Year 25

“I’ve looked through ALL of Ral’s writings along with researching various tomes we have at the temple and I can’t figure out exactly WHAT he did to you. I mean I can guess what he did, but even if I’m right, I still have no idea how to reverse it.” Heather remarks.

You know Heather’s done more than you ever expected from her, but you can’t help but feel frustrated by all this. If your condition wasn’t getting worse, it probably would be tolerable, but it is getting worse. Not so much for you in terms of life and death directly, but you’re starting to effect things in a wider area.

At this point your home is freezing to most (or at least to Heather when she visits) and frost covers everything you come in contact with now. You don’t even have to touch it for long.

Even Spikey makes his home outside the house rather than inside, though it’s just as well since he’s huge now.

Which is leading to the other issue and that’s the fact your icy home is starting to look very out of place compared to the rest of the surrounding landscape. Granted you’re isolated from most major population centers, but there is Dert. Dert is close enough that it’s only going to take a few of the more adventurous young folks to go wandering from that backwards village and bring back tales of an “Ice Castle” with a manticore guarding it. (Fortunately Spikey has never wandered towards Dert and his hunting grounds are mainly elsewhere.)

Heather herself has been trying to keep your presence a secret since apparently Elder Flynn has been sensing a minor growth in magical energy in the area. So far he assumes it’s Ral just working on something, but Heather stresses that if he finds out the truth, he’ll definitely be heading to your home.

Heather is also stressed out due to the fact that she’s been keeping all this from her comrades and on top of everything else, there’s the beginning of religious faction war going on in Holgard.

Since she’s out of any ideas that you might find acceptable, she suggests the last thing she can think of and that’s that you leave and head north. She believes your condition is exaggerated by the warmer climate. (Even more so now due to it being a hotter summer than usual) While you’ve sort of guessed that to some extent, she thinks that if you were just constantly living in a colder environment, your condition would even out and you might not attract as much attention.

“So…what then? I’m supposed to just go live on a mountain top somewhere?” you say.
“No, I’m just saying that you could probably live some place colder and your condition not be as much of a problem. You’d at least blend in a bit better. As it stands now, you’re starting to attract a lot of attention and you were previously pretty isolated before. Not to mention you’ve got a big ass manticore wandering around nearby. You stay here and you’re probably going to have groups of hired adventurers beating down your door.” Heather remarks.
“You just want me to leave because you’re worried about your own ass.”
“Damn right I am! I mean I’m risking every time I come here, every time I lie to Elder Flynn. You realize how much my stomach is in knots about this? And you know what? Fuck you. I’ve been helping you out trying to figure out how to cure you! I’ve tried potions, spells, salves, rituals and even prayers to Dorna on your behalf!”
“You’ve also been helping yourself to magical shit I have.”
“So? It’s been mutually beneficial, but now it’s starting to get risky to a point of where I’m no longer comfortable.”
“Alright, I get it. I get it. But I’m just not too keen on this idea that I’m supposed to just pick up and leave.”
“Well, I dunno any other solutions. I mean when was the last time you went to Holgard and didn’t start drawing a crowd? Didn’t you say that the guards actually prevented you from entering last time? You said you had to sneak in and then you soon got run out of there. I mean it’s only going to be a matter of time that you start drawing the attention of someone you aren’t going to be able to deal with.”
“Your boss is really getting that suspicious huh?”
“Elder Flynn is a concern of course, but it might actually be lucky for you that there’s religious strife going on in Holgard right now. But I was talking in general. Look, we’ve gotten along for a while now, and maybe if circumstances were different I’d say stick around longer, but…”

Heather turns away from you a bit and exhales. In fact she starts to sniffle a bit.

“What? Wait a minute…no…really? You never gave any indication! Hell, we’ve never even kissed! Though I suppose given my condition that might cause problems. That’s why you never acted on it” you say.
“Oh trust me, there’s ways we could have gotten around that aspect. A simple protection of cold would have done that. It’s just… it could never really work okay? And yeah initially I was helping you because it was beneficial to me personally, but I did genuinely want to help because you seemed like an okay guy that was in a bad situation. Even with you telling me tales of your shady past, there was always a charm about you.” Heather remarks wiping her eyes a bit.
“If I ever run into my sister again, I’m sure she’ll be amused to hear that some of her charisma finally wore off on me. Well if it makes you feel any better, I’ve had more than my fair share of thoughts about you as well.”
“I’m sure.”
“I don’t mean just the dirty ones though, I mean I figured even if you were only helping for the magic knowledge and items, it still was nice that someone was helping me.”
“Sort of wish you were only thinking of me in a dirty way, it would make this a lot easier. (Sigh) I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I wish you have said something sooner, I mean now what am I supposed to do? Just leave, knowing all this?”
“If you do have feelings for me like you say then I beg you to leave because you’ll just make it harder for me in the long run. I know it’s selfish to put myself first, but it is what it is.”
“Okay, I’m not mad because I get it, but I don’t see why WE can’t just leave together. I mean you could continue trying to figure out how to cure me and you could probably start up another Dorna church up north and convert barbarian tribes or something. ”
“Heh, nice idea. Tempting even, but no. My life is here.”

You’re getting frustrated at this point.

“What are you fucking this Elder Flynn or something?”
“What? No! He’s like a hundred years old and I don’t have daddy issues!”
“Well what’s really keeping you here then?”
“Look, maybe an infidel like you can’t understand, but my temple is also my family and with all the trouble going on right now, I’m not going to just abandon them.”
“Haven’t you been hording knowledge and the shit you get from me?”
“Yeah, well it’s a complicated family relationship.”
“Guess I can’t relate much…(sigh) Okay, fine. I’ll leave, but only because you did try to help me, I’m a sucker for a pretty face and the fact I don’t really have any other ties here and it’ll make things easier for you.”

You start to get ready to pack, but Heather stops you.

“Hold on a second. You don’t need to leave right this minute.” She says and makes a few little hand gestures causing a brief blue glow around her.

Then she kisses you. It doesn’t feel as good as you remember the last time you did this with Lisa. Even the good stuff is dulled, but what the hell, you’ll take it.

You and Heather get to it and you have a rather interesting time going about your intimacy. Heather’s spell is working, but it’s obvious she’s still feeling some mild…well the word isn’t exactly discomfort, but let’s just say she has never pleasured herself with an icicle in the past so it’s a cool sensation down there for her.

However she’s a trooper and you must be doing something right because by the time you’re done she’s covered in frost. No, that’s not a euphemism either; she’s literally covered in frost.

(In fact if this was all taking place in a modern setting, there could be a whole joke about “The Iceman Cometh”)

You on the other hand were sort of hoping that experience while pleasant enough would maybe raise your body temperature a little, but no, you’re still as cold as ever.

After a moment of basking in frosty bliss, Heather brushes herself off and gets dressed.

“I hope that you can somehow find a way to cure yourself, but whether you do or not, take care okay?”

With those last words she gives you one more kiss and leaves you alone.

This experience has arguably been the best thing that’s happened to you since you woke up in your condition. Of course maybe you’re just sort of feeling that way due to the fact that you haven’t exactly been with anyone in a long damn time.

Part of you wants to just go to her temple, but going to Holgard isn’t going to do anything but cause problems for her and you, so you’ll wait. You know she’ll be back. You figure Heather will probably come back here in a couple days to see if you’re still around and to potentially look for any items she may have missed. When she comes back, you’ll make every effort to convince her to come with you.

So you wait. A week passes, then a month, then two months…

By this time, you’re still laboring under the delusion that she’s going to come back and mainly subsisting on frozen berries, fruit and roots that you don’t go too far to collect from your home.

In the meantime Spikey, being an apex predator in the area has steadily over the past few years been depleting most of the wildlife. He was also supplementing this with the many bandit groups that make their homes in the woods at times. However, even bandits eventually get wise to the fact that it might not be the best idea to have a hideout where many of their fellows are disappearing at an alarming rate.

If his attention wasn’t in the direction of Dert before it is now.

You however don’t really know any of this until you get a knock on the door one night. Thinking that it’s Heather, you spring from your chair, and open it.

And you’re met by a woman, one you even know, but not Heather.

“…Isabella?” you say upon seeing her.

Isabella frowns as you just stare at her naked body in surprise.

