Dungeons and Dragons: Quest for Adventure

Deception

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
-Mark Twain

"If you drink the water, it will make you lose your memory. Thankfully, it's only temporary." Alice sighed in relief. However, Maximus was still under the effects of the river. He trodded mindlessly towards the rapids. "Just one more sip!" He pleaded. "No! Stop right there! You'll die if you do." Alice warned as she tried to grab Maximus' hand. Maximus struggled and managed to break free of her grasp. "Stop Maximus!" James screamed. Maximus continued to march forward. Mary didn't do anything, she just stared in disbelief.

Harvey took action. "NO, YOU, MUSTN'T " Harvey shouted as shadow tentacles appeared from his back and grabbed Maximus with them. "LET ME GO!" Maximus grunted as he struggled to break free. Harvey tightened his grip. Maximus' blood pressure was decreasing rapidly, his head felt heavy and he found it hard to breathe. Every heartbeat felt like it took all his strength and every breath, like his last. His head was pounding. Maximus gave the river a longing look. Then he turned to his friends. "You're right..." Maximus gasped for air. "I can resist them, I promise."

Harvey stared at him, shook his head and sent a shadow spirit beside Maximus' ear. The soul whispered the last words Maximus would ever hear on earth. "It's no good to lie..."  Maximus stares with his eyes wide open at Harvey. He shakes his head slowly and mouths "No..."

Harvey looks down on the ground. His necromancer cloak covered his eyes. The venus flytrap locket glows a bright purple before Harvey smiles at Maximus with blood lust in his eyes. The purple necromancer cloak begins to flow in the wind.

Suddenly Maximus felt something impale him from the back. It broke through his thick armour and Maximus, felt a sharp pain course through his back. He was stabbed by one of Harvey's tentacles. Maximus' mouth started to have blood flowing out. Maximus mumbled softly. "It's my fault-" He was interrupted by another tentacle piercing him once again. Maximus smiled weakly, before becoming pale and collapsing onto the ground.

Harvey sucked the lifeforce out of him, causing Maximus to shrivel and turn as grey as ash and dust. Harvey's eyes turned from a bright purple to blood red. He was tumbling about as if he lost his balance. His head was spinning and his glowing red eyes were flickering. Harvey couldn't concentrate, he couldn't believe he just killed his friend. Suddenly, Harvey felt a wave of chills engulf him before tumbling onto the ground.

Mary walked up to him cautiously and touched Harvey's hands, they were ice cold, as if he was dead? "Oh no... not now!" Mary begged as she tried to find Harvey's heart rate. She touched Harvey's chest, she could feel his ribcage, but no heartbeat. Mary tried feeling the pulse at his wrist, no pulse at all. She panicked and hoped it wasn't too late, she laid her hands on Harvey's neck, a slight pulse can be felt, it was slow but steady, weak but constant.

Mary sighed in relief as she placed her finger in front of Harvey's nose, she felt a slight gust of air, it was warm, Harvey was still breathing. "Thank Cthulhu he's just unconscious" Mary sighed in relief. At that very moment once she finished her sentence, she too, fainted.

"What do mean, you make it sound like a good thing that Harvey's alive, he just killed Maximus, who I have to agree deserves to die for more than one reason, but still, that means he could kill us too!" James cried expecting a response from Mary but there was silence and only an eerie silence. James felt chills crawling down his spine. Soon, these chills became sins and regrets, and they started dancing on his back.

James too started to feel sick. His legs felt like jelly, and his eyelids too heavy to lift. James was about to collapse onto the floor when the world started spinning. He puked, but it wasn't his lunch that came out, it was blood. James stared at his blood, looking for assurance from Alice that this wasn't happening. Alice just shook her head slowly in disbelief. She couldn't process what was happening right in front of her very eyes. James was kneeling down, trying his best to gasp for his last remaining breathes. James, in a matter of seconds, fell to the ground.

Alice tried to console herself but to no avail. She herself started to feel weak in her limbs as if they weighed a ton. She panicked, she didn't want to die, and neither did the others. That includes Harvey, even though he was obsessed with suicide all the time, sacrificing himself to a cult would have been a dream come true for him.  Alice found it become harder and harder to breathe by the second. Her heartbeat, rapidly decreasing. She felt cold all of a sudden, as if she were in the arctic ocean, drowning. The last thing she heard was a thud that came from her large and heavy spellbook that fell from her grasp. The magic wand tumbled along with it too. It was like drums, the last song she'll ever hear.  Soon, everything turned pitch black. Welcome my friends... to the abyss.