The crossing into Mirkwood had seemed difficult, thought Kiriaz, but the journey further east became increasingly more difficult. Even when the Necromancer had claimed Dol Guldur the forest had not been so dangerous.
Kiriaz felt as though he was wading through a sea of orcs, goblins, spiders and wolves. Then he came upon a seemingly welcome sight; friendly fires burned as a beacon from the Haunted Inn. A short march up the road was all it seemed, but in reality the Inn took some time to approach as spiders scurried down the nearby trees and sought to make a meal of the elf.
His shield held high, Kiriaz threw a javelin with all his might, which passed straight through the carapace of one of the advancing spiders. Then Kiriaz drew his sword and held it aloft, the blade gleaming with cold fury in the spiders' presence. The blade arced before Kiriaz, felling several spiders. The elf pushed forward with his shield, knocking back a spider in the process. A sharp pain raced up Kiriaz's leg, a spider's mandibles had pierced his leggings. He felt the venom course through his veins and weaken him. He was not going to die, not like this. Kiriaz performed a series of manouvers which, when done in the correct order, would enable him to cast a spell of healing.
His sword shone with a pale green light as the spell took effect. The venom still weakened him, but the wound closed up. The spiders clicked and hissed in irritation, but the fury of the elf's attacks made them retreat and hope that their venom killed their prey.
Kiriaz kept his weapons handy as he staggered toward the Inn. His leg felt limp, impeding his progress. But Kiriaz made it. He raised a hand to stay a Malledhrim warrior who had spotted him, "I will be fine, mellon," he said as he drew back his hood. The Malledhrim gave him a swift nod and returned to his post, though he kept an eye on Kiriaz as he limped to the door of the Inn.
Upon crossing the threshold, Kiriaz felt the grim atmosphere of the Inn, despite the crackling fires. Doing his best to hide his pain, Kiriaz crossed the common room to an empty table and set about treating the spider bite.
Many of the patrons of the Inn watched as Kiriaz rolled up the right leg of his pants, revealing pale green flesh around where the spider had bitten him, though no other markings existed. One elf approached him, curious about his ailments, "a spider bite," Kiriaz told her with a shrug. He dropped his pack and searched for a remedy, eventually pulling out a small vial. "You may want to look away while I treat this," Kiriaz commented.
Pulling a dagger from his belt, Kiriaz sliced open the section of his leg where he had been bitten. With a hiss, he poured some of the contents of the vial into the wound, then swallowed a mouthful. This had gained many grunts and gasps from patrons who had been watching, though Kiriaz ignored them as he searched for a second vial. This one was made from distilled essence of athelas as well as several other healing herbs.
Kiriaz pulled the stopper from the bottle with his teeth and poured some of the contents over his leg again, before swallowing the rest. The flesh of his leg began to crawl and slowly knit itself back together before the eyes of witnesses. Kiriaz closed his eyes, partially frowning as he meditated to speed up the healing process.
With a sigh, Kiriaz rolled the leg of his pants back down, noting the holes where the spider's fangs had pierced it. Heneatly packed the vials back into his bag and rose from his stool, crossed the inn and approached the bar-keep, "I will be requiring a room and the services of a tailor, if you know of any."
The inn-keeper pulled out a guest book, scanned over the rooms and nodded, his finger pointing at one room, "I have one room left, friend." He opened a drawer under the bar and withdrew a single key. "There's no tailors here, though," he continued, "you will have to seek one further down the road, I'm afraid."
Kiriaz nodded, thanked the bar-keep and walked down the hall to his room. His leg felt stiff as he strode into the room. A good night's rest and he would be ready to continue toward Dol Guldur.
