April 12th, 1798 08:12

Victor along with Rory and Natasha have had their breakfast and are ready to go out to the yard to practice more, Rory excused himself and has informed Victor that he would go look at the local market for some ingredients he needed for a special trick that would let them know more about the Shades, Victor was a man of determination and discipline, he valued results more than anything else, if his colleague was to use sorcery to help them in their hunt, he wouldn't mind despite the fact that he was mostly against the use and time after time has gone after practitioners of sorcery.

Natasha has issued again for Victor to assist her in her training as long as Rory was out, Victor didn't plan to venture alone in the woods so he had spare time and no excuse to not comply with Natasha's wishes. Even though Victor and Rory made clear that they would not reveal Victor's past for her sake, Natasha still wants to spar with Victor and try to figure out some of his secrets, if not the secret to his inhuman abilities then maybe his swordplay and a couple of his moves.

April 12th, 1798 10:23

Victor and Natasha are training non-stop for a while, Rory hasn't made it back yet but someone else has decided to show up to the Barnes mansion, the owner, Lazar has returned and the first thing he saw as he looked outside was Victor and Natasha crossing swords, he remembered Victor's behavior previously and wanted to go out to the yard and lecture him again, he was about to do just that when he saw a subtle smile on Natasha's face, she was enjoying the sparring session to the fullest, even if Lazar was completely against Natasha's attitude of fighting and adventuring, he couldn't possibly ruin that joyful expression she has when she does what she loves, Lazar cared deeply for his niece as she was the only living relative that he had left.

As much as Lazar wanted to smack Victor's head for dragging Natasha to the whole thing and for his rude behavior towards Diego Pearson, the town sheriff, and Lazar's friend. Lazar, Diego and Father Lucian shared a connection with each other as members of the town council and have bonded as friends, Victor's remarks about the town's guards have insulted the sheriff and Lazar, he couldn't do anything about that though, despite the fact that Victor was rude and offensive, he was the only man that has ever brought back the corpse of a Shade, quite possibly he is the only hope for Magnus to be saved from this situation, it would be unreasonable to chase away the only hunter that has achieved a feat like this, the people of Magnus would definitely have questions as to why.

It hasn't been long since Lazar returned home and took a look at his niece sparring with Victor, after he decided not to meddle with them he went to his own room and poured a hot beverage to calm himself down, in the meantime, Rory came back from his shopping, his pouches seemed stuffed with merchandise as if he was the one selling them, he held a weird looking plant in his hand and he tried to show it off to Victor and Natasha who at this point have stopped to gaze at their encumbered friend.

"I found a Halia root"

Said Rory with a huge grin on his face, Natasha got confused and didn't understand what he was excited about, Victor took a look at the plant and placed his hand on Rory's shoulder and winked at him, they immediately packed their whole arsenal of weapons and items along with all the stuff that Rory bought and with their bags now full of equipment they marched for the forest. Natasha barely caught up with them, she also wanted to play a part in this whole story even though she had no idea what all the fuss was about with the plant. Lazar was too tired and as soon as he took a couple of sips from his beverage he fell asleep, he completely missed them leaving the house.

April 12th, 1798 11:22

Victor, Rory and Natasha are wandering around the treeline of the northern forest, Rory's eyes are focused on the plant root, Natasha couldn't bear it and asked them,

"What is this plant? Why are you so fixated on this root?"

Rory took his eyes off the plant to answer Natasha's question, the excitement on his face was clear as day as he revealed the properties of this specific plant root.

"This is a Halia root, it's going to start rotting as soon as we find traces of black magic, the root is fragile and it absorbs anything it can find, it's going to have a reaction as soon as we walk in a place where sorcery was used."

Rory revealed that the Halia root was going to give off a signal as soon as they were in a place where sorcery was used, that would be a clear indication of where they should focus their search, with plenty of daylight remaining, they decided to be a bit reckless and dwell deeper in the forest right where the magical traces were. Natasha's eyes also were fixated on the plant now as well as Rory's, only Victor didn't pay any attention to it but instead looked around for any signs of monsters, he inspected a couple of marking on some trees, claw marks as if the Shades were using the trees to move around the forest, he determined that there was no actual pattern to these marks, that indicated that the Shades must have a rallying point where they gather before an attack.

