The Dark Threat

[derula]

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The Dark Threat
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By Jamona Shikon

1. Introduction
2. My Story
 2.1. At The Tavern
 2.2. Being Helped
 2.3. Finale
3. My Message
4. Summary


1. Introduction

If you have ever been to East Hydlaa, you have probably met Aldaaren Phostle, who tries to warn everyone passing him of the coming apocalypse. He said that there is a menace, threatening Hydlaa and probably all of Yliakum. He keeps saying the Derghir were about to "kill us all".

While I do not agree with him that the Derghir have an interest in killing anyone, I am also concerned, yes, even afraid of a group of people that have shown up here lately. In my opinion, they are particularly dangerous for no obvious reason. They are brutal and violent, not to be messed with. In the following, I will refer to them as, non-judgmentally, "The Group".

They are a group consisting of at least three people, and I have reason to believe they cooperate to bring fear to the world of Yliakum. In "my story", I'll tell you about my experiences with The Group. If you aren't interested in that, you can jump to "my message", where I tell you what I think would be best to do now. If you just want to know how to recognize them, skip to the summary, where I will try to sum up all information I have about them.


2. My Story

2.1. At The Tavern

The Dermorian was not unknown to me. I had seen him the night before, when he tried to make contact to some girls, including me. But I had never seen the other man, who sat on the floor in front of him and I think was an Ylian. In the following, let me nickname them Dan and Yan, respectively, as I do not know their real names.

So Yan sat on the floor, staring at me. When I first realized his gaze, I figured he was a poor sob who does not know where to put his hormones, especially because all this happened in Kada-El's tavern. They did not look like a threat at all, as they were dressed like commoners and did not carry weapons openly. They just behaved pretty odd, at first.

My nervousness grew when Yan came closer to me. I asked him what his problem was, since I did not want to be molested by a strong-looking stranger like him. Dan told me that -I- was the one with the problem instead. At first, I thought this was some sort of bad joke, but as time passed by, I began to realize he was quite serious about this.

The fear started to raise inside me when Yan said he wanted to "taste" me. Whether that was meant literary, sexually or in a different way, I do not know. Imagine this situation: you're at Kada-El's, being troubled by strangers. The tavern is not empty, there are people around you, and the patrons are standing directly in front of the tavern. At this point I just felt as if nobody at all could help me in this situation. It was then when I pulled out one of my daggers, in the midst of the tavern, to be able to defend myself.

They just laughed at it. Which made me more afraid, to an extent unimaginable to anyone who has not been in a similar situation. When they kept talking about me as if I was a piece of meat, and I did not see a way to escape the situation, I started to cry in fear. Staring at the door, wanting to escape, wanting to scream for help, I felt paralyzed and could not do anything but wait and see what would happen. They tried to assure me they wanted to help me, which sounded extraordinarily strange in this situation and hurt me even more.

At some point I shouted at them, they can just take me if they want, I will not be able to defend myself well, but asked them to stop talking like I was their meal. At some point, a Diaboli sitting nearby asked them to leave me alone, which they just pretended to not have heard. They were saying that I was not "for" Yan, who seemed very disappointed in this fact, but I was for "him", who I figured might be their boss.

Then, Yan stood up, facing Dan, as they kept talking about me, referring to me as an "it". My fear grew so strong at that point that I took the chance that they weren't looking at me for a moment to run away. I ran as fast as I could, ran to find refuge in Laanx's temple. I cowered in a backroom of the temple, still clutching my dagger. I felt ashamed of carrying a dagger in the temple, but at the same time I was too afraid to put it away.

2.2. Being helped

I'd been sitting there in fear for a long time, when a good friend of mine entered. I think she just knew I would need her at the moment, and where I was to be found. I was very grateful she found me. She is a brave warrior and talked about revenging me. I was afraid of returning to the tavern, but I did it for her.

There, she introduced me to another honorable Dermorian, who agreed to help me in this matter. As Dan and Yan didn't seem to be in the tavern anymore, we spoke about everything in front of its door. I was still very nervous, looking around me all the time. At some point, I heard a cough from above my head and turned up - where Yan was actually standing at the balcony! The honorable Dermorian quickly ran inside to look for him - but he was nowhere to be found. Only seconds later, Yan appeared again on the rooftop. This made me very afraid, but I knew I would be safe as long as I was with my newly-found compagnions.

So I just followed them when they decided to drink and chat in Kada-El's. After a while, my warrior friend left to mind her own business. That was when things quickly grew out of control: one of the girls that stayed with us got drunk, REALLY drunk. At some point, I saw Dan standing at the ground level looking down on us, as we sat in the basement. Even more so I knew I'ld have to stay with the Dermorians.

We brought the drunken girl to a room upstairs, so that she could get some sleep. We locked the door, because we feared she might wake up and continue to drink even more. At some point, I got nervous again. I had a feeling as if Dan or Yan was around, outside the room. At first we wanted to wait until he had gone.

But then, the drunken girl woke up again, making our all lives hard. The honorable Dermorian felt he must care for her, following her downstairs to prevent her drinking more. They seemed to have completely forgotten about my fear. However, I followed them, having no other choice. But everything went so chaotic that at some point, I completely lost them.

2.3. Finale

I found myself standing outside the tavern, alone. It was then that I remembered I had forgotten my water pouch in that room. For some odd reason, I went back inside to fetch it. Not more than a meter inside the tavern, I saw Dan hurrying downstairs. I turned around instantly and fled. After about ten meters, Yan was in front of me, trying to catch me, but I escaped his grip.

I don't know why I ran. I maybe should just have stayed by the guards. But I was afraid, so afraid. So I ran as fast as I could, out the north gate, through the forest. However, they were catching up gradually. At some point I think they fell, because my advance increased for a bit. However, they catched up on me pretty fast.

