Fable - Ask The Kind Sage

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Aludus Maxxil

Traveling Sage
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A scream is heard throughout the forest. A young farm hand is on the ground, screaming for help. A figure of pure shadow, emanating with hate, is standing over him. Its eyes grey with death, its body appearing to hold no mass. Yet, it's handless arms slash at the boys stomach. Blood spills from him. The creature intends to kill.

Suddenly a great flash of light, and the being shrieks and awful shriek, vanishing from site. The elderly figure of Aludus Maxxil comes into the boy's view. He kneels down beside him. His eyes a stunning crystal blue. His smile draws the boy in. Aludus' smiles have always been magic. Having an almost calming effect on even the most powerful of foes. Clutching his left hand, clearly in pain from whatever spell he had just cast, "Everything is alright now, son. The creature is gone."

As if the forest was angered by the assumptions of a foolish old man, a large dire wolf leaps out in front of the two. Growling, drooling, with eyes only for them. Aludus holds the boy close. They are in great danger.
 
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There it was. The beast he had been tracking. Grey of pelt and huge of claw.

Will you finally let me eat again, Garrod? Came the familiar voice of his gauntlet. It's jewel shimmering gleeful as the monster hunter stayed cloaked in the shrubs beneath the pelt a pelt of leaves and shit.

Piss off you bloody demon, I don't need to hear you right now. His mind grumbled as his hand tightened around the hilt of his greatsword, and his muscles twitched with anticipation. If he timed it right, if the creature just came a little closer he would be able to...

It's great head lurched up, it's golden eyes aglow narrowed and its hackles stood up as a low and angry sound rumbled from its throat.

"Bloody fucking piss...." Garrod growled as he hefted himself up and off the forest floor. But before he could spring forward and bring down his sword, the wolf sprang away. "Fuck!" He shouted, and hurried on after it.

Oh goodie... he heard the thing inside his gauntlet go giddy. You'll need me, Garrod, you'll need me if you want to bring that monster down.

There was a flash ahead, bright as lightning, but he could hear the great wolf still barreling forward, still undeterred by the cast of mana. He adjusted his grip, held his sword low and angled his body for the cut to come. Mindful of trees and branches. The undergrowth broke, they were in the clear and the wolf was before him as he sprang forward with a hot blooded shout. Both hands took hold of the greatsword's hilt, and he swung the large blade up and across, hoping to slice open the fiend's side and end in a high guard.

Aludus Maxxil
 
Aludus prepared for the oncoming attack by the rabid dire wolf. He held the injured farm hand close, and reached into his satchel in anticipation of a fight he wasn't sure he could win. He had just used a powerful spell, and his body wasn't what it used to be. His right hand ached from soreness. It ached from age.

The boy was terrified, and his wounds looked bad. If they were to survive this confrontation, Aludus would need to dress the boy quickly.

What happened next was almost too quick to follow. The old sage was prepared for the wolf's lunge, when a strange man sprang from the wood. Slashing the beast with a massive greatsword. The streams of crimson blood that poured from the hound made it clear. The blow had landed..

Remarkably, the beast wasn't finished, and turned its attentions to the new challenger. With the wolf's back to him, Aludus felt he had a perfect chance to make a move. He quickly reached into his satchel. Aludus pulled out five olive-green seeds, each one adorned with a drop of blood. He tossed the seeds at the hind legs of the wolf. After a moment, the seeds sank into the earth below. After another beat, vines crept from the grass, reaching out for the nearest living target. Before the dire wolf could react, a vine entangled each of his limbs, with the fifth one creeping and making its way for his neck.
 
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Blood sprayed in red ribbons and splashed hot and dark across his arms and face. His sword held high, its great blade angled across him and out to impede the turning wolf which snarled and snapped at him. Garrod smirked as the wolf's dagger teeth gnashed and its jowls slathered and dripped rabid fury.

"Bloody beast..." he cursed as his feet grounded to the earth and he kept the adrenaline and anxiety from locking his legs. Deep breaths, and a soft posture helped him stay the wounded monster with quick shifts of his blade. The wolf's lunge resulting in gashes and wounds shallow, but enough to hold it back, enough to have it bleed more of its life's blood.

Oh, Garrod, this one looks lovely! Please, please! You must let me feed on it, you must let me...

