The old man sat on the hand carved oak bench that overlooked his garden. With a deep sigh he glanced up at the sun, then stretched out his aching back and mopped the sweat from his brow. On hot days like this he lamented to himself for not planting a nice shade tree to compliment his seating arrangement.
A bit of a recluse, he had retired from the adventuring life many years ago and now, he was just enjoying the quite that this little piece of the world gave him. No one around these parts even knew his given name and he didn't care about it enough to share it. He was simply known as Old Man Forester or just Forester for short.
Forester had just spent the afternoon pulling strangleweed from the patch of red squash he had planted earlier in the season and he was thinking to himself, what is the point of being a Druid if I cant keep those blasted weeds from choking the life out of my squash?
Strangleweed seemed to have a mind of it's own and no amount of green on your thumb or druid magic would prevent it from spreading. He chuckled sheepishly to himself and whispered under his breath, "Oh Lady Rylum why have you vexed the world with such an impossible weed?"
A giggling whisper floated by his ear on a soft breeze and teasingly responded, "To keep you busy old man".
This brought a smile to the old man's patchy, white bearded face. It was always pleasing to hear his Goddess' soft voice whispering in his ear. It tickled his earlobes a bit and always brought a smile to his rugged face regardless of his mood.
However, the old man also knew his goddess could be a powerful and destructive force. She was the nature goddess and nature was unforgiving and did not care about fairness but there was still another, even more unforgiving than Rylum. He was known as Beln, The Forest Lord.
Beln ruled the savage and primal side of nature. He is attributed to the most destructive storms, natural disasters, and he embodies the very definition of survival of the fittest.
It was not often that Forester called out to Beln but when he did there was no halting the destruction that would be wrought until his fury runs it's course. It could be said that Rylum tends the fire and Beln was the fire.
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Forester was heading over to an old tree stump where a giant elm once stood that had blown over in a storm many years ago. The old man had used the lumber from the tree long ago but the cracked and splintered stump remained.
A colony of black wood-ants had taken up residence in the stump to carve out their miniature kingdom. Forester enjoyed giving them a treat of a few drops of honey a couple of times per week.
As he ambled over to the stump he heard is old friend Mr. Chipmunk scolding someone over near his workshop. He figured the resident badger had woken up and was eyeing his friend Mr. Chipmunk as a tasty meal. Forester had watched those two go round and round for the better part of five years now. He'd check in on Mr. Chipmunk later.
Suddenly the old mans head snapped up as the sound of a commotion drifted passed his ears, a clamor could be heard coming his way through the treeline. The sound was gradually getting louder as though something was crashing through the underbrush.
Forester cocked his head and squinted at the treeline, then his eyes grew wide in fear as the realization hit him and he knew what was coming his way. As if on cue, a stampeding heard of lummox was heading straight for him.
A lummox is a massive and dim-witted bovine type of beast that is usually harmless and content to graze on grasses and shrubs all day but when spooked, they will stampede until they drop from exhaustion. Once the stampede gets rolling there is very little anyone can do until it has ran it's course.
Thinking quickly, Forester raised his arms and called upon the very ground itself to swell and buck in a rolling wave starting at his feet and ripple out towards the upcoming stampede. The rolling wave grew in size as it swelled forward with each wave larger than the last.
As the wave of earth crashed into the surging stampede many of the lummox were knocked off their feet but this did not stop them and they rose back up and ran on. In the confusion several lummox ran off in a different direction but the bulk of the herd still barreled down on Forester.
Having been granted a quick reprieve, Forester now had time to properly think. Next he summoned a massive wall of earth to rise up that created a barrier between himself and the stampede.
The earthen wall forced the lummox to alter their course and they split, veering to the left and to the right. Running off in opposite directions and away from Forester and the piece of land that he tended.
Forester stared dumbfounded at the swath of forest that had been bowled over from the stampede and he wondered what had set off the lummox. As he pondered the possibilities, the brief silence was shattered by an earth shaking roar that reverberating across the field.
