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I am Malthus, underscribe for the library of Throal. This tale was passed on to me by an ork beastmaster who gave her name only as Varda. She said she did not want any of the other things she has been called written down.

These are her words as she gave them to me...

"Okay, scribe, pay attention. This really isn't my tale, but the others say I tell it best. So be it. Life's too short to argue over stories.

I was the one that found the Kaer while Sanjia Quickfeather and I were hunting. She's an elven archer and the one whose tale this really is, but she can't tell a story to save her life and doesn't remember most of it anyway.

So, like I said, we were hunting and a hare I chased under a thicket led me to a flash of orange. The tiny orichalcum coin was no bigger that the nail on my little finger and was covered in writing neither of us recognized. Nobody mints orichalcum anymore which meant it had to be really old and, of course, really valuable.

Sanjia went to get the rest of our group while I cleared out the underbrush. I have no idea why she made so much fuss over one little coin but, by the time she returned with the others, I'd uncovered what looked like part of an entrance to a Kaer.

It wasn't much more than a hole; barely big enough for an elf to squeeze through or maybe a human. There was no way we were going to get our troll or obsidiman through it and I wasn't too sure about myself.

Some folks might think the heroic thing would have been to immediately widen that hole in the hopes of freeing the poor people who didn't yet realize that the Scourge had been over for a hundred years or looting the treasures of a lost civilization. To be honest, sometimes, there's really not much difference between heroism and stupidity. A lot of your really heroic deeds were stupid ideas that worked. Of course, that's just the way I see things.

Unopened Kaers are a dangerous business. There's no telling what you might find and it's usually not a village full of people ready to shower gifts on you for helping them into the sunlight or a tomb with its jewels laid out for the taking. More often than not, its only occupant is the Horror that decimated the population and is looking for its next meal and you and your group look really tasty.

So we sat and we talked. We never want to deal with Horrors we don't know anything about if we don't have to. Anything powerful enough to lay waste entire cities isn't something you wake up one morning and decide to kill. Any adventurer who disagrees might as well tattoo 'Horror food' on their forehead.

It's not like the five of us haven't dealt with Horrors before. All of us are Adepts. The troll, Druhl, is a skyraider and as big and strong as they come. He's got a knack for turning stupidity into heroism. The obsidiman, Onaruun is an elementalist. There's an odd race for you. He or she or whatever spends most of his time asking questions about why we do what we do, most of which have to do with what he calls courtship and mating rituals. The human, Nathan is a nethermancer and as creepy as are all I've met who follow that art. Don't travel with a nethermancer if you don't have a strong stomach. Then there's Sanjia, who is just too much of an optimist, and me.

Nathan spoke first and said that he'd be interested in seeing the aftermath of a Horror's work. Sanjia insisted there might still be people there and they might all still be fine and would need to know that the Scourge was over. Onaruun was interested in the knowledge we could gain and Druhl was all for complete plunder. Me? Well, I usually wait until they've said all the important stuff and have started arguing over details and then I stop them and lay out my plan which we usually follow. Guess that makes me the leader.

I was about to do that when I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Someone had squirmed through that little opening to the Kaer recently and hadn't come back out. That meant there was another way out or that someone was still there somewhere. So, I pointed that out and told them we'd better get going if we were going to get anything done before sunset.

After we cleared out a troll and obsidiman sized opening, Nathan looked down and told us that there was some type of magic still active. If that meant that the seal was still intact, Sanjia just might be right about there being people there. Of course it could be one of any number of deadly magical defenses that had outlived its creators.

Sanjia and I went first. The dirt was loose which made the footing treacherous. We ended up tumbling and then sliding out of control. Sanjia reached out to me. I know she was trying for some security but I shoved her away. The last thing I wanted was to land on her.

Suddenly, we stopped, but instead of hitting solid ground, we were floating in the air with nothing but darkness underneath us. Magic lowered us gently until our feet touched the ground and then released us. Our only light was from the entrance which seemed like it was miles above us.

