The early hours of the night. The moon was full, its brilliance showered the land with good light.
From a bird's eye point of view, one may see a cliff resting at the base of a certain hill. That cliff contained an opening to a cave system. Several carts with black residues from coal lined the cave's entrance - a once great source of living for a nearby settlement.
Big columns of wooden palisades, their height was as tall as two men, surrounded the cliff. It was an enclosure in the shape of a square. At the opposite side of the cave's opening was a shattered gate. Its wooden doors were completely broken - laid wasted on the ground.
Stood at both ends of the gate were pillars of wood. Debris of wood and hemp littered the base of those pillars. What once stood there as high towers for watchmen were now reduced into ruins.
A long house was situated at the left side of the area - its state was no better. Doors and windows were all obliterated, shattered glasses filled the floor. Ragged sheets that were once beautiful curtains swayed aimlessly with the wind.
At the opposite side of the house was a two-story building - a broken signage still hung under its roof. "Warde-- --fice," was written on what was left of it. An office, or what it was supposed to be before, was now robbed of its functionality - its service and purpose were now a thing of the past.
The strong and putrid smell present in the whole area was also something else. Dead bodies of both goblins and humans were scattered inside the enclosure. Some don't even have a head, one has its half-body mashed into pulp. Others had deep cuts behind their back while there were also bodies who still had the weapon that delivered them to death planted at their body.
Gruesome. A horror sight, paired with the seemingly endless laughter of the ravens that feasted at the meat of the corpses on the ground.
This pure sight of destruction was what welcomed the eyes of Leif, Shiva, and the other prisoners as they surfaced from inside the cave.
"Wha-what happened here?"
*** Raid's Aftermath ***
"Careful. There might still be some goblins lurking nearby," warned Leif to all the people behind him.
Near the cave's entrance was a wooden weapon rack. Half of it still housed long spears that were once used by the guards stationed there. Shiva noticed this and signaled the men behind to arm themselves for protection. Some men agreed and decided to equip those said weapons.
"Petro, I am worried about my family at the village."
"Me too Petro, we need to go - fast."
The men, who were a part of a certain village, talked of the same matter.
"Old man, this seems to be a case of a voidgate breakout. A voidgate of greenskins might be active somewhere in the vicinity of this settlement." the lady beside Petro said.
"Hmm... Monster raids like this didn't happen even once around here. But if what you say is true, then that's the worst thing that could happen." Petro replied.
"No... NO! Alicia!" one man shouted in distress as he ran away from their group. The man threaded quickly his path towards the gate, not batting an eye at the fact that he was running through the bodies of the fallen.
The ravens were disturbed by his presence and flew away while letting out their resounding cry in chorus. Past the gate, the man succeeded in going out. The sound of the man's foot got weaker and weaker as the silhouette of his back slowly faded away through the fog of the night.
"We're going. Could you still kindly assist me, Miss Lyra?" Petro said, to which the lady beside her nodded in response.
Altogether, the group behind Leif followed the man who fled earlier. He gave way to them and silently watched their back as they took off from the cave.
"How far is the village from here," he asked Shiva who was also preparing to follow the group.
"Pretty close, a short time of walk I say," Shiva replied.
"I see."
"What, are you not coming with us?"
"I still have to retrieve my effects, I remember the guy who has it went in that building," Leif answered back as he also walked towards the direction of the office. Shiva looked at Leif as they parted ways, wearing a contemplating look on his face.
With his left hand putting pressure on the wound on his right shoulder, Leif carefully walked inside the building. Past the broken tables and chairs, as well as opened cabinet doors, the stairs towards the second floor remained intact. The squeaking of the wood planks below him as he walked through the stairs echoed throughout the silent interior of the building.
A hallway greeted him on the second floor. Two wooden doors were there on the opposite sides - both of which were still closed. Leif approached the door on his right but the knob resisted his hand as he tried to open it.
His face showed annoyance. He put both of his palms around the base of the knob and closed his eyes. The silence of the room aided his concentration, as his hands began to glow faintly in green.
KRAK!
With a sudden burst of strength, Leif pushed his hands. The force successfully cracked the area around the knob - rendering it useless. He pushed the door open and saw the entirety of the room - a table rested in the middle was surrounded by cabinets that housed various sorts of trinkets and tools.
