Open Chronicles Killing Grief

[Thane Jackdaw]

Beybrook,
Eastern Frontier of Liadain

The Joyous Bird was anything but its name. Usually, inns in villages were filled to the top and booming with merry voices and the ringing of cheering mugs. Not here. If anything, it reminded Thane of a long abandoned cemetery where nature had all but consumed even the tallest of tombstones. Half of the chandeliers remained unlit casting impenetrable shadows in the corners of the inn. Only a few tables were busy, mainly by loners. All seemed to be mourning silently to the drinks before them.

Not a soul acknowledged him even with a thought when he entered.

He gave long lasting glances at each of the taken tables before approaching the innkeeper who polished a glass with his apron with such melancholy that he might've been cleaning that glass for years without a moment of rest.

"Innkeeper."

"Room rates for a night go for-" he began, still mesmerized by the polishing of the glass.

"I am looking for work." Thane interrupted him. "I am a monster hunter."

The innkeeper's eyes widened and he dropped the glass to the floor crashing to pieces. Not much of a reaction came from the rest of the tables.

"A monster hunter?!" the inkeeper's voice grew with astonishment...and hope? "Yes, yes, we have work for your kind!"

Thane listened.

"We are on the brink of collapse here, hunter! Nielip, our blacksmith - the poor ol'sod, has gone mad and after him a few more of the folks. Good folks too. They've gone up in the woods and come down every other night murdering the rest o' us and stealing the cattle. The king sent hunting parties. Once, twice. None came back and the king dismissed the issue, as if it doesn't exist but he still wants his taxes! Taxes we cannot pay because everything we make, Nielip and his cursed band take."

"Monsters but the type of which I do not hunt." Thane dismissed them as marauders and turned to leave.

"Wait, hunter! It all started with the epidemic. Nielip's only daughter died to it, along with a few other folks' kids. They ceased to work, shut themselves inside the house with grief their only friend." the innkeeper explained and Thane stopped midway, half turning to the man to listen. "All hell broke loose a week after. The mourners went mad and the killing began. More of us died when we drove them off to the woods but ever since then we are helpless to their forays."

Thane remained silent with a frown materializing on his face.

"Well, hunter?"

"This will cost you, innkeeper." Thane stated as he faced the man. "You will only pay me after I finish the contract."

"Nothing in advance?" he raised an eyebrow. Usually, monster hunters demanded payment in advance, or at least a portion of the payment.

"Nowhere to spend coins in the afterlife." the monster hunter replied tonelessly.

 

[Ashara Raja]

Winds howled through the evening air, trees on either side of the road rustled and shivered as the lone horse carrying the desert girl trotted into the small town of Beybrook. It was about as far east as Ashara had ever travelled, and far enough away from what she had grown accustomed to.

A smile crossed her face, looking through the dreary town as she guided the horse towards the stables near an inn. “Perfect,” she muttered to herself with a pleased tone. She swung her leg over the saddle, dropping from the stirrups before handing the reins to a dirty looking stable boy. “Now, take good care of him, okay. I want him to be your new favorite,” Ash said, bending down to address the young child directly. “If you do,” A coin appeared between her fingers, “There will be more where that came from.” The child grinned, taking the gold coin and stowing it away in a pocket before leading the animal away into the shelter with a little more pip in his step.

Ash raised an eyebrow, but let the boy hustle away with her horse. She needed a drink, a hot meal, and a warm bath before she was going to worry about anything else. The girl turned on her heel and made for a grummy-looking inn nearby named the ‘Joyous Bird’ which upon entering Ashara concluded it must have been an ironic name.

Dust and darkness claimed most of the space, many of the tables were claimed by a single being, with only a few pairs or trios scattered within. The atmosphere was one of doom and gloom, something the would-be bard knew all about, even if it seemed self-defeating. As she strode through the tavern towards the bar a few eyes may have glanced up, but no one spoke out. The old innkeeper was speaking to a tall, snow-maned man while cleaning a glass. Ash strode quietly, straining her ears to listen in as she approached doing her best to listen and not draw their attention to herself. They spoke of raids and epidemics. And of course, cost.

“One ale sir.” She placed a silver coin on the counter, spinning it with a flick of her fingers. “Or wine, if you have any good reds.” Ashara didn’t have much left in her pouches, not after having paid for the stables and given the boy a gold piece for his troubles. She might have enough for her meal and a room if the dark-skinned woman chose to stay that long, but also her interest was piqued.

“If mourners are the problem, you lot should probably get a good bard to sing merry tunes just in case.” She quipped playfully, certain that wasn’t the problem but trying to make light of their plight for humor’s sake. “Right, good sir hunter?”

Thane Jackdaw

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

Another guest entered the inn just as the host was parting ways with the hunter. Thane gave her a short lived glance. If it wasn't for her obvious physical distinguishable features of a young woman from the distant lands of the Amol-Kalit, it would be her merry mood in heavy contrast with the town that would recognize her as a foreigner. The question of what was a Kaliti doing so far east passed through his mind but dissipated under the weight of his current contract.

