Astrid spat on the ground in request to Agatha's question, a look of disgust passing over her face.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue">"They are filthy, wretched creatures, the spawn of Loken, Thorims brother and blood enemy. They hollow out the earth with their tunnels and gnaw at the roots of the world. When they venture to the surface they do nothing but consume food and breed. They are a menace and we kill them whenever the opportunity arises."</span><br/><br/>The vrykul woman seemed unphased by the exotic magics exhibited by her companions as she continued forward, spear in one hand and torch in the other. For all their mistrust of the other races, the Vrykul had little prejudice towards the powers that the Alliance and Horde might consider inherintly good or evil. To them magic was either a tool or a thing of spirituality, it was how one used that power that mattered. At least, that was what Astrid had always believed, but as she continued deeper into the cave, she could feel her skin crawling with an unseen presence. She was a Hyldnir hunter, she could track her pray across the smooth dunes of snow of the peaks, her senses were sharp and her instincts well honed, and when she was young the elders had said there was a trace of the shaman in her. Now, everything in her being told her that the force that tainted this placed, and animated the horrors that had assaulted her hunting party, was *evil*. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she crept forward, the torchlight revealing a sharp bend in the tunnel ahead.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue">"The creatures that lair here now are <i>Unkynde</i>. The closest word in your language would be "abomination."</span><br/><br/>Astrid motioned the party to halt as she crouched and snuck forward. One might expect someone of that size to make some noise, but the huntress was as silent as a shadow cast on the frozen snow as she moved forwards to peak around the corner. After a few moments of tense waiting she straightened and waved them onwards again. THe tunnel continued a short way after the bend and then opened up into an oblong cavernous space, some 15 feet wide and twice as much long. There was still no sign of life, hostile or otherwise, however the cavern was far from empty. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, almost a dozen, contorted in the final spasms of a violent death.  Astrid advanced into the cave, casting her torchlight onto the corpses. The dead were a blend of several races, mostly humans and blood elves, but a pair of orcs and even a night elf lay amongst the bodies as well. They were all clad in chainmail coats that had a strange, dark red color to it, and most of them were armed with serrated knives and short, hacking swords or axes. The huntress threw the bodies a few glances as she continued towards the far end of the cave where she knelt down to examine something, the faintest flicker of crimson light threw her form into relief as she did so.<br/><br/>Those who joined her to see what she had discovered, would find a strange pictogram scorched onto the floor of the cave, some 1 by 1 feet in size. It was an angular, jagged shape, a thing of pointed ends and sharp curves that seemed to seethe and tremble at the edge of vision, like a knife hiding in the shadows, ready to strike, or the executioners axe held high. Some strange instinct would worm its way into the minds of those nearby, that they should take care to touch it lest they might cut themselves on its edges. The Hyldnir traced a slow finger over the faintly glowing symbol, red staining her fingertip as she drew it away, bringing it to her nose to sniff at it.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue">"Blood. Fresh too by the looks of it, but judging from the tracks these bodies have been here for days..."</span><br/><br/>Should Diarrah choose to inspect the symbol, she would feel that odd presence at the back of her skull undulate with agitation, a wave of seething, instinctual hatred coursing through her mind as the worm in her head squirmed and gnawed, a single concept forming in her perception as she watched the jagged symbol:<i>Hated enemy</i>.<br/><br/>((OOC: Astrid now has a text color. whee<img alt=":p" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie7" src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" title="Stick Out Tongue    :p"/>)<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>