By Llohuir
It started out as just another routine march from Udgaard to the mines. But something was
different this time, something seemed just a bit off. The forest was unnaturally quiet
this morning, lacking the usual robust chattering of squirrels, the calls of the
songbirds. We slaves could see the darting eyes and sense the uneasiness of the slave
drivers as they forced the chained column along the worn path. They too seemed to sense
something amiss. Something stirring as if from a deep slumber. A large bush in front of
the column suddenly rustled. The lead guard signaled a stop. A duergar slave master
quietly drew his mace and stealthily approached the bush...
When suddenly a deer bolted out from the bush, bumping into him before bounding away into
the surrounding forest. Startled by the outburst the slaver stumbled backwards, tripping
over an exposed root and landing on his mailed backside with a loud "Ooommph!".
Unfortunately for him, his landing site was squarely atop an ant hill. Angry ants boiled
forth, quickly swarming over the unfortunate duergar. Scrambling up, he cursed loudly, and
began capering about and shaking his arms and legs vigorously, trying to dislodge the
swarm of biting insects. The ants had easily crawled beneath his armor, which the slaver
immediately began to tear from his body.
This drew loud laughter from many of us; even the dark-elf slave mistress who usually hid
her emotions stifled a smirk. Then there was a loud thud, strangely incongruous amid the
laughter. The dark-elf blinked several times before pitching forward with an arrow
protruding from her back. A female slave near her screamed.
Pandemonium broke loose! More arrows rained down, and a magical bolt of lightning slammed
into a wagon from the shadowy recess between two trees. Flaming seeds of fire flew
unerringly towards their target, embedding themselves fatally into another slave driver.
The pungent odor of charring flesh filled the air. More screams. With a magical click,
the chains binding us to one another broke loose, and we scattered into the relative
safety of the surrounding trees.
With trained agility and practice, the slave drivers drew their weapons and formed a hasty
defense by overturning the wagons. Some of them focused on returning arrow fire into the
trees, while others began to cut down the escaping slaves.
I found myself running alongside a dwarven slave towards a grove of birch trees.
Suddenly a large shadow stepped out in front of us, and with a blurring swing of a hefty
axe, the dwarf's head sailed into the air. I stopped suddenly and stared dumbly down at
the headless body, then slowly drew my gaze upwards to the hulking shadow before me. I was
too petrified to move. With a gap-toothed grin, a hulking fire giant strode from the
shadows, heaved a gigantic axe onto one massive shoulder, and winked at me.
Should I plead for mercy or should I try to escape, no matter how remote the chance of
success might be? Or should I assume he is on my side and not a slave driver? If so, do I
have the courage to join him in his battle against slavery?
Welcome to the Carrion Fields.
A world of untold dangers, opportunities and intriguing politics, where it is your
decisions that will determine your destiny.