Elven Ranger’s Doom

Elven Ranger's Doom

Part One of the Fall of Almerry Keep

Introduction

The realm of Alaria is changing.

Ages ago the gods fought a battle that nearly destroyed Alaria. The losers of that war were the gods and goddesses who had given themselves over to a power known simply as The Corruption. Although not evil, the perverse power is antagonistic and tries to corrupt all its tendrils can touch, even the gods themselves.

The corrupted gods lost their war and the powers that stood against The Corruption were victorious. They believed they had removed all traces of The Corruption from the realm of Alaria.

They were wrong.

As killing a god is not a simple thing most of the corrupted gods were banished or imprisoned in a way that the uncorrupted gods thought equivalent to death. In many cases they were right, but not enough to keep The Corruption from eventually seeping back into Alaria.

Now, so many ages after the initial war against The Corruption that most gods have no memory of it ever happening, a new war has begun. Some of the corrupted gods that survived have escaped their ancient prisons. They work to free others while moving to corrupt new gods. Everywhere across Alaria The Corruption spreads its power, yet most in Alaria remain blissfully unaware of its existence.

However, some

ARE

aware and work to stop the spread of The Corruption. Mortals and deities who see the threat The Corruption poses, or simply those who oppose its perverse influence, have begun to band together.

It is through the Sisterhood of Righteousness that these powers muster their largest strength. It is an all-female order dedicated to stopping the spread of The Corruption's influence, although not all within its ranks understand this. Since the very knowledge of The Corruption's existence can sicken the minds and souls of mortals and gods alike many within the order, and most without it, think it is only a group dedicated to fighting evil and sexual perversion and do not know its true purpose.

The Sisterhood of Righteousness has spread across Alaria, founding outposts everywhere their order reaches. Some are small halls in cities while others are imposing keeps, a place for the military might of the righteous to gather their forces. Wherever there is evil and perversion the Sisterhood will do its best to send its agents and it is often from these keeps that they ride out.

They wish to stop the spread of The Corruption and in standing opposed to the force they make themselves glowing targets for its powerful hunger. The Corruption knows that no matter how strong a group of Sisterhood members are they can be defiled and defeated. It is a game that The Corruption and its servants deeply enjoy.

Almerry Keep and the members of The Sisterhood of Righteousness that reside there have become The Corruption's newest target. Their fate was a doomed one as soon as the power's focus fell on them, they just didn't know it. One by one the Sisterhood members will be picked off, ruined, and made into secret servants of The Corruption. Or, if that is not possible, dealt with in a way that removes them from the chessboard that is the game The Corruption is playing with them.

The Corruption

WILL

be triumphant. Almerry Keep

WILL

fall as will each member of the Sisterhood of Righteousness that calls it home. And the first member of the Sisterhood to fall will be Naleath Evenbloom, a Night Elve Ranger.

Elven Ranger's Doom

Naleath crouched on a tree branch, hidden by both the leaves around her and the shroud of night. The cloak she wore helped her remain hidden, the fabric enchanted so that its color shifted slightly to blend in with her surroundings. But more than the gear she wore her ability to remain so well hidden was a natural one that all members of her race shared.

It was not just the slender build of Night Elves that allowed them to remain so easily hidden when they wished. It was not even the dark blue, pink, and purple hues their skin was shaded that allowed them to disappear into the night so easily. It was something deeper, something magical in nature that was passed down through their race's blood. That affinity for the night and stealth made Night Elves useful agents for the Sisterhood of Righteousness.

But Night Elves often had to work harder to earn their places within the Sisterhood, for as naturally talented as Night Elves were their race also had a reputation for being the most corruptible of the Elven races. Night Elves could be quick to anger and were more likely to fall into the darker and more self-destructive lifestyles most Elven societies shunned. Evil seemed more easily able to work its way into their souls as did sexual perversions.

