Ajal Ruakien
12-04-08, 12:37 AM
Closed.
Somewhere in the Windlacer Mountain Range, there was a cave. Now this cave, and a good deal of area around it, gives off a certain aura to those who can sense such things. Generally, this aura is black, as this is how most people visualize evil. For those who can't directly see the aura, they get a greasy, slimy feeling of either right or just plain wrong, depending on the values that the creature encountering the aura holds dear. But to those who have a finely attuned sense for these things, to those who know about it, or to those who take the time to look closely enough, there is something else in the aura, that is quite opposite to the feelings and colors described above.
This is because the aura given off by the cave combines the natural and unnatural forces in the world. More accurately, rather, the aura given off by the cave was of these unnatural forces overwhelming the natural ones. The dark forces that inhabited the world were tampering with the...those who know about these things would hesitate to say good, but the more natural forces of the world, binding them into things that they had left a long, or even a short, time ago.
This aura and these powers, of course, could be summed up with one word: Necromancy.
The cave had only recently begun emitting this aura. For a time, due to its semi-secluded location, nobody bothered with it. It wasn't considered much of a threat until a few enterprising adventurers, some in groups, others by themselves, decided to investigate the cave. Among their number were necromancers, bounty hunters and druids. There was a single warrior of the light who shit himself at the sight of the cave and ran. He's not a part of the story, though.
These adventurers, as it was stated, entered the cave either by themselves or in a group of like-minded individuals. They were driven by various purposes: curiosity, money, research, direct opposition to what the cave represented and so on. All of them perished. It seemed that they didn't quite have what it took to cleanse the cave of what it contained. It was decided elsewhere on the Island that bigger guns would need to be brought in.
However, that was soon not to be needed.
~~~~~~
Elsewhere on the Island, at the edge of a forest, a man knelt beside the corpse of a deer. At least, it looked like a corpse. Upon closer examination, the deer was merely lying there, as if it were taking a nap or some such, though, of course, this is a ridiculous idea. One might think that the man was the hunter who had brought the deer down, however, he carried nothing with which to skin the deer and no weapon that could have brought it down, although there was a staff lying beside him, with a straw hat on top.
The deer twitched. The man was poking at a wound on its shoulder: a triangular wound made by a broad-headed arrow. The head had already been removed and was lying on the ground beside the man, on the other side of the staff and hat. The man ceased his proddings when the deer twitched. He already knew what to do with the wound and the deer had been kind enough to lay down for him so that he could better work on it. He didn't want to cause it more pain.
In place of the prodding, the man held out his hand and focused on it for a moment. Suddenly, a glowing sphere appeared above his hand, colored white. It was about six inches in diameter and would have given off a soft light in darker conditions. The man held it for another moment, staring into it, before turning his hand over, the sphere staying in the same position, about an inch from the palm. Gently, he lowered the sphere toward the deer and it seemed to melt into the deer, merging with the flesh around the wound. The deer did not twitch.
The sphere was lowered until about half of it had entered the deer. Then, the sphere began to swirl, if pure white light could be seen swirling. Tendrils of power drifted off from the sphere and sunk into the deer, touching not only the wound, but also the heart, the lungs, even the muscles of its legs. Eventually, the energy of the sphere had completely leaked into the animal and the man removed his hand. Where the triangular wound had been before, there only remained a scar. Granted, the scar looked raw and pulsing, it would prevent the wound from becoming infected as the deer's momentarily amplified healing powers finished the job.
With that, the man stood, grabbing his staff and hat, the latter of which he placed on his head. Then he backed off from the deer, which also stood. It walked about a bit, as if testing that everything was alright. Then it turned to the man and nodded its head, as if in thanks. The man nodded in return and the deer left, taking to the forest.
"You should be alright now, friend deer, they only wanted you as a trophy, but they're gone now. Hopefully they'll learn. If not, I'll have to deal with them again." The man sighed at the thought and then frowned, remembering a brief moment during the sealing of the wound. After he had formed the Life primal, it had sensed something far off. While the primal would have been able to detect more of the element it represented, the man hadn't been focusing on that aspect of the Life. The only thing that could have set it off was the presence of its opposite: Unlife.
Unfortunately, this meant that the man might not be getting sleep tonight. This was probably something that had to be dealt with before it got any worse. It was ok, though, he had experienced long nights before, often in performing the duties that he was now going to perform. So he held out his hand again, forming another Life primal, and stared deeply into it, focusing on something far off.
It was that way. And it was large.
Stoically, the man, Ajal Ruakien by name, adjusted his hat to block the glare of the sun dipping toward the horizon, and set off toward the nearby mountains, walking toward the cave mentioned above, although he did not yet know it was a cave or even what was in it.