Sanjia lit a torch and I hollered our position up to the others. They made one try at sending down a rope, but it floated above us, way out of our reach. Whatever the magic was, it looked like a one way trip. Magic can be really annoying that way.

Sanjia ran her hands over the huge Kaer door. The orichalcum plug was still in place and the runes, though worn with age, still stood out clearly. Those are both pretty good signs. Just as she was wondering out loud if Nathan could read them, he landed behind her looking really unhappy. I figured him being next hadn't really been his idea. He stood in the light of Sanjia's torch and traced the carvings with his fingers. He said it looked like some type of magic to keep the Kaer safe from Horrors.

Onaruun and Druhl followed, the magic making even their landings soft. The troll tested the orichalcum plug while the obsidiman also examined the runes and said that they were designed to ward off Horrors. Of course, I could have figured that out for myself. What else would you put outside a Kaer?

Druhl was still pulling on the plug which showed no sign of moving. Of course, if it was that easy, fewer Kaers would have survived. The others were still concentrating on the runes.

I didn't forget that someone had been there before us, someone whose footsteps were being obscured as we wandered around kicking up the dust. Luckily for me, it only takes one clear print and I found one off on the side. I was just about to use my tracking magic when I noticed the crack.

More than a crack, really. It was a fissure wide enough for Onaruun to fit through and high enough for Druhl. By the looks of it, it had happened many years ago.

Onaruun examined it over my shoulder and said that these cracks happen naturally when the rock shifts and that there was nothing evil or even magical about it.

Maybe not, but it's just like inviting a Horror for dinner.

By flickering torchlight, we entered the crack. The smell hit us first. It was the musty smell of age mixed with something else. Something familiar and horrible and you aren't sure what and you really don't want to find out. It seeps in through your nose and soon is all you can smell.

I kept waiting for the bodies. Every time the torchlight flickered, I expected to see something vile slide out from the shadows or to hear a scream from one of those behind me and see nothing. It was a creepy, horrible feeling that turns your fingers to ice, while the rest of your body shakes. Any adventurer who tells you they've never been scared is either lying or has never been on an adventure. That place was just plain bad.

We finally reached the inside of the Kaer and nothing happened. I wondered about the source of the smell. The rubbish heap where we climbed out had its own brand of stench, but it was nothing like what we'd experienced on our way there.

I could see people moving in the village. They seemed to be going about daily tasks just as normally as anywhere else. Perhaps some poor soul had gone exploring and died down there. Maybe no Horror had found this place after all.

Yeah, and maybe I'll win an elven beauty contest.

We stayed out of sight. There was no sense in spooking the villagers. We figured living penned up for your entire life is bound to make you pretty paranoid.

We made our way toward the sealed opening, hoping that showing up there would be less threatening. It was a good plan, I suppose, except for the child whose ball bounced right at my feet. His scream echoed through the entire Kaer.

With arms and hands clear of our weapons, we walked openly toward the center of town. I usually prefer the direct approach anyway. Villagers fled, locking themselves in their houses, barring doors and windows. You'd have thought we were all Horrors, the way they behaved.

Nathan chuckled under his breath as if he, alone had been responsible for their terror. When he does that kind of thing, I really feel the urge to put my fist into his face, but I get over it.

Then the militia arrived. They were like a half trained band of children. Ten of them surrounded us, brandishing long, poles with blades in trembling hands. The terror in their eyes showed even under full helmets.

Still, we kept our hands out, showed no resistance and made no threatening gestures while Sanjia tried to tell them we meant them no harm.

Someone said, 'Clever words, Horrors, but we have seen your kind before.'

Ever hear a voice that is so arrogant, so self important, that all you want to do is just slice that person into little bitty pieces? Maybe it's just me.

The voice belonged to a human who looked just barely old enough to be called man instead of boy. Beside him stood an elven woman with a warbow carved with runes. Everything about her branded her Adept and she had that look of one of the ancient elves, like before they went off and got that stupid thorn idea.

Sanjia said, 'We aren't Horrors. We've come to tell you that the Scourge is over.'

The human scowled and glared at Onaruun and Druhl and said, 'You bring these abominations with you and claim you're not Horrors?'

