Year 21

When you first started messing around with Lisa, she was just like all the other young Dert girls that had started taking an interest in you when you started coming around a lot more. Just a bored girl that found you to be a spark of excitement in her backwards little village.

Lisa however, stood out mainly because she wasn’t naïve or outright stupid like rest. (You still laugh about the one girl who thought she was going to force you into a crossbow wedding by having a child. Unfortunately for her, swallowing doesn’t result in pregnancy.)

She managed to keep your interest and not in just a physical way. Before you realized it, you were in a relationship again. But it was nice since it allowed you a bit of escapism from your own prison like situation. (And certainly cheaper than going to Holgard whores)

While her father has threatened you with physical violence on several occasions (As many others have as well), you and her have always found places to meet. She always listens to whatever tales of “adventure” you have to tell her. Sometimes you make it sound more exciting than it really is, but she always enjoys them and asks many questions since it’s like she’s able to experience some of the excitement vicariously.

Lately though it’s starting to look like your stories don’t quite quell the restlessness that Lisa seems to have…

“Holgard? Oh you don’t want to go there now. I think they’re about to have a city wide riot or revolution or some shit.” You say.
“Well that certainly sounds more interesting than having to milk cows all day.” Lisa replies.
“You’re also a lot less likely to get killed milking cows.”
“Perhaps, but you still get to do interesting stuff all the time, what with you working for a wizard and all.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say I’m working for him. I think I’ve already confided to you about my situation as far as that goes.”
“Yes I know and that’s also a cause for me to worry about our future. It even causes me to have concerns about your feelings for me.”
“Oh come on…you know how I feel about you.”
“Do I? I sometimes get the impression that you probably wouldn’t come around if you weren’t tethered by the wizard’s spell. I imagine we probably wouldn’t have even met if it hadn’t been the case. Am I wrong?”
“(Sigh) Well…yes IF Ral hadn’t magically enslaved me, we probably wouldn’t have met. But it happened and we DID meet AND I chose you to be with. I mean doesn’t that count for something?”

Lisa doesn’t answer right away; she just takes your hand and looks into your eyes.

“I know you probably do have feelings for me, but I also can’t shake the feeling that I’m just a nice distraction from your situation, just as you’re a nice distraction from mine. We’re both prisoners of a sort, but the difference is my cage is of my own accord.” Lisa says.
“What do you mean?” you ask.
“What I mean is I would like to leave this boring village, but the only thing that really holds me back is fear and the lack of any real skill to survive in the outside world, or at least the world you’ve described to me. And I know you can’t be making it all up despite you probably wanting me to believe all those impossible feats you’ve done.”

Lisa gives you a small hug and kisses you on the cheek, which causes you to embrace her a bit tighter than usual. You feel like she’s saying goodbye to you right now, but that isn’t the case.

“I’m obviously not going anywhere yet, but I’m just informing you that things need to change a bit at some point. I know we have fun together and I hope we continue to have fun together for many years to come, but don’t take me for granted.”

Lisa goes back to looking at the sky probably still thinking about wanting to leave her boring farm life behind her while you’re thinking about how much of an idiot you’ve been for filling her head with tales of adventure.

You couldn’t have just stuck with one of the dumb passive ones could you? Why the hell did you go for the independent thinker of the village?

Well it’s done and to be honest it’s that trait that made her more attractive anyway. It isn’t like you can blame her for wanting to leave Dert. The place is duller than Teckleville ever was.

In any case, you aren’t willing to risk losing Lisa even if she isn’t likely to leave in the near future. You have to at least make the effort to keep her around. Your reasons are probably selfish, but she’s also correct that you would miss her if she weren’t in your life.

This would be a whole lot simpler if you weren’t under Ral’s spell. Maybe it’s time for that situation to change. Of course even after all these years, you still have no idea of how to do that and Ral doesn’t seem to be relenting anytime soon.

Of course you do have another option and that’s going back to Isabella. Despite her invitation of coming back to see her at anytime, you never have for several reasons. Still, you have pondered it many times because you believe that if anyone knows how to break Ral’s hold over you, it would be her and she’d probably be willing to help given how much she doesn’t seem to like him.
> You focus on Lisa
You made one deal with a powerful being and it didn’t go well. No need to do it twice, especially with a vampire. At best you’d probably be a pawn in whatever plans she has.

Your fate is currently sealed and you can’t do much to change it, but maybe you can at least help Lisa achieve some of her goals.

“Lisa, how serious are you about leaving this place?” you ask.
“What do you mean?” she responds.
“I mean could you leave right now if you had to?”
“…um…well not right now…I mean I’d have to gather up some things at least and I don’t have much money. Like none actually.”
“That doesn’t matter. In fact forget about money right now, I’m asking could you leave soon, if you had to?”

Lisa wasn’t actually expecting this line of questioning, and it’s obvious she feels pressured, but if she’s serious about her desires, you need to know.

“I… I mean yeah I guess I could if I had to.” She says.
“Good. I want you to go home and get everything you think you’re going to need, but don’t over pack. Meet me here tomorrow morning and we’ll set off for Holgard.” You say.
“What really?”
“Yes, really. You said you wanted to see it, so I’ll take you there. You’re not having second thoughts already are you?”
“Well, I just…I dunno. I feel like this would be a one way trip for me. If I disappeared from Dert for as long as its going to take us to get to Holgard, I get the impression I might not be welcome back home anymore. Then where would I be?”
“I thought as much, which is why I’m going to give you some of my money to get you started. Don’t worry, I got enough of it, I can always get more and it’s not really doing me much good anyway. However, I’m also going to teach you my own trade.”
“Thievery? I dunno…I mean I want to leave Dert, but I’m not sure if I have it in me to do what you do.”
“Sure you do. Look, just think about everything I said. If you don’t like the idea at all then you don’t have to meet me here in the morning. If we get to Holgard and decide you don’t want to do what I do, I’m sure we can find something else. My point is, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be free of Ral’s spell, but I can at least help you achieve your goals in my limited way because I really do love you.”

Well nothing like going all in even if you aren’t entirely sure…

Of course now that you’ve said this to Lisa she’s so touched by your crossing that final line of feelings, she immediately hugs and kisses you and probably also ready to go all in with travelling to Holgard even if she was still nervous about it.

Of course now YOU’RE nervous about all this!

You return to Ral’s gathering up most of your money stash. You didn’t really realize just how much you had managed to acquire. Even spending it on whores and carousing didn’t really put as much of a dent in it as you thought. Which is good since you’d prefer to put Lisa up some place that isn’t a complete shithole when you get to Holgard.

Besides the place being a city of cutthroats and thieves, you’re more concerned about the rising tensions going on there. There is the very real danger of a revolution of sorts going on there, but that will have to be something to deal with when it happens.

You half expect Ral to suddenly ask you to go perform some risky task, but he doesn’t. In fact Ral hasn’t asked you to do anything lately, he hasn’t even been on your ass about cleaning his home or fetching roots or flowers for whatever reason. He’s been locked in his lab for a couple weeks at least now, which is fine by you since that gives you a bit of time to get Lisa settled in Holgard.

The next day you meet up with Lisa who is definitely ready to go. She seems much more confidant about this than she was yesterday.

She’s a little worried about getting accosted on the way to Holgard, due to the stories she’s heard about bandits, and to be honest you are too given how much money you’re travelling with along with a pretty young girl, but you surprisingly never encounter a single soul.

When you finally reach Holgard, you end up having to bribe a guard a hefty sum just so he doesn’t fuck with you both, so you pretty much get robbed anyway. It’s still not too bad and you have more than enough to set up Lisa at some place to stay.

Lisa is overwhelmed by the size of Holgard and she looks like a clueless berk as she looks around at every little thing. Many times you have to keep a close eye on her, just to make sure she doesn’t wander too far and get herself kidnapped or something similar.

Eventually you make it to a place called the Sterling Silver. It’s one of the better inns that isn’t a complete criminal haven and still some place that you’re currently able to afford.

After getting a bit settled, Lisa’s still eager to explore the city, though you really have to sit her down and stress the danger of this place.

“Yes, you’ve told me all this before in your past tales to me and on the journey here. I’m not stupid.” Lisa says.
“I didn’t say you were, but whether you want to hear it or not, you’re out of your element and you need know how to survive here. I don’t mind telling you I’m going to be severely worried about you all the time now. (Sigh) Well let’s get started.”

You spend the next two days attempting to teach Lisa the basics of thievery. She’s not exactly a natural at it, but fortunately there are so many thieves in the city, you’re never in serious trouble with the law as soon as you both manage to run immediately from the area.

Though you’re more concerned with your activity calling attention to the Thieves’ Guild or worse, the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You’ve been fortunate enough to avoid their attention, but Lisa’s clumsy attempts might start doing that.

And of course the bigger problem is you’re not exactly going to be around to hold Lisa’s hand all the time, since even if Ral isn’t sending you on some forsaken mission, you still have return there just so you aren’t suffering from the geas affects.

Lisa keeps trying to reassure you that she’ll be fine, but you feel better leaving her your flintlock just so she isn’t completely defenseless.

Lacking any more to do, you take your leave and can only hope she doesn’t get killed or worse on her first night alone in this place.

You return to Ral’s in a few days and it’s the same thing, he’s still locked in his lab. It would be too much to hope that he’s dead, but you can still hear faint sounds on the other side of the lab door.

You go to sleep and then as soon as you wake up, you immediately head back to Holgard again. When you arrive this time, you have to wait around for Lisa since she isn’t at her room. Eventually she shows up and you’re hugging her as soon as she walks in the door of the inn. She’s happy to see you too, but keeps telling you not to worry so much about her.

This routine goes on for weeks, you arrive in Holgard, are relieved to see Lisa’s still alive, try to teach her the art of thievery and then head back to Ral’s. Occasionally it’s broken up by Ral leaving notes telling you to grab various ingrediants for him and just leaving them by the lab door.

In the meantime, the situation in Holgard is getting worse. The Baron’s guards have been executing dissidents in the streets and there are rumors that the folks behind this dissident movement aren’t much better than the fat ass who runs this city, but then that’s hardly surprising.

The Ebony Claws and the Thieves’ Guild have also been engaging in direct confrontation with each other.

