[Ryine]Ryine's Homecoming

[Oath]

Ryine's personal quarter's at the Guild had been turned inside out. A few days had passed since the second great attack by the turkeys, and Ryine had disappeared. There was no evidence in his room to suggest that there was a struggle or any sort of foul play.

Ryine had been on the road for a few days, when reaching into his pocket he felt a sheet of paper. "Huh, that isn't supposed to be there..." Pulling the sheet from his pocket, he realized it was his farewell 'letter' "Oh... No. They are probably angry."

Everyone,

Some stuff has happened. I will be back soon. I think.

Ryine.

"Oh well, it can't be helped!" Ryine crumpled the paper and put it back into his pocket.

A couple days after the Feast of Thanks, Ryine had received a letter from the family of his fiancee. It was a simple letter, it detailed that the engagement must be annulled, because his fiancee, Chelsea had passed away. It was mentioned that her death was from what appeared to be an attack from some sort of creature, as her corpse was found covered in claw marks. Without wasting a second, Ryine packed his belongings and rushed out of the Guild, despite it being in the middle of the night.

Arriving home without incident, he made haste to the Brewstorm family home. They were a family of simple means, that made a living brewing various types of alcohol. Ryine spent a somber evening with the family, and promised that he would seek out revenge, and closure for whatever killed Chelsea.

As it turned out, his hometown of Dewfeld had seen a string of killings in recent weeks. It was too small to make a splash in the city, and Ryine hadn't heard about the turmoil until it struck closer to him. Each of the victims died in the same manner, a large number of claw marks all over the body. Ryine blamed himself for the situation getting this bad, if he had only known, he could have done something about it. Chelsea would still be alive. He knew that he would never again see her smiling face. The pain ate at him, but the problem was still at hand.

Ryine went around the village, asking everyone he could find if they knew anything about the recent incidents. Information gathering wasn't his forte, but he had to get to the bottom of this. All of the people he talked to seemed to be saying the same thing: the victims were all alone at the time they were attacked, there were no witnesses.

Trying to think of what to do, Ryine was sure that some of his friends from the Guild would be able to come up with some sort of elaborate plan that would allow them to defeat the unknown enemy before them. But Ryine was not them; he had to do things in his own way. Following the pattern of the attacks, and the general fear of the townspeople, Ryine decided to wander around at night. His plan was simple. Act as bait to lure out whatever had terrorized the village.

He walked alone, a lantern held in one hand. After a couple of hours, and several rounds of the village, Ryine heard a snarling sound coming from the forest.  A beast? He thought to himself, as he readied his longsword and approached the source of the sound. As he closed in on the edge of the forest, two large, fur-covered bipedal creatures lunged at him.

Caught by surprise, Ryine was flung several feet landing on his back. The lantern rolled out of his hand and across the ground. The two creatures were snarling as the closed in on him. He got to a knee, and sprung himself forward as they leapt towards him. He rolled, regained his composure and drew his shield before charging into combat.

The dim light from his lantern flickered as the sounds of claws clashing with metal, bouncing off Ryine's shield, and blade. He danced around the flurry of claws from his enemies, looking for opportune times to strike. His blood boiled, thinking that these were the creatures that had stolen his love away from him. That rage overcame him, and he began to be careless. He swung his blade recklessly hacking through fur, skin, and into bones. Claws raked across his body, cutting him open and letting his blood flow. He lost himself in a trance of combat, and when he regained himself, he was on a knee.

Rain had started to fall, mixing with his blood, and the blood of the creatures. The stream of water, blood, and dirt pooled up in various holes across the ground. His blade was stuck fairly deep into the dirt, and he held onto it for support. His wounds seemed to be pretty serious, but not especially life threatening. "The deed is done. May you rest in peace, Chelsea."

Ryine remained where he was for quite some time, it wasn't until one of the local children called out to him that he began to move. He pulled his blade out of the ground, and sheathed it. Then used the sheathed blade as a sort of cane. He staggered over to the child. "You will be safe." After his terse words, he stumbled to his family's home, where he fell into a heap on a bed and slept. His family was out of town on business, or so the neighbors had said.

The local pastor said that the creatures were werewolves, and that they were most definitely the culprits behind the recent attacks that Dewfeld had suffered. The news had spread around town quickly, that Ryine had returned and killed the creatures.

He paid another visit to the Brewstorm family, and let them know that Chelsea could rest in peace. They could have closure, so could everyone else in town that had lost loved ones. Ryine was apologetic, and regretful, but he could not spend much time in town, he had to move along.

Before leaving, Ryine paid a visit to the fresh grave of Chelsea Brewstorm, and left a heap of flowers. "I'll remember you always, Chelsea. This I swear." He was solemn, and after a few minutes of silence, he said a small prayer and left the grave.
Ryine had decided that he could not head back to the Guild just yet; he would travel the land and help other places with problems involving creatures of the night. Months had passed by in a flash, and Ryine had seen a lot. However, one particular encounter had changed him forever. Another small town, known as Cayhill was dealing with a vampire problem. There was an estate of some forgotten noble family around half a day's journey away, and a vampire had taken up residence there. Girls from the village had been disappeared for months, but there wasn't anyone that was strong enough to deal with the problem and their cries and pleas for help from larger cities had fallen upon deaf ears.