Forester stared wide eyed as a massive grizzly tramped in. It's oversided head swaying from side to side as it wheezed and snuffled at the air. The sight of a grizzly did not startle Old Man Forester but the condition of this particular bear did.
Half of it's face was missing to expose the white bones of it's skull and a dark and empty eye socket. It's lips hung in clumps of rotting flesh exposing the teeth.
All along the left side of it's body it's flesh was sloughing off to expose it's shoulder blade and several cracked, jagged ribs. Most of it's fur was missing with only random tufts and patches remained on it's body. The bear's right rear leg was completely skeletal along with both of it's forelimbs from the elbows down.
The bears single, dull and lifeless eye caught sight of Forester and it let out a another bellowing roar of challenge then charged full speed across the field, bits of rotting flesh falling off in it's wake.
The old man rocked back on his heals and shook off the sudden shock of seeing this undead grizzly bear charging at him and closing the distance between them faster than should have been possible.
Forester quickly summoned a root entanglement spell to try and buy himself some time and also hoping to stop the bear long enough for him to administer some form of aid.
This undead bear was an abomination and went against the laws of nature. As a Druid it was his duty to intervene and destroy the bear if necessary.
As Forester completed the spell, a tangle of roots shot forth from the ground to grab at the bears legs. Wrapping and twisting their way up it's legs and across the chest and torso holding the beast firmly in place.
The grizzly bellowed in rage and thrashed violently against the grip of the enchanted roots. In the end, the strength of the bear proved too great and the roots that were holding it in place started to snap off one by one.
Old Man Forester scrambled to get off another spell. He did not have the time necessary to cast another binding spell, the bear was too close. He decided on summing a swarm of insects to target the bear in hopes of distracting it long enough to immobilize it with a more powerful spell.
All manner of flying, crawling, and burrowing insects suddenly burst forth into existence to coalesce and swarm over the bear. The bear, in a maddening rage snapped its powerful jaws and swatted it's massive paws at the air, trying to turn back the tormenting insects.
It's single lifeless eye then turned back to Forester and whatever remnants of intelligence were left in it's undead brain slowly registered that Forester was the true threat and the sole target of it's rage.
The bear covered the last few feet that was between them in a matter of seconds then it stood to it's full 9 feet and stared down at Forester and raised it paw for the killing blow that never came.
Just as the bear stood on it's hind legs, Old Man Forester completed his spell and the earth dropped out from beneath the bear, swallowing it's entire lower body and halfway up the chest. As soon as the earth opened it closed again sealing the bear in place.
Forester knew this to be a temporary reprieve as the bear would eventually claw and crawl his way free but he needed time to assess the extend of the bears affliction. Deep down he knew it was hopeless but he had to try.
Forester quickly cast a healing renew spell over the bear but as soon as the magic touched the bear the healing energy recoiled. He quickly tried again and the result was the same. Sighing sadly, Forester next tried to touch the mind of the bear to try and calm the raging beast and to communicate with it. Forester mental probing was met only with rage and pain.
With the failure of a mental connection, Forester was able to confirm his worst fears. This bear had been touched by a Necromancer and the old man knew what he must do. He raised his arms to the trees around him and then to the earth below and called out to the Goddess Rylum to end this creatures torment.
A soft glow began to emanate from the ground that held the bear in place. As the glow slowly engulfed the bear it abruptly ended it's violent thrashing.
A deep, content huff escaped through it's ravaged and rotting lips. It turned to look at Forester one last time as it seemed to sink down and melt away in the earth and in its place a patch of yellow and blue wildflowers burst forth.
Old Man forester bowed his head in a brief thanks to his goddess but he knew this was just the start. If there was a Necromancer prowling his woods he meant to find them and destroy them.
