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Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:25 am Post subject:

Raiab, horrified, raised a hand again. A shrieking wind burst up from nowhere, a cutting wind blasted through the men, knocking them aside, cutting them with invisible knives. He prayed that their deaths were swift and painless. The last of them lay dead. He felt dizzy, he never had liked the look or smell of blood.

He looked at Arik, and stared at the inn. "This is not going to be pleasent," he said. "I suggest burning the building to prevent the plague from spreading."
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Kaya Tetsu · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 800

Ziva was starting to feel a bit faint and decided that she was indeed overworked. She sat in the corner in the shade and quickly dozed off.

Iroh · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:32 am Post subject:

Another building burst down, and another, and soon nearly the entire of the village was rushing at them.

"Wizard, I hope you can do some more tricks..." he stepped back and considered the implications. "I'm going to check the inside of the inn. Don't die on me. And if you can, find that smith girl, she ought to be alive still!"

Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:39 am Post subject:

"I will. I'll send her otuside the village," Raiab said, turning and focusing again. Pillars of air burst from the ground, shredding the plague-infested people like they had been caught in twisters of swords and knives. He couldn't keep this up forever and already he felt his strength was beginning to wane. He reached the blacksmith's shop.

"You, young smith! Come with me, quickly!" he cursed, as another disease ridden man attempted to kill him, only to be shredded a moment later. Sweat beaded his brow, he felt like he had been running for miles without stopping.
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Kaya Tetsu · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 800

Ziva woke to the commotion outside and the poor mare having a fit. She stood quickly, brushing the mare's muzzle with her hand to calm her. Then grabbed her sword, buckling it on as she ran inside where she could here the mage shouting for her. Ziva drew her blade instinctively as man assailed her, realizing his identity only after she had finished him.

"What did you do?" She growled, fending off two more villagers as she made her way towards the mage. She hated mages.

Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:48 am Post subject:

"I did nothing," Raiab snapped. "This is no place for talk, girl. You need to get out of the village as quickly as you can! I and Arik will deal with this! Now MOVE!" the last word was an order so forcibly given that only the very, very brave would dare to disobey it. Or, maybe, the very, very stupid.
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Kaya Tetsu · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 800

Ziva almost laughed, "and leave you two here to get yourselves killed?"

But before she could continue her reply she wretched, managing not to throw up. It was then she realized she truly was sick.

Ziva met Raiab's eyes for a moment, "fine."

She turned and fled. She clung to the side of the barn for a moment, wretching, fighting the illness with every fiber of her being. It didn't seem like any of the infected were following her. She grabbed her hunting pack as she passed through the barn and out other side. Good thing she had planned on hunting later this afternoon. With it she sprinted out of the village through small alleys and back ways and into the woods. Finally collapsing in a small shaded clearing, unable to control her muscles any longer, exhausted and head pounding she vomited into a bush, panting. She resolved she would not become a mindless zombie like the rest of the village.

Iroh · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:04 am Post subject:

Arik ventured into the inn warily, but found nothing living. Instead, he saw a scene from the pits of the deepest holes in the demon's realm waiting for him. The walls were painted with blood. The bodies of those not infected where torn up as if by rabid animals and partly eaten. All variety of gore was everywhere, and intact faces were locked in looks of surprise and horror.

Arik then withdrew the amulet from his pocket and followed its glow. He found that it led him to certain casks of drink. Arik spat and cursed loudly. It was ingested. And someone was distributing tainted drink to inns!

He quickly turned on his heel and caught the wrist of the man, that slimy fellow he'd seen earlier, who was trying to murder him. Arik wrenched the knife out of the man's grip and threw him onto the table.

"All right, I want to know your part in this sick madness," he said in a dangerously quiet voice.

"I will never betray the Master," the man hissed.

Arik turned the dagger over in his hand, "Okay. We can play like this. Over the next five minutes, me and this little knife here are going to play a game with you. You won't die, but I will not stop until five minutes are up. After that, we can play another round, or you can talk. Let's go."

The man was pleading for mercy in less than a minute. Arik didn't stop. The man confessed to dozens of tainted villages, to all sorts of evil deeds for some nameless master. By the end of the five minutes, there was actually nothing else Arik wanted to ask him. So he killed him. He went out to find the Wizard and the girl.

Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:07 am Post subject:

The last of the men fell dead, Raiab was about ready to collapse from exhaustion. But he needed to get Arik back here. He moved his hand one time and sent a spell through the wind, one that would allow Arik to find him, then he tracked down the girl. She was a couple of miles away, in hiding. Good.
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Iroh · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:14 am Post subject:

Arik caught the feel of the spell, the tugging in a certain direction urging him to follow. He was familiar enough with enough magic to know when a spell like that was after him. Good, the Wizard was alive. And probably with or looking for the girl. That gave him some time to work on other things.

He examined one of the more intact bodies of the dead. It was hardly intact, the Wizard had cut them all to kebabs with his magic, but most of the body was where he could make out what was supposed to be there. He cracked it open and began examining the insides. Most of the organs were intact, although something seemed oddly rigid about the body. It was dead, but only recently. Why was it so cold?

He cracked open the head, and a soupy liquid poured out instead of brains. Arik tossed the body parts down in disgust. There weren't living, not anymore. Perhaps not quite undead, but close enough too that he felt nothing other than revulsion at the corpses. He then got up and began following the Wizard.

Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:20 am Post subject:

Raiab hissed, catching the stench of the disease. The girl had caught it. He summoned his remaining strength, and began working on healing her. Forunately, the plague - whatever it was - seemed to be in the early stages and it was weak. He purged it from her body, and then collapsed from sheer exhaustion, unable to do much more.
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Kaya Tetsu · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 800

Ziva felt her pounding head ease and sighed in relief. It had to be magic...she could just tell. She didn't have the energy to be angry, she felt drained. She had just enough energy left to crawl into a good hiding spot in a thistle patch before she passed out.

Iroh · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:26 am Post subject:

Arik came across them, both passed out from weakness. The amulet's magic was dead, it had led him to the source of the plague. He made a fire and decided to become comfortable while the others rested.

His thoughts wandered, considering all possibilities. There was a dark Wizard of great power about, someone wielding dark magic to kill wantonly. He had to have a goal. He also had to some method of persuading people to join him and feel genuine loyalty to him.

This was going to be interesting, if revolting.

Armaius · Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:28 am Post subject:

Raiab woke late in the night, with a pounding head, and feeling not at all rested. Nightmares of blood and tearing flesh and madness had consumed his mind. Arik was sitting near a fire he had presumably made while he was alive.

"I'm glad to see you alive," Raiab said. "What did you find in the inn?"
_________________
A path taken is paths forsaken.
-Old Altion proverb

Kaya Tetsu · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 800

Ziva woke to the smell of smokeand the sound of voices. She sighed and crawled out from the thicket to see Arik and Raiab near the fire.

"So you made it out after all," she said, as she pulled herself from her hiding spot. She'd wanted to be sure that if any of the sick villagers came around, she was semi-safe. She sat up, brushing herself off and grabbing her bag.