A chill breeze swept through the undergrowth between the trees, reaching cold fingers throughout the cursed forest.  The Koschei Forest was a land forgotten and lost, and for good reason.  While the growth of the trees attempted to hide their grim cores, small bits of plate and mail still reached out from ancient branches and lofty canopies.  Ropes, encircled with vines and mist, gently swayed in the wind, snakes hungry for more victims.  No light entered the depths of the forest, for what would illuminating such grim earth serve?  In the gloom of death, the stubborn undergrowth grew viciously.  With little to no animals to feed on them, the conquering vines spread out among the trees, stifling all who would cross the bedeviled domain.  Strange shapes flitted at the edge of vision, one moment there, then gone into the fog.  Most who entered this realm believed them to be figments of their imagination.  Those that found out otherwise did not have the chance to tell others differently.  The stench of death permeated the woods, though it was not from any normal denizen of the forest.

A lone figure stumbled and muttered its way between the trees.  The little moonlight that fought its way through the canopy illuminated a tattered, dirty robe colored a faded red.  A hood covered the figure's head and in his hand he leaned on a steel staff with a sickly green orb.  Dead leaves and twigs crunched loudly underfoot as the figure clumsily pushed his way through the foliage.  "No, no, that just wouldn't work.  If the chicken ends up turning into a dead dragon, that invalidates the entire point of bringing the lizard into it.  There must be some other way to…" the droning speech, which had been echoing through the woods for almost a month, suddenly quieted.  The figured stopped.  It looked left, right, up and down.  It pulled back its cowl to reveal a truly disgusting and horrifying sight.  Rotten flesh, still peeling from the bones of a walking corpse, gave off a stench that would turn the stomach of the hardest veteran.  Teeth, chipped and decayed, were locked in a mouth that didn't have enough skin to cover its jaw or lips.  Wiry white hair cascaded down the corpse's head, covered in cobwebs and their owners.  The most haunting, however, were the eyes: two glowing blue orbs suspended in the vacant eyes of the dead.  These orbs darted about as the undead looked at his surroundings in a state of confusion.  It reached a long, bony finger into its eyesocket and withdrew a fat, wriggling nightcrawler.  "Harriet?  Do you happen to know where we are?" 

After a half-hour of waiting for a reply, the lich shoved Harriet back into his eye, "Bah, you're never a help, Harriet.  I'm always the one that has to get us out of these messes.  You should take care of me!  I'm your house after all".  The lich sat down against a tree, bones creaking in protest.  "This doesn't look quite like any forest I remember.  Have we found a new place, Harriet?"  The lich rubbed his chin ponderously, surveying the forest for any clue as to where he might be.  "Come to think of it, didn't it sound like a portal we walked through, say, a few months back that way?" he pointed a skeletal hand back the way he thought he had come.  In the monotonous march of the trees, however, it was so hard to be sure.  "Well, no matter.  Now where was I?  Oh yes, the lizard…" 

The lich continued his trek through the woods, seeing no sign of civilization or a break in the trees.  He didn't mind, however, as he had plenty of experiments to think over in his head.  When you're a corpse, you get very good at waiting.  "But then the question arises as to how to control the dragon-chicken." He didn't notice the figures circling him in the trees nearby, getting nearer and nearer.  He was so enthralled with his musings on his experiments, he didn't notice until one flew up right in front of him.  It had the shape of a woman, but seemed to be made entirely of a mist-like substance.  The only break in its roiling form were two empty eyes, staring directly at the lich.  It was silent for a moment, then issued a high-pitched scream, so loud as to break glass and render hapless victims deafened.  There was a moment of silence then, as the rest of the figures drew the circle tighter around the lich.  "Well it's a pleasure to meet you as well, miss.  I'm Thanxeros!  And what's your name if I may so have the pleasure?"  Rather than answering his polite question, the figures reached out their hands.  Negative energy crackled as they all touched the corpse, buffeting it with the power of death itself.  Frost formed on the lich's robes.  "Erm, yes, quite.  Well if you don't mind, I'll be going n–", he was cut off as the first figure withdrew its hand and pushed out again, this time throwing the lich backwards.  He flew right into a petrified sword in one of the trees.  Thanxeros looked down at the petrified wood sticking out of him.  "Now, you see, that was quite rude."