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Within the hour Forester had his old adventures sack packed and ready to go. He grabbed his trusty staff and was off. He figured to follow the trail of destruction through the woods that was wrought by the stampede of lummox. This was as good as any place to start this hunt.
After backtracking the route of the stampede, Forester wasn't any closer to an answer. He gathered that the bear came in from the north and lingered around a small rocky outcropping before catching the scent of the lummox herd. The bear was able to kill half a dozen of the beast which triggered the stampede.
Forester knew every creature in these parts but he did not know that bear. This puzzled him until he found a blighted area just north of the ambush site.
The corruption left behind would indicate that a necromancer had performed a grave-walking gate spell to this location that transported the bear here from someplace else. Now the question was why here and where was the necromancer now?
It was most likely that the necromancer was keeping the bear as a familiar to feed off of it's life force while also using it as a scout. It was also likely that the necromancer now knew that it's creation was destroyed and would be on alert.
Foresters next stop would be to visit the local clan of wendengo to see if they had any information. No one knew the forest better than the wendengo, not even the famed green elves.
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It took the better part of a day for Forester to hike out to wendengo clan territory and another several hours waiting to be contacted. You don't find the wendengo, they find you and no outsider has ever even seen one of their hidden villages.
If you want to see them you hike out to where they are known to be and you just wait. Chances are they saw you coming and shadowed you for hours before you even arrived at your destination.
Forester was sitting on an old stump and was sipping on some honey mead and chewing on a bit of dried fruit when the wendengo made their presence known.
It started out with a series of wood knocks and whistles that sounded to come from different directions. The knocks and whistles soon escalated to a series of whoops and howls that sounded much closer.
There was three of them and they seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Forester knew two of the three. The first was a shaman named Grrock. His companion was his mate, a famed ranger known as Krylna the third was unknown to Forester but he was easily one of the largest wendengo that Forester had ever seen.
Forester knew the large, shaggy haired forest dwellers could reach 10 feet or more in height but this wendengo was easily 12 feet tall with a massive barrel chest and tree trunk sized arms. He gave Forester a friendly nod accompanied by an easy smile, exposing his huge square and blocky teeth.
Forester rose from his seat to greet his hosts. Grrock extended his massive hand out to Forester and they clasped forearms. Grrock's hand easily circled around the meatiest portion of Foresters forearm with a grip strength that would make any non-wendengo envious.
With a voice that would surprise anyone not familiar with the wendengo, Grrock introduced the newcomer to Forester as his new apprentice, Styrkk.
By appearance alone anyone unfamiliar with the wendengo would think they spoke with a deep, gruff or gravely voice but when speaking the common tongue, wendengo actually spoke with a very high pitched and nasally voice and they added a clicking sound from the back of their throat as emphasis to certain words.
After introductions were made they got straight to business. The clan already had a pretty good idea why Old Man Forester was in their territory and as he had suspected, they had been trailing him the second he passed the threshold into their territory.
Krylna took the lead, "I suspect you are here for information concerning the necromancer?" She continued, "Our green elf allies told us a week ago that one of their villages was attacked by an undead horde. They repelled the invaders but many of their kin fell in combat only to be raised as undead to join the invaders."
Krylna eyed Forester curiously, "We expected you several days ago. We had sent a runner to your farm to warn you of the danger." Krylna glanced around, "I see you are here alone, am I correct to assume the runner never arrived?"
Forester tilted his head back and his mouth drooped, "That is an accurate assumption. Your runner never arrived."
The three wendengo exchanged concerned glances. "Perhaps he just became sidetracked and could not complete his task for some mundane reason" Forester offered hopefully.
"Perhaps", Krylna stated and tried to appear optimistic.
Styrkk, trying to mask the concern on his face said, "We will sent out a party to search for him but let us speak plainly. If he did not reach your farm we all know he most likely ran afoul of the necromancer at some point along his journey."
After a moments contemplation he continued, "Let us not linger on such thoughts. This issue will be handled by the clan."
