zhenderson

For all of you RPG geeks out there I will simply say this:

If you have not given Dark Souls a try, then do.  If you have played this masterfully constructed work of art, then kudos.  

Below is a brief story I wrote up then submitted to my gaming group for our Pathfinder campaign.  I have based it largely off of the world and lore of Dark Souls, and I find myself thoroughly enjoying the experience of filling in some of the story driven gaps (intentionally left out in the game) to further the lore and characters for my players.  This is one such story, enjoy.


The Infamous Darkwraith:

Those who are wise fear not the dark, but that which resides within....

He rolled beneath the warriors greatsword. That last swing would have taken his head clean off, but he was far too quick. Continuing his movement by rolling to the side then spinning around with a deadly swing of his own, The Knight of Thorns connected for a third time with the armored brute. Nothing. The hit glanced off the tall shield which his imposing foe had swung around just in time to catch the blow. No, this fight was going nothing like the way he had planned. The setting had been perfect, the timing right. So many before this one had fallen prey to his deception and tricks, but not this one. Surrounded by plagued rats, basilisk's, night hounds and those disgusting blobs; this one had just strode through the fray, killing all before him. It seemed impossible that one so strong as this man could be more than a fable, but here he stood and Kirk, The Knight of Thorns, the Infamous Darkwraith was left with a choice. Withdraw, or wait for the lumbering warrior to collapse from his poisoned wounds. It had not been a wholly one sided fight for when Kirk had initially emerged from his concealing shroud, he had landed a solid hit just beneath the brutes Gorget. Minutes had passed and this warrior had shown no effects of the deadly poison that coated the Knight of Thorns notched and gnarled straight sword. What if (by some means) the poison had not taken, what then? That last swing had been closer than the others; either he was slowing down or the brute was catching on to his queer style of fighting. Either way, this fight had gone all wrong... It was time to withdraw.

Another swing from that massive greatsword and Kirk stepped to the side, then forward with an underhand blow from his own small shield, right beneath the helmet. The blow had the desired effect, for the great armored behemoth staggered backward into the filth covered wall just long enough for Kirk to turn and flee back down the narrow passage. The warrior would surely recover quickly but would be hard pressed to catch up. Sure enough, there were cursing's and bellowing's from behind, but only a half hearted attempt to pursue. The warrior must have then just realized what Kirk had known upon entering the contest; pursuit for this one was not an option. Although he seldom had to flee from an encounter, Kirk knew the wisdom of always planning ahead for that eventuality.

Ducking under a low hanging grate, The Knight of Thorns then paused to remove from his gauntlet a small red orb. This he took in his hand and grasping it firmly, spoke the words that would allow him to bend the space between himself and his destination. Blackness enshrouded him and for a time, all was nothingness. Then, just as he felt the panic creeping in, the blackness withdrew and Kirk emerged in the chamber of the Fair Lady and her ever vigilant cripple. He approached the wondrous creature, this Daughter of Chaos and knelt before her. From his satchel he removed three small black sprites and placed them into her outstretched hand. Ever so gracefully, she tightened the fingers of her pale hand around the sprites, then one by one she removed them with the other hand and placed the diminutive creatures within her mouth. One by one she did this and one by one the Humanity of those Kirk had slain was consumed. As always, the meal seemed to give the Fair Lady some small amount of strength. With new vigor, her many limbs stretched and her whole visage took on renewed life but sadly, no amount of the small sprites would ever bring the dozens of eggs that surrounded her back to life.

It was then that the other sister entered the chamber. She was not nearly so graceful as the Fair Lady, but she like Kirk had taken it upon herself to hunt and collect the Humanity from creatures foolish enough to venture into her lair.

"Leave us Darkwraith" said hissed.

An insult in its own way for she knew full well that Kirk had only become one of those cursed creatures to obtain the gifts needed to hunt and procure sustenance for The Fair Lady of Chaos. But there was nothing to be done for it, the other Chaos Witch wished to be alone with her sister and that was that.

It was a shame really that the Fair Lady had not been the stronger of the two. Where she was fair and graceful, her sister was black of hair and her own many segmented limbs were hideous and dark. Her movements were also alarmingly quick and lacking for any kind of grace. Truly a shame, but regardless of this, he (Kirk) would continue his tireless service to his mistress.

