The rain was beating down hard outside the window behind my desk. Looking around the room I silently picked out the cobwebs in the exposed rafters above my head.
My current base of operations as well as my living quarters was the garage space of one Sulivan Pete, A nice man, and a friend, he had leased me the space after I had helped take care of an interesting case of yard work. No matter the circumstances it worked well for my current bachelor's life as well as my professional life. Nothing said warlock like a slightly dusty garage with an upstairs living area.
I sat there silently debating if I should make myself a hot cup of blueberry tea when I heard a knock at the door. Rising from my chair I approached the door and peered through the curtained off window installed in the upper half. A bolt of lightening arched through the sky outside for a second illuminating a tall figure in a jacket standing in front of the door.
"Need help?" I called, knowing full well they could hear me through the door.
"I was told I could find a warlock here, please. I'm in need of some help", the figure replied.
Immediately I recognized the speaker was female from her voice, also she was very tired by the sound of it.
"Come on in", I answered opening the door and letting the lady in.
As she walked past me I caught the scent of musty books and the light whiff of perfume from her, though I couldn't quite place the smell. She wandered about for a bit looking around the garage at some of my equipment, always keeping her back to me though now that she was inside I could tell she was fairly taller than your average woman as well as a few inches on me.
"Thank you for seeing me, I really didn't have many options in town for someone like me", she said after a bit, turning around and pulling the jacket's hood from off her head.
What stood before me was an orc lady.
Now before I go further. In order to best explain what your average orc looks like, I would wish for you to imagine the burly brutes you would see in any fantasy genre, next strip away the flattened nose, protruding underbite, and shorten the fangs. Finally keep the green skin tone, pointed ears, and height and you have the basic features of any orc.
The orc woman who stood before me was a light shade of green, had long auburn hair, and soft features. What really stood out was the punk rock piercings, her under cut hair style, and her dazzling green eyes. Examining her face I got the feeling she was either very mischievous, very playful, or both.
"I understand, concealing mysts can be costly from most gnome brewers, and if you need a warlock it means you got something that non-magics can't deal with", I answered as I walked over to my desk, "now what can I do for you?"
"Well, a few weeks ago I moved into this old apartment on the east side of town by the old brewery and I started to get all sorts of occurrences", she started obviously getting more comfortable as she went, "you know the regular stuff like moving objects, flickering lights, apparitions. So I did as my old lady told me once and bought some holy water which I used to spray down every corner of the house. Only now its gotten worse and I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid things will get worse if I do nothing and I can't leave because I've got no where to go."
"I see, have the occurrences been taking place at any specific time?" I inquired as I pulled open a drawer in my desk and grabbed a notebook hidden under a pile of papers.
"Around noon. Why do you ask?"
"It sounds like you have a noon wraith", I answered flipping through the books pages till I found the right one, "Holy water is a good deterrent, but it doesn't cleanse that type of spirit."
"So how do you get rid of it?"
"Wraiths are normally tied to something personal from their past lives such as bones, jewelry, and other sentimental paraphernalia."
"So your saying I have to find whatever its connected to and dispose of it?"
"In the old days it use to be that simple unfortunately I've heard of some wraiths that have claimed an entire house as theirs, Warlock had to order it torn down and the remains burned."
"So how do I get rid of it?"
"Simple you came to me, as for my part I'll have to banish it from this world the old fashioned way."
"The old fashioned way?"
"Magic and blessed weapons", I answered, standing up in a fluid motion and dropping the book on my desk, "you said you lived on the east side by the old brewery, right?"
"Yes. Wait you want to go now?" she asked.
"no time like the present, besides if I let this wait you could be hurt by it, and I couldn't sleep easily knowing you got hurt because I decided to wait", I answered while grabbing a belt with pouches from a coat rack as well as a neatly carved cane resting near it.
"Thank you so much, I didn't know what to do and the other magic users I talked to were charging far to much", she said following me to the coat rack.
"Let me guess, pint of fairy blood and a forgotten cantrip nobodies heard of?" I guessed as I pulled on my own coat, "Most magic users are normally component sniffers, they use exotic ingredients to pull what little magic is in them for personal use. Wizards are book worms who need a magic wand and long incantations to pull off anything, and witches tend to study both practices. And no self respecting ego boosted Sorcerer is going to worry about the affairs of the common person, they're to busy with politics and tea parties."
"What about warlocks?" she questioned as I went for the door.
"Warlocks care to much about people."
Finishing my sentence I popped the door open as a figure draped in a cloak flopped onto ground in the door way in front of me. Blood pooled around my feet, thin and watery as it mixed with the rain outside. From behind me the orc gave out a cry of surprise.