“If mourners are the problem, you lot should probably get a good bard to sing merry tunes just in case.” She quipped playfully, certain that wasn’t the problem but trying to make light of their plight for humor’s sake. “Right, good sir hunter?”

The monster hunter's gaze lasted a bit longer at her.

"It won't help." he stated as-a-matter-of-factly and headed towards the door of the establishment.

"Unfortunately, the hunter's right, lady." the innkeeper said as he produced a mug of ale in front of her. All the good red wine was gone as an interest on late payment to the king. "Beybrook is dying under the weight of a murderous band of possessed folks living in the woods..." he continued further on by telling her exactly what he had just told the monster hunter.

Including the monetary reward.

Whether the desire for coin outweighed her need for meal and beer was all up to the Kaliti.

Ashara Raja

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

"A murderous band of possessed folk in need of a cure," The young-looking woman said as she slid up to the bar.

She wore clothes simple and unadorned but had the air of wisdom beyond her years. Her delicate hands, callused from work, gave the impression of weakness with the feel of strength. She was a paradox of sorts. Like a funhouse mirror that was close enough to the truth recognize but far enough away to be a lie.

"I'm here to talk about curing those souls, Master innkeeper." She continued with a grave form of confidence. Her obvious concern tempered with a determination usually lost on the young.

She turned to the man with his shoulder slung sword.

"Unless of course, murder is your only talent."

 

[Harrier]

"Guessing it's not his only talent!" a certain drunk necromancer catcalled, eyeing the monster hunter's butt.

She went back to her drink. A gristo eel's head bobbed in the liquor. Its five eyes blinked mournfully.

 

[Ashara Raja]

Ashara took up the mug placed in front of her and sipped from the chilled mug as she listened to the innkeeper’s tale with disinterest on her features, watching another young woman enter the inn and address the white-haired hunter as he made his way out of the inn. She was young and in simple clothing in sharp contrast to the satins, colors, and jewelry Ash wore, her own chest jingling whenever she walked from the large necklace.

Another woman made a comment that drew Ash’s eyes lower on the monster hunter’s form. She hadn’t looked too closely before, but if it was going to be thrown out there, the young woman was going to see if there was anything she liked. And, yeah, there probably was.

<Possessed people doesn’t sound like fun, but these people need someone.> Ash thought quietly to herself. She patted her coin pouch, and other than one or two gold hidden elsewhere on her person, it felt rather light after the long journey from the deserts of Amol-Kalit to where she had begun her long trek. Gold wouldn’t hurt her intentions and though the town didn’t have much to spare, she wouldn’t mind having a bit more to line her purse.

Ash’s understanding of magic was entirely rudimentary and fundamental. “Hmm, well.” She muttered, finishing off the drink in her hands. “It seems more heads are better than one, missssss...” The caramel woman paused, gesturing for the new arrival’s name. “Hopefully you decide to come with us!” Ash exclaimed as she set her mug down on the counter and hurried back after the monster hunter.

“Hiya, wait up!”

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

"Unless of course, murder is your only talent."

"Guessing it's not his only talent!"

He frowned at the short young girl's comment but then another harlot from the depths of the inn muttered something he unfortunately caught with his ears. Thane peeped at his backside for an instant and something close to a blush formed across his face.

"Hmm." the monster hunter grumbled and swiftly turned his head back to the exit hiding the brief redness.

Thane was just removing the straps holding a black cloth wrapping his silver sword from his horse when a voice from behind called out to him. For a moment he dreaded it might be the patron admiring his back parts but the dangling of jewelry informed him it was the Kaliti. He deduced the innkeeper's surprising charisma, or coin, had made her mind up.

"Don't throw your life away. Stay put." he said tonelessly as he tossed a backpack over the sheath on his back, not eyeing the woman at all.

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn Harrier

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

Ceridwen looked at the taller darker skinned woman and gave a small smile that seemed like it wasn't all that common.

"Ceridwen L...just Ceridwen." She said as she pushed too few locks of her long slivered hair from a still youthful face.

At the man's comment she rounded on him. Her eyes flared with an almost imperceptible inner light. The slight scent of rain that seemed to cling to her grew more pronounced for the briefest moment.

"You think somehow a big strapping man is better suited to this than a woman who knows what she's about?" She said with tone that was reminiscent of a bon fire kept at bay, "Tell me, Oh great brave man, how do you cure an Alpor? Or the difference between a moola and a bruxa? No? Maybe you could tell me the best herb to burn if you want to keep monsters away as you sleep? If you don't then maybe you should stay here and not throw your life away. Leave this to the professionals."

She flipped her hair and gathered her bag and satchel from its place on the floor. She looked back as she grabbed a bow and spear from the weapon rack at the door, shook her head at the man, and went back out into the evening air.

