Taylor and her dour band of adventurers cut their way through the fungal forest of Nurgle's domain. Together, Taylor, Lukas, and Cereza became an efficient killing machine. Lukas would act as bait, the tank, drawing all attention to himself while Cereza and Taylor flanked and hit their enemies at range.
For hours, days, or weeks, Taylor couldn't tell, they trudged through the forest, killing all who stumbled into their path. Wandering packs of Beastmen who sought to hunt down the intruders to their realm, half-starved hounds whose mouths salivated with foul poison or spike-covered razorgor boars looking for their next meal, and in one case, a lost Chaos spawn, a hideous mutated mass of flesh, tentacles, and teeth. Taylor screamed when she saw that one, and once they slayed it she made sure it was dead with a pyre that threatened to spread out of control.
It was through this pattern that the party continued through the forest of Nurgle for an indeterminate amount of time. They never stopped to rest long, at most taking a few hours of rest every other day. Taylor didn't exactly need to rest, as her new physiology no longer required it, but she accepted it nonetheless.
Despite the bridges that Cereza kept trying to build between them, the three didn't speak much during their foray into the forest, the tension between Taylor and Lukas saw to that. But Taylor did continue her lessons with the Advisor during these breaks, learning more and more of the Old World. Occasionally Cereza would make comments, giving Taylor first hand accounts of the Border Princes and Araby, territories that the Sartosa Free Company often raided. Even Lukas would occasionally throw in tidbits about the Empire when they spoke on it, even if most of his comments were to insult Reikland or any province but his own.
On the Nth day of their travel, Taylor noted that the trees around them were far larger than the ones where they entered. These trees were older. They must've been getting close to the center of the forest. But that wasn't the only indicator that they were approaching the heart of the Plague God's land.
In the distance, hidden by moss, vines, and general erosion, Taylor saw structures. Ruins. Taylor could see the remains of what looked like an ancient city. The buildings were made of aged marble, chipped and eroded over time, not unlike ancient Roman or Greek ruins, while the designs of decorative knots and pointed arches reminded Taylor of a kind of Celtic vibe.
"What is this place?" Taylor asked her Advisor.
"An Asrai ruin," The Old Man said as he trudged forward with his walking stick. "This was once a city or outpost of the fayfolk of Athel Loren, the greatest of the Wood Elves."
"How sad," Taylor commented. These ruins looked like they would've been beautiful, but were now fallen into disrepair and decay.
"Don't be so quick to give sympathy to the Wood Elves." Lukas interrupted. "They are a violent people who slaughter any and all who enter their forests, evil or not."
"Yes because I'm sure every person who trespassed into their domain was innocent." Taylor snipped.
Lukas turned his head to growl at Taylor, but was interrupted by Cereza.
"My look at that! If that isn't what we're looking for, I'll eat my hat." Cereza said as she gestured to the towering ruins of what looked like a temple.
The structure was not unlike the ancient churches, temples, or mosques of Taylor's world. It was tall, easily standing 50 feet tall, and made of the same marble that the surrounding ruins were. The temple's main building had several pointed spires at its corners, and the tower that was once in the center of the structure was destroyed, leaving a gaping hole in its roof. Surrounding the building were stone terraces that Taylor recognized as beds for flowers. But instead of bushes of beautiful flowers or wisend trees, there were only more fungus and carnivorous plants. From the hole in the temple's roof, Taylor could see a green glow pulsating from within.
"This was a temple to Isha." The advisor informed her. "By desecrating the places of worship for other gods, followers of Chaos can obtain more power and favor from their benefactors."
"Blasphemy." Lukas sneered. "I hold no love for the Elves, but they are preferable to the foul followers of Chaos." He then drew his sword. "Come. Let us cleanse this land of its filth and claim this artefact."
Taylor and Cereza nodded at the knight as they raised their respective weapons, a flame for Taylor and a rapier and pistol for Cereza.
Slowly, Lukas pushed the doors of the Temple to Isha open. From within, the stench of the interior almost made the party stop and collapse there. It was beyond foul as Taylor resisted the urge to dry heave, her eyes watering.