“Glad you remember what my tits look like.” She says.
“…Apologies, but I really wasn’t expecting you. I thought another…nevermind, what are you doing here?” you ask.
“I’m here to speak to Ral…what the hell happened to you? You’re as pale as I am and you’re giving off some serious cold. This whole house is, given the frost and ice in the area. What the hell IS Ral doing in there?”
“Well…”
“Look, no offense, but I’m not in the mood to speak to his magic slave. I want you to go bring his ass out of his lab to come speak to me right now. I mean I thought we had an understanding at least that if we HAD to be neighbors he wouldn’t fuck things up for me. Now I got a bunch of dead people in Dert due to his escaped manticore or pet or experiment or whatever the fuck. I told him that backwards dung heap of a hamlet was MY ongoing food source and was not to be messed with.”
“Wait, Spikey attacked Dert?”
“Spikey? That its name? Real original. But yeah it was a damn blood bath there. Hell, I could smell it even from my crypt. The beast killed ten people. I would have tracked it down easily, but considering its scent was also leading in this direction, I’d pay Ral a visit first since I was sure this was all his fault. And judging from what I’m seeing, I was right. So get his ass out here!”
“That’s going to be a problem given that he’s dead.”
“Dead? Bullshit.”
“I’m serious. He’s been dead for like two years now.”

Now Isabella is the one showing some surprise. The fact that she is surprised means you must have really caught he off guard. You remember that Ral and her had a relationship in the past. From some of her brief sad expression, she perhaps didn’t have complete loathing for him.

Isabella looks down a bit and closes her eyes before speaking again.

“(Sigh) Damn. Didn’t think I’d still feel something for the bastard, but I guess you never know until it happens. I guess this means you’re no longer a magic slave and you’re in fact responsible for this mess then. How? You’re no wizard. And how did you kill Ral anyway?” Isabella asks.
“I didn’t kill Ral, he just died of natural causes in his bed.” You quickly say.
“Hah! Nice try, but you’re lying. Look, I don’t care if you killed him, if he’d made me a slave I’d have killed him too.”
“Well, I had help and it wasn’t easy.”
“I’m sure. So what’s with the eternal winter here?”
“Ral’s last gift to me.”

You give a quick explanation of events of your condition to Isabella who listens to everything.

“So…it was this Heather was the one you were waiting for then?” Isabella asks.
“Yeah, but well…that’s a long story.” You say with a sigh.
“Let me guess you fell for your nurse.”
“She wasn’t a nurse, she was a priestess.”
“Nurse, priestess, whore, doesn’t matter. Your circumstance is as old as time. You fell for the one taking care of you when nobody else would. It happens a lot, but I think your case its just desperation.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you’ve been waiting for this girl for two months you said. It’s obvious she isn’t coming back.”
“She could just be busy! There’s a religious war going on in Holgard right now! You know, we made love the last time I saw her!”
“And? That probably was just a goodbye pity fuck. Look, I didn’t see how you two interacted and I’m only getting some of what you’re telling me, so I’m not going to say this girl didn’t have feelings for you, but its obvious she cares more about herself or at least her own life.”
“You don’t know shit!” you snap.
“Okay, look, whatever. I actually don’t care that much, but we still need to settle this issue with your pet manticore along with your snowman condition because both of them are going to fuck up my shit. The manticore can be settled easily since I can just kill the beast and be done with it. But you are a whole other problem.”
“Wait a minute you can’t just kill my pet! And why the hell am I a problem, I don’t even go near Dert.”
“Yeah, but your aura might. I mean from what little you’ve told me, your condition is getting worse and if that’s the case, the last thing I need is for it to freeze over Dert and cause all the peasants there to pick up and leave due to failed crops. It’s bad enough some are already talking about leaving due to the manticore attack. Others are even talking about hiring adventurers. Last thing I need is a group of fortune seekers stomping around the area and stumbling on my place of rest.”
“I’m sure you’d be able to handle them.”
“That’s not the damn point, my point is I like things peaceful and they can’t be, if there are certain elements in the area fucking everything up! So the way I see it, is you got two choices. You either leave, or I cure you.”

Once again Isabella has given you a little surprise.

“What? You can cure me? How?!” you ask.
“Invite me in and I’ll show you.” Isabella responds with a smile.
“Uh…no…things aren’t quite bad enough for me to want to commit suicide.”
“Who said I was going to kill you? I’d make you into a vampire.”
“Wait. Why? Would that work?”
“Sure. The transformation process practically gives you a clean slate. I’d be very surprised if it didn’t work. As for why…well let’s just say why not?”
“…I feel like there’s a catch…”
“Well of course there’s a catch, I don’t just offer the gift to anyone. I’d require you to help me around the crypt as it were.”

And there it is.

“A slave. You want me to be your slave.” You say.
“You wouldn’t be a slave, you’d be my…companion. You think your few years of no meaningful intimacy are bad? Come back when you’ve had a century or so of it. I just felt a pang of loss over a man that I practically loathed for decades. Now I know I’m moving in quick on you, but when you’ve been as solitary as I have, you tend to not let social rules dictate your actions. I’m offering not only a cure for your condition and immortality, but also a chance for you not to worry about having to be alone ever again. You can’t say you aren’t tempted. I still remember that night we had years ago. Look, I’ll be back in a couple nights. If you’re still here, then I’ll know you’ve accepted my offer. If you’re gone, I know you haven’t. And when I say I’ll be back in a couple nights, you can bet that I’ll mean it.” Isabella says and leaves.

And once again you’re left alone with a big decision. You knew you were going to have to make one soon, but these events haven’t definitely given you more to think about.
> You stay and reject the offer
You’re not going anywhere and you’re not going to be a slave again even if the offer is from beautiful naked vampire.

Isabella can’t do shit to you anyway as long as you stay in the house at night. You’re not even concerned that much about Spikey, as you’re sure that a beast of his size can probably at least fly away from Isabella if she proves too much. You’re a little concerned about when Heather shows up however, but hopefully Heather shows up during the day. She’s a priestess too, so it isn’t like she’s completely defenseless.

Defying a vampire is going to be dangerous, but probably no more dangerous than killing a wizard that had enslaved you.

You stock up on food over the next two days along with gathering what few magical items you have left only to remember that Heather probably already took the most useful stuff. No matter, you’ll just have to be careful.

Later that night you hear a knock on the door. You open it and as expected it’s her.

“Well, given that you’re here, I’d say that means you’ve decided to take me up on my offer. I have to say, this pleases me and you will soon see just how lucky you are that I chose you. Now, if you’ll just invite me in, we can get to this, or you can step out here, if you prefer. Up to you.” Isabella says.
“Thanks but no thanks, I’ve decided to turn down your offer. While I’m sure you wouldn’t go out of your way to make my life miserable, we still would not be equal and I’ve had enough of having to deal with sort of situation.” You say.

Isabella frowns at your statement.

“I see…so I take it that you have stayed around to politely inform me that you’re leaving then?” she asks.
“No.” you respond.
“Excuse me?”
“Look Isabella, I can appreciate your situation and I will definitely try to train Spikey to hunt elsewhere, but I’m not going to just leave because you’re making lightly veiled threats.”
“Oh believe me, when I make my threats, they are never light or veiled.”
“Well you certainly implied a threat as far as I’m concerned. You gave me two choices, well I’m taking a third one. I need to stay here and you’re not running me off.”
“Hmm, this Heather girl must have really laid it down good. I guess I can see your point even if I think you’re being short sighted on this matter. Perhaps I came across a little too aggressively, but as I said, isolation has made me a bit less focused on the whole courtship process. In any case, apologies.”
“Oh…well I accept. I have to say, I thought you were going to be madder than you are.”
“Why would I be mad, I said I get where you’re coming from. You clearly have strong feelings for this girl. Strong enough that you risked facing me believing I was going to go into some frothing vampire rage no doubt.”
“Well that was the concern.”
“Hah, you needn’t have done so. Takes more than that to really make me that mad.”

Even in your condition, you were still a bundle of nerves and worry about this moment. You feel much more relaxed now that you see Isabella isn’t mad or even showing signs of wanting to retaliate.

Isabella talks with you a bit more saying that she hopes that Heather feels the same way about you. She’s really surprising you with how understanding she is, and you continue to just feel calmer with her.

And that’s when you’re done for…

She couldn’t use it on you when you were magically tethered to Ral, but since that’s no longer the case, Isabella easily uses her powers to charm you so gradually that you don’t even realize it.

You foolishly allowed yourself to get into an extended conversation with her and when she tells you to step outside for a moment, you obey.

As you embrace her, Isabella takes you into her arms and looks into your eyes.

“If only you hadn’t been defiant and just taken one of the other choices…such a waste.” She says and then bites you on the neck. And she has no intention on turning you either.

It’s an odd sensation from the last time she did it since you don’t even feel any pain. Isabella herself is having a mildly difficult time sucking your blood which is probably a little slushy due to your frosty condition, but she gets through it.

You don’t.


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 do nothing
Considering you’re still under a geas, there isn’t much you can do in the first place. In fact you’re sort of pissed at Tych right now considering you were about to get released by Ral!

