Chapter 59: Debasement of the Xoth’s Abbey

After nearly half a day’s slow progress up the gradual incline of the road, Lexi’s adventuring party finally came to the top of a small hill which marked their distinct nearness to their destination. In the noonday sun, from the top of the hill, they could see that the road which they had been following continually for the past three days led onward up into a saddle between two mountains — wherein lay the ruined Abbey of Xoth. However, despite the seeming straightforwardness of the route, something struck Lexi as being more than a little off.

“Doesn’t it seem a little, I don’t know, dangerous to just march straight in?” the paladin asked.

“You’re right,” Gretel said. “As ready as I can to get this quest over and done with, walking up to the front door of greenskin central seems like a bad idea. It’d be like: Hello! We’re four gorgeous female adventurers, would you like to rape us?”

Despite herself, Lexi let out a chortle, covering her mouth with her hand as she met the quick-witted mage’s dancing mischievous eyes. “I really shouldn’t be laughing at that, but you’re totally right. Going straight in without a plan does seem like a recipe for disaster — probably exactly the kind you’re thinking of.”

“I hate to say it,” the mage continued snarkily. “But after two flare-ups of your curse this morning, I think I could happily go at least the rest of the day without any more dick in my mouth.”

An enormous bronzed hand clapped down on Gretel’s shoulder, drawing a squeak from the pink haired girl. “If you ask nicely,” Samantha said in a rare display of her dry humor. “I could be convinced to handle the next ... incident.”

Lost for words at the unexpected joke from the normally stoic monk, Gretel simply goggled at Samantha, her mouth opening and closing as her brain struggled — and ultimately failed — to come up with a snappy comeback.

Whatever repartee might have continued between the two adventurers was cut short when the diminutive elven ranger burst out of the forest a dozen yards ahead of the trio. True to her character class as a ranger, Danica had spent most of the morning scouting ahead of the party. And, while the elf’s primary goal had been to sniff out any other potential ambushes or groups of ne’er-do-wells that might cause the party trouble, the smile beaming across the pretty little elf’s face spoke of something altogether different.

“Heya!” the elf called out, waving to the group as she skipped along the road towards them. “I found something pretty cool up ahead. It’s a smaller trail that forks off from the main road. I followed it up about a mile or so, and it looks like it leads up into some switchbacks that go right up the side of this mountain on the right.”

“That’s our ticket!” Lexi said, pumping her fist. “We were literally just talking about how it wouldn’t be the best idea to take the main road straight into the old abbey. If this can lead us up to some kind of an overlook position, that might be exactly the kind of thing we need to stage our attack.”

“Agreed,” Samantha added. “Fine work, Danica.”

“Yeah, squirt,” the mage chimed in, ruffling Danica’s blond bangs — the only part of her long hair that wasn’t currently wrapped into a braided “crown” around the top of her head. “You done good!”

Danica beamed at the trio, and then beckoned them forward, bounding off once again into the woods. “Follow me!”

After several minutes, the elf and the trailing trio of adventurers reached the edge of the foot trail’s gradual slope, and the beginning of the switchbacks Danica had mentioned. True to her word, the trail zigzagged up the side of the mountain, leading to a trail nearly a hundred feet above that closely hugged the mountainside and wrapped its way around above the saddle containing the ruined abbey. Tethering their trusty pack mule Thomas at the base of the switchbacks, the party followed their intrepid ranger up the winding trail.

The way up the switchbacks proved a challenge for even the hardiest of the adventurers, and by the time they reached the overlook which they had spotted from below, nearly an hour had passed, and every one of them was huffing with exertion and doused with sweat. Even the elf, normally so light on her feet, felt her legs dragging by the time the four girls reached the path’s summit. The small outcropping of rock onto which the switchbacks led presented to party with a clear view into the valley-like saddle between the two mountains, as well as a rather direct means of descent from their perch — provided they made use of a few well-placed ropes.

There were two notable features which could be seen from this vantage point. The first, which was physically impossible to miss, given its size and grandeur, was an extraordinarily elaborate looking tower.

Built half-way into the side of the opposite mountain itself, the style at once reminded Lexi of the kind of gothic style she associated with medieval cathedrals, complete with soaring spires, flying buttresses, and high-arched doors and windows. At one point, there may have even been stained glass depictions of the goddess Xoth filling those arched voids. However, in its current ruinous state, there was not a single pane of glass remaining. Moreover, a second glance showed Lexi that the stone architecture itself was — in many places — crumbling into ruin as well.

The second notable feature, which with their gazes all arrested by the majestic ruins of the abbey, it took the members of Lexi’s party a moment to notice, was what was clearly an open-air slave market operating directly in front of the tower’s enormous doors and spread across the broad plane in the valley’s center. The sheer magnitude of the vile horrors on display were so vast that not a single one of the four girls was able to utter a single word in response for several minutes. In unison, they stared in utter disbelief at the terrible scene below, mouths agape and eyes brimming with tears of the purest rage.

Nearest to the tower’s entrance, there stood two large wooden pens, the same type which would typically be used to corral and contain large animals like cows. However, what these pens held was a mixture of humanoid cattle. The pens were divided by sex, males in one and females in the other, with the differences between the two being obvious even at a great distance owing to the fact that all of the caged men and women were completely nude — their hands uniformly bound in front of them with leather thongs — all of whom appeared to be adults.