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Stitia, Plane of 13 Deaths (RPG Style Saga/My First Saga)
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@EpicBoss99 “Ah! Hahaha! We did it! He’s dead- oh- anyways. So, Nelson... I told you not to get yourself into this mess. And here you are.” Joseph hangs Nelson over the well. “How did you get that ring?!”
“I’m not sorry, so you know. Since you refused to share your information with me, I decided to sneak a peek in your pretty journal. Day after day I cracked your code! I made a ring of my own!”
Verth’s attention is immediately directed to the conversation. He just witnessed the creation of the ring; the mythril had to be blessed, so how did Nelson make one?
“Shame on me. I never expected anyone to break the cipher. But that means you have to die.” Joseph’s hand tightens on Nelson as his he starts to wheeze. “And if anyone else knows, I’ll find out... and they’ll have to die too. My knowledge, is none of your business! This whole ordeal, you didn’t need to get involved in!” Bones begin to break as an ephemeral glow fades from Nelson into Joseph’s spirit. Joseph uses his free hand to remove the bronzish ring from Nelson’s hand. Nelson’s eyes roll back as his soul is absorbed, and with extreme force, his body is thrown into the well. Following suit with the second body, this time of Timothy, Joseph spitefully kicks in his skull before mumbling, then slams his body into the well. Joseph strikes a nearby lantern, throwing it in too, then throws in a bottle of alcohol. The bodies are burned, and it is safe to say neither of them are coming back.
“So... I take it this belongs to you?” Joseph holds up the ring. Verth rushes over to Joseph, but he holds back the ring. “I’m coming with you. Uvras needs to be notified immediately. I hate to admit, but in my curiosity, I did some research and reverse engineered Timothy’s ring. I hoped it might help me, but after one night with that thing on, I destroyed it. Should of destroyed mein research while I was at it. Speaking of which, I need to stop by my house. Now that he’s dead, no one needs a single word on him. I’ll keep the page on the ring so I can give it to Uvras.”
(And a very powerful one, being an auramancer)
I have a small army of werwolves and a crew, how hard can it be to track down this guy? My only concern Is wether or not this guy is lying, or if the other guy... thing... was even his boyfriend.
You oblige, setting out to find the only bar in this lonesome town. Sure enough, the barkeep inside matches the man’s description.
“Hey there, tall, dark and gruesome. Didn’t think I’d see you around here.” You sit at the bar. “So, Teegar...” The barkeep pours himself a drink. “You here on business, or pleasure?”
How you try to respond to this question, and what you do, is up to you. You could trying to question him, without being suspicious of course, or, you could just deal with them.
"I'm here for quick money, looking for some clerics who owe me a corpse. I have things to do so I'll be leaving Padetra soon...
So yeah, maybe I do need a little pleasure for a change."
I make a strong eye contact as I use both my own spiritual training and Teegar's demonic talent to discern this man's words without him noticing.
"I have some gold left and a couple relics i'm not using, shouldn't be hard to sell to the black market here in Padetra. What do you have for a man my size?"
If I'm killing this man, I might as well go deeper in this place. Steal a thing or two.
Investigate. Leave.
The man is lost in thoughts, and doesn’t know what to think. He goes to start pouring you a drink, when he decides to dump out the cup. He sets aside what he was pouring, and grabs something different. A bottle of Nutheport Ale. You try to make out what he was about to pour, a clear liquid, and on the bottle, you see three faintly inscribed Z’s. It’s a good thing you did what you did... With your manipulation, you managed to avoid getting poisoned.
“Well, seeing as you’re accustomed to the tastes and culture of Etsane, I might as well serve you their finest.” Something that actually tastes good for a change. Sadly, they don’t serve any food here, but at least the drink should settle your appetite to go expensive.
“Anyways... I need to tell you something. Someone paid me to put you to sleep. Said something about leaving your passed out self here so they could take you to see some... Cant Scythe or something.” Did he mean Khantsievth? This isn’t good. All this time, and you forgot what kind of being you were possessing. Demons have deals... pacts... it is likely that Teegar has dealt with Khantsievth before...
“I don’t know who gave me it though. They plopped down a shiny 10000G and a paper and left. All I saw was their long, orange hair as they walked out.” Long, orange hair? This is getting ridiculous. So this strange man wants you to kill this barkeep, yet the barkeep says he payed him to poison you, and a strange spirit called him a murderer...
