This story was originally the text that accompanied a render submission to the Halloween Contest back in 2016. I wanted to redo it with the skills I have now with Iray and submit it here as a story. The action takes place in an original fantasy milieu I made for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in the World of Greyhawk back in the 1980s when I was such a nerdy nerd RPG geek in high school. The campaign revolved around a set of subterranean dungeons interconnected by cavern networks I called 'The Undercairns' that ran the length and breadth of the Flannaes on Oerth. This is where our characters have their final (mis)adventure... Story based from a night of playing with high school classmate girls that wanted to learn how to play before they could play with us guys. Having women play with us back then was a momentous occasion since Dungeons and Dragons was hardly the badge of honor for pioneering the game as it is now. Back then, you couldn't let out the secret that you were a table top Pen-and-Paper geek if you wanted to ever have a date with a girl in high school. LOL The characters used are a G3F on the stairs, a G2F on the floor and two regular Genesis monsters. --------------------------------------------------- THE REPAST --------------------------------------------------- Curse my damnable curiosity forever 'til eternity! Aphrodite bless me to see the error of my ways! I stared into the dimly lit chamber strewn with bones of the careless and unlucky and I cursed my own folly for letting my curiosity lead me to this place alone. I could not banish the horrible thoughts that my bones too will soon be added to the grisly piles... Just moments ago I stood atop the darkened stairway and I let the light from my stave wash its illumination into the darkened chamber the stairs descended in. From my vantage on the steps I could see bones of animals and people strewn about the floor. I stood aghast at the rough tomb I just found when I felt raking pain down the side of my leg. I blanch with the pain and begin to scream a piercing shriek. But I could not. It was like my lungs froze inside my body and my throat clenched tightly, I could feel numbness wash through my body like a tidal wave rushing under my skin. My strength was instantly sapped and my legs could no longer support my weight my Staff of Aphrodite fell from my limp grasp and clattered on to the bone littered floor below. I could do nothing to prevent my fall and I teetered over the side of the stairs. I could not move nor could I scream. That's when claws with great strength grasped one of my ankles as I fell head first into the room below. That's when I saw IT. A horrible ghoul had me dangling in one of its flesh rending claws. I could see the baleful eyes and I can smell the fetid reek of death that emanated from its fiendish slavering jaws. I could do nothing but dangle limply in its grasp. I could not even move my mouth to scream, my face was frozen with surprise and I could not even move the muscles that held my mouth agape. The paralysis of the undead ghoul's virulent touch was not permanent but it's effects last long enough to make easy prey of those careless like me. The fiend had me in one of its claws and the other grasped one of the many handholds of the ruined column next to the stairs. I was nothing but a toy doll in it's beastly grasp. I still had all of my senses and the thought of being fed upon while I was lucid and capable of feeling pain filled me with absolute dread. The undead monstrosity roughly tossed me on to the bone strewn floor and laid me out on top of the grisly remains to feed on me easily. That's when the second ghoul entered the room from underneath a tall pile of bones, it bounded over to me like one of my father's hunting hounds but the first one didn't seem to be in the mood to share. Bickering and slashing ensued and I felt like I was going to be the trophy of some macabre duel. At one point the first ghoul grabbed and hauled me to the side and propped my torso up against something stony in texture then the other ghoul pulled its competition away as more brawling continued. After more battling, the first ghoul beat its competition back and the loser slinked away but hovered nearby just out of its long arm reach in case there was an opportunity to snatch up one of my - scraps. The victorious monster loped to my side and I could feel it's charnel breath on my cheek and could feel it sniffing my hair, my face, I could see the long snout filled with jagged sharp teeth pass in front of my eyes. I was afraid. But I resigned myself to death and hoped my Goddess, my Aphrodite, to spare me from becoming - one of them. The evil beast looked me straight in the eye and all I could do was stare back. A dirt and blood encrusted claw came into view and was placed almost gently on my chest. I was repulsed at its touch and it seemed to sense my revulsion. the sharp claws hovered and pawed as if I was a mouse in the clutches of a sadistic cat. Then I felt the sharp pain of claws penetrating my skin but just as the victor began flaying the flesh from my soft bosom, it paused. The second ghoul just outside my range of vision also stiffened. Then something made a noise near the top of the stairs which made the two ghouls pause and look up in unison. Dog-like ears perked up to the skittering sound at the top of the stairs. Then I heard you, my would-be rescuer. "Kestra? Kestra? Is