A growl hot with frustration erupted from the swordsman's throat as he stabbed forward, and the beast twisted around his blade. He cursed, tucked his chin to his chest and tired to hide behind the jagged bone of his right pauldron. But when he expected to be snatched up by giant jaws, instead, the wolf was frozen, strangled by vines that grew rampant across its its limbs and about its neck. The monster struggled, growls and snapping jaws to tear away at the vegetation.

Now was his chance.

With a heft, Garrod swung his sword up, the slab of blued steel caught the sun and its edge was illuminated by the day star's light. The sword came down with a crushing weight.
 
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With a final swing of the stranger's mighty sword, the beast was defeated."What a bloody mess, Aludus thought to himself. He looked down to his side. The young man was looking worse by the second. Aludus wasn't even sure if the boy was conscious at this point. He laid the farm hand down onto the blood-stained grass.

"Pardon me," he called out to the stranger, "I don't suppose you'd mind offering us some more aid over here. This boy has been wounded pretty badly, and I don't think he'll stay with us much longer. We need to carry him under that oak over there." He took a light cloth out from his satchel, and began to dab the boy's sweaty forehead. From there he moved the rag to the open wound on the lad's stomach. It stretched fully across his abdomen, and reeked a stench of rotting death. He applied as much pressure as an old man's hands allowed. The bleeding refused to stop. A great evil was pulling it from the boy.

Garrod Arlette
 
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Breath, heavy and panted, left the living swordsman as the creature's head rolled across the dirt road. "A bloody mess indeed." He echoed as he sucked air down into his frame. Sweat beaded at his brow, and his arms felt heavy. It was a harder kill than he would've liked.

"Pardon me," came the old man's call, and it pulled Garrod out of his daze. He turned and found the site of the young man losing his life's blood. The swordsman nodded, and made to move towards them when he felt his sword snag.His eye snapped down to his blade and saw the tangling root twisting and snaring the blood coated steel. A growl came from his throat as he ripped it free from the greedy brush, and he hurried over to the old man and the dying boy.

The reek of the wound was most foul, and the stench gave Garrod pause.

Mmm, how lovely...

Garrod grit his teeth and laid down his weapon. Quickly and tenderly he scooped the boy who was so split open and hurried under the Oak. Beneath its branches and shade, he rested the boy, and watched with wide and focused eye as he drew his ragged breaths.

"Tell me, what else can I do?"

You could let me mark him, Garrod, you could let me mark him and have me take in his soul. The hollow echo that was Belephus snickered and sneered in his mind.
Aludus Maxxil
 
The man was very willing to help, which was good. However, once the dying boy was placed by the oak. Aludus sensed something happening inside the warrior's mind. He seemed to fade away, and the old sage thought for a moment that he felt another presence in the man. "Oh, well, would you mind fetching some water. I fear this young man must be very dehydrated." He continued dabbing the boy's forehead. He didn't have long now...

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Essentially interrupting Garrod Arlette 's inner dialogue with Belephus, came a dark and shadowed whisper. It felt as if it emanated from within Garrod himself,
"Thissss boy is claimed. Hissss sssoul belongssss to meee."
 
Garrod's face pinched and a snarl flashed through his teeth. Not at the old man's request, but at the sound of Belephus slithering like so much breeze through the branches of his mind. Still, he managed a terse nod at the old sage. He turned on his heels and put some steps between them, having enough presence of mind to remember the water skin in his pack. He'd get it after he retrieved his sword.

Come Garrod, you know I would grow stronger, you know I would be of greater service to you, the voice came louder and louder with each shadowy supplication.

Until there came the voice of another. "Thissss boy is claimed. Hissss sssoul belongssss to meee."

The sound turned Garrod still, his eye wide and full of shock as he stood above his rested blade.

To you? Belephus mocked, Don't make me laugh, you second rate ghoul! Garrod, you see now? We will be doing this boy a..."

"Enough!" He forced under his breath, his voice a rumbling roar muted in his throat. Belephus grew silent, and Garrod picked up his sword.

Before too long, Garrod appeared at the old man's side, half-full waterskin gluging and sloshing as water tended to do inside leather bladders. "Will this be enough?" He asked the old man, new sweat running down the side of his face. His eye was wide, as if a tiny mirror made unnaturally larger. Thin and fragile.
 
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