What will you do with this new information?
Find your missing guard members
"This Bahn Gheshin is doing the job that has been trained to do, we can't go against him, but our guards had a duty and pledged loyalty, they can't be let them loose thinking they can cross me without any consequence, provide Ana with some equipment, like a crossbow and blessed bolts, let them die in suffering, and if you have time, deliver a note for Bahn Gheshin that we know about the attack, but we will not retaliate for now"
"Very well, Vryx. I will meet you in Descour in three days time. I wish you nothing but the best-" Verth paused, turning to see Joseph suffocating the other lycanthrope hunter. Joseph mentioned something about the other man deciphering Joseph's secret code, but Verth could'nt pick up anything else in the ensuing fight. Verth assumed that the hunter's knowledge led Joseph's spirit to this unbridled anger. Verth tried to reach them to break the fight up, but he was too late. Joseph murdered the other man.
After seeing Joseph's violent episode, Verth's suspicion of the auramancer's spirit grew exponentially. Did he absolutely have to kill the hunter? Sure, he had created another ring, but the punishment that he received was uncalled for. Verth needed to keep an eye on Joseph, especially after he volunteered to join Verth on his crusade. But before Verth could return to his old friend, he needed to get medical attention for his broken nose. "I'm glad that I'll have your help in Delvad. Before we go, do you know of any doctors that could treat my injuries?" Verth asked Joseph. This was the first time Verth was injured in a fight since becoming a wereraven. Shouldn't he have a healing factor, much like the other lycanthropes he has encountered? If so, why didn't it kick in? He made a mental note to ask Uvras about this when he arrived in Delvad.
"Listen, I'm not here to get killed and neither are you... This orange-haired guy is a problem, he seems to be setting people against each other and I'm the biggest prize. I might have a way to stop him, but you have to split the gold with me."
I lean closer and lower my voice. Fortunately I'm not just a warmongering demon or I would be down by some bartender's poison by now.
"I should be able to separate my spirit and body temporarily, I have some experience doing it. You can show him my body while I hide nearby. Ask everything you can about this contract and leave pretending not to know anything. I will ambush him with my crew and recover my body after that."
He obviously couldn't fight me. If I can get my hand on this guy's throat, I will know for sure what the hell Is going on. Unfortunately I can't use my smarter crew for this ambush, only brainless zombies and werewolves that answer like dogs to a fight or else they would see Teegar do something unusual and suspect.
"I'd be able to heal you... but you don't trust me anymore, do you? There isn't anyone around here that could tend your wounds without magic except the Dawnwood, but judging by the service they gave to the angel and the cat, I could probably accomplish more relocating your nose with my bare hands and patching you up with leaves. The choice there is up to you."
"Joseph! Is that you?!" Konrad comes over to give Joseph a friendly pat on the back.
"You might not want to touch me now, Konrad. I just got finished killing a werehyena with my bare hand, and it wasn't exactly a spill-free process."
"EEP! You're-... covered in blood!" Konrad recoils. "Why do you have to kill people?!"
"It may seem morbid, but trust me. I've refused to sell my soul, but I definitely ain't going anywhere pretty at this rate. I may seem like a major *******, but everything I do is for the better good. That man... If he read my pages on the ring, in which he did, he was a threat to the whole plane. Even with that Layre gone, there’s still big game out there that could leverage such a powerful artifact.”
“Erm- Anyways... once you’re done getting that filth off of you-“
With a snap of Joseph’s finger, the blood runs off of him, forming an orb of energy in the air, and it flows into him.
“Ew! You really shouldn’t partake in the blood arts-“
“They only sort of dealing I do with demons is jamming an axe in their skull.”
Konrad sighs. Apparently, Konrad was also not used to this side of Joseph. “So... since... you’re still, uh... ‘alive’, technically, I was wondering if you could come with me to the Duskwood Territory. I think I’m going to renew my vow.”
“What’s wrong? Are you still scared of the dark? Afraid that... a werewolf might come out and-“
“AH!” Joseph brushes an ephemeral claw across Konrad, startling him. “Never do that again!”
“I take that as a yes.” Joseph laughs as he retreats the claws. “So... Verth. Do you mind if my jumpy friend comes along?”
You look behind you, and there he is again. That orange haired man, his eyes tantalizing you.