The thing about dark, deep forests with impenetrable canopies is that very little rain gets to the undergrowth.  While these vines and shrubs were stubborn enough and perhaps magic enough to continue growing despite this, they were still incredibly dry.  As the spirits drew nearer to the impaled lich, he continued talking "I come into your home or domain or what have you, and you have the gall – the absolute gall, to impale me to a tree?  Most hosts offer tea and crumpets but do you?  Oh, no, you simply go and hang them up like a picture frame."  Thanxeros then began chanting quietly to himself, and moved his hands in the familiar motions, beckoning the arcane forces of the world to come forth.  His hands ignited, projecting the shadows of the trees through the darkened woods.  He then threw the flame, which, scorching the very air around it, slammed into the dry undergrowth.  

The entire area went up like a tinderbox.  The spirits, whether due to the flames or the light, retreated away.  Thanxeros, after getting the positioning correct, slid himself off the blade.  He looked down at the hole in his robe and body and sighed.  "Looks like more sewing tonight, Harriet."

An eerie atmosphere had descended upon the forest.  The young warrior walked slowly and cautiously through Koschei Forest, a place he had never been to before.  The trees were bizarre, twisted, with an almost human appearance, as if people were petrified and turned into wood with fear etched into the remains of what could be faces.  There was rusty pieces of metal hanging on the trees as well, sticking out of them.  Pieces of what could be plate or chain, blades.  These had to have been PEOPLE at some point.  Was whatever turned all these people into trees still lurking in the forest?  He heard stories of a female creature so ugly and terrifying that a mare glance could turn living flesh into stone.  It supposedly had snakes for hair as well.  Was something similar at work here?

Hiro Kouen continued his trek through the forest, illuminated by only a few blades of moonlight that managed to penetrate the tree canopy.  He wore a set of mythril armor, durable but lightweight.  He also wore a golden phoenix crest on his tabard over his armor.  His raven hair contrasted with the bright red streaks running through it, and the bright sapphire eyes.  He was young, clean shaven, the very picture of youth.  He was tall, and muscular to go with the armor he wore, and the bastard sword sheathed to his belt.

His eyes moved back and forth alertly, until they gazed upon something in front of him.  A number of semi-transparent beings appeared in front of him out of nowhere.  They had the form of floating, transparent people, but they were a bluish green in color all over their bodies.

"Spirits?"  Hiro reached toward his sword on his belt.  They howled at him, their faces twisted in agony.  They extended their arms, buffeting him with a chilly cold, icy wind.  His body felt numb and cold.  He felt a trickle of blood coming from a cut on his cheek that wasn't there before.  It felt as if an invisible knife had just been drawn across his skin.  "Evil spirits."  Hiro went to draw his sword, but then realized the blade would be useless against a incorporeal beings like ghosts.  An explosion sounded in the distance, a radiance of flame magic could be felt, a flash of light could be seen.  The evil spirits turned to see what was going on, Hiro took advantage of this, opening his hands, and summoning flames into the palms of his hands.  "Go to hell!"  He thrust his palms forward, unleashing twin blasts of flame at the ethereal beings.  The flames went through the screaming spirits, visibly distorting them, and exploded against a tree, setting it ablaze.  The spirits seemed to dissipate into ash or dust, and disappeared into thin air, blown about by the wind.

The ghosts were gone, but the forest was now starting on fire, smoke filling the air.  Hiro quickly made a series of gestures with his hands through the air, as if weaving signs.  The flames burning the trees started dying out before they spread too far.  He didn't want to set the whole forest on fire, even if it was a creepy forest.  He was lucky the spirits were distracted by something so he could dispatch them, but what distracted them?  Hiro wiped the blood off his face, and started walking in the direction he heard the explosions coming from.

The trees were all burnt in a small clearing.  Standing there was some kind of creature . . . it looked like a walking, decaying corpse holding a metal rod of some kind.  The ground was scorched from flames of some kind.  What was that thing.

"What in the Hell is that?"  His hand slowly lowered to his sword in caution.  This thing could be dangerous.  It smelled heavily of death and decay.

