TWISTED KNIGHT INFERNO: VOL.3
Black Pickett Fence
Collision Course
Leaping Back, Sugar narrowly avoided the razor-sharp blade as it crashed into the stone floor, sending shards of rock flying in all directions. As the wraith put on the pressure smothering Sugar’s movements and landing heavy blows of his own, the knights assault relentless and each swing of his sword spear lethal. In the heat of the fray neither Sugar or Cassanerva were willing to falter and with courage in their hearts launch attacks of their own. As Cassanerva fires off her weapon and hurls sticks of dynamite, Sugar prepares to cast a spell to not only weaken but slow down the knight.
As the duel between the living and the dead raged on, the chamber filled with the clang of steel, the roars of battle cries, the zap of magic, and the bang of continuous gunfire echoing off the stone walls. As the air grew thick with tension as Sugar was locked in the deadly waltz of death and defiance, he felt his heart pounding like a stampede of wild stallions on the plains and injecting more and more mana into his spells magnifies their power but weakened him in tandem. This gambit paid off well weakening Opsis enough for Sugar to successfully bind him and convert him into a thrall…a devoted ally in the battles left to come.
When the smoke clears Sugar and Cassanerva stood victorious and looked upon the wraith they had taken a prize. That beautifully crafted armor Opsis wore, weathered, scared, and aged bore the markings and disfigurement of countless battles long fought and won. And as Cassanerva investigated the area further for evidence of the wraiths final resting Sugar paid his respects to the man that once was and praised his skills as a warrior remarking that he must have been one hell of a knight during his lifetime.
It doesn’t take long for Cassanerva to discover the remains Opsis left behind. His Corpse nearly all bones by this point and beneath him a long-dried pool of vital fluid which had stained the stone floors of the tomb. As it seemed the cause of death for the veteran knight was a severe abdominal laceration most likely from a nasty skirmish with the minotaur’s above ground.
This death isn’t exactly what you’d consider natural, but it was one that at least made some sense. As Sugar gathered Opsis’s remains he spotted a peculiar wooden ring on his finger and remove it. The ring was made of white ghost oak and carried a strong putrid scent to it. Sugar and his partner knew of items made of ghost oak to be cursed trinkets and decide to return to the surface to get answers from the victim’s widow.
Armed with a warrant and a few of the mayors Sentinels Cassanerva & Sugar returned to the home of the twisted knight’s widow and surprisingly she was a lot more cooperative than she was the last time they had visited. The two agents spoke to her in a professional manner and asked about the ghost oak ring found among her late husband’s remains.
Without much hesitation at all she told the two that it was meant to be a protective talisman and token of her affection towards Opsis. Cassanerva immediately found this to be some sort of demented gesture given the cursed nature of that sort of wood and its old ties to fallen angels, demons, ghouls, and more specifically witches. The knights widow defended her decision by telling the two of them that she and Opsis never put much stock in all those old timey superstitions, bad omens, or dark fables.
The ring caught her eye one day, was sold to her cheap, and Opsis who was very particular about the gifts he received ended up loving it just as much as she did…what happened to him afterwards was nothing more than a terrible accident that could’ve happened to anyone without rhyme or reason as that was really and truly the song and dance of life according to her. Cassanerva is unnerved by the woman’s responses and applying some pressure she demanded that she give the name of the merchant who sold her that ring.
The knights widow complied happily and without much resistance telling Sugar & Cassanerva that the traveling merchant went by the name of Minerva and that she had become very well off by keeping several members of the Dreamwave clan as her clients when she was in town. Sugar and Cassanerva weren’t given all that much information on the merchant Minerva, but Sugar did recognize the name Dreamwave and remembered them to be the wealthiest plantation owners in furnace town. With this lead he along with Cassanerva and the sentinels chart a course to the Torch Hill Plantation a couple miles outside of town.
Afterwards Cassanerva and Sugar took themselves a well -deserved nap, enjoyed a few of furnace towns specialty beers and local delicacies, visited the Anvil public bathhouse to further unwind & when the two of them finally regained their focus they went out and restocked for their next venture. Come dawn the next day they picked up their mounts from the blue scorpion stables and proceeded on to the infamous torch hill plantation. Given that the Dreamwave clan were the upper crust of furnace town it came as no surprise that their land was of marvelous beauty.
Their land gothic in its aesthetic, home to the rarest of exotic beast held in captivity, and vast sprawling gardens lusher than anything they’d seen in years, gorgeous enough to give even the hanging gardens of Babylon a run for its money. As Cassanerva & Sugar got closer to the main house which was painted a vivid shade of dragon’s blood red, they saw, a rather disturbing sight.
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