Somewhere in the Windlacer Mountain Range, there was a cave. Now this cave, and a good deal of area around it, gives off a certain aura to those who can sense such things. Generally, this aura is black, as this is how most people visualize evil. For those who can't directly see the aura, they get a greasy, slimy feeling of either right or just plain wrong, depending on the values that the creature encountering the aura holds dear. But to those who have a finely attuned sense for these things, to those who know about it, or to those who take the time to look closely enough, there is something else in the aura, that is quite opposite to the feelings and colors described above.
This is because the aura given off by the cave combines the natural and unnatural forces in the world. More accurately, rather, the aura given off by the cave was of these unnatural forces overwhelming the natural ones. The dark forces that inhabited the world were tampering with the...those who know about these things would hesitate to say good, but the more natural forces of the world, binding them into things that they had left a long, or even a short, time ago.
This aura and these powers, of course, could be summed up with one word: Necromancy.
The cave had only recently begun emitting this aura. For a time, due to its semi-secluded location, nobody bothered with it. It wasn't considered much of a threat until a few enterprising adventurers, some in groups, others by themselves, decided to investigate the cave. Among their number were necromancers, bounty hunters and druids. There was a single warrior of the light who shit himself at the sight of the cave and ran. He's not a part of the story, though.
These adventurers, as it was stated, entered the cave either by themselves or in a group of like-minded individuals. They were driven by various purposes: curiosity, money, research, direct opposition to what the cave represented and so on. All of them perished. It seemed that they didn't quite have what it took to cleanse the cave of what it contained. It was decided elsewhere on the Island that bigger guns would need to be brought in.
However, that was soon not to be needed.
~~~~~~
Elsewhere on the Island, at the edge of a forest, a man knelt beside the corpse of a deer. At least, it looked like a corpse. Upon closer examination, the deer was merely lying there, as if it were taking a nap or some such, though, of course, this is a ridiculous idea. One might think that the man was the hunter who had brought the deer down, however, he carried nothing with which to skin the deer and no weapon that could have brought it down, although there was a staff lying beside him, with a straw hat on top.
The deer twitched. The man was poking at a wound on its shoulder: a triangular wound made by a broad-headed arrow. The head had already been removed and was lying on the ground beside the man, on the other side of the staff and hat. The man ceased his proddings when the deer twitched. He already knew what to do with the wound and the deer had been kind enough to lay down for him so that he could better work on it. He didn't want to cause it more pain.
In place of the prodding, the man held out his hand and focused on it for a moment. Suddenly, a glowing sphere appeared above his hand, colored white. It was about six inches in diameter and would have given off a soft light in darker conditions. The man held it for another moment, staring into it, before turning his hand over, the sphere staying in the same position, about an inch from the palm. Gently, he lowered the sphere toward the deer and it seemed to melt into the deer, merging with the flesh around the wound. The deer did not twitch.
The sphere was lowered until about half of it had entered the deer. Then, the sphere began to swirl, if pure white light could be seen swirling. Tendrils of power drifted off from the sphere and sunk into the deer, touching not only the wound, but also the heart, the lungs, even the muscles of its legs. Eventually, the energy of the sphere had completely leaked into the animal and the man removed his hand. Where the triangular wound had been before, there only remained a scar. Granted, the scar looked raw and pulsing, it would prevent the wound from becoming infected as the deer's momentarily amplified healing powers finished the job.
With that, the man stood, grabbing his staff and hat, the latter of which he placed on his head. Then he backed off from the deer, which also stood. It walked about a bit, as if testing that everything was alright. Then it turned to the man and nodded its head, as if in thanks. The man nodded in return and the deer left, taking to the forest.
"You should be alright now, friend deer, they only wanted you as a trophy, but they're gone now. Hopefully they'll learn. If not, I'll have to deal with them again." The man sighed at the thought and then frowned, remembering a brief moment during the sealing of the wound. After he had formed the Life primal, it had sensed something far off. While the primal would have been able to detect more of the element it represented, the man hadn't been focusing on that aspect of the Life. The only thing that could have set it off was the presence of its opposite: Unlife.
Unfortunately, this meant that the man might not be getting sleep tonight. This was probably something that had to be dealt with before it got any worse. It was ok, though, he had experienced long nights before, often in performing the duties that he was now going to perform. So he held out his hand again, forming another Life primal, and stared deeply into it, focusing on something far off.
It was that way. And it was large.
Stoically, the man, Ajal Ruakien by name, adjusted his hat to block the glare of the sun dipping toward the horizon, and set off toward the nearby mountains, walking toward the cave mentioned above, although he did not yet know it was a cave or even what was in it.