Risking a glance up, Taylor saw beautiful statues and carvings of Elven women dancing and praying desecrated by piles upon piles of rotted meat, plants, and other unidentifiable material. Plagues of flies and other insects buzzed over the mush of decaying matter, many of which flew out and passed Taylor, into the open air.
The building itself was a great, mostly empty hall save for the disgusting filth which filled it and the statues the were spread out throughout, creating what almost looked like a garden. Twisted, gnarled thorny plants which ripped their way through the stone floor and broken windows completed the aesthetic. It was a garden of death and decay. Fitting for Nurgle.
What stuck out however, was that in the center of the temple, atop a desecrated altar, stood a tower pillar of warpstone rather than a statue of the Elven goddess. The slab of wyrdstone was massive, easily towering over 20 feet into the air, almost poking through the hole in the ceiling. In fact, it appeared that the chuck of warpstone was probably what created the hole in the roof in the first place. Adjacent to the glowing green central pillar were several smaller growths of warpstone, some only the size of small potted plants while others stood the size of a person. Taylor could instinctively feel the magic coming off of them, strengthening her magic at the cost of eating away at her soul.
However, even the massive tower of crystalized magic could not take Taylor attention from the true treasure within this room. Below the tower of warpstone, placed upon the broken altar, was the Armor of Morkar. The suit of black iron looked like its base was that of knight's plate armor, but grossly exaggerated. The metal plates were extraordinarily thick, and looked impossibly heavy to wear, with pointed spikes decorating it wherever possible. The armor was also huge. It looked like it was sized to fit a giant of a man. Even at her new height, Taylor doubted she could fit into it.
There was a figure in front of the armor, kneeling before it as if praying. It took Taylor a moment to figure out what manner of creature she was looking at. It was a bestigor, but larger than any of the beastmen they'd fought thus far. His body was swollen with power, almost making him the size of a minotaur. And more striking than that was that the bestigor was mostly hairless, showing off its gray, rotted skin decorated by oozing sores and fetid boils atop of rippling muscles and fat.
He wore plate armor like most bestigors, but this armor was rotted and rusted, taking an almost green coloration. But worst of all was his smell. Its pungent aroma even overtook the rotting meat and excrement surrounding him.
"That is Rothide!" Lukas shouted before gagging from the stench.
"Who?" Taylor dumbly asked before she took in a breath of foul air and began coughing.
"Rothide!" Lukas wheezed as he tried to cover his face with a scarf. "He is a Beastlord that served Khazrak One-Eye, the rival of my lord Boris Todbringer. His stench alone is sometimes enough to rout whole units!"
Taylor had no trouble believing that as her eyes watered. When Rothide stood up, turning to face the intrusion into his temple, his stench wafted off him, assaulting Taylor and her allies. Then and there Taylor bent over and vomited, no longer able to contain it. Still woozy Taylor looked at her allies. The Advisor was gone, no surprise there, but Cereza and Lukas weren't doing much better than she was, gagging and vomiting from Nurgle's "blessing" of stink.
So powerful was the stench that the battle hardened Lukas could do nothing as Rothide approached, raising a rusted, terrible looking mace and swung it with an ear-splitting bray. Lukas was barely able to raise up his shield and brace himself, turning what would've been a deathblow into a strike that instead sent him flying through the air and into a stone wall.
Twisting around Rothide then moved for Cereza. The pirate was barely able to flop to the ground, dodging a horizontal swing that would've turned her into a red mist. Rothide roared at Cereza, howling in rage as he missed. He raised his mace into the air to pulverize Cereza, who was still prone on the ground.
Gritting her teeth Taylor tried to ignore the stench and focused her magic and summoned a ball of fire in her hand. The fireball was small, probably the size of a softball as she couldn't focus any more magic than that. She flung it right at the back of Rothide's head.
The firebolt exploded, searing the Pestigor's helmet and back. Skin blistered and burned, adding the smell of cooked meat to the foul stench of the ruins.
But that's all Taylor's firebolt did, as it did not have enough power or heat to actually put down the monster. It did, however, accomplish Taylor's goal of saving Cereza, as Rothide's attention was now focused solely on her.
Rothide stepped towards her, the ground shaking with every step. Taylor tried to flee, but the waft of Nurglite stench bombarded her, causing her to drop to all fours and dry heave once more. Taylor was stuck like this for several seconds, more than enough time for Rothide to reach her and swing his weapon.
