Trial of Blood
“It was time.
The Blood Witch, who we believed to be Jainelette Brenaile, wrought havoc. She brought her corruption to a small village. The entirety of the people, a group of traveling merchants and a Wailer patrol, all rendered silent.
Desperate for answers, the Adventurer’s Guild put out a high-risk leve. We did not need to track the Blood Witch, for her crimes lead us right to her. We expected a fight. We expected nothing short of a nightmare. We were not wrong.
Enju, Anstarra, Zanzan, Reppu and I arrived to a dead village. No birds chirped, no wind blew, the place bore the scent of death and countless bodies were spread about the ground. We slowly entered - wary and weapons ready. We hoped to find survivors.
There was the scream. A woman screaming from within something akin to a mill house. A sign of a survivor, yet we did not get the chance to act. All around us, the dead came back to life. They were not revived, but turned into monsters instead.
From behind us, to our flank and to our front; the decaying monsters closed in with large numbers. They began to move like starving wolves. ‘Twas unnatural. I can not describe, and they did not give us much of a chance to study them. They began to swarm; wanting to add us to their ranks, or make us a meal.
Anstarra let loose arrows, Reppu let loose her Carbuncle and Zanzan began to cast fire and lighting in a volley. Enju and I drew our lances. We stood firm to defend the ranged fighters behind us. My guisarme stabbed, slashed and hooked as I attacked any demon corpse who came near.
They were fragile. The spread of magic attacks from Zanzan re-killed most of them. Others were brought down by everyone else. The whole of the time, the woman screaming in that damned house never stopped. Anstarra and Reppu’s carbuncle went in before our fight with the demon villagers was brought to an end.
I do not know what they saw in there, but what came out was not a woman. Crashing out from the building was something I had never seen before, and I have seen some crazy shite in my life…
The Monster was in the shape of a person, but it was huge. It was made from countless bodies of the dead, bloody vines and some stone. This was more than some violent seedkin; this was a thing I would only hear about in legend… But this was reality for my comrades and I.
Attacking this monster was easy for our ranged fighters. Hurting it was not. The vines moved as they took damage; it was almost as if they regrew. One body being burned by fire did not seem to hurt it. Even as the corpses were torn asunder, it gathered the fallen dead, and replaced what we destroyed.
To prevent it from crushing our allies, Anstarra and I charged it. She had tossed aside her bow to use a large pole that use to be a support pillar. She is an odd Sun-sister… I struck at it with my lance, but no matter the fury of my blows, or how well I struck true, killing the monster with a spear was not going to be possible.
I moved with Opo-opo tactics; using agility and speed to avoid getting crushed by its large arms. I used my lance to thrust and hook at it like an angry hornet. My only wish was to slow it down, and keep it distracted with me.
Anstarra bashed it. Strike after strike, she tried to deal her damage. But she was only playing a part as well.
Everyone else did what they could. Zanzan cast his magics while Reppu and Enju fought it outside my attention. So focused on what I was doing, I must speak true and say I remember little about what the others did. There was no plan. We worked together, but we had to rely on our instincts to guide us in the effort.
Enju was intent to guard Reppu, Anstarra was handling her wood and Zanzan did what he is wont to do as a Thaumaturge. He did not try to negotiate with it, thank the Gods. I am sure it was very flashy, and created a great amount of colored light.
In what I would call the last great battle in which I used a spear, we finally tore the monster down. Once we rendered the monster broken and slow, Zanzan cast fire into the depths of its form made of many corpses.
With it defeated, we all wanted a respite. But the Blood Witch was still hiding in the building. I am not certain what she did to anger Enju aside from all she had done thus far, but he immediately charged in after her.
Everyone pursued.â€