It only took a single day in the village for Ryine to decide that he would help them. His mentality from his old sell-sword days seemed unwilling to die. Help those who need it, even if they can't afford it. He received directions to the estate, and promised the locals that they would know justice.

The estate was on a cliff, overlooking the water, only a single path lead up the incline to it, and there didn't seem to be any signs of life. Ryine knew something was there, and he was determined to eliminate the threat. Vampires were known for being active at night, so Ryine would venture forth during the day.

Alone, he climbed the path to the estate, and the door was locked. He took the liberty of destroying said door, and charged into the unknown. A variety of lesser undead creatures seemed to be sharing in residence with the vampire, and they were easily dispatched by the seasoned warrior. At the back of the building, a spiral staircase went down into the cliff. The rest of the estate seemed to be free of the vampire so there was nowhere else to check. He procured his lantern and strode through the winding halls down below.

Ryine entered a circular chamber, eight exquisite statues were placed along a circular path, each representing a different beast or being. in the center, sat a coffin with a lone figure sitting on top.

"Another foolish mortal seeks to challenge me?" A rasp voice pierced Ryine's soul.

His lantern streaked light across the coffin. A beautiful woman with flowing hair and pale skin was the one speaking.

"Silence, vampire." Ryine pointed his blade in her direction. "The people of Cayhill will know peace." He charged the vampire before she could respond.

The two clashed, blades singing as they struck each other, each failing to catch flesh. They struggled back and forth, each unable to strike true. Ryine finally managed to land a few solid hits, though they didn't seem to cause much in terms of damage. The back and forth continued, Ryine suffered many wounds of his own. The battle raged on, brutish and ugly. Ryine slashed at the vampire with all of his strength and his blade found purchase. It was a solid hit but in the process his blade snapped in two. The hilt remained in his hand, the blade slid across the floor screeching as it ran across the stone floor.The vampire fell to the ground, shrieking in pain as Ryine quickly pulled the wooden stake he had prepared out of his pack. He hammered it into her heart, and searched the body. The vampire had a set of keys on her, so he snagged those and set out to explore a bit more of the complex.

The door opposite to where he had entered the chamber was locked and opened from one of the keys on the ring. The room that the door opened into was small, perhaps only six feet wide, but in the middle of the room, a gigantic sword rested inside a pedestal. As his lantern rolled light over the blade, Ryine noticed three things immediately. First, this sword was huge. At least eight feet in length, if not longer. Second, the blade was made of a material he had never seen. Third, there were many runes inscribed across the blade, and Ryine had no idea what any of them meant.

"Man, I bet Kin would be jealous of this beauty." Ryine looked down at the hilt that he was still holding in his hand. "I could use a new sword."  He chuckled as he looked about the room for anything that could be used as a stool. Ryine found a few crates that were empty, and stacked them on top of each other before climbing on himself. He grabbed the hilt of the oversized  blade, and pulled with all his might. He loosed the blade, and lost his balance on top of the stack of crates, crashing to the floor. "Well, I got it out. Now to test it."

Ryine walked back into the room where the vampire lay, stake still driven into her heart. He raised the new blade, and brought it down upon her head. It was a clean cut, and the people of Cayhill wouldn't have to worry about this vampire any longer. He returned to Cayhill with his treasure, and let the people know that the threat has been eliminated. Resting for just a couple of days, Ryine thanked the people for their hospitality and continued on his way.

The next many months passed, and Ryine traveled across the land as a sole soldier. He primarily sought out creatures of the night, attempting to atone for Chelsea's death. His reputation had extended before him, though the people had come to simply known him as "Night's Bane" A man that wandered the land, with a sword much too large for himself, A black hooded cloak, and eyes that had seen things that couldn't be forgotten. He battled countless abominations, and saved as many people. Not for fame, not for fortune, but because he felt it was his duty.

Feeling that the deed was at last done, Ryine decided it was high time to return to the Guild of Galas'nor. He approached his personal quarters, a sight he had not seen for more than a year. He opened the door, and much to his surprise, he found that his room was not as he had left it.

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY ROOM??"

[Linwelin]

"Lyolf."

A familiar voice announced from behind. And a little toward the ground.

"Lyolf happened- Wait a second, Ryine!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Kin blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. And upon seeing one more thing, he even pinched himself. "AND WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS IS THAT UNGODLY THING ON YOUR BACK!?" He was, of course, pointing to your new sword, his jaw hanging open. You could swear he almost drooled. In a short moment, he gathered himself a bit, wiping his mouth of any possible saliva. "Ahem...anyways, the elf is in there doing...something. I don't wanna know what. He started before anyone noticed, I don't even know how the cretin even got into your place."

[Oath]

Ryine looked at the dump that was his room. "Of course it would be Lyolf, that one always did like playing around."

Turning around, he looked down in Kin's direction. "Ah, Kin! You'll never believe this! I had to leave in a hurry and forgot to leave the letter that I wrote behind, so that everyone would know what was going on." He let out a hearty laugh as he recalled his mistake. "Had to return home for a while, and then some other things came up. Though the end result was this sword that you see now. Not entirely sure what it does, but it is really good at cutting things."

Ryine smiled, and turned back to the giant mess in his room. "Alright Lyolf, come on out!"