The Path of Death, Destruction,
and Mayhem Chapter Three
Chapter Three: Death Revisited
As I materialized in the hot afternoon sun of the Southern Direlands I heard the
noise of a thousand lost souls wailing for release from their purgatorial
existence. It came from a collective of dark, menacing beings from another
reality as they bore down on me with intense hatred of all life in their flat,
cold, dead eyes.
When confronted with the unknown, there are only three acceptable reactions. The
first is to examine it; study it; observe it. Then react to it as a known
variable with your knowledge as your guide. The second is to crush it. Destroy
the unknown and it it is no longer a factor. There is a third option. I chose
that one.
I ran.
Broken field pattern, similar to the time the Magi of the Imperial Standard sat
upon the walls of Irbustik launching spears of electricity at us hungry mobs
below. With spells landing to my left and right flinging sand and rock into the
air, I ran. The fast one stung me and stung me again with his weapon of cold
steel and I could feel his glee at the drawing of my blood. I dodged right and I
dodged left and ended up on the top side of a small cliff, too steep for him to
climb. As I stood above him recovering my breath, I gathered myself. Now that I
had the opportunity to observe one of these creatures, I would learn all I
could. He had, for instance, a metallic bar on his shoulder. A rank insignia
perhaps? He also wasn't a very clever fellow, staring up at me like that with a
climbable slope no more than 30 feet to his left. And then he started a spell
casting sequence. I stepped back and watched a good sized chunk of the cliff in
front of me disintegrate. Well, perhaps running had been the appropriate
reaction after all. Good to know.
I turned away from the cliff and saw a blue glimmer in the distance. The
lifestone I had heard about. It should make a decent...
As I stood gazing at the Mayoi lifestone I reflected on my hatred of Iron
Golems.
The family of Shadows had left or been killed by the time I portalled back to
the Dires, as had the Iron Golem. I collected that corpse of mine and the two
more I left as I made my way to the lifestone I had seen in the distance. The
Direlands was beginning to look as dangerous as I had heard, and I wasn't sure
that I was up to the task.
Not one to be daunted by mere overwhelming odds, I set out to find my prey of
choice: Dark Drudges. Far more dangerous than their grassland kin, the Lurkers
and Stalkers were suitable targets for my skills. Raveners on the other hand,
had me at a disadvantage. For every Drudge Ravener I was able to kill in that
first week, I visited the lifestone at least once. Sometimes to the Ravener or
his cousin, sometimes to a newly spawned creature as I fought the drudges.
In time I devised a system to kill drudges without attracting unwanted attention
from other wildlife and my success gave me power. Soon I was besting Raveners
more often than not. I continued in this manner until I was able to learn the
craft of affecting items by magic.
Then I died to an Iron Golem.
(To Be Continued)
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Path of Death, Destruction, and Mayhem Chapter Three