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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Funeris" data-source="post: 2520057" data-attributes="member: 22792">Chapter 2:  Journey into Darkness ContinuedSeveral days prior…Spinum Machaera [1] pulled the long, black hair backward from his face.  With a motion, quick from years of practice, he tied it with a looped band of dragon hair.  He wasn’t a foolish man; he knew the hair was probably just some thick horse or yeti hair from the north.  Still, the claim of actually having a bit of dragon’s hair actually inflated his pride.  And he could always test the hair in one of his experiments to prove the validity.  And if the merchant had lied, which was most likely, Spinum would gladly add the bastard’s name to his list.The fifteen year old glanced over his most recent experiment.  He pulled out his own handwritten tome and poured through the calculations scrawled in archaic script.  Everything was exactly in accordance with his machinations.  The young man smiled.  He lifted the elegant, silver dagger he had purchased from that same vendor back in Leuwel, just south of the supposed Dragon Boneyard.  The handle, a perfect thickness and weight for the mage, ended in a perfectly rounded skull.  He drew the blade across his smallest finger, popping the protective organic covering of his skin.  Blood formed a quick bubble and he shook his hand briskly, the viscous fluid splattering upon the small pile of bones.Spinum glanced again at the tome, searching for the correct words when yelling erupted in the distance.  He sighed and tried to focus.  His father and twin brother were sparring yet again.  The shriek of metal kissing metal and the grunting of voices carried loudly toward the Myriam Range.  His mind slipped briefly into theory and history.  It was said that the Myriam Range, the low mountain range that climbed to join the Midloth Range was crafted by the hands of the gods themselves.  Spinum did not believe in gods, unlike his father and sibling, both paladins of the goddess Myr, the Lady of Light and Life.  But the myth surrounding the mountains involved the Dark Lord, the original ruler of all of Norum da Salaex not the false prophet now placed upon the throne, and the god of the dwarves, Rorgard.  Apparently, the myths said that the Dark Lord had enslaved the dwarven god, forcing him to craft the mountain ranges that now surrounded the capital.Spinum imagined gleefully the power he could attain if he could enslave a god to do his bidding.  But gods were just myths.  It was more likely that the Dark Lord had enslaved the entire dwarven race to craft the mountain ranges.The problem with a world full of myth, Spinum decided, was the inherent loss of history involved once myth enforced its superiority.  Spinum had had to search for months along the journey for the spells he now carried.  He had purchased dozens of spells, all to no effect.  They were frauds; myths wrapped nicely in a neat, arcane package and unable to assist his own development.  Another screech of metal against metal brought Spinum back to the task at hand.  He flipped through the tome again, searching for the words.“Exanimus,” the mage whispered.  “Excio.”  The young wizard felt a drain, arcane energy passing through his body.  Spinum nearly jumped for joy as the small skeleton shuddered and stood.  A faint red light glowed within the squirrel’s skull.  Its eye-less head searched around for a moment, before locating the arcane power which had raised it to near-life.  “Now that I have the spell, all things will become possible,” Spinum stated smugly.  As soon as the words left his mouth, the squirrel skeleton shuddered and became a useless pile of bone again.  He growled.  Then he grabbed his material and blade, dropping them all into his backpack.The sounds of battle again raged not near off.  The mage stormed toward where he had left his family upon the road.  As he approached, he realized something was wrong.  The metallic clanking was too rapid for just his brother’s sparring.  They must be under attack!  Spinum prepared another spell and sped up, trying to remain as silent as possible.  He loosened the halberd he had strapped across his back, just in case it would be necessary.The mage stopped behind a large maple, and glanced around.  There were at least fifty guards surrounding his family.“Oh sh*t,” the mage grumbled.  He was competent, but not that competent.  His father and brother whirled within the circle of black-clad soldiers, defending as much as they could.  Still, bloody bastard swords pierced their defenses and then flesh.  His brother was clearly weakening fastest.  For no apparent reason the circle of guards suddenly widened, drawing to attention.Spinum watched carefully, anticipating a possible opening for his attack.  Out of nowhere, a creature stepped into existence.  Spinum had no other word for the being.  It was easily between seven and eight feet tall and dressed in flowing black robes, hemmed with a thick crimson line.  Where a human head should have been, an obsidian mask twisted in a visage of agony perched upon its shoulders.It was not there and then it was, as if it had thought itself into existence.  Spinum felt his prepared spell flicker and vanish in its presence.  The creature paced a circle around his family before stopping with its back toward the maple.“You worshippers of Myr, drop you weapons,” it hissed.  “You shall be arraigned for your misplaced faith and then executed in accordance of our Lord Ara’Kull’s wishes.”  The creature stretched upward for a split second and the sound of a thousand bones cracking echoed across the road.  Spinum noted the silver eyes, emblazoned across the black armor.  Inquisitors, the mage thought.  Must be from Nordus Post.  But I’ve never seen a force this large.Spinum’s father lashed out with his blade but a living chain exploded from within the creature’s robes.  The chain latched onto the sword and ripped it easily from the paladin’s hands.  Several other chains exploded from the false image of robes and grasped the blade, easily snapping it into slivers.“Fine.  We’ll do it your way.”  The creature almost bowed in mock respect as one arm lashed outward in the direction of Albus, Spinum’s brother.  A brief wreath of fire encircled Albus and then the young paladin was naught but ash.  The monster laughed as Albus scattered to the four winds.Spinum’s father bellowed in rage and charged the demon[2], but the creature merely sidestepped and caught the paladin by his long hair.  Before the mage’s very eyes, thousands of wounds opened across his father’s body, blood pouring upon the greedy ground.  Spinum stifled a scream as his father, the only parent he had ever known, collapsed unconscious to the ground.“Collect the child’s ashes,” the beast hissed.  “I will resurrect him for punishment in the Town of Green Hills.”  Just as suddenly as the creature had appeared, it vanished. As soon as the guards began to move, Spinum did the only thing a young man could do in the face of such adversity, he fled south.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[1]  Spinum Machaera [pronounced: Spin-um Mock-air-uh] is an NPC within the campaign.  Apparently four players weren’t enough at this point. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />[2]  Demon is just used for vivid expression.  I will not state that this Inquisitor is or is not a demon for certain one way or the other.  I’m a bastard like that.</blockquote>

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