Now you must know, I am not physically in the best form; my stamina was already fading. I decided to run to the magic shop, maybe Levrus would know what to do. I got inside, but I could not stop to talk to him, still afraid of The Group. I ran up the stairs until I could not get any further, full of fear, my whole body shaking. I'll try to tell this story as closely to the truth as my memory allows, in a dialog form.

Dan: Hey you, please stop running! I just wanted to apologize to you.
Me: I do not believe you a single word, Dermorian.
Dan: Why would you not?
Me: If you wanted to say sorry, you would not have waited for my friends to be gone before doing so.
Yan (staring at me, chewing his lips): I used to have a pet...
Dan (nodding at Yan): She would probably not have liked your pet, at all.
Me: If you want me as a pet, I'm not interested.
Dan (a devilish look on his face): Us neither.
Me: Who made you do this? There must be someone who sent you.
Dan (mumbling): Kurtzen.
Dan realized what he just did. He revealed to me the name of his Group's leader. He pulled out a dagger with a bone for a handle, and used it to threaten me not to tell anyone about that name.
Me: I will remember that name, and if I survive this, I will tell it to everyone I meet.
He then pulled out his saber with his right hand, keeping his bone handled dagger in the left one.
Dan: Well, if that is your decision... good luck trying to find your way back through the dark depths of Death Realm.
I closed my eyes and kneed down on the floor, burrying my hands into my face full of tears, while Dan said something to Yan I did not understand.
Me: Then why don't you do it already, you sick bastards!?
Dan (threatening me with his saber): Listen to me, fair Dermorian. My friend here dislikes you as much as I do. He does not like people who fear him. [turning to Yan] It's yours.
Yan [turning to Dan]: Mind if I ... t-t-touch it?
I don't remember standing up again, but I must have, as my eyes were now the same height as theirs. Dan must have allowed him to touch me, since he started to run the back of his finger across my cheek, wiping my tears. When he took it away, it seemed that some sort of black spark jumped over into my skin. He must have used some kind of rare Dark Way magic, however it felt like a real, fiery spark touching my face. The tears rolling down my cheeks quickly cooled down the spot where it landed, luckily.
Dan (closing his eyes, completely satisfied): I love it so much when you are doing this...
Now, Yan took out a dagger himself, while Dan licked the edge of his.
Me: I beg you, don't pull it like that!
Dan (ramming his bone handled dagger into my skull): Too late to change your mind!
I fell down to the floor, but was still able to watch Yan carving a line into his shirt. Next to it, I saw some others. I tried to count them, it where more then six or seven in total. The last thing I heard was Yan, who repeated that he used to have a pet once...


2. My Message

For all we know, The Group is a loose cooperation of at least three shady characters. Its leader's name is Kurtzen. One member seems to be an Ylian, the other is a Dermorian. As I understood it, their way of seeking victims is as follows:

- Hang around public places, inspecting and talking to young females that their boss might like.
- Having a trip to their boss, asking him whether this or that girl would be a good choice.
- Coming back to the tavern to wait for the victim.
- Scaring their victim incredibly cruelly, making her run away.
- Kidnapping her from or killing her in a less public place she fled to.

In these days, DO NOT TRUST anyone who stares at you in the tavern, who maybe speaks to you or buys you a drink, EXCEPT YOU KNOW HIM. In my opinion, young and weak females are not secure anymore in Hydlaa, maybe not throughout Yliakum! If you think you are being followed, or that you met someone matching my descriptions, RUN and report them to a guard. There is reason to believe they have already killed MORE THEN SEVEN innocent girls!

The guards will do their best to catch them I'm sure, but for now, we have only little knowledge about them (see 3). DO NOT walk alone at night, DO NOT visit dark places, DO NOT visit public places without strong company. If you don't think you can defend yourself against two strong warriors, DO NOT TAKE ANY RISK. The Group is inpredictable and dangerous.

I do not know what would have happened to me if they did not kill me. They seem to know some rare and possibly very dangerous Dark Way magic. They are not to mess with. They have no scruples.

I hope they can be identified and arrested quickly. Until that happens, my message to everyone reading this is: Take good care of yourself, never walk alone, do not trust people you do not know!


3, Summary

These are the facts I can tell you about The Group:

- At least three members
- I am not the first victim
- No respect for guards or laws
- Boss is called "Kurtzen"
- Wearing commoners' clothing
- Own bone handled knifes
- Lack of any respect of life
- Disrespect neutrality of Kada-El's
- Use rare Dark Way magic
- Choose their victims one day prior to the attack
- Creep you out before harming you physically

Regarding the last to points, I would recommend you to report anyone to the guards you either meet in the same place twice in close time by chance, or who you think are trying to scare you. DON'T TRY TO PLAY THE HERO! Their Dark Way magic might be too dangerous to risk it!

OOC: This book has been written by Jamona Shikon, who is played by me. She only shows it to friends or people she thinks she can trust. There are only four original copies of this book, owned by Jamona and three friends. The book reflects her experiences. I've been asked to post the book here. I've no idea if my post is well-formed, please have mercy.

[Sodedar]

It would be a good idea to make a poster with the description, as I have a character that's been attacked as well, but he does not yet know its an organized group as he only got into a fight with a single member

[Garris Shrike]

[Very interesting read! The guard are even in on this one, I was toodling about on Garris and Havoy/Vonor was asking around for information...which he got very little of and seemed stumped.
*edit* Ok, so I'm behind alot of this. I'll post the summary once the RP is completed. Other than that, you'll have to snoop around and pick up the leads.]