With a nod to Forester, the old man told his tale of the grizzly bear and how he came to be here in their presence.
Grrock said, "According to our green elf allies this necromancer is quite powerful and can command undead men as easily as undead beasts."
Styrkk interjected to add, "We believe the Necromancer is attempting to build up an army to overtake a human settlement on the outskirts of the forest."
He continued, "From there they could build up their base of power and strike out at any number of larger settlements all along the northern trade route that leads into Gateway."
"We have done what we can to send out word to our neighbors but our clan is small and we cannot stretch ourselves too thin", Krylna said.
Old Man Forester took it all in. Listening to every details the wendengo had to offer.
When they were finished he said, "With your blessing, to travel freely through your land, I will take it from here."
he added, "Hunting necromancers is my specialty and this will free you up to shore up your own defenses and to search for your missing runner."
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Old Man Forester crept along the edge of the forest, staying just within the cover of the treeline. It had been three days since his meeting with the wendengo and two days since he came across a troop of green elves patrolling their border; they had pointed him in this direction.
He could smell the stench of death and decay and not natural death but death tainted by the foul magics of a necromancer.
As he glanced around a large boulder he saw them moving his way, two human males and a green elf female. Their flesh was in various states of decay and their clothing was just tattered remnants. Little more than rags hanging on decaying flesh.
Forester had the advantage, they had no idea he was there. He waiting until they were passing by his hiding place and then he cast a vine binding spell.
Thorny, green vines burst forth from the earth to entangle the feet and legs of the three undead. With their minds dulled by death it took them a few seconds to understand what was happening.
Forester took advantage of the delay to leap out from his hiding place and twirled his staff in a dazzling display of skill.
With precision and dexterity that belied his age he smashed down with his staff on the skulls of the two males before they even knew what hit them. With a wheezing sigh they crumbled to the ground in true death that broke the thrall of the necromancer.
The female, perhaps due to her life as a green elf, had much quicker natural reflexes and she was able to deflect the first blow with her forearms.
The strike shattered her exposed bone, breaking her right arm off at the elbow. Due to her undead state, the pain had no effect but she was still stuck in place from the vines and could not advance so she just swiped erratically with her still intact arm.
Foresters second strike put her down for good. It was a wide clubbing blow that impacted her rib cage, caving it in just below her armpit. The elf collapsed to the ground in true death.
Forester crouched down into a defensive position and scanned the area for any more threats. Seeing none he melted back into the forest to continue his search.
He knew he must be close. It took far more control for a necromancer to control an intelligent being as opposed to a simple forest beast that could be more easily controlled from afar.
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A sharp stinging behind her eyes informed the necromancer that three of her thralls had been destroyed.
She suspected it was the same individual that had destroyed her grizzly bear a couple of weeks back. Her spies had kept her well informed about the old man that had been trailing her for the past two-weeks.
By all accounts he was a druid and a capable one at that. This did not concern Talia in the least. She had always made short work out of any druid that has ever crossed her path and that young wendengo that had foolishly attacked her a few weeks back had given her a nice tune up.
She had expanded into this region to extend her empire with the easy access to the trading port of Gateway. A single druid would not stop her from achieving her goals.
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As night began to fall they came. He felt the pounding feet reverberate through the forest floor coming straight for his makeshift camp.
Old Man Forester quickly leapt to his feet. He knew this was the time and not some random chance encounter with more undead.
He quickly began to cast a protection spell. Twirling his hands in circles over themselves in ever increasing speeds small bits of stone and debris began to rise from the ground and swirl around him quickly joined by larger rocks and felled branches, Forester soon stood in the center of a small tornado of swirling rocks and forest debris.
Then he saw them. A small shambling army of various humanoids moving towards him. Some wielding weapons and other didn't even have working arms. It was a writhing mass of bones and rotting flesh.
Forester concentrated with his hand to his temple and summoned an army of his own. Howls pierced the evening sky as several large, grey spectral wolves solidified and loped into the clearing to fan out at Foresters side. With an out stretched hand he gestured towards the undead and the wolves leapt for the attack.
