Ember Wind: Corrupted

Rude Awakening

Just before everything faded to black, Tangurple felt a warm sensation wash over him. Like a warm shower after a hard day of work, it felt rejuvenating. Tangurple didn't open his eyes, he didn't want to. He heard something like metal hitting wood but he didn't feel it. Then he heard a familiar feminine voice. "Wake up, Christopher. Wake up damn it!" she shouted.

Tangurple opened one eye, then the other. Standing before him was a familiar woman. "Dailin?" he asked.

The woman laughed and hugged him. "Thank god you live!"

Tangurple hugged her back. "How... why are you here?"

"It's been a week or two since any of us heard from you. Night woke up a few days ago and keeping her contained has been a hassle. She wanted to see you and when I told her about your quest into the next zone, she just took off after you."

"Where is she?"

Another person joined the hug. Night hugged him tightly.

Tangurple smiled and stared at her arm. It was pale and cracked. He pulled off his helmet and looked at her. "You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Don't worry about me, love."

Tangurple broke off the hug and reached into his inventory and checked the quest items he had for the cure. "I can cure you."

Dailin eyed him curiously. "How can you?"

"Simple actually. I have this cure quest and if I take this pelt and this heart along with you," he pointed at Night. "Syna, the in-game goddess of life said she would then cure you."

Dailin smiled. "You might want to know something else."

Tangurple's excitement faded as new fears hastily developed in his mind. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not but unfortunately, we couldn't keep the vampirism a secret. Someone on the council spread word of it and a few days ago, we had a line of people waiting outside the Guildhall doors asking for the bite." Dailin explained. "Up to the point of threatening to kill us all, we denied them. I had Night infect one person, but because of all the bickering, the highest bidder won the bite. Thankfully someone else can spread it but at least we made Two hundred and fifty thousand gold off of it."

"That's good at least. You can keep funding the guild for years with that kind of money."

"I'm grateful for it," Dailin pulled Tangurple to his feet. "So how do we cure Night?"

"According to Syna, she has a shrine buried in the northern mountains somewhere. She didn't disclose the exact location."

"That's not surprising at all." Falcher emerged from the doorway. The tall Gnoll walked up to him with wide open arms and hugged him. "It's good to see you're still kicking."