“How should a story begin? Some of those among you might think to begin with a well-known phrase such as ‘it was a dark and stormy night’, ‘Once upon a time…’, or ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away’. But these phrases cannot lead to truly good storytelling, they imitate, and in doing so will never reach the true heights of a true legend. Besides, reusing such phrases is unpleasant to any bard worth their salt. Each story should begin with a sentence unique to the book itself, something aligned with the content the story intends to convey. But beyond the first sentence is something far more important, at least if you want your story to be any good. You see, all the truly great stories begin with either Birth… or Death”.

Alabaster Grey, First of the Dead Bards Cult

 Corin was familiar with death. It had taken his parents while he was young, and it had taken all of his clients throughout his career of nearly a decade. Of course, their untimely deaths were typically reason they employed him. 

 “Look” Corin said with the deep, smooth voice of a well built man in his late twenties, “I don’t care how you died on a personal level, I’m a strict professional about these matters, but the fact is I am not going to try and chase down a specific rat that bit you a couple weeks ago, it simply isn’t worth it”. 

 “Not worth it! Not worth it! What do you mean it’s not worth it!” shrieked the portly ghost floating in front of him, “Don’t you know who I am! I am SIR Wesley of Dingleshire! How DARE you speak to me thi-” The sound of Corin slapping Sir Wesley of Dingleshire filled the air. A look of shock spread across his ghostly face. 

 “How… how did you just do that?” whispered the ghost, suddenly growing quiet.

 “You know who I am.” Corin said simply

 “Ah” said Sir Wesley, as if that brief answer had explained everything. “But still, I’m begging you, take revenge on that rat that gave me that horrid plague in the prime of my life! It took me away from my children far too soon…” At that, he gazed wistfully off into the distance, a single ghostly green tear floating from his eye.

“What children?”, Corin rebutted sarcastically, “You mean your four pet hamsters? I’m sure once they’ll run out of food they will somehow escape from the cage you’ve put them in and definitely not eat each other.”

“Oh of course, you’re right, my little fluffballs could never hurt each other, but still you absolutely MUST take revenge for me, I won’t give you my legend until you fulfill your half of the bargain” said Sir Wesley.

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“Yes I understand that”, Corin replied tersely, “but like I was trying to explain earlier, the rat is not what killed you, you were clearly killed by rat poison, not a single rat bite.” 

“Ohhhhh… I don’t remember even buying rat poison though, how would I have ended up eating it?”.

Corin simply sighed and shook his head, though the action was hardly visible with the cloak he was wearing, “You were murdered, there’s an injection site on the back of your neck”

“WHAT! I demand you find and kill the person who killed me in exchange for my legend!”

“Finally,” Corin whispered to himself before addressing the ghost “I accept this bargain” With a sudden *pop* Sir Wesley of Dimbleshire disappeared and Corin was left alone in the dark room. *pzzt* A blue screen appeared in front of Corin’s eyes

BARGAIN ACCEPTED

VIEW STATS?

“Yes, view stats” thought Corin. Immediately a far bigger screen replaced the old one. 

Dexterity

29

Strength

22

Constitution

24

Aether (Death, Shadow, and Goat unlocked)

18

Legends Obtained

King Luther Nox (Ensured successor was not assassinated before coronation) (+10 STR, +10 CON)

Grandmage Archivus (Killed Archmage Tonia) (+10 AET, +10 DEX)

Sir Hux of Poindexter (+1 DEX)

[…]

Current Bargains

Avenge Sir Wesley of Dimbleshire (+2 CON, +1 AET)

Walk Mark Dragonsbane’s Pets Thrice Weekly For 10 Years (+20 DEX, +20 STR, +30 AET, Dragon Aether Unlocked)”

After perusing the screen Corin removed his hood, revealing a tan adult man, with a lean jawline. His sharp blue eyes looked somewhat menacing as he stood and looked around the dim room, which lacked windows and had but a single old oak door, which looked quite solid. The only furniture was the wooden stool he had been perched on, which looked as if a stiff breeze could cause it to shatter into several pieces. With a dismissive wave of his hand the screen vanished. He stood still for a few more moments before reaching into his Aether pool and throwing a fistful of Aether into the shadow of the stool. Before the Aether could dissipate he reached out with his will and formed it into the sigil he used for communicating with his contact in the city guard. 

Once the connection had formed, he heard boisterous laughter and riotous music, along with a crowd chanting “CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!”. Followed by the slam of an empty mug on wood and a victorious battle cry whose voice was unfortunately familiar to Corin. He sighed and closed the connection by releasing his concentration on the spell. “Perhaps tomorrow midday I can catch Johnathan sober enough to give me some information. But for now, I suppose it’s time to pay the rent”. Corin exited the room into the city street just as the sun was setting. The city grew quiet as people were heading home as the sunlight faded, and the weather was only moderately chilly, as it tends to be during the season that summer turns to fall. He closed the door behind him softly, and carefully made his way down the road towards the Yellow Wolf Inn. He still had a performance due, and it was always best not to delay such things.