Fantasy The Clueless Wizard (Completed)

[ArcticFox]

"I'm fine with heights." Dura said as she followed Arden up the attic and onto the roof. "Reanimated corpses, not so much." She made a disgusted grimace.

"Dura is my half sister." Kogan said as if to explain. "She's half human. The weak half."

"Oh, go to hell." Dura jabbed, but she was smiling. I'm an artist, not a fighter."

She was steady enough on her feet, despite being obviously tired, she did not look injured or ill. She kept her pace the best she could, though she still lingered behind Arden, but Kogan was always there to catch her when she slipped. They hopped onto the nearest roof with ease, when the orc girl stopped in her tracks, looking down to the streets.

"Wow, this is bad." She said, voice trembling, when Kogan put a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "It begun slowly. A couple of corpses rising from the unmarked graves in the woods, some strange sightings of an eerie looking woman roaming the forest at night. No one believed that it was anything serious. We dealt with the first few corpses, not giving in much thought. After all we often get attacked here, by bandits or wolves in winter, fighting skeletons was not that different. Until the graves in the town started unloading." She clenched her teeth. "They killed so many and when we buried the newly dead, they only rose again the next night. It was a nightmare.

"We sent letters and riders to Blackcliffe asking for help, but it looks like none of them reached it. After a week the town was a graveyard. People either ran or died. I stayed behind to make sure everyone got out, but I got trapped inside my own home."

- Comfort her.
- Ask something.
- Continue on.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask something.

"Huh," Arden muttered at Kogan's brief explanation. "That explains why she's actually reasonable then." Dura was surprisingly pleasant compared to the blunt orcs Arden had previously met, especially since she was only half-related to the grump beside her. Together they crossed the planks back over the rooftops, venturing slowly towards where they'd originally left Alexei. Dura's description of the events caused Arden to pause, glancing over to where the other woman stared down at the corpse filled streets.

"It was brave of you stay and look out for others," Arden admitted, though her voice sounded distant to her own ears. Her mind was stuck on the mention of the shadowed woman in the woods. "...Perhaps this woman is the reason for the restless dead? We need to find whatever is causing this and stop it before it reaches Blackcliffe and hurts anyone else." The farmers they'd left in that abandoned farmhouse -- what would happen to them now?

 

[ArcticFox]

"I'm not sure. I have never seen her myself." Dura answered, eyes to the ground as she carefully watched his footing. She was starting to get a bit unsteady, perhaps the exhaustion was kicking in finally. But they only had a couple of roofs to jump over to get to where Alexei was. "All I know is that people would say they have seen a black clad young woman walking through the woods, talking in a foreign language. But this is a small town, people love rumours. Loved rumours." She frowned. "I've been around the same people for ten years and now I don't know if I'm ever going to see their faces again."

Before Arden could respond, they reached the knight and were down on the ground again.

"Dura, I presume?" Alexei asked, as he dismounted.

"Yeah, she does not have my smouldering good lucks, I know." Kogan joked, which earned him a kick in the shin.

"I'm glad you got out of there in one piece." Alexei spoke.

But Arden was already distracted by something else. She saw a figure at the edge of the forest, peeking out from behind a tree. As though it noticed her stare, the figure seemed to jump up in alarm and sprint into the forest.

- Sprint after the figure.
- Leave it alone.

 

[Yokai]

》Sprint after the figure.

"Smouldering...?" Arden snorted, opening her mouth to retort and defend Dura's honor when her gaze locked on the strange figure. She paused, having been in the middle of reaching out to pat Alexei's chest comfortingly, and then bolted after the silhouette. It was almost instinctive as she recognized that this could be a lead and she wanted to solve this. So bad. There were two possibilities in her head; one, this was the rumoured woman that Dura had mentioned, or two, that was another survivor who may have information on what was going on here.

 

[ArcticFox]

"What are you doing!?" She heard Kogan shouting after her, but she was already gone.

--

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Arden was running through the forest. The figure was not in sight, but she knew that she saw it running that way and she stuck on the path. The trees were growing closer to each other as she went further in and the light was dimming. The day was about halfway through, but in the thick forest she would lose the light faster.

