Role

Chapter 12

"Hello?'

Opening his eyes again, Bazz peeked past his feet towards the cavern
entrance. Facing Bazz, the elf stood, lit from below by the lantern and
framed by the darkness of the passageway behind him. He was smiling, though
his eyes were closed. The white of his guild shirt seemed faded, with
glimpses of brilliant crimson peeking through the torn spots. The collar of
the robe itself had changed. It was...wet...and dark. The darkness was
clearly spreading even in the brief moment Bazz observed it.

Puzzled, it took a moment for him to realize that the elf was not standing.
He was being held aloft. The darkness behind was no longer the void of the
stone passageway, but resolved into a barely discernible figure. It radiated
menace, made all the more terrible by the way its body somehow avoided the
light, leaving only its burning red eyes and gleaming fangs visible. In
horror, Bazz traced the fangs to the source of the liquid soaking the
healer's robes, where they plunged deep into the now weeping arteries of
the elf's neck.

Even as the Vampyre locked its bite on the neck of its hapless victim, it
stared directly at Bazz. Its red eyes glowed. They began to fill his vision,
overpowering the feeble light of the lantern, and he found himself unable to
look away. For a moment, nearly all was red. Then he heard a distracting
clatter of metal on stone, and in a moment of clarity he became aware that
the healer's eyes had opened again and were looking at him full of terror.
It was enough. He became aware of his surroundings again, and felt another
source of Light filling his vision. The tattoo at his wrist blazed with white
fire, pulsing in time with the now equally bright sword fallen to his side.
Without thought, he snatched it up and sprung at the interlocked figures,
plunging the sword directly into the eye of the dark creature. It collapsed,
releasing its hold and fading into itself.

Bazz quickly attended to the healer, panic and terror fading to relief. This
he knew. This he could do. He began his own prayer, preparing to save the
healer, already confident that no one else would die, that the darkness had
been beaten back. He felt calm...happy even. He closed his eyes for a moment.

...And the world slowly faded. Bazz first became aware of the feeling of
dampness where his shirt lay against his chest...