Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Loimos flapped his rotten wings, searing through the air far above the first line of clouds, ever since King Nitok had awoken, he had had a lot on his plate, the king had great expectations for him, thus making up the role of royal courier for him to fit in, having Loimos go from place to place, overlook the badlands, prepare the lands ahead of time for the miasma and serve as the leader of the vanguard.

Loimos handled pretty much everything in the badlands, which were territories that were conquered, but not quite yet claimed as the dark miasma had yet to reach fully, the miasma generators that Loimos could create had impressed the king very much, allowing for the creation of powerful death fog much quicker.

King Nitok could easily control Loimos's rot constructs, and taking advantage of the rapidity the skeleton brought to the table, the undead king was expanding his dominion upward and downward, bringing the speed at which everything spread close above ground to about the same one as it used to during the first war.

This was meant as a trick to fool the heroes that he suspected to still be around, all the while allowing for greater control of the skies and underground, at any time however, the miasma could be made to spread around at a quicker pace.

That was only one thing however, King Nitok had charged Loimos with diplomacy as well, an odd choice considering that he was who he was, but it was not like anyone else could represent the undead more accurately that Loimos, also, he had a few ties with some of the powerhouses of the living.

Having brushed up with both Rosemary and Syklon, and also had a good relationship with Maliah, whomst he was going to meet with today.

The Death Dealer was the first living he had ever handed a dark crystal to, he had also given one to Elenantiel, Rummy and to the three living members of Alizée as well, as with everything he did, it had a clear point to it.

It meant something, although, none of the people he had made this suspicious gift to actually knew what the meaning of it truly was, he had not elaborated on the purpose of his present.

Breaking his momentum, Loimos fell head first toward the ground, waiting until the very last moment, the flap his wings and prevent himself from turning into a stain, softly landing, discarding his wings and calling his war scythe forth, he had arrived at the top of an average sized mountain, and thus, it meant that it was above the first line of clouds.

Viridis did have some rather extraordinary landscapes, except that to most people, these were regular sights.

In any case, this particular mountain was one that sat in the middle of a large grassland, one could see the ocean from here, this place was all the way own to the south of the continent, a land mostly claimed by beastfolks tribes and populated with small settlements, all with their own particular populations and cultures, many of them had evacuated to Tamaris a while back, few still remained.

The plains were mostly empty of people, and here, at the top of this lonely peak, this solitude was even stronger, Loimos had landed near an old temple exposed to the element, a flat ground engraved with weathered symbols and a few eroded pillars, not quite a ruin as it had still been in use until recently, but today, whatever worship typically occurred would not be in session.

The Death Dealer was standing alongside her leader, Arleqkin, and ringleader, Odicious.

One was gawking at the view, the other conversing and cradling with an unseen infant, many other Fin-Limier assassins were waiting further down the mountain, they were a rather heterogeneous organisation, many species and sorts of assassins were gathered under the same name.

It was rather hard to believe that an assassin guild could need so many members, were hits put on heads that often? Even for one with a pessimistic view of the world, this might appear excessive.

"Ooh, that is an excellent suppression of your presence and energy! Little Holli, look at the undead, take it in" Odicious was the first to speak, his exposed flesh still as red as ever.

"Are you the one who gave Maliah the mission to slaughter Weafewand? You know, you are probably the closest thing she has to a frien-"

"Ignore them, thanks for showing up" Maliah shoved her leader away, seeming a bit less maniacal than usual, this must have been her typical attitude when not in the prospect of murdering someone.

"This is Arleqkin, the leader and that's Odicious, the ringleader, whatever the difference between the two is, don't pay attention to Odicious, he just speaks with his daughter, who apparently is so incredible at stealth from birth that no one can sense her existence, even by touch" she quickly explained.

Loimos responded to their greetings and pulled out a small artefact from within his mantle, resembling a small piece of wood with runes from the death tongue inscribed upon it.

Having a good relation with the greatest assassin of the Fin-Limiers, Loimos had been exchanging words with them for a little while, serving as a counter negotiator as he knew very well that they had already been made offers by Tamaris, Agilulf Wanneck might have effectively endless wealth, but King Nitok could make all and every currencies worth nothing by just conquering everything and saying so.

The riches-interested Fin-Limier leader was obviously a bit torn at first, but after Loimos had taken him to take a look and meet with the King Nitok and the gravelords, his opinion was settled in stone, clearly, the side that would bring in the most coins was going to be that of the undead.

Arleqkin was used to evaluating the strength of everyone he met with, as well as imagining how to best take them out, a simple habit any assassin worth their salt should pick up, he had assessed that putting together the might of King Nitok's forces, as well as other advantages he had been shown, that the dead would eventually come victorious.

"King Nitok understands that not all your members would wish to cooperate with us, are they still in the dark about our agreement?" asked Loimos, his perfectly emotionless and flat tone of voice earning him praises from Odicious.

"Of course! My employees know nothing" the mask smiled with tardiness.

"Then, here it is, a creation of King Nitok himself, put that inside of your quarters, and nothing will be able of bothering you, activating it is as simple as willing for it to be" Loimos handed over the artefact.

He then brought a few necklaces as well.

"These allow for the wearer to traverse the miasma without hindrance, King Nitok might want to have you intervene if necessary, wear them then, communications will be done with this item" like clowns coming out a carriage, Loimos's pockets seemed bottomless.

He then ended it all by handing out four dark crystals, one shaped differently from the ones he had given before, the other two the same as usual.

The last was small, like a needle.

"Is this…? Oh, would you like to hold her?" Odicious tried to have Loimos hold his invisible daughter, and for some reason he did, grabbing something that was clearly not there.

"You don't have to pretend-"

"Hold on, there is actually a baby there? He isn't completely insane?"

"The stealth is great, but the life is not quite concealed" Loimos quickly gave the baby back, the inside of his helm illuminating with deep purple glow. Find your next read on empire

Expanding his wings again, he suddenly flew off again.

"Is he scared of babies or…?" Arleqkin wondered aloud, his mask forming a questioning furrow ten seconds after his initial words.

"No matter, all that I heard is that I won't be killing anything for a while"