“What the hell are you waiting for plivik?! Move in! Attack!” Tych shouts.
“Tych, you’re a fucking asshole! I was close to freedom! I’m not helping your sparkling ass now!” you shout back.
“Wha…shit…”

At this moment Tych realizes his plan has fallen through and he desperately goes to find something else that could possibly help him in the lab. Meanwhile Ral is already starting to get over his situation and stumbles over to one of his tables and downs some potion. Whatever it did, its helped him significantly.

Tych is nowhere to be seen at this point, but that soon changes when Ral instantly teleports him back. The little bastard has never looked so terrified.

“I allowed you to live and this is how you repay me? Not too surprising I guess, but I thought you at least had enough sense to not try to kill me. You’re going to pay dearly for this.” Ral says.

You continue to stand back, keeping Spikey in check and watch as Tych suddenly clutches his head. He begins making high pitched screeches and eventually drops to the floor like a stone, which is quite the height since he was still hovering and a fair distance from the floor. He’s probably broken his little legs, but that’s the least of his problems.

Tych continues to writhe in agony on the floor. Blood starts pooling around him. You aren’t sure exactly what Ral is doing, but it apparently causing Tych to bleed from every orifice.

Eventually the sprite’s body can’t take it anymore and convulses a couple times before finally dying. You aren’t sure if he deserved all that, but you’re just glad that wasn’t you.

Ral now turns his attention to you and already by his stare you’re feeling a little nervous.

“Hey, I didn’t plan that! That was all Tych. I can’t even do anything against you remember?”
“Maybe not, but you didn’t do exactly that much to help me either.”
“Wha…what? I figured you had it! I mean what damage is a sprite going to do to you?”
“Apparently more than I anticipated. I have a very hard time believing that he didn’t try to convince you to help, he seemed VERY sure you were when he shouted at you. Why else would he make such an attempt?”
“Because he was desperate! I swear I wasn’t conspiring against you!”
“I dunno, you were pretty argumentative earlier…”

At this point you feel so threatened that you begin to think about acting against Ral, despite the geas. It takes everything within you, but you suddenly shout “Spikey attack!”

You instantly fall to the floor clutching your groin in pain, Spikey attacks, but given that Ral was already in a state of alertness, he waves his hand and teleports himself out the way of the barbs, then follows up with freezing Spikey in solid ice.

“That was a very silly thing to do. If I didn’t think you were against me before I do now. Last thing I need is to release you and you cause problems for me later no matter how minor that would actually be.”

“No wait!”

Those are the last words you utter before you’re put into some sort of magic stasis.

Instead of killing you, Ral keeps you around to experiment on from time to time and do tests. (Spikey on the other hand is ground up into spell components)

The only good thing is you’re completely oblivious to any of this and you definitely don’t experience any passage of time.

Your mind is there, but in a dream like state. Most of the time this is positive as you often dream about having a pleasant experiences with people you were on good terms with in real life, such as you sister or Lisa (Or rarely, even Annah or your parents)

 for you like this, but of course thanks to Ral’s magic, you suffer no physical effects of this coma state. However, there does come a day where you’re having one of your more pleasant dreams and suddenly everything starts getting ripped away from you.

In the dreamland all sorts of horrors attack you, from lizardmen to wazias and manticores. You see those close to you killed many times over, driving you insane for you can do nothing to stop it.

In the real world something even worse is going on. You’ll never know what exactly of course (Let alone why), but it involves Ral destroying your sense of self or quite literally wiping your mind. The sudden chaos of your dreams is just the beginning of your brain failing to make sense of it all, but eventually everything you know starts disappearing and being replaced by other unfamiliar images. Well a few of them are familiar, but the fact that all the familiar ones are related to Ral, is a little concerning.

“Your world” shrinks and one by one all those you knew independent of Ral disappear. People like Tych and Isabella are still there, but you begin to perceive them in a very different way. Even “you” are not feeling yourself. You start to feel like a stranger in your own head.

And then finally, you cease to exist as you know it and only Ral remains.


You’re not paying him shit, this is probably some sort of set up.

“Yeah, I think I’m good on my own.” You say.
“Grm. Suit yerself.” Warts says and then without another word he disappears back into the forest. You thought for sure he’d at least try to lower his price if you declined his help, but you guess not.

In any case you still aren’t sure of which way to go, so you gamble and just pick a path that looks the most promising. You figure you could always backtrack if feels like you’re going the wrong way. (You hope)

You walk along your chosen path for a while, still keeping an eye out for any potential ambushes. In fact you don’t even walk directly on the path, you mostly just stick close like you were following a river.

Speaking of which you eventually come across a real river with a bridge and everything. There even looks to be a sign post nearby, which makes you think that you are probably going in the right direction.

Unfortunately it also looks like a group of four bandits has boldly decided to set up a blockade of sorts here. They haven’t seen you yet, so that’s at least one good thing in your favor. Of course while you only see four bandits, who knows if there are more hiding nearby with bows or something. In fact you probably shouldn’t linger here too long. You slink away and head upstream hoping you’ll find another way. (And not get too lost in the process)

You don’t have too much luck for the most part, but then you see one area where the water looks low enough to cross. You decide to make the attempt.

All goes well until it turns out the water wasn’t as low as you thought and you’re now knee deep in it. You’re already a third way across however and you press on.

By the time the water is nearly up to your chest, the current begins to pull you and you’re soon not walking across the river bottom anymore. You try to maintain control of the situation, but the current is swifter than you anticipated, not to mention you don’t know how to swim.

You’re fortunate in that you don’t get pulled too far downstream or go completely underwater before you manage to grab hold of a rock which is close enough to the other side that you pull yourself to the other side of the river bank.

Your possessions are another story however. You’ve lost your coin bag, along with the pistol you just managed to acquire. About the only thing you have left is your dagger. You curse your luck along with the forest, the river and your situation in general. After releasing a torrent of swearing, you move on.

Eventually night falls and along with now being cold and wet, you’re also starting to feel tired. You aren’t even sure if you’re heading in the right direction anymore since you got a bit discombobulated when you were struggling not to drown.

Still, you press on and that’s when you think you see a slight respite in this mess.

You see a cabin, though probably an abandoned one as there is no light coming from it. You just hope there isn’t anyone or anything lurking inside.

You cautiously approach the cabin and while you have a feeling of unease the entire time, when you explore around it, you don’t find anything out of the ordinary. Of course it is dark, so maybe you’re missing something, but so far it doesn’t look like anyone is making camp here.

As soon as you try the door though all your senses start to scream danger and you draw your dagger and spin around. You are met with the sight of a man in a robe standing nearby. It’s hard to see his face, but the light of the moon shows he’s a lot older than you.

You lift your dagger up in a defensive stance, but the man isn’t moving.

“Put that away son, it wouldn’t do you any good again me or anything else out around here I’d wager. In fact you shouldn’t even be around this cabin. Bad things happen here.” The man says.
“Yeah? Well what’re you doing out here then?” you ask.
“Good help is hard to find nowadays. What’s your story, you look a little worse for wear.”
“What’s it to you?”
“Sheesh, just trying to make conversation. You don’t look like one of the many bandits out here. You ain’t green, so you aren’t hobgoblin. Can’t see any points in those ears, so not an elf either. Given your age though, what you do look like is a lost lamb in the woods. Is that what you are?”
“No and I’m doing just fine out here.”
“Bullshit, kid. You look like a half drowned rat. What’d you do, fall in the river?” he says and starts to step forward.

“Get the fuck back old man! I’m no damn lamb in the woods, I’ve killed people!” you say thrusting your dagger in his direction a bit.
“Is that right? Hmm, perhaps you could be useful. You just a fighter? You got any other skills?”
“Yeah…I mean what the hell you wanna know for?”
“Because as I said, good help is hard to find and I got a lot of tasks that need doing. Now I know you’re lost out here, but I’ll tell ya what, I’ll get you out of this forest and set you up with a place to stay and whatever else you might need if you help me in my tasks.”
“No thanks, I already killed one old pervert in exchange for his so called help.”
“Well that explains why you’re so mistrustful. Look kid, I barely even think about that anymore and you don’t have the right equipment anyway. I’m a wizard and I do a lot research and experiments. Unfortunately, the material that I sometimes need requires me to come outside which I’d rather not do. I used to have an apprentice of sorts to help out on that front, but well let’s just say shit happens.”
“A wizard that does experiments? And how do I know that I’m not going to be one of those experiments?”
“Because if I wanted you for that purpose, I would have already cast a spell to immobilize you and taken you back to my place already. I’m just looking for someone to help me do the grunt work I don’t want to be bothered to do. I can also promise to pay you, if saving your life just isn’t good enough.”
“How much?”
“We can discuss that later, but I need to know if you want the job, because I’m not staying out here all night.”
“Well where is your place? Holgard?”
“Pfft, not that cess pit. Though it isn’t too far from there.”
“How far is it?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, I can get us there real quick. So you in or not?”
> You decline the offer
“No, I don’t think so. If you’re as powerful as you say you are, there’s gotta be a catch if you want me to willingly agree to help you.” You say.
“Hmm, you’re more clever than you look, but perhaps a bit short sighted as potential opportunity. You can’t gain something without risk, boy. Oh well, I won’t bother you anymore, it was just an offer after all.” The man says and disappears into the forest.