 

[Ashara Raja]

Ash smiled at the woman and then hurried to catch up to the monster hunter making his exit, the girl following suit. It was clear that both of them knew a lot more about monsters and creatures than she did, Bruxa? Moola? Both were names she wasn’t even vaguely familiar with. However, it wasn’t in her to leave anything up the professionals. She was so good at so many things, perhaps Ash also possessed a talent for monster hunting.

“Hmm,” the desert girl mused as she got up alongside Thane, adjusting her coat around her shoulders, boots squelching in mud as she walked. She echoed him, deepening her voice in a jest, “No.” She said in her best impression of his voice. Where as Ceridwen wore clothing meant for the rugged weather, and Thane wore light armor under his cloak, Ashara wore light cotton tunic, low-cut around the chest and short around her legs, simple trousers, and tall boots up to the middle of her thighs. Her colorful accessories and jacket marked her as an outsider immediately. The lone longsword on her hip was the only visible weapon she possessed, though a dagger tucked into her boot wasn’t ever far from her hand.

The other woman exited just behind the pair, “Nice to have you along Ceridwen, I’m Ashara.” She dipped her voice low, feigning a whisper with a playful, “I’m pretty sure he’s worried about splitting the reward is all.” Gold eyes flicked back through the dim-light to the tall, snow-maned hunter, trudging through the evening light.

“You might as well accept it, you are stuck with me. Us.” She corrected after a seconds pause, her hand gesturing to Ceridwen. “We can haggle over percentages when its done, but I’ll agree to take a smaller share if it puts your mind at ease.” It wasn’t about the money, though it would certainly help her. These people didn’t have enough to afford paying out for three monster hunters, and Ash wasn’t the kind of person to ‘eliminate’ partners for greater reward.

“So, let’s get introductions out of the way. I’m Ashara of Elbion.”

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

...Maybe you could tell me the best herb to burn if you want to keep monsters away as you sleep?...

"It's not a herb." Thane uttered seriously but then added with a vague smirk. "To keep monsters away as you sleep you pay your local hunter's guild." the humor seemed in ridiculous contrast to his rather stoic and nearly expressionless face to the point some would see it hilarious and others just...weird.

The fair skinned lady was as insolent as they got but he couldn't deny she surprised him with her knowledge of monster hunting business. Especially when she showed no traits of being a hunter herself. Odd, and something for Thane to monitor cautiously.

Ashara mentioned the hunter might be worried for the split of the reward. She wasn't completely wrong but what bothered him more was that he believed these two had no idea of what they were going up in the woods to face. He learned the value of life when he 'lost' it a decade or so ago.

He stood for a while simply staring at the two without uttering word before he gave up on trying to force them to stay put.

"Thane." abruptly, he ventured towards the woods. The hunter prayed they did not follow but that was not to be the case.

----
​

"Because you two have no value of your lives, let me explain..." Thane sighed as they continued their trek up a slope in the woods following the trail of the cursed marauders. "...the monster is a shade called griefeater. Incorporeal. It prays on those stricken by grief, possesses them and uses the host body to sate their bloodthirst. It usually affects only one person but...there's been rare cases where it can possess a number of people."

Whether it were multiple shades or just one didn't help the group's odds. One shade with one host body was already a challenge on its own right. He wasn't completely sure if his hunting rune magic would be able to drag the shade out of its hosts. One shade, one host - most likely. In this case - not likely. Thane would try to save the hosts but wasn't convinced he would be able to.

The trail finally led them to a dimly lit camp. Growls, snarls and another brooding noises could be heard while creeping silhouettes shuffled around it. Muffling all that was the obnoxious sound of gnawing. Thane could make it out nearly a dozen of men and women. Great.

"Taking them head on won't save the possessed." let alone us, he thought to himself. "Luring them into a trap is our best shot."

"Any of you useful in entrapment magic and distraction?" he asked crouching behind the thicket and laying down the cloth wrap on the ground. Thane unfurled it and revealed the shining silver sword which he would need to fight the griefeater/s.

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

"A pleasure," the young woman said to the darker skinned woman as she turned toward the big brave hunter as he started to talk.

The girl looked at the man for a second, his severe looking face at odds with his words, then she let out a very unladylike snort. She covered her mouth with a small hand shook her head, sending her long dark hair into her face for a moment. She pushed her hair back over her head and let it fall around her shoulders as she worked to keep a straight face.

"Humor doesn't cover ignorance." She said through tight lips, a smile pushed off her face.

She headed off toward the woods making certain to show she was most definitely not following him. They just happened to be going the same direction. She pushed her hair over one slightly pointed half-elf ear as he spoke about the creature possessing the people. This was dire.

"Even trapped and distracted the shade could drain those people or start them murding eachother while you fought." She said knowingly, "And even if you win there may be none left to call saved. AND you need to fight it IN its lair to banish it or it will just retreat there to begin again immediately. I swear, you men just want to run about stabbing your swords into things with no thought to the consequences."

 

[Ashara Raja]

“Now, now.” Ash whispered with a smile and a nod, stowing her hat on the ground for later. It was good for keeping the sun off her face, but the wide brim and feathers nothing more than a distraction, making it difficult to sneak through the woods now that they were close enough to the marauder encampment to hear their muffled sounds.

