The Carnival at Moonbright

“Wait… Leaf. Orin is the archmage. Could he..?”

Leaf just stared, frozen in place for a moment. He had seen his share of bodies in his studies, but Leaf had never known the person before their death. Leaf shook off the surrealness of the scene, looked at Lyla, and nodded his head.

“Maybe. This is beyond my abilities and studies so far, but we’ve talked about the theories. He would be at the tower.”

“I can assist you in getting there,” Kohl said, gesturing toward his centaur form.

“Yes, that will probably be the fastest way. Let’s go.”

Gisela helped place Leaf onto the centaur’s back. They turned and galloped away towards the town. As she watched them disappear into the night, Gisela fought to breathe. The panic set in, the memories of her past running through her mind. She gripped the hilt of her greatsword, then pointed to the paladin that once owned it.

“This man… He was the one who killed Bruna.” She said to the quiet group.

“He’s also part of the Dark Order of the Eternal Pillars,” Rhokhishi replied, gesturing to the symbol on the plate mail.

The group looked over at them as they explained what they knew. Rhokhishi spoke first.

“The Eternal Pillars is where I started my oath all those years ago. They follow a celestial named Zarin the Just. The Pillars have a significant hold over Exeter, Caelfall, and Luffari, where I’m from. I was a devoted paladin for many years before discovering they weren’t as just as they claimed to be.

Before leaving, meeting Lopper and Rags, and eventually making it here at the carnival, I had found out that there was another group inside the Eternal Pillars. While they spoke of peace, sharing commodities and goods, and pushing their rhetoric, another sect was going at night, taxing the people of Luffari and taking their goods for themselves. They have the same symbol on their chest as those of the Eternal Pillars, but their armor is blackened, and the emblem is scratched through.”

“Outside Exeter is where Bruna and I met him.” Stated Gisela. “We were out, away from the carnival for the night, and he angrily attacked us after losing some money gambling. He killed Bruna, but I… I killed him. I know he was dead.”

“It seems that he has some ability to come back, Gisela,” Lyla spoke up. “I was attacked by him and some of his thugs in the town last week. If it weren’t for Leaf, I probably wouldn’t have made it out. Leaf killed him, though… His heart was pushed out of his chest from the spell Leaf had cast.”

Mr. Muffins looked over at Lyla. “Did you grab his weapon? That shouldn’t just be lying out for others to find.”

“I picked it up, and it melted in my hands,” Lyla replied, showing the acidic burn marks on her hand. “It did have a name on the side of the barrel, though. Sir Ulric.”

The sound of hooves arrived, Kohl, having brought Leaf and Orin back. Stopping at the tent’s entrance, Orin and Leaf hopped off the centaur’s back, nodded, and entered.

“I heard that a commotion had taken place. Citizens were running back into the town. It seems like no one else was hurt. Is this Elysium?” Orin asked, looking over the group.

Shaynth shakily picked themself up, still covered in blood, and gestured to Elysium’s form. Orin got to work immediately. His staff left his hand, laid itself on the ground next to Elysium, then flattened, making a small stretcher. Gisela and Rhokhishi placed Elysium on it, and Orin waved his hand, causing the stretcher to rise in the air to about his waist height.

From a small pouch, Orin Sungrove pulled out a large number of items, possibly more than could realistically fit inside it. He laid out random spell components, a few potion bottles, then a large diamond which he placed right on Elysium’s chest. He pulled his spellbook from a small holster under his arm, hidden by his cloak, and opened it. Moving through a couple of pages, he stopped, read a little, then walked away from the open book that was still floating where Orin left it.

The party waited with bated breath. They watched as Orin moved around Elysium’s body, took the potion bottles, opened them, and drank them, then started chanting in a language unknown to them. He took out a small set of tweezers and pulled the bullet from Elysium’s wound, laying it on the stretcher beside his body. Leaf’s eyes followed Orin as he listened and studied the movements as Orin’s magic flowed from his hands over Elysium. After almost an hour, they heard a slight cracking sound. The group stood and watched as the diamond on his chest cracked further and further until exploding outward. Tiny glittering crystals flew out before stopping a foot from the explosion, then fell like feathers over him.

In just seconds, the wound started glowing a blue similar to Orin’s cloak. It slowly stitched closed, and Elysium took his first breath in over an hour. He opened his eyes and jerked forward, sitting and looking around with a panicked look on his face. Orin grabbed his spellbook, put it away, and then shoveled the other items back into his pouch. The stretcher floated down slowly, bringing Elysium to the ground.

Orin Sungrove reached for his rubber gloves and put them back on, then reached down to take Elysium’s hand and help him up. The party ran over and circled them, happy to see their friend, their boss, alive again.

