and Tanis had learned that these things were not exactly the most intelligent creatures. The marble stone was not as easy to warp as the forest floor, but the elf was still able to sense and tap into its natural state. It would be hard for anyone to notice, without a trained eye, which was exactly what the ranger was counting on.

When the first few charged through the doorway, they were met with a barrage of arrows and arcane magics that flew through the air, slowing the snarling ghouls advance. The rotting corpses dragged their way across the floor, seemingly oblivious to the barrage of fire, only to find themselves moving through the elf’s trap. The once-smooth church flooring tore at their bodies and clothing, ripping them apart. Even with their limbs being pulled apart and torn, they continued to crawl forward until finally collapsing motionless.

“Stay off the floor!” he shouted to the others, though his companions had already seen the damage done to the creatures. More were already streaming in through the doors, scrabbling past the torn remains of their brethren on the floor. They moved with a singular focus, a hunger burning through their milky-white eyes.

Another volley flew through the dim lighting of the church, attempting to slow them down, but still more streamed through. Each moment that passed the surging horde seemed to get closer and closer to them. As the bodies piled up on the once-pristine marble floors, the incoming mass of undead began to use their fallen as a protective carpet against the elf’s spiked trap. The elf was now face-to-face with the foul-smelling creatures, bow set aside in favour of close-combat blades. Tanis’ steel, a gift from Boblin, seemed to glow in the strange light of the church’s stained glass windows as it weaved back and forth, driving back one creature after another. He could sense the large form of his barbarian friend at his side, with the swift movements of the dragonborn dodging in and out at his other side. The three of them formed a wall to protect the others as they fought back the incursion.

For a moment, it seemed as if the scrabbling claws might make it through their defenses, but it was almost too easy to stop them. These creatures had no tactical strategy, no weapons, nothing but numbers on their side and they were no match for the combined focus of their group. Tanis stabbed his blade into a squirming corpse that was trying to get back up after losing its lower half.

What a mess.

The Tunnel

“Are there more?” asked Brylla, who was scanning around, looking for other fiends who might jump at them from the shadows.

“I don’t think so” replied Tanis, listening with head tilted towards the door. “It’s hard to hear over the storm, but I think that was the last of them.”

Al was wiping the blood off his massive cleaver as he bent over the corpses at their feet. He shoved one with a leather-booted kick, but it didn’t squirm.

“These ones seem quiet. Finally.”

“We should get the doors locked up and barred, just in case there are more of them” suggested the elf, as he dragged a body out of the doorway. “Help me with these, will you?”

Brylla watched as the others went about the grim task of moving the bodies of the fallen out of the way. The dwarf noted that their guide was being unusually quiet and was avoiding touching the things that had attacked them.

“First time?” she asked, with a calm and empathetic tone. The young man that they had met only this morning seemed to be quietly considering the question. “It’s okay to feel something, you know. But sometimes survival is messy.”

The young man seemed to look down at the dwarf and his mouth opened to say something, but then a look came over his eyes as if he had steeled himself and put up his guard again.

“The basement is over there” he replied instead, pointing at the back of the church where some storage closets and alternative prayer rooms had been set up. That seemed to be all that Brylla was going to get out of him.

Turning to follow his gesture, Brylla walked over and peered down the stairwell. It was dark and winding and a decaying smell seemed to come up from the basement, but she heard nothing. When she returned to the main hall, the others had already managed to barricade the doors.

“It seems quiet down there” she offered, though she wasn’t quite sure of herself. “What should we do?”

“Let me check it out first, just in case” offered the hunched-over dragonborn, who was applying a bandage to a cut he had received during the fight. “If there is somebody down there, they’ll just think I’m one of them.”

The cleric didn’t know how well that ruse might work. Dragonborn weren’t rare, but they certainly weren’t common, and they hadn’t seen any of them working for this cult. Al simply stood out, no matter how much he tried to do otherwise. He was big, had a tail, and the light glinted off his scales in a way that said “predator”. But it was as good a plan as any, right now. Who knows how long they had before another horde was going to arrive!

Al’s form had only disappeared into the darkness below for a few moments before his head reappeared, gesturing them to follow. When they reached the lower level they found the hallway littered with corpses, both of the undead and others. Al was stepping over the bodies, though, headed down the hall with determination. At a turning point, he gestured towards the wall. Or, at least, where a wall should have been. Instead, they found a pile of stones and rubble lining the floors with a large hole punched through the stone masonry, leading into a dark tunnel beyond. By the wall lay two bodies, each wearing the familiar robes of the worshippers of the Dark. There were no marks of violence upon them, no signs of a struggle. It was as if they simply lay down to go to sleep.

Brylla opened her mouth to speak but Al quickly gestured for silence. He had heard something ahead. The dragonborn held up a hand to signal them to stay and then was swallowed up by the darkness of the tunnel as he slipped silently down the hall. Brylla didn’t know he had returned until he suddenly appeared out of the tunnel and pointed them back upstairs.

“Well, they found what they were looking for” he whispered, as he began to explain what he had found at the end of the tunnel. “They seem to be hanging around some sort of large sarcophagus, made of stone. I saw a few of the cultists, a very large and heavily armoured lady-knight, and one of those creepy shadow things of the Dark.”

Brylla thought back to the last time they had encountered one of those shadow creatures underground, back near Greenfell, when they had nearly been killed by the cultists and their mind-controlled druids. Facing another one of them was not a pleasant thought.

“So what do we do?” asked their young guide, who had been rather brave in following along with them thus far. He didn’t know what they were about to be facing.

“Whatever it is the Dark wants, we can’t let them have it” stated Brylla, leaving no room for discussion. “We have to stop them.”

She didn’t know how they were going to do it yet, but she knew that they had to try. They had faced down dragons and undead and barbarian hordes. What were a few cultists in a basement? Simple. Right?