You’re still a little leery of the man’s intent so you get in the cabin as fast as you can and close the door. You look out the window a few times, but see nobody lurking around. You don’t even hear any noise outside.

The cabin itself is completely dark save for the moonlight coming from the window and the few small holes in the roof. It’s also a simple one-room abode with barely any furnishing, so if anything were hiding in here, it would have to be doing a very good job of it.

In any case, you don’t have anything that would get the fireplace started, but there is a simple straw bed in the corner. You prod at it a couple times just to make sure it isn’t infested with anything and then you lay down.

No sooner have you lain down your lids begin to get very heavy. Odd, you were sort of still wound up from your recent encounters, but you guess the stress of the day has finally caught up with you. You close your eyes and sleep takes you.

You dream of your home in Teckleville except you’re not living with your parents and you’re actually happily married to Annah. In real life this would be very unlikely situation, but since this is a dream you don’t think much about it.

Life is good. You’re well respected in the village and you work as a locksmith. Not too much of a stretch given your familiarity with locks, but as the dream builds upon this perfect life, you start to feel uneasy.

Still, you’re so happy with Annah and your brand new son. One night you and she are looking at him sleeping in his crib.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Annah asks.
“Not as beautiful as you.” You say and then kiss her.
“Mmmm, that’s how we go this one here.” She says as you both enter your own bedroom.
You stare into her eyes and caress her hair.
“I wish this moment would never end.” You say
“Do you mean that?”
“Of course.”

Annah suddenly then looks at you more seriously and squeezes your hand.

“No, I have to know, do you really mean it? Do you want to spend the rest of your life
with me?”
> Yes
Something about this all seems so wrong somehow…but yet you can’t help but feel finally at peace here.

“Yes, I do want to spend the rest of my life with you.” You say.

Annah hugs you tight and you embrace her and you never worry about anything else ever again. You two live a lifetime in bliss and happiness in Teckleville and you watch your child grow up and then your grandchildren. You grow old and so does Annah, but towards the end on your deathbed when Annah is hovering over you, her face changes, in fact she is no longer the same woman and a much younger one to boot.

This new smiling young woman with red hair touches your face just before you close your eyes for the last time.

Years later a group of adventurers find your skeletal remains still lying on the bed in that cabin. As they search through your remains, they can’t help but notice that your skull seems to be smiling.


“No, I don’t think so. If you’re as powerful as you say you are, there’s gotta be a catch if you want me to willingly agree to help you.” You say.
“Hmm, you’re more clever than you look, but perhaps a bit short sighted as potential opportunity. You can’t gain something without risk, boy. Oh well, I won’t bother you anymore, it was just an offer after all.” The man says and disappears into the forest.

You’re still a little leery of the man’s intent so you get in the cabin as fast as you can and close the door. You look out the window a few times, but see nobody lurking around. You don’t even hear any noise outside.

The cabin itself is completely dark save for the moonlight coming from the window and the few small holes in the roof. It’s also a simple one-room abode with barely any furnishing, so if anything were hiding in here, it would have to be doing a very good job of it.

In any case, you don’t have anything that would get the fireplace started, but there is a simple straw bed in the corner. You prod at it a couple times just to make sure it isn’t infested with anything and then you lay down.

No sooner have you lain down your lids begin to get very heavy. Odd, you were sort of still wound up from your recent encounters, but you guess the stress of the day has finally caught up with you. You close your eyes and sleep takes you.

You dream of your home in Teckleville except you’re not living with your parents and you’re actually happily married to Annah. In real life this would be very unlikely situation, but since this is a dream you don’t think much about it.

Life is good. You’re well respected in the village and you work as a locksmith. Not too much of a stretch given your familiarity with locks, but as the dream builds upon this perfect life, you start to feel uneasy.

Still, you’re so happy with Annah and your brand new son. One night you and she are looking at him sleeping in his crib.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Annah asks.
“Not as beautiful as you.” You say and then kiss her.
“Mmmm, that’s how we go this one here.” She says as you both enter your own bedroom.
You stare into her eyes and caress her hair.
“I wish this moment would never end.” You say
“Do you mean that?”
“Of course.”

Annah suddenly then looks at you more seriously and squeezes your hand.

“No, I have to know, do you really mean it? Do you want to spend the rest of your life
with me?”
> No
You sense something wrong…this isn’t your life and this is no mere dream. Something is trying to make you “stay here.”

Somehow you manage to wake yourself up and when you do, you really wish you hadn’t.

You see a ghostly rotting figure hovering over you. It looks female in appearance, but only vaguely.

“I TRIED TO MAKE YOU HAPPY!” it shrieks and attacks you.

You of course have no weapon that can defend against such a supernatural creature. You try to get up, but an unnatural force holds you down. You scream as you feel an icy pain envelope your body and your mind is filled with terrible images.

Your screams are followed by your entrails and vital organs being ripped out, your bones being broken and your head ultimately being twisted all the way around and pulled off.

Afterwards the apparition nuzzled up to your decapitated corpse making cooing noises, cradling your bloody head and whispering “It’ll be better next time…next time my love…next time….”


You aren’t going to let this fat fuck get a chance to possibly shoot you in the back, plus you’re too pissed about him trying to molest you.

With a couple quick moves you pull out your dagger, stab him in his arm and relieve him of his fancy pistol. Graham screams out like a little girl and now pleads for his miserable life.

“Please! No, don’t kill me!” he whimpers pathetically.

Once again, much like how it was Klint, you show no remorse and pull the trigger of the pistol.

It’s the first time you’ve ever used one; so the unexpected kickback nearly causes you nearly drop it. You also weren’t expecting it blow half of Graham’s stinking face off. His obese corpse slumps lifelessly against the carriage wall.

“Shit.” You remark to yourself being in awe of the power of the weapon.

Never being one to miss an opportunity, you quickly deprive Graham’s body of the jeweled rings on his fingers. You then also go through the pockets that you can get to and get a bag full of gold coins.

After looting Graham’s body, you remember that there is a skirmish going on outside. A quick glance shows several bandit types fighting the mercs. The mercs are out numbered, but thanks to their armor and better training, they’re doing a good job of fending off the bandits.

You get out of the carriage with the intent of just running off into the woods, but then you might get lost. It occurs to you that you do have an advantage that will allow you get away a lot faster and still stay on your course.

While one of the mounted mercs bashes in the head of a bandit you take the opportunity to shoot him while his back is turned. The merc’s armor is of no protection and he cries out as he falls from his horse.

“Who the hell is that guy?” one of the bandits shouts.
“Dunno, but who cares, he’s killing their side!” another says.

You quickly run to the now ownerless horse and clumsily get on. You’re a bit vulnerable for a few seconds, but fortunately the bandits seem to now think you’re on their side and don’t focus on you (and the remaining mercs have their hands full)

You soon manage to control the horse (which is anxious to get away from the chaos anyway) and gallop away until the skirmish is far behind you and you’re basically left alone again. Unfortunately your horse suddenly starts wheeze and wobble. You manage to hastily get off before it collapses.

There on it’s left side you see what the problem is. In all the ensuing the chaos, the horse actually took a few crossbow bolts. Probably damage to vital organs and its adrenaline is finally wearing off. Bad luck for you and even worse luck for the horse. Not having many more options, you start walking.

In any case there’s two more bodies to your count now. Granted Graham deserved it, but that merc…well he made a living risking his life, it just happened that today his time was up. You had to survive a dangerous situation and that’s it.

That’s how you’re justifying that one anyway.

Still, you at least acquired a few goodies for your troubles. You’re going to have to learn more about how to take proper care of this pistol because it’s far too valuable of a weapon to neglect. It’ll certainly make dealing with shit in Holgard a bit more manageable.

The rings are what surprise you most. You’re no jeweler, but you have stolen enough cheap baubles in the past that you can tell a fake when you examine it in greater detail. The gems in the rings are actually common, but altered slightly (especially their color) to resemble more valuable ones. Even the ring is gold plated rather than pure. Looks like Graham wasn’t as rich as he made out.

However, the little pouch of coins is real money so there’s that at least.

You continue along the road, which as you guessed starts alternating from being intact, to dirt with a few stones to being little more than a well worn path in the grass. Even the occasional signs aren’t much help given that many are flat out damaged in some way.

