The slaying of CherekWritten by Deproelius"Tell us again, Monika!" I cried, banging my tankard on the grimy bar top for emphasis. The rest of the soldiers in the bar cheered their encouragement, urging Monika to recite her tale once more. Monika grinned evilly, and jumped up onto the top of the bar. She had already told this tale three times since her feat, but the other soldiers and I still hadn’t grown bored of hearing the tale, which grew more outlandish with each telling. In these times of war, with the might of all of the forces of good arrayed against us, it was a great boost to our morale to hear of the death of one of our enemies. Monika struck a heroic pose, her evil glinting eyes focused on the distance. With a melodramatic flourish learnt, no doubt, from her study as a dark disciple, she began to recite her tale. "We had been fighting for what seemed like an eternity, trading fierce blow with blow. The sun had long since sunk from sight, and the streets of Flotsam were only just illuminated by the pale glow of street lanterns smoldering in the evening mist. Blood was oozing from cuts and scrapes on both of us, but Cherek was tiring faster than I was, and I had managed to keep my magic in reserve. "Momentarily managing to stun Cherek with a well-placed blow to the head from my trusty runed mithril warhammer, I sang a special hymn of praise to the dark gods. Summoned by the dark music, a horde of grubs, insects and worms rose out of the very dirt of the street and knit themselves over my wounds, transforming themselves into bits and pieces of flesh and bone. My wounds healed before Cherek’s very eyes, and the dark ecstasy I felt from the malignant power of the evil spell was enhanced by the look of horror on my foolish opponent’s face. "It was as if Cherek had never been exposed to the dark powers of the disciples before. His attacks faltered, and he panicked. Pressing home the advantage, I landed another heavy hit on his head, and followed up with a crushing blow to his leg. Cherek feebly tried to respond, and managed to graze my side with the sword Wyrmslayer, but even with that mighty weapon, his doom was clear to see. "After one last crushing blow to Cherek’s thigh, his morale completely dissolved, and he panicked and fled, trying to make it to the docks of Flotsam and the supposed safety of a ship out of town. Hampered by the crippling blows to his legs however, he was unable to outdistance me, and I casually followed, twirling my warhammer in circles. "I caught up with Cherek where he had collapsed, on a street in the upper parts of Flotsam. Raising my warhammer high above my head, I brought it down, smashing Cherek to a pulp killing him instantly. A sudden chill permeated the air, and a dark shadow seemed to sweep over the gruesome wreck of a man. I blinked, and the shadow was gone. "Screaming out my warcry – ‘Long live the Goblins!’, I picked up Cherek’s pulp and the equipment he had been carrying, and returned home. If you look in the armoury, you will see the red dragonscale armour that he was wearing, and also the mighty Wyrmslayer, which we now possess. "And of course, we all know what happened to Cherek’s pulp!" With one last evil grin, Monika jumped down off the bar top, and picked up her wooden bowl. We all laughed, as she took another mouthful of the stew that our chef had made from Cherek’s well and truly pulped remains.
Having read the ancient scroll, you can look around the library and ask for another manuscript to read, or you can consult your map of the strong hold to take you to some other area of the guild. |
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