Then he waved at the elf and said, 'Ratania, tell me, are these who stand before us what they claim or Horrors?'

The elf refused to look at us, but what I saw in her eyes made me sure that she knew she was lying when she told him yes.

'Take them,' the boy said.

Sanjia made one last attempt. Or at least I think she did. She shouted something off in that fruity elven language. The elf's reply was one word and then she left as the militia fell upon us with a strength born of utter terror and, since we weren't resisting, it was over pretty quickly and more than a little painfully.

Our cell was a cave with bars over the entrance. Four guards stood nervously outside it. I wondered what they'd done to earn Horror duty.

We were also not alone in our cell. There was human man who looked as though he'd gotten a worse case of the treatment we'd gotten. Like us, he had no weapons, and was pretty badly beaten up. I figured he had to be the unlucky one that had arrived before us.

Our biggest concern now was getting out without injuring the guards. They didn't want to be down here any more than we did. Besides, it wasn't their fault that their leader was a... uh, never mind. Don't want you writing that down.

Where was I? Oh yeah, we needed to get rid of the guards. Nathan volunteered, giving us his best creepy look. He went over to the bars and just stared at them.

One by one, they fled in terror of Nathan's favorite spell until we were alone and the nethermancer stood by the door looking way too pleased with himself.

The man in the corner perked up. After taking a quick look to make sure the guards were gone, he pushed his way to the door, muttering apologies and popped the lock open in seconds.

Now, I'm not in the habit of traveling with thieves, but they sure can come in handy.

There were no guards at the top of the stairs. The halls were empty. In fact, we didn't see anyone until Ratania herself came walking toward us. She said, 'It took you less time than I thought to escape. I was just coming to help you.'

I wanted to tell her that we wouldn't have had to escape if she hadn't had us captured in the first place, but something in the way Sanjia looked at her made me keep my mouth shut. I figured I'd let her do the talking as long as it stayed in a language I understood.

'Why didn't you tell the truth?' she asked.

The elf sighed. 'I couldn't, not then, not to him. I couldn't let him think that I knew you were any different than the others.'

She kept her eyes on Sanjia. 'My sister, Arelia had eyes like yours.'

Sanjia's voice was quiet. 'My great, great grandmother's name was Arelia.'

Ratania looked as if she wanted to cry but just gasped. 'Passions help me.'

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't really think it was the time or the place to be having a tearful family reunion and told them so.

Then, Ratania told us what was going on.

Seems that about 200 years ago, a Horror found that crack. Ratania called it Dread Thought. She and the few other Kaer adepts went to kill it. Each time they thought it was dead, usually at the cost of one or more of their number, it would return as strong as before.

It took over the minds of the ruling family and convinced them that the magic protecting the Kaer was fading and could only be made stronger by blood magic requiring a ritual sacrifice once every several days.

Of course, the remaining Adepts were the first to be killed. They were accused of being Horror spawned and their own people gladly put them to death. Anyone showing sign of any magical ability was immediately branded Horror marked and led up to the sacrificial tower. Dread Thought fed on the despair of the people as much as it feasted on their blood.

Once the Scourge was over, adventurers, brigands and thieves who discovered the fissure and came, as we did to explore the Kaer and set its folk free, were proclaimed Horrors. Their claims that the Scourge was over was used as an argument against them, that the Horror who controlled them was trying to trick the village into leaving the safety of the Kaer. Their blood joined that of the villagers that had fed Dread Thought for so long.

I was just starting to wonder what her part in all this was when she said she aided Dread Thought. She helped the ruling family as she helps Ranok, the boy lord destroy the people's hopes and murder strangers as well as her own people. She said it was the only way she could survive and someone had to. Someone who could learn.

For two hundred years, she had stood by and hoped that a group like us would come and do what she couldn't do alone.

Her eyes filled with tears. 'I had to live. I had to learn what I could about Dread Thought so I could help...'

Lucky for her, she'd convinced Sanjia because I was running out of sympathy.

Then, Onaruun says, 'I fail to understand. You allowed these atrocities to go on and did not fight it?'