The cripple craned his head sideways from underneath the heavy growths and eggs upon his back that brought him to his belly, and gave an approving nod to the traitor Darkwraith as he passed from the room. This one at least understood the sacrifices he had made in order to serve their Fair Lady. That was well.

Once outside, Kirk again grasped the red orb and spoke the words. This was the nature of the thing. A two way road that lead to his prey, then back to his place of origin.... a perfect device for his purposes. Centuries ago, Kirk had sought and approached the great Serpent, Kaath and begged to be brought into the secret order of the life hunters of New Londo, the Darkwraiths. Once he had come into a position of no small repute among his fellow life hunters and received the marvelous red orb as a gift from Kaath, he fled the drowned city and withdrew back to the lair of his true mistress.

The orb came to life with its gentle glow, then came the all encompassing darkness.

Kirk emerged on a balcony overlooking the courtyard within a dilapidated structure. He had been to this place only twice before. It was a dank and depressing structure meant to suck the hope from all those imprisoned within. There, below him now strode four new arrivals to the Asylum. Odd, none of the four appeared to be human. Judging from the respective heights of the four, two were tall, far too tall and the remaining seemed no more in stature than small children. This was an odd bunch, but nonetheless, they were not Hollow, therefore they could still be harvested. Slipping down from off his perch, Kirk strode up behind one of the children... no, this was no child but a little man. The small creature stopped in his tracks, no doubt sensing what he surely could not see. Nevertheless this little man (for man he was) seemed uncommonly nervous. When he turned toward Kirk, there was a shifting of shackles which for some odd reason were worn on the little creatures forearms... an escaped prisoner perhaps. He then beckoned the others of his party to stop, they turned, all looking at, but not seeing the shrouded man standing in their midsts, for he had not yet truly emerged on their plane of reality. It had taken some time to master that little trick of the orb but with it, sneaking up on his prey had become such a remarkable experience.

Quickly and with very little warning of his immanent action, the little man struck out at the place where Kirk stood. Just as quickly, Kirk stepped to the side of his fist only just avoiding the well placed blow. Likely, the attack would have missed anyways, but there was no harm in being careful. The little creature was fast. Walking around the four and relishing the puzzlement on the wretched little things face, as well as the confusion and worry painting the faces of the others, The Knight of Thorns took measure of the group. He was sure he could best any one of them easily, but four? Most pilgrims in Lordran seemed to find some noble honor in traveling alone, why that was, Kirk could never guess. Regardless, these four could prove dangerous unless handled with the utmost care. It mattered little now. He had felt their presence and the orb had drunk of their fear. He would know how to find them again. Perhaps the depths below the old Berg would be just the place to spring his trap. It would have to do for now. The group of travelers were now listening to the worried musings of the little one. That was well. Let them fear the shadows, and the monsters that hunted from within them. With this, The once Darkwraith brought the orb he held up to his lips and whispered the command for travel. Darkness again consumed his form and Kirk thought to himself: "Now, I will hunt"

These new arrivals would meet their ends soon enough. But now, now there were other prey to harvest.

Hope Y'all enjoyed it.  I sure had a ton of fun writing it.

Ok, so I am going to give this journal idea a go...

First off, thank you all for showing your support and giving me such great feedback on my work.  I will be continuing to add more work to my profile.  I have a few differ projects running at the present, so there should be a fair amount of new content coming to my page.  I just finished several commisioned pieces for the book Relics & Wonders: Lombard's Amulet.  The printed novel is now available on createspace.com and amazon.com.  The ebooks are available for Apple, Nook & Kindle devices.  Below, I am showcasing the prologue for this new novel.  Enjoy.