Strangely despite all this, Lisa isn’t exactly concerned. Another week passes and you come to understand why.

“You’ve been just flat out mugging people?!” you say.
“Mostly.” She says.
“Wha…when?”
“About a month ago when I realized I’m rubbish at the whole sneaking about thing. Look, I know it’s something you’re good at, but it’s just not me. I really tried several times, but I kept messing up and nearly getting myself killed in the process. In fact it was when one of the shopkeepers actually caught me and I was forced to pull out the flintlock to stop him from doing any harm to me. Since I had him at my mercy, I just robbed him at gunpoint while I was at it. Then I realized, I should have been doing that to begin with.”

You have to say, while you knew Lisa was attracted to the bad, you didn’t expect her to go this route. No wonder she isn’t worried about the current state of the city.

“…why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, because you seemed so happy trying to teach me about what you do. Besides, some of it I still use. Lock picking is always handy. You seem upset, are you disappointed I’m not doing what you do?”
“I actually don’t care about that so much that I’m really concerned that your actions might start attracting attention and I don’t mean the guards. You could very well be robbing merchants or people under the protection of the ECS and if they find out, it’s not going to be good. I’d wager the only reason why you’re getting away with it is because you’ve been lucky with your targets or the ECS is so caught up in their own shit with the Guild that they’re in conflict with.”
“Well, maybe I should join the ECS, then it won’t be an issue.”

You have no words. Well you do, it’s just it takes you awhile to gather them.

“Have you gone completely barmy?! Even I wouldn’t join the ECS! They’re a group of utterly ruthless killers and don’t tolerate fuck ups. I mean sure I’m not exactly in a position of casting moral judgment, but they’re just fucking cruel. Not to mention, I’m fairly certain they’re all caught up in Fel worship, making them religious fanatics on top of everything else. I’d join the Guild before them, and I wouldn’t join the Guild mainly because I’m fairly certain they’re not going to be around much longer.” You exclaim.
“Well I guess I’m just going to have to be more careful. You need to relax, you’re all tense. You come to me and I’ll make it better.”

At this point Lisa starts making overtures of affection. You’re not exactly in the mood due to your worry, but Lisa soon gets you in the mood with enough effort. It’s at least enough to put it out of your mind for awhile.

When you leave Lisa this time, you take solace in the fact that she at least has learned how to survive in her own way and it didn’t involve whoring.

However, when you return to Ral’s this time, you’ve got new concerns. Ral is actually waiting for you.

“Finally back. Glad to see you adhere to the bare minimum of what is required of you.” Ral says.
“What’s going on?” you ask.
“What’s going on, is you’re not around nearly as much as you should be. I know you think because I’m locked away in my lab most of the time that that means you can just do whatever, but I remind you that you’re supposed to be upkeeping this place. Look at all this dust!”
“Apologies, but you didn’t say anything about that on your notes to me.”
“I shouldn’t NEED to tell you! And I also shouldn’t have to be leaving notes for you in the first place! It’s fucking inconvenient. If I wasn’t actually busy with something really important I’d just make your tether even shorter, but I can see that’s not really going to solve the issue. You’re obviously pre-occupied with something else with as much time as you’ve been spending away from here. Let me guess, a girl?”
“Well, yeah.”
“(Sigh) If I was a vindictive sort, I suppose I could do all sorts of things to cause you pain, but there’s really no good reason for that and I can see that our own relationship has hit a wall with this new development. So I’m going to offer you another deal. I’ll release the geas after you go on one last mission for me.”
“…what?”
“You heard correctly. One more mission and then you get your freedom. I trust this sounds good to you?”
“Yeah! I mean there’s no catch is there? Like I’m free, but I have the head of a chicken and goat legs or something right?”
“Ha ha! You sure have a funny imagination. But no, once you do this mission, you’ll be completely free to live your life and you’ll never have to deal with me ever again.”
“Great! So what needs to be done?”
“I need you to bring back the heart of a Wazia.”
“Wait, don’t they live in the Cloudpeak Mountains?”
“Yes, they also eat trolls and manticores.”
“But I’m no warrior! You know that! That’s suicide!”
“Oh I’m sending Tych with you, he can help.”
“What’s Tych going to do, sparkle in its face?”
“I dunno, you’ll have to work it out with him on various tactics to employ.”
“The Cloudpeak Mountains are also practically on the other side of the continent! Are you going to teleport me there like last time?”
“Oh yes, and I’m going to personally equip you for this assignment, so no need to worry about getting winter gear or whatever else you need for the cold. In fact, the cold won’t even be an issue at all.”
“That better be one warm coat.”
“Oh you won’t ever need a coat again, after what I’m going to do. Stand still.”

Before you even get a “wha…” out Ral taps you in the head and you’re instantly paralyzed and fall to the floor. You don’t even feel pain, you don’t feel anything at all actually.

“Now, I need to start on your transformation…where did I put my stiletto again…”

You don’t know what Ral is doing to you. You don’t even know how much time passes. You aren’t even really aware of your surroundings. It’s like you’re in a trance and everything has gone blank in your mind.
> You time passes...
Year 23

“HHHHHHHHHH!” you gasp as you suddenly sit up from a table.

Cold air emanates from your mouth though you don’t feel very cold. You don’t feel much of anything except a mild sense of panic and confusion. You briefly look at body which is completely naked and see that you are now a pale blue coloring.

You look around the room and see a lot of lab equipment, books, and other alchemy related items. Ral stands by watching you. Tych is also hovering near him dressed in who looks to be very tiny winter clothing for him.

“See, told you he’d survive.” Ral remarks and then makes a note on a piece of parchment.
“Oh joy, I get to go with him now.” Tych says.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!” you shout. You’d probably get up and attack Ral, but apparently the geas is still in effect.

Ral strokes his beard and frowns a bit before answering you.

“Well I made you better for one thing. You don’t have to ever worry about the cold ever again.”
“I can’t fucking feel anything! Everything is a numb sensation!”
“Hmm, yes, I thought that might happen. A minor drawback I assure you. You are now practically cold personified. Your body now magically produces cold around you. Even I can feel it from here. Seriously, you could stand naked on top of the Cloudpeak Mountains now and never freeze to death. You’ll also find that you’re a little slower than you were, though you’re also probably a little stronger as well so it all evens out. Unexpected side effect. In any case, we should probably get you ready for your task. As ready as you are, I doubt you want to go naked.”

You might not be able to do anything against Ral, but that doesn’t stop you from getting pissed and start yelling at him about your situation. When he mentions more than a year has passed, you even start to destroy his equipment until he stops you with some sort of hold spell.

After a few more warnings about you continuing to getting an attitude with him, Ral finally gets on with explaining your task.

He says he’s teleporting you to a plateau in the Cloudpeak Mountains. From there he says Tych will lead the way. Apparently in the year he was experimenting on you, he was also having Tych locate a wazia lair in that area.

Other than your regular clothes, he enchants your short sword so it will be more effective in combat, and then hands you one of those rare repeating crossbows and a quiver of bolts.

“I hope you know how to use one of these.” Ral remarks.
“I’m more familiar with flintlocks, but I imagine this is probably easier seeing as this is one of the state of the art crossbows. These repeating ones are rare and expensive. Didn’t know you kept up on technological advances though.” You say.
“Why wouldn’t I? Just because I don’t have any use for it, doesn’t mean I don’t see the utility of it for the unwashed masses. I figure between that and your enchanted weapon, you should be more than prepared. Your pack is over there. Has some food and climbing gear in it. Should be more than enough to help you.”

You go over and get your pack; Tych is hovering by it, looking just as miserable as you feel right now.

“The pair of you ready, I trust?” Ral asks.
“I guess.” You say.
“Tych is magically tied to me, so there is no need for fairy circles or any other places of power this time. You just need to very close to him for the transportation to work on you, along with him making the appropriate signal so I can pull him back here, I trust you remember was that was Tych?”
“Yes, Ral.” Tych responds in a defeated manner and flies onto your shoulder.
“Good, I expect you’ll be successful like last time and just think, you’ll be a free man afterwards, so you have plenty of motivation.”

Without another word, Ral waves his hands a bit and your eyes are met with a bright light, followed by more bright light, though this is of the natural kind.

You look and see that your surroundings are that of a flat icy, snowy landscape with mountains and hills nearby and the sun shining overhead. There isn’t a soul around though save for Tych who instantly gets off of you.

“Fuck, you’re not much warmer than this horrible landscape. So much for using you for extra warmth.” Tych says.
“I can’t feel much of anything. I mean I can sense the wind blowing, but there’s just a dull cool feeling. It’s not unpleasant, but it isn’t pleasant either.” You respond.
“Well, Ral did experiment on you. I have to say, I’ll be glad when this mission is over with, because I’ve had enough of freezing my fucking wings off here. Scouting around for large hostile monsters in the snow and cold isn’t my idea of a good time. I’d rather be in the fucking jar.”
“I don’t understand why he needs us to do this anyway. I mean he’s a fucking powerful wizard, couldn’t he have done this himself a lot easier?”
“Of course he could have, but he’s a fucking sadist. Why else would he make you into some slave boy and then turn you into a freak and keep me in a damn jar, play teleportation snap back with me for the past year and also have me scout around this icy wasteland?”
“How long has that been going on?”
“Oh a little after he put you in that trance and started cutting into you and doing who knows what else. Ral’s experiments on you might have been done sooner if he hadn’t gotten distracted with other things. He keeps trying to make greater strides in teleportation spells and I think he’s planning on making a portal next. Of course he needs to test shit so he uses me as a fucking canary and then snaps me back home when he thinks enough time has passed. Makes me physically ill every time he does it. Those first few months I puked on every trip.”

Tych fixes his little fur hat before continuing.

“And in these last few months? I’ve teleported back and forth to this fucking place looking for a wazia like I’m some great monster hunter! I don’t want to fucking do this! My instinct is to fly AWAY from really big ravenous monsters, not seek them out!”
“Trust me, I don’t want to be here either.”
“At least you’re free after all this! I’m not. Even if the wazia kills you, you’ll still be doing better than me, but I don’t think that will be the case, check you pack. You’ll find something better than what Ral supplied you with.”