I'd been about to ask the same question.

Ratania's eyes burned when she told him, 'I am fighting the Horror. I have been for 200 years. I'm fighting it right now. If it knew what I'm doing...'

She shook her head and stood tall, saying, 'What I've done is not what matters now. What matters now is what we can do to free my people. I know now that part of Dread Thought's powers come from a red crystal. I don't know where it is exactly, but I'm sure that if you destroy that crystal, you'll be able to do what I and my companions could not: destroy Dread Thought.'

Now, I don't know what it's like to watch your own people killed for 200 years. I don't know what it's like to watch them live every day in terror. All I do know is that life is too short to stand around arguing over who did what when there's a Horror to be killed and a village full of people who have never seen the sun.

'Come on,' I told them. 'Lets get our stuff and go.'

Ratania met my eyes for the first time. There was something like hope in them. 'Be careful,' she told me, 'Dread Thought has powers that warp the mind. Things may not be as they seem.'

Then, quietly, she led us to where our weapons and supplies lay in the store room of the boy-lord's house.

Back we went into the fissure that had let the Horror into the Kaer. Now, there was a name to that fear that had gripped us as we'd entered: Dread Thought.

We nearly missed the entrance. Ratania had been correct about its powers of deception. That entrance looked to me as much a part of the walls as any other, but, once Nathan walked through it, how could I doubt? Still, I had to close my eyes to follow.

The smell was much worse on the other side of the illusion. It was the unmistakable smell of blood.

The passage was rough hewn and damp. Moisture hung in the air and clung to the walls like a hot day in the jungle. It's as if the water hangs in the air, waiting for something to cling to. It took no time for my hair, skin, and clothing to be covered in tiny wet droplets.

Up ahead, we heard a steady, slow dripping sound. As we went on, it grew louder and louder until the passage opened up to a cavern lit only by a brownish glow coming from what looked like an upside down glass dome. It didn't take long to realize that the glow was brown because the bowl was full of blood, and we were standing beneath the sacrificial tower.

There was hole in the bowl that let one drop at a time through. The blood ran down a heavy iron chain to drip into a huge pool beneath it. The pool had to be ten trolls wide and was surrounded by the bones of two hundred years worth of victims.

I can't describe the feeling when I realized just what we were looking at. It certainly wasn't a burning desire to meet whatever it was that had created this cave of carnage. I steadied myself against a wall and when I pulled my hand away, it came back red. Those droplets that were clinging to my clothing and my hair were blood and it was everywhere. It was in the air and so even in our lungs.

If ever there was a Horror's lair, this was one. It reeked of blood, fear and death. A Horror's paradise.

Onaruun stepped forward, his face in one of those contemplative looks he gets every once in awhile. 'I want to try something,' he said. He reached a hand toward the pool of blood and then touched the vile substance to his lips. Either Onaruun is more brave that I ever would have believed, or he has an unrealistic view of his own mortality.

Anyway, he touched the blood again, muttering under his breath and, for a moment, a small area turned pink, swirled, and then was gone. 'What did you do?' I had to ask.

'I wanted to see what would happen if I purified the blood. The magic is very strong so I wasn't able to affect much, but it was interesting.'

Deep inside the Horror's lair, the obsidiman wants to see what happens when he messes with its stuff. Remember that mortality part?

Now, this is what happens when you anger a Horror.

The bones around the pool began to rattle and then were pulled in. They were drawn to the center of the pool and then formed into a moving mass of bone and blood.

There, in the center of the pool it stood, twice as tall as Druhl and twice as wide as Onaruun. Bones formed eyes, nose and mouth and made up a frame filled with oozing, half jellied blood.

Now, standing on the shore five troll lengths away, there wasn't much I could do. I am, after all, a close fighter. I prefer to look my enemy in the eyes and feel their dying breath on my face. Druhl, however, in one of the most brave or most foolish things I have ever seen, leapt across the center of the pool and through the Horror; polearm first. Yes, I said through. He jumped in one side and came out the other, covered in Horror fouled blood.

