Ren:

It was a paticularly cold day. It had been for awhile now, in the middle of summer. It was not abnormally cold anywhere else other then where this "Corruption" had spread. The ground was still, and everything seemed a bit less colorful.

Ren made his way to the center of the city. He had his bow with him. That's when he saw one of them. A black crystal lay near the fountain. He quickly moved around the edge of the center, keeping an eye on it, and approached the fountain from the other side, filling up two buckets and putting them on a cart. One for drinking, one for washing and bathing.

He then went to the market. Several of those same crystals were scattered throughout the market. He actively tried to avoid them, and get some food at the same time. Ren knew he couldn't stay here much longer. Supplies would run out. He just didn't know where to go. The nearest Settlement was 2 days away, and was Elven.

Ren looked at his arm, having thought of the elves. The symbols on his arm were still glowing. He pulled his sleeve over it, covering the symbols and making them non-visible, before he heard some sort of flapping. a bunch of Ravens then flew past him from them front gate. Only one reason they would fly away from there....

Red quickly ran with the cart, parking it by the entrance, he quickly pulled two arrows out of his quiver, and pulled them into his bow. He looked around a corner quickly, and saw 3 people, but he did not recognize them. He could not even tell who they were. He drew a third arrow, put it in his quiver, and quickly went turned around the corner with 3 arrows in his bow, one aimed at each of them. "Halt! Who are you!". A 10 year old just told that to 3 armed men, though he can in fact hit all 3 of them. Let the adventure begin

(so to speak. Also, any elf would be able to sense the Magic in him, and anyone would be able to see the Runes/Symbols on his arm, provided the sleeve was pulled up. However, they are so old, it would be impossible for anyone to read them without the proper Translation book)

The chilly wind nipped at Carrick's nose, and he lightly batted at it with his hand.

The majority of this day had spent traveling, as most of the days past had been spent. The sound of Gaoth's (his trusted steed) hooves clomping on the dirt underneath their feet had become almost as accustomed to Carrick's ears as his own heartbeat. The journey had been long, but they had finally reached their destination, the town to which they had been trekking towards. Carrick was more than a bit excited to be able to settle down for a nice dinner for once.

Carrick trotted into the town quietly, not really making any observations aloud. He and The Warrior had been traveling together for awhile now, and although they did share banter along the way, it had become almost a custom for them to remain quiet for certain parts of the duration. And one of those parts, of course, was the discovery of a new place.

Upon his steed, Carrick certainly looked like a noble man. It was rather comical, though, because many often mistook him for a knight or some other form of warrior nobility, when in reality he was but a Squire; he hadn't been doing this long enough to establish any sort of name for himself. Still, he held his posture with high dignity and hoped that he would represent his People well, even if he was not necessarily fighting for them at the moment. He was just thinking to himself about how quaint the entrance to the area seemed when the child approached them, threatening them with scourge of arrows. Normally Carrick would have paid no heed to this threat; however, he noticed the accuracy with which the child was holding the bow, the steadiness at which he leveled it, and the overall calm energy that was radiating from the boy. It also become noticeable to him that this boy had runes inscribed on his arms.

"I am Carrick Eamon, a Squire of Gondor," he decided to introduce himself first, simply because he was the first to react. He would allow the others to introduce themselves. "And I can say first and foremost that we intend no harm upon this place," he added this with a touch of sincerity, his eyes resting upon the boy with a hint of respect.

John:

John scanned the desolate entrance to the town. Like any other major settlement they came across, it was empty. And strange enough, there was some sort of strange crystals, spaced out, around the town. Before he could investigate however, a boy wielding a bow and arrows turned the corner and threatened them. While the boy seemed inexperienced, his hands and his position with a bow were dead on accurate. Abnormally dead on accurate. That's when he noticed the boy's arm. It was covered by a sleeve, but there was some sort of glowing symbol on it. Maybe multiple symbols.

Counting on the boy's fear and inexperience, he then said "Listen, okay, how about you put down the bow before you hurt anyone.....". But this was met with an arrow wisking 2 inches left from his head, hitting a bucket behind him, which falls into a barrel. The boy was quick to add a new arrow to the bow. That's when, after letting the squire speak, and giving some room for the elf to say something, he says "Who are you? What are you doing here all by yourself? What is with these strange crystals....".