Taylor felt the air squeeze out of her lungs as Rothide's mace slammed into her side. Taylor felt her ribs and several organs cry out in pain as she flew through the air, slamming into a statue of an elf. It was only her infernal enhancements as a Chaos Warrior that kept her from exploding into a bloody mess from the impact.
Taylor's body fell to the ground, bouncing off of the statue like she was nothing more than a basketball as she landed. Coughing more, Taylor rolled to her side, slowly pushing herself off the ground, but the foul stench made it hard for her to focus. Through watered eyes, Taylor looked up and saw Lukas and Cereza fighting against Rothide, but failing miserably. They were slow, sluggish, barely holding it together as they fought to keep their revulsion in.
In a brilliant display of intelligence, Lukas was trying to fight while holding his breath. He was able to get two sluggish sword swings in when Rothide's fist met his breastplate. The impact forced Lukas's mouth open and he gasped in a lungful of the foul air, causing him to stumble back and take the follow up mace swing dead on.
The crack of black powder rang through the air as Cereza fired off her pistol. Cereza had wrapped her jacket around her face in an attempt to filter the air, but it didn't seem to do much good as her watering eyes made her accuracy drop. Her bullet only grazed Rothide's shoulder, when it should've been an easy killshot from the distance Cereza was standing. Cereza began a staggered retreat when she realized she missed, not wanting to stay any closer to the Pestigor than she had to.
Taylor grit her teeth. They needed a new plan. Rothide would've been a hard enough fight without such a terrible handicap, and right now they were fighting with one hand tied behind their backs with this stench around them. But how could she counter this smell?
There was only one thing Taylor could think of. And that was to burn as much of the rotting garden around her as she possibly could to remove at least some of the stench.
Creating a ball of fire on her hands, Taylor aimed at the piles of gore and rotting plants around her and unleashed a gout of pyromantic fire. The plants caught fire almost immediately, while the meat cooked and burned into ash. Soon, the foul stench was replaced by blinding, acrid smoke that choked Taylor. There was an intense heat around her as well, but she was at the very least resistant to that.
Taylor continued to burn more and more of the garden of Nurgle around her, purging it of Nurgle's filth as she set the whole temple alight. Even to Taylor the room was sweltering, but the heat was killing much of the bacteria and insects, while tainted air heated and rose to the ceiling, exiting the building through the hole in the roof. Now they had to fight in an extremely smokey, oven of an arena, but Taylor could at least say that the smoke was more bearable than the smell. And as an added bonus, Taylor saw Rothide choke and cough on the smoke as well, suffocating on the carbon dioxide and other particles of matter. Now, both sides couldn't breathe.
Sparing a glance at her allies, Taylor saw that Cereza and Lukas were doing marginally better. They were staying low to avoid choking on the smoke, but were sweltering in the heat of the flames around them. Their eyes were still alive though, ready to continue their bloody fight against the Beastlord.
Being the one who was the least affected by the smoke and fire around her, Taylor stood and charged Rothide. When she was only a few feet away, she raised her hand and summoned another small flame in her palm. From it, she spewed another flamethrower, this time focusing the stream all on Rothide alone.
Rothide howled in pain as he was enveloped by the inferno. But the blessing of Nurgle was great. Great enough that even when set on fire Rothide could ignore the pain, lower his head, and charge right for Taylor. Taylor's jaw dropped at the sheer tenacity of the Beastman, and unfortunately was so stunned that she failed to dodge in time.
Taylor's fortunes reversed however as she was tackled to the side by Cereza, shoving both of them out of the way of the rampaging Pestigor. Taylor and her pirate companion slammed onto the temple floor hard, but it was a minor annoyance when compared to getting gored by Rothide.
Rothide continued his charge forward, momentum carrying him straight into a marble wall. The impact cracked the stone, rocking the whole temple, while Rothide himself only stumbled back slightly, shaking his head as he brushed off the pain like it was a simple bump.
But the moment he was stunned was all Lukas needed to attack. Finding the burning heat slightly more tolerable than the foul smell, Lukas charged in, shield first. The stout foot knight slammed into the back of Rothide's legs with the force of a battering ram, knocking the Pestigor back and despite the staggering height difference between the two.