Here you are. The orange haired man wants you killing this bartender, he wants the bartender to be putting you to sleep, and a spirit wants you killing the orange haired man. He looks through the window with a snide grin and wide eyes, watching, waiting.
“He’s not going to leave until something happens.” Now’s the time to act. Choose what actions you will take, and who, if anyone, you will be engaging.
Verth paused and stared in disbelief at Joseph after hearing his remark. Did he hear that correctly? Layre, the ringleader of the werewolves in Delvad, and Verth's entire reason for fighting, was dead? That's impossible. Even after a month of training, Verth still didn't feel like he stood a chance to Layre's raw power. How did Joseph, who was so easily murdered by Timothy, who was clearly overpowered by just four individuals? However, those questions weren't as important as the next question that Verth asked himself: what now? He has spent a month making alliances with Vryx, Arlin, Joseph, Arne, and the Duskwood, fighting endlessly to take down one werewolf, and now his mission had been completed by someone else. Verth could finally stop fighting and try to live a normal life. Or at least, the most normal life a wereraven could have.
"Layre....is...dead?" Verth stammered in shock. With Joseph's confirmation, Verth's life work would be complete.
“You... didn’t know? Well... probably not. See... I may have gotten killed by that stupid hyena, but he got the jump on me. Tore me to shreds before I could do a thing. Layre...” Joseph starts laughing again. “He was another story entirely. I found who he really was. The biggest mistake you can make, being an apex predator like him, is to let your human identity become known. At night, werewolves could be all-powerful and grand. But... during the day, they’re just a stronger than usual human. He made the mistake of treading in my territory during the day, and then... out like a light. He was tough, yes... but he wasn’t tough enough to block a few good blows from my hatchet.” Joseph is gleaming, breathing heavily. “And a good bite, when it got close to nine.”
Note: Couldn’t find decent art for Scarf, so, even though it’s not relevant, he’s now an elf. Also... he aged.
(Wish Danny could actually be played. Mono Red gets a non-tribal commander >;3)
If this guy works for Khantsievt, he has to be the least trustworthy. It's time to confront him.
I get up and walk to the Thief of Hearts. "Hey! I'm too busy to be playing around."
I open my claw and engage against him, I'm not sure I would be ready to leave Teegar's body and become Teil the spirit again in this state, plus, I have too many people at my command. I have to get rid of him NOW, with violence.
"NO MORE GAMES!" I run to grab their throat...
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I gather all my power and focus on making this the most painful experience this guy, and anyone that tries to get near, will ever feel. Only someone willing to drain his own body of blood like me can imagine to create this agony, suddenly, small flashbacks of the moment where my friends were making me into a semi-corpse to be sold come back, it wasn't just traumatizing for my brain, that pain got embedded deep in my soul, I can almost hear their voices and see one of them not having the stomach to do it, puking in a bucket while the others laugh, it is... Somehow beautiful, they feel like home.
Enough of that, this should damage this orange head enough to leave him screaming on the floor. Or kill him.
From what he could tell from his story, Joseph was telling the truth. His words shocked Verth more than anything he had seen in Racrion. Layre really did die by Joseph's hands. Now Verth could return to his life as a scholar, working through non-violent means to make Delvad, Ystheria, and all of Stitia a better place. But was this really the right thing to do? To simply abandon the allies he has made for the sake of comfort and safety? With the rise of Timothy's power, there surely were more threats that faced Stitia. Could Verth bring himself to ignore these enemies? At this point, Verth found himself extremely conflicted. The monster he originally sought to kill was dead. Not only that, but he saved the Duskwood from Vryx's revenge and slayed Timothy, the Layre of Racrion. Was it time for Verth to end the fight? On the other hand, everyone around him knew that evil wasn't fully vanquished with the deaths of Timothy and Layre. Was there an even greater evil on the horizon, much like the High Bloodelf prophesied?
Fortunately for the troubled Verth, he had the flight to Uvras' hut to make a decision. Until then, he decided to focus on the problems at hand. "Words cannot describe how thankful I am for your actions. With the death of Layre means the safety of Ystheria and the liberation of Delvad," Verth eagerly thanked Joseph. "As for Konrad, he is absolutely welcome to join us. He clearly proved that he wants to help. It would also be helpful to have a direct connection to my allies in the Duskwood Clan."