Hand of The Eldritch God

Ren had rested for hours within the secret tunnel of the queen’s hatchery. Upon first entry he looked across the eggs, deciding they couldn’t be a threat he left them alone. Sleeping for hours? It was hard to tell within the cavern.

The terrible wounds sustained in the battle against the king and queen had healed quite a lot, though they had not fully sealed. When he went to move, he felt old and dried blood separate, and a small trickle of fresh crimson took its place. He held his side, unknowing of the dangers beyond he hesitated to venture deeper.

They could find me any minute, what if they seek me out in the depths of this place? Better running and wounded than half healed and sitting here.

With disregard for the pain, he moved out into the open carven. Looking around, he saw the trace of his blood and filth left over from the corruption and destruction of the two monarch arachnids.

Traveling into the steep depths beyond he slowly descended.

It was, by his unknowing guess, three hours. That was when he found the bodies and the floor opened up into a great open cavern before him. The bodies looked harvested, not by teeth or claws, but by tools. The cavern now extended far beyond his sight in all directions but the path he came from, behind him.

Distant sounds clattered and clanged as voices came from so far away that even their echoes were distorted.

Ren fled to find a place to hide, fuck, they must have passed me while I slept. I’m a dead man.

Slow footsteps sounded and slowly echoed closer and closer to him. As they approached, he could hear small bits of what they said. The language, being interpreted by his skill, eldritch tongue, was clear to him, though a part of him knew the tongue was something entirely new to him. The words began to come in bits and pieces.

“Arach… above”

“Monar-range-may-as-dant”

After a few minutes of silence, the voices came again yet clearer this time.

“If it stays above, we might be safer.”

“What if it comes hungry?”

“We’ll do as we always have.”

Ren moved to peak at the people talking as they slowly approached the corpses. A small light glowed from a staff on the man’s staff. He was gray in complexion, he only stood to the rightful height of a boy. Beside him a woman walked, just as he was, her skin was gray, and she too was the height of a child. They both appeared withered, small, and frail while they carried large packs nearly empty but small tools and cutting equipment.

Ren sighed as these were not the men likely to be after his life. Instead, they were small humanoid creatures. Their ears long and eyes an orange yellow that reflected the light.

Observing them he watched as they began harvesting the bodies. The woman handed the male tools that he used to slowly cut apart the thick pieces of chitin exposing the destroyed flesh.

“Whatever did this truly have vile venom.”

“Will these parts still even be good?”

“That’s not our job to figure out, let’s just be quick.”

They quickly began filling their backpacks made of various parts of different creatures blended with strange fungal parts. After a few minutes the corrupted flesh and half ruined chitin was packed up and ready to be moved. They put away their tools and began to head back into the darkness when Ren stepped out from his hiding spot. He hesitated before speaking, the two stopped immediately in their tracks.

“I need some information, if you're corporate, this will be easy.”

“A human!” The male shouted; he began running into the darkness. The female humanoid stood unmoving and visually shaking.

“Are there others here? Like the two of you?”

“I… Yes, but… no humans come here.”

“Well, I have.” Ren allowed his echo to slowly travel the caverns beyond as he remained silent. The echoing footsteps of the man came from the distance.

The revolver came in front of his eye as he aimed at the retreating back of the ghoulish little man. Boom. The echo traveled through the cavern as Ren lowered the weapon.

“Now, before your friends come, tell me, where can I get out of here and to somewhere far away from the surface above.”

“We do not leave, we never leave. We cannot ever go back, never.” She fell to her knees and tears began to well in her eyes. Shit, I should have just shot the man’s leg or something, they probably heard the gunshot anyways.

“I need you to tell me how to get out of here, if you don’t, I’ll have to kill your people when they come for me. I don’t know what you are, but you don’t seem that bad. Just tell me, and nobody else has to die today.”

“We have been here since the fall! I swear, we never leave and never want to!” She hugged herself while looking into the darkness where Ren had killed the little withered creature. I was already a murderer, what does some little goblins count for?

He sighed as he looked at the creature before him. He tucked away his revolver and ran into the depths of the caves. Within long moments the light she carried was a spec far away in a distant darkness. Ren was again in his cloak of blackness he now found so dear. Two men, something like a man, and how many beasts?

The portion he has run down led to several small pockets hallowed out in the rock. Burying himself deep in one, he curled up with his cloak, and his blanket of blackness. Stealth activated as he stared into utter darkness. All but the small traces of the cave were utter black. His new eyes half lidded showed him the nothingness that seemed to stretch forever.

By his unknowing count, it had been maybe two hours. That was when the echos came again. Seven of the man-like withered creatures followed his steps against the stone. In their center was a shaman, small words uttered under his breath came and went as a red mist rose from small drips on the stone where Ren had bled.

Marked Man Lvl 6

Marked Man Lvl 7

Marked Man Lvl 6

Marked Shaman Lvl 14

Marked Man Lvl 8

Marked Man Lvl 7

Marked Man Lvl 6

His wounds were better, his natural regeneration had become amazing. But it was still not good enough to heal the great gash across his side. The bleeding has ceased again, but would open again if he did not remain still. Hunger struck his stomach as he was waiting for the echoes to come closer. How long had it been since he ate? Since the escape, and how long ago was that?

He waited in his small hole in the wall, then began to come close enough that he could read their trace against the blackness all around. A small light sprung up on the shaman’s staff as he slowly chanted, his echo bouncing off Ren’s wall.

With stealth activated, he held the revolver and felt the buildup of sneak attack. An anxious energy was slowly building as he infused Eldritch touch into his bullets. An energy began to premiate him and start eating away at all three of his energies.

As the shaman looked up at the wall with many crevasses within it, from a hundred feet away a bullet slammed into both men at his sides. With the bright light, Ren’s vision was heavily impaired looking directly at the shaman. Leaving him only the option to kill the others, unable to get a good shot at the shaman.

One of the men exploded as sneak attack descended from the wall and obliterate his far weaker body.

The second fell to the ground as black veins began consuming his body, screaming the wither and gray figure quickly subsided to the corruption destroying him.

Ren fired all four remaining bullets in rapid succession, three hit their targets as the marked men fell to the earth. They all began dying of the black corruption of the eldritch touch.

One bullet missed, the man pulling out a small spear made of beast remains and a fungal stem. Looking into the darkness his head turned side to side trying to find Ren.

The shaman froze, his eyes stared directly into Ren as he was lit up by a blazing firebolt that flew straight into the spear of the last marked man as he launched it. The firebolt impacting the spear caused it to fly off course and miss terribly.

The shaman fell onto one knee and bowed his head as a firebolt burned away the final marked man.

“Lord Alkyri, I have long cried for your coming.”