The Unfated Wanderers Canto 4
The wanderers once again walked the tundra of Icebrunt. Tong Shatterbone sent them scurrying after a giant. Where has it gone? Billet and Vilerend decided to visit Wailing in hopes of a lead.
Two days of walking brought the weary wanderers to Wailing, eager for a hot meal and a warm room for rest. Sunset spilled across the sky behind them. Their dreams were dashed upon viewing the wreckage that once was Wailing.
Surviving villagers greeted the heroes of the Demon Plague. The people of Wailing had not forgotten the warriors that slew the demons terrorizing the village. Sadly, their hospitality was meager. No building still stood. They regaled the visitors with the story of their village’s demise.
The horse-bodied, eye-stalk-headed giant had trampled the village. It dragged hooves heavier than ten homes right through the center. The giant was so massive that two careless footsteps felled every building in town. Not even the famed statue1 had survived. Most villagers had perished under the collapsing walls of their homes.
Vilerend and Billet slept shelterless in Wailing and departed in the morning. One bit of luck emerged from the tragedy: they had a clear path to follow. Horrendously huge hoof prints led them towards the rising sun.
The afternoon ambled into early evening when they at last sighted their prey. The giant was absurdly massive and obscenely vile. Any hopes of stopping the massive menace vanished within the shadow of its outstretched wings. But then the shadows lightened with a sickening green glow emanating from the abdomen. Four mucus slimed orbs burst from skin folds where the wings met the body and plummeted to the ground.
The Wanderers wondered warily at this sight, previously seen from afar, results never known. But now their curiosity was sated as the orbs unfolded and stood up. Giant-spawn creatures of slime, coarse hair, lengthy claws and horrid needle-teeth stretched their limbs and dashed towards the men.
The experienced warriors expertly ended the menace, dancing between foes, crushing their bodies with club, penetrating hairy hides with arrows. Before long, battle was concluded. Billet and Vilerend took the head from one spawn as a gift for Tong Shatterbone.
From The Demon Plague Verses Chapter 3: An ancient statue dwelt in, Wailing’s central square. ‘Twas a chain bound dragon and, man, hammer held in air.↩