Terror in the Dark

It was a peaceful and pleasant evening as two young men stood guard outside the village. The quiet was soon disturbed by a methodical clanking sound that steadily approached. The guards called out a challenge, but there was no reply. As the clanking grew nearer, they could make out a metal-clad figure armed with sword and shield.

From http://orig11.deviantart.net/0669/f/2008/210/d/9/golem_by_gugu_troll.jpg

"Please stop, Sir Knight!" called one of the guards. "I must ask you to identify yourself."

The figure drew close to them, stopped, and looked at the challenger. Then, with a surprisingly quick motion, it flicked out its sword, and parted the guard's head from his shoulders.

The other guard turned and called for help. Then the automaton's blade buried itself into his back.

Drawn by the shouts, sleepy men with indifferent arms ambled out to the advancing construct. It shrugged off any blows and sliced apart those who confronted it.

Men began to call out. "Invaders. To Arms! To Arms!"

One of those who answered the call was Wat, the sometime forester. He grabbed his bow and a quiver of arrows and rushed to the fight. Those armed with melee weapons tried to stop the thing. Wat began to look for openings and loose his arrows. He managed a few good shots into the constructs legs and side. Yet it still kept coming, hacking and slashing at the villagers, who dropped in bloody pools.

One by one the defenders fell, until Wat was the only one left. He kept peppering the construct with arrows, but the thing kept blocking with its shield. Wat could tell that the automaton was damaged. One more good shot could immobilize the thing for good.

Wat would fire and run, fire and run; trying to keep out of reach of his enemy. Wat turned down an alley, then realized his mistake. He found himself hemmed in by Farmer Brown's pig pens. Wat could run no further. He pulled out his last arrow, fitted it to his bow, and aimed low, hoping to get below the shield and strike the thing's creaking right knee.

Wat loosed. Miss!

Backed up against the pen, Wat tried to deflect the blow with his bow. The wood shattered and split. Again, the automaton raised its weapon and swung.

Wats' screams echoed through the surrounding hills and forest.

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A few days later, a band of rangers approached the village. The stench of death permeated the air. On alert, they began to investigate. Hacked and torn corpses littered the street.

"What could have done this?" they muttered in dismay.

The wind shifted and their nostrils were assaulted by a reeking odor. As the rangers covered their noses to avoid gagging, one of the party pointed and called out "Look!"

Ambling through the streets with a bloody hand in its grasp was a ghoul.

From https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/6/62/Ghoul_-_David_Griffith.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090519093324

As soon as the fetid creature saw the rangers it rushed to the attack. With shields raised, the rangers' front rank readied for the assault while their comrades behind them readied their bows. The ghoul clawed and bit at the defenders, but it could not get past the shields. The archers let loose and feathered shafts pierced the monster. It fled and regrouped before the pursuing rangers could finish it off. Then an archer skillfully shot the creature's foot, pinning it to the ground. The rangers attacked, slicing into the ghoul. Finally, a well-placed arrow cut short the ghoul's rampage.

With the creature dispatched, one of the rangers declared "Well that's that. We have avenged these people's deaths."

"Not so fast," another replied. "Look at those wounds - sword cuts. The ghoul did not kill these people. It must have been attracted by the smell of the corpses."

"If the ghoul did not kill them, then what did?" Asked the first ranger.

"That is the question we need to answer."

OOC Notes

• We only had 4 people today, and I was restricted to archery (still recuperating from skin cancer surgery) so we decided to do monster battles.
• In the first game, Ferrum played the automaton while Artemis, Beast, and I tried to stop his murderous rampage. I played the role of Wat.
• In the second game, Ferrum was once again the monster while I was an archer. I was able to use pinning arrow to keep him from escaping after he was wounded and then I got in the final fatal shot.