No one from the group had come after her, or at least she could not see or hear them. But she did see a path. A small goat trail curving through the forest. It had to lead somewhere.

- Follow the path carefully.
- Run along the path.
- Wait to see if someone from the group would catch up.
- Call out to the survivor.
- Turn back.

 

[Yokai]

》Call out to the survivor.

It had been a while since Arden had properly bolted for such a sizeable distance; her life in Blackcliffe didn't involve a lot of sprinting after all. Thankfully, cardio was the only type of exercise she'd ever indulged in back in her realm, so it wasn't too much of a stretch for her to continue running along the narrower goat's trail. Though, she did slow down slightly -- tripping or falling over would only lose her more time -- as things became more precarious.

"Wait!" Arden called out to the omnipresent trees, anxious by the slight claustrophobia that had begun to crawl up her neck. The trunks of gnarled trees almost appeared to huddle together and bear down on her. "Please, stop! I don't want to hurt you! I just need some help!"

 

[ArcticFox]

She did not get a response. Distracted by the eeriness of the forest and the desperation to catch the figure, she tripped over a branch and fell onto the narrow path, hitting the ground hard. Her clothes were stained and her knees grazed as she tumbled with the momentum a couple of feet further. In the dimming light she could make out what exactly it was that so abruptly stopped her advance.

A disembodied arm. There was a low guttural sound when the body that belonged to the arm stepped over the tree roots toward Arden. It was on top of her before she could move, its one arm reaching for her throat, its teeth about to sink into her cheek.

- Try to get its teeth away from your face.
- Try to push the creature off.
- Try to pry off its clenched fingers.
- Try to cast a spell.

 

[Yokai]

》Try to push the creature off.

In her adrenaline to catch the mysterious figure, and the suffocation of the forest pressing down on her, Arden had almost forgotten about the wandering dead. As her knees hit the ground with painful momentum she barely had time to whisper a curse before an undead creature was upon her. Hysteria gathered at the base of her throat and behind her eyes, immediately driving her to raise a fist and sock the creature straight in the side of its unguarded head. It only had one arm; she just had to try to topple it and desperately crawl away.

Of course, Arden wasn't thinking logically in that moment -- her main priority was to just get that creature as far away from her as possible.

 

[ArcticFox]

The undead was too strong. Even if it was just a sack of bones, even with one hand it pushed on, fingers bruising her throat. Its jaw snapped so close to her face and she had trouble keeping it away.

But in the next moment the skeleton was lifted off her and tossed aside with such force, that it slammed into a tree, limbs shattering, head rolling off its snapped neck. Arden needed a couple of seconds to be able to breathe again. As her vision cleared and air entered her lungs again, she saw her saviour.

And it was another creature she had never seen before.

- Greet it.
- Thank it.
- Run away.

 

[Yokai]

》Thank it.

Stuttered breaths slipped past the brunette's rapidly colouring lips as she coughed, rolling onto her side as she sucked in greedy lungfuls of air. Arden had almost died. She had almost been strangled by a fucking zombie. By the time her vision had cleared she was visibly trembling, head raised to stare up at the weird tree-person who'd just saved her life with teary eyes.

"Th --" Arden choked on the words, throat painful and hoarse. She swallowed and tried again. "Thank you for saving me." It didn't feel like enough.

 

[ArcticFox]

"You are welcome." The creature snorted. It had a rumbling voice that sounded like it was coming from somewhere very deep. It also sounded offended. "You ought to be more careful around here." It shook its head in disapproval.

"My name is Lucien. I am a Shepherd." It reached down and took Arden by the arm, straightening her up. It was twice as tall as her. "Now, I have seen you running through my forest and I'm going to assume that you are too running away from Pella's Wish? Well, just climb a tree and wait. I am on my way to deal with the necromancer and you can all go back to your little town. I've had enough of you... fleshy things in my forest."

- Ask about others.
- Ask about the necromancer.
- Ask about Lucien.
- Climb a tree and wait.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask about the necromancer.