Yet despite this weakness the Sisterhood of Righteousness' ranks were full of Night Elves. Perhaps it is even because of the dark nature that potentially haunts them that so many female Night Elves make the Sisterhood their home. Some fear the darkness that might be in them while others wish to prove to the world that they are better than it assumes they are.

Naleath Evenbloom has never shared her reasons for being a member of the Sisterhood with those she serves. She's a woman of few words, a Ranger who prefers the solitude of her lone patrols through the wilds that surround Almerry Keep.

Her main mission in the wilds is to keep an eye out for dangers that might be approaching the keep. Every member of the Sisterhood knows the evil and perverse forces they stand opposed to always wants to see them destroyed. Knowing this they remain ever vigilant to protect their keep, always looking for the next attack.

But Naleath's patrols through the wilds serve other purposes. She gathers ingredients the keep's Alchemist or Battle Mages use in brewing potions or fueling incantations and spells. She also seeks to aid any she encounters who are in trouble, lending a helping hand to nearly all who need one.

And then there are the monsters. Alaria is a realm full of untamed wilds hiding long-forgotten ruins. These wilds are the home to uncountable beasts and monsters, any number of which could pose a serious threat to Almerry Keep and the members of the Sisterhood that inhabited it.

A monster that needed slaying was why Naleath sat perched in the tree, hidden and waiting. She'd been tracking a dire bear that had been slaughtering the wildlife in the forest she was making her way through. Aside from the danger to her and the other members of the Sisterhood the monster was also decimating the local game they often relied on for food. The fearsome beast was not one she could take in a head-on fight so Naleath had set a trap for it. She'd let it catch her scent, allowing it to think it was hunting her.

It will be here soon,

she thought. Silently, she drew an arrow. Her Elven eyes allowed her to see in the moonlight of night as well as a Human saw the world in daylight. Her eyes could also see further and in greater detail than any Human eyes could. From her vantage place in the tree she'd see the dire bear long before it had any chance to sense her.

The monstrous beast was nearly as large as an elephant, yet it managed to move through the forest nearly as quietly as she did. Naleath's body tensed when she first spotted the fearsome dire bear stalking quietly through the forest, the moonlight glinting slightly off the deadly curved black horns extending from its skull as it stepped momentarily into a small clearing.

She was thankful she'd chosen such a large tree to perch in.

Those horns are large enough to gore right through my thin Elven body,

she thought.

As always, stealth and distance will allow me to win a battle I'd have no chance of surviving face-to-face.

Naleath nocked her arrow. She planned on killing the beast with one shot but knew if she failed she'd be able to remain safe from the dire bear by remaining in the tree long enough to get another chance.

Normally it would take a small army of archers to bring down such a fearsome creature, but Naleath was armed with more than simple arrows. The arrows themselves were enchanted in ways that helped them hit their target and be far more deadly. She also had the powers of a Ranger to call on, magic she could summon that would enchant arrows in a variety of helpful ways.

She breathed in then held her breath as she pulled the arrow back, the tip beginning to glow with dim purple light as she infused it with magic. A moment later she exhaled, letting the arrow fly.

It flew silently through the night air, slamming into one of the beast's eyes. It reared up, roaring in pain. A moment later there was a blast of purple energy that briefly lit up the dark forest. After that the only sound was the dead dire bear's massive body crashing onto the forest floor, shaking the massive tree in which she crouched.

Naleath gracefully slid off the branch, throwing back her cloak and draping her bow over her shoulder. After landing silently on the forest floor with the grace of a cat she stood tall, reaching around her neck to the hair she had tucked out of sight into her clothing. She pulled it out, letting long locks of vibrant, pure white hair cascade down past her elbows.

Her grayish-blue skin seemed to shift hue in the moonlight, growing more vibrant in color now that she no longer needed to remain hidden. As she approached the corpse of the dire bear she ran her hands through her long hair, putting it to rights around her long, pointed ears.