Sanjia fired her bow, Nathan and Onaruun cast spells and I even tried a crossbow shot but I was more concerned with what Ratania had told us about the Horror's crystal and spent most of my energy looking around for some sign of it but it was nowhere to be seen.

The thief apparently decided that it must be in the blood pool because he had Druhl toss him in and dove to the bottom. Now, that isn't a job you could have forced me into at swordpoint, let alone have me volunteer. Anyway, he came to the surface covered in blood and holding a large crystal in his hand. He tossed it to Onaruun who smashed it on the rocks.

The Horror screamed and fell apart.

Then it was quiet. The entire room was still except for the steady drip of the blood from the chain. I don't know if any of us really believed it could be over that quickly. Onaruun got that expression on his face again and said, 'Something about this is not right.'

And then we hear, 'Dread Thought is not dead. I am still his captive.'

Ratania stood in the entrance to the cave, looking truly like the Adept she was. 'Show yourself, demon!' she cried. 'I am through being your prisoner.'

The bones gathered again as the Horror reformed and said, 'I no longer need you, Elf. I have plenty here who would serve me just as well.'

Now, I'm sure you've heard all the stories about heroes and how they wait for the Horror to make its final threats before they do anything. Well, I'm more practical than that. Whether or not Ratania was around, she hadn't been able to kill the thing in two hundred years and we still didn't know where the crystal was. So, while the Horror was going on about its servant, I had Druhl toss me out to the chain. I caught myself just above the Horror's head and started to climb.

That doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention.

Ratania fired one bright shot out of that bow of hers and the Horror screamed. 'Foolish elf! If you no longer wish to serve me, then I will take back what I gave to you.'

It was Ratania's turn to scream. Apparently, her gift had been long life because she aged before our eyes and was nothing more than a pile of dust under armor and bow in less time than it takes to tell it. The Horror laughed and gave us a choice. We could have her gift or her fate.

Personally, I'd rather have my skin peeled of layer by layer than submit to any kind of slavery. It doesn't matter if it's a Horror or Therans. (S'cuse me while I spit) So there was no doubt in my mind what my choice would be.

Sanjia ran to where Ratania had been, shouting at Dread Thought in elvish which is too bad since cursing in elvish still sounds like love poetry.

As Sanjia picked up the bow, a silvery form that vaguely resembled the fallen archer arose from the dust . It hovered over the remains and said, 'Yes, I see it so much more clearly now.'

It drifted over Sanjia. Silvery arms embraced her arms and a halo of silvery hair framed her face. She stood up, much taller than normal. With an unearthly grace, she drew back the bowstring and took aim with an arrow that was pure light which was something I'd never seen her do before.

For the first time, Dread Thought looked worried. I was a little worried too because it looked for all the world like she was aiming at me.

The Horror laughed as the first shot went wide, but the second struck the end of the chain, you know, the one I was hanging from, and there was a shattering sound. Shards of something I would swear had never been there dropped into the pool.

I never did see what shattered but it wasn't hard to figure out because this time, the Horror's scream was genuine. It's body became more solid and there was muscle and some decaying flesh on the bones.

It howled at Sanjia, 'You fools! I will destroy you all!'

Those are the words which tell you a Horror is in trouble, is done playing with its food and is coming for the kill.

Having something solid to concentrate on within my reach was a benefit, although it is not easy to attack while trying to hold on to a slippery chain. It didn't stop me from doing it, it just made it harder. No one said this kind of life is easy.

The Horror's arms grew long enough to reach any corner of the room. It reached for Sanjia first and she ducked away. Druhl waded into the blood pool and tried slashing at the body . Onaruun cast darts of earth at it and Nathan ducked and concentrated hard. He brought his head up in triumph as the Horror began to gyrate wildly.

Now, I've seen Nathan do this to people and animals, but I never thought he had the power to make a Horror dance.

That was signal enough and just the break we needed. Onaruun abandoned his magic and picked up a staff, I slashed at its head with one hand and clung to the chain with the other, Druhl stood up to his waist in the blood pool hacking away, and Sanjia shot arrow after gleaming arrow into the mess.