"N-Nice to meet you, Shepherd Lucien!" Arden stuttered, suddenly hauled back onto her unsteady feet. She tilted her head back to blink up at the tree-person -- Groot -- and attempted to give them her biggest, brightest smile. Which rapidly turned into surprise at their sudden proclamation; they... were going to fight the necromancer?

"Wait. So, it is a necromancer whose doing this?" Arden asked, rather like a befuddled child. Her voice was noticeably huskier than before, though she didn't want to risk healing herself. She suspected that she may need that magic for something else. "Do... do you want some help?" Understandably she had just fallen over an arm and almost died via skeleton choking, so she wasn't looking like the best candidate.

 

[ArcticFox]

"At least you are fairly polite." Shepherd's wooden face scrunched up into a thoughtful grimace. "I call it the 'necromancer' because I cannot find a better word for it. But, no one should be able to use magic except the Tower Wizards, it's what we agreed on." Once again it... he... shook his head and turned away from Arden, to walk down the path. "If you do not want to climb a tree and wait for me to deal with the necromancer, then walk and talk, human. I've no time to waste."

- Go with Shepherd.
- Stay and wait.

 

[Yokai]

》Go with Shepherd.

Considering that Arden had almost died, and she was doing an impressive job of repressing the incident, she decided to tag along. Sometimes it was best not to think about things, especially if those things were her mortality. As the Shepherd Lucien turned to descend down the path she promptly followed in their shadow. They were considerably taller than her so Arden felt rather like a duckling.

"Excuse me?" Arden asked, peering up at the creature. "What did you mean by 'it's what we agreed on'?"

 

[ArcticFox]

"I meant exactly what I said." He gave her a sideways look as she struggled to keep up with his huge strides. "Us Shepherds are tenders of this world. Like a shepherd takes care of his sheep, I too take care of my trees and flowers. And apparently now a whole herd of fleshy, frankly a bit smelly, orcs and humans." He let out a deep rumble that might have been a sigh. "Well, I have not grown tired for an eternity, but in the last two months I am feeling completely exhausted. You two legged creatures are so needy."

It seemed that there was no end to Shepherd's woes, since he kept on explaining in full detail how excruciating the pain of taking care of the town's populace was for him. He did not let Arden get a word in, as his booming voice drowned out all other sounds. They did not make a very stealthy pair as they walked down the path and toward a rockier part of the forest. Shepherd then stopped abruptly. There was an entrance to a cave right in front of them

"I can sense the nasty creature's scent here." Shepherd spoke, pointing at the cave. "But I cannot fit through there without bending my branches far too much for my comfort. Good thing you followed along!" He looked at her with a wide smile. "Come now, go inside. Tell the necromancer thing to come here, I only want to talk." But as he spoke the fiery light inside his wooden body flickered quite ominously.

- Go get the necromancer.
- Call out for the necromancer.
- Wait in ambush.

 

[Yokai]

》Go get the necromancer.

"This is a terrible idea," Arden declared, though she was already edging toward the cave entrance to peer inside. It was a good thing that Watson was here to keep her company, otherwise she'd be pretty scared. Okay -- she was still really scared -- but at least she wouldn't die alone!

"Hello?" Arden called out, venturing into the cave with obvious hesitation. "Please don't eat me, I just want to talk." Would glamour magic work against another possible wizard? God, she hoped so. That was her only real offensive magic at this point since she didn't want to start a fire when there was a big, scary tree guardian watching her.

 

[ArcticFox]

The cave was not a huge one, yet it curved at a steep angle underground. It took Arden great care not to slip down the scree and to see anything at all in almost full darkness. But it did not take long for her to see the faint light of a candle at the end where the tunnel spread into a cavernous room with a low ceiling that even she could barely stand upright in.

As she made to walk toward the light, she was intercepted.

The undead warrior stood in front her, bent in the tunnel, blocking her path.

- Attack the skeleton.
- Wait to see what happens.
- Run out.

 

[Yokai]

》Wait to see what happens.

It seemed that Arden had not yet finished embarrassing herself for the day as her initial reaction to the undead warrior was to stagger backwards. Basically she was trying to step out of the creature's reach in case it tried to attack her. "I-I just want to talk!" Arden tried again, desperately aiming not to get choked again. Or worse; dead.

