I was waiting for days in that dungeon. I was tasked to look into the case of some disappearing people form a small village in the east, called weepingmoss-upon-tyne, a border village still inhabited by it's native gnoll diaspora populace. The language barrier between the guard and the villagers was difficult but we had assistance from the governor, who was born and raised in the region. Our investigation had led us into the burial mounds, large hills where the gnolls that followed the new traditions buried their dead. Apparently the missing people had gone to pay respects to their ancestors, carrying small trinkets made of bone embedded with precious metals. Perhaps there were some bandits in the area due to the fact that getting an actual garrison out here is a politically dicey move.

When we arrived at the threshold, the entire mound was surrounded by markers and ropes, without which we would have thought it was a normal hill. We followed the instruction the locals gave us to find the entrance into the mound, it was dark and had a musty smell to it but as expected of the gnolls, it was well kept, not a spot of dust nor dirt past about a few meters from the entrance. The hallways and passages in the place were cramped and wide enough to fit two people side by side if they were shimmying past each other with torches. That's when it happened. I was the first knocked out, being at the back of the formation.

As I came back too I was restrained, in a cage in a dark cave, dimly lit with candles and incense. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I looked around, I saw the guard... thing! A sketch will be included in my report but it was a shock to lay my eyes upon it. I could hear screaming of my comrades, who knows what horrors were being commited to them. I looked at the wall and saw the insignia of the Cordyceps Syndicate. I was in the lair of a necromancer! And my team was being experimented on, used as live subjects! In the situation, feeling hopeless I slumped over, staring at the floor, resigned to my fate of torturous pain...

A bloodcurdling screech of distinct surprise pierced my ears... I didn't recognize this one. A tall muscular figure walked into the room. The guardian beast left in charge stood to its feet to challenge whatever this haiiry thing was, but it was simply picked up with one hand and crushed into the floor in a splatter of rotten flesh. From behind the hairy fiend walked out a purple gnoll, one of the natives perhaps?

"Good job, I think that's all of them.... Oh. A survivor. We're not here to hurt you" The gnoll picked the lock to my cage, struggling just a bit, then he came to undo the bindings "Looks like they didn't have the chance to touch you. You're provincial military form the looks of it, is that right?"

"Yes, from the provincial capital, Fleurdulac, we were sent to investigate a missing persons case... looks like we got more than we bargained for" I responded, standing up, still shaking.

"You're in good hands. I'm a Profanerjaeger, I guess you guys would call it a "witch hunter". Mercilessly finding and hunting necromancers and those that would disturb the dead. Let's get you back, I'll have my assistants search for other survivors."