“We need problem solving.” the desert girl looked to Ceridwen, “And we need some communication.” Ash reached out to touch Thane’s shoulder delicately, hoping to reassure the two and be the voice of reason. They needed to be unified or they were going to be killed. Even though they were both attractive, Ash didn’t know either of them well enough to die while rushing to save them. She'd try, but the caramel girl wasn't about to fight a battle she couldn't win.

“I can cast some basic spells, maybe even put some of them to sleep, but since the shade feeds on emotion, not to brag, but I can cast the heck out of spells that numb or soothe emotions.” Or beguile a weak-willed being if she needed. “Anyone know what would happen if a host suddenly wasn’t feeling intense grief due to such a spell?” It wasn’t the best plan in the world, and she neglected to tell them she was a novice, even if she practiced charm and beguiling spells often, and wasn’t particularly magically gifted. Ash hid her concern that either of her companions might be traumatized in a manner that would attract this so-called Griefeater, but maybe she wouldn’t need to worry about it, and if it became a problem, maybe her beguiling spells would help keep the creatures at bay. Who could be sad if they were infatuated with someone as great as she was?

“Now, hun.” Gold eyes peered through the darkness at Thane while the dark-skinned girl tightened the buckles on her boots and removed her jacket, folding it and laying the clothing on the ground, her hat being placed upon it. “I’m a walking distraction, so tell me where you need me.” Once she had done that, Ash removed four tiny vials from a pouch and placed them in between her fingers, each small glass containing a small set of herbs or objects she used to empower her spell-casting abilities.

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

"Hngh" he gnarled. For an emotionless man, Thane was certainly irritated. Cursing the hour this know-it-all half-elf appeared. "Let me do my god damn job, woman."

A soft touch on his shoulder slightly soothed the fuming cinder. The Kaliti was right - arguing would turn this into a lethal mess, but so was the half-elf. For whatever reason, the latter seemed far too knowledgeable of monster hunting matters. Not many possessed the knowledge reserved to the hunter's profession.

"We don't have time to seek its lair out. They will soon move down on the town again." Thane said as he produced a glass from his hardened leather jerkin. "We'll have to make due with what we have."

He poured the oily liquid from the vial upon the silver sword in front of him.

"Steel for humans, silver for monsters." the monster hunter muttered to himself and then continued. "Numbing the emotions will work for distraction. The shade, or shades, keen on holding control will attack you desperately. I will keep them off you till we gather all of them around us then I will cast a rune spell - it will further amplify your spell on driving the shades out of the hosts and it will make them corporeal within the area of the rune."

Thane paused, reluctant on turning any attention to the half-elf know-it-all but gave up.

"You." he grumbled turning his cat-like eyes at her. "The shades need to be kept there. We banish them there. Whatever you can come up with to help, do it. Otherwise - stay out of the way."

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

"Why you trumped up, half-wit, slack jawed, boneless, scruffy looking, sheep shagger." She fumed.

"I-" she closed her mouth and chewed down her remaining venomous response as she thought about those poor people, "I'll do my part. You have my word."

She hefted her spear over her shoulder and began reciting words of an incantation under her breath. She shot a look at the other woman and gave a nod a the slightest hint of a smile as they drew further into the woods. She could already smell human sweat and that sweet smell of sickness that clings to the infected. These people were dying, slowly, painfully, and they needed her more than she needed her pride right now.

She swore she would do no harm and take no life when she wandered into that little village and made herself one of them. She only hoped she could save them before the sword jockey slew them to banish the malevolent shade. The smell of fresh rain grew as she began building the incantation.

 

[Ashara Raja]

<Well, at least I’m not useless.> The desert girl thought to herself silently, etching a sigil on a tree as she prepared to go be the distraction and lure a bunch of angry, murderous, possessed marauders to chase her through a darkened forest. The sigil wasn’t one she was very familiar with, intended to summon bright light when the incantation was uttered and the caster’s blood pressed to it. Maybe it would stun the group chasing her, maybe the shade would be stricken by it. She didn’t know, it was just regular light at the end of the day.

“Don’t get too upset hun,” It was now or never to say anything they wanted to before it got started. “When it’s over, we can all get drinks and get to know one another properly. Be all nice and cuddly with each other and stuff.” Ash grunted as she rose from the ground, smoothing out her cream-colored tunic that she used as a very short dress. “Alright, wish me luck and don’t let them kill me.”

The desert girl broke from the pair up a small hill, crawling on all fours through wet leaves and soft earth. Moss rubbed on her palms as she felt around for twigs or branches that might give her away before she had reached the knoll where she intended to start upsetting the horrifying specter or specters that possessed all these poor people.