Harrison had arrived in Kurayo a few days ago, this was the place he would certainly find a ship and a crew. However the man found his coin purse to be lacking the appropriate amount of money. He had been in a tavern talking up one of the bar wenches when she told him the story of lost gold within the Koschei forest. She told him that the story of the forest and how the spirits of the wives haunted the forest. But Harrison wasn't the superstitious type, and he wasn't going to let a ghost story get the better of him. After all the storms he had faced the thought of so called ghosts haunting the place seemed so bring a smile to his face. Harrison laughed lightly at her story and she seemed a little mad that he had done that, but that was it, the handsome rogue was going to prove her wrong and bring back enough treasure to get his ship.


With that he headed out to the forest, armed with nothing more than his hook, his coat and a give them hell attitude. Initially the twisted trees didn't bother him, after all nothing could shake Captain Harrison Aedan Jones so easily. But as he proceeded through the forest his blue eyes could see the trees seemed to have actual faces. It wasn't like the knots he was used to seeing but they were the frozen faces of men who had been actually trapped in the trees. “What the devil…?” He asked as he took a closer look at the tree and ran his fingers over the face. It was the right size to have actually been a person. Harrison laughed a little, surely someone had painstakingly carved all these into the trees to scare people away.


He turned to walk away and nearly caught himself on a noose. His hook moved it away from his face and he examined it. It didn't appear to have aged at all, it was practically new. Harrison furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at it. Truly there must be a treasure bigger than Harrison himself could carry, he would surely have to come back with a cart. With the cart who knows what he would actually buy with the treasure he found, but perhaps he was counting his chickens before they hatched. It was then he felt a cool breeze, it didn't surprise him because it was reasonable to assume the shade of the trees made the forest cooler than it was outside. It was then he heard the soft whisper of a woman, “He's gone…”


It was faint and barely there. Harrison looked around himself quickly and then found nothing. Perhaps he had too much rum, but that was something that was never true for him. He pulled out a flask he had filled with rum and took a sip of it. He wasn't going to let himself be pulled into this fairy tale that there were ghosts haunting this forest. Then he heard he whispers pick up with the wind as he returned his flask back into his jacket. He turned around and saw a group of ghostly rotten women as the stared him, their hollow eyes dug holes into his soul as he watched them. “Ladies, no need to be violent, more than enough of me to go around.” He said with a charming smile, but it would seem his usual tricks would not work on these women. The collectively screamed and started to go after him.


Harrison then turned on heel and began to dart through the forest, it was a miracle he didn't trip on any roots. It was then he thought he heard some yelling and there was suddenly fire everywhere. Talk about being between the flame and women who would tear him apart. He ducked behind a tree and waited for the flames to subside and it would seem that the women were driven away from him. Well that was certainly a small relief.


The rogue peered around the tree and saw that there were two figures not that far away. “I know the ghosts weren't that great but no need to burn the place down!  Plenty of treasure to go around, I'm sure of it.” He said lightly, a small laugh in his voice.

The flames slowed their onslaught of the surrounding foliage as whatever dark magics fueled the local flora began to take back control.  The dying embers of what remained of the vines and grass in the area illuminated the ghastly lich from below with a fierce radiance.  Thanxeros, in the back of his mind, knew that the spirits would not be held at bay long by the surprise of the fireball spell, and that they were merely regrouping for a more lethal and prepared assault.  However, that was at the back of his mind.  He was much more conscious of the sudden inclination to give his dragon-chicken functional fire breath.  Imagine the possibilities!  He checked his satchel for a parchment and quill and began to sit down and write out possible spell combinations for imbuing this ability.  Perhaps he could even give it a fresh lavender scent?  It would certainly help with any burning flesh smell his creation left behind.  No, no, that wouldn't do. He was getting side-tracked again from the real goal of the experiment.  Always adding things on that he didn't need, that was Thanxeros.  He tossed a parchment over his shoulder and it caught fire in the still warm embers, curling and writhing in the dirt.  That was when he heard the voice, "What in the Hell is that?"

Thanxeros looked up quizzically at the source of the voice, tilting his rotten head to the side, his jaw slightly sagging with the motion.  He held up his writing instrument, "It's a quill, boy.  Haven't you ever seen one before?"  He began muttering to himself again and went back to his work, paying no more heed to the young man that had just entered the clearing and forgetting that he was there entirely.  A bit of the frayed end of his robe caught fire as he sat in the smoldering embers, but he didn't seem to notice.  "Harriet, would you like me to attempt to give you fire-breath as well?  It would be nice if you could use it to clean up some of your leavings in my skull."  Thanxeros looked up expectantly, waiting for a reply from the nightcrawler.  When none was forthcoming, he began writing on his parchment yet again.

