Kadin picked a point on the mountain range ahead of him that he guessed was the most likely route that the necromancer was taking and as he moved forwards into the dark bleak land he kept his senses open to all that he could around him both looking for tracks that might be his quarry and on the lookout for creatures that inhabited these lands, he was close to the southern side of the blasted lands and so he didn’t expect to see any of the ice trolls or snow wolfs that dwelt in the northern range, but he did think he was close enough to the southern range that he could meet a orc or goblin tribe, or maybe even a cave or mountain troll. In fact the mountain range he was heading too was part of the eternal war mountain range, whereas the name suggests there has never been peace there between the dwarfs at the middle and southern ends and the orc, ogre and goblin tribes that dwell in the tunnels beneath and the hill men tribes and hill trolls on the surface. Occasionally a strong orc chieftain or war leader would try to unite the orc and goblin tribes but other than that each side fought any other that they would come across or is a tribe got too big they would fight amongst themselves and brake down into smaller tribes. The dwarfs rarely came above ground and whenever they did they would shackle a large ball and chain to each foot as they believed without a roof or cave over their heads they would fall into the sky.

Kadin kept moving towards that spot on the mountain side, he did find a few places of disturbed earth that could have been caused by a person, but chances were equally as good that they could have been caused by a lightning bolt or a twisted creature that the magical energies mutated animals too if they spent too long in the blasted lands, but he didn’t find anything else so he pushed on looking for a sign or signal or anything else that might help, his long sense now had an incredible range and he could feel life around him but nothing big enough to be a person or a threat. But after what felt like hours and nothing Kadin was beginning to second guess himself he stopped and tried to scan the area around him looking for anything, but after a few moments of not finding anything he was about to move on when he felt a strange tingling and like all the hair on his arm stood on end, he quickly drew his swords and spun looking for a threat, when a bright purple light filled his vision and all his senses screamed in agony, it was only for a second then it began to diminish he smelt a strong sense of sulphur and a sharp tinge like iron, there was also smoke rising from the land around him and his demon blades had a soft purple glow to them – he had been struck by a bolt of magical lighting his cloak and swords absorbed most of it and he felt it could have been much worse after a few more second his senses calmed back down and he as he tried to take a step found that the soles of his boots were slightly stuck to the stone ground he was standing on, but forcing himself to take a step then look back there was a circular scorch mark on the stone around the imprint of his boots, and was reminded again as to why nothing grew here some of the cracks in the ground had a dim glow coming from them yellows and reds, but he didn’t have time to be amazed he needed to push on.

As he started to head to the distant hills, and planning to not be struck by lightning again he cast a protection spell around himself a bubble that would absorb and dissipate the raw energy of another lightning bolt, no sooner than he cast it around himself there was another bolt this one green, he felt the field distort and bend with the impact and shimmering bubble of green light spread around him as it was being slowly drained out of the bottom of his shield into the ground, but then there was another bolt, this time it was an orange colour and that bent and deformed his shield even more, the light from that hadn’t even dimmed yet when he was hit with another bolt a sky blue, then another. The energy was building up too quickly to be dispersed the shield around him was shimmering with a full mix of colours but with each strike the power was building it was getting brighter and brighter, little arcs of electrical and magical energies began to pop and snap around him some arcing to the ground and draining some up into the air other through and around his bubble. Thinking fast Kadin completely covered himself in his cloak and crouched to his knees on the ground he put his arm over his face and tucked in his cloak with the other arm held to his chest, he then threw up a tiny shield angled away from him then then cut off the bubble.

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There was a bright flash as his weak shield was shattered and there was a loud pinging noise, along with a lot of cracking and popping as he felt impact after impact hit his cloak, he felt some hit his back, his sides and his arms but they all felt relatively weak guessing they were glancing blows as the energy dispersed. After a moment all was silent, so he slowly got back to his feet and looked around, the area around him was black with scorch marks and little impact sites some of which had even started to melt the stone but other than that he felt fine he took a hesitant step forwards to see what happened and then nothing another step and then he started to relax a little as there was still nothing. It was at this point that Kadin decided to limit his magical use here as he figured that was what was drawing the raw magical energies to him, slowly and cautiously he started walking forwards again. Time wise Kadin thought it must have been well after nightfall and he decided to keep a look out for a rest area around him as the distance passed, but the land was flat, charred and dark. Knowing this would be an issue for the necromancer he was chasing Kadin thought that he would come to the same conclusions and started angling on a more direct path towards the hills, instead of the long south east diagonal line he was taking he started taking a more full south route and would work his way along the border. After a few of what felt like hours Kadin knew he needed to rest. The hills and mountain range was still what he would estimate half a day’s walk away, so in the end he stacked some stones on top of one another in a rough half circle and put his back to that as he pulled up his hood, he was unable to set any magical traps around his rest sight but he lightly carve some glyphs into the ground around him – with all the magical energy in the air they should function well enough if his rest was quick, Kadin slowly drifted off. Fortunately for him there was no strange dreams or mental attacks his crude dwelling didn’t collapse on him and he wasn’t attacked for the night. He felt himself wake, he slowly got to his feet and looked around, the glyphs were now glowing with energy and the landscape seemed marginally less bleak than the day before a little ambient light seemed to be getting through the storm clouds overhead. But feeling awake and surprisingly refreshed, Kadin thought to himself

‘hhmm maybe the blasted lands aren’t as bad as everyone thinks.’ That thought haven’t fully finished forming before the new thought of.

‘I have just went and jinxed myself…’

But still he needed to move he took out some dried meat and berries from his pack and set off..

He hadn’t even finished his breakfast when a loud sharp screech sounded nearby, where his spirits dropped and he thought:

‘yup, Jinxed.’