I know that the art of blood magic is dangerous and dark, and I know that it can also be a really powerful tool, but honestly, that's not why I wanted to become a blood hunter. To be honest, I kind of just stumbled into this Blood Hunter training stronghold when I following King (that's... his name, he's not actually a king, although he'd jump at any chance to become one). King was... interesting. He was really different. He had the look of danger and evil, and yet he was extremely passionate. I soon came to find out what he was passionate about: blood magic. People who embrace blood magic are crazy fanatics, willing to sacrifice their own life force to harness it. It's an old, old magic, long forgotten by many. When I heard about it, my curiosity piqued. The world, after all, is in need of bold, new action. And sometimes, boldness comes in reviving something old. If I, a simple bard, could harness the power of blood magic, my name would be uttered all throughout the lands...
And that was enough to send me away from our stronghold in Scorchwood, on a quest that King sent us on: the quest that would determine if we would ever be able to harness the power of blood magic.
It seemed simple enough: travel to Duskvale and capture or kill the vile creatures that have been tormenting travellers and villagers alike. It seemed simple, but King warned us: this was our Rite of Passage to becoming Blood Hunters; we either complete it, or, we die...
Regardless of these ominous bodings, a group of us set off.
I'm used to this company, since we have trained together for the past few months under King. Though, I don't know too much about them. There's Kal'Dur, a dwarf cleric who was abandoned as a child, and owes his life to the priest who took him under his wings. He shared my horse on the eight hour journey to Duskvale, and made good company.
When we reached Duskvale just after high noon, myself and the dwarf were starving. We looked around for market stalls to buy food, but the town was deserted. Market stalls were overturned, tents abandoned, and houses were shuttered up. These villagers were being haunted and tormented... by a creature that we had to kill. It seemed grim.
We met with a villager, who had told us that there were horrific howlings in the nighttime after sundown, and shortly before midnight, villagers and travelers would disappear. They had lost around 7 people, just in the last few nights.
The villager introduced us to Duskvale's mayor, Tika. She was cute, and had a way with the men in my party. Mr Monk, who I swore had taken a vow of silence, actually spoke up to greet her. The dwarf was drooling beside me.
Tika told us that a hunter in the village had seen huge, jet black beasts before being dragged off into the outskirts of the town square. Upon hearing that we were there to help, Tika provided us with food, and the dwarf and I inhaled it.
Meanwhile, Elyon, who had been raised by wolves as a youngling, scouted the area and found a series of tracks indicating great traffic in one of the town's entrances. The tracks showed several human and canine footprints, the canine ones being larger than a wolf's.
The group decided we should make a trap. If we had any chance of saving these villagers, we'd need to be prepared. I looked around for help, and noticed that Fredrickson, the self-proclaimed holy and noble knight who's sole desire was to save the kingdom, was fast asleep.
So I gathered some wood, and Elyon lent me some of her rope. My plan was to build a simple trigger trap, one like I had built many a time for small rabbits. I was having trouble though, as I had never built a trap for anything this large before, and Elyon stepped in and helped me set it up. By the time we finished, it was getting closer to sundown; the creatures would be coming shortly.
Kal, the dwarf, volunteered to be bait, and Mr Monk hid himself next to the trap for prime location. Nearby were Fredrickson, Elyon, Tika, and Miranda. I don't know much about Miranda, except that she's a human sorceress with a Draconian lineage.
I stayed at the back, ready to cast spells from a safe distance - after all, I'm no fighter, I let the pros handle that sort of thing.
Sundown. I thought the houses were already shuttered, but we could hear the slams and clicks of doors being locked throughout the village. Then... silence.
For a brief moment, a clear moon broke through the clouds, casting an ominous glow on the party. Then, back to darkness.
We waited for a while. Hours.
Then, just before midnight: howling.
A soft sound carried through the gentle night winds: we could hear rattling of chains growing louder and louder, accompanied by soft footfalls from beyond the town's edge.