Then he heard yet another voice, "I know the ghosts weren't that great, but no need to burn the place down!  Plenty of treasure to go around, I'm sure of it".  Thanxeros looked toward the treeline and saw a figure, very well concealed among the foliage, of a man.  "Ghosts?"  The lich was slightly confused at first.  He didn't remember anything about ghosts in his experiment notes.  Then he remembered the events of the past few minutes.  "Ghosts!  Yes!  I had quite forgotten about our lovely hosts.  I suppose I'd better be off."  The lich clambered clumsily to his feet, bones creaking and flesh peeling with the effort.  "I haven't been that courteous of a house guest, and I suppose if they had any scones or biscuits I might have burned them already."  He looked sadly at the remains of the conflagration around him.  He looked around again, realizing that there were now not one, but two new entities in the clearing, and neither of them were of the ethereal persuasion.  "I erm… jest of course.  How rude of me not to introduce myself to you to fine, strapping young men.  I am Thanxeros, and it is a most exquisite pleasure to make your acquaintances.  May I inquire as to who I am addressing?  My apologies about before.  I get, shall we say, wrapped up in my work at very inopportune times."  Harriet poked her head out of the undead's eye socket, illuminating its fat body in the blue glow of the lich's eyes.  "Oh, yes, and this is Harriet.  Say hello, Harriet."  Thanxeros waited a moment.  Frustrated, the lich shoved the nightcrawler back into his eye, "Why must you always be like this in front of company?"  

Hiro gazed in shock and horror as a walking (and talking) corpse pulled out a quill and parchment and started scribbling down notes of some kind.  Another person arrived on the scene, an adult man who Hiro did not recognize.  This guy started talking about treasure in the area, there being more than enough to share.  What was he talking about?  What treasure?

"I don't know anything about any treasure, but there's ghosts all over the place, and that walking, talking corpse."  He pointed at the mysterious undead being.  It had to be undead, right?  The undead being's robe started catching on fire, but it did not notice.  It did notice Hiro and the other man, and started rambling about "Harriet" (apparently the disgusting worm sticking out of it's skull had a name) and eventually managed to ask for names.  The undead being introduced itself as Thanxeros.

"My name is Hiro Kouen.  I was just in the area traveling, and I got attacked by ghosts.  Are you aware  Thanxeros, that your robes have caught on fire?"  Hiro scratched his scalp through his raven hair.  What was this thing?  It was relatively intelligent, if not insane and scatterbrained.  It would talk and walk around, it wasn't chasing him around looking for brains, so it wasn't a zombie.  It couldn't be a vampire, considering it wasn't attempting to feast on his blood or anything like that.  Wights weren't intelligent, nor were they capable of casting fire spells.  There was one undead that he could think of that might be able to be intelligent and cast spells (considering it burnt down this clearing of the forest).  "Are . . . are you a lich?"  If it was a lich, then it looks like he possibly botched the ritual to make himself undead, because what he was told about liches from his father was that they could not be fully destroyed without breaking their soul-housing vessel thing first; and this lich looked like it was falling apart and rotten.

Harrison looked quizzically at the strange rotting man that was standing there. He then addressed the other young man that was there and Harrison fully walked out from the protective cover of the tree and could now get a better look at who he was dealing with. Harriet was someone in his skull? Harrison squinted a little as he tried to wrap his brain around what was in front of him. For someone as well traveled as he was, he certainly didn't have a lot of familiarity with the creatures and beings who existed outside the docks of the ports he visited. The man seemed to be a little scattered brained but at least no violent. The pirate couldn't help but cringe a little at the creature as he looked at him. He had been a man once, but between the rot of his flesh and the parts that were missing it was hard to imagine what he looked like prior to whatever had happened to him. The dashing rogue touched his only hand to his beard and scratched lightly as he was introduced to the man and his companion. So it would seem this was Thanxeros and the worm in his hand was Harriet and that made much more sense now.