that you?" I couldn't respond, I couldn't scream that I was just below you. I lay limply on my side and hoped to Aphrodite that these monstrosities leave you alone. I hoped that you run from this place and bring our order of sisters to cleanse this place cursed with the hunger of the undying. "Run Justine! RUN!!!" I screamed in my head hoping she could hear my thoughts as my lips hung open in a scream that was unrealized. "I see the light of your staff, I hope you are alright, I am coming down!" The light spell was like a beacon, it remained continuous when the priestess who invoked it was still alive. This realization haunted me and I never thought I would curse the light of our Goddess. I am horrified by the thought that you came to rescue me. Even with our powers of invoking Aphrodite's cleansing light to destroy our undead foes, it takes moments to invoke and these undead beasts are too close. Will she even realize the nature of these fiends? If she does will it be too late? Then I am blinded momentarily as you chant the words to your own light spell which bathes the room in the radiance of Aphrodite. I could hear the ghastly creatures move closer to the side of the stairs, no doubt laying in wait in the shadows and away from the light of our Goddess. "Justine you are approaching your death, RUN!" I scream in my head. "Kestra, I hear you, I am coming down I hope you're alright! Why aren't you answering me?" Those words set my brain screaming for you to retreat but you don't even know - yet. I can hear your steps tread down the steps loudly and the ghouls become silent predators once again. The tenseness of their silence was palpable. All I could do was lay staring at the light of my staff emanating from a few feet away and hoping that you turn at the last moment from whence you came - hoping that on this day only the flesh of one daughter of Beautiful Aphrodite will feed the ravening jaws of these wicked undead creatures. I could hear the first ghoul climbing the stone sides of the stairs behind me as quickly and deftly as a spider. The second ghoul was somewhere to my right. "Kestra, where are you? I've been-" I can hear your scream that followed shortly afterward. It echoed off the stone walls and I knew you were so close by its shrill intensity. You probably saw what was waiting for you just in the shadows beneath the foot of the stairs. Forgive me, I wish I could have warned you. I could hear you beginning the incantation of the Protection From Evil spell in a quavering but clear voice and I can hear the first ghoul that climbed the side of the stairs hurtling toward you as its claws clacked on the stone flagged stairs. I had hope that we would come out alive. The Protection spell was simple and quick to cast, you need to utter just three more words and then - you stop abruptly. One of the syllables of the last word comes out in an incomprehensible gurgle. Our hopes were dashed with the interruption of your spell. I could hear a quick gasping as if someone was struggling for breath. Then I heard a chilling tearing sound and something that sounded very wet spilling on to the bone strewn floor. There was a familiar sound like scuffling between the two competitors for food. In a few seconds the light spell you had cast dims quickly and finally winks out of existence. Only the light from my staff now glows from the center of the room. I could hear terrible rending and ripping sounds to my right. Unchecked tears begin to stream down my face as I now realize your body is being ravened upon and I pray to our Aphrodite that we meet again - soon. I am numbed by the terror of what I just heard and experienced. But it didn't stop. I can see the piles of other bones that must have been covering pits erupt as more ghouls enter the room from them. Your shrill scream must have awakened the ravenous sleeping dead and the smell of your blood beckoned them like Nyr Dyvian sharks circling their prey. I could do nothing but wait as a pair of ghouls different from the first approached me. They were not averse to sharing as one hungrily bit through the silk of my skirt and tore a divot of flesh from my thigh. I tried to scream in pain as fire engulfed my entire being. The scream stopped in my useless throat. Its partner reached hungrily for my arm, dragged me into a prone position from my resting spot on the stair wall and slit my torso open from breast to belly and my warm innards could feel the cold air instantly and the pain blinded me while all I could do was gape at the ceiling. Greedy claws and hungry jaws lapped up the contents spilling from my torso. Then I saw the face of the first ghoul staring down at me. My body, my temple to my Goddess, lay torn open and ruined and I could feel my various morsels being crammed into hungry mouths. All I could do was lay cut open in brain numbing pain. The first ghoul seemed to enjoy what I must be feeling even though I could not communicate it. It waited for a moment as others took turns ripping flesh from my body then it lunged at my throat and tore it out, my shorn flesh sliding down its infernal gullet. At last, I was free, "Goddess have mercy on my s-" ---------------------------- In a few moments the light from Kestra's staff dimmed quickly before finally winking out and leaving the stony burial chamber in total blackness. All that can be sensed were the sounds of tearing flesh and the din of death's feeding. ----------------------------