Your natural instinct to just keep going in a straight line like you were doing, but unfortunately for you, the path completely disappears into forest. Doesn’t help that the road also branches into several paths that twist in different directions. You weren’t expecting that so you aren’t sure which way to go.

While you’re pondering this decision, a voice calls out to you.

“Hey! Where youz tryin’ to get to?”

You then see a person dressed in simple clothing coming out of the forest. He’s a little shorter than you, in fact he’s a little greener than you too. Doesn’t look like an orc though, not nearly big or massive enough. Goblin perhaps, but he’s taller than one and almost a bit human looking. A short green human with a few warts on his face and a bigger than average nose.

In any case, you maintain your usual caution.

“Okay, that’s far enough. Who are you?” you ask.
“Me? I’m just Warts.” He answers picking his big nose.
“Appropriate name.”
“Grhm. So youz tryin’ to get to Holgard?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well cuz, I can lead you to it. Lotz o’ paths in this forest lead lotz o’ places. Easy to get lost if you don’t know da way.”
“You know the way huh? How do I know you aren’t going to lead me into an ambush?”
“Youz don’t I suppoze. Take yer chances going alone an’ getting lost, don’t care. I just try to earn a little extra coin for drink an’ leadin’ clueless humies like yerself gets me some…well when they aren’t throwin’ rocks at me that is.”
“What are you exactly?” you ask.
“Huh? What you mean?” Warts replies.
“I mean, you don’t look quite like any greenskin I’ve ever seen.”
“You seen a lot o them have ya?”
“Well no, but I’ve heard tales…”
“Then you don’t really know nuthin’ then do ya?” Warts says in a perturbed tone.

Actually he’s got a bit of a point.

You decide to get right to the matter.

“Alright, assuming I take you up on your generous offer, how much is it?” you ask.
“Oh, yeah price…hmm, you want to go to Holgard right? Five gold coins.” Warts answers.
“Five gold coins just to lead me through the forest? That’s fucking outrageous!”
“Holgard is tricky to get to if you don’t know the way. Lot of false paths get made. Besides, you lot usually have more than enough gold. I see you humies travelling all over in your rolly boxes filled with goods.”
“Do I look like I’m in a rolly box carting around a wagon full of treasures? I’m just a simple traveller down on his luck.”
“Down on luck huh? You should pray to Yag more. Anywayz five gold. Final offer.”

This greenskin obviously has no concept of haggling. It really isn’t like you don’t have the coin, it’s more like you don’t want to give so much to the likes of him after being fortunate enough to acquire it in the first place.

Ultimately, he’s either telling the truth about the forest being that treacherous or he’s completely bullshitting you. You’ll just have to decide for yourself.
> You threaten Warts
Why risk getting lost or paying this greedy greenskin when you can just force him to lead you out of this forest?

You get closer and then pull out your pistol. Warts eyes go big for a moment.

“Iz dat one of those shooty things?” Warts asks.
“Yep, and better yet, it’s one of those multiple shooty things.” You respond.
“Hey, I don’t got no money humie. The only thing I got in my pants is muh dick and I ain’t givin up dat.”
“What you’re going to do is lead me out of this here forest for free or you get a hole in you bigger than one of your nostrils.”
“Grm. So that’s how it is huh? Ol’ Warts gets cheated again. (Sigh) Fine. You got the upper hand, follow me.” Warts says in a resigned tone.

Warts begins to walk and you follow close behind. Several times you get the impression he’s going to try to run off, but it seems like he’s so reconciled to his fate. Almost like this has happened to him before.

Time passes and it feels like you’ve been walking through this forest longer than expected.

“Hey greenskin, how much further is it?” you ask.
“We still got a ways ta go. The damn bandits are all over dis forest and I’m trying to keep us away from their camps. So we gotta go the long way less you fancy a fight.” Warts responds.
“No, I guess not.”
“Grm. Didn’t think so. You wouldn’t last in a real fight without dat shooter.”
“Alright watch it, pimples.”
“Dat’s Warts!”
“Whatever just shut up and keep moving.”

Warts continues to remain silent about his situation as you keep the pistol trained on him. Night begins to fall and once again you begin to get agitated.

“Great, it’s getting fucking dark now. If you think you’re going to…” you start to say.
“SHHHHHH! Hear dat?” Warts says and stops to listen.
“No.” you say, genuinely not hearing anything.

Warts stands still for a moment moving his head as if to hear the sound he heard again, then all of a sudden…

“SHIT! IT’S A BLOOD STALKER! RUN! RUN!” he shouts and takes off ahead of you.

You’re actually so surprised by Warts exclamation that you don’t even try to shoot him, you just try to follow him as you also run through the trees.

You aren’t sure what a blood stalker is and you still don’t even hear anything, but Warts never stops shouting about running for your life. He even turns his head to see if you’re still following and that’s when he takes a fall over something on the ground.

“ARGH SHIT FUCK! MY LEG!” he yells.
“Come on get up!” you say momentarily stopping.
“Can’t! My leg’s all twisted! You’ll have to carry me!”
“Fuck that, you’re on your own!” you say and just continue running ahead.

You fully expect Warts to shout obscenities about you leaving him behind, but you don’t. Since you haven’t looked back, you actually think the blood stalker caught him, but you don’t hear any screams.

Then you soon believe that the blood stalker has caught you because you feel multiple sharp sensations go into your chest.

However, you’re conscious enough to realize it isn’t any sort of creature at all, but instead a swing trap that you triggered while running and not paying attention.

You look down and see several sharpened branches puncturing your body, yet keeping it held up at the same time. Blood comes out of your mouth and despite the pain being fairly terrible, you cannot even utter anything louder than a dying groan.

“Hey Warts! Ya cowardly little grub, youz can come out now! Got da bastard!” you hear a gruff voice exclaim.
“I wasn’t hidin’ ya idjit, I was pretendin’ to be hurt in a fall.” Warts shouts back.

At this point the pain is becoming more of a numbness and your vision is beginning to blur. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a green figure bend down to pick up something, most likely the pistol you dropped when you triggered the trap.

“Hey a shooty. Dis what the humie was threatin’ you wit?” the hobgoblin asks.
“Yeah, an watch where you point dat thing! I had enough of that already.” Warts exclaims.
“Guess you were lucky me an’ da boys were out huntin’ this way. Too many humies in da forest nowadays.”
“Yeah an’ fortunately I noticed the signs since I nearly stepped in hobgoblin shit a couple times. Just glad this dumb humie couldn’t tell the difference between it and regular animal shit.”
“Well you always were an expert on shit Warts.”

You can barely hear the two greenskins now as your body continues to bleed out and your organs shut down.

“Heard ya yellin’ about a blood stalker. You still usin’ dat ol’ lie?” The hobgoblin asks.
“Hasn’t failed yet surprisingly. Guess people just don’t know there ain’t no such creature.” Warts replies.
“Well, guess let’s start strippin’ him. Huntin’ been a bit thin, so this is actually a bit of luck for us. Tell ya what, you can have what’s in his pockets and I’m just gonna keep da shooty and his body for eats, deal?”
“Better deal than I got from this asshole.”
“K, hey you lot! Get yer asses over here an’ help us pull dis meat off the trap.”

Soon several hands grab your limp body and pull it off the spiked trap. At this point any remaining life your body might have had is gone and you don’t even hear the further taunts of Warts or his hobgoblin buddies.


You wake up fairly early, but then you didn’t really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway.

After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it’s better than you were.

You then check your supplies, which aren’t much. You’ve got a few coins, but you aren’t excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You’ve got a little food and water, but it isn’t going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger.

Part of you is only just now starting to feel the various negative emotions involving your parents and Annah. You can only imagine the shitstorm they’re facing because of your actions. You just hope that they don’t suffer the consequences of what you did.

Then there’s Annah. You feel like you should be feeling a lot sadder about her, maybe even crying a bit, but maybe you got all those emotions out of your system when you killed Klint.

Still seems a bit surreal that you killed someone. Not just anyone, but someone you knew since childhood, even if you didn’t like him.

You definitely don’t feel bad about it and while that can be due to several understandable factors, you can’t help but wonder if you could do it again under different circumstances.

You may have to, especially now, though your mind certainly went to a dark place during that time.

Whatever the near future holds, you’ll have to deal with it when it happens. Right now you have to make a decision on where you’re going to go because you’re not exactly hot on the idea of staying out here in the wilderness.

Your first thought is to head west to the city-state of Klyton. It’s certainly the closest city and it’s the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that’s going to be the first place they look.

Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time.

Your mother on the other hand didn’t speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date.

Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes.