"I'm sorry your life had to end this way," she whispered as she reached the dire bear's corpse. "But you were too dangerous and killing too much of the game we rely on." She made sure to remain positioned so that she didn't have to look at the beast's head, or more accurately where its head had once been. The Elven Ranger didn't need to look to know the enchantment she'd infused the arrow with would have exploded the creature's skull from within. "At least your hulking body will provide a feast for something else in these woods. Perhaps your corpse can help give as much as it took."

She then turned, abandoning the beast's corpse to the forest. She was tired and hungry and needed to find a place to make camp before dawn. Naleath would sleep through most of the day, continuing her patrol the next night.

Naleath would bed down eager for rest, having no idea how little peace that sleep would offer her.

* * *

Naleath knew it was a dream, yet from the first moment of it she could feel it was not a

normal

dream. This was something different, something more potent, more

important

.

She was there, naked and bent over a log. Her body was limp but she wasn't unconscious. In the dreamscape she could see herself, see the disturbing blissed-out look on her face like she was drunk and high. There was a lack of intelligence in her eyes, a feeling that whatever had made her feel so good had taken a permanent toll on her mind.

Her body draped over the log was the first thing she'd been aware of in the dream. Then, slowly, the world around her limp form began to fill in. She was outside under the open sky. Water was running nearby, a creek or small river. A large campfire burned not far from her, in the center of a village filled with primitive-looking huts. A huge chunk of meat was roasting over the fire, a meal being prepared for the denizens of the village.

She knew even before their presence entered the dreamscape that the villagers of this place would not be people. They would not be Humans or Elves or any of the other "Greater" races, the ones that had full intelligence. The construction of the small huts was too simple, too primitive. They would have been made by a member of one of the "Lesser" races, creatures that were smart enough for simple language and primitive forms of civilization but in every other sense were little more than monsters.

As the villagers began to fade into the dreamscape they were at first just vague shadows. They stood about shoulder high and had wide, round, hunched-over squat bodies. As they slowly came into focus she thought at first they must be a species of Frogmen, but their bodies were too wide and round, their heads far too large. And their ears! They all had huge, floppy ears like a hairless dog or a pig. It was when their faces came into focus that she realized what they were. Not amphibious or reptilian but pig-like. Fat faces with stubby snouts. Beady little eyes and two short tusk-like teeth sticking up from the bottom of their mouths.

Grumplocs.

The word echoed through the dreamscape, shifting the scene from disturbing to outright nightmare.

The villagers started to come into more focus. None wore any clothing although many did wear primitive jewelry. It left the huge monstrous phallus hanging between each of their legs the clear focus of any single Grumploc. The monster dicks were all at least as long and thick around as her forearm, covered in hard bumps and gross thick veins. Their limp members hung nearly to the ground as they walked upright but when they squatted down like a frog, a pose most took when not actively moving, their disgusting monster dicks rested limply in the dirt.

One last Grumploc came into focus, the dream shifting so it could take center stage in her mind. It was perched on the log she was draped over, its wide feet planted on either side of her. It grabbed her hair, lifting her head up and croak-snorting something in its native language at her. The dream shifted and suddenly its disgusting, huge, bump-covered monster dick was inside her mouth. It squatted over her, fucking her gaping mouth with glee.

It was a shocking, haunting sight that woke her with a start. Her heart was pounding and she was covered in sweat. The last image of the dream was burnt into her mind, the dopey, drugged look of enthralled rapture on her face the most disturbing thing lingering in her mind.

And then there was the

feel

of the dream. It hadn't been a normal dream, had it? It had seemed so prescient, like a prophetic dream. But it

COULDN'T

be. She knew everything about the land directly around Almerry Keep, she'd ranged and explored and patrolled every mile of it for leagues in every direction. There were no Grumplocs and as far as she knew there never had been any.

Naleath knew of the lands all around them as well, perhaps not from first-hand exploration but she'd spent what little time she interacted with people outside of the Sisterhood asking about the nearby world. She knew its lore, knew what kinds of creatures and monsters inhabited the world around them. Not once had she heard tales of Grumplocs, not even in distant legend.

