Grim Ruination, Birth of a Soul (On Hiatus)

The Thief

"So what do you think is causing all the missing merchants?" Darris asked the dark elf as they walked through the streets of the city.

He kept his body shrouded in the thin illusory form of himself when he was alive, so as to not cause any unrest at seeing a corpse casually walking through the street. With a bit of training, he had managed to keep up the illusion near indefinitely, although, in the midst of battle, he tended to have more important matters to focus on than keeping up appearances. Such as not getting beheaded by a swinging ax.

Svalken just shrugged. "Wild animals maybe." He stated, bushing the emerald green cowl behind his shoulder. Darris never much understood how the black leather armor that Svalken wore, even on his daily commute, could offer all too much protection. While, technically, they could always protect their bodies with souls, it still helped to have armor so a stray crossbow bolt didn't get lodged into your back. Then again, Darris's armor wasn't much better; just a small breastplate and a few arm and shin guards; it was reminiscent of what he once wore when he had been part of Fame.

Darris shook his head. "I don't think that's it. Shouldn't caravan guards be able to fend off a few wolves or a bear. Plus they don't have any reason to have wandered near the caravan either. Plus if it were an animal it would have scavenged the caravan for berries and meat."
Svalken rolled his eyes. "I don't know, Darris. There could be tons of things; ogres, cultists, maybe even other reapers." He said with a shrug.

Darris tilted his head in confusion. "What would reapers need with some traders?"

Svalken just shrugged. "Some cycles see death differently than most people do. Hell, the cycle of Sympathy are probably the most similar to most people in that regard."

"How many cycles are there?" Darris prompted.
"Hundreds?" Svalken shrugged again. "Never bothered to check."

"What cycles do you know of? Apart from Sympathy I mean,"

"Well there's the main four. Death; is pretty basic, they collect souls, nothing special. War; is mostly a bunch of people who love beating the shit out of each other. Plague; they make poisons... at least I think they do. And Gluttony; don't know much about them, but from what I've heard they can absorb some traits of souls they've devoured."

Suddenly, a vision flashed into Darris's mind. He remembered the gnoll he'd faced in, Vanderin not but a few months before. He recalled him mentioning a chimera before spewing flames from his maw. "Could a reaper of the Gluttony cycle be able to use the fire breath of a chimera?" Darris asked.

"I don't see why they couldn't. And what's with all the questions?" Svalken asked the tone in his voice shifting to reveal a shade of annoyance "There was a gnoll I fought back in Vanderin. He was a reaper like us-"

"You've told me this already." Svalken muttered.

"Not this, hold on." Darris retorted.

Svalken just rolled his eyes and waved a hand for Darris to proceed.

"He mentioned that he had eaten a chimera once and then he used its flame breath on me. So he's from the Gluttony cycle then, right?"

"Guess he had to be from somewhere." The elf muttered.

Darris thought a moment before speaking again. "Will we be fighting other reapers often?"
Svalken shrugged. "Other cycles tend to hate each other. Only time we get along long enough to covers are at the Death Court meetings every couple years."

Darris immediately looked to Svalken. "Death Court?"

Svalken stuttered for a moment. While it was slight his eyes widened slightly. But just as soon as his expression changed, it just as quickly returned to it's normal, uninterested expression.
Svalken waved a hand in dismissal of Darris's question. "It's a meeting of the Cycle Heads; the heads are the oldest of their respective Cycle with a few exceptions. But enough with the questions." Svalken pulled a folded piece of parchment from his satchel and opened it. "The note from the barron stated that the caravan we are guarding is guided by a lizardfolk named-" he squinted down at the page.