Fur and flesh alike flew as teeth met bone and steel. Forester cast small thorn darts and summoned tangle vines to assist his spectral wolf pack in dispatching the small undead army. As the threat was neutralized the wolves faded from existence.
Talia stood well out of range and just observed. She was getting a gauge for how powerful this druid was. She knew her undead thralls would pose little threat to anyone of Foresters purported power.
She could see he was patient and calculated, not using excessive power to offset the threat. Talia grinned wickedly, she could see the old man was saving his more powerful abilities for her and she relished the challenge.
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A sudden a nearly overwhelming sense of fear suddenly came over Forester. He gritted his teeth and mentally pushed back, expelling the intrusion. He glanced across his makeshift campsite to stare into the dark brooding eyes of a female dark elf.
Talia grinned maliciously and went into casting. A stream of bone daggers began to rain down on Foresters wall of protection and with each blow his shield weakened. Soon it would wink out of existence.
Forester fired back with a spell of his own. Gesturing with his hand to produce a seed pod that he threw at Talia. It flew unerringly towards her, sticking fast to her chest and immediately on contact, long thin roots sprouted forth to dig under her armor to get at her flesh.
She clawed at the seed pod trying to dislodge it from her leather breastplate but to no avail. She would have to let the magic run its course.
Thin roots worked themselves beneath her leather breastplate and took a hold on her bare skin, burrowing deep into her flesh before sprouted forth into a green leafy shrub then withered and died.
This entire process took only seconds to play out and Forester was already in the throws of another spell.
He summoned a choking moss. Thick spongy moss adhered to Talia's neck and began to spread to her jaw, creeping across her face to fill her mouth and nostrils. As she was being suffocated and denied air she fought down the panic, kept her calm and began her own casting.
By now Foresters wall of protection was expired and he took the full brunt of the next attack.
Talia cast Death Touch, a cold translucent hand shot towards Forester and plunged into his chest to grab his heart in it's icy embrace. He gasped involuntarily and dropped to a knee as he felt the cold hand squeeze his heart.
The sensation faded but this spell was powerful and he felt noticeably weakened so he cast a renew spell on himself to regain his strength and vitality. As a follow up to his healing he also cast a rejuvenation spell to refresh is vigor and stamina.
He looked across the battlefield and locked eyes with Talia, they flashed red as she was in the act of casting another spell.
The necromancer was casting her own version of a renew spell but her spell doubled as an attack, stealing Foresters vitality for her own.
As the Life Drain spell crashed into him, Forester felt his own health being drained from his body. He stumbled a bit as a wave of dizziness overcame him.
Forester tried casting a spell to transform into an eagle to fly clear and regroup before engaging once again but he was too drained and the spell fizzled out unsuccessfully. He needed more strength so he began to cast his renew spell once again.
Suddenly he was hit with a barrage of magical bone darts and spears. He was being beaten down to his knees. It was all he could do to keep up with his renew spell and to keep from losing consciousness.
He tried once again to cast an offensive spell but it was all he could do to keep up the renew spell.
He did manage to successfully get off a bark skin armor spell which offered some respite from the stinging darts that kept slamming into his body.
Forester understood her magic exceeded his own abilities, he would not win a spell duel with this necromancer. The old man would need to take on a new tactic.
Talia began to laugh, sensing victory was at hand. She once again began to summon an undead army.
Forester saw through his blood streaked eyes, skeletal hands hands punching up through the earth as skeletons and ghouls clawed their way to the surface to stand at the ready next to their mistress.
Through gritted teeth Forester began casting anew.
His powerful chanting echoed through the forest as his body swelled and grew. His face elongated and claws burst forth from his hands. A great shaggy coat of black fur sprung forth on his body, with a roar of defiance Forester was transformed into a mighty black bear.