The Delantium Kingdom to the east isn’t really high on your choice list. For one thing, you’d have to backtrack around Teckleville to go in that direction. From what you’ve overheard, the kingdom has been slowly trying to expand again which sounds a lot like more soldier types running around and that’s the last thing you need. Still, the kingdom is a big place and they can’t possibly be everywhere. Sivak is the closest major city there.

The only other nearby bastion of major civilization you can think of that’s close is another city state by the name of Holgard. It’s to the south and in terms of existence, it’s only a little older than you are.

It was founded by a noble from the Delantium Kingdom. Originally it was most likely supposed to be some sort of outpost or colony for the DK. But whatever the original intent, the noble soon set himself up as absolute ruler with no ties to the kingdom at all.

For whatever reason, the DK hasn’t taken any action against him, whether that’s because the cost wouldn’t be worth it, they’ve got more important things to deal with or they’re simply glad to have him gone is unknown. The third possibility isn’t entirely out of the question either, since you’ve overheard travelling merchants say that Baron Varsakken is a very unlikable man and it’s amazing he hasn’t suffered any assassination attempts. His children are apparently little better.

Still, you’ve also heard the place is filled with corruption so it would probably be a better place to do your work than Klyton.
> You kingdom
The Delantium Kingdom is a large piece of territory and whether they’re increasing their military endeavors or not, there are still bound to be places where the security is going to be less than adequate.

It’s a long way to Sivak though, and you’re probably going to have to more or less stick to the roads since you only have the vague knowledge that it’s east somewhere.

You’ll probably hit one of the many small villages under Delantium rule first, so you’ll be able to learn a little more about the Kingdom in general, as well as hone your skills and hopefully make a little profit at those. You figure by the time you get to Sivak you will have a clearer idea of what your long term plans are.

With this goal in mind, you backtrack around Teckleville, maintaining caution the entire time. You stick mainly to wooded areas, hoping that you not only don’t run into someone from Teckleville trying to hunt you down, but potentially anything worse. You’ve never really been big on hanging out in the wilderness after all so you don’t know what to expect.

When you once again put enough distance between you and Teckleville again, you slowly start exiting the wooded areas (which are starting to thin anyway) and start following the road directly.

The road itself is empty for most of the time, though you do pass a couple merchant caravans heading in the opposite direction. You just think how if you were still in Teckleville, you probably would have been stealing from them.

Whenever night starts to fall you temporarily get off the road and sleep in the fields behind whatever cover you can find though you never really sleep easily and are constantly waking up at various sounds.

Despite being on the road for a few days, you don’t know when you’ve actually crossed into Delantium territory until you see a sign post along side the road that states that fact. Not far from the signpost is a building, probably a roadside inn of some sort.

As you make your way towards the inn, you hear the clopping of horses behind you. At first you get concerned that someone from Teckleville is galloping your way, but a quick glance shows it’s probably just some other travellers given their relaxed pace.

In any case, it’s getting dark again and as much as you’re getting used to sleeping outside, you’d prefer to sleep on a normal bed for a change. You just hope that you’ve got enough for a room.

You enter the inn, which is fairly empty. An older woman sweeps the floor, while an older man stands behind a bar. You see a couple of people sitting at tables, but none of them really pay much attention to you.

You figure that the man behind the bar is the innkeeper so you go up to him to ask how much for a room. The price he gives you is just out of your price range, too bad you can’t just “steal a room.”

“Come on, you can’t cut me a break? I’m only a few coppers short.” You say.
“I cut you a break, and all of a sudden I get a reputation that I just let everyone walk all over me. Before I know it I got every wanderer in the region asking for handouts. No! You pay the price or get the hell outta my establishment!” the innkeeper exclaims.

“Ren, you oughta be glad anyone even pays for the misfortune of staying at this shitty establishment!” you hear a voice chuckle.

You turn and see three people walking in the place, probably the travellers that you saw earlier. The speaker (and presumably leader of the group) is a man dressed in leather armor with a sword by his side. His two companions are dressed in a similar manner.

“Flynt! Been awhile since you’ve stopped by. You want the usual?” Ren remarks.
“You know me so well.”

The innkeeper calls to the older woman (probably his wife) to go get the special wine from the cellar and then begins exchanging pleasantries with Flynt and his men. He seems to have forgotten about you entirely, though this Flynt seems to be looking over in your direction a bit.

Just as you’re about to leave, Flynt calls over to you.

“Hey son, don’t you still want that room?” Flynt asks.
“Um…well yeah, but I don’t have the money.” You answer.
“Yeah, money is always an issue these days, but I think I’ve got a solution to your problem. Just hold on a moment while we get our drinks.”

Flynt hands over a few gold coins to Ren who takes them and then heads over to a table. He then waves you over to come sit with him and his buddies. You figure it can’t hurt to hear what he has to say.

“Sooo, where you from son?” Flynt asks.
“Why?” you ask.
“Hey, Mr. Flynt asked you a question!” one of Flynt’s friends snaps.
“Easy there! We’re just having a conversation, not an interrogation! I apologize for my friend; sometimes our line of work keeps one on edge. It’s okay if you don’t want to tell us where you’re from, a man has a right to his secrets.” Flynt says in a cordial tone.

The one guy who snapped at you is still giving you a hard look, meanwhile the other one isn’t paying too much mind to you at all and is focused on his drink. Flynt of course is still smiling at you from across the table.

You aren’t quite sure how to play this so you decide to go with your immediate thoughts.

“So you said something about solving my money problems?” you ask.
“Straight to the point. I can appreciate that. You want to get the how out of the way.” Flynt says.
“Actually I was thinking more about the why.”
“Heh, suspicious type aren’t you? That’s a good quality. Smart. Yes, I may indeed have an ulterior motive…but let me ask you this first. Are you familiar with the shadowy arts?”

You look a bit wary at Flynt and his fellows after that question.

“Oh don’t worry son, we’re not soldiers for the Delantium Kingdom or any other law men if that’s what you’re worried about. I just get a vibe from you, that you might be…shall I say skilled in the less than legal endeavors. I’m usually good at judging people with only a bit of observation…so am I right?”
“…if I was…and I’m not saying that I am. What business is it of yours?” you ask.
“Well it could be that this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. Especially seeing as you’re currently too poor to afford a room in this shithole. Look, here’s the deal, we’re in a little trouble with the law right now and have to lay low for a while. In fact we’re probably going to be leaving soon after we have our drinks. However, I have to make a delivery to a man in Sivak, are you familiar with the city?”
“I was heading that way, but I’ve never been there.”
“Oh just stay on this road, heed the signs and you really can’t miss it.”

Flynt takes another drink before continuing.

“As I said, I have to make a delivery to a man by the name of Crasnov. He runs a pottery shop by the same name. If you could take this package to him when you reach the city, I’d certainly be in your debt.”

At this point Flynt pulls out a fist sized wrapped bundle and pushes it towards you. He then pulls out twenty gold coins and puts them right next to the bundle.

“Now, the only rules are, you don’t tamper with it and you definitely don’t give it to anyone else except Crasnov. If you accomplish that, you will be rewarded with more money and I guarantee you will have the thanks of some powerful friends. Friends that may call upon you for other lucrative opportunities.”
“Wait, you’re basically paying me to be a courier?” you ask.
“If you wish to see it that way. If I were you though, I would see it as a first step to become an important person in certain circles.”

Twenty gold coins up front just to deliver a package and more reward afterwards seems like a pretty good deal. Plus the making connections bit is what entices you a bit more.

“Okay, I’ll take the job.” You say.
“Knew you were a smart and ambitious boy. Good, glad this is settled. Now judging the distance from here to Sivak, and you should get there in about four more days as long as you follow the roads and keep on a normal timetable of walking and resting. Too bad you don’t have a horse; otherwise you’d easily cut that time in half. I do urge you NOT to take too much longer than six days though.” Flynt says.
“What happens if I don’t get there in six days?”
“Well let’s just say many people would be upset with you. If you’re concerned with being timely however, you can probably buy a horse with some of that new money, over in Hegglesburg. You should reach that town by tomorrow and they might have a horse you can buy.”

You nod and thank Flynt while pocketing the coins and grabbing the package.

“Well I trust you know just about all you need to. Remember, that package is very important, so guard it carefully. Though I don’t expect that you’re going to have any problems, Delantium’s military definitely makes sure bandits and the like are less of a threat, especially on the roads.” Flynt remarks.
“Yeah speaking of that, should I be worried about getting stopped by the law?” you ask.
“Why? Are YOU a wanted criminal son?”
“Um…no I guess not.”
“Heh. You guess not? Not sure are we? Well let me rephrase…are you a wanted criminal within the Delantium Kingdom?”
“No, this is my first time within its borders actually.”
“Then you’re safe son. You aren’t going to get randomly hassled. You just look like another young wanderer. Just keep your head down around the law and you should be fine. Was there anything else?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Okay then, my fellows and I are going to finish our drinks and then get back on our way. Unlike you, we don’t have the luxury of an unknown reputation. Such is our burden in life. I trust you’ll want to get some rest for your journey tomorrow. Perhaps we’ll meet again in the future.”