My heart was pounding, for a few moments I was certain that these creatures would hear my heartbeat. Then, SNAP!
The moon broke through the clouds again, shedding light on our enemies. I could see them: three charnel hounds, on chains held by three cultists. One of the cultists was stuck in Elyon's trap. The hounds looked like beasts raised from the fires of Hell itself. Their figures waved around, almost like their skin were made of smoke. They gnashed their sharp teeth, and ravaged the grounds with their sharp claws. They were huge; each looked like living boulders hungry for their next meal. Gee was I glad I was hanging in the back.
Before I knew it, all three hounds attacked: one at Fredrickson, one at Kal, and the other at Miranda. They were all bitten, and bleeding. It was looking bad.
Suddenly, I heard a twang in the dark, and a loud howling whimper. Elyon must have shot one with her longbow. Meanwhile, Fredrickson was struggling to fight his hound. His sword was far too long and heavy for him to manouvre in close combat. Spells were being thrown here and there, shots were fired, and I added a sleep spell into the mix. Two of the cultists and one of the hounds dropped to the ground.
Sometime during this, I saw that Miranda had managed to kill the cultist and the hound that were on her back, but she was badly injured.
Kal tried to feed one of the hounds. It ate the food, but not without having a snip at poor Kal's fingers.
Luckily, Kal was able to heal himself. After a few more blows from Monk, Frederickson, Elyon, and Tika, the hound and the cultist that were asleep from my spell, perished.
We were down to just one trapped harmless cultist, and one hound.
Kal's naive wishful thinking gave me an idea, and I whipped out my trusty pan flute and started playing a melody I always played for my horse.
The melody made the hound pause in its tracks, and Kal reached out a hand to pet it. This time, it didn't bite. It sat its hind legs down, propped up its ears, and wagged its tail. We had tamed him!
We celebrated! It was an hour past midnight, and we were in dire need of some sleep, but first, we needed answers.
Fredrickson was the first to get up in the cultist's face and ask him who the hell he was and what the hell he was doing. The cultist was a shameful excuse for a fighter; he actually pissed his pants and begged for us to let him go back to his family. This seemed to set off a nerve in the Monk, who proceeded to kick in his kneecaps. Who knew Monks could be so violent, hey?
Kal, playing good cop, healed the cultist, who reiterated that he was just a new member of the cult. Upon further questioning, the cultist said that he served the Thief of Shadows, his job was to collect sacrifices for the Dark Mistress. He told us that if we went East towards the Old Quarry, we would be met with simply 2 guards. Inside the quarry cave, we would find prisoners inside, but they often didn't stay alive for any more than 2 days. The hounds, one of them now my pet, were demons that they controlled to collect the sacrifices.
We had heard enough. Tika locked the cultist in jail, and offered us lodgings for the night.
When we awake, we ride into the Quarry, find this Dark Mistress, and defeat her. Thus, we will complete our Rite of Passage.
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Word Count: 1530 words
Comment: This is a summary of the first half of a Dungeons and Dragons game that Scott created for a group of us. I thought I would take the opportunity to use ths game as a writing prompt for myself to write from the point of view of the character I played, Arvyal Duskmire, a half-elf bard. I had fun with the game, and fun with writing up these notes.
List of characters (and their players) in alphabetical order:
Comment: This is a summary of the first half of a Dungeons and Dragons game that Scott created for a group of us. I thought I would take the opportunity to use ths game as a writing prompt for myself to write from the point of view of the character I played, Arvyal Duskmire, a half-elf bard. I had fun with the game, and fun with writing up these notes.
List of characters (and their players) in alphabetical order:
- Arvyal Duskmire (Chloe)
- Elyon-Hoshi Estresal (Dyan)
- Fredrickson (Colin)
- Kal'Dur (John)
- Miranda Mordred (Emma)
- Mr Monk (LJay)
Dungeon Master: Scott
