Cold Sweat, New Moon

A portion of the city had a thick mist settle over it. With the mist came all sorts of undead creatures and a few lycanthropes. Behind the rest stumbled Lucas Parker, appearing as a dying man in strange dark metal armor. He got out onto the street, and the starlight hit him. When it happened, his eyes flashed white and he felt new strengh come over his dying body. He laughed loudly, filling the streets with fear. He strode down the streets, nearly strutting in his new strength. he had no idea what he was to become. In his mind, the vampire's embrace had been mere minutes ago, and he couldn't help but to think was that he had overcome it. He continued to laugh until an insane thirst filled his mouth. He went to a nearby puddle, removing his helmet and drinking from it, not caring what was in it in his thirst. he drank until the puddle was gone, but he could not wuench the thirst. He looked up into the sky and whispered into the night, "Why can I not quench this thirst?" At that whispered phrase and the movement away from the helmet, it appeared on his head once more.

[DungeonMaster]

"Because you are changing... you did not survive. I can feel it in you... your fire was extinguished not long ago, and you are merely ashes of your former self." The bubbling liquid voice said. Exile stayed out of sight while he talked, trying to get a feel for how dangerous this new threat was. "How you stand so straight and tall... how you speak... it is beyond my comprehension. What are you?"

Lucas stood quickly, bracing himself for an incoming attack. "I am no dead man! Identify yourself, demon!" He had to fight collapsing from the thirst, but his instincts led him to believe that whoever this traveller was woud have water or at lweast some sort of liquid to soothe his parched throat.

[DungeonMaster]

"I am no demon!" Exile roared. Shedding his outer layer and surging with flame, he stepped out into the clearing, "I am an incenndiary! There is no greater insult than to confuse an elemental for a demon! Those foul creatures would burst into my chamber when i lived in my volcano, and we would have to fight them off. Many flames were put out on those days. So do not call me a demon, you foul being. You have no flame in your heart." The diamond in exile's chest began to sparkle, and then it shot a beam of red light onto Lucas. "If I wished, you puny shell of a mortal, I could simply ignite your body and watch you burn. Maybe with luck, I might spawn a fire elemental out of your ashes." He growled, holding up a fist to strike Lucas.

"I would not speak so boldly if I was not a demon. If I wished, I could simply pluck the diamond pulsing in your xchest out, and your "flame" would be permanently extinguished." Lucas glared up at Exile, and they had a brief moment of understanding. Lucas's eyes were glowing white, as if they had already rotted on the outside, and some haunting light laid behind them. His flesh was pale beneath the helm, and he seemed filled with fury, and an insatiable hunger for violence. He growled himself as Exile did, but his growl was more feral and less like the grinding of one stone against another. He clenched his fists and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "If you wish to destroy me, I warn you that i will take you down in the attempt, whether I die or not." He said calmly, never once blinking or looking away from exile's burning eyes.

[DungeonMaster]

"You have the determination of one who has spilt much blood. I see in you a desire to destroy. I have not the desire to destroy, but know that if you lay so much as a finger on the diamond in my chest, you will not live to tell the tale." The giant elemental nodded, knowing that neither he nor the dead man would attack, and he slowly cooled off, his outser shell forming once more. he held a hand out to Lucas, who was still struggling to stand, and he spoke with kindness in his voice, "If you wish, I can find you sustenance to keep your fire alive, if you have one at all."

He glared vengefully at Exile, "I need nobody's help." He tried to stand more firmly, and then he fell. He looked up at Exile in understanding and said quietly, "My name is Lucas Parker, master warrior, weapon crafter, tactical master, and recently cursed man. I am pleased to have one as forgiving as you to help me. Please excuse my hostile reaction, but I was on the brink of death mere moments ago." He took exile's hand, trying to lift himself to his feet.

[DungeonMaster]

Exile lifted him eaily to his feet and then tossed the man up onto his shoulders. "Normally, an incendiary would have just passed you by, weeping in the gutters of the street, but I'm nice." He walked along with Lucas on his back, trying to remain in the shadows. Suddenly, there was a bang in the nearby alleyway. He turned, and then he gently set Lucas down. "Stay here," he said as he trekked into the darkness, "I will return."

Lucas smelled the air, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. he could smell blood. His pupils dialated, and he started to twitch. In the time it took Exile to take a step, he leaped out into the darkness, and a piercing scream issued forth from the darkness. The sounds of rending flesh and breaking bone could be heard for miles around. When Lucas stepped out onto the street, he was taller than he was before, having grown several feet and gained a wolfish appearance.

His legs were like the hind legs of a beast, but they had the strength and the balance to hold him up in his armor. They were encased in metal, but in the open spaces in the metal, bare flesh with rippling muscle beneath it could be seen. His torso had remained that of a man, though it had grown far more muscular, and the form-fitting armor had shifted to compliment the change. His head was wolfish, save for the fact that it had no ears. The snout was encased in a spiked jaw-piece which was hinged onto the helmet on the inside. The back end of the helmet was encasing what would appear as an otherwise human head, with no protruding ears to speak of. The eyes inside the helm burned bright and red, with streams of vaporous plasma rising three or four feet into the air on either side of the head. Lucas leaned his head back and howled in delight.

He looked Exile in the eyes, standing equally with him in height, and a grin crossed his face. The teeth in his mouth were all canine in nature, though they had grown grotesquely large and were all stained red with the blood of whoever it was he had just slain. He growled with the grin, and then he patted Exile on the back. "You, my good friend... were right. I am not the same man I was last night. I have died, and I have been reborn as a glorious Darklord!" H cried out into the night with pride. Nohing could have filled him more of a sense of freedom or individuality than his ability to escape Ravenloft with his powers and senses in tact. The only downside was the cursed armor, but it fit him perfectly, making his Darklord form just that much more deadly.

[DungeonMaster]

Being used to putrid smells and horrific naturalities, Exile did not flinch at the violence nor did he get reviled at the smell of the death. He smiled for what may well have been the first time in his existence. "I think, Lucas, that this may well be the beginning of a long partnership. You seem just as brutal and exacting as I am. You show no mercy, however. that is something we will disagree on. As it stands, I am Exile. Do not ask me why, for it should already be apparent." He offered Lucas his hand in introduction. He examined the armor and said, "We even have similar shells." He had a good old fashioned bubbling laugh at that. "So... what exactly is a "Darklord", Lucas?"