Lumber Jack

[Kangleton]

Everyone knew by now, and no matter how few cared, there weren't many that would actually begin a confrontation over it. Those that frequented the Exigo Trading Post were often familiar with Karthus, and his self-declared ownership of the largest tree, nearest to the campfire. As comical as this appeared to a large portion of travellers, it was normally nothing more than that - for one such traveller, though, it became a catalyst for further conflict.

Mad Jack approached the tree with his hideous blade, and without reason, and without hesitation, he slammed the monstrous thing into the thickest of the branches, with Karthus standing but five feet away, having only the choice between flinging himself into the blade to stop it, or to watch helplessly. Karthus chose the latter, rather than the former. Angered beyond the scope of his patience, the self-proclaimed tree owner decided to take Jack up on his following offer, to "take a walk" with him.

Minutes later, in the crossroads, the consequences of Jack's actions and Karthus' excessive rage became fully realized. Just out of the sight of the Sentinals guarding the nearby outpost, Jack and Karthus stood; one with a tree-defiling blade, and the other unarmed. Just as Karthus reached to withdraw his sword, though, Jack revealed something that gave the angered woodsman pause.

"Your blade wants to kill me?" Karthus asked, in disbelief.

Jack went on to say that his blade had desires, and wants... and hunger. He implied that it spoke to him, and that it even went so far as to influence his moral reasoning. Suddenly, Karthus was more disturbed than he was angered. He pleaded for Jack to put the blade down, to simply apologize for his actions and leave it at that; no longer did the vengeful woodsman seek Jack's blood. It wasn't truly Jack to blame, was it? How could it be, when that monstrous weapon spoke to the madman's conscience. The sword was the problem.

In a hasted effort, Karthus summoned the roots beneath Jack's feet to seize his ankles - to immobalize him. If Jack was unable to move, perhaps Karthus might have been able to take posession of the cursed weapon, though the attempt was futile. In a growing fit of rage, Jack cut through the roots grasping at his legs, and let out of horrific battlecry before charging Karthus' position. In a final attempt to stop Jack without harming him, the unarmed earthcaster closed his eyes, and with great concentration, began to thicken the air around him and Jack, almost to the point of stone. In his rage, though, Jack forced his way through the final conjuration, and in only a few swings of his terrible weapon, cleaved through the thin layer of fabric covering Karthus' body, and deep into the flesh beneath as well.

As the life began to drain from his body, Karthus staggered back, conjuring more and more vines and roots to impede Jack's movements, but the mindless barbarian was on a rampage. As the distance between them closed once more, Karthus closed his eyes and pushed his focus to the skies above, preparing to summon a blast of lightning; but all he found was empathy.

Jack is not to blame... Jack is not to blame... J- Jaack s'not t- to blame...

Karthus' thoughts began to fade away as the final blow of the sword caused his beaten body to collapse. What happened thereafter, Karthus didn't know - not until awakening in a pool of his own blood mixed with misplaced empathy for a corrupted mind.

"I shouldn't have let him go..."

[Mighty_Draco]

Finish him! The blade commanded Jack

A blur was all he could see. Karthus, who was the only thing clear in his sights, faded from vision. His body far beyond the capacity to fight back.

Jack's anger and frustrations grew, his blade was commanding him. Through the blur an object became clear, a hin! He approached it, but a lingering curse halted him. Soon, his vision faded, he could no longer stand.

Jack awoke soon after, vision returning clearly, two associates with him, the druid bleeding on the ground.

"Bah! I need an ale!"

[Kaeldorn]

Karthus was in one of his mentally unstable states once again after Jack had so unmistakably provoked him with his aggression against the tree. When the two of them left the Exigo Trading Post for the crossroads to settle their dispute, Yashia knew that it was impossible to make either of them withdraw from the confllict, so she had done nothing. Nothing, except a silent prayer that this would not mean an ill end for any of the two men. That no lives were unnecessarily lost.

A short while later, she heard whispers from an unknown source in her ears. The voice was vaguely familiar to her, but she could not quite place it. Just as it inquired about her friendly relationship with Karthus, it disappeared... and the barbaric 'Mad' Jack treaded back into the Post and towards it's campfire.

Yashia rose up to her feet and took some firm steps, approaching Jack.

"What have you done to Karthus?" she asked in a tone of anger and worries.

Jack snickered. "Was bleedin' to death at the crossroads, last I saw of 'im."

After giving him a hard look, she hurried westwards, hoping that it was not yet too late to save the life of a man whom she thought to be good at heart when his true self was in control. The man who was at some times a friend, and at others a fool.

She was struck with horror when she found him, but without hesitation she knelt down before him, checking his pulse for signs of life. Her prayer had been answered, though Karthus' life was slipping further away every second. His soul did not yet have to be guided back to him, so Yashia called upon the Morninglord to reinvigorate the druid. With a touch of healing powers on his mangled body, Karthus slowly came back to his senses.

Having had some time to recuperate, the injured druid spoke to the woman in front of him of what he had learned. She was not at all surprised. The cursed blade's influence would explain Jack's behaviour all too well. Yashia was strongly convinced that Jack would be quite different once separated from that unholy piece of metal, and was mind set on acting to accomplish this. Even after Jack, together with Marrs and his goons, had attempted to provoke her into solving problems through bloodshed by so cruelly messing with her desire to protect the innocent and her friends...

[Kangleton]

Many moons later, after the conflict between Karthus and Jack had been all but forgotten, fate intervened with an opportunity - an opportunity that pushed empathy and understanding aside. An opportunity for revenge. Jack had proven time and time again, since losing his sword, that he was capable of every great evil even without its influence, and with caution thrown to the wind, Karthus acted with only a moment's pause against such evils.

Jack stood upon the untrodden grounds in the forest, holding his ground against a brood of wolves and werewolves alike for many long minutes. As he cut down wave upon wave of the diseased creatures, one wolf stood away from the pack, doing nothing other than watching the carnage until the moment Jack beckoned for it to draw nearer so that he might spill its blood as well. Part of Jack's wish was granted. Descending upon the battle-crazed warrior, the wolf barked and growled as Jack readied his sword. Both parties had a mutual desire for bloodshed.

As Jack raised his weapon over his head to strike at what he thought was just another wolf of the brood, the events that would end his life transpired in only a few blinks of an eye. Before the madman could land a single blow, the ground around his feet begin to reach out and grasp at his ankles as roots and vines reached for his wrists. Jack tried to tear at the earth as it grasped him, though his efforts were futile. Quickly returning his attention to the wolf that had been approaching him only seconds before, Jack looked just in time to witness a brilliant flash of light as the figure of the animal was replaced with that of a man.

"Tree hugger!?" Jack cried out, in a mix of what must have been shock and anger.

"You shall pay for what you have done, Jack." Karthus spoke with a sense of finality in his voice.

"Aye, it's about time I's payed for somethin'".

With that, Karthus turned his back on the entangled, barbaric man. The vengeful woodsman began walking deeper into the woods, though not before flicking his wrist one more time in Jack's direction, bearing a passive look upon his masked face.

"Feast on his flesh, of which he does not deserve".

Karthus had no need to watch what would next happen - he knew all too well. As his footsteps carried him further and further away from the screaming figure of Jack, the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of insects could be heard. Crawling out from every crack and crevice in the surroundings woods, the hungry swarms poured out upon Jack's flesh, having their way until such flesh was gone.