Just then the undead army swarmed over him. His bellows rang throughout the forest as he swatted his huge paws left and right to shatter skeletons two at a time.
His powerful jaws clamped down on a skull and crunched through without a shred of resistance.
He then locked eyes on the necromancer and charged.
His curved claws claws poised for the killing blow they swiped down and hit only air!
At the last second Talia had cast a Grave Walking gate spell and was swallowed up by the ground only to reappear twenty feet behind the enraged Forester turned black bear.
He swung his head around trying to locate her only to be met face to face with a disembodied banshee head that screamed a shrill scream that disoriented him and caused his ears to bleed.
Shaking the disorientation from his head, he located Talia and could see a ring of green fog spreading out from her feet to slowly roll across the ground and everything it touched withered and died.
He charged through the fog and felt a stinging pain anywhere that it touched. His flesh withered and atrophied but he charged on, intent on smashing this necromancer once and for all.
He swung his great paw and connected brutally to her torso smashing through her conjured bone armor and flinging her several feet into the air to land with a crunch against an old and rotting log.
Stalking in cautiously, forester went in for the kill but just as he reached his intended target Talia cast a Wraith spell which turned herself into an apparition that is immune to physical attacks.
In frustration Forester smashed down on the log utterly destroying it with a single swipe from his paw but the blow passed straight through Talia.
The necromancer reached out and grabbed a hold of foresters shaggy coat and enacted her Vampiric Touch.
This was a spell that required the caster to be in contact with the target and it drained their health and stamina and transferred it to the necromancer.
Forester's black bear transformation spell abruptly ended as he no longer had the stamina to maintain it and he fell to his knees.
Coincidentally, Talia's Wraith spell also ended but she had Forester in dire straights and it was no longer necessary to maintain it.
The life force was draining quickly from the old man's body. His head dipped to his chest and he collapsed forward but caught himself with his hands. Trying to maintain consciousness, the old man had one more trick up his sleeve.
On his hands and knees and through gritting teeth the old man clenched the ground, digging his gnarled fingers into the earth, arching his neck to raise his face Forester cried out to Beln! The savage Lord of Nature.
He felt an immediate rush of primal energy surge through his body and he felt his goddess fade away to be replaced by the unchecked fury of Beln!
Gone was rational thought only survival and destruction remained. With a wild roar and a rush of power Forester leapt to his feet, smashing through the grip of the Vampiric Touch as easily as one might swat a buzzing insect.
Wide eyed in sudden terror, Talia stumbled back and gazed at the wild man that now stood before her.
She had heard rumors that the favored of Beln could transform into a physical representation of primal fury but she never believed the stories until now.
Getting herself quickly under control, Talia gritted her teeth. She understood that he was still just a man and men could die.
Talia began to cast one of her most powerful spells. Soul Steal was a nasty spell that directly attacks the target life force. It is a powerful spell that also drains the caster so it is used sparingly.
The spell slammed into Forester and to Talia's utter horror a dull blue glow surrounded the wild eyed old man as he resisted her spell.
Her most powerful spell slid off of him like hot grease in a pan and he just stood there grinning at her.
In a stunning display of blinding speed Forester leapt forward and grabbed Talia by the throat and by the time he finished with her, all that remained would have fit inside of a small tobacco pouch. At least that is what the green elves told him when he woke up 2 days later back at their camp.
Forester knew what happened but the memory of the details were foggy at beast and many of the particulars had been lost. This was a common side effect of channeling your gods power directly though you.
Forester stayed one more night to fully recover and to tell his tale before heading out to return to his farm.
He used a tree walking spell to help facilitate a speedy return home. Tree walking was a gate spell that druids use to travel through the root system of the trees. Druids can cover vast distances in one single leap.
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The old man looked out over his garden. He could hear a chipmunk making a ruckus off in the distance but he just sighed deeply and rolled up his sleeves. He had been gone too long and he had a lot of Strangleweed to pull.