They kept walking close to the treeline and ever so slightly walked deeper and deeper into the forest, it didn't take long for Rory's plan to take effect, suddenly, the Halia root started to wither, the temperature dropped and a slight fog was enveloping the place that they had just walked in, they could feel a slight breeze coming ahead of them, Victor pulled out his sword and one of his flintlock pistols, Rory also hid the root back in his pouch and pulled out a bottle of holy water and a small knife with strange markings, Natasha also drew her sword and stood as close to Victor as she could. Without any hesitation, Victor began to walk forward in the direction that was supposed to be a ground for sorcery, Rory and Natasha were walking close to him, he seemed to be a beacon of hope for them, the only safe place at this moment is close to Victor after all.

It all happened in a moment, Victor dropped his guard and seethed his sword and pistol as if nothing happened, he walked towards what seemed to be a small pool of black liquid, Rory pulled out the Halia root once again, this time it completely withered away and scattered like dust,

"This feels weird."

Said Natasha as she pointed to the now rotten and withered plant, Victor went a bit closer to the small pool and dipped his hand inside, he pulled out a small portion of the liquid that seemed dense enough to be molded, almost like mud.

"It's tar, this must be a nesting place."

Said Rory as he looked at Victor's hand that the black ooze was dripping ever so slightly. Natasha once again had no idea what they were talking about and now that she is involved in all this, she felt the need to ask,

"A nesting place?"

"In this spot, the creatures that you call Shades are born, witches and warlocks use these kinds of disgusting things to summon their minions, looks like your theory was correct, we might have to deal with a sorcerer after all."

Rory explained the purpose of the tar pool, Victor once again reached in his pouch and removed a bottle with a strange liquid, Rory knew exactly what it was, it was alcohol, Victor used flint and steel to light a piece of cloth on fire that rested in the bottle's opening, effectively making a Molotov cocktail, he threw the blazing bottle on the tar pit and watched as it burned, black smoke was coming from the pool, a kind of thick black smoke like nothing Natasha has seen before.

"That's the black magic being burned away, you don't want to stand to close to that, Natasha, come over here."

Said Rory and prompted Natasha to stand next to him. They watched as the pool was burning and getting smaller and smaller by the fire. That moment of glory didn't really last for long as they heard a loud noise coming from somewhere in the forest, like a wolve's howl or a man screaming in pain, they weren't sure what it was. Victor once again pulled out his gear and looked around cautiously while signaling Rory and Natasha to do the same, they all got ready for combat, they couldn't really see anything, in these parts of the forest, the vegetation was so thick that their eyes could see just a couple of meters ahead, it made an excellent place to set an ambush to unsuspected prey.

April 12th, 1798 12:01

Victor, Rory and Natasha all have drawn their weapons and are ready to fight off whatever made that noise, they can all hear rumbling around them, hundreds of footsteps like the noises that envelop Magnus at night during an attack, the noises are getting closer and closer, Rory's heart is beating like crazy and cold sweat is coming down on Natasha's forehead, they are terrified, the only one that doesn't seem very scared is Victor, it's astounding how he can remain so calm in this situation, he signals Rory to take formation with their backs against each other to cover a full 360-degree angle around them, once that's done, he turns and whispers in their ear,

"Walk away slowly."

They began walking slowly towards the treeline, the sounds seemed to be getting further now, all the rumbling that was around them became distant, almost like whatever was around them was just observing them, as they were approaching the edge of the forest, they were able to hear only one sound, a fast-moving sound coming towards them from deeper in the forest, Victor was the one facing towards it with his guard up fully ready for an attack.

