MatrimCauthonn of the Lionna Server

With the wind blowing lightly through the frigid plains of Schuttgart and the sun reflecting brightly off the freshly fallen snow, Matrim Cauthon sighed. Behind him he heard the two young mages, the newly appointed knight, and his pet baby Cougar, Rhapsody, shivering in their boots. He wasn’t exactly warm at the moment either, but he kept his composure.

Best let them think I’m just a tough human who doesn’t think the cold is anything special. It really isn’t one way or another.

He turned to the three young ones and told them to take a seat behind the tall pillar that stuck out of the snow on the hill in front of them. That would be a very defensible position for when he came back with “friends” for them to “play with”.

When they were settled and slightly hidden from view, Matrim trudged off through the plains. The snow was untouched since it had snowed all night and the scenery looked, well, beautiful. The few pines that stood amidst the rolling hills of snow and the handful of odd pillars that looked to be pieces of some long forgotten…thing, really added to the serenity of this place. But he kept those feelings to himself. He had a reputation to uphold. No one would take Matrim Cauthon seriously if they thought he was a softy.

After a few minutes of walking in the cold he found what he was looking for. The small gang of ghosts didn’t notice him at first as he approached, but it only took that single, unavoidable twig that was lying on the ground to snap before they were rushing at him. With another sigh, Matrim turned and ran as fast as he could in the ice cold Full Plate armor. Unhitching the poleaxe from the baldric on his back, he got ready for a fight. As he topped the hill where he’d left the young ones, he called to them. One by one they all popped out from behind the pillar he told them to hide behind and started bombarding the ghosts with spells and swords alike.

Stopping abruptly, Matrim turned and swung his poleaxe at the group of ghosts as they tried to regroup from the surprise attack. The blade of his weapon sliced each one across the gut—if they hadn’t already been dead, their innards would have made a lovely decoration to his armor. He continued his assault on the ghosts until they were all dissolving into the snow. And not a drop of blood to be seen, he thought with a small smile. Nothing to clear up; nothing to warn the other monsters what their fate would be when they followed him next.

Already he could hear the gold jingling in his pocket as he pulled ghost horde after ghost horde to the youthful barrage. The tradesman that hired him said he would pay quite a ransom for his fields to be cleansed. As he came around the bend with the last of the ghosts he knew something had gone wrong. The air was still and the silence was thick—not even the ghosts, only feet behind him, could penetrate it. With fear clutching at his stomach he turned to face the ghosts. One by one they fell as his poleaxe sliced through their ethereal guts until they were all gone.

Without waiting to see to the few wounds he’d received, including one very nasty burn that had seared the left side of his chest through his armor, he ran to where the others were supposed to be. Slipping on a small ice patch hidden in a snow drift, Matrim managed to make it to the small cove where they’d been hiding.

The sight was horrifying.

The once white snow was now painted red, soaking into the ground as his party lay there and bled to death. Their throats were slit and some still leaked out their life blood. Matrim could only gaze upon the slaughter, with the chill feel of death clutching his spine. So entranced was he that he only heard the crunch of snow behind him at the last second.

In a flash he was whirling his poleaxe in a defensive pattern, trying to ward off the pair of swords that bombarded him. His side ached and he felt blood seeping into his leather tunic from the burn. Slowly he was backed further into the small cove until there was no room for him to fight.

He stared into the cold blue eyes of the human that had attacked him as he put away one of his swords and pulled out a jagged looking dagger. The murdered approached him slowly with a maniacal smile stretching across a heavily scarred face. Matrim was shivering from the cold and the fear that had finally manifested in his heart. He knew he was going to die.

As the dagger lurched towards his heart, Matrim saw something white come flying into the cove. Four tiny paws and a set of razor sharp teeth sank into the other human’s back. He yelled in pain and fury as he tried to get at Rhapsody who held onto his back with a death grip. Taking the only chance he knew he had, Matrim lunged at the human, grabbing the wrist with the dagger in it.

The once clean bronze of his Full Plate armor was sprinkled with blood as the dagger sank into the murder’s heart. The two humans looked at each other, one with a look of hatred and the other with a look of confusion.

When he was sure the man was dead, Matrim brought out three small scrolls from the inside of his armor. One by one, the youth were revived and sent back to their homes with an order to rest up for tomorrow’s adventure into the Ant Nest.

As always, he heard the gold that would soon fill his pocket. And with a smile, he too vanished from the plains.