The Fires of Mercy: Like a Hot Knife

• Posted by Radansour January 30, 2013 - 331 views

  I am the light in the darkness. I am a beacon of divine justice. I am the guiding lantern and the cleansing flame. I am really enjoying burning these bastards alive.

  Before long, I've killed two of the animals, and no more seem forthcoming. A few minutes later, the smoke has cleared, and I take a look around the cellar. The bloodsuckers had decorated their lair with a number of corpses, not to mention the grotesque meal I interrupted.

  Most of the corpses look like bandits, but there's one that gives me pause:

  I don't recognize him. How long has he been here? The body is in a cell- did they take him alive, I wonder? It hardly bears thinking about.

  I consider returning his personal effects to Keeper Carcette, but I doubt I would be welcome- besides, I was meant to destroy evil, not deliver messages. I am sorry, brother. Perhaps you will rest easier now that your tormentors are dead, at least.

  Although there are quite a few valuable items strewn about the cave, I take only a staff of flames and some of the vampires' armour (to remember them by). Then, after a few hours of rest, it's time to move on.

  Bare crags and boulders jut from a landscape dotted with hot springs. Wind-scoured bones are everywhere, but sometimes there are more intact corpses as well.

  

  

  These have been dead a long time, but somebody has moved them out here recently. It looks like a necromancer's workshop to me- laid out on the stone table, surrounded by soul gems and embalming tools, the dessicated corpses look like they're waiting for revival.

  Of course. It turns out to be a trap: as the one dead warrior rises, two novices run towards me, shouting threats and brandishing their best spells.

  Well, they sprung this little ambush on the wrong traveller. I almost feel sorry for them- why didn't they run when they had the chance? I suppose a sinister black robe and a touch of forbidden knowledge went to their heads.

  In any case, that's another affront to Stendarr I've vanquished. If I should meet any of the Vigilants on the road, I can hold my head high: let them match my ferocity now, with their petty rules and patrols. I've acheived more in two days than I could during a month under Keeper Carcette's command.