Diego's Kios Adventures: Chuckie and Riff Raff [Job/Solo]

Job Name: Hunting Undead
Job Rank: B-Tier
Job Location: Reim
Job Rewards: 200 xp, 15k Huang
Job Prerequisites: Diego; Visiting Kios
Job Overview: After putting down the zombies, Diego learns that one of the walking corpses looked familiar to one of the farmers, but too decomposed to tell for sure. Using his tracking skills, Diego will find a graveyard two towns over disturbed. He soon finds that he is not alone...

Enemy Name: Child Zombies (x4)
Rank: D-Tier
Needed damage to take down: D-Tier
Description: Corpses of children that move at 10 m/s
Abilities:
Natural Weapons: Teeth and fists do D-Tier damage.
Playtime: The user bites at a target's lower limbs at 15 m/s dealing C-Tier damage.


Enemy Name: Augustus Lemoy
Rank: B-Tier
Needed damage to take down: B-Tier
Description: A disillusioned Reimian who has been hired by a mysterious man to oversee the zombies. Moves at 8 m/s.
Abilities:
Shovel: Deals B-Tier damage.
Diggin': The user stabs a target in the gut at 20 m/s to deal B-Tier damage, scooping out the target's guts.
Thunk: Smacks the user with the flat end of the shovel at 15 m/s to deal C-Tier damage.
Parry: Swings the shovel at 10 m/s to parry up to 1 C-tier and 2 D-Tier abilities.

The next morning, Diego stirred to the sound of a rooster's crow. Wiping the sleep from his eye, he sat up in his make-shift bed of hay. Even though Viri had objected, Diego had slept in the stable with his pets. With an already packed house of staff and several families, he had not wanted to impose. Plus, to the Fanalis a stack of hay was just as comfortable as a bed. Ella had shared a bed with a young girl by the name of Sophie. The two girls had become fast friends, which Diego was grateful for.

He leaned his head back and stretched his arms, letting out a large yawn that shook the sleep from his body. When he opened his eyes, Diego saw a boy standing in the doorway of the stable. He waved his hand, "Hello there!"

The boy smiled and stepped into the stable, his eyes settling on Madam Trixie, "Whoa, a tiger! A spider, too. My name is Lavicus."

Diego shook Lavicus' hand and smiled, "Nice to meet you Lavicus, I'm Diego. Their names are Madam Trixie and Zanzibar."

At the sound of her name, Madam Trixie stretched her limbs and slowly stood up. She padded over to Lavicus and rubbed her body along his side in greeting. Her tail flicked back and forth, slapping the boy's knees. Lavicus chuckled and ran his fingers through her fur. "By the way, I'm Sophie's brother. Her and your sister spent the night talking. Kept me up all night."

Diego was about to apologize, but the look on Lavicus' face showed that he hadn't minded. With so many boys around the farm, Sophie didn't have many other girls to play with. Diego smiled, "I'm glad Ella found a friend." He decided not to correct Lavicus, Ella had become like a little sister to Diego, especially since she lost her mother. in the back of his mind, Diego thanked Ariella for suggesting this place. So far, everyone seemed like friendly and honest people.

Over at the farmhouse, someone rang the bell for breakfast. Starving, Diego and his pets raced Lavicus back to get food. Wanting to keep his Fanalis nature hidden, he let Lavicus beat him back. They arrived in the large dining room where fruits, meats, oats, and milk had been served. Madam Trixie and Zanzibar were each given a plate to eat in the corner, out of the way of everyone else.

A visitor arrived during the meal and Viri excused herself to answer the door. A few moments later, she popped her head back into the room and gestured to Diego. He took a last bite of juicy ham and swallowed it down with milk before following her to the front room. Janus was there, standing next to another man, with a tense look on her face. When Diego entered the room she pointed to the man, "Diego, this here is Bartholomew Green, a farmer who lives nearby."

Bartholomew held his cap in one hand and offered the other to Diego in greeting, "Nice to meet you, son."

Diego accepted the handshake and smiled back at the man while Janus continued. "I took a few of the farmers to move the bodies and Bartholomew recognized one of the men. They lived to the north of where we found them yesterday. I wanted to know if you wanted to come check out their village with me."

Diego shook his head, "No, you stay here. I'll go check it out by myself. I told Ariella I would help protect this place. If we both left, then no one would be here in case more of those things showed up." The orange hues of his eyes shone with a determination that brokered no argument.

Bartholomew grew flabbergasted and objected, "Now, wait here. You are just a boy-"

Janus interjected before the farmer could finish, "Alright then." She pulled out a folded sheaf of paper with a map drawn on it. She pointed out the surrounding area to Diego which he committed to memory.

The Fanalis let out a sharp whistle and gave Janus a silent thank you for sticking up for him. Madam Trixie emerged from the doorway, proceeded by a skittering Zanzibar a moment later. Diego thanked Viri for the meal before heading to the stables to gather his gear. Several seconds later, the Fanalis and his beasts were on the road, heading towards where the bodies had been. With any luck, he would find tracks that he could follow.

[753/1500]

Blood stained the road where the two horse carcasses had lain the day before. Off the road, Diego found tracks that left clues showing what had happened. The horses, injured, had limped through the woods trying to escape the slow-moving predators until they had collapsed. Trixie's nose worked urgently to follow the scents while Diego crept through the brush along the tracks.

