Dearly Departed

A quiet day befell the once beautiful town of Ace of Spades as Zar found himself walking through the dim lit streets with no clear objective in sight. He just felt as if tonight would be a good night to stretch his legs and enjoy the tranquility of silence that surrounded him. His attunement with the shadows was at its peak during this time of day, offering him strength like no other time could and a sense of empowerment over those within his domain made him feel maniacal almost. "Me? Maniacal?" He laughed at the thought and continued on his way, using his powers over the Shadow to casually disappear and reappear into another shadow meters away from where he once stood. He had grown much stronger over the past several months and was eager to try them out on real threats, but lately, with the state of the guild hall, not many people have come in to post jobs in such a dreary place. It would undoubtedly remain that way until our new guild master saw fit to change our misfortunes.

With his mind wandering and unintentionally unaware of his surroundings, Zar found himself walking headlong into a strange looking messenger. After collecting himself, he had a moment to examine the messenger who he found to be extremely odd as he wore a slick black pin striped suit. He dusted himself off and produced a letter from beneath his suit and presented it to Zar. "A letter for you sir." Zar took the letter from the man and as soon as he had the letter in hand the messenger swiftly walked away. The letter only had instructions to be given to Zar on the front, but not where it was sent from. He ripped open the letter at the seams and read it in his head, "Dear old friend I don't know if you remember me but I need your help. A strange curse has swept across my home land, destroying most of the population. I managed to escape, and am now in hiding, but while I was escaping from those creatures, one of them bit me. Within the envelope I have placed my current location I am currently at an old cabin in the cursed lands, please come as soon as you can as I am beginning to feel rather feverous. Yours Truly, Aeron Valros." That name struck Zar like a pike through a man's stomach, and sent his blood boiling. He had thought his friend long dead until this moment and now after so many years he may actually be dying? He would not stand for this! He used his Shadow Magic to swiftly race through the night on his way to save his friend, desperately hoping that there was still time to do so.

It took him little over an hour to reach the Cursed Lands by means of moving through the shadows, but he soon found himself staring out into what had to be the most depressing sight in all of Fiore. Dead trees littered the landscape with not a leaf in sight, and no crops grew from the dry barren soil that blanketed the land as far as the eye could see. He couldn't imagine why anyone would ever choose to live in a place that screamed the presence of death and decay. It was revolting, but at the same time his own powers felt at home here as shadow is technically a negative type of magic. It was the one added benefit of his friend being here. He scanned the horizon in search of any sort of home or hovel that his friend might be located in. He slowly walked forward; scanning from side to side until he finally came across a worn down house. Its roof was caved in on one side and the door was hanging off its hinges. Bones littered the entrance with matted blood stains strewn about the uneven surface. It smelled of death and rot much like the rest of this area, but it smelled fresh almost as if something had been here recently. He placed a hand on his greatsword, Grendvalir, and walked toward despair and a presumably terrifying sight just around the corner.

As he entered, he found the house to be much larger on the inside as opposed to the outside. The ceiling easily reached upwards of 3 men and was not open as an observation from the outside would conclude. He brandished his sword as he could feel something stirring in the darkness. He couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, but the foreboding presence encompassed the house as that much was certain. Growling came from behind him and the sound of something shuffling across the floor near him. He swiftly shadow stepped across the room and turned to face whatever had tried to creep up on him.

Monster Roll: 1/3

The member 'Zar Valarblood' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

What he saw as he turned to face the threat was something from fairy tales told by superstitious nut jobs, and village fools. It was a white apparition floating toward Zar at eye height, but its length was only 4ft. He could see directly through it so it must be a transparent being as ghosts were said to be. This was an enemy that no physical attack could easily vanquish. It would also do Zar well to stay a fair distance away from the being since its abilities worked much like his own magic in the sense that it could possess his body if he were weak enough to have his strength overcome. The ghost, whose appearance mirrored that of a widowed woman in her 30's, inched closer and closer to him as she passed through the table and chairs that separated them.
He wanted to study its attack patterns before he made any move to destroy the creature, so he allowed it to lunge at him. It narrowly missed, but he felt a weird tingling feeling as it passed by and realized it hadn't tried to merely harm him but instead it had attempted to take over his body. Zar was none too thrilled about the idea of someone else controlling his movements and decided it would be better off defeating this foe and collecting any remains it left behind. Zar called upon the shadows that marred the interior of the house and sent a barrage of spectral beings, twelve to be exact, all homing in on the ghost and slamming into it until it was nothing more than a pile of goop. Zar smirked and produced a vial from the lining of his coat and collected the greenish-slop off the ground and corked in before placing it into his coat lining once more. A thorough search of the house after the fight revealed there to be nothing of value left in the residence and Zar deemed it fit to move on and continue the search for his friend.

The search through the desolate wasteland has continued to prove uneventful since the encounter with the ghost well over half an hour ago, but Zar was more than determined to find his friend and bring him to safety. He kept his sword drawn and ready ever since the ghost so that his guard would be up no matter what befell him. It was a precaution he should have taken the moment he entered these Cursed lands and one that could have cost any lesser mage their life in an instant. He settled on coming to terms with the fact that he had made a mistake and chose not to dwell on it any longer under these particular circumstances.

