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The Shadow

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After many days of searching for the bowl that Elmor spoke of in the Blood Omen Keep Redsun heard from his friend of many years Darkmoon that there was a collector deep in the depths of the dungeon Doom that may have the bowl Redsun sought. Darkmoon explained that the collector was a very mysterious person and that he was more of a shadow than a person. Darkmoon also explained to Redsun that the shadow described the bowl as the Bloody Bowl and that he mentioned nothing of the blood of the innocent. Redsun pondered this for several hours, he knew that getting across the river of doom was by far no easy task and he had seen many seasoned warriors and magi fall to the might of the guardian that protects the golden skull that he must obtain in order to pay the toll for passage across the river. He knew the ferryman would not let him cross any other way, knowing that this was the only way he asked his friend Darkmoon for help and together they were able to summon the guardian of the skull. But only because of Redsun’s cunning and Darkmoon’s powerful magic were they able to defeat him, it took many hours for just the two of them, but they finally crossed the river together.

The creatures on the other side of the river were the strongest he had ever seen. He saw warriors of amazing strength that he knew be chopped down by one swing of their claws. Some of the creatures across the river were not as strong as others but they were each as deadly as the last one. After each of the creatures had fallen something extraordinary happen. The creature’s corpses slowly vanished into a dusty wind as each monster’s wind came together in the middle of the largest room on top of a blood red pentagram. All of the sudden two creatures became to take shape as the remaining warriors tried to divide and conquer them the creatures would have nothing of it. Once they were hit they would throw the decaying bones at whomever stuck them. Redsun saw many warriors hacking these bones up as they festered and somehow grew. Some of the bones however were left alone and from them spawn some creatures Redsun recognized from his adventures. The skillful bone knights, along side the very deadly rotting corpses of fallen warriors and finally the one that had haunted Redsun’s dreams for a long time, the Lord of the Lich. Redsun saw this as a time to deal another death to these foes. As Redsun gripped his axe and charged the Bone Knight the Lich Lord paralyzed him with his magic, the spell wore off quickly and with three strikes of his axe the bone knight fell to the ground in a pile of armor and bones. The rotting corpse was next thought Redsun, however the Lich Lord would have nothing of it. As the Lich Lord started to cast his spells, Redsun turned his attention away from the rotting corpse that was barely scratched to the lich lord and his spells. Redsun almost fell to these spells, but Darkmoon who had been busy searching the labyrinth for the shadow came running by and seeing that his friend was in distress threw one of his healing spells onto Redsun. With his new found health Redsun ran towards the Lich Lord ripping part of its torso off with one swoop of his axe. Darkmoon followed by an explosion of great proportions the lich lord was close to defeat as Redsun used his axe to sever the Lich Lord’s upper half from his lower half. All that was left now was the rotting corpse, Redsun knowing that the rotting corpse had a powerful aura around it of poisonous gases took his bow from his back and continually fired arrows at it, while Darkmoon summoned his vortexes of energy to help with the battle. After the rotting corpse fell to the ground Darkmoon and Redsun’s attention focused back at the beast that was summoned He was surrounded by earth elementals that were summoned by the mages around and two paladins who seems to be more evil than chivalrous. They have two white swords that they use in battle that seem to cut right threw the beast. Seeing how the other people had the beasts under control Redsun, along with Darkmoon, continued their search for the shadow. Redsun asked many people on that side of the river about the blood of the innocent many claimed to have it and would sell it for a large sum of money, but when Redsun brought them to meet Darkmoon, he disputed their claims and sent them on their way. Being disappointed Redsun wandered around until he found a door way that he could not open. He retrieved Darkmoon and asked him to open the door with his magic, but Darkmoon explained to Redsun that this was the Door of the Dead and only those in the spirit world may enter threw them.

After many hours of deliberating Redsun came to the conclusion that he must pass into the spirit world without dying somehow. Darkmoon told him that he could send his spirit into the other room threw the use of one of his spells, Redsun at the time was very reluctant to come that close to death just to speak to the shadow, but in the end he decided that if anything happened the lady of the lake will probably be able to bring him back to the living world as she did with Gronsten. He nodded to Darkmoon signaling to start casting the spell, Darkmoon waving his arms around started to chat a spell Redsun had not heard before from his old friend. Redsun suddenly felt a warmth come across his body as he stood there. The warmth slowly faded away and a cold came to him. Darkmoon had finished his chant and looked worried as he ran towards Redsun and then right threw him. Redsun puzzled and confused turn around to see himself laying on the ground with Darkmoon above him looking into his eyes. Darkmoon sighed a sigh of relief and mumbled something about the spell working. Just after he finished mumbling Darkmoon stood up and yelled into the air directed at Redsun to go threw the doors of the dead. As instructed Redsun went threw the doors on the other side he was met by a shady looking fellow who was able to see Redsun for some reason. He came towards Redsun and offered to bring Redsun back to the land of the living for a substantial amount of gold. Redsun first declined and wandered towards some of the people that were already inside of the room. He tried speaking to them, but they could not hear or see him in his current state. Finally after much futile attempts to contact the others, we wandered back to the shady fellow. Reluctantly Redsun agreed to his terms and with a great breath of life he soon found himself breathing the air around him. While on the other side of the doors Darkmoon was worried after the body of his friend had disappeared. After a few minutes to gather his composure Redsun headed for the people he had tried to contact earlier. He stood there and asked them if any of them were the living shadow, they all looked at each other confused and they all agreed that none of them were the living shadow. As Redsun turned to leave a figure appeared from the shadows and asked what Redsun wanted from him. Redsun answered that he was looking for a bowl that contained the blood of the innocent. The shadow nodded to him and told him that he possessed this bowl. Redsun asked what he wanted for it, the shadow told him it would not come cheap. The shadow introduced himself as the Dream Walker, he wandered the halls of the dungeons looking for rare and valuable things and if he could not find any he would walk in the dreams of adventures and take whatever he saw fit and bring it to the real world. He also told Redsun that in exchange for the bowl he needed to bring him three bows. The bows would help him defeat the one that stopped him from stalking the dreams of others, the Dark Father....

