Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"I hear that you have already once ventured into the mountains-"

"I'm not interested, that place can go to hell"

Loimos was once again met with failure, having been trying to find someone willing to lead the way through a known passage across the treacherous, freezing sides and cliffs, none were even willing to tell him about it however, only terror lurked behind their eyes, no one could ever boast of coming back successful from an exploration there, death and misery was the only reward for the fools that once dreamt of striking gold.

Only viewing Loimos as another soul that would soon understand true horror, of course, they were wrong, being the real fools for believing that what had happened to them was the greatest terror that could grace a living being, but no matter, the undead would have to make do with only himself, it was best to not carry a living around anyways.

Driving around his dark caravan, Loimos had forged himself a new identity, what happened to the last one wasn't stellar, but this one wouldn't be brushing up with monoliths of powers, currently, Loimos was Golpilz, a wandering spirit guide amongst other things, a fancy way of saying that he collected corpses and supposedly granted their souls salvation, he did not do such things.

He really was anything he needed to be at any time, it was simply that communal graves were so common that it would be a waste not to take a bite when passing by, no one would find it suspicious for bodies to vanish into thin air this way.

His caravan was rather large, quite lengthy, draped in black curtains, just like the two horses pulling the whole thing, their shapes covered in the same fabric, not even leaving their hooves visible to the curious eyes, his manner of getting around was of rather odd tastes, looking like an omen of soon to come deaths.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Loimos was currently, at a halt, his caravan stopped near the edge of a nearby ravine, he needed to get over it to step into the wildlands, but right now, this action that was definitely not a normal feature of a caravan would have too many witnesses.

Being nearby to the wildlands, were flora and fauna flourished thanks to the nature-aligned species, who had invited spirits with them, the growth and quality of plants was a whole level superior compared to normal, adventurers would regularly hang around here, just outside of the perimeter, where they were allowed to gather as many things as they wanted.

It wasn't much compared to the real deal just a few meters away, but it was worth it still.

Loimos would have to wait for them to disperse by nightfall, until then, his caravan unfurled, revealing a whole shop inside, whilst his rot-made coins could easily be found out as fakes, the people of this kingdom a bit too attentive to their money, it was not quite the same with weapons and such, by putting some effort into his creations, Loimos could really make them hardly distinguishable from the real thing.

He only had a few articles available however, to replicate such things, he needed to put some focus onto it, he had done it for the current things he was wearing, for the curved dagger he had shown as Osworth, but of course, he couldn't just sell those, even if unlikely, it could be linked to his first persona, much like the halberd with the banner.

So instead, he offered the most bland of shortswords and daggers, Unacunerra had said that it might be a good idea to get some money into their bank, that it might be useful for as long as they intended on remaining covert.

It also helped to spread bits of Loimos everywhere, the rot was him, and he was the rot, so he could gather some intel this way, although his senses were dulled when used from greatly altered rot.

"This dagger here, it has a peculiar design…" an adventurer pointed out, having been drawn into his wandering shop, seeing the fact that she was carrying out a blunt and rusted blade, it was only natural, clearly she was in need of a change, as well as broke.

"You are not from around here are you? Perhaps on a little trip to visit someone?" Loimos engaged in conversation, implying ever so smoothly that the dagger she was looking at was merely a regional design.

"How did you know? Me and my team received a special mission out of the blue, seriously, why would anyone even ask for us specifically? Especially- Hum, I'm not supposed to speak about it, they forced me to come along, but enough chit chat, how much for that thin dagger?" she slicked her blonde hair back on her head, showing off her forehead, as some sort of flirtatious negotiation, perhaps.

Either way, it was ineffective.

Loimos just spoke out the price, incredibly low, he made them out of an inextinguishable ressource after all.

This particular dagger was inspired by those carried by Maliah, The Death Dealer, actually meant to evoke the assassin to those that knew of this specific design, just letting people know that he was closely tied with the infamous madwoman, nothing more than a little way of ensuring he could move around without problem.

The adventurer had the necessary fund to replace her worn out dagger, thanking the undead very much for having low prices.

Watching this old acquaintance as she walked away, it certainly was a wonder who would be in need of the four adventurers that Loimos had managed to scare away when he was just a sack of bones.

He received a few more visits but none bought anything, the amount of adventurers decreasing sharply as the sun began to set, until owls and crickets began their cacophony, reverting the caravan back to its usual state, Loimos climbed back up onto the driver's seat, the whole structure beginning to shake and stretch, spider legs emerging from the wood as the caravan grew even further, until it arrived on the other side of the cliff, retracting onto itself like an earthworm, the too many legs disappearing, the carriage resuming acting like what it looked like.

Read new adventures at empire

Now, Loimos was in the wildlands, already sensing the gaze of nature spirits, but nothing happened, they did not realise that he was an undead.

End Of Volume 1 : First Of A Kind

Start Of Volume 2 : Messenger Of The Apocalypse