Herald of death

Ethan pushes open the Adventurer Guild door. Alara welcomes him with a smile, straightening up behind her desk. Russ lies down in front of the crackling fire, his body frozen by the biting chill of the morning air. Ethan walks up to the counter, placing the quest flier on it. "I've already gotten my reward from the guards," he informs Alara.

He glances at the board, searching for any other mentions of gangs or criminal activities. Finding none, he returns to Alara. "Would you perhaps have heard of Tobias Polsted, Edward Longstone, or Isabella Cruz?" A man chokes on his drink as he overhears her name.

"No, why?" Alara answers, narrowing her eyes as she looks at Ethan.

"Nothing too important; the names came up in some of the crimson hand discussions. I guessed they could have been victims of their activities," Ethan explains.

Glancing back at the board, he spots a D ranked quest for the capture of a living parasite. "It came in this morning; it looks ugly," Alara remarks, nodding at the depiction of the creature Ethan met a few nights ago.

"Indeed," he replies, his voice tinged with a hint of unease. "I just came in to return your poster. I have other matters to attend to." With a nod of farewell, he turns and leaves the guild, Russ padding silently behind him.

Outside, Ethan waits near the Adventurer Guild for the man who reacted at the mention of Isabella Cruz. After half an hour, he finally exits the building, and Ethan follows him.

Ethan keeps his distance as he trails the man through the crowded streets of the city. His eyes never leave his target, watching for any signs of suspicion or awareness. As they leave a marketplace, the man leads Ethan through narrow alleyways and dimly lit streets.

The man stops in front of a building tucked away in a secluded corner of the city. "That should be here," Ethan hears the man say. He removes a wooden blank barricading the door and enters.

Ethan scans the building and sees only the man and a host of cat-sized spiders. 'Down,' he orders before entering the building. The noise of crushed carapaces echoes through the building.

A soft tap on the man's shoulder sends him spinning around in surprise, his eyes widening in fear as he comes face-to-face with Ethan. "Tell me what you know about Isabella Cruz," Ethan demands, his voice low and menacing.

The man shakes his head, squeezing his eyes to better see Ethan in the barely lit interior. "Fuck! You can't scare people like that," he begins. "I know nothing about her; leave me alone."

The man returns to his job, finding another spider behind a crate. As he arms his strike, he falls to the ground, debilitated by Ethan's hex. The spider moves towards his head, cleaning its mandibles with its front paw. "I wonder how much their bite hurts. It would be a shame to be wounded on such a low-ranked mission," Ethan threatens.

The man's eyes widen in terror as the spider approaches. "You fucking mad! Ok … ok, we did a job for her a while ago, but we didn't know that she was a smuggler when we did it."

"Tell me where I can find her," Ethan insists, his tone brooking no argument.

"The docks! She has a hideout in the sewers; you can find it by following a skull mark from the output of the docks."

The spider jumps on his face. With a flick of the wrist, Ethan throws a rock that crushes it mid-flight, spreading its body on the floor. He releases his hex, leaving the building.

As they arrive at the docks, Ethan is greeted by a scene of organized chaos. Ships of all shapes and sizes line the waterfront, their crews bustling as they load and unload cargo. Crates and barrels are hoisted onto waiting carts.

Ethan scans the area, searching for the sewers. As he reaches the edges of the docks, he finds a dark opening in a stone wall. The sewers are large, with paved paths on each side of the stinking flow for maintenance.

Inside the sewers, the air is thick and suffocating. Ethan moves cautiously, using predator's sight to see through the darkness. The sound of dripping water echoes through the tunnels.

He spots a series of crude skull markings carved into the stone at each intersection. Following the trail of skull marks, Ethan navigates the maze-like sewers, his senses on high alert.

The system is built with a constant slope, enabling the sewage to evacuate without the need for modern pumps. 'That's pretty good engineering for medieval times,' Ethan thinks to himself.

He hears movement up ahead, the echo of footsteps reverberating through the tunnel. 'Heel,' he orders. A beggar appears on the other side of a tunnel.

His skin is sickly pale, his breathing is labored, and his eyes are tired. Focusing on him, Ethan realizes that five parasites live in the man. Ethan switches his focus to the sewage, detecting a few of them slowly swimming inside.

Ethan skirts around the beggar by making a detour and hopping to find another skull. He falls back on his path by taking a right and two lefts and finds another mark. A steel door, etched with a small skull, blocks his path.

He turns the handle, but finds the door locked. 'Strengthening,' he thinks before kicking the door down. The clatter of metal echoes in the sewers. He hears large claws rushing away, the noise sending shivers down his spine.

Through predator's sight, he can feel the sources of the creatures whose claws are scratching the ground as they move. But he's unable to sense their heart or see their shape. 'That's not what I came for,' he thinks, already taking a step back.

He hears pained groans coming from afar, beyond the door. Humans, whose bodies are barely alive, lay on the ground or dangle attached to the ceiling.

Ethan draws his Starfell longsword and dagger before walking back to the sewers' entrance. The faint glow of torchlight flickers in the distance. A group enters the sewers, blocking his escape route.

He walks into a tunnel away from the smugglers' path, hoping they will pass him without noticing. Their whispers reach him through his heightened senses.

"Can't believe they brought a Huskstalker from the dark continent; It must have been a pain to capture alive," one whispers.

'What? Those parasites come from the same things I killed in that hospital?' Ethan asks himself.

"And it will make us a lot of money once Blackwood's client pays for it," another chimes in.

Ethan hears a low growl echoing from beyond the door, followed by the sound of creatures slithering in the darkness. One comes for him, lunging with its claws, thrashing the air. Using strengthening, Ethan cuts the creature clean in half, sending one half on the wall and the other into the sewage.

"Russ leveled up," the voice announces. Visibly panicked, Russ melts with the surrounding darkness, rendering him almost invisible.

"What was that?!" a smuggler yells.

Another one smacks him in the head. "Shut the fuck up; it's probably just a beg–" His voice is interrupted by the sound of fangs piercing his skull.

Chaos ensues among the smugglers. Their weapons slide across the Huskstalker scales as the beasts' claws thrash their bodies. Another rushes at Ethan from the fallen door. Ethan casts Flame and sends a jet of fire through the tunnel. The monster rolls on the stone passage, shrieking in pain.

Ethan drives his blade through the creature's skull. "Russ leveled up," the voice announces.

The five Huskstalkers who killed the smugglers turn back, rushing toward Ethan. They split, taking two passages so as to attack from both sides at once. Ethan rushes for the fallen door, readying another flame spell.

He checks that no other creature waits for him at the door frame and spins around. He casts his spell as precisely as possible and unleashes it as the creatures reach the door. The stream pushes them back, tearing apart their shells as they burst aflame. A gut-wrenching sound resonates through the walls as their forms pop under the intense heat.

"Russ leveled up."

The pile of flaming monsters blocks the door. Ethan hears movements coming from behind him, deeper into the smuggler's lair. "Fuck," he mutters.