 

[ArcticFox]

This undead warrior seemed to be different from the others. In fact, its hollow eye sockets seemed to track Louisa's movements like it could see her. It raised its two axes and swung at her, letting out a snarl.

The sound of Arden's voice echoed through the cave.

"What is going on there? Tool?" A female voice from behind the creature and a sound of rushed footsteps. "What!" A surprised sound from a figure in black robes, though Arden could not see her clearly. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

- Say you are there to talk.
- Say you are there to kill her.
- Say something else.
- Attack them.
- Cast a spell.

 

[Yokai]

》Say you are there to talk.

Again Arden attempted to fall back, out of the long reach of the undead creature with her hands displayed in surrender. The emergence of a figure from the dark caused her breath to shudder out in a startled noise. Was this the necromancer that was raising the dead and destroying entire villages? Shouldn't Arden feel something in the face of a powerful magic user? She hadn't felt anything with Tazz; but the former wizard had mentioned she was no longer the same after having died.

"Please, call them off!" Arden called out to the figure in reply. "My name is Arden, I just want to talk!"

 

[ArcticFox]

"Really?" The voice spoke again, a bit doubtful. "Oh gods, I do need some normal human conversation. No offence, Tool." The steps continued, and out of the cavern, behind the undead, peeked the necromancer.

"You swear you are not going to attack? On your life?" She asked.

- Swear.
- Don't swear.

 

[Yokai]

》Swear.

Why did everyone in this forsaken realm have to be attractive? It wasn't fair!

"I can't promise to be a normal conversationalist," Arden offered up, mustering her most charming and disarming smile. Honestly, charisma was her best chance of making it out of this situation unscathed at this point. "But I can promise to not attack you!" That was Groot's job, not hers. Arden was just here to be vaguely annoying and to solve mysteries; a medieval Sherlock Holmes. "I'm mainly just here for answers about the whole --" Arden gestures to the undead creature -- Tool? -- vaguely. "-- situation."

 

[ArcticFox]

"Oh, that's fine." The necromancer let out an awkward laugh. "I... did not do it intentionally believe it or not." She sighed. "Ever since I was little I read about Blackcliffe's Wizards and I found just about every piece of literature available on magic. Well, in this part of the Kingdom at least. I was so sure that I too could practise magic, with just a bit of hard work. So imagine my joy when I found this cave and a magical artefact in it." She paused.

"I just wanted to practice this wonderful magic and I read the fricking book. Idiot." She suddenly smacked her head against the staff in her hand. "How could I have known that the book would raise the dead! Tool was the only one that didn't attack me. Actually, we grew quite fond of each other in the past month." She patted Tool's skeletal arm fondly.

- Ask her for the book.
- Ask her to come outside.
- Ask something else.
- Tell her that you are a Wizard.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask her for the book.

"Oh... that's not as malicious as I originally thought," Arden said, head tilted thoughtfully to the side as she appraised the necromancer. "I'm actually pretty surprised that you were even able to use the artefact, I thought only wizards could do that?" She scrunched up her nose and resisted the urge to pout. That meant she'd have to fight actual non-wizard people who've managed to obtain magical artefacts now. That sucked.

"Could I have a look at this book, by the way? There has to be a way to undo the spell." And she would be undoing the spell. Enough people had died from the mistakes of one person.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Well, I don't know..." The woman said. "I was convinced I could do magic. Uh, it turns out I could, just not the kind of magic I wanted. Wait here."

She hurried back to her chamber and quickly returned carrying a large dark leather bound book with her. The mysterious book of spells, no doubt. When Arden examined it, she recognised only small parts of the text. Weirdly enough, what she understood were the parts of a healing spell. This book about necromancy contained a spell that was actually a continuation of healing magic. She would not be able to reverse it unless she studied more healing, but she did have Shepherd there, waiting to deal with the unfortunate necromancer.

"Oh, I'm Zaynalee, by the way." The woman said with an awkward smile.

- Say that you are a Wizard.
- Just say your name.
- Ask her to come outside.