Everything happened so quickly, exactly as the kidnapper intended.  There were few creatures on this planet capable of infiltrating a palace full of elves without drawing attention to themselves; gnomes were one of them, and of all the gnomes who walked this earth, Zull was the most infamous.  With no remorse and a twinge of satisfaction, the gnome crept past the two guards posted outside the room of his intended victim.  With a flash of light they fell to the ground dead.  After removing their bodies from plain view, he opened the door they were protecting and found a thirteen year old girl asleep in her bed.  There she lay, alone and defenseless, or so the world was meant to believe.  He knew otherwise.  She was dangerous.  Deadly.  And one day soon, she would be the cause of the next wave of destruction to engulf the Northern Lands.  At least that was the plan of her cruel master, the Dark Elf of Aisilin, or Mahgus as he was known to the world.
The young girl's life was a sad tale of abuse and neglect.  She was a slave and lived as such.  But that was not Zull's concern, for gnomes were creatures incapable of empathy, despite the knowledge he possessed of her.  It was no secret that after the girl was weaned from her mother, Mahgus would beat her anytime she dared look him in the eye.  As she grew older his cruelty increased.  Fear was how he controlled her.  The child never spoke owing to a promise that Mahgus would personally remove her tongue if he ever heard a sound out of her.  Many, if they knew of his actions, would judge Mahgus as heartless and evil, but not Zull.  He was one of the few who knew the truth.  Mahgus was not torturing a defenseless child; he was perfecting a weapon.
The gnome etched toward the girl.  His eyes quickly fell upon a shining blue pendant worn around her neck.  To many it would seem a simple decoration, much like the fine silk fabric draped across the windows of her room.  However, Zull was more than just an average gnome—he was the world's leading authority in alchemy, potions, and charmed objects.  He also spent several years under Mahgus's employ and therefore knew his enemy well.  Jewelry would do no good to a slave whose will the Dark Elf needed to crush.  The necklace served an ulterior motive.  Like every method tactically devised against the girl, the pendant was designed to implement a level of control over her, and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mahgus would slaughter her if she ever took it off.
Zull's hand reached inside his pocket and his fingers wrapped around a glass vial.  He would not kill the girl yet, for if he did the Dark Elf's other plans would likely be accelerated.  Instead, he would take her away.  Only after he studied her and learned the secrets of her great power would he kill her.  And not just any death would suffice, for that was not Zull's style.  He preferred to be creative with how he disposed of his enemies.
The cork popped off the top of the vial and the young girl awoke with a jerk of movement.  Her eyes widened as she saw the face of her intruder standing nearby.  Zull grinned menacingly.  Due to Mahgus's conditioning, she was helpless.  The young slave possessed the power to destroy him, but feared her master's retribution over saving herself.  If she screamed, Mahgus would cut out her tongue.  If she used her abilities to defend herself, the Dark Elf would know she took off the necklace, and he threatened to kill her if she ever did so.
"Don't worry, my dear," said Zull. "Your nightmare is soon to be over." The gnome tossed the contents of the vial in her face.  Her eyes shut tight and she began to cough.  A few seconds later she drifted back to sleep. "Unfortunately, a worse dream is about to begin."
Zull tossed the vial on her bed along with a sealed parchment containing a fake ransom note.  Unless Mahgus was a complete fool, he would suspect it as a decoy.  Regardless, he had what he came to get and it was time to leave.
The gnome reached inside his pocket and pulled out a necklace of his own, although his was a simpler design with a ruby as the center.  He wrapped his tiny arms around the girl's waist and whispered an incantation.  Light from the relic surrounded the two and with a flash that awoke the rest of the palace the two disappeared.
Seconds later, two figures charged into the young slave's room.  Darkness shrouded their appearance, but could not mask their anger.
"She's gone, my lord.  How can this be?"
One of the two walked over to the girl's bed and his Elvin eyes quickly locked with both the parchment and the vial. "Zull," he sneered.
"The gnome?  Your former servant?"
"Yes," the Dark Elf replied.  He opened the parchment and read Zull's demands. "It appears we have a month to give in to his wishes or he will kill her."
"How do we handle this, my lord?"
"We'll just have to send someone to look for her," said Mahgus.
"Who, my lord?"
"Find me a tracker," the Dark Elf ordered. "And make sure he's a human."
"Why a human when one of our own brethren would be more capable?"
"Because Zull will not be looking for a human," reasoned Mahgus.
"As you wish, sire.  And what of the missing relics?  First the alchemist's cloak and now his necklace."
"My first concern is finding the girl," replied Mahgus. "The necklace will be with her.  As far as the cloak is concerned, I'll let Korin take care of that thief.  The two of them have history together."
"Yes, my lord.  As you wish."
The Dark Elf crumbled Zull's parchment and tossed it to the floor.  He admired his opponent's craftiness, but unfortunately for the gnome, his efforts were in vain.  Nothing could stop what the Dark Elf had planned for this world.  Not Zull.  Not Arslon, the Elvin King.  No one.
The humans were doomed.