The One that got Away

“You think you can just waltz into our most sacred of chambers and desecrate it with your lies and filth. You aren't very bright if you thought to escape unnoticed" said the high elf. The rest of her was just as beautiful as her voice was, she had pale blue eyes the colour of the shallower waters of Everfrost, and long blonde hair in a single plait down her back. She seemed completely relaxed but still carried an air of instant readiness about her, like a cat waiting for its prey.

We had successfully invaded the sermon to the god Quellious, in an attempt on my part to prove my loyalty to Freeport by carrying out such acts of sabotage. It was just a coincidence that I had met Melok on the way, as it seems he does this sort of thing for fun, adding his own little twists to the proceedings. We thought we had escaped unnoticed, we were wrong

“I knew you'd cause me grief the moment you walked into the room “said Melok, with a hint of aggravation in his voice.” So you’re the Monk I have been hearing of, earning the rank of Shackle Grandmaster in the Tabernacle of Pain, and mastering all 5 styles of Martial Arts. I must say I am not very impressed, but I guess a little exercise to finish off my day can't hurt “said Melok with renewed enthusiasm. This is going to be good I thought, it may be better than the sabotage of the sermon itself.

“I mean to drag you before the guards so you can answer for your crimes to Quellious, Troll “said the monk, as her hands hovered close to the Katar and Cestus she had at her side. And with that Melok drew his Jade Inlaid Great Axe from under his cloak, motioned for me to stay out of the way, and advanced on the Monk.

As soon as Melok started moving towards the Monk, an image of a tiger seemed to coalesce around her and she took up a stance that looked quite similar to a tiger, with claw like Cestus and katar in hand. Then Naamah leaped high into the air and like a pouncing leopard began to strike at Melok, appearing to hit him nonstop, arms seemed to move in a blur, mere shadows beating relentlessly onto the Troll.

Melok seemed to weaken only a little, though only managing to parry a small fraction of the assault from the monk, clearly the Great axe he carried would offer little protection and he would have to rely completely on his armour. With Spurred Boot Melok kicked out at the monk, managing to strike her on the leg and knock her back far enough to surround himself in some sort of purple aura, when Naamah renewed her attack, the strikes continued upon Melok, but instead of weakening, it only made him stronger, forcing Naamah to beat harder to gain any advantage over the Troll.

Melok appeared bored with the direction of the fight and wanted to finish and be done with it, so he began to attack the monk with renewed vigour. His first strike with the Great axe missed by long shot but seemed to leave a slight haze behind, for when the Monk enter the haze, small droplets of blood, as if her veins had been tapped, ooze out of her arms and travelled towards the Shadow Knight, giving him more strength. With this Melok began to strike harder and truer with the Axe, and with each blow Naamah was weakened, unable to counter the effects of Axe and Disease that were a Shadow Knights forte.

Soon she was almost crippled, and before she could manage to heal herself Melok struck out with a Fetid Smite and Naamah fell to the ground, looking pale and moving not an inch. I was bitterly disappointed, I was expecting a battle of epic proportions, having heard about Naamah the Monk and seen Melok in action. I expected to see the monk last at least a little longer. Melok looked over to me with boredom again clearly visible on his face.

Melok then turned in the direction of the Monk, “You’ll have to do better than that to convince me you’re dead Monk, such a poor performance from a High Elf” he said. An instant later the monk was back on her feet, appeared none the worse for wear and took up a new stance, the image of a dragon surrounding her one moment, only to melt into the ground.

Discarding her weapons, clearly they were not very effective against the armour the Shadow Knight wore, she seemed to draw a two and a half meter long staff from out of nowhere. The Gi that she wore left nothing to the imagination, and had even less places to hide such a weapon, so Bertoxxulous only knows where she could hide that thing. It appeared incredibly sturdy and at either end it had a heavy pointed steel tip and numerous serrated teeth along the ends, a vicious looking staff indeed. She held the weapon at the ready, behind her back not unlike a dragon’s tail.

Melok seemed unfazed, and approached the Monk with confidence. When he was close enough, Naamah lashed out at Melok with the staff like a Rising Dragon, and struck Melok in the neck with the staff, leaving a nasty wound. She was not finished however, and continued to beat upon Melok, staff lashing out and around, like a dragons tail, striking from every direction, on occasion even managing to strike twice as hard with one hit. The onslaught continued unabated Melok clearly weakening and unable to do anything useful but continually heal himself.