“A haunted forest would be the ideal place to hide treasure, not many are brave or stupid enough to try and pursue it.” Harrison said as he shrugged his shoulders a little. “I am Captain Jones.” Harrison said, especially careful to not drop his first name considering how close it was to the name of the night crawler that made its home in the skull of the former man that had cast the fire that had consumed part of the area. Harrison straightened up a little and then looked curiously at the other two and then he seemed a little surprised at the word that Hiro used. “A lich? You mean those things that hang out in lakes that takes salt to get them off of you?”


Harrison looked even more puzzled at this notion. He had always imagined such a creature to be much smaller and much less human than the rotten and falling apart man was. Harrison considered something for a moment and then he realized he had been staring far longer than he should have. It would seem that Harrison had forgotten his own manners for a moment. “Well, you both know why I ventured out here, what brought you three to this very strange place?” Harrison was at least polite enough to include Harriet in the count of those who were present. After all if Thanxeros acted that way about the creature in his head it would have been rude to exclude her from the group count.

"Four." Rune said as he approached the group, he had been hiding behind a tree the whe time, but had not gotten a clear shot of the individuals. Three, well fpur including himself, people in this evil forest at once…. alive… or at least 3 of them where…. how amazing. The Drow looked at the dead guy with his dark red eyea, he had heard stories of the Undead but never seen one in person, this one seemed to be self aware… or at least Rune thought since no Necromancers where in the vicinity and he wasn't attacking anyone. Rune stopped looking at the dead guy, he was gagging already, and losing his food wasn't something he wanted. Rune looked at the warrior next, quite a young one…. had a lot of fighting and killing and sword slashing up ahead of himself. But what was he doing here? Hunting an animal or beast or something? Or proving guts? Rune looked at the rouge, this he could understand a bit…. an adventurerer in well looks for an adventure, that seemed simple. Either way Rune concluded this would make a good story to tell…. specially since he was a Bard…, but first he had to survive the forest. "Are we planning to die? We are all standing here…. we should get moving before something sneak up on us." The six foot Drow pulled out his Falchion just in case something came his way…. he did so in a way that wouldn't seem like a threat to those present near him.

"Well met, Hiro.  It's nice to… my robes?"  The lich looked down at the once exquisite robes to find that they were, in fact, aflame.  After a flurry of stomping and muttered curses, Thanxeros regained his composure.  "Thank you.  And yes, you're correct."  The corpse drew himself to his full height. "I am a lich.  I commend you on your deduction, as I normally only find the company of those who believe me to be some sort of mindless undead.  Then the pitchforks and torches come out…" Thanxeros sighed.  A cobweb, shaking free from inside the chasm of his mouth, blew away in the chill evening breeze.  Thanxeros would be lying if he said his hermitic existence didn't cause him to feel loneliness at times.  He'd had very few encounters with anyone he could hold a conversation with since his transformation, and even then they tended to be driven away by, if not the droning lectures he inevitably fell into, then the smell.  He cherished those moments when he could allay the crushing solitude, though he held onto the alienation even more.  It was in those moments that he craved intelligent dialogue, a voice other than his own, that he knew he still retained some semblance of the humanity he cast aside so long ago.  But there, he had been silent too long.  Funny, that.  He must be having an odd moment of lucidity.

He looked to the other man, who introduced himself as Captain Jones.  "Ah, a mariner!"  Thanxeros stood at attention and saluted as vigorously as a dead man could.  "Why, I think there must be plenty of treasure in these woods indeed, my captain, most of it left here by the likes of us, the brave and stupid."  Thanxeros gave a good-natured grin.  At least he tried to.  Between the sagging of his jaw, the strips of stubborn flesh, and the sickly blue light of his eyes, it was more a portrait of terror and the ravages of time.  In response to his question on liches, Thanxeros looked at him in momentary confusion.  "I've walked beneath lakes a few times in my day, Jones, but I don't remember latching on to any passerby in the meantime.  Though, if I did, I suppose I wouldn't enjoy being salted…" He rubbed his ravaged chin ponderously, thinking of how he would react to salt.  He didn't suppose it would harm him…

"What brings me here?  Well I suppose these", he gestured to his feet, mercifully hidden from sight by the hems of his robe and the boots underneath.  "All jesting aside, I'm not entirely sure.  Harriett and I have been discussing one of my recent ideas for an experiment for, say, a few months now, and it appears that I may have stepped through a portal.  However, in general, I just wander in search of any magical knowledge I can acquire.  I have to say", he looked sidelong at the petrified trees around him, "I do enjoy the ideas I gather from my travels."

