Hour after hour he ran, long after his features returned to normal. Once he stopped, miles away from the village, he attempted to get his mind under control as his emotions spilled out. The people of the village looked at him as if he were a monster, even though he’d helped them save the town.

“You Now See The Dark Truth Of Our Kind Slave. We Give Up Our Humanity For Power, Some Willingly, Others After Being Shunned By Others. Even If You Wish To Help Them, You Will Never Again Be One Of Them.” Namenth’Al said. The spirit had elected to remain silent, not wishing to cause more panic in the young man.

“Damn you Ghost, you and this curse.” Kurtz snarled through clenched teeth. After a few moments of silence, he spoke, “What were those things? I’ve never seen beasts like that from around these woods. And what caused those fires? It’s too much of a coincidence that two events like that happened at the same time.”
“A Type Of Tracking Animal, We Think, Used For Hunting In Dense Jungles. We Seem To Remember Using Their Sense Of Smell To Great Effect, Using Them To Find The Remains Of A Long Dead Dragon Down To The South.” The skull said wistfully, as if it were a pleasant childhood memory. “As For The Fire, It Was Likely Used As A Distraction, Allowing Someone To Look For Something While The Town Was Preoccupied.”
“What would have warranted the attention? I didn’t notice the town having much of anything worth burning down houses and killing for. It seems like too much effort to simply rob somebody.” The young man said to the skull.
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The deft hands of the Assassin stroked the dying animal lovingly until the light of life left it’s eyes. His hands moved to the leg of the animal, black and fetid with rotting flesh. His pets had tracked the scent of the one who’d opened the tomb from the seared flesh left on the pull-ring that opened the door to the Living Tomb. The fact that living flesh was found had been a surprise, as the Masters had other means to open the door, and any undead would have been destroyed by the attempt.

Several humans had found their way inside, most had died in the treasure room to the traps left by the Masters. One it seemed, made it’s way into the lower crypt, taking the remains buried with in. The thief’s trail had led to the small town, only a few days away from the Living Tomb. The Goddess would have a hard time believing that the tomb had been violated by mortals, even more so that one survived the traps and escaped with the Corpse God’s body.

He’d set small fire to several of the local houses, allowing the panic to distract the townsfolk while his pets were able to search for the thief and the body. The Mistress had told him to return as soon as he found which rival had broken into the tomb, but if the perpetrator was a mortal, he’d dispatch them and return to his Queen with the prize. He was surprised to find that only one of his trackers returned to him, dying from a necrotic poison of some sort.

After the beasts were taken care of the, the men returned to putting the fires out, leaving the scene of the battle free to investigate. In the shadows of the burning huts, he was able to see that a set of tracks ran off into the woods, clearly his quarry was cunning enough to guess that he was being tracked. Unfortunately, the assassin had been performing his sacred duties for decades, and no man could elude him. He followed the trail of the thief more deftly that his pets ever could have.