Ember Wind: Corrupted

Fighter's Pact

Tangurple woke up the next day, slightly cold but alive. He found his book laying on the ground in front of him. He pushed himself to his feet, scooped up the book and stuffed it back into his inventory. He yawned and stretched taking a quick look around at his frozen shelter. It was much smaller in comparison to yesterday. Behind him was a solid wall, like this cave was a shallow ditch. Curiously, Tangurple walked over to the wall and poked it with his sword.

The sword dinged off of it. The wall was real no doubt. He shrugged it off as a mental moment and quickly departed the cave. He pulled his newly obtained werewolf hide from his bag and held it. The raw form was bundled up into a large roll and couldn't be reconfigured. It was soft, heavy and very furry. He decided he was going to make a pitstop to Jonkas to get it crafted into a warm jacket.

The city of Jonkas was only half the size of Randstad and was obviously much poorer and weaker in comparison. The walls were tall wooden logs with sharp spikes jutting out from them. The snow near the base of the walls was lightly blotted with blood stains. Tangurple reluctantly approached the city gates which were closed. He looked up towards the overlook tower and waved at it. No response. He tried grabbing hold of the door and pulling on it but to no avail.

He looked around for a quest giver but none were found. With a frustrated sigh, he shuffled off towards the south. A hunt for the spectral mammoth would have to be done on his own since Jonkas wants nothing to do with him.

To the south was just more deep snow which almost completely hampered his movements. Three feet deep of thick wet snow wore out his stamina fast. Knowing his luck, he kept a vigilant eye out for inbound roamer bosses; fortunately, none came. Instead, he found a quest giver.

He was only a little way south of the city to find this quest giver. Tangurple approached and hailed him. The quest giver gave a slight jump in joy as if he'd not seen anyone else for years.

The quest giver smiled and began his monologue. "Greetings traveler. I've been trying to get into Jonkas for some time now and to my unfortunate luck, the city gates have been barred. I have goods I need to trade there so I have money to support myself back home."

Tangurple tilted his head to one side and rolled his eyes. "You know that if you go like another day east, there's a much more stable town?"

"That's beside the point traveler. I need to get into Jonkas. I have important trades to make. I know of a back entrance into the city through the sewers but there are quite a few rats in there and I have no combat ability. I was wondering if you could clear a path for me and open the city?"

Tangurple sighed heavily and accepted the quest. "You're a dumbass," he said walking towards the large sewer entrance. He pressed the gate and inside the sewer he appeared. It was dark, damp and stunk of rotting corpses. Tangurple walked the platforms that were just slightly above the stagnant body of dark green murky sludge. The NPC quest giver was in tow and obviously not dragging his goods with him as one would expect.

Tangurple casually strolled along the platforms into what seemed to be a main storage area for the sludge. Six large sewer rats munched away on a mound of dead things. The path ahead was behind those rats, naturally. Also in his way was a deep stream of literally nasty sludge. Fortunately, there was a bridge that linked his side to the other and walked over it. He equipped his tower shield and sword and approached them.

The aggro kicked in and as one became aware of his presence, they all knew. In an instant, six sewer rats rallied up in front of him and attacked. Tangurple laughed at their weak attacks and use of teeth and claws against his heavy plate armor. Tangurple glanced over his shoulder and saw the quest NPC cowering in fear, as was usual.