You take off you pack and at the top you find a clear bottle of something dark green. It feels slightly warm even to you.

“What the hell is this? Looks like some sort of poison.” You say.
“And you would be correct. It’s greenfire from the plant of the same name. They’re normally only found in the Sotakian swamp and even then they’re rare. In any case, Ral had it lying around his lab and while you two were talking I took the opportunity to lug it into your pack. Hey, I’m stronger than I look, especially with all the hardship I’ve had to endure.” Tych explains.
“So…what’s it do exactly?”
“It’s not called greenfire for nothing. It gets in your blood and makes you feel like your blood and innards are on fire. The effects are pretty quick though you’re in excruciating pain before you die.
“Okay, so I should just dip my bolts into this to bring down the beast a lot easier.”
“Hah! Are you kidding? Even with this poison, I doubt very seriously that you’ll be able to kill it before it kills you. I take it you’ve never even seen a wazia.”
“Nope, just know them by stories.”
“Well I didn’t know anything about them at all, but after seeing one, I can tell you that the stories don’t do them justice.”
“Then what the hell are you suggesting then?”
“Nothing, I’m just telling you that your odds aren’t good.”

You’ve practically been asleep an entire year and this is the situation you’ve awoken to. You’ve been magically altered and thrust into a bad situation and now you have to put up with an obnoxious sprite on top of everything else.

“Tych, just take me to the fucking lair.” You say.
“Alright, alright, no need to snap at me, plivik.” Tych responds.
“I know what that means, you little shit.”
“Oh yeah, you do…well let’s just get on with it then like you said.”

You begin to follow Tych. Every now and then you reflexively wrap your cloak around yourself in order to stay warm, but then you also remember you don’t really have that problem anymore. It wouldn’t help anyway; you still feel a numb coolness no matter what you do since that sensation is coming from within your body as opposed to the external reasons.

You suppose this condition is beneficial out here in a place like this, but you can’t imagine going through the rest of your life like this. After all this is over, you’re going to have to seek out a way to reverse or cure it, if it’s even possible. You wonder if that’s what Ral has planned for you. He “frees” you, but in exchange for changing you back to normal, you have to undergo some sort of servitude again.

You really wish you just let the mob back in Teckleville kill you at this point, with any luck maybe the wazia will.

You travel in the freezing mountainous terrain for two days. (At some point during all this you take the opportunity to poison your bolts) Even with your immunity to the cold, it’s still a treacherous journey given that you’re no mountain climber. Tych has lead you through to the path of least resistance to the lair and fortunately it isn’t actually very high up, in fact it’s actually at a lower altitude than where you originally teleported in.

“Let me guess, it’s in this large sloping dark cave.” You say to Tych.
“Got it right in one. I saw it entering here a few times and judging by the large pile of bones out here, I’d say it’s definitely a permanent home for it. Well I’ll wait out here. If you aren’t out within a day, I can safely assume you’ve met your demise.” Tych says.
“Wait, how the hell am I going to see in there? Despite my magical alteration, I don’t have dark vision unfortunately. I need you to come with me and sparkle a bit so I have some light.”
“What? That wasn’t part of the plan. I go in and start sparkling and I’m going to be a target since it’ll see me first!”
“Yeah, but you’re also a small target that can fly all over the place. It’s not like it’s going to go after you if it can get a target on the ground that’s shooting bolts at it a lot easier.”

Tych REALLY isn’t keen on this idea, but given that he wants to be out of this situation as much as you do, he relents.

“Alright, fine. But only because you’re probably right about the wazia going after you and the fact that despite everything, you’ve dealt pretty straight with me. I still remember when you didn’t rat me out to Ral about the last time we worked together…wait…you hear that?” Tych suddenly says mid sentence.
“Shit, is it the wazia?” you ask, not hearing the sounds other than the wind, but readying your crossbow.
“No, if it was that, we’d already be fucked. It’s a small whine. You don’t hear it? It’s coming from over there.”

Tych points over to a group of rocks and large bones. (and then he flies behind you). You now hear the sounds too, and with your crossbow ready and slowly move towards where they’re coming from.

Whatever is making the noise can’t be that big since rock and bone pile isn’t very large either, when you finally walk around it, you see what is making the noise.

A small feline creature with an odd-looking face making pitiful whimpers. It looks up at you and backs up and raising its tail, which looks like it has small spikes on it. It attempts to growl a bit, but it’s obvious the beast is frightened. As it stands right now, the pair of you are both ready to shoot.

“Shit, that’s a manticore.” Tych says and takes cover behind you again.
“What? That? I thought they were much bigger.” You say.
“It’s a cub, plivik. Still, I wouldn’t want to get shot by one of those spikes.”
“Well that must mean its mother is nearby. Are you sure you got the right lair?”
“Yes, I’m sure! Its mother probably got eaten by the wazia and somehow it managed to escape. Hey, you know we could use this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Wazias pretty much eat anything thrown at them. If you poisoned this cub, you could toss it at the wazia who would inevitably consume it and the poison would work even better. At the very least it would cause the creature so much pain it would slow it down giving you a chance to shoot it a lot more with bolts.”

You look at the manticore, which is still looking pretty pitiful, but still also in a fighting position. You aren’t sure if you’ll be quick enough to shoot him before he shoots you.
> You shoot the manticore
Tych’s plan has merit and would make your task easier. Also you’d probably be putting this beast out of its misery given that its mother died and will likely get eaten by the wazia anyway. Might as well put it to good use.

You pull the trigger of your crossbow and hit the manticore, but unfortunately it’s not a fatal shot and you only hit it in between its front limb and chest. It makes an odd combination of a roaring whine and flings its barbs at you.

You’re not quick enough to dodge completely and get hit in the leg. While your condition makes you number to pain, it doesn’t make it disappear completely. You curse, fall down and from your prone position quickly fire the remainder of you bolt clip at the manticore blindly. You get lucky and some of those actually hit the creature causing it to make a final howl before dying.

As you’re attempting pull manticore barbs out of your leg, Tych appears again now that all the danger is over with.

“Thought you were usually quicker than that.” Tych sniffs.
“Gimme a fucking break, I’ve been incapacitated for a year, not to mention this new condition I have is fucking up my reflexes. Shit…” you say looking at the new holes in your leg.
“Well at least you got your bait now.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Let’s get on with this”

You limp over to the dead manticore cub and reclaim your bolts before picking up its carcass. You then enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He’s flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave.

As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn’t sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn’t think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be.

Hopefully this poisoned manticore body will help. You suppose you’ll find out.

You start to hear loud sounds, you can’t see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer.

The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you.

“Shit, it’s digging under you! Get the hell out of there!”

Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you. In your haste, you drop the manticore body, hoping that maybe the creature will pop up to eat it.

It would be hard enough to keep up with Tych under normal circumstances, but thanks you’re your leg wounds, you’re attempting the impossible. You end up stumbling and tripping in the decreasing light that he’s giving off as he flits away.

Your verbal commands of getting Tych to stop have no effect and soon, he’s gotten so far ahead of you, you’re left in the dark causing you to completely fall over as you continue to trip over shit.

You don’t have time to get back up when the rumbling is now coming from right underneath you.

You never even see the beast, you just feel yourself sinking into the ground and then several sharp teeth, crushing, piercing and cutting your body whole. The only consolation is it happened so quick that you didn’t even feel it.


Year 23

“HHHHHHHHHH!” you gasp as you suddenly sit up from a table.

Cold air emanates from your mouth though you don’t feel very cold. You don’t feel much of anything except a mild sense of panic and confusion. You briefly look at body which is completely naked and see that you are now a pale blue coloring.

You look around the room and see a lot of lab equipment, books, and other alchemy related items. Ral stands by watching you. Tych is also hovering near him dressed in who looks to be very tiny winter clothing for him.

“See, told you he’d survive.” Ral remarks and then makes a note on a piece of parchment.
“Oh joy, I get to go with him now.” Tych says.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!” you shout. You’d probably get up and attack Ral, but apparently the geas is still in effect.

Ral strokes his beard and frowns a bit before answering you.

“Well I made you better for one thing. You don’t have to ever worry about the cold ever again.”
“I can’t fucking feel anything! Everything is a numb sensation!”
“Hmm, yes, I thought that might happen. A minor drawback I assure you. You are now practically cold personified. Your body now magically produces cold around you. Even I can feel it from here. Seriously, you could stand naked on top of the Cloudpeak Mountains now and never freeze to death. You’ll also find that you’re a little slower than you were, though you’re also probably a little stronger as well so it all evens out. Unexpected side effect. In any case, we should probably get you ready for your task. As ready as you are, I doubt you want to go naked.”

You might not be able to do anything against Ral, but that doesn’t stop you from getting pissed and start yelling at him about your situation. When he mentions more than a year has passed, you even start to destroy his equipment until he stops you with some sort of hold spell.

After a few more warnings about you continuing to getting an attitude with him, Ral finally gets on with explaining your task.

He says he’s teleporting you to a plateau in the Cloudpeak Mountains. From there he says Tych will lead the way. Apparently in the year he was experimenting on you, he was also having Tych locate a wazia lair in that area.

Other than your regular clothes, he enchants your short sword so it will be more effective in combat, and then hands you one of those rare repeating crossbows and a quiver of bolts.

“I hope you know how to use one of these.” Ral remarks.
“I’m more familiar with flintlocks, but I imagine this is probably easier seeing as this is one of the state of the art crossbows. These repeating ones are rare and expensive. Didn’t know you kept up on technological advances though.” You say.
“Why wouldn’t I? Just because I don’t have any use for it, doesn’t mean I don’t see the utility of it for the unwashed masses. I figure between that and your enchanted weapon, you should be more than prepared. Your pack is over there. Has some food and climbing gear in it. Should be more than enough to help you.”

You go over and get your pack; Tych is hovering by it, looking just as miserable as you feel right now.

“The pair of you ready, I trust?” Ral asks.
“I guess.” You say.
“Tych is magically tied to me, so there is no need for fairy circles or any other places of power this time. You just need to very close to him for the transportation to work on you, along with him making the appropriate signal so I can pull him back here, I trust you remember was that was Tych?”
“Yes, Ral.” Tych responds in a defeated manner and flies onto your shoulder.
“Good, I expect you’ll be successful like last time and just think, you’ll be a free man afterwards, so you have plenty of motivation.”

