its hand to pry his helmet off and bite at his elbow each time he struck at the creature.
At first Vlishgnath moved to rush forward and aid his comrade, but Maximus grabbed hold of his shoulder with his massive hand, moving him aside and lurching forward. Just as the creature was starting to sink its teeth into the back of Thunderclese’s neck, causing him to scream out in pain, Maximus grasped the thing around its neck with his right hand, squeezing as hard as he could, while placing his left hand on Thunderclese to steady him from stumbling around.
The thing’s mouth opened wide, an involuntary reaction from the sudden pull on its jaw muscles. Seizing the opportunity, Maximus wrenched the creature from Thunderclese, its limbs flailing and grasping at Maximus in an unnaturally uncoordinated fashion. Shifting his weight to the side and pivoting, he then twisted his torso and smashed the creature’s head into the wall, the material comprising the wall’s outer layer crumbling a bit from the impact before the creature suddenly went limp. Twice more Maximus pulled back and slammed it head-first into the wall, the skull splitting on impact and spattering sticky red blood everywhere. The body shuddered convulsively for a moment and then went completely limp again.
Thunderclese, who was pressing his hand against the bleeding bite mark on his neck, spoke in exasperation as Maximus loosed the corpse from his grasp and let it fall to the ground. “That thing was trying to take a bite out of me!”
But Vlishgnath, normally so calm and confident, was at a loss for words. He stared at the thing lying on the floor in a pile and watched as a thick, milky white fog poured from its gaping mouth, hovering over the broken pile of flesh for a moment before dissipating entirely.
“What was that?! Vlishgnath? What just happened?” Thunderclese asked nervously.
But all Vlishgnath could do was shake his head. “I...I don’t know.”
Episode 6
As the three men made their way back to the main hall, Thunderclese rubbed the back of his neck tenderly. “It just barely punctured the skin.”
“You’re damn lucky I pulled that thing off of you when I did, then,” came Maximus’s reply, clapping Thunderclese between his shoulder blades and almost sending the burly blonde paladin sprawling forward.
“No arguments here. Who knows what sort of horrifying diseases that thing could have been carrying?”
“Did you see the way it moved?” Vlishgnath interrupted, snapping back from what had apparently been his own little world. “It was unnatural. Awkward in a way, like it knew what it wanted its limbs to do but hadn’t the experience with its own limbs to do it.”
“Yeah, but it didn’t look like any of the reanimated corpses we put down during the Necromancer Wars.” Thunderclese had taken a break from rubbing his neck and was now looking around the main hall. “So where should we look next?”
Vlishgnath thought for a moment. “Let’s continue the sweep of this floor and get a general layout of the place. Don’t stray far from each other, and if we encounter any more of those things you are free to engage them.”
The first floor by itself was enormous. They began sweeping through the rest of the rooms in a clockwise rotation, first encountering a large room full of taxidermy animals, all of which were positioned in the fiercest looking configuration possible. Next to that, they discovered an indoor theater—several rows of seats facing a stage along the western wall complete with sets of stage curtains. By themselves, the two rooms would have made sense, but it was the close proximity of them that baffled the three paladins.
“Who puts a hunting trophy room next to an indoor theater?” Thunderclese mused out loud as they walked up and down the seating aisles.
“Cooped up, eccentric rich people,” said Maximus, shuffling sideways through an aisle too narrow for him to walk down facing forward.
The following room, however, looked at one point to be a magnificent art gallery. Weeks of neglect had left it dusty and smelling of mold, however, and the progression of subject matter was truly horrifying. Each piece bore the same three-letter signature, an elaborately drawn “VLF.” Earlier pieces were stunning visual displays, ranging from brilliant impressionistic interpretations of cityscapes and skylines to the most vividly detailed realistic portraits of anyone and anything. Pieces that had been done more recently, however, took on a more gruesome nature, and by the time they had reached ones that had been done in the last year, it was quite apparent to any who looked upon them that they had just born witness to VLF’s downward spiral into complete madness. Gut-wrenching depictions of people being disemboweled by others who feasted on their entrails, and painstakingly detailed depictions of unthinkable acts of torture and suffering. By the time they reached the back of the gallery, Vlishgnath and Thunderclese could barely look upon any of the paintings anymore.
Maximus, who had noticed something in the corner, called out to Vlishgnath and Thunderclese. “Hey Vlish, you might want to come look at this.”
That said, Maximus grabbed hold of a sheet that had been draped over a stack of paintings tucked away in the corner, and began laying the paintings out on the floor. By the time Vlishgnath and Thunderclese made their way over, he had all seven of them lined up in the order in which they had been stacked.
First, there was a portrait of a man and a woman, both looking to be middle-aged and married judging by the way they embraced each other in the portrait. The man had a regal bearing about him, the woman a serene looking smile, and both wore exquisite looking garments typically reserved for the very wealthy. The title at the bottom, “Jonathan and Abigail,” was masterfully penned in a calligraphic font.
Next, a strapping blond-haired man stood with one foot up on a chair, a bow slung over his shoulder. Garbed in various furs and leathers, his bright blue eyes stared at the viewer confidently, a slight smile drawn upon his square jaw. “Bartholomew” was drawn in the same careful lettering near the bottom.
Then, a somewhat slim young man stood with his arms folded defiantly across his chest, staring impatiently at the viewer. He wore the robes of the scholars at an arcane university, his black hair cut short. In his right hand he held a rolled up scroll of parchment sealed with a blue ribbon, and a brown leather satchel was slung over his shoulder. The name “Alexander” decorated the bottom of the portrait.
The fourth painting displayed an astonishingly beautiful young woman, her brunette hair cascading down around her shoulders as she gazed upon the viewer with a warm look in her brown eyes and a wide smile. She sat on a bench, turning sideways from a harpsichord to look upon the viewer, the name “Lillith” written along the bottom.
Up next was a rather uncertain-looking young man, his shoulder-length black hair slicked back and his sunken eyes a dark brown. His head was tilted to the side and facing down a bit, and he stared at the viewer in a slightly unsettling way. His attire was rather dressed down compared to the elaborate outfits of the others—mostly dark browns and blacks—and the name “Vincent” adorned the bottom.
Next to last was another female, this one quite young. Wide-eyed and smiling brightly, she looked a great deal like the other female. A wreath of flowers sat atop her head like a crown, a quill pen resting naturally in her right hand. Seated with a desk at her side, the name “Isabelle” was written at the bottom like the others.
Lastly, there was a young man looking to have just crossed the threshold from boy to adult, his blond hair was shoulder length, and although he resembled the one titled “Bartholomew”, he lacked the physical prowess to be a true likeness. He clenched a pipe between his teeth, grinning triumphantly at the viewer while standing next to a desk, reams of parchment stacked up on the corner of it. In the same fanciful calligraphy as all the others before it, the name “Lucien” was written along the bottom of the canvas.
Vlishgnath and Thunderclese stood and studied the portraits for some time. Maximus wandered the gallery, keeping an eye on the door.
After several moments, Vlishgnath