Moving swiftly through the shadows, he took his time combing through the remains of wagons, buildings, carcasses, and even hollowed trees for even a semblance of the smallest clue that would lead him to his friends whereabouts. The wind began to pick up, carrying soot and dust across the landscape that slowly covered up the few footprints he had left while stopping to look into broken down buildings. It was not a good sign for any tracks or sign that his friend had passed through here; they would have more than likely been swept away by the heavy winds blowing through here periodically. He would have to hurry his search if he was ever to find him.

Making his way through the lands, Zar stumbled upon a mostly intact carriage. It bore no marks of tampering, but the horses that pulled the large cart were nowhere insight along with the driver. What did remain with the carriage was the cargo and a letter of writ issuing the sale of goods to one Aeron Valros, the friend he had thought lost. Things were looking up for him as the letter also noted that he was to travel to a cabin that resided in a wooded area through the cursed lands. That explained why anyone would risk their lives coming through here. With the information in hand Zar set out to his new destination with excitement building within at things they would have to talk about after almost 10 years of separation. It would most likely end with tankards of booe drained into their stomachs. It was all he could hope for when he finally found Aeron and brought the duo back to challenge the world together.

Monster roll: 2/3.

The member 'Zar Valarblood' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

The note from the wagon gave no clear location of the cabin other than it was directly east through the Cursed Lands and through the dying forest that marked the end of them. He trekked on foot the remainder of the way to conserve his magical energy for whatever may lie ahead as he felt his luck would soon run out with how long it had been since the ghost encounter. As he neared the forest it became eerily quiet; the wind had died down to a faint hum tickling his cheek and then vanishing without a trace. It was as if it were saying goodbye to him and showed itself away from his presence; this did not bode well for his health. He still had his sword in his right hand as he entered the forest, cautiously moving his head side to side in case of anything trying to flank him and take him by surprise.

Just as before entering the forest there was no wind blowing through the trees. They all lie dormant while watching the intruder enter their territory in search of the single abandoned cabin that resided within its dark embrace of nature. The trees were thick for most of the way, but began to thin out as the area began to open up and he could see the faint flicker of light in the distance. As he neared the light became more visibly shown through the partially open door of the abandoned cabin. A sigh of relief passed out of him and his guard was lowered slightly; a move he would soon regret.

As he left the forest and came closer to the house a deafening wail came from Zar's right and as he turned the ghost was upon him and attempting to possess him. With his guard having been down, the ghost had the advantage and Zar could feel himself fighting for control over his body, feeling the invading presence pressing against his own consciousness. Thankfully he wasn't weak and was able to expel the creature to be blasted away by his shadows. He was mere meters away from his best friend and he had almost been lost to a simple ghost because of his careless excitement. For the remainder of his time here he needed to block all thoughts from his mind until he got Aeron to safety. With that he brushed himself off and walked carefully to the front door of the cabin and slowly opened the creaking door.

Monster roll 3/3

The member 'Zar Valarblood' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

(already fought two ghosts so i'm just going to say that the boss is what was rolled to fit the narrative.)

The moment Zar opened the door to the cabin, it exploded right back in his face and sent him sprawling into the open field. He was dazed and his recovery was slow with the world spinning around him as if he'd just been hit by a train. His vision remained blurred for a few moments later as he saw movement coming from the doorway as a creature swiftly dashed out, and stopped to stare him down. The creature seemed to be sizing Zar up to judge what kind of resistance he'd put up before it continued its attack. When his vision finally began to return to him he could finally see what had attacked him and it was a horrifying sight; it was Aeron, but his face was sunken with bloodshot, soulless eyes filled with hunger as they darted back and forth, looking around for any additional prey.

Zar was frozen with shock at the sight of his friend turned into a freakish monster hell bent on killing him. This was nothing that he had hoped for when coming on this expedition to the cursed lands. It filled him with self hate and resentment of his weakness; He could have been quicker; he could have stayed with his childhood friend; he could have taken him with him to become a mage, but none of that could happen now because of his inability to keep anyone safe. No, it wasn't his fault that his friend chose to go alone with no security to guard him. It wasn't his fault that he chose not to ask for his or the guild's protection as he traversed the badlands. It was Aeron's weakness that had gotten him killed. His inability to prepare properly for a dangerous trek through a unholy land such as this would not rest on Zar's shoulders.

Zar gathered his strength through the shadows created by the moonlit night to prepare his volley upon his former friend. Aeron noticed this shift in the air and began to charge him. Zar would show no mercy to his former friend. He was gone and this was the only rational thing he could do for him at this point. Aeron jumped at him but ended up flying past him as Zar teleported into his shadow and thrusted his sword into his friend's leg causing blood to pour out. Aeron's gurgled screams were agonizing and loud, but did nothing to distract Zar from his attempted backslash which he took with his upraised weapon. Zar's close proximity to his enemy began to heal his wounds by stealing the life force from Aeron. To keep Aeron stationary he used his sword's innate ability to call forth tendrils of shadow to spear and root him to the ground. He fought against the restraints and began gnawing at them frantically as Zar stared at him coldly. Slowly, he moved inches from Aeron as he tried snapping at him and looked directly into his eyes, "Goodbye old friend." The shadows form a pulsating orb around Aeron's chest that pulsed faster as time passed by. Zar backed away and launched a final blast of shadows at Aeron, setting off the shadow bomb that blew his rotting body into oblivion. It wasn't what he wanted for his friend, but it was enough to send him on his way. Regardless of what they once had, it was all over now and he had a reward to collect.

Final word count: 2549/2250
Monster rolls: 3/3