Without another word, Ral waves his hands a bit and your eyes are met with a bright light, followed by more bright light, though this is of the natural kind.

You look and see that your surroundings are that of a flat icy, snowy landscape with mountains and hills nearby and the sun shining overhead. There isn’t a soul around though save for Tych who instantly gets off of you.

“Fuck, you’re not much warmer than this horrible landscape. So much for using you for extra warmth.” Tych says.
“I can’t feel much of anything. I mean I can sense the wind blowing, but there’s just a dull cool feeling. It’s not unpleasant, but it isn’t pleasant either.” You respond.
“Well, Ral did experiment on you. I have to say, I’ll be glad when this mission is over with, because I’ve had enough of freezing my fucking wings off here. Scouting around for large hostile monsters in the snow and cold isn’t my idea of a good time. I’d rather be in the fucking jar.”
“I don’t understand why he needs us to do this anyway. I mean he’s a fucking powerful wizard, couldn’t he have done this himself a lot easier?”
“Of course he could have, but he’s a fucking sadist. Why else would he make you into some slave boy and then turn you into a freak and keep me in a damn jar, play teleportation snap back with me for the past year and also have me scout around this icy wasteland?”
“How long has that been going on?”
“Oh a little after he put you in that trance and started cutting into you and doing who knows what else. Ral’s experiments on you might have been done sooner if he hadn’t gotten distracted with other things. He keeps trying to make greater strides in teleportation spells and I think he’s planning on making a portal next. Of course he needs to test shit so he uses me as a fucking canary and then snaps me back home when he thinks enough time has passed. Makes me physically ill every time he does it. Those first few months I puked on every trip.”

Tych fixes his little fur hat before continuing.

“And in these last few months? I’ve teleported back and forth to this fucking place looking for a wazia like I’m some great monster hunter! I don’t want to fucking do this! My instinct is to fly AWAY from really big ravenous monsters, not seek them out!”
“Trust me, I don’t want to be here either.”
“At least you’re free after all this! I’m not. Even if the wazia kills you, you’ll still be doing better than me, but I don’t think that will be the case, check you pack. You’ll find something better than what Ral supplied you with.”

You take off you pack and at the top you find a clear bottle of something dark green. It feels slightly warm even to you.

“What the hell is this? Looks like some sort of poison.” You say.
“And you would be correct. It’s greenfire from the plant of the same name. They’re normally only found in the Sotakian swamp and even then they’re rare. In any case, Ral had it lying around his lab and while you two were talking I took the opportunity to lug it into your pack. Hey, I’m stronger than I look, especially with all the hardship I’ve had to endure.” Tych explains.
“So…what’s it do exactly?”
“It’s not called greenfire for nothing. It gets in your blood and makes you feel like your blood and innards are on fire. The effects are pretty quick though you’re in excruciating pain before you die.
“Okay, so I should just dip my bolts into this to bring down the beast a lot easier.”
“Hah! Are you kidding? Even with this poison, I doubt very seriously that you’ll be able to kill it before it kills you. I take it you’ve never even seen a wazia.”
“Nope, just know them by stories.”
“Well I didn’t know anything about them at all, but after seeing one, I can tell you that the stories don’t do them justice.”
“Then what the hell are you suggesting then?”
“Nothing, I’m just telling you that your odds aren’t good.”

You’ve practically been asleep an entire year and this is the situation you’ve awoken to. You’ve been magically altered and thrust into a bad situation and now you have to put up with an obnoxious sprite on top of everything else.

“Tych, just take me to the fucking lair.” You say.
“Alright, alright, no need to snap at me, plivik.” Tych responds.
“I know what that means, you little shit.”
“Oh yeah, you do…well let’s just get on with it then like you said.”

You begin to follow Tych. Every now and then you reflexively wrap your cloak around yourself in order to stay warm, but then you also remember you don’t really have that problem anymore. It wouldn’t help anyway; you still feel a numb coolness no matter what you do since that sensation is coming from within your body as opposed to the external reasons.

You suppose this condition is beneficial out here in a place like this, but you can’t imagine going through the rest of your life like this. After all this is over, you’re going to have to seek out a way to reverse or cure it, if it’s even possible. You wonder if that’s what Ral has planned for you. He “frees” you, but in exchange for changing you back to normal, you have to undergo some sort of servitude again.

You really wish you just let the mob back in Teckleville kill you at this point, with any luck maybe the wazia will.

You travel in the freezing mountainous terrain for two days. (At some point during all this you take the opportunity to poison your bolts) Even with your immunity to the cold, it’s still a treacherous journey given that you’re no mountain climber. Tych has lead you through to the path of least resistance to the lair and fortunately it isn’t actually very high up, in fact it’s actually at a lower altitude than where you originally teleported in.

“Let me guess, it’s in this large sloping dark cave.” You say to Tych.
“Got it right in one. I saw it entering here a few times and judging by the large pile of bones out here, I’d say it’s definitely a permanent home for it. Well I’ll wait out here. If you aren’t out within a day, I can safely assume you’ve met your demise.” Tych says.
“Wait, how the hell am I going to see in there? Despite my magical alteration, I don’t have dark vision unfortunately. I need you to come with me and sparkle a bit so I have some light.”
“What? That wasn’t part of the plan. I go in and start sparkling and I’m going to be a target since it’ll see me first!”
“Yeah, but you’re also a small target that can fly all over the place. It’s not like it’s going to go after you if it can get a target on the ground that’s shooting bolts at it a lot easier.”

Tych REALLY isn’t keen on this idea, but given that he wants to be out of this situation as much as you do, he relents.

“Alright, fine. But only because you’re probably right about the wazia going after you and the fact that despite everything, you’ve dealt pretty straight with me. I still remember when you didn’t rat me out to Ral about the last time we worked together…wait…you hear that?” Tych suddenly says mid sentence.
“Shit, is it the wazia?” you ask, not hearing the sounds other than the wind, but readying your crossbow.
“No, if it was that, we’d already be fucked. It’s a small whine. You don’t hear it? It’s coming from over there.”

Tych points over to a group of rocks and large bones. (and then he flies behind you). You now hear the sounds too, and with your crossbow ready and slowly move towards where they’re coming from.

Whatever is making the noise can’t be that big since rock and bone pile isn’t very large either, when you finally walk around it, you see what is making the noise.

A small feline creature with an odd-looking face making pitiful whimpers. It looks up at you and backs up and raising its tail, which looks like it has small spikes on it. It attempts to growl a bit, but it’s obvious the beast is frightened. As it stands right now, the pair of you are both ready to shoot.

“Shit, that’s a manticore.” Tych says and takes cover behind you again.
“What? That? I thought they were much bigger.” You say.
“It’s a cub, plivik. Still, I wouldn’t want to get shot by one of those spikes.”
“Well that must mean its mother is nearby. Are you sure you got the right lair?”
“Yes, I’m sure! Its mother probably got eaten by the wazia and somehow it managed to escape. Hey, you know we could use this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Wazias pretty much eat anything thrown at them. If you poisoned this cub, you could toss it at the wazia who would inevitably consume it and the poison would work even better. At the very least it would cause the creature so much pain it would slow it down giving you a chance to shoot it a lot more with bolts.”

You look at the manticore, which is still looking pretty pitiful, but still also in a fighting position. You aren’t sure if you’ll be quick enough to shoot him before he shoots you.
> Back off slowly
Maybe it’s because you’re in a shitty situation yourself that you’re feeling a bit sorry for the pitiful creature that presumably just lost its mother and now has to fend for itself.

“Fuck it.” You say, and slowly start backing away, though the beast never lets its own guard down.
“What the hell are you doing. Shoot the little bastard!” Tych remarks.
“I don’t feel like it alright? Besides, I’ll probably need to save all the bolts I can for the wazia.”

You get out of the line of sight of the manticore, but Tych won’t let this go.

“Are you actually feeling sympathy for the creature? This thing would eat you if it was big enough! In fact, given that its probably hungry without its mother around now, I’m surprised it isn’t at least attempting to anyway! Think of it this way, it can’t survive very long on its own, you’d be performing an act of mercy if you killed it and at least its death would help us.”

At this point you take off your pack and look for some of your remaining rations. Dried meat, it’s as good as anything.

“Wait, are you actually going to feed it now? Have you gone completely barmy?”
“Probably.” You say.

You go back to the manticore which once again has adopted a defensive stance, but you toss the meat in front of it which it cautiously moves close to, sniffs and then starts to eat, all the while still eyeing you suspiciously.

You leave the beast to feed.

“You know, you could have at least poisoned the food if you didn’t have the balls to just shoot it.” Tych remarks.
“Well, I guess I’m just going to have to get my balls back by killing this wazia, now stop bitching at me and let’s get this done.” You snap.

You enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He’s flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave.

As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn’t sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn’t think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be.

You suppose you’ll find out.

You start to hear loud sounds, you can’t see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer.

The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you.

“Shit, it’s digging under you! Get the hell out of there!”

Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you.

While its hard to keep up with Tych, you manage to do so. By the time you see the light of the exit, the rumbling is nearly coming from right underneath you. You instinctively jump forward just in time for the wazia finally come up and try to eat you.

You get up as quickly as you can and that’s when you finally see the creature. And it does indeed resemble a giant mole. A giant mole with nothing but a giant mouth with rows of teeth for a face. It also has pretty large claws as well, but you’re too busy trying get out of its immediate grasp as opposed to admiring them.

You make it outside with the wazia following close behind. When you’re out in the open, you take advantage of the light and space and begin firing your crossbow at the thing which has mixed results.

Your aim isn’t exactly true due to nerves and generally trying to staying away from the wazia, but it hardly matters when it’s as big as it is. Most of your shots hit, but much like Tych warned, its tough hide seems to be outright deflecting a lot of them. And for the bolts that are actually sinking in, you certainly hope the poison starts working soon, because so far it hasn’t had any notable affect.