<Well, wouldn’t be the first time something horrible chased me. This’ll still be better than the Elbionese professor, these ones will be wearing pants and probably won’t be morbidly fat.> The girl grinned devilishly as she recalled some old robberies from her past just before the girl crested the hill, looking down into the encampment. A few simple hutches had been constructed, just the bare minimum to provide shelter from the rain and cold during the daylight hours around a partially destroyed church that looked older than the village they had come from. It was burnt, with one side charred and crumbling away while the stones held up, slowly eroding from time and weather.

“Here goes,” she muttered under her breath. “OI!” A simple spell empowered her voice, reverberating through the night air. The fingers of her right hand twisted around her sword hilt as she extended her left hand, fingers held in an awkward sign. With a clench of her hand muscles, Ash broke the first of the vials in her hand. “Akaûma!” The melodious note rose into the air from her throat, a magical sigil appeared in the air as the vial in her palm burned into nothingness, consumed by the Law of Price. One of the marauders was struck, white light burning away the darkness from his mouth and eyes as he was taken by the spell, all emotion purged from him as he stood in a daze.

The rest were not so immobilized. A feral scream echoed from the remainder as the entire group started up the hill towards the girl at a breakneck pace, urged on by the dark spirit within them recognizing the mild threat to its meal. “Shit.” Ashara snapped another vial and contorted her hand into a different hand sign, “Dædlata!” The vial and its contents were consumed once more causing the ones closest to her to stumble and begin running slowly, as though they were moving through water.

With that, the girl turned to run through the woods and have them chase her back towards her friends.

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

He admitted - the half-elf did have a surprisingly rich cursing language. And he did have a high standard on surprises. Nonetheless, the monster hunter ignored her along with the odd cheerful comments Ashara made. It was wherever he went, always the weird ones flocked. Thane doubted the two of them knew the monster they were going up against. Even Ceridwen with all of her knowledge.

Dying was quite possible.

Spurred by Ashara's spells, the host bodies of the shade charged like moths to a flame. Dusk hid the numerous wounds, gashes and illnesses evident on the peasants' bodies all the result of the shade's lack of a human's self-preserving needs. How many of this poor sods would die from a sickness attained during their possession? How many would fall under his sword when he failed to keep their ravenous advance on Ashara? It seemed that with every choice he made, there was no victory in it. Was this the lesser evil?

The quest for answers was muted when his silver sword clashed with the rusty chipped machete of the local butcher. From his other side, the large stableman nearly clubbed him to death before Thane lightly maneuvered away with a step on his toes. He leaned back from the upcoming slash of the butcher and brought his sword up in a surgical crescent opening a wound across the man's elbow and shoulder. The touch of silver hissed and a unearthly screech could be heard. The shade.

There was nothing to revel about.

Driven by its sudden exposure to weakness, both Ashara's incantations and silver, the shade's peasants threw their bodies right at them aiming to topple them and stop them by any means necessary. It was no longer a battle of swords, clubs and axes but of teeth and claws.

The butcher's wife jumped at him with no disregard for the sharpness of his blade and Thane's moment of hesitance cost him. He slid left but too slow. She grabbed his arm and bit deep into his wrist to which roared and punched her a few feet away with a broken jaw and nose. The monster hunter did not have the comfort of checking if all of the possessed were in range. Panting, he quickly drew a rune in the air manifesting a circle of purple energy on the ground in a diameter of around ten feet. The same screeches grew stronger and intensified as the peasants slowed down and the rune aimed tried to suck the shades out of the bodies.

"Anytime now!" he growled at the half-elf.

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

"Pa pouvwa Latè, Pa pouvwa a nan Air, Pa pouvwa a nan dife, Pa pouvwa Dlo." She began to chant as the white haired blowhard began to engage, "Pa lavi a nan san an ki ap viv la. Se pou ou lonbraj sispann. Retounen mal ou a ki kote li vini! Fè mo ou yo ak zèv ou yo tounen vin jwenn ou! Jan ou ta vle yo pou mwen pou mwen! Mwen anile ou!"

The spell sent a wave of sliver light over the crowd. This was her gambit, her ploy to save them, but the risk was great. Save these lives and it would be worth it. The wave crashed through them and ripped blackness from them as it passed.

The darkness, like the murk of a dense forest at night, broke away to the perimeter of her spell. Then she began to focus on the next portion of her plan. She thought about Prassan, the dark copper skin that glistened like polished gold in the sunlight. The way they would curl up together on the boulders in the sun and dry off after swimming in the mountain lake. Those big dark eyes like pools of starry night as they gazed out toward the horizon. The pain like it was the new rose in Cerdiwin's chest.

She forced herself to remember the burning forest, the arrows bristling from Prassan's body. The black spear being thrust through that huge heart that was filled with such love and kindness. She fell to her knees as tears began to stream down her tan cheeks. Her heart ached, it hurt to breath and she cursed her perfect memory. She wanted to tear the world apart to have that one soul back, and she couldn't save it.

The shade felt the grief. She could feel its attention like a hungry dog watching a butcher at his work. She almost wanted to let it have her, kill her slowly and at least exchange one pain for another until it finaly would end.

