"So your name was Tarman...."
I had made my way to the other fresh grave. ๐๐ถ๐ฉ....๐๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ... ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต.
"Hahhhhhh.....well....I'll just fill in the gaps as I go... somehow."
I ended up leaving another question left unanswered to my future self. That seems like the right choice right? YUP, that seems good! ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐จ๐ถ๐บ! ๐๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ!
Back to the matter at hand, first I'll test the line of sight requirement again. Gertrude was a skeleton, so that negated the test earlier.
"Arise and serve me."
".....well that's a wash, I guess I do need line of sight. That or he has been dead too long. Well, only one way to find out I guess. Forgive me Tarman."
I started digging with my hands and eventually came up with...๐ฐ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด. I suddenly tasted a bit of acid in my mouth, I think I might of just half vomited. Like a vurp sans the burp (แดษด: แด แดสแด = แด แดแดษชแด + สแดสแด). They had definitely not cleaned up the corpse before putting him in the ground. The memory of Tarman's head almost exploding came back to me. It looked exactly like it did when it happened....except now the flesh was rotting and things were wiggling around in it.
Again, it wasn't the smell that did it to me, but the sight....*๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด*
I was unable to hold down the urge to vomit, but good news is that I hadn't eaten much so it was mostly liquid. I'm a lucky guy like that.
I really need to get used to this some how, as a ๐๐๐๐ง๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง I assume I won't be able to escape these kind of scenes............๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ-๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ? ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ? ๐๐ฐ? ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ...๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ.
I took a deep breath and looked back at Tarman. I really wanted to look away, but I had made the resolve to face my actions. If I closed my eyes and cast the spell I could delude myself into thinking this was more of a game than reality. This isn't a game, an innocent person died in gruesome way, and I was here to enslave them to do my bidding. I always, ALWAYS need to have the resolve to look them in the face if I want to do this.... well whatever is left of it anyways.
"Arise and serve me."
**********
I was making my way through the forest with Tarman in tow. It seems the corpse was fresh enough to cast [๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐] successfully. I had the zombie Tarman get some dirt from outside the graveyard to fill the hole while I kept a look out. After that I immediately headed to the forest to complete the quest.
I had to be quick, Tarman would only last for half a day as far as I knew, and I couldn't take him anywhere else besides the forest. People look at you funny when a person missing two thirds of their head is following you around ya know?
I followed the general direction that the quest card told me using physical markers, and after a while I saw a cave entrance in a clearing up ahead. There was a white rabbit with a horn on its head lying in the sun in front of the mouth of the cave that looked exactly like the creatures I saw in the illusion.
Well, I guess it is time to get work. ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด!