Blood Petals - Lorath Nahr x Male Wanderer (Necromancer) (Diablo IV)

Chapter One: Windswept Cabin

'Find the Mountain Hermit in the Fractured Peaks,' the Priest Iosef had said to Orestes. 'He'll know how to help you.' That almost sounded like madness, but then again, Orestes has gotten used to the madness ever since escaping Nevesk with his sanity intact. Well, almost everything is intact.

The realization that he's been infected, in a sense, with Lilith's Blood Petals despite him vomiting the petals up fills him with a sense of dread. He hopes he got them all out of his system.
Tree branches creak above him, weighted down by the snow and groaning in the wind. Orestes looks around warily, his grip on the long scythe tight enough that his gray knuckles are white.
Iosef said the supposed cabin wouldn't be that far, he can already see faint light from a cabin window glowing in the distance.

His eyes narrow as he hears a wolf howl in the distance, the sound carried by the wind so it's hard to tell where it's coming from. He's had more than enough patience for wolves, especially since one mauled his horse before he stumbled upon Nevesk the day before.

The cabin comes into view and Orestes sighs in relief. It looks old, the wood clearly aged from the constant blizzards, but there is smoke coming from the chimney. He walks up the creaking steps to the porch and knocks on the door, then looks surprised when it opens slightly.

"Anyone home?" he calls out, slinging his scythe to rest against his back as he looks around cautiously. The whole cabin is only one story, nothing fancy. It doesn't seem like anyone is home at the moment.
Various jars filled with herbs and spices line the shelves, labeled in somewhat jagged handwriting.

Something bubbles in the steel cauldron over the fireplace. A rusted bear trap looks like it was tossed haphazardly on a cluttered desk, covered in old blood that's gone brown. There's a table with two chairs, another desk, two bookshelves, an old looking couch covered in fur blankets, and a single bed in the corner with the blankets tossed aside.

Orestes walks over to the strange looking skull on the desk next to the bear trap. Right before he can take a closer look, he hears the wooden floor creak. He turns to see the shadow of a figure in the doorway.
This must be the Mountain Hermit Iosef told Orestes about.

The other man has the carcass of an elk slung against his shoulder, clearly carrying the animal with ease from his hunt. A bloody long ax is in his other hand.
"If you're going to come into my home, rifle through my things, then at least have the decency to join me for supper. I'm bloody hungry."

The Mountain Hermit steps into the firelight, revealing an older man with short gray/white hair and gray eyes. He drops the elk with a heavy thump into the floor. Orestes scans the man up and down.
He's definitely older, probably 65-70 if the Necromancer had to guess.
His robe looks old, weathered down from the constant frost and bitter winds. There's a golden symbol hanging as a clasp, securing the cloak the older man wears. The Necromancer doesn't recognize the symbol.

"Are you Lorath?" Orestes asks, turning to face him completely.
"I am," Lorath grunts, leaning the bloody ax against one of the walls and kicking the door shut before any more warm air escapes the room. "And who might you be?"
His voice is gruff, gravely.
"Orestes. Iosef sent me here to find you," he explains.

Lorath snorts, hoisting the elk carcass up on the table and taking out a knife from a drawer. He starts skinning the elk like he's done this a thousand times before, the sleeves to his robe rolled up.
"You poor sod. Didn't come trying to convince me to join the Cathedral of Light, did you?" the older man asks, clearly nonchalant about all of this.

"What? No. I'm here because I need your help," he explains.
"A Necromancer needing help? That's a new one," Lorath mutters, grunting as he peels the layers of fat away from the elk after the skin has been removed.
"I was almost sacrificed in Nevesk," Orestes says bluntly. This makes Lorath pause, holding the knife between bloody fingers. "What?"