Flynt wishes you good luck and returns to finishing up his drink. His friends are doing likewise and you take that as your sign to leave the table.

You return to Ren and hand him a gold coin for a room to which he just grunts and hands you a key.

“Upstairs, last room on the left. Best one in the establishment. You’re out of here by morning.” He says.

You head upstairs and make your way to your room.

When you open the door, the room is nothing special. It’s not bad, just nothing that would stand out to think this is a good one. Still, if this is the best room, it’s a good thing you didn’t get one of the lesser ones.

You settle in for the night thinking about your task. You didn’t expect to get someone approaching you to perform a job, even if it is just a courier one. Still, this seems pretty low risk for decent money so you’re not complaining.

You go to sleep wondering if things are starting to look up for you.
> Next morning
“BUST IT DOWN!” a voice shouts followed by the splintering of your door.

You’re barely awake before you’re rushed by several men dressed in chainmail.

“DON’T MOVE!” one shouts as several spears are pointed directly at you.
“What’s going on?!”
“Shut up!” one of the men says and pokes you in the chest with his spear hard enough that it superficially breaks the skin.

You don’t say any more, but between the men holding you at bay with spears and a couple other searching your room, you fear the worst. One of them inevitably grabs the package you put under your bed. He then opens it and while you’re having a hard time seeing from your position, he pulls out some of its contents and holds up a vial with blue material inside it.

“Is it contraband, sir?” one of them asks.
“Yeah, there’s twenty vials of Blue Dream in here.” A slightly more decorated man remarks.
“You think it’s the Ebony Claw Syndicate?”
“Who else would it be? They’re the ones who mostly smuggle and deal this stuff.”
“But this kid doesn’t look like he’s Claw. He doesn’t even have the tattoo on his arm.”
“Meh, maybe he has it elsewhere…doesn’t matter, what matters is he’s going away for a long damn time.”

A feeling of dread overwhelms you.

“Hey wait! Can’t we talk about this?!” you say.

The man with the package turns to you.

“And what would we have to talk about criminal? You’ve got enough Blue Dream here to get the entire town of Hegglesburg trashed. This seems like a pretty simple situation as far as I’m concerned. You think because you’re young, you deserve leniency? Hah! You can try it on the judge when he sentences you, but in any case you’re coming with us.”

You’re lifted up roughly from your bed by the men with spears (Who you’re assuming are Delantium soldiers at this point)

Your arms are put behind your back and iron shackles are placed on your wrists. When you’re marched down the stairs and in front of various inn onlookers, you hear Ren complain about them breaking his door, to which the one that was talking to you earlier remarks that Ren’s lucky that they aren’t taking him in and shutting this whole place down.

When you exit the inn, you’re shoved into the back of a cart. Another older man with many scares on his face in iron shackles sits in the cart. He gives you a brief look and then returns to looking back at the cart floor.

“The prisoner is secure, sergeant.” One of the soldiers says.
“Okay, let’s take this drug dealing trash back to Sivak.” The sergeant says, still hanging on to the Blue Dream package.

This is the second time this week that you’ve been accused of a serious crime and once again you didn’t even mean to do it!

Was this all a set up, while Flynt took off to parts unknown? Flynt DID seem pretty willing to just hand off illegal drugs to you. Then again, why bother setting you up, when he could have just hid them somewhere rather than risk losing the product altogether? Maybe this is all just more bad luck hitting you.

In any case, your mind starts racing about what you can do in your current situation. First thing you think about is escape. The cart is going slow enough that you could probably easily jump out and just run. The problem with that plan is there are multiple mounted guards to the front and back of you. They would easily run you down and most likely kill you for attempting to escape.

The second thing you can think of is what the sergeant said. Something about the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You can make an educated guess that Flynt and his friends were part of this organization. Maybe if you told them everything that transpired at the inn, they would let you go.

Of course you could just resign yourself to your fate for now and look for an opportunity later.
> You rat out Flynt
You’re not taking the fall for some assholes you’re not even connected with, you didn’t even know about Blue Dream OR the Ebony Claw Syndicate until today!

“Hey! I wanna tell your superior something!” you say.
“Shut up criminal, or we’ll have you WALK the rest of the way tie to back of the cart!” one of the guards remarks.
“But this is really important! It’s about the Blue Dream! Your sergeant will want to hear this!”
“I said SHUT IT!” the same guard says and trots his horse next to the side of the cart and hits you in the head with a small cudgel causing you to fall off your seat and onto the cart floor. The other man in cuffs just watches you as you attempt to get up.

“Alright what the hell’s going on back here?” the sergeant asks riding his horse back to the cart.
“This criminal claims he’s got something really important to tell you about the Blue Dream we confiscated.”
“Oh, still trying to talk his way out of it is he? (Sigh) Fine. Let him get it over with, so we can get on with this in silence.”
“Thank you, sir! Thank you for allowing me to tell my side!”

The sergeant tells his people to stop and then you begin to tell your tale. You mention how Flynt came up to you and how you accepted his offer because you needed the money and thought it was just a simple delivery since he never mentioned what was in the package.

As you’re telling the story, the sergeant begins to look a little concerned.

“This Flynt you mentioned is a known Ebony Claw Syndicate lieutenant and you’re saying you aren’t affiliated with them? All right son, just stop talking right now and get…” the sergeant says.
“What you don’t believe me? I would have never carried illegal drugs had I known!” you exclaim.
“You’re not listening kid, I’m telling you to get…”
“Do you need more information? He gave me the name of the person I was supposed to deliver to! Someone named Crasnov that runs a pottery shop in Sivak!”
“Shut the fuck up kid and get the hell out of the…SHIT!”

Suddenly the other prisoner has lunged at you and you’re taken completely off guard.

While you couldn’t have known that the other prisoner in the cart was an Ebony Claw enforcer, the sergeant certainly did, but by the time he and his people get him off of you, the man has managed to head-butt you in the face, breaking your nose followed by ripping your throat out with just his teeth.

As you lie gurgling and bleeding to death you see the enforcer spit part of your flesh back at your face.

“Fucking rat.” He says before you die.


“BUST IT DOWN!” a voice shouts followed by the splintering of your door.

You’re barely awake before you’re rushed by several men dressed in chainmail.

“DON’T MOVE!” one shouts as several spears are pointed directly at you.
“What’s going on?!”
“Shut up!” one of the men says and pokes you in the chest with his spear hard enough that it superficially breaks the skin.

You don’t say any more, but between the men holding you at bay with spears and a couple other searching your room, you fear the worst. One of them inevitably grabs the package you put under your bed. He then opens it and while you’re having a hard time seeing from your position, he pulls out some of its contents and holds up a vial with blue material inside it.

“Is it contraband, sir?” one of them asks.
“Yeah, there’s twenty vials of Blue Dream in here.” A slightly more decorated man remarks.
“You think it’s the Ebony Claw Syndicate?”
“Who else would it be? They’re the ones who mostly smuggle and deal this stuff.”
“But this kid doesn’t look like he’s Claw. He doesn’t even have the tattoo on his arm.”
“Meh, maybe he has it elsewhere…doesn’t matter, what matters is he’s going away for a long damn time.”

A feeling of dread overwhelms you.

“Hey wait! Can’t we talk about this?!” you say.

The man with the package turns to you.

“And what would we have to talk about criminal? You’ve got enough Blue Dream here to get the entire town of Hegglesburg trashed. This seems like a pretty simple situation as far as I’m concerned. You think because you’re young, you deserve leniency? Hah! You can try it on the judge when he sentences you, but in any case you’re coming with us.”

You’re lifted up roughly from your bed by the men with spears (Who you’re assuming are Delantium soldiers at this point)

Your arms are put behind your back and iron shackles are placed on your wrists. When you’re marched down the stairs and in front of various inn onlookers, you hear Ren complain about them breaking his door, to which the one that was talking to you earlier remarks that Ren’s lucky that they aren’t taking him in and shutting this whole place down.

When you exit the inn, you’re shoved into the back of a cart. Another older man with many scares on his face in iron shackles sits in the cart. He gives you a brief look and then returns to looking back at the cart floor.

“The prisoner is secure, sergeant.” One of the soldiers says.
“Okay, let’s take this drug dealing trash back to Sivak.” The sergeant says, still hanging on to the Blue Dream package.

This is the second time this week that you’ve been accused of a serious crime and once again you didn’t even mean to do it!

