Ember Wind: Corrupted

A New Objective

The snowy haze cleared as Tangurple approached the structure. When the wind died and the kicked up snow fell back to the ground, a large circular and open facility stood in front of him. It was lined with marble pillars which sat upon a snow-dusted stone base. In the center was a circular altar with two red rugs draped across it in a bisecting pattern. Out of curiosity, Tangurple approached it. On its surface were two pewter bowls with a sizable gap between them. He studied it for a minute, making a quick sign of the cross before placing the recently obtained items onto the altar.

The mammoth pelt was placed between the bowls, a vial of his blood was placed into the left bowl. He pulled out the vampire heart and set it down into the bowl on the right. However, it shriveled up, turning rot brown. He stared at it and poked it. It then shattered into a thousand pixels and vanished. "Damn it," he cursed.

He looked up and spotted three women dressed in green robes with white flower crowns on their heads. They greeted him in unison creating a conglomerate of female voices, "Welcome traveler, Syna greets thee with a warm smile. She sees the offerings you have placed upon the altar. However, you have been lied to. The heart which you possessed was not a vampire's heart but one of a deer. Vampire hearts do not shrivel, they burn and turn to ash."

"Who are you three?" Tangurple asked already guessing them to be an affiliate of Syna.

The response was spoken by one girl rather than all three. She was the youngest and shortest of the three, a dwarf based on her appearance, her voice was high pitched and nasally. "We are priestesses of Syna, women who've given up their worldly lives for a higher purpose and for now, that purpose is to purge Eonus of vampirism."

The middle woman was much older but still young in comparison to the third. The second woman smiled at him. She was a wood elf due to her pointy ears and small antlers on her head. She added on to the dwarf's statement, her voice being much more appealing to the ear. "Judas is the source of this vampiric plague and he must be killed. Syna demands his heart as a suitable sacrifice to cleanse Night of her affliction."

The third was a high elf, the tallest and oldest among them. She had a grandmotherly tone to her voice, "You must be quick or you may lose her forever."

"Quick? The hell? What are you talking about?" Tangurple was suddenly dumbfounded.

"Judas has two captives with him," the high elf explained. "They are feeding him, strengthening his already overgrown power. If he can drain them both, Syna fears he will be too strong for the visitors to handle."

"Visitors? You mean the other players?"

"Yes," the three said in unison.

Tangurple quickly pulled out his map. It showed him where he was standing in Ashua and as a reminder, he placed a marker over this spot. "I knew Judas had something to do with her vanishing again. That bastard will get what's coming to him because karma is a bitch like that." Not too far away, the sound of panting alerted Tangurple to someone else's presence. He turned around and equipped his sword and shield. The figure approaching, however, wasn't hostile. "Falcher?"

The gnoll sluggishly trudged over the hill's crest and slumped down to his knees, exhausted. "I... Hate... You..." he said between breaths before collapsing to the ground breathless.

Tangurple sheathed his weapons and rushed over. "The hell happened to you?"

"Draugr, vampires, you..." Falcher clenched his chest, panting heavily. "I'll be fine, just have to wait for my health regen to kick in."

"Draugr?"

"Armored zombies with anger issues. I hate this place, I really do."

"Good to see you're still you."