This was not a fact she knew simply because she'd never heard a tale of their presence. Naleath had faced Grumplocs before. Although one had never gotten the better of her she'd seen what could happen to women they captured, seen what the monster's male "seed" did to women's minds and bodies. It was why she'd help lead several Sisterhood missions to slaughter entire villages of the vile monsters.

Her mind flashed back to the dream, to the Grumploc village. Every Grumploc there had been male. That was not just an oddity of her dream. Grumplocs were one of the breeds of evil creatures that had no female members of their species. It could only reproduce by impregnating women of other races, which always resulted in a pure-blooded Grumploc.

It was a biological abomination that far too many species of creatures in Alaria had. The default stance of the Sisterhood of Righteousness was to treat any members of such a species as an enemy. The individuals of some Greater races such as Minotaurs were generally given space and time to prove themselves not to be enemies. But the Lesser races, the monsters that prayed on the women of the Greater races, those they usually killed on sight.

Naleath hate Grumplocs with a burning intensity that was lit by a deep terror of the threat they posed. Not just to women in general but to her specifically.

Ever since she'd been old enough to understand what pregnancy was she'd been terrified of enduring that biological ordeal. The idea of having another living being in her body, leeching off her as it grew. There was no violation greater than she could imagine.

Naleath had been pressured from a very young age to have at least one child. The Elven races were long-lived but did not have children as often as most other races did. There was a sense within most Elven societies that their races were slowly dying out. Her homeland had been one that put social pressure on their younger members to have more children more often.

It was one of the reasons so many Elven women ended up leaving the community she'd been raised in. Those wanderers, pushed out of their native Elven society, were why so many of their members were overrepresented in the communities of mixed race growing in the wilds slowly being reclaimed all over Alaria.

Naleath had left her home to run from the pressures to "breed" like some filthy farm animal. But once out in the world horrors like the Grumplocs had driven her further. Helping hunt down a tribe of Grumplocs then wiping them from existence was why she'd originally joined The Sisterhood of Righteousness.

She told herself that she'd stayed in the Sisterhood because she had seen the good the order brought to the world. A deeper truth, one she often did not admit to herself, was that she'd stayed because of the safety the organization provided from the things she feared most. There were no men in the Sisterhood, no phalluses of any race with their threat of fertilization implicit just by existing in the same space as her.

It couldn't have been a prophetic dream,

she told herself as she broke down her simple camp.

There are no Grumploc tribes anywhere near here and I have no reason to travel far enough for that to change. No, this was just a simple nightmare, perhaps more intense than most, but a nightmare that has no meaning beyond expressing fears I try not to think about.

* * *

Naleath had continued her patrol for most of the night without anything memorable happening. But as dawn neared she began to sense a change in the land she was traveling into. At first the change was something she could barely sense, a subtle undertone to the world around her that felt unfamiliar and...

wrong

. The further she moved into the area the more she could sense that this place was changed from the last time she'd visited it.

There were small changes she thought few would notice. The wind blew in unfamiliar patterns making it feel as though she was being followed by some unseen antagonistic force. The wildlife was sparse and what she did encounter was agitated and more fearful than it should have been. Some areas of greenery she saw had gone through sudden, untamed wild growth while other patches seemed to be dying off as if something was leeching the life from it.

But it was the mushrooms she made the strongest note of. The further she moved into the altered area the more the red mushrooms appeared. She knew those mushrooms, knew what they said about the lands they appeared in. Some called them Tookabrew Mushrooms, but the members of the Sisterhood referred to them as Corruption Mushrooms for they appeared only in places where The Corruption had begun to soak into the world, tainting and changing it.

Like nearly all older members of the Sisterhood of Righteousness Naleath knew The Corruption was a force their organization worked to oppose. But she also knew the defining power of it was its corrupting influence. The more one knew about the perverse and antagonistic power the more easily it could work its dark power on you. Only the highest-ranking and most powerful members of the Sisterhood knew the darkest truths about the power they worked to oppose, at least that was how it was amongst the Sisterhood in this part of Alaria.