“Archmage Orin, thank you,” Elysium said, shaking Orin’s hand excitedly. “That was quite the trick!”

“Well, when one studies for as long as I have, you learn some things along the way. I’m just glad I was nearby to help.”

“I know spells of this skill would cost a lot on your wares. If you need anything, please let me know.”

“I admit that the diamond was expensive, but I have adequate amounts of everything else. We can discuss it later, Master Elysium. For now, rest and try not to overexert yourself.”

Elysium smiled, then looked around at the party surrounding them.

“It seems that you all managed to take care of everything while I was gone. Is anyone else hurt?”

“No, sir,” Myla replied. “You were the only major casualty we had. We had to detain Torra and Kota and Artos, but they should be fine after some rest.”

“We also took out the bastard,” Barthemus said, gesturing towards Sir Ulric’s body.

“I do have a question. Are you connected to the Dark Order or the Eternal Pillars, sir?” Rhokhishi asked Elysium, curious as to why Sir Ulric attacked.

Elysium stood over the body, carefully studying his face and figure before speaking up.

“I’ll admit, I know little about the Eternal Pillars and less about the Dark Order, except for what you’ve told me in the past. I’m a bit fuzzy in memory at the moment, but I can’t think of any reason that they would have attacked us directly.”

While the group talked, Orin pulled Leaf aside. They walked to Sir Ulric’s body, kneeled, and looked over it.

“This is the one that attacked? Are you sure?” Orin asked.

“Yes, sir. The same one.” Leaf replied.

“It definitely is strange that he was animated, considering the coloration of his skin. It doesn’t look like he has been alive for some time.”

Leaf looked down at Sir Ulric’s body. It was gray rather than the lighter color he had when Leaf first met him. He thought back at the fight against him, his aggressive actions against Lyla and him, and then the unique form of interrogation Ulric took on Leaf.

“Archmage Sungrove, when we first fought him, he managed to take out both Lyla and myself. Ulric managed to bring me back from my unconscious state through some arcane means. He repeatedly asked me about something, telling me to give it to him. I didn’t know what he meant, but he took my spellbook. I had already transferred many of my spells beforehand to another, but a few remain lost currently.”

“Is that so, Leaf? You ended up killing him, from what you said. Did you get your book back?”

“That’s the strange thing. The book was gone when I searched for it.”

“Well, I’m glad most of the spells were taken out of it before this man had gotten ahold of it, but thankfully your new spellbook will stop issues like that from happening in the future.”

Orin moved his hands over the body of Ulric. His magic weaved over, leaving a dark blue cover over the body. He stood quickly, pulling Leaf back from the body. Orin leaned down, placed his hand over Ulric’s shadow, and pulled out a blackened figure that hadn’t been there before.

The creature reached out, trying to clamber away from Orin’s grasp. He reached up to the shadowy humanoid’s face and pushed a small firebolt from one hand to the other, causing it to move through the shadow’s head. It shrieked out before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The carnival troupe looked over as they heard the commotion.

“It seems that a shade of some type had been placed inside this body,” Orin stated.

“Is that how it came back to life?” Lyla asked.

“No, a shade wouldn’t have that type of power. They hide in the dark or the shadows of other creatures.” Orin answered back. “Leaf, maybe you should go to the Athenaeum tomorrow. Talk to Rosemita. She can help you find some literature on shade creatures.”

“Yes, sir,” Leaf replied.

“I have a few errands to finish.” Orin looked up at the group around him. “It has been a pleasure to be of help. If you have further needs for me, you seem to know Leaf and can request help from him. Goodnight.” Orin bowed slightly to Elysium before walking out of the tent and into the night.

Elysium stood up and walked towards the back of the tent.

“I have to go check on my wife. Thank you for not letting her hurt anyone. Goodnight, everyone. Rest, and let everyone know that we’ll have a troupe meeting tomorrow morning.”

Leaf walked over to everyone else with a tired look on his face.

“I know you all don’t know me well, but I’d like to request that I keep this body for study. Would anyone be against this?”

“I don’t know if I’m okay with this. Wait.” Mr. Muffins spoke up.

He reached into his pack, pulling out tools and other mechanical pieces. He placed a few things together as if they were supposed to lock into place and handed them to Leaf.

“This is… well, essentially, it’s napalm. The device in your hand is a detonator. It won’t go off without a few things, but I can explain it real quick.” Barthemus said before going into the explanation of how the device works and how to activate it.

“If this body moves in any way, even just twitches, you have to press the detonator. Deal?”

Leaf looked into Mr. Muffins’ eyes. “Yes, deal.”

Leaf took his time, with a bit of help, putting Ulric’s body onto the stretcher, then he waved his hand, and the body floated behind him, following his steps.

“Well, goodnight.”