The only thing that’s in your favor is that the beast isn’t exactly the fastest when not underground, but it tries to keep you off balance by smashing its claws on the ground and causing minor quakes. Large clumps of snow begin to fall from above and given your location, you’re wondering if an avalanche won’t just bury you at this rate. (Of course maybe that’s its intent, it can just easily dig itself out and eat your corpse later)

You see Tych keeping his distance, flying about watching everything.

“Tych, distract it damn it! I need to reload this thing!” you shout while running and fumbling with the cumbersome crossbow magazine.

To his credit, Tych actually listens somewhat to you and shouts at it (in his high pitched squeaky voice) and even flies near it very briefly, but his presence is mostly ignored. Tych doesn’t try too much harder than that, but you do get another helper.

The manitcore cub that you fed earlier and completely forgot about starts flinging its own spikes at the wazia. They don’t seem to do anything to it, but between it and Tych, it’s enough to refocus its attention briefly giving you enough time to reload your crossbow properly.

You fire a few times at the wazia with mixed results again, the manticore cub runs fast enough that the wazia doesn’t bother to follow it and quickly turns its attention back to you.

It charges at you, but now you’re starting to notice the beast is getting even slower and now begins making loud wailing noises and they aren’t just due to anger. The wazia is finally feeling the affects of the poison and begins flailing about. It begins smashing its entire body into the ground and now even larger chunks of ice and snow begin to fall from above.

Along with it trying to cause an avalanche, it begins trying to dig underground again since it isn’t sure what is exactly causing it such great pain, and is trying to escape. You can’t allow that to happen though, because if it does, even if it dies, it’s going to be so deep underground that digging its carcass out is going to be a nightmare.

Throwing a bit of caution to the wind, you get closer to wazia and fire upon it. Your fortunate enough that this stops it from digging long enough to try to swipe at you with its claws. It clumsily tries to do this several times. At this point you’ve run out of bolts and drawn your sword though realistically you wouldn’t be able to get close enough to it that it couldn’t still kill you. You’re just trying to keep the beast from escaping and hoping the mountains don’t come crashing down on your head.

Eventually as its motions towards you stop altogether and it opens its maw completely one last time to let out a woeful howl and then collapses. It twitches a few more times and finally stops moving completely.

You just look at the wazia for a moment before slowly moving closer to it. Just as you get to its body, Tych sneaks up on you.

“Is it dead?” he asks, buzzing in your ear.
“Damn it Tych, you fucking startled me!” you snap.
“Apologies, but I figured you’d be more aware of your surroundings.”
“I guess its dead. Shit, I was wondering if that poison was ever going to kick in.”
“Yep, looks like I saved your ass on this one.”
“Hm, I guess you did your part.”
“Damn straight I did, which is why I think YOU should help me now!”
“How the hell am I going to help you?”
“By killing Ral obviously.”
“Nice idea, but I’m still bound by a geas remember?”
“Well after he takes it off of you, just chop his head off.”
“Yeah, like he isn’t going to take precautions. I’m fairly certain that if he does stick with his promise, I’m not going to be able to just chop his head off as you say. In fact I imagine he’s set this up so I stay bound to him so he can reverse this condition I have.”
“Wait, you aren’t actually going to DO that if freedom is an option are you?”
“What choice do I have? It’s not like I want to go through the rest of my life like this.”
“Shit, I’d go through life with my wings fucking clipped if it meant not spending most of my life in a jar and being at that plivik’s whims!”

You suppose Tych has a point and it is one you’re more inclined to go with since it might be possible to get your condition reversed elsewhere.

All this might not mean anything however, if Ral has no intention on releasing you from the geas anyway. In the meantime you have a heart to carve out of the dead beast in front of you.

About midway through Tych starts calling to you again.

“Hey! Watch out, the manticore is back!” he exclaims and hides on the other side of the dead wazia.

You turn from your bloody work and look. The manticore cub is indeed back and watching you, but its not in a defensive stance anymore, it seems to be more curious than anything else.

“I’m not worrying about it since it probably isn’t going to do anything, but if it makes you feel better…”

Tych probably thought you were going to follow up that statement with you trying to kill it, but you instead you just reach into your pack and give it another piece of dried meat, which it happily eats and no longer is interested in anything else.

“There you go Spikey.” You say coming up with an on the spot name for him.
“You just gave away the last of the food!” Tych exclaims.
“What does it matter? As soon as I dig this heart out, and you perch on my shoulder, Ral will teleport us back anyway right?”
“I guess, I just don’t understand why you’re indulging that creature.”
“Good thing I did, since it distracted the wazia better than you did.”
“Hey I did my best considering my size, you dick!”

You go back to your unpleasant work. Not so much because of the gore and blood, but the smell is awful even with your dulled senses. Eventually you cut the large organ out and carry the thing out of the wazia’s body. You then sit down to take a breather.

“Shit, I think that was almost as much work as killing this thing.” You say.
“Did you get it?” Tych asks.
“Yeah, why are you so far away? I figured you’d be anxious to get out of this cold at least even if you don’t like the jar.”
“I would, but that thing is nearby!” Tych remarks and points to the manticore that is now coming up to you.
“Tych, you’re worrying over nothing. He’d fling spikes at me before you given how close he is. Just get over here and get us home.”
“Fine. Did you think anymore on killing Ral yet?”
“Yeah I’ve thought about it, and I guess you’ll know soon enough.”

Tych isn’t enthused by your response or the manticore being nearby, but he flies to you anyway. He sits on your shoulder, makes a few weird hand gestures and before you know it, a flash of blinding light hits you and you’re in the lab again. You also feel something bump your leg.

You look down and see that the manticore cub has teleported with you and is currently nuzzling against your leg.

“Shit!” Tych remarks and flies away to hide again.

Meanwhile Ral walks in from one of his other rooms in the lab wondering what all the noise is about.

“So you’re back and successful as I knew you would be. Hello, what’s this?” Ral asks.

Spikey growls a bit when he sees Ral.

“Spikey no!” you say and do your best to try to calm him which involves petting his head and neck. This seems to work somewhat since he relaxes, but still eyes Ral warily.

“Hmm, I see you brought back more than just the heart. You didn’t need to go beyond what was required, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. The manticore parts will come in handy for spell components.” Ral says.
“What? No, it helped take down the wazia and I guess it got caught up in the teleportation process.”
“So?”
“So, I dunno seems sort of fucked up to just hand him over to you for parts after he helped me.”
“What are you going to do with him, keep him as a pet?”
“Well I suppose I could…”
“A pet manticore? What do you think you are a frost giant? That’s silly, you aren’t going to have the means to tame such a beast when he starts to grow! You sure you don’t want to hand that beast over? I could give you something extra.”
“Can you reverse this fucking condition you imposed on me?” you ask.
“I imagine could, but that would require that you stick around a bit longer. I mean that can be arranged...”

You’re not getting trapped. You can’t get trapped again.

“No, I’ll figure out another way.” You say.
“Very well. Put that heart on the table and... wait a minute where did Tych go? I saw him fly off to hide, not sure why he bothers to do that, since he knows I can just teleport him back in the jar at anytime.” Ral says as you lift up the oversized organ and slam it on the nearby table.

“Can we get on with this?” you ask getting impatient.
“In a moment and don’t presume to give orders, I still haven’t freed you yet and you’d be well to remember that. Now step back, you’re very cold you know.” Ral says.
“Of course I’m fucking cold, you did this to me!”
“And I offered to reverse the process, but you declined.”
“Damn straight I declined, I’m not going to fall for your tricks again. The first time you enslaved me, the second time you made me into a freak!”
“If you like, that can remain your reality.” Ral warns.

Ral raises his hands as if to cast a spell and that’s when you see Tych flying over his head struggling with a small-uncorked glass tube that’s as big as him.

“Hey glakface, try casting magic now!” Tych shouts and then pours a clear fluid on Ral, who looks up just in time for it splatter on his face, and he even gets some in his mouth.

“Gargh! (cough) (hack) blagh!” Ral gags and begins hacking up and rubbing his eyes.
“He can’t cast magic! Don’t just stand there plivik, kill the bastard!” Tych squeaks.
> You take advantage of the situation
Given your recent exchange with Ral and your own suspicious nature, you question if Ral intends on releasing you. Perhaps getting rid of Ral IS the way to go and this would be the best time to do it.

You’re still under the effects of the geas, and any violent action towards Ral by you would be met with immediate pain, however with his temporary inability to cast spells you wonder if you couldn’t dispose of him quick enough that you’d survive it.

Not to mention you do have a pet manticore now.

“Spikey attack! ARGH!” you shout and feel a sharp pain to your crotch, which causes you to nearly double over. The only reason why you aren’t completely laid out is your new condition has dulled some of your pain reception to a small degree. (Now is one of those times it came in handy)

Spikey isn’t completely sure what you meant, but given that you’re excitedly pointing at Ral who is also making loud noises and flailing about due to the shit that Tych poured on him, Spikey isn’t feeling comfortable towards him anyway.

Spikey flings several small quills into Ral’s body. The old wizard howls in pain. Spikey may be just a manticore cub, but it still hurts.

Due to the geas, a large part of you wants to stop Spikey from attacking and it’s taking everything for you not to do that. You feel the pain spread over your body and it’s getting worse. You finally collapse to the floor.

Spikey runs forward and begins biting Ral, he even succeeds in ripping off part of his hand. Ral is begging for mercy at this point, but he’s getting nothing, but Tych’s taunts.

You weakly pull out a dagger, but you can barely hold it in your hand as you attempt to crawl over to Ral. The pain you’re experiencing is nearly unbearable.

Meanwhile Ral is experiencing his own form of pain, but despite being unable to cast magic and being a frail old man, he somehow manages to get Spikey off of him, who yelps when thrown into a nearby table.

“Come here, you little bastard!” he snarls and with a blink, Tych is suddenly within the one good hand of Ral. It would appear his powers are starting to come back.

“I’m going to crush you into…ARGH SHIT!” Ral shouts as you plunge your dagger into his ankle.

The old man partially falls on top of you, but that doesn’t compare to the wave of agony you experience after stabbing Ral. Your condition is no longer numbing anything, not even a little bit.

You feel like you’re suffering a heart attack, castration and a mace smashing your brains in, all the while being burned alive.

Unsurprisingly your body goes into complete shock, shuts down and you go unconscious. Blackness follows.