It came for her. This would only work if the hunter could kill it before it reached her or kill her with it inside her. But the people for now, were free.

 

[Ashara Raja]

Chaos erupted as she ran past her allies, leading the enraged shade and it’s slaves into the trap that had been set for them. Thane’s runes trapped them in a small circle, not forever, probably not for very long. Ash twisted her body, dropping to slide with her foot and hip in the leaves and dirt to a stop, rolling back to her feet with sword springing from its sheath.

Much more interestingly, Ceridwen’s spell sending blinding light to settle over the crowd of marauders, and slowly it manifested. As tears streamed down the beautiful woman’s face, sorrow and loss plastered across her features, aching through her body language as clearly as any written word, Ashara understood. Ceridwen had relieved the marauders of their intense emotions and opened herself up to her own. Perhaps taking on some of their pain and regret, to make herself a more suitable host. Clearly, the brunette woman needed a hug after everything was over, but for now, Ash could only feel pity for the woman for having born such feelings of burden. Unfortunate, undeserved, pity rather than the respect she should have fostered.

​

Sickly black traces shimmered, scattering and shifting in the darkness as the shade materialized. Or as much materialization as such a creature could be said to possess. It lurched in Ceridwen’s direction in a jerky, unnatural gait though it's form lacked legs, Ash stood, frozen. Fear paralyzed her muscles, muddled her mind. Such a thing shouldn’t exist, surely. And yet here it was.

<What was it Boros liked to say? You can only have courage when you are afraid?>

Ash stuck out her hand, crunching another vial in her hand. Tiny shards of glass cut into her skin as she shoved out her palm in Thane’s direction. Maybe he didn’t need help? Maybe he needed something else from her? But, the only thing that Ash could focus on was surviving this encounter with fear and suffering made manifest. “Modthracu!” The word of power screamed from her lungs, screeching into the night air. The magic ensorcelled the monster slayer, bolstering his will and his body with what was left of her magical endurance, admittedly not much, but all she had left to give.

Ash panted, gold eyes looking to the marauders once more, hoping they weren’t possessed any longer or under the creature’s influence. <Just do like I did when I robbed that professor.>

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[denheim]

It appeared much like a thrall - mind overtaken by powers beyond its own. But Arathos knew better - well he didn't, but he could see that this writhing peasant in his grip was not a thrall. 'Possessed?'

It was certainly possible. After all, there were many undead things in the world that could overtake a host's body; then again, he was no Monster Hunter and identifying this thing wasn't his area of expertise. His eyes trailed over the gnashing, thrashing, human whose throat he'd wrapped his fingers around in an attempt to keep it from dirtying his clothes any more than it already had. Sighing, the vampire lifted up the 'possessed' peasant and bared his long fangs.

It'd been an entire day since he last fed. No one's really going to miss one messed up peasant, right? With that in mind, he sunk his fangs into the writhing peasant's neck and drained the man in seconds - ignoring the strange 'shade' thing that began to emerge from the peasant's mouth. Finally, after an entire minute, Arathos dropped the blood-drained body to the ground and watched is it sagged, pale and lifeless.

"Ah, that's better..."

He turned to the eastern side of the forest, eyes narrowed in creeping curiosity at the strange scents that invaded his senses. He could've just continued on to the nearby village, but dusk had settled and he had plenty of time to move in the darkness if he so wished it. Shrugging, the ancient vampire disappeared from sight - becoming one with the shadows as he drifted in and around the trees of the dark woods.

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

​

Even without his enhanced hearing, even amidst the battle of life and death Thane could hear the half-elf casting the spell. He turned to look at her with eyes widened in horror and rage, and a hatchet buried itself straight into his chest.

"No!" he roared but it was too late.

A wave of silver light crashed upon the crowd of possessed peasants and monster hunter. There was no word to describe the feeling when light sought to purge the darkness. Once, before that pivotal moment, this would've not affected him. Once, when he was human. A mixture of memories flushed into his mind.

"...what story..."

"...why, the oldest - light versus dark."

"his robes...wind of invisible voices...screaming."

"...rejoice, death is not the end..."

And he saw them. In the depths of this blinding light. Silhouettes with no faces but it was them. A woman carrying a child.

"Lorelei..." he heard himself groan even though his lips did not move.

"...rejoice, death is not the end..."

The silhouette offered a shadowy hand, yet one full of love.

"For you..."

He reached out to grasp the hand and felt himself smiling just like on the day he had met her. A tear of joy rolled down his cheek.

“Mod&thorn;racu!” ​

The engulfing light and silhouettes were shattered to trillions of pieces forever replaced by reality. The same old shit world of sentient meat.

It took him a moment to realize the peasants were free and the shade's desperate but decisive dart at Ceridwen. They were free, lost for words but free. Ashara was no longer the bait, nor was his spell the trap. It all became the half-elf.

"Fuck!" the monster hunter growled both at her reckless plan and at the hatchet in his chest. Yet, he felt a surge of power in his mind and body. Only a glance at the Kaliti told him it was her doing.

