Brian Pratt - The unsuspecting mage

Glancing at James to gauge his reaction, Corbin continues. “The people hereabouts avoid this house, they think it’s haunted. Whether by the spirit of the man or by the demon he summoned, no one is sure. Every once in a while, some hunter comes across this place and tells of feelings of foreboding, or of hearing strange noises. If Hern is in there, I would hate to guess what that would mean.”

“I agree, but we need to see if we can find him. That missing boy may be in there as well. We can’t just leave them,” James says with surprising determination. “Should they still be alive, they are going to need our help. If we’re careful, maybe we could get in and out real fast. See if we can find them.”

“Quickly then,” Corbin agrees uneasily. As James leads the way into the house, he follows close behind.

The front room is dark and shadowed with narrow streams of light making their way through the windows. A fine layer of dust covers everything. Grass and small plants have sprouted through the myriad cracks marring the floor. Spider webs fill the corners and drape between bits of old furniture.

As they press ahead, a sense of foreboding settles over James. He tries to shakes it off, but it only grows as they follow the compass toward a hallway leading deeper into the house.

The left side of the hallway has partially collapsed, the debris making for treacherous going. In one place they have to stoop quite a bit in order to make it past where a section of the ceiling had caved in. As they make their way through the rubble, a small amount of light filters through the broken and cracked areas above creating an eerie atmosphere.

Not far past the caved-in ceiling, they come to an opening on their right. It’s a flight of stairs leading to the second floor. Though rubble chokes the stairwell, James figures that they could make it through should the need arise. Looking up into the darkness, he definitely hopes the need does not arise!

Moving past the stairwell they reach another doorway, the last one accessible before the hallway becomes impassable due to the collapsing of the second floor. Peering cautiously around the corner, James looks into a room, one that has somewhat been spared the ravages of time that the rest of the house has suffered. Light filtering in through the room’s broken windows falls upon a five pointed star inscribed on the floor. That must have been where the demon was summoned. Doing a quick scan about the rest of the room, he fails to find anything unusual so steps through the doorway and enters the room. Corbin follows close behind.

Walking to the pentagram, James indicates the broken glass near one of its point. “This must be where the shattered window broke the spell of holding.” Scanning the area for bloodstains, he fails to find any. Reaching down, he picks up one of the broken shards. It’s cool, but doesn’t feel odd or strange. He tosses it back to the spot where it had lain.

“Maybe we shouldn’t stay here any longer,” Corbin says nervously. There’s a definite tremble indicating fear in his voice. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to find them here.”

“Perhaps.” Glancing at his compass, James is surprised to see the pointer going round and round in a clockwise direction. “That’s weird,” he says as he shows it to Corbin.

“What does it mean?”

Shrugging, James replies “Haven’t a clue. I told you I was new to magic.” Discontinuing the spell, he places the compass back in his backpack. He then looks to Corbin and is about to suggest they search elsewhere, when a slight flicker from the pentagram is caught from the corner of his eye. He quickly turns his head, but it’s gone.

Corbin notices his sudden movement. “What?” His eyes dart around the room.

“Thought I saw something,” James replies. Turning his head so the pentagram is again just at the edge of his peripheral vision, the flickering reappears. This time he holds his head steady and continues looking at the pentagram out of the corner of his eye. After a few moments, he begins to realize what he originally took as a flash is actually a steady, slow pulse; barely discernable in the shadows.

“Curious.”

“What is?” Corbin glances agitatedly between James and the pentagram.

“I can see a slight pulsing coming from the pentagram. Though I can only see it when it’s in my peripheral vision.”

“Pulsing?” fear is evermore apparent in the farmer’s voice. “Let’s get out of here.” He edges toward the exit.

His feeling of foreboding is quite strong now. “Yeah, that might be a good idea.”

Corbin leads the way, and enters the hallway. James follows closely. The foreboding is growing worse. They pass the stairway leading to the second floor, then come to where the hallway ends at the outer room.

Just before Corbin passes from the hallway into the outer room, James grabs his arm and jerks him back.

“Look.” Whispering softly, he directs the farmer’s attention out the front door.

Two silhouettes approach the door. Unable to make out any distinct features, they can only tell that one is adult size while the other is smaller. Moving his mouth next to Corbin’s ear, he whispers, “Let’s return to the stairs and hide.”

Corbin nods and starts backing down the hallway.

Being as quiet as they can, they return to the stairs and ascend a short ways until they can no longer see the hallway. Holding still, they await the approach of whoever it may be.

James is sure that the sound of his heart, which feels like it’s trying to beat out of his chest, will surely give them away. They don’t have long to wait before two sets of footsteps enter the hallway from the outer room. He holds his breath, his heart beating wildly in fear as the footsteps draw closer, and pass by, the front of the stairwell. They then continue to the room at the end of the hallway wherein the pentagram lies.

James whispers to Corbin as they return to the hallway, “Stay here, I’m going to see what they’re doing.”

“Are you crazy? I’m getting out of here. If you’re smart, you will too.” With that he brushes past James, quickly moves down the hallway and exits through the front door. Once outside, he breaks into a mad dash as he races away from the house.

Knowing logically that he should leave too, James has an undeniable need to know what is going on in there. Slowly and quietly, he makes his way through the rubble to the entrance of the room. As he approaches, a subtle, pulsing, dark blue glow begins emanating from the room. Steeling himself, he peers around the corner.

Two individuals stand motionless before the pentagram. A small vortex pulsates with a dark blue radiance in the air above it. A feeling of horror washes over James, yet he’s unable to turn away.

The taller of the two begins to chant; the unfamiliar words painful to the ears. The smaller one, which looks to be a young girl, snaps out of her lethargic trance at the utterance of the first word. With a scream, she tries to flee and is only able to take a step before the taller one seizes her by the hair, holding her fast. At the touch of the taller one, the ability to run seems to drain from the girl. Unable to run or even move, the girl stands there and cries.

From the vortex, a shimmering wave stretches forth and makes contact with the girl. A soul wrenching scream tears from her throat. Her body spasms traumatically as pulses travel along the wave from the girl to the vortex.

As more screams are wrenched from the poor girl, James reacts without thought. From a campaign wherein he played a druid, words of a spell issue forth:

Forces of Good, forces of nature,

Give me your aid this day

Sever the bond, free the girl

Course of evil to stay!