RED DRAGON REPORT: WRAITH ENCOUNTER

[Imperium-Septimus 368]

THE IMPERIAL ORDER OF THE RED DRAGON: WRAITH ENCOUNTER

Issued and confirmed by His Imperial Highness, Pius of the House of Horen, Grand Knight of the Crown of Godfrey, 23rd of Harren’s Folley. Penned by Ser Seth Renault, 1681

 

OFFICIAL IMPERIAL REPORT

Reporting Knight: Ser Seth of Renault

 

Incident: Daemonic Wraith Encounter

Individuals Involved: Ser Seth, Ser Avery, Man-at-Arms Obediah, Man-at-Arms Magnus

 

Details of Incident:

At dawn, Ser Avery and myself, Ser Seth, held training at the sparring circle atop the Legion keep. With us were Legionnaires Obediah and Magnus. During one of our many practice spars, a peculiar bird-like familiar perched itself on the walls of the keep, looking down at us. We observed the unfamiliar creature closely for a moment before it sang us a beautiful tune, more beautiful than anything we had heard in quite some time. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it flew down to the forest below, still singing its luring melody. We made haste to acquire Aurum blades of which Ser Avery had saved from his time in the Order of St. Lucien, and ventured out of the keep towards where the bird had went; surely it meant some unwanted, magical presence was near our city walls.

 

Some time into our search, we reencountered the familiar, its shape now malformed while exuding an ominous purple glow. In the blink of an eye, it made its way into Magnus’ body, stripping him of his very will. Magnus’ body made a move to grab Obediah, who I pulled away in the nick of time. Afterwards, the spirit compelled Magnus to back away from us before the wraith emerged from his body. A dark fog began to surround us.

 

It was a monstrous spirit with a pitch black silhouette containing long, unnatural arms, and piercing, demonic glowing red eyes with stared at me with a disturbing obsession. It picked Magnus up with one of its tendrils effortlessly, all the while smiling at us with its putrid mouth, almost as if taunting us. Wary of the fact that the spirit essentially held Magnus hostage, we cautiously approached, before Ser Avery whispered to me a plan: I was to secure Magnus while Ser Avery used his Aurum blade to hold the demon back. As we were about to act, the demon entered Magnus once again after dropping him, prompting me to leap onto Magnus to hold him down. As we dropped onto the ground, Magnus’ body fought back in a frenzy, an alien strength suddenly emerging in the body before it tossed me aside as if I were as light as a feather. Despite this, however, Magnus’ body made no movements to stand; instead, Magnus fought internally with the demon, not allowing it to take full control of  his mind and soul. Magnus’ resilient willpower overpowered the foul being, propelling it out of his mind. Obediah quickly dragged Magnus away before helping him stand. We all drew our blades in unison, ready to face this spirit of the most fiendish proportions.

 

Ser Avery was the first to charge, fueled by a righteous fervor. He swung his prized Aurum blade mightily, its holy steel striking true. The spirit recoiled in excruciating pain before it flung Ser Avery away with a spectral push. In response, Obediah bravely lunged at the demon, thrusting his sword at the creature. The sword did nothing, however, it not being made of Aurum, and soon the steel Obediah held turned to dust. The demon took advantage of this moment to attack Obediah, reaching at his throat with its dark, ghostly claws. As Obediah slowly lost consciousness, I brought my own Aurum blade down at the creature, slicing one of its arms clean off. Magnus took this opportunity to pull Obediah away to safety, though he was struck by the spirit’s remaining limb as he did so, wounding him. I continued at the spirit, exchanging blows with it in order to protect my Legionnaires. It slowly overpowered me, but suddenly Ser Avery emerged from behind it and stabbed it straight in its back. The wraith let out a monstrous screech before erupting into a great flash of blinding light, fading like a shadow in the daylight.

 

Ser Avery and I took the wounded Legionnaires back to the keep where they rest as of the time this report was written. We commend them for their unrelenting courage.

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IN NOMINE DE,

HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS, Ser Pius Horen the Hellstrider, Imperial Prince of the Imperium Septimus, Grand Knight of the Order of the Red Dragon, Baron of Arrav, Titular King of Rhodesia, Eighth Vandalore and Baron of Arrav.