Falling to his knees, not even the Chaos infused beastlord could resist that force of physics from Lukas' charge.
Seeing the opportunity, Cereza pulled Taylor to her feet and shouted, "Now! Bring him down!"
Cereza then holstered her sword, drew two flintlock pistols, and fired, the lead balls hitting their marks as they ripped through Rothide's corpulent body. Not having the time to reload, Cereza then dropped her pistols and drew two new pistols from her belt and aimed again.
Not looking to lose out of the advantage Taylor charged her Bright magic in her hands, focusing on the searing anger and hate she felt within, and unleashed another massive fireball. The fireball slammed into Rothide with the force of a small Sun, enveloping the monster as his flesh crackled and burned.
Rothide roared in pain, unable to resist such power even with his blessing of Nurgle. As he howled and writhed, Cereza fired her pistols once more. The first bullet tore through his mouth, shattering teeth and tissue as it then exited the back of Rothide's neck. The second was a clean shot through the eye, tearing apart brain tissues before bursting out of the back of Rothide's head.
Taylor smiled. A clean headshot should be enough to put the beast down permanently. The smile then fell off her face when Rothide remained standing. Rothide then turned his ruined head to Cereza and howled. He took one heavy, lumbering step towards Cereza and Taylor, when a battle cry drew everyone's attention.
"ULRIC!" Lukas bellowed as he charged right for Rothide once more.
Maimed and burned, Rothide slowly turned to face the knight. But Lukas moved too fast, running right for Rothide. With a mighty leap, Lukas jumped into the air, reaching Rothide's chest. With all the force he could produce, Lukas drove his arming sword into the heart of the Pestigor.
Lukas' sword sunk deep between the ribs of Rothide, slicing through the rotted fat and meat layered over his chest. Rothide howled, slamming into Lukas with his meaty arm and sending him crashing to the ground. But the damage was already done. Sword still impaled in his chest, blood poured out of the stab wound, joining the fountain of blood that flowed out of the bullet wounds in Rothide's head. Rothide took one last defiant step forward, braying for deliverance from his god. Unfortunately for him, Nurgle cared little for the Beastman's noise, and with a final breath Rothide fell to the ground dead.
The three warriors stared at the body of Rothide for several seconds, watching for a single twitch that unveiled the massive beastman deceptively playing opossum. But when no such sign came, Lukas moved towards the corpse and ripped his blade out of its chest. Rothide's torso seemingly deflated as blood, pus, and gas all spewed from the new open hole.
Taylor grimaced in disgust. With Rothide now dead, Taylor called upon her Pyromancy to reduce the flames around her, smothering them so to not bring down the whole temple upon them. Taylor gathered the flames into a ball between her palms, which she then released upon the fetid corpse of Rothide.
No longer protected by Nurgle's foul blessing, Taylor found her flames burning through the body with more ease. After a few minutes, the body was cremated, and the temple was clear of both threats and foul stench.
"Well then," Cereza said, breaking the silence that fell between them all. "Jolly good work darlings."
Not having the energy to come up with anything to say, Taylor just nodded as she moved to the center of the temple, back to the tower of Warpstone. There she approached her prize, the Armour of Morkar, still mounted upon the crude altar the beastmen made for it.
The Armour was beautiful as it was terrible. Taylor could feel a chill seep through her bones as she looked at the plate. As she drew closer, she felt the world around her grow darker. For a moment, Taylor wondered if this was some sort of trap or attack, glancing around looking for threats. Then she realized that it was the armor that seemed to bleed the darkness, radiating it. Almost like a torchlight or lantern but in reverse, sucking light away instead of emanating it. It was such a strange feeling. It unnerved Taylor, the primal parts of her very DNA telling her to get away from this artefact. But Taylor could not. She needed the Armour of Morkar if she wished to return home. And she would take it.
"Halt, Taylor." Lukas gripped her shoulder. His voice was hard. The two had not formed any kind of friendship during their time together, but this was the first time he had spoken to her with such coldness. "What is this terrible thing you have brought us to?"
Taylor turned and glared at Lukas for touching her. Yanking out of his grasp she said, "That is the Armour of Morkar. One of the Six Treasures of Chaos and our ticket to escaping this realm."
Lukas' eyes went comically wide at Taylor's statement. Part of her wanted to laugh at him, but any such feelings were quashed when his face turned into one of a hateful, almost berserking snarl.
"Are you mad, girl!?" Lukas shouted, stepping between Taylor and the armor. "We cannot take this! This is a foul relic of Chaos! It will do nothing but corrupt and destroy us! One cannot fight Chaos with Chaos, it is a fool's path!"
"Fighting Chaos?" Taylor parroted, almost shocked by his words. "Fighting Chaos was never part of the equation. All this is about is me getting home. And to get home, I need that armor. Now get out of my way!"
Taylor stepped to Lukas' side, but he sidestepped with her, continuing to block her. Taylor felt her rage rise as she began unconsciously reaching for her flames.
"It is evil and needs to be destroyed." Lukas insisted, his voice a low hiss.
"Oh come on Lukas." Cereza cut in, ever the diplomat. "It is an artefact of power! One that is ours for the taking! If it can help us escape this accursed place, why shouldn't we take it? Destroying it will only damn us to this wandering forever!"
Taylor paused to think for a moment. She knew that this was what they needed to escape the Realm of Chaos, but she also had eyes. She saw the terrible things that the Chaos Gods did to their followers, the pestigors of Nurgle were clear cut cases of that. Chaos used and manipulated, that much she knew for certain. Taking the Armour of Morkar would certainly damn her more than she already did, but perhaps she had been too hasty in accepting the Chaos Gods orders and gifts. The problem was that she couldn't see what the endgame the Chaos Gods had in mind for her was.
"Could we destroy the armor?" Taylor asked her Advisor, who as usual reappeared as soon as combat was finished.
The Advisor only raised a brow at her. "Not with any tool or power any of you have in your possession." The Advisor chuckled. "And regardless, if you did somehow destroy it, it would only make your return home impossible. You need the Armour of Morkar, Taylor Hebert. Otherwise the Immaterium will destroy you."
Taylor then turned to Lukas and shrugged. "There, we have our answer." Taylor then stepped for the Armour of Morkar once more.
The sound of metal grinding against metal was the only warning Taylor had as Lukas drew his sword and swung at her. That single warning is what saved Taylor as she stepped back, narrowly avoiding a strike that would've removed her head. Taylor looked at Lukas in shock, jaw slack, while the foot knight of Middenland's face was already set in stone, ready to do his duty.
Before Taylor could say anything, Lukas charged forward and bashed her with his shield. Despite the size and mass Taylor had on Lukas, she was still taken off her feet by the technically perfect tackle and knocked to the ground.
"Lukas! You madman!" Cereza shouted as she drew her own rapier. "There is no need for this!"
Lukas spared her a small glance and said, "There is only one fate for servants of the Ruinous Powers. And that is death." He then swung the sword down on Taylor, who lay disoriented on the ground.
The clang of steel on steel echoed through the temple snapped Taylor out of her stupor as she saw Cereza standing above her, rapier locked in combat with Lukas' arming sword. Without waiting for anymore banter, Taylor quickly stood and got some distance between her and Lukas.
No longer having to hold back thanks to his betrayal, Taylor formed a firebolt in her hands and threw it right for Lukas. Noticing the light from the attack, Cereza backpedaled, disengaging so as to be nowhere close to the impact of the spell.
Lukas however, was ready for the attack, and raised his shield to block. Flames splashed uselessly across his shield, dissipating all around him. Taylor channeled another firebolt in her hands, but Lukas responded faster than she could cast and sprinted to tackle her.
The weight of the fully armored knight brought Taylor to the floor once more. Taylor's head bounced off the stone ground, the dull green glow of warpstone to her left showed that she was literally inches from breaking her neck on foul substance. Taylor groaned as she felt a haze fall over her head and the dull trickle of blood dripping from behind her hair. She tried to stand, but was unable to as Lukas mounted her, putting his heavy body weight down on her core, pinning her to the ground.
Lukas raised his swordhand into the air while pointing the tip at Taylor's throat. As he drove it forward though, the CRACK of a gunshot echoed out once more, followed by the howling pain of the Middenland knight. Blood pouring from the gunshot wound, Lukas turned and snarled at Cereza, who was holding a smoking pistol.
