Two weeks passed since their group had been in the town of Nass and they were having a blast. After careful consideration, they decided to stay until they could either fix Rahz 2h Axe or they could get a new one.
Rahz and the others enjoyed their meal while listening to the locals talked about the day to day but the conversation took a quick turn towards a very sinister piece of news.
"Did you hear what happen in the Northside?"
"I did, my friend is a guard and was at the site. They are trying to keep it quiet to no create panic but they would be placing request to the mercenary and adventurer guild".
"The templar( Second Evolution Cleric) that did the inspection said that some of the corpses were only a week old, and some were at least 5 years... They were all missing their Runes of the Awaken and there was not a single drop of blood in their bodies"
"Well... they were death already when they founded them, how could there be any blood left"
"Ear dropper overthere is right shouldn't it be normal"
The Erudite lady was listening to the conversation and her need to educated the less intelligent crowd overwhelm her " Even if they are death they should be blood left in their bodies pooled in their lowest point and then it would coagulated. The fact that there was not a single drop of blood means somebody took away all the blood and then clean the veins and arteries before disposing their bodies. I would have said perhaps it was the work of a Necromancer but even if they would take away the blood to studied, they could care less about cleaning after"
Interesting!!
The Owner of The Fair Lady Restaurant couldn't help it, there was finally something interesting going on that would require her to use her vast intellect.
"One thing is for sure though, whoever did it is a resident of Naas"
Elune was listening to the conversation going around and asked "Why are you so sure Lady Ahlam".
Lady Ahlam smiled at Elune and continued "There are corpses that are five year old and corpses that are a week old so this indicates that the killer has been active in Naas for years and we were not even aware of it. There is also certain precautions and artifacts that you have to own in order to do that kind of work on a individual but most important of all you need time.. Time that could only be given by the tranquil environment provided by a residence".
Everybody in the restaurant had concern expressions on their faces as they started looking around at the other tables, for all they know it could be anyone.
Rahz and the others decided to enroll in the adventurer guild and do freelance work to earn their living expenses while they waited for the auction house at the end of the month to try and test the coin market. It was extremely dangerous to auction them in multiple occasions as it would bring unwanted attention but thanks to their tasks at the adventurer guild they had been doing odd jobs around the city and their easy going nature let them fit in well with the Locals that frequent The Fair Lady.
When Rahz and the others arrived at the Adventurer guild there were a ton more people than usual. The request from the Naas authorities had been posted and even adventurers that had been in retirement were attracted by the rewards.
WANTED!!!
Any information that could lead to the apprehension of the Serial Killer responsible for more than 150 counts of Murder by blood removal will receive 100,000 gold or an item of your choice.
Anybody that manage to capture or kill said individual will receive a reward of 500,000 gold and would be recognize as a hero of the Town.
According to investigators he likes to remove the Runes of the Awaken from his victims and collect them as trophies before draining his victims of their blood. He has been label The Blood Harvester.
"It looks like the news this morning were true Rahz.. If we can catch this Serial Killer we can fix your weapon for sure"
Rahz nodded but the reality was their chances of catching the killer were really low, not to mentioned they didn't know the Level of the perpetrator or anything at all for that matter, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, at least for the time being.
There were confidential files held at the office of the guild but there was a line of appointments to see them and if they wanted to see the corpses they had to go to the Dungeons where they kept the worst criminals. A few rooms had been set up to keep the the bodies and allow the best mages and healers to study them in hopes of finding clues from them.
Rahz and the others decided to not to worry about it for the time being and picked up a couple of request to gather materials such as pelts and specific herbs outside the town before leaving to complete it. These types of tasks serve three different purposes for the team, the first benefit was that it helped them level up and gain experience, thanks to the equipment and other benefits they got from the Fallen Gate they were now able to kill second evolution creatures as long as their level was not higher than 21 and they were alone. The second benefit was to Elune, she also needed some of the herbs for her alchemy and there were always maps and information on where to find them attached to the request. The final incentive was the payment for the assignments that was pretty good most of them were 10 gold for a task that took them 5 days to complete and they usually not only completed one task so they were earning quite a bit.
"We are in luck guys!! Come over here and help me get these herbs and make sure to do it carefully Riddick. I can finally make us the second version of the potion of Ancient Knowledge to help us meditated and improve our proficiency with the skills left by the guardians. If we can splurge a little and buy a new alchemy set, I can make us the first version of the leveling candy"
YAY CANDY!!!
"Not that type of candy Riddick… the one you had before that help you level"
The excited faces in the group suddenly disappeared without a trace as they went back to their previous task of pulling herbs. Elune couldn't help but shake her head when she realized the priority of her teammates lie in eating the world instead of securing strength.
After the herbs were gathered it was time for the killing tasks, this time they needed to hunt some Greater Kudus. This particular beast live in herds under the leadership of their respective patriarchs and love to congregate underneath trees. The Greater Kudus were white horned antelope-like creatures with a beautiful black coat and snow white hooves.
The task was to collect the hornes of 20 Kudus but if they could take the fur back, it would net them some nice chunk of change as it was used for some of the most posh furniture sold to the nobles in Naas.
The Greater Kudus in the area south of Naas were mostly level 19 and their patriarchs range from Level 20-23 and they usually had inverted colors displaying a white fur with black hooves and black hornes.
Midori was the scout of the team and she quickly spot it a herd 3 miles from their position and it looked like it was a pretty decent size with about 60 Kudus but the problem was the level 22 patriarch leading it.
It was time to divide and conquer. Since the task required finesse it was Midori's job to complete the task using her poison at a lower concentration as to not melt the Kudus and used Shadow Weave to move around the targets. The rest of the team were task to stop the patriarch from interfering and if possible defeated it.
Elune place Eidolic Wards on the team before they rushed forward with their respective task. The Aura of a Basilisks had a very detrimental effect on beast of the same level and made them want to flee. The herd got restless and started to flee and as the patriarch was about to issue a command to calm them down, energy blades flew his way as 3 people approach him at a very fast speed.
Whoossh... Whoosh!!
8 Chaos blade 4 red and 4 purple hit the side of the patriarch but it only made him flinch,however, the mission was accomplished, if the patriarch was busy how could he command his troops.
The skilled used by the Kudu Patriarch was called Survival of the Fittest and it was a common skill for beast of a stalwart disposition and it reduced the damage taken by 30% which couple with their thick hides, they could withstand a fair amount of Damage.
The After resisting the Chaos Blade the patriarch go on his two back legs before starting into a charge.
Neeigh!!!
Wind draft covered his body as he ran into a blur towards the group. It was a two step skill that achieved maximum speed before Reinforcing his Horn with energy to make it as hard as Iron for a devastating blow.
Riddick saw the Kudu charging and decided to meet a charge with a charge. Chaos Rush was activated and a pink demon and a White kudu were in a collision course. The Earth trembled as the two unstoppable forces were in motion and then… Riddick cheated.
A small Polearm appeared in Riddicks hands and then expanded to seven feet. Polearm and horns met and the outcome was no surprise, horns were pierced through and a hole appeared on the Kudu's skull.
It was true that a great weapon hindered the development of a warrior but sometimes it was good to feel overpowered.