Time passes and eventually you wake up to a couple sensations. One being a rough tongue licking your face and another being a faint sweet taste on your lips and in your mouth.

“Hey! Did it work? You alive?” Tych remarks.
“Guh, buh, what work?” you sputter and move a bit causing Spikey to stop licking your face.
“The healing potion I tried to pour into your mouth. I guess it did, you’re alive. Wasn’t sure it worked since you looked pretty dead.”
“I felt really dead. Is Ral dead?”
“Oh that plivik? Yeah. Your pet took care of that soon after you stabbed him. Ripped out his throat. I don’t think that spell is on you anymore.”

You look at your wrist and it’s true, you no longer see the mark there anymore.

“So that’s it. I’m free. Finally free.” You say.
“Yeah, thanks to me.” Tych sniffs.
“Ral was planning on releasing me anyway.”
“You don’t believe that. If you did, you wouldn’t have nearly killed yourself, trying to kill him.”
“Well I suppose I did have my doubts and followed your lead. What was that shit you poured on him anyway?”
“Oh, liquefied gazer eye. Not sure what Ral was planning with it, but then he was always experimenting with shit.”
“Not familiar with gazers.”
“Lucky you, they’re even worse than wazias. Anyway, you’re not the only one who is free, so I guess this is where we part ways.”

As strange as it seems you’re a little taken back by how quick Tych is to part company, but then it wasn’t like you two were great friends or anyway.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah sure, I suppose you’ll be wanting to go home to your wife.” You say.
“…what the hell, I’ll let you on a little secret, I’m not married. I just said I was hoping it would gain me sympathy when we first met.” Tych admits.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“But you’re right, I am still going home. I need to straighten out some things there. What were you planning on doing?”
“Dunno really. I still got this condition. First thing I think I need to do is try to figure out how to reverse it. Guess I’ll start by heading to Holgard.”
“Well sounds like you’ve got the adventure ahead of you. Can’t say it was a pleasure being forced to work with you, but I suppose it could have been worse. And we both got revenge on Ral, so it worked out I guess. See you around blivik.”
“What’s that mean? Dickhead or something?”
“What? Oh blivik? No, it means friend. Well maybe not friend, but comrade in arms I guess.”
“Sounds very similar plivik.”
“Yeah well, sometimes in our culture the two are interchangeable.”
“That I can believe. Bye Tych and thanks.”

Tych nods his head and flies out the lab door, leaving you alone. (Well with a manticore cub that is currently eating Ral’s body nearby).

You don’t leave right away, instead you take the opportunity to start going through Ral’s lab seeing if you can find any clue of what he did to you. You find lots notes, but his handwriting is pretty bad and you can’t make much sense of the diagrams. You think they might pertain to you, but you aren’t really sure.

You temporarily slump in a chair nearby realizing that you’ve lost some of your life and your thoughts keep wandering back to Lisa. What happened to her? You were supposed to meet up with her in Holgard as you often did. At the time the city was on the verge of a rebellion. Does she even still live? And if she does, she surely must believe you are dead and moved on.

It’s a bit depressing considering your feelings for her, but lost love is the least of your concerns right now. You suppose either way, your next move is to Holgard, either to seek her out or to seek a way to fix your condition.

In any case, you’re sitting on a small fortune of magical equipment. Granted you don’t know what most of it does, but at the very least, you’d be able to get a good price for some of the stuff that you can’t figure out. Holgard will be the perfect place to

At the very least you can use this place as a home of sorts which seems strange given that you’ve been stuck here, but then you’re not exactly beholden to Ral anymore and it’s not a bad place as far as homes go. You even have a pet to defend it when you’re not around.

You spend a few more days going through Ral’s house before finally deciding to make your way to Holgard. Takes awhile to convince Spikey not to follow you, but eventually he gets the hint and stays around the house. You figure he’s probably more than able to hunt whatever wildlife is in the area.

You make your way to Holgard and the journey is uneventful and the same as you remembered, though you’re noticing that when you camp down for the night, the next morning the grass has a layer of frost on it. You’re going to be leaving a trail of it at this pace.

When you get to Holgard, you find that the city is a lot calmer than when you remember. While doing some business with an apothecary, you learn that the old ruler got overthrown and his daughter now rules the city.

“Yeah, be glad you missed that one. It was a pretty brutal time…did it just get chilly in here? In fact, did the temperature drop outside because everything you’ve handed over to sell feels a bit cold to the touch.” the apothecary says.
“Hadn’t noticed.” You answer.
“…you uh sure you’re all right pal? You look a little pale. I figured when you came in here you came in to buy, not to sell.”
“You got anything that can cure this?” you say and grab the apothecary’s wrist.
“Shit! You’re fucking ice! Let me go! Please! Take anything you want!”
“I’m not here to rob you! I’m serious when I ask, if you have anything that can cure this condition.” You say and let go of the man’s wrist.

The apothecary steps back and rubs his wrist a bit.

“I can honestly tell you that I have nothing that would help you. I can only believe that magic must be at work. Is that the case?” he asks.
“Yeah, and I killed the wizard who did it.”
“Well, I guess he had it coming. Wasn’t one of those Dornans was it?”
“No.”
“Hm, okay that’s good, because they’re about the only folks that I think would be able to help you. They’re pretty interested in all things pertaining to magic, though I’d be careful since it’ll be the knowledge that’s important, not the person. You might have killed a wizard, but I don’t think even you would be able to kill a whole temple of them if things go south.”
“Noted. Can’t think of anyone else?”
“Not really, I mean unless you want to head all the way to Delantium Kingdom and their magic university. It has a good reputation and they aren’t swayed by religious fanaticism. There’s a small magic college in Klyton, but I wouldn’t waste my time.”
“Why not?”
“Because I graduated from there and the magic college there is rubbish, that’s why. It’s understaffed and only kept afloat due to one of the council members being a mage. It’s not bad if you want to learn how to mix potions and such, but the wizards there aren’t exactly the most skilled in magic and they’d probably be just as baffled by your condition as I am. You’d probably end up as a toad with their bumbling.“

Great, more wizards.
> You head to the Delantium Kingdom
The Dornans might be closer, but they also sound like religious fanatics. You don’t really need to deal with that right now. You’re not exactly keen on dragging your cold ass all the way to the Delantium Kingdom, but if it’s your best shot, then that’s where you need to go.

Besides, maybe it might be good anyway. You’ve spent more than enough time around Holgard and its surrounding area and it hasn’t got you very far, maybe a change in scenery is in order. It isn’t like things have gone that great for you around here and as for Lisa, if she’s still alive, you have no doubt that she’s moved on with her life. Maybe she’s even some high-ranking Ebony Claw member. Whatever she’s doing, you hope she’s doing well at it.

You leave the apothecary and head to the docks to book a passage to the Delantium Kingdom.

Unsurprisingly you get some strange looks, and the first couple captains turn you away believing that your unnatural chill must be the result of a curse and don’t want it rubbing off on the voyage. (You can’t blame them for their caution since they’re at least half right about it being a curse of sorts)

Eventually though you get a captain with less interest in gods and suspicion and more interested in coin. You pay the man and make your way to the cargo area since he doesn’t have any more room for proper passengers, and he apparently thinks you’ll keep some of the food fresher on the long trip just with your presence.

Doesn’t matter, you’ve been in less than ideal conditions before. You just need a ride; this isn’t going to be forever.

You make your way down to the cargo hold where you make a place for yourself near the crates of lemons and limes. It’s as good as any. You’ll have lots of time to think on your way to your destination.

One of your main thoughts is what you’re going to do with your life if you do get cured. Obviously being a rogue never really worked out for you. Arguably, you haven’t been one since you left Teckleville. You’ve had more “work” as a monster hunter of all things. Not that it’s something you necessarily wanted to make a living at doing, but you have raised your skill with a weapon over the years, not to mention all your new outdoorsman skills. Maybe you should be doing something using those talents instead at this point. You’re sure you’d be good at it.

Makes you realize that if you had those skills to begin with instead, you probably wouldn’t have gotten lost in the forest and in Ral’s debt in the first place. Of course if that hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have gained what you do know now. Funny how that works. Also funny how it finally took you until now to realize that your parents were right all along and that this “life” was just going to lead to trouble.

In any case, you aren’t sure what the future holds, if you’ll be cured, if you’ll remain this way or if you’ll be killed in the process. You do know however that your days as a common rogue are over.


Given your recent exchange with Ral and your own suspicious nature, you question if Ral intends on releasing you. Perhaps getting rid of Ral IS the way to go and this would be the best time to do it.

You’re still under the effects of the geas, and any violent action towards Ral by you would be met with immediate pain, however with his temporary inability to cast spells you wonder if you couldn’t dispose of him quick enough that you’d survive it.

Not to mention you do have a pet manticore now.

“Spikey attack! ARGH!” you shout and feel a sharp pain to your crotch, which causes you to nearly double over. The only reason why you aren’t completely laid out is your new condition has dulled some of your pain reception to a small degree. (Now is one of those times it came in handy)

Spikey isn’t completely sure what you meant, but given that you’re excitedly pointing at Ral who is also making loud noises and flailing about due to the shit that Tych poured on him, Spikey isn’t feeling comfortable towards him anyway.

Spikey flings several small quills into Ral’s body. The old wizard howls in pain. Spikey may be just a manticore cub, but it still hurts.

Due to the geas, a large part of you wants to stop Spikey from attacking and it’s taking everything for you not to do that. You feel the pain spread over your body and it’s getting worse. You finally collapse to the floor.

Spikey runs forward and begins biting Ral, he even succeeds in ripping off part of his hand. Ral is begging for mercy at this point, but he’s getting nothing, but Tych’s taunts.

You weakly pull out a dagger, but you can barely hold it in your hand as you attempt to crawl over to Ral. The pain you’re experiencing is nearly unbearable.

Meanwhile Ral is experiencing his own form of pain, but despite being unable to cast magic and being a frail old man, he somehow manages to get Spikey off of him, who yelps when thrown into a nearby table.

“Come here, you little bastard!” he snarls and with a blink, Tych is suddenly within the one good hand of Ral. It would appear his powers are starting to come back.

“I’m going to crush you into…ARGH SHIT!” Ral shouts as you plunge your dagger into his ankle.

