Monsters have been known to exist from the very earliest days of humankind. Ever since we huddled in small groups around the light of a fire and held on to each other as we looked out into the dark, that is where the monsters have dwelt. They have been hiding on the edges of the darkness for so long that we have become accustomed to them and even learned from them, and they from us, so that the two have bled into one-another. It can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish the difference between the very human monster from the very monstrous human.
Such creatures walk the thin grey line between the darkness and the light. Neither Monster nor Human, but something greater and far more terrible than both.
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The local peasants had many stories about the hidden castle in the woods. Mostly they avoided the area because of the hungry wolves, bandits and wild dogs that roamed its depths. But stories percolated the local culture nonetheless. It was rumoured that the castle had been built in ages past as a palace of wealthy decadence, a monument to the ruling family's absolute authority over the land. Some told of the innumerable treasures and other wondrous things that lay concealed within its vaults, just waiting for those brave enough to go and find them. But it was also said that none had ever returned from venturing out to find the castle and claim these riches hidden inside because of the curse that lay upon the old ruin.
The story went that a wandering saint had passed through the village and on towards the castle, seeking succour and shelter for the night. The decadent nobles in the palace had shut their doors in the saint's face, taking them to be nothing more than a messy beggar. And so the saint had cursed the castle and all who dwelt in it to be transformed into terrible ravening monsters, little more than beasts prowling its once splendid halls. And so these beasts tore apart any who dared enter their domain, and the castle fell into ruin and legend.
Belle the Beastslayer had heard all of this and more from the old and often drunken patrons of the Pig's Head tavern the previous evening. She had been there gathering information on what she was likely to face in these woods and the people there had spun the usual web of old wives tales, local legend and hearsay. But there had been some useful nuggets amongst the dross. She knew for example that nobody who ever went looking for the castle ever came back, and that it was supposedly located within a deep defile at the heart of the woodlands, where not even the wolves dared to tread.
As Belle continued to sneak her way through the underbrush of the dark woods that night, the silvery moonlight above barely made a meagre reflection off of her darkened chainmail armour. The long sword in its scabbard at her belt was muffled in a thick layer of sheep's wool so as not to make a sound and she wore a long dark cloak over her head and shoulders so that her pale skin and short brown hair didn't form a stark outline against the undergrowth. She kept low to the ground so that even her tall muscular frame was concealed from the eyes of any sentries which might watch the paths hereabout. She moved with the trained silence and grace of a dancer as she stepped slowly over the broken rocky ground.
All of these techniques and more had been trained into her over years of service to her temple, the Order of Beast Slayers. She had been left to their tenderless mercies by her drunken father when she was just seven years old. The semi-nomadic pseudo-cult had given her a home and a family and trained her to become the woman she was today: a ruthless, lethal assassin. As a fully ordained member of The Order she undertook contracts on all manner of beasts, bandits, murderers and monsters that roamed the countryside in the wake of the ongoing war. She had never left a contract unfinished yet. Beast Slayers only failed to complete a contract when they were dead.
This particular contract had been vague in its wording. It seemed this forest and it's legendary castle posed an annoying barrier between the armies of the riverlands to the north and the downlands of the south. If men were to move between the two regions more freely, the forest would have to be cleared. Numerous troops of questing knights, mercenaries and other men had gone into these woods and never come out again. And so the mission had been deemed worthy of a Beast Slayer, and Belle had been called for.
She had chosen tonight to make her approach to the legendary castle because the moon was waxing towards full, but not yet complete. This gave enough light in the sky for her eyes to be able to see, but not so much that the landscape and anything she might face in the dark would be thrown into stark contrast by the moonlight. The pale silvery glow from above provided just enough light for Belle to be able to make out a path through the woods which was a thin rocky scar of scree walked by the beasts and bandits that made these trees their home. Thankfully so far she had encountered neither of these other denizens of the forest, she didn't need the distraction right now and she would only have to polish her sword again after an encounter with either.
Her target lay much deeper in and she knew that she was headed in the right direction when the ground began to slope gently downwards and the usual night-time sounds of the woods began to fade behind her. It seemed that perhaps the old wives' tales she had been told back in the tavern had been partially true, even the beasts avoided this part of the woods. A strange stillness hung in the air as she continued down the slope, the usual light wind which blew from the north no longer trembled the leaves in the trees and even the moonlight seemed pale and stagnant in some way.
A small break in the canopy offered Belle her first view of the place that she had been seeking. Above the treeline, silhouetted against the stars, she could make out the tall stone-built shape of a conical tower. Its roof had long since fallen into disrepair so that broken joists and slates looked like the jagged teeth of some colossal monster howling at the moon. It also gave Belle a direction and she gripped the handle of her blade tightly in its scabbard as she forged on through the silent undergrowth towards the castle.
It didn't take long for the Beast Slayer to reach the outer wall which was heavily overgrown with vines and brushwood. In many places the walls had fallen down completely and the wide expanse of thickets and brambles that would once have been beautiful lawns and gardens could be seen on the far side. Beyond the gardens the large dark-stone castle stood cold and lifeless, bleached into black and white by the moonlight. There was no sign of any sentries or guards to announce her approach but even so Belle approached with extreme caution, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.
Her eyes cast over the ruined battlements above, the overgrown statues and fountains which dotted the grounds and marvelled at the exquisite stonework now all fallen into disarray around her. The cold light of the moon offered an almost serene expression to the moss-covered faces of the statues which lined the main avenue towards the front gate. All carved in white marble, the sculptures depicted beautiful naked young women leaping and dancing in various poses from north to south along the path. Although they were often missing a limb here and there, or were shrouded in undergrowth, they still seemed to almost move with an ethereal grace from one pose to the next, their stone mouths open in a look of ecstatic delight.
The front doors to the castle too were lined with numerous carvings of beautiful naked women, some standing and some lounging, their stone eyes all staring down at Belle from their carved sconces with a strange intensity. It seemed that whomever had ordered this castle to be built had a fascination with the female form. Belle couldn't help but admire their taste.
Entering through the main doorway seemed like a foolish tactic and so Belle ignored the massive iron-studded doors for now and continued to sneak her way around the castle, seeking another way inside that would hopefully be more subtle. She still had no real idea of what she would find lurking inside the castle. If the local legends were to be believed then it was a whole horde of ravenous cursed beasts, just waiting to tear her skin from her bones. So far no beast had pounced out of the darkness to rend her limb from limb but there was definitely something wrong here. No building like this went hidden and unmolested for as long as this without there being something dangerous and terrible guarding it from looters.
After a short while spent scouting around the edges of the caste, Belle eventually found another entrance. It was a place where a beautiful stained glass window had been utterly shattered and broken fragments of glass lay in a wide radius around the side of the small chapel. It was enough of an opening for Belle to be able to sling up her grappling hook and silently clamber up the side of the building to get inside.
