The blood mage was both concerned, and relieved. The muscle bound warrior he had come across in the woods had joined rather willingly - had in fact, taken off rubbing almost before Nevin finished speaking. A moment had passed before the alchemist shook himself and took off after the other man. Don't just stand there indeed. The alchemist snorted and shook his head before he took off after the other man.

Pulled from beneath his skin by his need, Nevin’s threads emerged from beneath his skin and wrapped around his legs, coiling along his calves and thighs as he followed the pull of the tainted magic he was pursuing. He soon caught up with the other man, and slowed down to keep pace - the warrior seemed to know the place, he moved with purpose and familiarity. When they reached the town Nevin kept moving on, leaving the man behind as he stopped to talk to someone in the small village.

The call, the pull, the taint - it was strong here, the blood in the air thick, singing with dark whispers of pain and misery. Nevin reached the edge of the village and saw the beast he was tracking. It was massive, easily as tall at the shoulders as a full grown man, and drool and a pink frothy foam flecked its mouth and tusks. Nevin was focused though, on the sores, the gaping lesions along its form.

From beneath its skin, in the open wounds caused by arrows and broken spears, dark red - scarlet - threads emerged. They coiled together, wrapping and weaving about in the air, squirming and worming. They were thick, ropy coils that lashed about in the empty air. Nevin was intimately familiar with those, something extremely similar dwelled beneath his skin.

He staggered, gripping at his chest for a moment, as the crimson threads inside of him roiled in response, twisting and lashing beneath his skin. There it was again, that instinctive rage, anger, and desire to eliminate the abomination before him - the last time he had felt this, it had been when he was in the chapel with that Scarlet beast. The blood mage drew himself upright, controlling himself - and then a log shot past him, hurled by a set of strong arms, and it smashed into the boar.

The monster let out a bellow as it was thrown to the ground, the wood crushing its side in. Flesh and bone snapped and tore under the weight of the blow - a moment of respite, and a sense of false victory as the thing didn't move for a moment. Nevin though - he was not buying it. He knew exactly what the thing in front of him was capable of. And sure enough, after seconds ticked by, the ‘corpse’ gave a shudder.

Dark red swept across it, further darkening the brown-black hide of the boar. The red squirmed and wriggled, undulating before their very eyes hand then with another shudder, the broken flesh filled back out, and the boar rose again. Nevin’s lips tightened into a grim line.

“The beast won't be slain by conventional means. If you can keep it pinned down, I should be able to finish it.” The boar took this moment to charge at them, making the alchemist leap to the side, propelled by the unnatural strength his threads gave him. The boar thundered by, narrowly missing Leoric, lashing at him with twisting scarlet lines as it ran by. Nevin hit the ground and rolled to his feet as the tainted abomination slowed down, turning slowly to face him. It was - largely ignoring the warrior. The tainted power within it was probably calling for Nevin’s death, just as his own nature called for him to slay it.