The dream walker explained that the dark father was the creature that he saw outside that was summoned when the others died. He had the ability to detect him in the dreams of others and would often try killing him. The dream walker explained to Redsun that he was in need of three bows. This first bow he requested was a repeating cross bow made of all fire or extremely close to it with something that increases the damage of the bow. The second bow he requested was a repeating crossbow made of almost entirely of a strange energy. The third bow he requested was a bow that did extra damage against the demons that lurked about, but he also wanted a mana leech on this bow. The final bow he requested was a bow that was able to kill the undead with ease. He said he would only give the bowl up if he was to receive these bows. Redsun asked why he did not just go into someone’s dreams and take them, the dream walker stated that he was only able to take items from dreams that were not to be used against others. There were very few exceptions and unfortunately these bows were not one of them. As Redsun was leaving the dream walker asked what he wanted with the bowl. Redsun said that it was for someone who did not wish to harm the innocent but needed the blood to survive. The dream walker then asked who Redsun was working for, Redsun said he worked for no one anymore, but if he did have a boss it would be lord F’Nor and the other mists. The dream walker intrigued by this told Redsun that he would like to meet as many mists as possible and this Lord F’Nor. Before Redsun could answer the living shadow disappeared back into the darkness without any trace he was ever there. Redsun a little disturbed by this walked towards a teleporter that lay on the ground by the door of the dead, he was hoping that this teleporter would save him another near death and much to his surprise it did, he found himself right behind Darkmoon who was sitting down on the corpse of a fallen lich lord he had recently slain. Redsun snuck up behind him, surprised Darkmoon turned around and punched him in the face. Redsun yelled that he was not another lich lord, Darkmoon nodded and told him to get a move on. After Redsun rubbed his jaw he followed Darkmoon to the dock where the ferryman awaited. Once they arrived on the other shore, they saw a undead dragon being killed by a large group of warriors and mages. Redsun walked towards the group and asked what the dragon was doing here. One of the mages told Redsun that a foolish young traveler had summoned the ferryman with no skull for the toll and in a rage the ferryman summoned the undead dragon upon the traveler the creature slain the traveler quickly and was one of the most fierce creatures in all the lands, the mage also told them that the ferryman was so angry he would not let anyone across to the other side because of the toll and only people who were able to kill the dragon would be able to summon him afterwards. Redsun and Darkmoon both decided to take their leave as the undead dragon was beginning to wobble, as they made their way to the exit of the dungeon doom, they came across yet another mighty foe, it had a great mouth where it’s stomach should have been, it was blue and looked almost like a shark. As it started to attack Redsun it was apparent to Redsun that he could not defeat this creature with close combat. As Redsun pulled his bow from his back once again another adventure told them that the Devourer of Souls was weak against the cold. Redsun and Darkmoon looked at each other and Darkmoon started to cast mindblast which was a spell that summoned the icy cold shards that attacked the mind of the beasts. Redsun was very limited and only had with him a bow and cold axe. Since he knew that he would surely loose the battle if he tried using close combat he opted for the bow instead of the cold axe. It took them a while to defeat this powerful enemy, but their effort was rewarded by some handfuls of gold and a new cold bow for Redsun.

As Darkmoon and Redsun headed for the entrance, Redsun looked back and told himself that the mists would have to all gather up to defeat this hellish dungeon, he then saw some more hell spawn coming for him and Darkmoon, so they quickly slipped threw the portal that lead to the outside. They were met on the outside by a medium sized group of travelers that were prepping themselves to enter the dungeon of doom. A grin cross Darkmoon’s face when he knew that none of them knew what horrors lived in the dungeon Doom and that almost none of them, like Redsun, were close to knowing what lay in it’s true depths.


[This story is fairly old it was done around P19, I remember this because I got the Bloody Bowl from Doom the day P19 went in, so any feedback or comments/help with my writting would be greatly appreciated]
 
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