The old man partially falls on top of you, but that doesn’t compare to the wave of agony you experience after stabbing Ral. Your condition is no longer numbing anything, not even a little bit.

You feel like you’re suffering a heart attack, castration and a mace smashing your brains in, all the while being burned alive.

Unsurprisingly your body goes into complete shock, shuts down and you go unconscious. Blackness follows.

Time passes and eventually you wake up to a couple sensations. One being a rough tongue licking your face and another being a faint sweet taste on your lips and in your mouth.

“Hey! Did it work? You alive?” Tych remarks.
“Guh, buh, what work?” you sputter and move a bit causing Spikey to stop licking your face.
“The healing potion I tried to pour into your mouth. I guess it did, you’re alive. Wasn’t sure it worked since you looked pretty dead.”
“I felt really dead. Is Ral dead?”
“Oh that plivik? Yeah. Your pet took care of that soon after you stabbed him. Ripped out his throat. I don’t think that spell is on you anymore.”

You look at your wrist and it’s true, you no longer see the mark there anymore.

“So that’s it. I’m free. Finally free.” You say.
“Yeah, thanks to me.” Tych sniffs.
“Ral was planning on releasing me anyway.”
“You don’t believe that. If you did, you wouldn’t have nearly killed yourself, trying to kill him.”
“Well I suppose I did have my doubts and followed your lead. What was that shit you poured on him anyway?”
“Oh, liquefied gazer eye. Not sure what Ral was planning with it, but then he was always experimenting with shit.”
“Not familiar with gazers.”
“Lucky you, they’re even worse than wazias. Anyway, you’re not the only one who is free, so I guess this is where we part ways.”

As strange as it seems you’re a little taken back by how quick Tych is to part company, but then it wasn’t like you two were great friends or anyway.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah sure, I suppose you’ll be wanting to go home to your wife.” You say.
“…what the hell, I’ll let you on a little secret, I’m not married. I just said I was hoping it would gain me sympathy when we first met.” Tych admits.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“But you’re right, I am still going home. I need to straighten out some things there. What were you planning on doing?”
“Dunno really. I still got this condition. First thing I think I need to do is try to figure out how to reverse it. Guess I’ll start by heading to Holgard.”
“Well sounds like you’ve got the adventure ahead of you. Can’t say it was a pleasure being forced to work with you, but I suppose it could have been worse. And we both got revenge on Ral, so it worked out I guess. See you around blivik.”
“What’s that mean? Dickhead or something?”
“What? Oh blivik? No, it means friend. Well maybe not friend, but comrade in arms I guess.”
“Sounds very similar plivik.”
“Yeah well, sometimes in our culture the two are interchangeable.”
“That I can believe. Bye Tych and thanks.”

Tych nods his head and flies out the lab door, leaving you alone. (Well with a manticore cub that is currently eating Ral’s body nearby).

You don’t leave right away, instead you take the opportunity to start going through Ral’s lab seeing if you can find any clue of what he did to you. You find lots notes, but his handwriting is pretty bad and you can’t make much sense of the diagrams. You think they might pertain to you, but you aren’t really sure.

You temporarily slump in a chair nearby realizing that you’ve lost some of your life and your thoughts keep wandering back to Lisa. What happened to her? You were supposed to meet up with her in Holgard as you often did. At the time the city was on the verge of a rebellion. Does she even still live? And if she does, she surely must believe you are dead and moved on.

It’s a bit depressing considering your feelings for her, but lost love is the least of your concerns right now. You suppose either way, your next move is to Holgard, either to seek her out or to seek a way to fix your condition.

In any case, you’re sitting on a small fortune of magical equipment. Granted you don’t know what most of it does, but at the very least, you’d be able to get a good price for some of the stuff that you can’t figure out. Holgard will be the perfect place to

At the very least you can use this place as a home of sorts which seems strange given that you’ve been stuck here, but then you’re not exactly beholden to Ral anymore and it’s not a bad place as far as homes go. You even have a pet to defend it when you’re not around.

You spend a few more days going through Ral’s house before finally deciding to make your way to Holgard. Takes awhile to convince Spikey not to follow you, but eventually he gets the hint and stays around the house. You figure he’s probably more than able to hunt whatever wildlife is in the area.

You make your way to Holgard and the journey is uneventful and the same as you remembered, though you’re noticing that when you camp down for the night, the next morning the grass has a layer of frost on it. You’re going to be leaving a trail of it at this pace.

When you get to Holgard, you find that the city is a lot calmer than when you remember. While doing some business with an apothecary, you learn that the old ruler got overthrown and his daughter now rules the city.

“Yeah, be glad you missed that one. It was a pretty brutal time…did it just get chilly in here? In fact, did the temperature drop outside because everything you’ve handed over to sell feels a bit cold to the touch.” the apothecary says.
“Hadn’t noticed.” You answer.
“…you uh sure you’re all right pal? You look a little pale. I figured when you came in here you came in to buy, not to sell.”
“You got anything that can cure this?” you say and grab the apothecary’s wrist.
“Shit! You’re fucking ice! Let me go! Please! Take anything you want!”
“I’m not here to rob you! I’m serious when I ask, if you have anything that can cure this condition.” You say and let go of the man’s wrist.

The apothecary steps back and rubs his wrist a bit.

“I can honestly tell you that I have nothing that would help you. I can only believe that magic must be at work. Is that the case?” he asks.
“Yeah, and I killed the wizard who did it.”
“Well, I guess he had it coming. Wasn’t one of those Dornans was it?”
“No.”
“Hm, okay that’s good, because they’re about the only folks that I think would be able to help you. They’re pretty interested in all things pertaining to magic, though I’d be careful since it’ll be the knowledge that’s important, not the person. You might have killed a wizard, but I don’t think even you would be able to kill a whole temple of them if things go south.”
“Noted. Can’t think of anyone else?”
“Not really, I mean unless you want to head all the way to Delantium Kingdom and their magic university. It has a good reputation and they aren’t swayed by religious fanaticism. There’s a small magic college in Klyton, but I wouldn’t waste my time.”
“Why not?”
“Because I graduated from there and the magic college there is rubbish, that’s why. It’s understaffed and only kept afloat due to one of the council members being a mage. It’s not bad if you want to learn how to mix potions and such, but the wizards there aren’t exactly the most skilled in magic and they’d probably be just as baffled by your condition as I am. You’d probably end up as a toad with their bumbling.“

Great, more wizards.
> You head to the Temple of Dorna
Considering you don’t trust wizards anyway, you might well check out the ones that are already here. You’re going to just be on your guard as usual. You figure while you’re at it, you can look into trying to find out what happened to Lisa and if she’s still around.

You ask the apothecary where the temple is since it isn’t exactly a place you ever visited when you used to come to the city and your memory is still hazy on where everything is again.

You head to the temple and while you remain hooded as usual, you still draw a little attention from people who are close enough to get a better look at you. Fortunately, you’re strange enough looking that nobody gets hostile.

When you get to the temple, you don’t even get very far since two of its members stop you just inside the entrance.

“And just where do you think you’re going, you…what the hell are you anyway? Damn you’re cold, step back.” a man with a goatee asks.
“Yeah, I was hoping you guys could help me with this.” You say.
“Maybe we should tell Elder Flynn about this, Travis.” The other one says.
“The Elder is in meditation and can’t be disturbed for a week, you know that! Still, this is something he might find interesting. Tell me, how did you come to be this way?” Travis asks.

You give a brief rundown on what happened, when you mention Ral by name the pair of them seems more interested in that, than what happened to you.

“Wait, you’re telling me that YOU killed Ral?” Travis asks.
“I helped…oh shit…he wasn’t secretly a Dorna worshipper was he?” you ask.
“No true follower of Dorna would do it in secret! He was an infidel as far as I know. Though honestly, I’m not too familiar with the man, Elder Flynn apparently knows him quite well and all I know about that is they’re not fond of each other. So…he’s dead huh?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, this is something Elder Flynn would definitely want to know about. Unfortunately as I said, he’s in meditation and can’t be disturbed at all. You could come back then. I’m sure the Elder would be able to help.”
“Well…I guess I can wait a little longer. So I just come back here in a week?”
“Yes, in a week.”
“Okay then.”

You turn to leave and look back to see Travis and his buddy whispering about something. Probably about you no doubt.

Still, at least they didn’t try to do anything bad to you or anything, though that’s still a possibility you suppose.

The only thing to do now is wait, but you’re going to have to find something to do in the meantime. You could go back home, but you honestly don’t feel like making that trek again, not to mention after spending so much time in Ral’s house, you aren’t exactly itching to go back so soon.

You have more than enough money so you figure you’ll just find an inn to stay at.

You stay at a place called the Baroness. (Named after the current ruler no doubt) The innkeeper is a bit wary of you, but after giving him a few extra coins for a room he no longer has a problem with you. (Other than telling you to stand back from him)

You spend a couple days not doing much of anything important except information gathering. It’s difficult to eavesdrop on conversations (let alone trying to strike up one) with your new condition, but you do manage to at least figure out some basics on the underworld situation.

Apparently along with there being a new ruler, the Ebony Claw Syndicate has a greater monopoly on all criminal activity in the city. There are still independents as such things can never be completely wiped out, but the Thieves’ Guild was completely destroyed along with any other minor organized rivals

Last time you remember, Lisa said she was thinking about joining them. At the time you hoped she wouldn’t, but given the situation now, you suppose if she has, it’s better that she picked the winning side. Of course this is all still assuming she’s alive or even still in the city.

You can’t be sure of any of this, but since you have time to kill and not much else going on, you seek out Ebony Claw members to question. Not exactly something most do, but then you don’t have much to lose and at this point you’d wager that you’re a much better than average fighter than you used to be if it comes to that.

You head to a place called the Poisoned Blade Inn, which even before they took over the entire underworld was a known Ebony Claw hang out.

As soon as you enter, it’s almost like the Dorna Temple all over again, because you gain everyone’s attention, mainly because you don’t even bother covering yourself with a hood like you normally do.

“Well…this is an unusual sight.”
“Looks like the Dornans have been experimenting again.”
“Did it just get colder in here?”
“Hey, pale man! You lost?”
“Careful, he looks like he might have magic about him.”
“Yeah, well he ain’t the only one.”

