4/10/15 - 3 Adventurer's quest across Meridian 59

     DarkEternis stood before the forest shrine, watching as the servant of Qor raised the corpse of another willing sacrifice. He struck down the zombie with a few quick strokes, as he had done more times than he wished to count. Blood soaked the earth, making the air taste metallic.  The entire business made him sick, but the money was good, and he was not paid to have opinions. He was paid for his sword, and his silence, nothing more.

      The necromancer abruptly left off his ritual, looking around warily. He tossed a bag of gold to Dark's feet, nodded, and then turned and disappeared through the forest. A cold chill went up the man's spine as he picked up the bag, which had already soaked completely through with blood. He snorted as he watched the thick, viscous liquid drip from the sack. Blood money indeed, he thought bitterly.

        The deep Forest of Farol went deathly quiet, a dread silence falling over the peaceful wood. Dark frowned and looked about him, but saw nothing but piles of melted flesh, bleached bones, and the silent sentinel statue that was LadyPhoenix. The sparse moonlight through the trees played shadows across the statue, making the usually benevolent face seem to glare balefully at him. He turned away quickly, not wanting to bear the imagined scrutiny. 

       He hefted his heavy pack across his back and made to leave the clearing when he heard a noise coming from above and behind him. He looked up into the trees, listening. The sound of rushing air and beating wings came to him louder and louder by the second. His eyes went wide as the entire canopy suddenly exploded into a maelstrom of shattered wood, flying leaves, and blowing detritus.

Amongst the tumult Dark could make out the huge winged form of what could only be one of the dreaded Dark Angels. They were Qor's most vile minions, no doubt attracted by the blood rituals performed in one of Meridian 59's holiest sites. 

     The warrior barely rolled out of the way of a fireball that crashed down where he had stood just moments before. Red, acrid steam billowed around him as he came up into a crouch, calling upon his patron god Kraanan for protection. The Dark Angel screamed its frustration, a horrible sound that was like metal scraping on metal. DarkEternis had to resist the urge to put his gauntlets over his ears. Instead he charged, raises a shield against another blast of fire from the creature. 

      A look of what might have been surprise spread across the beast's alien features as Dark closed the distance in moments. His sword, empowered by the blessings of Kraanan, lashed out with the speed of a snake, only barely being intercepted by the huge staff the twisted Angel was carrying. He knew he could not let the creature regain the initiative, so he pressed it viciously, striking again and again in precision strokes honed by years of training. The inhuman speed of the creature is all that kept it alive as the sword slid to the side, scoring hits that seemed to only enrage it. 

        Fire exploded from the staff, engulfing the desperate warrior. He staggered back, the magical protection of his god bearing the brunt of the attack. Even so, he smelled the telltale sign of burned hair and the heat of his armor pressing against him was nearly unbearable. He could not take many blows such as that one.

      As Dark righted himself he saw the abomination crouch, readying itself to spring from the ground and take to the air. If it was able to do so, it could rain fire down upon him at its leisure. He let our a snarl and leaped through the air towards the creature just as it began to make its own jump. With an overhead chop he came down on the center of the staff, the firm grip that the angel had on the weapon was enough to make it falter and fall off balance, but not enough to keep the weapon in its hands. The mystical conduit thumped hard to the ground, an impact that heralded the doom of its foul wielder. 

     The Dark Angel screamed again, this time in terror as DarkEternis' sword struck true once, twice, and then a third time. It held up its arms to shield itself, but to no avail. With a swift kick he set the beast on the ground, and as it struggled to rise, he put all the force of his momentum into a whirling attack, striking the head from the creature's body in one blow. The corpse tumbled to the ground, its black blood oozing into the crimson earth.

       Dark stood there for a time, breathing heavily. He moved to wipe his brow but saw his arms were covered in the gore of the thing he had killed. Instead he just sighed and shook his head. Looking down he saw the creature had been carrying several items. He tore the satchel from around the crumpled form and then plucked all of the intact feathers from its wings. They were filled with magical energy after all, and mages were always willing to pay a premium for such rare reagents. 

     He grunted as he tried to shoulder the now bulging pack, taking a few steps that sank deep into the soggy ground. Sighing again he took off his heavy scale armor and tossed it to the ground. Without the bulky mail he was able to just barely carry the load.

     The warrior and sometimes mercenary left the clearing, giving a snort of wry amusement as he again picked up the sack of gold that the necromancer had left for him. He had certainly earned his pay this night. Just a small ritual he need not concern himself with, the man had said. Typical mage bullshit. He was still stuffing the last of his loot into his pack when he noticed that it was even more quiet than he had noticed before. So quiet that the ringing in his ears seemed an almost deafening roar.

       Dark frowned, grunting, and then frowned more deeply. The grunt had not made any noise at all. He opened his mouth and barked a nondescript sound. Nothing. Now he was getting worried. He started tapping the side of his head, thinking he may have gone deaf in the fight. At that moment, he noticed movement in the trees. As the undergrowth silently parted he could see the vague shapes emerging from the forest. Boney shapes with misshapen features and horns, sinuous shapes with leathery wings, and even shambling forms that seemed to be wearing weapons on their bodies. As he looked closer he saw that their bodies were made of weapons. 

    "Shit," he said, or at least he thought he did. After all, he could not even hear it. 

 And the adventure didn't stop there! A mystical silence had fallen upon the Deep Forest of Farol. I could not even call my allies for aid. Without my armor I was left defenseless against the Thrashers, Daemon skeletons, and Narthyl Worms that now plagued the forest. I finally managed to run out to the Sweet Grass Prairie and sound the alarm.

Luckily Mithres and Drakey came to the call, and together we purged the forest of the evil, earning a few nice rewards in the process. A bonded purge long sword that Mithres picked up and a Jala herald I snagged were among the loot.

The adventure wasn't done there! Afterwards we found ourselves traveling to Castle Victoria, where an orc necromancer had called a nasty black spider, which spread its web across the bridge. If not for Mithres and his healing I would have surely died. One should not fight a super black spider naked I might add. Triple poison and stuck to webbing under it is just a recipe for disaster!

Once we vanquished the black spider and its queen (Rat mask dropped!) , we exited the Castle only to find that Ukgoth had been invaded by a diseased yeti and a horde of ice monsters. It was a hard battle, but the three of us won through, and Mithres even found a nice purge Neru on the yeti!

After hours of questing, the three adventurers took their piles of loot and went and had some mugs of stout at the Cibilo Creek inn, where Mayhem teleported everyone to join in on our revelry =).

Tons of fun! We also were rewarded with experience towards our next hit point. So don't forget to come out to the events.

HAIL MAYHEM for another epic event, and HAIL to Mithres and Drakey for pulling my ass out of the fire in the Forest of Farol, as well as out from under a big ass spider =P.