Before Cereza could draw a second gun and fire, Lukas flung his shield at her, the kite shield turning into a small discus as it buzzed right for her. The shield slammed into Cereza's unarmored midsection, almost causing the pirate to gag as she collapsed to the ground.
With Cereza temporarily dealt with, Lukas turned his attention back to the concussed Taylor. Taylor tried to punch him in the face but it was a weak, disoriented punch with no body weight behind it. Lukas slapped the fist away as he drove his sword down on Taylor.
Taylor's eyes flashed as she saw the blade coming down on her. This was it, he was going to kill her, and she was never going to return home. The moment before the blade struck however, whether through divine inspiration or sheer survival instinct, Taylor tilted her head to the side while she bucked with her hips, trying to flip Lukas off of her.
The action sent Lukas' sword of course, and instead of impaling Taylor through the throat, it instead stabbed into the warpstone next to her head, shattering it and sending splintering rocks of glowing green fragments everywhere.
Unfortunately for Taylor, she had turned her head to follow the blade and was looking right at the warpstone as it shattered. Taylor screamed as she felt a chunk of Warpstone pierce her left eye, tearing its way through her cornea and into her eye socket. She screamed as she felt the most intense pain she had ever felt, worse than gaining the blessing of the Chaos Gods, worse than any batterings the Beastmen could inflict on her.
Taylor's cries were bestial in nature. They were no noises that any sane being would make. Instead, they were ravings caused by intense, mind-breaking pain, pain which Taylor focused on Lukas in front of her.
As she screamed, Taylor felt a familiar burning sensation appear on her forehead as the Mark of Chaos bled its way into existence once more. Feeling her powers surge, Taylor grabbed onto Lukas' arms, the armor on his pauldrons glowing red hot as Taylor tried to burn him alive. Lukas' screaming joined Taylor's, but the stoic knight fought through the pain, and was able to wrap his own fingers around Taylor's throat.
Lukas squeezed hard, hoping to choke the life out of the girl before she burned his arms off. Taylor's vision in her non-ruined eye grew blurry, seeing stars as darkness crept around the corners. Taylor could feel her own grip on Lukas' arms weakening as he continued to strangle her.
But before the last of Taylor's breath was extinguished, a splash of liquid hit her face, and Lukas' grip on her neck slackened. Taylor took a deep breath of air as soon as she was able. It was a wheezed, laboured breath that hurt every inch of her throat, but she took it in greedily nonetheless.
Her vision in her good eye clearing, she looked up and saw Cereza's rapier sticking through Lukas' throat, creating a fountain of blood that poured from his neck and mouth. With a wet gurgle, Lukas took in his last breath, and fell to the ground dead.
Despite him being dead, Lukas' limp body was still partially on Taylor. She half-flailed half kicked it off her with movements that could have easily been mistaken for muscle spasms.
Cereza stumbled to Taylor's side and said. "Oh fuck, you do not look good."
"Just get this fucking thing out of head!" Taylor hissed at the pirate through grit teeth. Her voice was hoarse, and talking stung, but the pain Taylor felt from her eye was mind-numbing, she could think of nothing else but.
"Okay, okay love, let me try." Cereza tried to calm Taylor as she knelt down beside her. "But this is going to hurt a lot."
"IT ALREADY FUCKING HURTS!" Taylor howled.
Seeing no more reason to trade words, Cereza nodded and grabbed onto the warpstone fragment, pulling as hard as she could.
"RAAAAAAAGGH!" Taylor screamed, bucking and kicking as she could feel the pressure of Cereza's finger trying to rip the warpstone out of her eye.
The pain lasted for only several seconds but felt like an eternity to Taylor. It only ended when Cereza's fingers slipped off of the Warpstone.
"Fuck!" Cereza muttered. "It's really fucking stuck in there."
"I CAN TELL!" Taylor snapped, tears, blood, and other fluids pouring down her face. "JUST GET IT OUT!"
"I'm trying!" Cereza snapped back. "There's just a lot of fucking blood and it's hard to get a good grip! Now ready, I'm going again!"
