Thorn’s relations with Bishop Santos had recently taken a negative turn. It wasn’t her fault, not at all, it was the stingy old zealots fault. All the mage asked was for a bonus for killing someone on a job that specifically said murder was not necessary. Particularly when the aforementioned murder was very much necessary to finish the job and keep it under the radar. She was specifically paid less for this job compared to others simply because no elimination of certain targets unlike her other jobs. But nooooooo the stingy priest just had to refuse to pay the woman her due, causing in an epic fight that resulted in Thorn being kicked out of the church. Only after bloodying a few members of course> No one denied Thorn of her hard earned money. No one. Money meant everything to Thorn and she was bitterly disappointed to lose another constant source of income. That was the bad thing about being a mercenary, it was hard to get a constant stream of coin when you switched clients so often. It was something that made her money instincts itch, which made her annoyed, which made her want to kill things. Particularly those who caused the itch in the first place.

But even with wanting blood Thorn was logical enough to realize she had only a few days to gather her things and leave town before a hit was put on her, possibly sooner depending on if any of those she injured died or not. Usually bosses didn’t appreciate their minions killed. So as much as the demon hand wanted revenge on the cheap Bishop, she would have to skip town and lay low for awhile before seeking retribution.

Thorn had just entered the abandoned house (there were a lot of them in this town) she had been using as a base since starting to live here and immediately noticed something was off. The traps she set to keep unwanted intruders out had been set off with no body in sight. This immediately causes Thorn to tense up, expecting an ambush. But after none comes she relaxes, particularly after seeing that the only change to the house is a small white note on the table. Still wary, Thorn marches up and reads the note.

After a few seconds she puts the note down, please with the turn of her fortune. Working for the cultists would be the perfect revenge and the job was rather easy. She quickly met up with the man, Adrian, and found him surprisingly frail looking but with a commanding voice, ordering her to do as he pleases. Thorn accepted the job.

That twilight, Thorn found herself covered by her cloak and heading to the graveyard, a bundle of red roses in her hands to hide her true intentions, instead making it seem like she was visiting a lost lover. Plus roses had special meaning for her, symbolizing her past and present self. Anyways this would allow her to get into the graveyard without the mourners around her knowing any better. Her mission was simple, get in, break some caskets not yet buried, and then get out. All so the cult can practice necromancy on them when their minions come by later to retrieve the bodies. Not that she really cared, a job was a job, particularly when it means getting back at her old employer. Had she mentioned that the old coot didn’t pay her? She was still mad about that.

It was no wonder a necromantic cult had set up base in Dahlia, it was known for having particularly large graveyards, known for being able to quickly do mass burials after battles and wars of this country. Perfect place for a necromancer to build their trade. Actually, now that she thought about it, it was probably the cult’s fault this town was occasionally besieged by the undead. Who was she kidding, it was practically a guarantee. Oh well, more work for her, meaning more money.

The cults existence also gave the crazed bishop some validation for his actions, seeing as there really was heretics in the town, doing exactly what his religion didn’t want him to do. Not that Thorn would tell the bishop obviously, because recent betrayal aside she was a professional and would not leak information about her clients, past or present. She wasn’t at a point where that much betrayal wouldn’t mean more trouble than it’s worth.

Back to the job. Weave between tombstones and glancing at them like she was looking for one Thorn began to slowly edge toward her target, a large tomb near the center of the cemetery where caskets are put before burial. The bodies of a family recently killed should be there, casket lock too heavy for the weak cultists. After placing her flowers on a random nearby grave and standing there in ‘prayer’ for a while she secretly kept an eye out for the opportunity to enter the tomb. Finally after ‘praying’ for twenty minutes all attention was away from her, giving Thorn the opportunity to slip into the tomb unnoticed.

There she noticed rather easily the only three caskets there, two adult sized and one child sized. The caskets were held closed by heavy locks and wrapped around with chains, the undertakers obviously used to and wary of body snatchers. But they prepared for weak little cultists, not strong battle mages like Thorn. Knowing that her work would be loud, thus quickly drawing attention, Thorn had to make quick work of the chains and locks. Thankfully her raw strength makes quick work of the weak metal, wrenching the chains apart with loud snaps and jingles, then ripped the entire locking mechanisms from the wooden coffins themselves, finishing the job, just as she heard approaching footsteps.

“Curse Magic: Shadow Sneak.” Thorn whispers while clenching her bandaged left hand before releasing it, causing magical runes glowing with a demonic black and red aura to appear on the underside of arm. She then seemed to grab a nearby shadow with her glowing arm and literally cover herself with it like a blanket, giving her a darker camouflaged form. This would very effectively hide her from the approaching civilian’s eyes, but drain her mana quickly. She needed to move. Slipping through the front door just after the first wave of civilians entered the tomb.

Thorn meets with the cultist leader and reports her successful mission. Cackling to himself Adrian throws a bag of jewels the mages way and promises she will see him again. Then they both disappear into he night.