| abstract | - "Oh welcome back hero and I see you brought a friend" he said. "Hey Murgo do you have the future thing yet?" I asked. "I haven't been able to procure the powerful conduit of all seeing clairvoyance, as I like to think of it, just yet but my sources has brought me a second curiosity, just as cursed as the first" he said. "Cursed?" Walter said as I shhhh him. "Surely you can't resist such an...attractive offer" he said. "Want to bet" Walter said from behind me as I elbowed him. "Sure let's see it" I said handing him five gold pieces as he handed me a gold skull. "What the hell is that?" Walter asked pointing at the skull. "What does it look like? It's a cursed skull" Murgo said. "Ok if this works just like last time than it should work now" I said as a bright light engulfed me Walter and Jake. We then ended up in a creepy dark ruins as Walter quickly looked around "where the hell are we?" he asked as I approached a strange wall that looked like a skull as its eyes glowed. "I sense the presences of the living…..hear my plea mortal one" a voice said as Walter stood next to me. "Were listening" I said. "I was once a brave knight cursed by a vile Necromancer to spend eternity in this terrible dimension, only the Wisps who hide nearby can release me from this torment" he said. "What do you want us to do?" I asked. "Bring them to me, that I may find peace at last" he said. "Well the Wisps don't exactly like us" Walter said. "The Wisps fear all that is living, hide behind the visage of the dead and you will gain their trust, lead them to me, I implore you" he said. "Where are we anyway?" Walter asked. "You're in Celestial Keep now open the sarcophagus" the Cursed Knight said as I pushed off the heavy lid off the sarcophagus and rose in eyebrow at its contents. "What's in it?" Walter asked. "Well apparently 'hiding behind the visage of the dead' means wear an ugly ass Hollow Man costume" I said holding up the costume. "And the Wisps are stupid enough to fall for that?" Walter asked. "Only one way to find out" I said putting on the costume as we went up to a locked gate with an ugly looking statue make an expression at us. "This bewitched statue shall open the way if you can mimic it exactly" the knight said as I did its exact expression as the gates flew open. "This place gives me the creeps" Walter said as I could see the Wisps. "Yeah it is" I said approaching the Wisps who were locked behind a gate and another ugly statue stood near the gate. "You will need to find the beast costume before you can open a gate, it's pieces lies future along the path but beware the true monsters" the Cursed Knight said as I looked at the ugly statue. "I think that's a Balverine" Walter said examining the statue. "So somewhere along this path the real thing is hiding?" I said. "I guess so" Walter said drawing his sword as I drew mine and followed the path and we heard Jake bark as something growled. "They're near!" I said as from the side of the trail a black furred creature with glowing yellow eyes and razor sharp claws came into view and turned its head towards us. "Have you ever fought one before?" Walter asked with nervousness in his voice. "Well I fought a Shadow Balverine but this is the first time I've seen the real thing" I said as the creature roared and began running towards us as I used Force Push to send it on its back as I quickly stabbed my sword threw its heart as it screamed in pain then died. "That was kind of scary" Walter said as I removed my sword. "Yeah this thing way uglier than I thought it would be" I said as I saw the gate with a chest behind it. "Come on I don't see any more and I think we'll want to keep it that way" I said as we made our way through the water and a growl came from a cylinder structure with green smoke coming out as a greenish Balverine crawled out and growled at us. "Careful that's a Poison Balverine" Theresa said as the thing jumped out and landed a few feet away from us. "Walter it's poisonous don't let it scratch or bite you!" I said pulling my gun out as I shot at the bloody thing. More of the monsters began to appear as they began to outnumber Walter and I "Sparrow were surrounded!" Walter said as his back pressed to mine as I shot down the first Poison Balverine. "I have an idea" I said. "What?" Walter asked. "Chaos!" I said as purple masked formed on all the Balverines faces as they started to attack each other and kill one another "Rise Dead!" I said as the ghost of the dead Balverines began to attack. "Wish I could use will" Walter said as we stayed clear from the monster fight as the last was killed off and the gates opened and Walter opened the chest. "Ok I'll wear the Hollow Man costume while you wear the Balverine costume" I said. "Fine but no one will hear of this!" he said. "I agree I don't want people to know about this particular quest" I said as we returned to the locked gate and opened it. "Remember, the Wisps fear the living flesh, only in the suite of the corpse will they fallow you" the cursed knight said as I led the Wisps back to him as the wall absorbed the Wisps. "Yes, yes I can feel the chains that hold me slipping away, bring me more I beg you!" he said as Walter and Jake looked towards me as I motioned to another locked gate that had Hobbes near the entrance of a cave as I shot them all down. "Something not right about the Cursed Knight" Walter said. "I know it feels like he's hiding something" I said as we entered the cave and began to explore it in search of more Wisps as we found more Hobbes appeared and I noticed a chest directly above us. "The last costume you need lies within that chest, you will have to become the most brutish of all creatures, can you do this?" the Cursed Knight asked. "Sure we can" Walter said opening the chest and pulled out a fat Hobbe costume. "That's the most brutish creature?" I said almost bursting into laughter. "Oh shut the hell up Sparrow!" Walter said as he handed me the Balverine costume and put on the Hobbe costume. As we made our way to a room filled with Hobbes and a green bubbling river "beware the poison river, you are far to contorted to cross it safely" the Cursed Knight said as we worked our way to cross it and used a ghost Hobbe to clear a boulder blocking a rock. "The Necromancer who imprisoned me had macabre sense of humor and a twisted love for costume parties, it was his belief that no hero would ever stoop to wearing such ridiculous outfits and so I would be trapped here forever" the Cursed Knight as I knew me and Walter felt mad at that evil Necromancer. "We never speak of this!" Walter growled. "Agreed!" I said as we managed to clear the poison river as we walked over to the other side. "I can sense them, more Wisps cutting through the air like mocking rays of sunshine! Bring them to me!" the Cursed Knight demand as we freed the last Wisps and brought them to the wall as it glow unnaturally. "Thank you witless mortal! You have granted me my freedom!" the Cursed Knight said as two red lights hit the ground and we saw a red hooded Necromancer. "He tricked us!" Walter yelled drawing his sword and tossing the costume as I did the same. "Now I will grant the greatest gift of all, death!" he said as we began the fight to stop the Necromancer who teleported every now and then bring Hollow Men into the battle as we fought off the Hollow Men then focused on the Necromancer. I finally tricked the man away from me and into Walter spot as he stabbed his sword into the Necromancer back as he turned to ash and a Cullis Gate opened. "Next time a talking wall talks to us, let's just ignore him!" Walter yelled. "Deal!" I said making my way with Walter and Jake to the Cullis Gate. We returned to the dock Murgo was waiting for us and smiled "that's quite remarkable, another successful exorcism, that skull shall make a perfect paper weight, lovely stuff" Murgo said pointing to the skull in my hands. "I say you smash the damn thing!" Walter said crossing his arms. "I don't have the last items but it will come soon" Murgo said as me and Walter walked back to Bowerstone Market. "I got to take care of some business so I'll see you soon Walter" I said. "Come back soon, it's boring here" Walter said as I made my way back to the Guild.
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