Thane picked himself up along with the silver blade in hand and rushed after the shade. Hungry for the intense grief Ceridwen offered her, there was no catching it once it possessed her and there was no telling what it could do with her powers. In a last ditch effort to catch up to it, the monster hunter lunged forward unnaturally far and feinted an attack mid air. The dark tendrils it had as limbs caught his sword wielding wrist and brought him upwards in the air. The other pair of tendrils formed into a spear and skewered him. Nothing should stay in its way to feed on grief. Out of 'limbs', and that is when Thane released the grip of his sword catching it his other hand and stabbing forward.

The screech of a thousand voices, of a thousand deaths echoed in his mind as the shade shattered like shrapnel. He only remembered the soft damp dirt beneath his back before all turned black.

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[Ceridwen Laidyn]

She sprang to her feet as the hunter fell, the stubborn bastard seemed to demand to do everything the hard way. She scrambled across the ground, her spear forgotten, and rolled him over and pressed an ear to his chest.

Nothing.

No breath, no heartbeat, silence. She couldn't believe it.

"Idiot." She growled, with an almost animal voice before calling to their companion, "Help me please!"

She checked him for tonics or potions and found three, all would kill most men, but at this distance she could sense he was not most men. She could feel as much, and more, when her spell had been working. She took one, Swallow it was called colloquially, it helped with regeneration and poured it into his mouth then massaged his throat like she was trying to throttle him.

"Flè, briye ak lumineux. Fè pouvwa ou briye. Fè revèy revèy la. Pote tounen sa yon fwa te mwen." She spoke as a dull silver light began to glow inside her throat, "Geri sa ki te blese. Chanje konsepsyon desten yo. Sove sa ki te pèdi a. Pote tounen sa yon fwa te mwen. Ki sa ki yon fwa te mwen yo ye."

As the words flowed from her the light moved up her throat until her eyes glowed and mouth shown around the words. Her healing magic was old. Different than rune magic but similar in age. The light inside her built and she opened the man's mouth again and brought hers a breath from it then breathed the light across the small gap until it rooted in the man. It would be up to him and their friend now. She had given all it was in her power to give. Now he had to choose life.

 

[Ashara Raja]

The specter lashed out, impaling the hunter. It’s primal scream shook the kaliti to her core, but she held her ground despite all her thoughts screaming to run. Instead, she lurched forward, pumping her legs running on instinct towards the hunter and his prey, the unnatural specter of cruelty. One step, two. Gold eyes looked on at the half-elf sorceress that lured it out from its hosts, the monster hunter doing battle. The former possessed villagers were still in a daze, groaning. Some of their sad sobs of loss and the sudden shock of being released left them catatonic, but they were alive.

And what had she done? Nothing but bait.

Another step forward and Thane’s sword plunged through the creature, shattering its form like glass against a stone wall around himself. Ashara was a great many things, and many more could be said about her. But hero? Healer? She was decidedly not those things. The girl slid to the ground beside him and Ceridwen’s bodies, placing her hands on his wound without hesitation. He was impaled, organs damaged no doubt. Her time spent with one of Elbion’s college students had not covered anatomy in depth, but the girl new enough to make some guesses about his injury.

Ash pressed her hands against his wound tightly, applying pressure to it, though she could do little for the exit wound. “Gealdor.” She whispered, her magic faint. Practically emptied of her ability to cast for the time being. What trickle she managed to pour into the man the girl hoped would give him the will to fight on, in that in his wounded state it might be enough to enamor him to the Kaliti for a time giving him a reason to choose life.

That was the only trick she could think of, not being an herbalist or a healer of any sort. Maybe it was enough.

“Come on Thane, you still have to buy me drinks after this.” Soft eyes darted up to Ceridwen, pain in her expression. “Tear my tunic for bandages unless you got some.”

Thane Jackdaw Ceridwen Laidyn

 

[denheim]

Blood

The smell of it was ever potent in the air; that sweet vitae he craved so much, now only hundreds of meters away. If he had been one of the more bestial vampires, then Arathos might've sprinted off and given in to the thrill of the hunt and the savagery of his curse. But he did not reach 400 years of age by being careless. He would not rush in to devour - no matter how much he wanted to - no, not when there was something...strange in the scent of blood, something magical laced in the smell of iron - something that made it seem as if the blood was tainted.

'How curious...'

He stopped just shy of twenty meters, just enough for him to see the source of the blood. A white-haired man who seemed very much unconscious, surrounded by the bewildered faces of peasants and farmers. Among the filthy mortals were two others worthy of his regard; both women - one appeared to hail from the desert land of Amol-Kalit, and the other had the looks of an elf, but the scent of a human. 'Most curious...'

All of them appeared drained from some sort of excursion. 'Strange...I see no corpses of their enemies...who were they fighting?'

His eyes darted to and fro and could only find faint traces of any actual battle occurring; save for a few wounds and bruises on some of the peasants, none of them appeared heavily injured - except for the white-haired man, that is.