It was almost done, Melok was on his last breath for sure, and I would be next. In what appeared to be a last ditch effort, Melok struck out again with Spurred foot and caught the Monk square in the chest, sending her flying through the air to land on her back, dazed for a few precious seconds. It was enough, Melok began to chant in a guttural tone as the sound of deep, booming drums could be heard and the image of the dead marching to their final resting place flickered in and out of sight. The Shadow Knight seemed to quicken, his power increased.

With the Great Axe held high above his head, Melok changed his chant slightly, still in that guttural tone, and the air around him began to change. The grass and flowers at his feet began to turn a putrid purple and grey, as a small number of insects writhed to the surface. These insects appeared to squirm in pure ecstasy and were soon joined by more of the filthy creatures from the deep earth. Once a good number had reached Melok, they split in half and a small mist hovered around Melok’s feet, more and more of the creatures popped and burst, adding their own pestilence to the mix, until it was a swirling mass, edging its way up Melok’s body.

The Monk was only just managing to get to her feet, when the swirling mass of pestilence was now almost covering Melok, his head still focused on the monk, showing not a hint of distain for the purple mist that surrounded him. When the Pestilence reached the end of the great axe held above Melok’s head, he stopped chanting and in a rush of air the Pestilence struck the monk full force, with a sound like bloody flesh on bloody flesh, it knocked the Monk to the ground, surrounded her and touched her every exposed surface, winding its way into her mouth, nose and ears, which began to bleed profusely.

It was over, the monk could not have feigned that death if she had tried. Already she was beginning to turn grey and almost all warmth had left her body, tendrils of the pestilence still clung to her mouth and nose, clearly not finished with her yet. No time to stay and watch the decomposition though, we made a hasty retreat to the sewers, then onto the Peat Bog where the guards armour still lay, no one missed him it seems. The rest of our journey through Qeynos was uneventful.

As we made our way along Qeynos highway back to Gol M’Tun to recount our little adventure, a figure was approaching from the opposite direction. As we drew closer I could see it was a Barbarian in shining steel, riding astride a Warg adorned in heavy armour, across his back he carried a huge tower shield, at his belt was a glowing long sword, imbued by divine power. Melok made no move to draw a weapon and neither did the Barbarian, which seemed very odd for clearly the Barbarian was a Paladin, champion of all things Just, and Melok is a Shadow Knight, harbinger of death and decay.

After the Paladin had passed Melok with only the merest of glances, Melok looked down at me and saw the inquiry in my eyes. “His name is Lusel” said Melok with only the slightest hint of contempt in his voice. “Brothers in arms we were, Shadow Knights both fighting side by side against some of Norraths most feared Beasts. Taranax, Alzid Prime, Lord Vyemm, Venekor to name but a few. Then he betrayed himself and his overlord and became a Paladin, crusader of all things light and holy. Now, the only thing that stops me from killing him outright is the past we once had, nothing more” He would say no more.

Before long we had reached Gol M’Tun and the day’s adventure would come to a close. “Greetings Melok and Laanah, how was the spot of fun on Quellious’ behalf?” Gol inquired with enthusiasm, he mustn’t get many visitors.

“It went smooth enough, it’s a sermon the followers of Quellious will not likely forget, and our escape was delayed by a Monk who thought to call the guards on us, rounded out the day quite nicely I thought” said Melok, glancing my direction, mischief in his eyes.
“Excellent, I look forward to hearing the reports out of Qeynos. And how did Laanah travel?” asked Gol, as if I wasn’t even there.
“Well, to be honest the young Necromancer shows great promise, and delights in the misery and suffering of others. I would have no trouble recommending her join the ranks of Freeport, though she still needs to pass the tests from the priests of the Dismal Rage.” said Melok, a ringing endorsement indeed from such a hardened veteran.

“I suspected as much and have already written up the papers to allow her access to Freeport. Congratulations Laanah, you have completed the first step in becoming a citizen of Freeport, show these papers to the guards and you’ll be allowed entry to our fine city, then seek the priests of the Dismal Rage to further your training, Good Luck” said Gol, and with that he was finished with us.

I thanked Gol and turned to Melok, “Thank you for letting me come along today, I enjoyed it immensely” I said as sincerely as I could.

“Be sure that your decision to betray is not taken lightly Laanah, for those who you thought were friends may become sworn enemies simply by the uniform you intend to wear” Melok Said, “and good luck with your training” he yelled back to me as he headed back over the fields in the direction he had come this afternoon.

With letter in hand I decided it was time to become a citizen of Freeport and finish my training, so I gathered what meagre possessions I had and headed in the direction of the Thundering Steppes, continuing onto Freeport.