"There it is," Leif said as he saw a broad, black belt with a waist bag resting atop the table. He quickly put it on with the bag seated on his right side - now he donned a closer look befitting of an adventurer. He checked the items inside his bag - a leather gourd canteen, three long vials of green liquid, a pouch of coins, and a silver compass.
Leif took one of the vials and drank it.
[
Mana regenerated: 8/8
]
"That's one less problem. Now, I'm all set... wait, where's my knife?"
Tap-tap, he felt his legs like there was an imaginary pouch on it. His eyes widened as if he remembered something stupid.
"Damn... I left it at the cave."
He directed his gaze towards the shelves in the room and started to rummage through the items placed there. Shortly after, a short leather sheath immediately caught his eyes. It housed a short dagger - a broad and double-edged steel blade. It has a finely crafted wooden handle with a spherical metal pommel at the end. Leif hung the sheathed dagger to the left side of his belt. His hands then continued to search for more valuables in the cabinet, but nothing of exceptional note was found.
He went out of the room and faced the other door. But before his hand even touched the door knob, a creaking noise came from the lower floor. The adrenaline kicked in immediately as Leif swiftly took a defensive stance. The creaking noise continued to sound off as the footsteps of the unknown walking slowly on the stairs crept closer and closer.
As he found himself defenseless in the middle of the hallway, Leif decided to hide behind the room he still hadn't explored yet. Since its door was still intact, he deemed that it was the better choice than the previous room. But when he turned the doorknob and pushed the door in, someone else abruptly opened it from the inside. Surprised, Leif couldn't stop the one who opened it to jump and push him down the floor.
"Graah!"
It was a goblin, its right eye was slashed and bleeding.
"Arrgh!" shouted Leif in pain as the claws of the monster gripped the injury on his right shoulder. With only his left hand keeping the goblin away from his face, Leif struggled to fight back.
But before he can exert some strength to push it away, the goblin bit Leif on his forearm. The sharp fangs of the goblin punctured his skin and caused Leif another damage. As he continued to struggle, his hearing caught of a footstep nearing him... along with the clanking sound of metals.
THUMP!
Someone kicked the goblin on his flank and made its mouth loose from biting Leif's arm. A chain wrapped around the neck of the goblin and pulled it back away from Leif. In response, Leif seized the opportunity and unsheathed his dagger. He sat up and delivered his blade upward right on the goblin's neck. With that swift strike, Leif claimed the life of that goblin.
"You're not broken, are you?" A familiar voice asked Leif.
It was Shiva - the sight of him left a huge grin on Leif's face. Leif withdrew his dagger as Shiva shoved away the body of the goblin between them. He then helped Leif to stand up back on his feet.
"I almost ambushed you earlier," Leif replied to Shiva.
"I heard a loud cracking sound upstairs earlier so I had to be sneaky."
"Hmph, the creaking of the stairs didn't help you much with that."
"Hehe, still glad I was able to assist."
The two went inside the room. A soldier's dead body first welcomed them, impaled with a crude knife on his chest as he sat behind the table in the middle of the room. The room was mostly intact - the bookshelves and cabinets, as well as the open curtains behind the closed glass windows.
What snatched the attention of the two was the black flower resting on top of the table. They both approached it and saw its petals flutter inexplicably even though there was no wind inside of the room.
"It's like a sunflower back in the village... but it is dry black," Shiva commented.
"No... I think there's more to it," Leif answered back as he lifted the flower with his right hand.
[
Night Angler's Flower
(Unique Artifact)
"Remember life as you remember death."
Can be consumed to improve the host's power. Grants 2 points of Insight and the ability over the dead.
]
The dark green panel again appeared in front of Leif, briefly explaining what the flower was all about. A different small panel has appeared over it.
[
Note: Can be consumed. When consumed, the "Host Title" of "Leif Twilight" will be altered.
]
"I do think that it's dangerous," told Shiva as his face bore a disgusted look at the flower.
"Dangerous as it may look like, someone might be extremely interested to obtain this."
"Like who?" Shiva again asked Leif.
"An irregular," Leif answered back as he looked back at Shiva.
"Irregular... Old man Petro also talked about that with you earlier."
"He's right. I am an irregular too. Although I wonder how they knew about it."
"They do know a lot of things. But I am still clueless about that word. Are you, having that mystical leaf, a part of it?"
"Yes... anything mystical you see that a person does - consider them immediately an irregular."
Leif put the flower away in his waist bag. He then turned to Shiva and posed him a question of his own.
.
.
.
"More importantly, why did you come back?"