'Most curious, indeed...'

The vampire watched and waited, and grew bored of watching and waiting. And so, with a tired sigh, the ancient being decided to give them a little scare before he'd move into town. He heaved back, bracing against the trees, and unleashed an bone-chilling roar that echoed across the forest. Birds flew off their perches, and the wildlife fled at random and panicked motions, running towards the bloodied group.

'Hehe...'

 

[Thane Jackdaw]

Wheeled carts passed by, hooves knocking the new pavement. Merchants carried on with their wares outshouting each other announcing their arrival and the goods they brought. Children yelled about and hurried down the street playing tag. One tripped, cried and the rest laughed. A platoon of gnome artisans nearly trampled him before an enchantress novice from the College picked him up and scolded him. He ran off cursing her before he tripped again, this time at an invisible obstacle. His following cries were muffled under the weight of a troupe of musicians who decided it was a good time to start playing the Hymn of Elbion in the worst possible tonality. For whatever reason, someone deaf to the art of music but completely self-assured of his skills thought it was a good idea to start blowing a trombone completely chaotically. A moment later a carafe crashed into pieces. The trombone was never heard of again.

In all this enjoyable and hateful madness, Lorelei guided him to the place of his dreams - the perfect cube of timber and clay with a triangular cap of straw. To all, it was simply yet another house propping up to overpopulate the already congested Merchants' Quarter of Elbion. The lot itself costed triple the house but Lorelei had insisted - she was used to the bustle of the merchant's quarter, the life on a farm in the Elbion outskirts would've erased that unforgettable smile forever. And Thane was hardly capable of declining her.

"Thane?"

"Huh?" the monster hunter shook his head.

"Are you listening?"

"Y...yes." he lied. Mesmerized from the fact his dream was no longer a dream, Thane could hardly hear anything else going on outside of his head. A house, a wife. A family.

"Sure you were." she narrowed her eyes but gave him a soft kiss. "I said the carpets are bound to come tomorrow with my father. Garik said he'd bring firewood in the afternoon, so I will need help lighting up the fire. You know I'd end up torching the place if left to do it by myself."

Thane hardly cared. He would sleep on the floor if he had to. He finally had a house. A family.

"Right. I know." he said and smiled finally tearing his eyes from the house and to his wife. "Your parents were to join us for dinner tonight. I am to go to the dwarf and get the Belle Barbaresco from the Aniri. Vintage edition, merlot. The steaks are ready for picking from the gnome, so I will have to pick that up and the cheese. Bread and pastry from Mayflour."

She stared at him astonished. A grin slowly curved her face.

"Thane? Dear, have you actually started writing down stuff like I told you so you can finally remember?"

"No. I remember fine. My memory's fine."

Her grin disappeared. Her face turned pale, dead-like with eyes staring into the abyss. The sky darkened. The merchants' carts evaporated. The Hymn of Elbion was nowhere to be heard. The child cried no more. The platoon of gnomes merged into a dough of skin twisting and wobbling, slowly taking shape. He reached for his sword at his back but it was nowhere to be found.

"Do you remember?" Lorelei asked with a foreign voice. Cold as the ship shattering winds of the blighted sea.

He tried to speak but nothing happened.

"Do you remember how late you were, Thane Jackdaw?"

The dough of skin materialized into the darkest, worst nightmare. The dark sorcerer. His jaw lacking, hacked away then by the monster hunter's silver sword. His tongue hanged down to his neck. In the gaping maw black fire burned. Inside it he could see, he could feel the ritual. He could hear the cries, the grief, the mourning, the regret. His own.

"Flè, briye ak lumineux. Fè pouvwa ou briye. Fè revèy revèy la. Pote tounen sa yon fwa te mwen. Geri sa ki te blese. Chanje konsepsyon desten yo. Sove sa ki te pèdi a. Pote tounen sa yon fwa te mwen. Ki sa ki yon fwa te mwen yo ye."

He heard himself repeat but in a voice not his own.

Light began encompassing his surroundings. Blinding light. Its source invisible. As if someone had taken a glowing rubber and had started savagely erasing a painting he righteously despised. Something touched his lips-

“Gealdor.”

The light exploded and there was only darkness.

Finally.
.
..
...

“Come on Thane, you still have to buy me drinks after this.” he heard someone say. “Tear my tunic for bandages unless you got some.”

With a groan the monster hunter fought back his eyelids to see two blurred faces. He blinked a few times and the blur disappeared to reveal the distasteful half-elf and the ever careless Kaliti.

I should've died.

He wasn't sure whether he referred to then or now.

Pain burned in his chest and the warm taste of blood filled his mouth. He spat to the side and noticed the gathered crowd.

So we did it.

Once upon a time, he would've found the empathy to smile. There, at the hearth. In his home. With his family.

He only managed half.

"You picked the right potion." Thane stated, feeling the familiar intoxication of Swallow course through his system. He glanced at Ashara. "Elf's lucky day."

Ashara Raja Ceridwen Laidyn