Cereza then gripped the shard and began pulling once more.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Taylor's body was practically convulsing with how much she was thrashing beneath Cereza. With every jerk and pull of Cereza, Taylor felt like a thousand glass shards being shoved through her eye. It was too much to bear.
"Damnation!" Cereza cursed again as the blood and pus of Taylor's eye caused her fingers to slip off. "I can't get it out. It must be lodged in the bone behind your eye, going all the way to your brain."
"FUCK!" Taylor shouted as she slammed her fist into the ground, creating a small burst of flames as she did.
Above her, Cereza looked at the Advisor, who had vanished during the fight and once more reappeared when everything was over.
"Can you do anything to help?" Cereza asked the old man.
The Advisor just snorted. "Help? Miss Cereza, the Advisor is my name, not-"
Taylor however was in no mood to entertain his peculiarities and cut him off. "No, your name's not the Healer, or the Medic, or FUCKING PANACEA, it's the fucking ADVISOR! Now I want some fucking advice for getting this crystal out of my fucking skull!"
When Cereza looked up at the Advisor, he only shrugged and said, "You can attempt one more time, but I would advise you not to. You are not getting that warpcrystal out that way."
Cereza sighed, and rather than try again, she tore off a piece of her sleeve and wrapped it gently around Taylor's eye. The fabric immediately began to turn a reddish-yellow from the blood and pus it absorbed.
"Sorry love." Cereza said sadly. "But I don't exactly have any eyepatches on me."
Despite the excruciating pain she was in, Taylor didn't take it out on Cereza. She let her head hang back, resting it on the ground as she took a few breaths and muttered, "Thanks."
Taylor then held her hand out, and Cereza grasped it, helping pull her to her feet. Wracked with pain and standing on unsteady legs, Taylor glanced at the body of Lukas Schwarzbart and frowned.
"I don't get why he wouldn't stop." Taylor said, unsure of what she was feeling. She felt anger and hate while looking at the corpse, but also some sadness and regret. If he just stopped, accepted what needed to be done, none of this would've happened. But instead, now he's dead and Taylor has a fucking shard of warpstone as a left eye.
"Don't bother trying to figure it out." Cereza spat at the body. "He was a mutinous bastard who got what he deserved."
Taylor scowled slightly at Cereza, an action that sent waves of pain through her face. "I thought he was your friend." she asked.
Cereza shook her head. "He was an ally of convenience at best. And that ended when he tried to destroy our only way out of here."
"To survive in the Realm of Chaos, my lady." The Advisor cut in. "You must not accept any slight, any disrespect against you. For it will only breed treachery and betrayal against you. Any insult or attack against you must be paid back tenfold, lest others take advantage of your meekness and mercy."
That comment caught Taylor by surprise. "So you're saying I should've killed you ages ago?"
The Advisor snorted. "Some in your position might have. But you must have wisdom in addition to cruelty. You know I am pact-bound to serve you, so it is quite impossible for me to betray you. And you also know that your odds of survival are far greater with me by your side."
Taylor shook her head, an action that almost disoriented her, as she put the hypocritical old man away from her mind. Instead, she looked up at her prize, the Armour of Morkar and slowly approached.
Shrugging off the feelings of disconcertment, as they were nothing compared to the searing agony she felt every moment the warpstone was shoved into her eye, she stepped up to the armor, mounted upon a stone dais beneath the meteor of warpstone.
Taylor did not know much about armor, but she could tell this was the work of an exquisite craftsman. The heavy metal cuirass was layered over fine chainmail, made from some kind of fantastical metal that looked like blackened iron trimmed with bronze. The breastplate was further decorated with bronze skulls that seamlessly blended with the armor. Pieces that covered the arms and legs were almost like a tank, overlapping plates, decorated with spikes that would pierce anyone unlucky enough to be close by. The Helmet was a bronze, almost skull shaped monstrosity where two extravagant demonic horns extended from its sides. It had two eye sockets that mirrored that of a human skull, allowing any probing light to enter the helm's inner darkness. Finally, there was a tower shield next to the armor, almost as tall as her own body. It was made of the same ominous black iron, and trimmed with resplendent bronze. On its face was the Eight-Pointed Star of Chaos that Taylor had imprinted on her own forehead.
