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Sleep eventually came over me. When I woke this morning, I realized nothing had transpired during the night. A sigh of gratitude escaped me as I rested a moment longer in my bed.
Cloudbreaker and I went about our same morning routine; got up, washed, dressed, and ate breakfast. We then grabbed our gear for we knew today we needed to collect on the vampire bounty. However seeing that it was still early, we ducked back into Banehammer’s blacksmith shop.
Banehammer, the Dwarf whom I saw smoking yesterday, and the other man I talked with were mighty pleased to see us. The Dwarf however was somewhat disappointed that we hadn’t brought back enough silver for him to coat a great sword for Cloudbreaker. Instead they had to settle with making a silvered halberd for me while Cloudbreaker requested a better sword than the one he had. Banehammer told us by tomorrow morning our weapons would be ready. In the mean time, Cloudbreaker and I had to trust Grendel and Bal Vyr to provide enough protection against the vampires for us...
The Goliath and I wandered on up to the graveyard. As we walked in, Bal Vyr and Grendel were placing the stone tablet back onto the sarcophagus. Cloudbreaker questioned why Bal Vyr had another look when the night before he had already seen what was inside. The Drow muttered something back about ‘you can never be too cautious.’
The graveyard was quite large. Cloudbreaker went about searching for a crypt. As Grendel, Bal Vyr and I stood around waiting for Cloudbreaker to alert us of the location, I noticed the gravekeeper’s home off to the side. The other night when we had come to slay the undead, the gravekeeper made haste to get inside when dark fell upon us. I was curious how he was doing since our fight with the undead.
I walked over to the house and knocked on the door. A squeal was heard, followed by scuttering of feet. Locks being opened and the shifting of a heavy wooden plank was heard. The door creaked open eventually and I looked into the wild and fearful eyes of the grave keeper. He still wore the brown robe from the other night and his hair looked as though he hadn’t washed in a week.
“Y-yes?” The man squeaked out. I put on a pleasant smile, or so I hoped.
“Hi. I was just wanting to see how you were doing. Has the graveyard been any better since we killed the undead?” I asked.
“Oh! Yes, yes! Very good. All good!” the man nervously responded, “Soup almost done. Would you like some?”
I didn’t see the need to refuse the offer. I gave a nod and before entering the house called back to Grendel and Bal Vyr, “There’s hot soup for those interested.” I figured if something weird happened, at least the other’s knew where I went... even if they cared less about my well being.
Crossing the threshold into the grave keeper’s house nearly had me stop dead in my tracks. The stench that somehow managed to escape my nose until I walked in was so foul that I felt my eyes water. I swallowed back my repulsion and forced a smile as I followed the gravekeeper in.
“Almost done. W-would you like some?” the grave keeper asked again while giving the pot a stir.
“Um, no thanks. I actually just had lunch,” lied hoping it wouldn’t cause offence. The grave keeper muttered something nervously as he continued to stir. I watched him as he put the finishing touches on the soup, unsure what else to say.
Then I caught sight of what was causing the sickly smell. Some fingers slipped over the edges of the pot before being stirred back in. A hand!? I remember my head screaming. Wide eyed and disgusted, I stood up and quickly left without another word.
Once outside, I savored the freshness of the air as I commenced to rejoin the others.
“He’s eating people!” I exclaimed.
“What Blackwing?” Cloudbreaker questioned. I was surprised momentarily that he was close by.
“The grave keeper. He’s a cannibal,” I stated. The grave look in Cloudbreaker’s face made my stomach churn as he marched off toward the grave keeper’s house. Quickly I changed direction and followed after the Goliath.
He barged right in without a knock. I was about 20 feet behind him and watched as he got choked up on the smell before hearing him yell at the grave keeper. Screams ensued from the nervous man as Cloudbreaker demanded of him why he was eating dead bodies. As I rounded the corner I saw the Goliath walking toward the gravekeeper with the pot of soup.
“Cloudbreaker!” I shouted.
“What!?” he snapped at me.
“What are you doing with the soup?”
“I’m gonna teach this fool a lesson!”
“Goliath-” Grendel called from behind me before suddenly drive heaving. Once he got his stomach under control he continued, “We have bigger things to concern ourselves with. Let the town guard deal with him.”
“Grendel, he’s eating bodies! Isn’t that something that your order would find punishable!?” Cloudbreaker questioned.