Suddenly a four-legged creature jumped at him, it wasn't like the one he had slain before, this one was larger with red eyes and brown fur, almost like a huge wolf, it had a snout and huge fangs that were visible from each side of the snout, the creature leaped at Victor and with lighting fast reflexes he shot at it bring it down and severely damaging one of its front legs, the creature fell close to Victor and stood up again, it kept the damaged leg off the ground and growled at Victor signaling hostility and anger. Victor pulled another of his pistols and shot at the creature again, this time he aimed for its head, the creature barely dodged the bullet and hit one of its pointy ears instead tearing it off its head, after taking this much damage, the wolf-like creature run away from Victor crying in pain, he took this opportunity to grab both Rory and Natasha easily lifting each one with his arms and ran away from the forest, as soon as they were outside of the forest he let them both down again,

"What was that thing? Have you seen anything like this?"

Rory asked Natasha if she had ever witnessed a similar creature like that, he was breathing quite heavy.

"No, there are no reports of this kind of monster ever showing up in town."

Natasha answered Rory's question while she was also quite shocked. Victor turned to face them both, they were a good distance away from the treeline now and the whole situation felt a bit better,

"That thing was a Vargr, commonly known as a Worg, a wolf monster capable of killing in one bite, that explains all the deaths that have occurred in this forest, a Worg would be able to massacre an entire squad of guards in seconds if it wanted to, that's not something that any man can fight alone, if I had missed that last shot we wouldn't be talking right now."

Victor explained to them what the creature was, Rory was familiar with these kinds of monsters and he also knew about their traits.

"Worgs aren't something to be taken lightly, Victor. Now I see why all those hunters died, in order to fight a Worg we will need bigger firepower."

Natasha had no idea what the two hunters were talking about, in her eyes, Victor had managed to fend off the creature,

"Is this thing stronger than the Shades? What do you mean by bigger firepower?"|

Victor stayed silent, Rory explained to Natasha all about the Worgs.

"A Worg means some serious sorcery is involved, it's one thing to summon simple creatures like the Shades, they are mindless monsters that attack anything in sight, the one responsible for the attacks on Magnus must be a powerful sorcerer if he has Worgs in his command, not only are they extremely strong and almost impossible to subdue, Worgs absorb black magic to regenerate their bodies, no man can fight a Worg head-on and even if a squad of powerful hunters gathers to fight one, there is no guarantee that they will be able to kill it, you saw how it ran away as soon as it took damage."

Natasha had more questions to be answered, she didn't hesitate at all to ask at this point,

"What does that mean then?"

This time, Victor answered Natasha's question.

"Someone is really pissed with your town, if he has Worgs in his care and decided to unleash them onto Magnus, there would be no one left to even bury the bodies."

April 12th 1798 12:57

Victor along with Rory and Natasha have made it back to Magnus, the first thing in their mind was to speak with Diego Pearson, they walked towards the guards' barracks where Diego's office was and Victor punched open the door of his office barging inside,

"Did you know that there are Worgs in the forest?"

Diego was surprised and pissed that Victor barged inside his office like that, he didn't like Victor's previous attitude and this time he even called for the guards to grab him, Victor shook off the guards one by one just by using brute strength, he slammed his hands on Diego's desk and asked him again,

"DID YOU?"

Diego, after being completely frightened and pissed off at Victor decided to play along.

"What do you mean by Worgs, Mr.Hill?"

Victor didn't waste any time telling Diego what they found in the forest, the black pool where the monsters were created and about the Worg that attacked them, he even told him what would happen if even one of these creatures were to attack Magnus.

Despite Diego's hatred of Victor, he decided to comply with him and answered his question,

"I don't know what you are talking about, Mr.Hill. My men haven't seen this Worg you are talking about, the only monsters that have threatened this town are the Shades, it's already a dire situation with them, I can't imagine a more terrifying monster hiding in the forest. To answer your question, I am not aware of the things inside the northern forest, my men never returned from their mission last time, that would explain how a whole squad of my guards was killed though."

Victor got what he wanted from Diego, as it seems, he is clueless about the Worg in the forest, having no more use for Diego, Victor left his office and returned with Rory and Natasha to Lazar's place, once again, he was absent and they had enough time to discuss their next move over lunch, with a better understanding of the situation and a new objective at hand, they need to find a way to clear the nesting place without coming face to face with another of these terrifying creatures.