He began walking over to one, but then some sort of man, a town guard, charged out with a steel battle axe. He quickly tried to chop off John's head, but John was quick to back up, and slice the head off the attacker. "What are these things?" "Who are these people?" "We must be careful......">

That's when John looked at the crystal. It had turned darker as soon as he got close. That's when Ren asked, finally, "Your from Gondor? Do you know where the next nearest settlement is I can get transport from? No one has been here because of whats been going on.....".

That's when John told him "Every Major settlement has been abandoned when we got to it. The difference is, we never found these crystals here.....what do they do?".

"As far as I can tell, they drive people crazy, and eventually make them disappear......so stay away from them...".

That's when a large crackle could be heard overhead. Thunder. Thunder and Rain. "We should get inside. It will be night soon......".

(Hope that's good!)

Aunon remained silent as he inspected his surroundings with his emerald eyes. He decided not to speak after his companion had stopped, but eyed the armed boy suspiciously. When the attacker was decapitated by John, the blonde-haired elf dismounted his horse and examined the dead man's body. Aunon listened intently as Ren explained, but was interrupted as he noticed the grey storm clouds in the sky, then the rain began to fall. He followed John and the group into the shelter of one of the abandoned buildings, and left the horses outside.

"How long have the crystals been here?" The elf asked Ren in his quiet and feminine voice.

(So sorry it's so short)

Carrick



Carrick followed behind quietly, after the scene between John and Ren had been followed through. He did not particularly like the fact that someone had been killed during this exchange, though he could not understand why the guard had attacked in the first place. After Ren's explanation, though, it made at least a bit more sense. As an afterthought, while the others went into the abandoned building, Carrick quickly turned around and grabbed the reins of Gaoth's harness. He guided the horse to the nearest stable-like structure (which actually just appeared to be a roof with no real sides to the building) and tied him up there. He took an apple from his satchel and gave it to the horse, rubbing the beast's nose a bit before trotting off to join the others in the building.

Once inside, Carrick took it upon himself to make himself somewhat dry. He picked up the bottom of the cloak he was wearing, then used the inside of it (which had remained dry) to wipe the excess water from his face and hair. Once dry, he let the cloak again plummet to the ground. He listened as the others asked their questions, but found one of his un-answered. "Has anyone tried to remove the crystals?"

Carrick looked around the rugged, abandoned building and saw a makeshift chair in the corner. He went to it, taking a seat; although he hoped that the storm would let up soon enough, he wanted his legs to be well-rested in case they needed to do any amount of walking or running.

Ren:

Ren quickly began shutting the windows and doors when they began asking more questions. "They initially were found a year ago, but nothing happened, so we just ignored them. Or made them ornaments. Or such. They got scattered around. Then, all of a sudden, they start glowing slightly, and they change color. Next thing we know, people are going crazy, disappearing, or worse......".

Thats when John asked "Wait, whats wor....", but was interrupted by a dark horse noise. The sound, the depth, it was all dark. Ren took cover behind a wall by a door, with a window over him, and kept himself close to it to avoid being seen. He motioned for the others to hide too. John quickly took cover behind some furniture.

Thats when some sort of shadowy, black figure approached the building. It was not a Nazgul, but, if anything, it was close to one. Whatever being had once been the owner of that body, it was deformed and changed, make into some sort of creature of dark power. The air chilled by its pure presence, everything seemed to get a bit darker, and the rain tasted sour. You could now literally see your breath, something you could not before.

Thats when it began to leave, turning away, and the effects began to recede. And in an instance, it disapeared. But there was Dark Magic at work here, that was made obvious. Very powerful Dark Magic.

Thats when Ren looked at Carrick, and noted "The last time someone tried to remove a crystal was the first time he showed up....".

However, that's when John asked a question, the very question Ren was trying to avoid. "Why haven't you been affected yet?"

Ren pulled his Sleeve down over his arm with the symbols/glyphs a little more, making the already hidden symbols still hard to read/notice. "I don't know. I have just been keeping my distance....". A lie. Maybe not a complete lie, but Ren suspected it was his symbols/runes on his arm.