Taylor grabbed the breastplate, lifting it off the dais, and to her surprise found it surprisingly light despite the thickness of the metal. She attempted to bend it with her enhanced strength, but found such a task impossible. Turning the breastplate around so she could see the interior, she found an inscription on the inside of the gorget, the plate designed to protect the neck.
Unconquered
Morkar
It was like an epitaph on a tombstone. Taylor did not know much of this Morkar, only what the Advisor had told her. He was the first Everchosen, a warrior of the Old World who pillaged and burned the early Empire of Man. Taylor shook the thought from her mind. Whoever Morkar was, he was dead and she wasn't. And she was going to take his armor and live.
Stripping herself of Cereza's jacket, Taylor began putting on the armor plate by infernal plate. Unfortunately for her, she had no knowledge of how to properly don armor, and was aided by Cereza, who acted as some kind of parody of a squire. As she continued to put the armor on, Taylor realized that her initial thoughts about the armor were correct. Even with her Chaos enhanced size, the armor was too big for her, meant for a male far taller and broader than she.
But as she thought on this, she found the armor itself started to move, twisting and reforming to fit her more slender frame. The metal began to wrap around her, the breastplate shrinking and conforming to her curves, while the legs and arms similarly shrunk to fit her limbs. Meanwhile the chainmail lengthened around the front and back of her legs, almost giving her some kind of chainmail dress or tabard. When it was done, Taylor realized that had conformed around her breasts as well. She could help herself, she snorted as the armor had given her boob armor.
"Intriguing." The Advisor chimed in. "You almost appear as a dark mockery of the Adepta Sororitas."
"The Adepta Sororitas?" Taylor asked. "Who are they?" Taylor didn't know much Latin, but could guess that Adepta meant adept or something similar, while Sororitas was probably like a college girl's sorority.
The Advisor waved her off. "The Sisters of Battle of another word, but that is irrelevant at this point, my Lady. Focus on finishing the task before you."
Annoyed by being brushed off once more, Taylor took the spiked skull-helm in her hands. Hefting it, Taylor was about to place it on when she realized something. The helmet was incomplete. There were slots that were empty. One was by the exterior forehead, where there was a small, oval shaped hole where a gemstone looked like it would fit. While on the crown of the helmet there was a hollow opening where something could be worn underneath the helmet.
Taylor shrugged off this observation, as she had a feeling it would have to do with the next Treasures of Chaos she needed to find. And so Taylor then slid the helmet over her head and it clicked into place. When it was on, Taylor felt the pain of her ruined eye lessen. It was still there, gnawing at her, but it no longer caused her to contemplate killing herself to just end the agony. In fact, her entire body, which was beaten, bruised, and sore, found itself soothed by the presence of the armor.
Next, Taylor took the shield and held it in her left arm. It was large and unwieldy, but Taylor found its weight comfortable. It even had a large additional strap so Taylor could hang it on her back when not in battle.
"My you really do look like a Northern Warlord." Cereza commented, looking Taylor up and down. "All you need is a blade and you'll complete the look."
Taylor nodded. "I know just where to get one."
When she said those words, Taylor almost stepped back in surprise. Her voice was different under the helmet. It had a deep reverberation that shook her to the bone. An interesting effect, but pointless for now. Taking it in stride, she then moved to the body of Lukas and reached down to his cold, dead hands. From them, she plucked his arming sword and his sheathe.
Taylor looked down at the blade which had served the Imperial Captain so faithfully for many years. It was lighter than Taylor expected, she guessed maybe 2 or 3 pounds, and was about 3 feet in length. Just above the crossguard, on the base of the blade, Taylor saw the icon of a wolf's head etched into the steel, the symbol of Lukas' god.
As if to signify Taylor's new ownership of the weapon, this wolf icon burned away before Taylor's very eyes, and was replaced by the Eight-Pointed Star which adorned her armor and shield. Taylor decided to take this as the Dark Gods' approval of her actions.
Sheathing the sword and placing it at her hip, Taylor looked at her two companions. Cereza, who was now wearing her own coat once more, smirked at Taylor and tipped her hat to the girl's dark authority. Meanwhile the Advisor looked at Taylor not with pride, but with something else. Satisfaction perhaps, as he smiled and bowed to her as well.
"Well then." Taylor said as she looked at the old man. "Where to next?"