Ember Wind: Starlight City

Jungle

Come morning, Tangurple forced himself up and made his way into Creoft's room. Creoft was fast asleep in his bed, a half empty bottle of liquor was glued in his left hand which was dangled over the edge. Tangurple shook Creoft's shoulder and forced him awake. "Creoft, I have a question for you."

Creoft groaned and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and tiredly looked over at Tangurple. "humma wyada?" he mumbled incoherently.

"Where's Night?"

The question didn't quite sink in at first. Creoft sat there with a blank expression on his face. It took a few minutes for his brain to awaken but when it did, the question hit him like a battle bus. His eyes widened and he hastily looked away. "I... I'm sorry, Tang."

Tangurple lowered his head. "How'd she die?"

Creoft was hesitant. The question given to him provided two options, neither of which were favorable. He knew in his mind what was the right answer but he also knew the outcome that would follow. "She was lost in combat. Another casualty in our quest to go home..."

Tangurple quietly replied, "I see... Where's her stuff?"

"Downstairs in the trophy vault."
"I'll let you get some more sleep then..." His voice trailed off as he turned around to leave the room. He closed the door behind him and sluggishly walked down the stairs. Upon entering the trophy vault, he saw the dozen loot bags they'd pooled from the boss fight, plus a few extras. He knelt down and opened one pack after another, actively searching for a specific item. When he found it, he equipped it.

The black cloak with a blue lightning pattern covered most of his silvery, metallic armor. It was big enough to conceal everything but his shield. Amongst the loot bags was a claymore, a two handed sword often with a blade the size of a person. He swapped his sword and shield for the claymore and strapped it to his back. The sword and shield were tucked away into a remote corner of his inventory.

Falcher happened to be walking by and caught sight of Tangurple rummaging around. "Morning, kid. What are you up to?"

"Mourning, Falcher. Creoft told me about what happened and I..." his speech became muffled and interrupted by the forming of tears. "I need some alone time."

"You're not mad?" Falcher seemed baffled. "Probably should be grateful for that. Anyways, I'll leave you alone. Holler if you need anything, I doubt me or Cro are going anywhere any time soon." the gnoll sighed, "Sorry about her. It wasn't right."

Tangurple nodded in agreement, "It wasn't meant to be. God's got other plans for me, she just... she was only a piece in the puzzle, not the puzzle itself."

"That's rather... accepting? Are you already accepting reality or just bullshitting?"

"To be honest, I don't really know. I'm just numb. I lost something... someone important to me. I'll recover with time, I always do... It becomes a question of how long."

"Don't take too long now, we'll likely be needing you again if the Germans want to do any sort of raid."

"I'd be glad to miss that. I'll be in the next zone if you want to come find me."

"Next zone? Why would you want to go there?"

"Secluded, free of retarded players and greedy murderers. Plus, I want to see if it comes with more snow."

"Let me know how it goes then and try not to get yourself killed."

"I won't make any promises."

"I hate it when you say that."

"Everyone does. If you'll excuse me... I have some isolation to experience." Tangurple quickly excused himself of the conversation and of Falcher's presence. He left the GotC guildhall and through the transit shrine network, he teleported himself to Randstad, Ashua. From there, he spent the day hiking through the thigh deep snow and into the cave system where they'd killed Judas only two days ago.