Just as Nayash passed the tent-opening to talk to someone on the other side of the road Veragwen stuck her head out, and told the man off. Apparently his name was Owen, and based on the way that the woman spoke to him, he wasn’t fully clear in the head. Then she turned to Nayash and spoke in an apologetic tone.
“Sorry about that. Owen tends to be very… superstitious and connects dots that aren’t really there, if you know what I mean…” She placed her hand on Nayash’s back and led her inside the clinic once more.
“No need to apologize” Nayash said and followed Veragwens lead, and picked up her pack as well as her weapon once more.
“I’ll show you to my house, I guess. Someone else can finish up. The seriously injured have already been tended to.” Nayash nodded, although she felt like she had torn Veragwen away from where she felt most useful, and felt a bit of guilt over the incident outside. However she said nothing and followed the womans lead throughout the town towards her home, which would also temporarily become her home whilst she stayed there.
She noticed that the towns people had started to move their elderly and their injured on the streets and she had a quick glance at the towns clock. It was reaching the late afternoon, and she knew the sun would soon set, and rather fast at that. Then Veragwen spoke once more and Nayash snaped back to focus.
“I know that he wears black, covers his face when he can. When he feels confident he seems to be wearing a leather robe, or cloak rather than anything else, and he has a sword of a kind. More than that is unknown. .. “ she started, then the woman wondered why she was after him. “I was tasked by the elders of my village to find the man whom had committed crim-“ She was abruptly interrupted as a well-dressed man rode in on horseback through the town-streets shouting out a message of the king.
“I’m Lord Armond! Advisor to King Zeke!!” he started and Nayash focused on his words. He spoke of the reward that had been promised and prompted more unfortunate and inexperienced souls to fight the monster at dusk by the forest behind Sele. He spoke big then continued his preaching on the way towards the town boarders, and more and more people followed behind him, probably encouraged by his words.
Nayash thought about following him, herself, as the two continued to walk towards the home and then decided against it. Propaganda had never helped her for courage. Quite the opposite, it had disrupted her focus and her keen senses of the battle at hand. And as the sun was setting, her senses started to get more and more keen. Something was not right, and she slowed down in her steps.
The atmosphere had changed as the sun had gone lower on the sky, a sense of dread and nervousness now spreading across the village.
The guards were shouting to each-other nervously, and then suddenly all hell broke lose. The formation started to break at the north end, and a guard broke out in a panicked scream only to abandon post. Immediately Nayash dropped her pack on the ground and grabbed her weapon with both hands, only to moments later hear the sickening splat of a man thrown by the beast right before her feet.
“Or it could attack already.” The woman beside her sighed and prepared for battle, then told her to stay behind to stay safe.
“Oh hell no, fighting is what I do.” She said and then followed Veragwen in the charge at the beast, staying only a few meters behind. As she shouted to whoever stood their ground against the beast, Nayash focused on the potential weak-spots of this oversized scorpion. As for all the scorpions, she knew that the tail-movement had to be limited, and that the armor was layered. If one could at least barge open one of the scales or whack its joints, then they could reach the softer flesh of the scorpion. An alternative was to get the belly of the beast, however she saw no way of being able to flip it. Then the scorpion struck at them.
Quickly Nayash slammed her hammer end to the ground to change her course of her momentum opposite to where Veragwen managed to doge the tail. She saw this as a chance and the second the tail end hit the ground she used her momentum to swing the hammerhead around to slam the poison pocket with the more pointy side in hope of rupturing it , however it she seemed to only scratch it.
She swiftly repositioned herself to get a better view when a younger woman with orange hair and a tail jumped up on the scorpions claw as it retracted its tail. It shook its claw up and as she slammed her weapon of choice, a scythe onto it, it proved once more that the armor of the beast was thick, something Nayash already knew. Seconds later a few more people from the north enterance appeared and they seemed to be communicating with eachother, however Nayash couldn’t make out what they said over the trampling noises and the shrieks.
Suddenly its movements changed and Nayash knew that Veragwen was in danger:
“Watch out!!” She yelled, Then suddenly it snapped at Veragwen and swung around to go for one of the followers of the orange haired girl gracing her midsection. Then it stopped. It seemed to be waiting for something and once it began to move, it moved completely out of pattern.
Systematically it turned around towards the entrance and then rushed towards the forest and furiously whacked at the trees, before a final shriek came from its body and it fell limp.
“What the….” Nayash uttered in disbelief. It must be a trick. Either that or it’s cursed by a spell of some kind, because Nayash couldn’t remember seeing any wild scorpions in her village act this way. A man shouted from the far end of the forest, and once the words reached her, and reached the village by breaking the silence, villagers started appearing from their homes. They were scared, but curiosity and word that the beast was dead, took over. One by one they inspected the damages, and once they saw the desert creature of a beast, they connected the dots that Owen had layed out.
Whispers started spreading around her and more and more raging and scared eyes turned to Nayash, together with pointed fingers. The voices of the crowd started to go louder, blaming her, but she knew that it wasn’t her doing. She deflected it as terror running through the villagers veins. It wasn’t till the villagers started to close in at her that she placed her hammer close to her, although in a casual manner as to prove her point of innocence, but being ready if needed to be.
“I am not the one you are seeking!” she stated, but knew her words would fall to deaf ears. Someone they trusted needed to step up for her, and suddenly a few guards had appeared near her.
“She couldn’t have brought it here! She fought against the beast as well! Do you not think she would have had done something to easily beat the monster with, and used it at some point!? No, she’s innocent!” One of the guards dictated over the voices of the angry mob before her. Then she noticed it.
A dark hooded shadow emerged from the woods. He mumbled some words unaudiable to her, but immediately she knew. Illurath. A necromancer.
“No. No no no... ! Necromancer!!“ Nayash called out, and took to arms, quickly dashing through the crowd towards the beast. No, not the beast. But the man in control of the scorpion and she came quite far before mass hysteria broke out. Before she reached the exit of the town however , a black mist soaked her and her bearings. Immediately she covered her mouth and held her breath as best she could while still bolting towards the exit.
Nayash’s vision was starting to turn hazy as her oxygen was running out, but she didn’t dare to take a breath just yet. And just as the world started to s pin for her, she dashed out of the town and into fresher air. She took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground gasping for air. Rushing and holding your breath was never a good idea ,but this time it had been no choice.
She shook her head a few times, suddenly feeling incredibly different. She felt ill, yet more clear than ever, and she felt like her goal was in reach once more. She knew Illurath had been here, she knew what he could do with death. He was a wielder of a bejeweled stone, and at this moment he was wearing the leather hood.
“Shit. Why the hell did I not notice earlier. “ She cursed herself as she grabbed a hold of her hammer once more and dashed out into the forest to go after him, not thinking twice about the village. It was a desire in her growing stronger, to find the man behind her years of search. A thirst for his blood, and yet a strong repulsion from being too close. She disliked it, but it drove her forward, and soon she was in the forest running once again after the target of her past.
