3,377 Polidrysion 3
Dear mom,
Eudoxos asked to accompany us the next time we ventured into the Eldenwood so he could see the ebony woman in hopes of learning more of the Lord of Death’s intentions.
So when Belisarius and Nox agreed to go hunting for the undead on the stone-ringed hill, we took the priest of Heliod with us.
When we arrived at the hill, we found nothing new. We tried to lift the stone slab in the centre, but it would not budge.
It was suspected that the creature emerged at night, so we decided to take Eudoxos further into the woods to see the ebony woman.
We followed the tracks Nox found into the wood until we heard the sounds of giant steps, and my companions insisted on fleeing back to the moon temple. The giant was huge and it seemed to be gaining us until we ducked into the confines of the temple, after which it descended into the depths of the swampy bog beyond.
Nox found barefoot tracks from the temple, which we followed to a cave. Nox went in to scout the cave, and Rahjin soon followed. Eudoxos was eager to enter, but we warned him to wait outside. When we heard noise from inside, Belisarius and I entered. We found the ebony woman bound in shackles and her captor dead with Nox's arrow protruding from his head.
When we freed the ebony woman and woke her, she scolded us for having slain her captor, explaining to us that it was her rival who had possessed the form of a hunter, and would be free now that his host was slain.
She promised us the riches that men had left behind if we could capture her rival.
When we left the cave, we found that Eudoxos was gone.
Nox quickly found his tracks and we pursued him back to the stone-ringed hill, arriving just before dusk. We agreed to let him fight the beast on the hill, but Nox shot him with an arrow and we had to rush in to save Nox, who was getting tossed around by the magic of the possessed Eudoxos.
Belisarius took out one of his knees and we soon had him incapacitated.
The beast soon appeared, emerging from beneath the heavy stone slab at the centre of the stone-ringed hill.
As we were engaging it, the beast fled.
As we brought Eudoxos back to town, arriving just before dawn, I could sense that the presence of undead was still upon him, so we secluded him in a private chamber in the temple where my companions watched over him.
Meanwhile, the congregants were beginning to arrive, and were dismayed that Eudoxos was nowhere to be found.
So it fell upon me to give the dawn sermon. I'm not a religious scholar, but it was probably the most exciting sermon they ever heard! You would be proud.
We rested for much of the day, taking watches to look over Eudoxos.
As we were bringing Eudoxos back to the cave to see the ebony woman, he regained consciousness and we had to subdue him again.
When we finally got him to the cave with the ebony woman, she was surprised that we had captured our rival. She sucked its spirit from Eudoxos and departed into the body of the dead hunter.
Eudoxos seemed to be back to normal, except for the many injuries he had sustained. We found the promised treasure deeper in the cave, and hauled it all back to town, along with the priest.
The next day, we returned to the stone-ringed hill just before dusk and waited for the beast to emerge.
As soon as night fell, the beast emerged from under the stone. We engaged the creature, and it put up a tough fight, but as we began to get the better of it, the creature disappeared once more.
Your son in search of glory,
Aribantes
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