“Yes, but like I said, let the guards deal with it. We are losing precious daylight and don’t need to waste more time,” Grendel then turned on his heels and left. I was somewhat impressed with how civil the crusader was toward the Goliath. It seemed odd, but I agreed. I didn’t want to fight vampires in the dark. Without knowing how long it’d take for us to find the vampires, it was smart for us to focus our efforts while the day was still young.
“Leave the man Cloudbreaker,” I spoke softly, “He’s clearly not in his right mind. It’s abominable what he’s doing, but clearly the curse this graveyard is under has played it’s toll.”
“Blackwing, this is an abomination!”
“Yes, I know. But killing a man who’s clearly mental isn’t right either. He needs help, not death. Let’s not make him our problem. We can use the soup as evidence and let the guards deal with him,” I argued. Cloudbreaker clenched his jaw and reluctantly set the pot down.
“Stop eating the dead!” Cloudbreaker barked at the grave keeper. He then marched out of the house. I looked back once more at the man as he cried in terror. I pitied him, but I didn’t blame Cloudbreaker for yelling at him either.
I caught up to the Goliath when Grendel called out saying he found the crypt entrance. Cloudbreaker said nothing more to me as we joined the others.
The section of graveyard we walked through was lined with grave stones. A lone casket laid open to the left of us. Bal Vyr went to examine it but found nothing of interest. Ahead of us were two stone statues. It was as though they were placed there to guard the crypt. However, instead of the statues coming to life, two zombies crawled up out of the ground.
The undead were much bigger than the ones we fought two nights ago. Let alone nearly impossible to sink my halberd into. Their strength was something to be alarmed by. Each sent Cloudbreaker and Grendel into the ground. Cloudbreaker was up to his head in dirt. That alone was nearly enough to make me want to run and flee, but seeing that one of them had been hurt enough by Grendel’s hammer, I focused my energy into my halberd and charged a fire bolt to it. With a great swing, I sunk my halberd deep into the undead, lighting it on fire for a moment. The creature fell to it’s knees and remained still.
Bal Vyr helped get Cloudbreaker and Grendel out of the ground as I attacked the last creature. I was exhausted from the energy I used to make my hit true on the one zombie, so I cast a minor spell that was particularly unpleasant for undead.
Once all of us were standing on dry ground again, the final zombie dove back into the earth. We all looked about ourselves for a few minutes seeing if the creature would resurface. After thoroughly searching, we decided to commence into the crypt.
There were no torches lit inside, which wasn’t surprising considering it was a tomb. Cloudbreaker entered first and got hit by an arrow. I foolishly ran in beside him and triggered the second arrow. I’m certain I heard Grendel and Bal Vyr chuckle at our misfortune.
Bal Vyr scoured the entry for any further traps. Once satisfied that it was trap free, Cloudbreaker once more lead the way down a set of stairs. I kept close to him and pulled out my rust bag of tricks... or so I hoped. If I was lucky, a bear would be summoned if I needed extra help.
When we reached the bottom, Bal Vyr and Grendel close behind me, a pair of red eyes pierced the darkness. For a moment I thought it was Lash and almost called out, but as I looked closer, there was something different about them.
“Who might you be?” Cloudbreaker asked.
“None shall pass!” The creature hissed. A chill ran through my bones and I reached into my bag to pull a fluff ball out. I felt a light breeze and watched as the red eyes swam toward me.
I tried to stumble backwards, surprised by the quickness of the creature. I then felt it strike me in the stomach. I keeled over as the pain racked my body. I threw the fluff ball and heard the creature take shape. It had to have been small for I couldn’t feel anything as I searched the air blindly. I instructed the animal to attack while side stepping and swinging my halberd at the red eyes.
Stars then danced in my field of vision as something hit me from behind. Another hard attack and somehow I managed to keep on my feet. I slowly turned around to see a very faint silhouette of some being. As I tried to search the features of the person’s face, it became clear that the others were gone. Grendel, Bal Vyr, and most upsettingly, Cloudbreaker; they weren’t there.
With the new creature blocking my exit, and the red eyed being behind me, my only chance was to jump up and over the new creature and run back up the dimly lit stairs. With a great leap, I stretched my wings and brought my legs up and over the being. However it's large hands grabbed my feet and threw me back into the darkness.
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