"Four."
Thanxeros regarded the newcomer, a rather tall dark elf who seemed to materialize from the treeline.  He seemed incredibly nervous and agitated to be in the forest, which was entirely understandable.  Thanxeros didn't like being in places where glowing women leaped out of the trees and pushed you onto unfortunately positioned swords either.  "Well I'm not exactly planning on dying.  You could say I'm not really a fan", the lich said, cocking a patchwork eyebrow at the drow.  "I agree, though, we should begin vacating the premises before our ever-so-charming hosts return to finish what they started.  I doubt they will be as surprised by fire a second time."  At that moment, Thanxeros realized that the wind had stopped.  All was still in the Koschei Forest as, above the canopy in the darkened sky, the moon reached its apex.  Then it began, the haunting keening of hundreds upon hundreds of distressed souls, far off in the distance at first, but growing closer by the second.  "On the bright side", Thanxeros said, smiling to himself, "they're not sneaking up on us."            

Hiro never could understand the reasons of HIDING treasure, like in a treasure chest and burying it.  The whole pirate treasure thing seemed impractical.  What if you actually wanted to store it somewhere, and use it, like treasure ought to be.  Having to dig it up seems awfully inconvenient.  The treasure seeking man introduced himself as Captain Jones, the lich was already introduced, and a fourth person, a drow made his appearance.  He did not introduce himself, but Hiro knew that drow were often not trustworthy.  Only few could be trusted, but not completely.

"Well, I was just traveling through the forest, since I couldn't stop to make camp here.  We can search for the treasure and split it, I guess.  Captain Jones, what kind of treasure is it?  Is it gold?  Magical in nature?  How do you know there really is treasure out here somewhere?"  He hoped there actually WAS a treasure though, because this was the first he heard of it.  In the back of his mind, there were some doubts, maybe it was some kind of trap designed to lure people in and kill them, so they could be looted.  Though Captain Jones had no idea people would be here, maybe his source could have lied to him to lure him out here so he would meet his demise.

"I don't believe we've been introduced, Sir Drow.  Though you do have a point.  The ethereal spirits are heading back here, and I possess no holy magic like my father would have.  I wish I possessed the same light magic he had, so I could more effectively attack these spirits. Fire can only get me so far."  He turned toward Capt. Jones.  "Well, we either stand and fight, or we get moving.  Which way is the treasure?  Oh, and you're thinking of lichen, Captain Jones.  A lich is an undead being created from a living being undergoing some kind of ritual that makes him a powerful being of undeath.  It's kinda like a vampire, but doesn't have the same weaknesses, nor the thirst for blood.  They're kinda skeletal.  The ritual usually involves sacrificing living people, if what I heard is true."  Hiro could feel the chill in the air as the evil spirits grew closer.  "Someone needs to make a decision, we need to move now or fight."

((I guess I should relpy, I was waiting on Harrison.))

Rune looked at them with a blank expression. "Pardon for the Lack of introduction, but as a Drow I have a life VERY long life ahead of myself and would love to conserve it. But if you insist my Name is Rune Errikson but you may call me Rune the Skald." Rune said in response to Hiro, he turned to the Lich, now he knew what he was, he had heard of those in stories…. usually not very trustworthy and had really strong magic, however the idea of this particular Litch being of any harm to him was detered by his very way of acting, and rather funny sense of humor… which honestly was hard to understand if it was on purpose or his simple manner of speech. "Yeah… good thing they aren't 'sneaking'…" Rune scuffed with a small tiny bit of  sarcasm. "Between all of us, I say we run… I don't want to seem like a coward but with this large batch it is our best bet… being scared is ok, it is a sign you have a brain… or at least my master always said." Rune said looking into at the ghost getting closer, he backed up getting closer to the others. Suddenly Rune was slapped by reality, he suddenly noticed he wasn't 'human' or another Elf and that he was a Drow… hopefully these individuals wouldn't let  prejudice thoughts get the best of him, he had no need to harm them… they hadn't done a thing for him… of course most Drow didn't think the same, he couldn't blame anyone for how they react to them… if he wasn't a Drow he would do the same.