Several obvious ECS members are already converging on your position.

“Not here for trouble, just looking for the most direct way of getting answers. Does anyone here know a woman named Lisa? She’d be around my age.” You say holding up your hands. The ECS members do not put down their guard just because you are though.

“Even if any of us did know such a woman, what makes you think we’d tell you?” the most aggressive ECS member says.
“Look, if you haven’t heard of her, fine, I made a mistake and I’ll just go.”
“Oh you made a mistake alright just by walking in this place and the only place you’re going is the sewers after we dump your body!”

The man suddenly grabs your arm and attempts to pull you towards him in order to stab you, but as soon as he grabs your arm he pulls his hand back. You draw your weapon and everyone steps back a bit.

“SHIT! This guy is fucking freezing!” the man exclaims.
“He’s a sorcerer! Quick, shoot him before he unleashes more frost magic!” another shouts.

Soon another man with a partially shaved head and a huge black claw tattooed on the shaved part appears from the back of the crowd.

“Alright, alright, everyone fucking settle down. Obviously the man didn’t come here to fight, he wants information, but that’s going to cost. I trust you have some coin?”
“Yeah, hope you don’t mind it cold.” You say and toss a small pouch of coins at him, which he catches.
“Fine with me, you bought yourself an audience. Come with me into my office.”

You follow the man as the rest of them get out of your way. His “office” is really just a more secluded table towards the back, but it serves its purpose. The pair of you sit down and you learn the man’s name is Mantis.

“Geez, you really do give off the cold. Not sensing that you’re a sorcerer though. You look human…curse perhaps?” Mantis asks.
“Something like that, getting it taken care of.” You respond.
“Well good luck with that iceman. In any case we’re not here to talk about your condition, you were asking about a woman named Lisa. Now for some reason you came to a know Ebony Claw location to ask us specifically. So what makes you think we might know this woman? And a better description would help.”

You give a physical description of her based on what you remember of what she looked like. It’s almost a little concerning that you’ve almost forgotten what she looks like, but you believe your description has sufficed and it’s your additional information that you think that she may have joined the Ebony Claw Syndicate that gets attention.

“Hmm, I see. So you’re looking for your long lost girlfriend? Is that it? You sure she just didn’t want any more to do with you? It happens you know.”
“I’m fairly certain that isn’t the case. We were on good terms before our…separation which wasn’t either of our faults. Look I already know she could have very well moved on or even be dead. If that’s the case, then I’ll just deal with it, but one of the last things she was talking about was possibly joining you guys. I didn’t think it was a good idea, but if she did join and she’s still part of your organization, then I’d just like to know so if I have to ask every EC member, then that’s what I’ll do until I get confirmation.”
“Well, From what you’ve told me, she doesn’t sound like ECS material, but then maybe she got lucky and blew the right person…(Sigh) Look, I can ask around, but I can’t make any promises. Our organization is fucking huge you understand and I couldn’t even tell you every member in this city, let alone anywhere else. Shit, for all I know she might be a higher rank than me because I’m nowhere near the top of the food chain. And if that’s the case then I can’t just be giving away her location and I’m also not doing this for free.”
“I just paid you.”
“Yeah, you paid for an audience with me. Now you’re going to pay for me to ask around about your ex. However, I’m not going to ask you for money. I want you to perform a task for me.”
“A task?”
“Yeah. If I’m going to potentially be giving information out one of our members to a stranger, I want to see just how dedicated you are about this. Now you look like you’d be able to handle yourself in a fight. You came in here by yourself after all.”
“You want me to go rob a bank or steal something?”
“Pfft. The syndicate has no need to be involved in such petty activities to supplement our income. The Blue Dream trade is thriving and whores and gambling are too. No, what needs to be done is something a lot more violent. You familiar with Karn?”
“The God of warriors?”
“Combat, strength, all that related shit. Well their priests are starting to become a pain in the ass by encroaching on our territory.”
“I wasn’t aware the Karnites were into drugs, whores and gambling.”
“They aren’t, but they’re in the business of faith and that’s a problem to the Temple of Fel. Not long ago, a Karnites broke all the limbs of one of Fel’s faithful. This can’t go unpunished. I want you to go kill the asshole and bring me back the ring he wears on his hand as proof.”

You always heard rumors that the Ebony Claw Syndicate were more than just a criminal organization and the reasons why they were so powerful were due to their ties to the God of shadows. Looks like this confirms such things.

“Okay. So why send me? The syndicate has loads of assassins I’d wager. In fact don’t the followers of Fel specialize in that sort of thing?” You say.
“And you’d be right, but we just got finished with a full blown war with the Thieves Guild and the other petty organizations. We’re really not looking to get into another one so soon without rebuilding a bit. As for the Fels themselves, well apparently it’s not high on their priority list, but you can bet that if it did get taken care of, those involved would find favor with the temple.” Mantis says with a smile.

Obviously Mantis wants to use you to advance his own petty ambitions.
“In any case, you’re not affiliated with us and you’re not a follower of Fel. If you purposely start a fight with a Karnite and kill him then it has the added bonus of not being attached to either of us.” Mantis continues.
“Wait, you want me to just kill this guy out in the open?” you ask.
“You’re not too familiar with the Karnite faith are you? Issue a personal challenge and it’s all perfectly fine. Hell, even the city watch isn’t going to do shit about it. Other Karnites themselves won’t even retaliate, as they’ll see it as an honorable challenge from a lone challenger. Though to be on the safe side, I’d try to make it seem like a natural challenge. I dunno, bump into him on the street and pick a fight or something.”
“What about the ring? Won’t they be upset about me taking a holy item?”
“Eh, well they probably won’t be happy about it, however you’d be taking a trophy and if someone wasn’t strong enough to keep it, then in their eyes they don’t deserve it. In fact, they may even ask if you want to join them…but obviously I wouldn’t advise that.”
> You take the job
If this is going to help you find Lisa, then this is what you’re going to have to do.

“Okay fine. Tell me what this corpse looks like.” You say.
“That’s what I like to hear iceman.” Mantis remarks.

Mantis gives you a physical description of the Karnite in question and his few haunts when he isn’t at his temple. As befitting of a follower of Karn, he is constantly training his body and you can see him running laps in the area close to his temple early in the morning.

Before you leave, Mantis tells you that he’ll look into finding out all he can about Lisa and if she is in fact an Ebony Claw, he’ll tell you how you can contact her providing that you’re successful.

The next few days you spend scouting and spying on your target’s activities. As expected he doesn’t indulge in much. Most of his time is spent in the temple. He only occasionally leaves to purchase a few pieces of fruit, which he seems to enjoy. He doesn’t exactly purchase them either, he just takes them from the poor fruit seller who is far too intimidated by the burly holy man to tell him not to.

You thought about picking a fight with him when he was taking one of his morning runs, but you believe this might be better.

So eventually you make your move.

“Hey! Watch it! I was going for that apple!” you say mildly bumping into the priest.

The priest looks at you with annoyance, but he doesn’t make a hostile move towards you. In fact he backs off a bit, but he also doesn’t give you the apple either.

“Are you fucking deaf? I said I WAS going for that apple!” you say raising your voice.
“Sir! There are many other apples to choose from! Please pick any of the others. They’re all fresh I assure you!” the fruit seller remarks nervously.
“I suggest you listen to the shopkeep.” The Karnite priest says.
“Pfft, I don’t give a shit what fruit boy says, let alone you! You’re one of those karnites aren’t you? I can tell by your shitty brown robes. Supposed to be masters of combat or something. I’m hardly impressed.”
“I’m not here to impress you, but if you would like a sample of my abilities, I would be more than willing to show you.”
“Yeah, right. And after I kick your ass, you’ll get all your Karnite buddies after me.”
“With how you’re boasting, I’m surprised that would be a concern. However, we can make it a one on one contest as per the doctrines of our faith. No retaliation for whatever the outcome. This one and any of these onlookers can be witnesses.”
“Um…sure…okay. Whatever you say.” The fruit seller responds.
“I will say though, I’m detecting magic emanating off of you. If you’re a sorcerer of some sort, this agreement is off.” The priest adds.
“I’m not a sorcerer. This is just me. You backing out?” you respond.
“No, I just suppose this will make things more interesting. Though I hope you realize that when we do this, I don’t intend on just…in your words kicking your ass. Karn’s honor demands no less that I end you permanently.”
“That’s okay, I wasn’t planning on holding back either.”

You pull your short sword and the priest adopts a defensive stance. He doesn’t seem at all worried that you have a weapon. After a couple of swings, you find out why since he easily disarms you.

When you attempt to go for your dagger, he grabs your wrist to stop you and punches you hard in the face. While it doesn’t hurt as much as it would a “normal” person, you still feel the impact. Despite your icy skin and emanation, the priest shows no signs that he’s bothered by it. Though no doubt as one of the Karn’s faithful he’s trained himself to not feel pain like other people. This is very apparent when you actually land a couple of blows and he reacts about as much as you would, which is barely phasing him.

You may have had your battles with arguably more “powerful” beings and creatures than this priest, but then there were other circumstances involved. You are learning first hand that the priests of Karn live up to their reputation. It’s only due to your condition that you manage to stand as long as you do, but eventually he lands a really good punch and this time you go down to the ground.

With you on the ground, the priest immediately takes advantage by taking one of your legs and breaking it. You definitely feel the physical trauma of bone snapping through your skin, though thanks to your dulled senses you don’t go into shock and you manage to swing your other leg as hard as you can and kick the priest in the side of the head. He isn’t expecting that reaction and you catch him slightly off guard. He’s temporarily dazed and lets go of your broken leg.

It isn’t enough however, since you’re still at a disadvantage with a broken leg. You finally manage to pull your dagger in a desperate attempt to even the odds.

The priest avoids your attempts at stabbing at him with your dagger from your prone position. Instead, he kicks your hand, followed by stomping on it, breaking your fingers.

Sensing that you’re much more manageable prey now, the priest puts his foot to your neck and stomps on it. It’s enough to crush your windpipe causing you to gasp for air, but your slow asphyxiation is put to an end when he breaks your neck with a couple more stomps.