The footprints led them north out of the woods where the land opened up into a field with tall weeds. A breeze from the west cut a path through the grasses. Loose leaves and flower petals were sent into the air, twirling a dance as the wind carried it with on its course. With Madam Trixie on Diego's left and Zanzibar on his right, the group crept through the chest-high grass. From here it was hard to follow the tracks, but Diego figured they were close. Once they got beyond the grass, he would be able to gauge which direction they should go.

By the time they had gotten about halfway through the field, Trixie's ear perked up and she let out a growl in warning. Diego came to a stop and crouched down, straining his ears. Something to his right made an odd mewling sound and Diego flicked his head over just in time to see a small baby poke its head out. The smell of decay came with it and Diego's stomach turned as he noticed a chunk of it's face was rotting with maggots falling from a missing chunk of nose.

With an inhuman squeal the Child Zombie bit down on one of Zanzibar's legs, it was Playtime for the baby. The spider let out a warble of pain and Diego did the first thing that was natural. Spinning his body around counter-clockwise, Diego pivoted his leg to deliver a sweeping kick to the babies face. 'Crap, I just kicked a baby!'

Diego's attack had the surprising effect of removing the decayed head from its body and sent it sailing through the air. He didn't have time to notice though because as his body turned, he saw another a toddler peek out through the grass near Trixie. The tiger was already on the offensive and her claws ripped through the second Child Zombie's flesh. He recovered from his spin and clicked his tongue three times before charging through the grass. The tiger and spider understood the command, one used to focus on retreating or running to a new position. They followed close behind the beast tamer on either side until the group was out of the grass.

They emerged into a graveyard and Diego slid to a stop, his hand held out to slow the beasts. Along both sides, the graveyard stretched for twenty meters and the grounds seemed well maintained. The part that disturbed Diego though, was that most of the graves had been uncovered. Everywhere there were marks where something had clawed its way through wood and dirt to get out. 'How many more of these things are there?'

Diego pulled out his bow and strung an arrow, a bit too late for his tastes. His eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for signs of life...or well, death. What was causing the dead to come back alive? Diego had to find an answer if he wanted to make sure Kios wouldn't be attacked again. He saw that the graveyard continue another forty meters to the north and decided to continue in that direction.

They didn't make it far before they heard the familiar inhuman squeals. As Diego walked down into a small gully, he saw a strange sight. A man muttered to himself in between sobs as he hugged two small, squirming bodies. A shovel laid near the man's feet, ignored as he rocked the bodies. Diego noticed that the man had several cuts and bruises across his body.

"Come now, it's ok my lovelies. It's ok, settle down. It will all be ok..." The man muttered to himself.

The two Child Zombies that were held in his arms picked up on the scent of the newcomers and wiggled their bodies violently to get free. The man cried out at their attempts and looked up. Seeing Diego, Augustus snarled, "Go away! Leave my lovelies in peace!" As he cried out, the babies broke from his grip and with unnatural speed, crawled towards Diego.

Trixie and Zanzbar were having none of that, the two beasts met the babies before they could reach the Fanalis. A flash of claws and a spider bite later, the two Child Zombies lay broken on the ground. Augustus froze, his mind refusing to believe what he had just witnessed. Snatching the shovel in his right hand, the man stood up and charged at the group with a roar. "BASTARDS! THOSE WERE MY LOVELIES!"

Augustus ran forward to Diggin' to Trixie and the tiger swatted the shovel with her Clawed Parry. The man was stronger than she had expected, and failed to knock the attack away. The shovel's sharp edges sliced up Trixie's arm and was knocked off balance. Diego cursed and sent an arrow sailing through the air, which hit Augustus in the neck. The Fanalis' let loose another arrow as the previous met its mark.

Augustus let out a hiss of pain as the second arrow hit him in the stomach. Ignoring the protruding wooden ammunition, Augustus raised his shovel and charged towards Diego. Before he could get far though, Zanzibar leaped onto the man's face and began biting him. The man screamed out, dropping his shovel and fell to the floor.

Diego called off Zanzbar and ran over to Trixie, checking her injury. The white spider skittered over to give Trixie's leg a Healing Bite. Once he was sure she would be ok, Diego approached Augustus. The man shivered uncontrollably with tears running down his face.

"It's not fair! He said he would make them stronger. He said he would heal them!" Augustus screamed in frustration, "F***ITY F*** F***!"

Diego leaned over the man, "What are you talking about? Who said this?"

Augustus looked up at Diego, his misty grey eyes searching the boy's face as if he had seen him for the first time. "Grettle? No," the man shook his head, "It couldn't be, you. You died..."

Diego punched his fist near Augustus' head, leaving a small crater. "Who told you that? Who?!"

The man blinked at Diego's fury, "The bald man with the spiral eyes! He said that fate still had need for my lovelies. That he would make them stronger, faster, smarter...HE LIED!"

Diego rocked back on his feet, stunned. Even though he had suspected the news, it felt unreal. After all these years, he was now this close to the evil magician. As that sunk in, Deigo's gut filled with dread. 'Jagang is near Kios.'

[1500+/1500]

[8 basic ammunition/10]
[110/160]

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