And though troubadours like to make it sound like one final blow from the great hero fells the foul fiend, if truth be told, it was all of us, working together, that finally destroyed Dread Thought.

Unfortunately for me, when the Horror died, I discovered that it was magic and not glass holding the blood pool above us and, with the Horror gone, so was the magic and the red waterfall cascaded down on me. There are few things I have experienced as disgusting as that flood of Horror tainted blood.

But it was over. Druhl lay near death. Sanjia had sunk to her knees, Ratania's bow still clenched in her hands and all evidence of that ghostly presence gone. Nathan stood with his back pressed close against the wall. Onaruun surveyed the mess in the lair and the thief and I did what we could to clean off the worst of the blood.

Then, slowly, we picked ourselves up and dragged Druhl back into town.

Tired, injured and covered with blood, I was in no mood for an unpleasant reception. The residents fled from us again and this time, so did the militia. Of course, we must have looked a pretty vile sight, plodding along the street dragging Druhl and covered in blood, especially since the last they'd heard, we were Horrors. Guess we looked the part, right then.

The leader child, Ranok showed up with two very unhappy looking guards. 'Stop those Horrors!' he cried.

His men exchanged glances. Now, if I'd been a half trained militiaman facing five angry, battle-bloodied Adepts, I'd have done the same thing they did. One of them put down his weapon and ran. The other one followed on his heels.

That was when Sanjia said it was over. The Horror was dead and the people were free. She made sure to add that Ratania had given her life for their freedom.

Sometimes, Sanjia is just too nice. Guess she'd figured he's been under the Horror's control and would be happy that we'd ended his little tyranny.

The boy smiled and said, 'Good enough. With Dread Thought dead, that makes me undisputed leader.'

The kid moved up from needing a good spanking to needing a good beating. 'Look,' I told him. 'We're in no mood to argue about this. You've lied to these people long enough. You can stay here if you want, but we're leading the others out.'

He smiled again. A look that I'd have sworn was Horror influenced except that I knew the Horror was dead. 'Anger me and you will never leave.'

I opened my mouth to say something and then closed it. We could easily go back out the way we came in, but we already knew there was no way back up to the surface.

The kid's smile got bigger. 'You were saying...'

I could see the anger in my companions' faces. Sanjia's knuckles were white around Ratania's bow, Nathan was muttering to himself and even Onaruun's fists were clenched. The thief was missing, but that was no big surprise.

'Wait,' Onaruun said. 'I fail to understand why you still wish to keep your people prisoner. The Scourge is over. They should be free to live upon the rock instead of within it.'

Yup, Onaruun just failed to understand that kid was clinging to his last little bit of power. If he let his people free, they'd know what he'd done and likely tear him apart... something I'd pay money to see.

So I told him, 'It's only a matter of time. Sooner or later, they'll figure it out.'

'But no one leaves unless I say so,' he cried.

The thief was suddenly with us again, almost as if he'd never left. He tugged on Sanjia's sleeve and said, 'Excuse me, lovely lady, but I think this might come in handy.'

As the orichalcum key dropped into her palm, the kid's mouth dropped to the floor. It even took him a little while to gain his composure enough to demand to know where he'd gotten that key.

The thief shrugged and said, 'Divine inspiration.'

Like I said, I don't make it a habit to travel with them, but once in awhile...

It took several booster potions before Druhl was feeling better... well enough, in fact, to climb up to the top of the sacrificial tower and drop the kid down into the Horror's blood pool.

The villagers were starting to gather around. Rumors of what had happened were already spreading and you could almost feel the fear fading.

A crowd followed us to the gate. Sanjia's trembling hands fitted the key into a slot on this side of the orichalcum plug and the door swung open. A ramp extended up to the surface and the setting sun cast orange light for the first time on the villagers.

What? You look like you've never seen ork tears before. Listen, scribe, When you've been there, when you've watched people see things we take as natural for the first time and have helped them and their children out into a world that is as strange to them as it is familiar to us, you can't look at things the same way. It's something you never forget.

Life's too short to hold back your tears."