Was this all a set up, while Flynt took off to parts unknown? Flynt DID seem pretty willing to just hand off illegal drugs to you. Then again, why bother setting you up, when he could have just hid them somewhere rather than risk losing the product altogether? Maybe this is all just more bad luck hitting you.

In any case, your mind starts racing about what you can do in your current situation. First thing you think about is escape. The cart is going slow enough that you could probably easily jump out and just run. The problem with that plan is there are multiple mounted guards to the front and back of you. They would easily run you down and most likely kill you for attempting to escape.

The second thing you can think of is what the sergeant said. Something about the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You can make an educated guess that Flynt and his friends were part of this organization. Maybe if you told them everything that transpired at the inn, they would let you go.

Of course you could just resign yourself to your fate for now and look for an opportunity later.
> You stay silent
These soldiers seem to have made up their mind about you and trying to explain things is probably just going to get you a beating. You figure if you’re going before a judge, you can always explain things to him and hope he takes mercy, though you aren’t optimistic about it.

Lacking any other plan, you just sit in silence as the soldiers take you to your appointed destination. It’s times like this, you wish your sister was here, she’d be able to help you.

In fact you’re starting to have a greater appreciation for your parents as well at this point. How many times did you avoid real trouble thanks to your father’s influence?

As you ponder your life choices you glance at the other man in the cart who doesn’t say anything to you. In fact he doesn’t even really look at you. Upon a few more glances at him, you notice he has a tattoo of a black claw on his shoulder. You wonder if this man is a member of the Ebony Claw Syndicate.

If that is the case you realize it’s probably a good thing that you didn’t say anything about Flynt. The last thing you need right now is a pissed off gang member wanting to kill you for being a rat. In fact, it makes you wonder if you should say anything to the judge at all. If this Ebony Claw Syndicate is as sinister as they sound, it might be dangerous to go ratting on their people. Of course that doesn’t leave you many options.

You mostly pass the rest of the time observing the scenery as you travel through Hegglesberg and farmlands.

Eventually though the sky darkens and the soldiers prepare to camp for the night.

“Alright we’ll stop here for tonight and set up camp. Anders and Levin, you two can watch Mr. Scars and the kid and make sure they can’t escape.” The sergeant says.

With a few gruff orders, you and Mr. Scars are both taken to a nearby tree and tied to it securely with a rope while the rest of the soldiers make camp.

As you’re watching the soldiers go about their jobs (And your guards doing more talking with each other than actually watching you) Mr. Scars finally says something to you.

“So, busted with twenty vials of Blue Dream eh?” he asks in a low tone.
“How did you know?” you ask.
“I heard the sergeant talking with one of his men about it earlier.”
“Oh. They think I’m some big dealer and part of the Ebony Claw Syndicate too, but I’m not either of those things.”
“Hm. Didn’t think you were Claw, but I thought maybe you might be a prospect….hmmm…let me guess did you run into a man going by the name Flynt?”

You aren’t sure if you should be talking, so you don’t say anything.

“Heh, I’ll take your silence as a yes. Though I suppose it’s a good sign that you’re not very forthcoming with that info. Talkers don’t last long in this business. Of course maybe you’re not telling me because you ripped him off…”
“I didn’t!” you exclaim which causes the guards to look over at you and then you get quiet again until they look away.

“I didn’t, he paid me to deliver a package to someone. I didn’t even know what was in it, until the guards confiscated it. Hell, I didn’t even know about the Ebony Claw Syndicate!”
“Yeah, sounds like Flynt. It’s an unconventional method of recruitment, but sometimes he likes to randomly test youngsters that he feels could be useful. Dunno why he does things that way, but when you’ve got drugs and coins to blow, I guess you can afford to take risks like that. I dunno, I’m just in it for the violence myself.”

You continue to stay silent.

“Anyway, you’re probably looking at twenty years kid. One for each vial. The kingdom has been really cracking down lately on it. Probably get sent to Dreadcage too. They send all the serious offenders there.”

Fear wells up inside you upon hearing that news. You try to keep it together, but you’re having a hard time and you start exhaling multiple times, closing your eyes and muttering, “oh fuck, oh shit.” several times.

“Wow, kid. You’re not going to last in prison if you take that approach. They see you come in like that and you’re gonna be sucking every dick in the joint and worse.”
“Isn’t there something I can do to stop this?” you ask.
“Well, you could try to escape I guess, but I’m betting you already figured the soldiers would easily run you down before you got very far. I suppose you could try to beg for mercy when you go before the judge, maybe even use your youth as an excuse. Depending on the judge, that MIGHT get you some time shaved off, but you’ll still be doing a lot of it…and I think I don’t have to warn you about the dangers of ratting out Flynt and whoever it was you were supposed to deliver to in the first place to try to save your ass.”

This is just a nightmare. You’re almost thinking maybe you should have just risked getting lynched back in Teckleville. At least there you would’ve had your parents to help you and maybe even Annah, assuming she lived. At worst, you would have at least died at home.

“Well…I ain’t no rat, so that wasn’t ever a possibility anyway.” You say in an attempt to at least make Mr. Scars less likely to be suspicious of you.
“Bullshit kid, in your situation and first time? You probably thought about it. Don’t worry though, everyone usually does at one time or another, just as long as you don’t actually do it…well either that or make damn sure the reward is high enough.” Mr. Scars chuckles.
“Yeah, well I might do better in prison than you think…” you say and then you whisper…”I’ve killed someone before.”

Mr. Scars looks at you as if to detect whether you’re lying or not.

“Hm, maybe you have, or maybe you haven’t, but that really doesn’t matter. You’re going to be locked away with a lot of killers. Most of them a lot tougher and bigger than the likes of you. So just because you killed your girlfriend or mom because she pissed you off doesn’t mean you’re some hard man.”
“I didn’t kill my…” you start to say before the one of the guards starts actually paying attention to you.

“HEY! The two of you stop fucking conspiring over there! In fact the pair of you need to shut the fuck up and just go to sleep because tomorrow you’ll both be going before the judge and sentenced for your crimes! Enjoy your last night of freedom criminal scum!”

And with that, you and Mr. Scars do no more talking for the rest of the night, though Mr. Scars was done talking and ready to sleep anyway. You on the other hand have a hard time getting to sleep, knowing what awaits you.

The next morning, you’re put back on the cart and continue your journey to Sivak. You reach your destination by midday. Sivak is larger than anything you’ve ever seen and some of its buildings are very impressive. It’s a very bustling place with people walking around everywhere. You just wish you were free to enjoy it.

At this point you wonder if you shouldn’t just try to escape now. The streets are very busy and it would be a lot harder for the soldiers to get around on their horses. If you’re quick enough you might even lose them in an alleyway or something. Of course that doesn’t stop the fact that you’re still shackled and ultimately surrounded by more soldiers than ever, but maybe you can figure that dilemma out later.
> You escape
Maybe this is a foolish decision, but you have to try. The more you think about having to spend twenty years in a prison the more you know you aren’t going to be able to handle it.

You stand up in the cart at which point several soldiers tell you to sit back down and begin pointing their spears in your direction and closing the gap. Mr. Scars just smiles a bit sensing what you’re going to do.

You jump from the cart and into a group of passing citizens, which happily prevent you from falling directly into the cobblestones. You quickly get up off the mass of bodies and start running.

“STOP! STOP THAT MAN!” one guard shouts.
“Somebody grab him!” another remarks.
“Don’t just stand there, get his ass!” the sergeant exclaims.
“Run rabbit! Run!” Mr. Scars laughs.

You run through the streets of Sivak, crashing and bumping into people along the way. Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly nobody is really trying to stop you on purpose, the average citizens seem to be more concerned with getting the hell out of your way.

The soldiers are still trying to chase you on horseback, but it’s proving a little more difficult with all the people in the way. The funny thing is they’re actually doing MORE damage by trampling over several citizens in their efforts to get to you!

Eventually you make so many turns down various twisting narrow streets, the soldiers on horseback can’t effectively follow, but the new ones on foot that have been alerted continue the pursuit just fine.

You probably would be able to evade your pursuers if not for the fact that your hands are shackled behind you and you don’t know your way around the city. That’s very apparent, when you find that you’ve just run around in a circle and surrounded by soldiers.

“Surrender now and we might even leave you in good enough condition to stand before the judge!” one of the soldiers says.

You can’t surrender. Not now. You were meant to be free and if you can’t be free then it’s no life at all.

You attempt to pass the soldiers in front of you and are met by their spears. To their credit, they actually do try to subdue you first by slamming you to the ground, but when you continue to struggle and kick, one of the less patient ones skewers you in the side which is then followed by another spear to your chest. You bleed out like the proverbial stuck pig and wheeze like one as breathing becomes more difficult.

It isn’t exactly a quick or dignified death, but at least you didn’t die in a cell.