Ice Cold Carnage

My first night aboard this ship was unnerving. What with steps of little feet roaming about the room in preparations for the next day's departure, sleep was far from coming. The enchantments of Escalore would keep me awake for days on end, this I knew...this night I would exercise such a right. Perhaps I might have been a little less unnerving to the gnomes party to the night preparation crew, had I not spent the whole night sitting upon the edge of the bed with my helm on. However being in a new environment I wasn't yet ready to give up the only set of eyes I had just yet.

The dawn had come much faster than I had calculated, and it wasn't long before my hostess carefully entered the room first checking to make sure that clothes were not in short supply upon myself. Chuckling privately at the irony of the statement, I had bid my day to begin. I knew not much of my benefactor Sanria except for the fact that she was heading into territories which had caused her trouble in the past. Quiet and contemplative, she didn't seem to keep much in the way of conversation, leading me to believe that she was more inclined to a thoughtful nature. After naught but a short while, we finally gained the last member of our crew a man by the name of Thasmudyan. A man of frail build, and reserved nature, I found Thasmudyan to be an enigma, though later I would find him a force to be reckoned with. Recounting our voyage to the barren, frigid, and icy wastelands of the north, I remember only the speed at which the vessel owned by Sanria traveled. A journey that might take a conventional ship from days to weeks, took less than a day. Despite the sudden changes that recently have occurred within my life, I still could not help but to marvel at the short duration of our flight. My companions were quiet for most of the journey, but as we approached the territories of Mahn'Tor, we began scouting the ground far below for signs of our target. Finally the shape of a slightly battered, ship appeared as a speck within a field of white. And so it was that we set down a short distance from the derelict vessel in hopes that perhaps the journey upon which we'd found ourselves thrown into had come to a quick resolution. Such a fate was not destined for us however. After a short landing upon Throm's ship we were able to determine that the vessel was devoid of life thanks to the odd abilities which Thasmudyan had began to reveal. Though these findings put the Lady Sanria to worry, I found them to be comforting indeed. Though I have had my differences with our quarry, I had my own private fears that we may well be stumbling into a tomb and would find nothing save a corpse. I am frustrated a bit to say that we did not get far into our travels before we were ambushed by a pack of local minotaur hunters who thought to have stumbled upon a unwitting group of would be slaves. Though we were outnumbered, the hunting party was a group of unorganized ragdolls in comparison to our party. As the red eye haze of battle took hold of me, I found myself wishing nothing more than to use the group of dull witted beasts as examples by cutting down each and every one. A word or two from Thasmudyan disagreed with my notions at this. I normally may have paid no heed to such disagreements and cut apart our attackers, but for a life threatening injury dealt to Sanria in the course of battle.

Gaining that our target may be near an old reactor tower from one of the minotaurs, who was more than eager to crack in exchange for his life our battle was over. Once a safe haven had been established in our former battlegrounds Thasmudyan at once tended to the wound of Sanria, displaying once again his curious abilities. I was relieved to have him as part of the team (a word foreign to myself now for quite some time) as I was little use in the way of tending to wounds in either magical or conventional means. The magic weakened both of them considerably, and though we had made little in the way of foot travel, it was decided to set camp for the night. Electing to stand guard outside the airship, I once again would use Escalore's magic to maintain my vigilance throughout the night.

Little did I know at the time that it was to be this night that those which my comrades might consider enemies would call upon me in peace.

The Awakening

The nurse watched over the halfling boy; the lines in her face drawn with fatigue as she exercised his limbs while he lay sleeping. His sleep seemed untroubled; comfortable, even. Anyone looking in on him for the first time would never know that he hadn't wakened for over a month. The woman who tended to him in her priestly robes moved from moving one leg to the other; lifting the child's bare foot and moving it back so that his leg lifted and his knee lifted up, then back again, repeating the exercise several times before letting out a small sigh.

That girl had brought the child here like this, and she hadn't even bothered to come back since that time. Didn't she care at all? Moving quietly about the room, the accolyte lifted a bowl of water from the floor and dipped a sponge into it. Silently, she lifted the boy's sleeve up and dabbed some water on his arm, then began rubbing soap into his skin before rinsing it off with the sponge. At first, she didn't notice when the boy's fingers twitched just a little.

Then his eyes opened and his hands gestured, "Who are you?"

The woman shrieked and ran from the room, still screaming, as the boy stood weakly from his bed, smiling wanly, and followed after her.