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Niobe was my primary focus in @/RoaringSpecter's Necrotober! These little skits are from that

Day one: Trial

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The pure black and red imperial growled as he marched through the wet, corrupted bog of the Wyrmwood. Hypnos was no stranger to this land, but he had never ventured to this area. The infectious fog in the air hampered his senses, making him feel sick.

His plague lineage protected him from the worst diseases, but the peppering of wind family members made his time here much harder.
But he would prevail.

He would complete the trials of the Plague Queen, the glorious PlagueBringer, Mistress of Rot.
He would prove that he was no weak Wind coward.

The bog ripped at his claws, trying to bring him down, make him join the legions of rot and infestation beneath the ground. Hypnos's stomach rolled at the thought of bog mummies buried beneath his claws, but he pushed on.

This would be a month of trial.

Day two: Infection

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Hypnos had never felt fire like this.
He had heard stories of burning and such pain, yes. But this sickness.....it was clawing him apart.

Just a few hours ago, he had plucked a juicy-looking red fruit from a branch. But it was a ploy. His innards were alive with fiery pain and squirming around like worms on hooks. The fever seemed to be eating him alive.

Cold and heat battled inside him, making him want to fall off the crippled tree he had found to rest in and fall into the muck and rot below. This disease was chewing on his heart and lungs like a teething dragonet, slowly inching it's way into his brain.

Hypnos gave a painful spasm, his whole body racked with coughing and pain. If this was the PlagueBringer's will, so be it. If he were to die, he would still serve her, though not as much as he wished he could.

Groaning, he sifted around on the bent tree, trying to find a more comfortable and less hot and sticky position.
This would be a painful Infection.

Day Three: Symbols

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Hypnos stroked his numerous, oddly shaped earrings.
One was a pure black, obsidian fang, a symbol of strength and power. A gift from his father.
Another was a simple, gently glowing, white star with a tiny ruby in the middle. It was probably a symbol of wealth, but his mother just gave it with no explanation.
Finally, a heavy, red chain with a soft, oddly twisted and bubbling chip of wood. A symbol of the Wyrmwood. A symbol of his faith and loyalty. His devotion to the Mistress of Rot.

Hypnos disliked heavy jewels and decorations, but the symbols of his past and future could stay. Maybe later he could pick up some more symbols of his future Necromancer status.

Day four: Doubts

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Hypnos stood, watching the reddish horizon.
The silent imperial seemed like the perfect image of calm and serenity, but he was riddles with internal doubts and pain.

Yes, the berries had worn off and he wasn't infected anymore, but it seemed like something was still inside him, chewing away at his heart. The doubt was slowly tearing away at him.
Was he ready to be a Necromancer?
His village never believed in him. His parents barely believed in his skills. He had no hint of the plague magic gifted to Necromancers. He wasn't even a pure Plague dragon! Would the PlagueBringer even allow him to join her ranks?

Maybe he should just sink into the muck and join the army of rot.

NO.

This doubt was chewing away at his mind, his common sense. He must divert his attention. Hypnos unfurled his wings and lifted off, battling the wind as he traveled.

Day five: Disheveled

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Hypnos forgot to brush his mane heh. Let's hope nothing gets stuck in there

Day Six: Blessing

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Hypnos trudged through the muck, sweating and eyes unable to focus. Something came from those berries. A disease in his mind. He wasn't thinking straight and he could barely see.

He marched weakly towards a pile of snow.
Snow..........................................
He shook his head, mind reeling. Snow? Here?
He scraped together enough brainpower to steer himself towards the odd snow.
Poking it blearily, he barely responded to the yelp. A little dragonet unrolled itself, looking up at the large imperial.

Hypnos sniffed the little baby. No hint of a parent. Probably abandoned. The little thing still even had it's egg tooth. Probably hatched a day ago.
Silently, she scooped up the little baby and examined it. A young female mirror. Hmm.........
He gently parted his back mane, making a small nest at the base of his neck. Gently dropping the little baby there, he turned to check on her.
"Hi dear. Are you alright? I'm going to take you on my quest, ok? We both need some company." he said gently.
"How bout I call you....Blessing? At least for now?"

"Bwe-sing. Bleee-sing. Bess-ing. Blessing?" the little mirror squeaked, sounding it out.

Day 7: Neutralized

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Niobe, the young mirror, dug her claws into her father's mane, shaking him, blackish tears pouring out of her eyes.
"Wake up. Wake up!" she wailed, shaking him harder.
The two had only been together for a few weeks, but she loved him like a father. He had taught her so much

"Please please please! I just wanna keep going! Please! I wanna be your appwentice!" she begged, pulling on his black fur. Hypnos had been teaching her everything he knew, and told her where they were going, but then he went to sleep late one night.
And didn't wake up.

The sickness had finally taken him over. And there was nothing Niobe could do about it.
A raven landed nearby.
It looked at her with oddly intelligent eyes and croaked. About 20 or so more joined it, all watching her.
And in a voice raspy and old, though oddly slithering and oddly bittersweet, they creaked, "The Plague-less Imperial has been terminated. Continue child of Rot."

Niobe's eyes widened with fear as she raced away from the hurricane of feathers that descended to the ground.

Day Eight: Fate

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Niobe paused on the rim of a large crater, looking down at the hole in front of her. She was very tiny compared to it, but she couldn't help but want to climb down into it. Flicking her tail, she instead decided to go around it. But it seemed like there was something dragging her down.
Yelping, she tumbled down into the crater.

Grumbling, Niobe got to her feet and looked up. Was this fate?
Niobe didn't really believe in fate. Although......

She was abandoned, and she did get dropped in Hypnos's path, and he had saved her from starvation or whatever might happen to her. And he did teach her about Necromancers and the Plaguebringer. Would that have happened without fate? Maybe there was fate.........somewhere, controlling everything.

What were the chances of her finding Hypnos? Learning about Necromancers? Surviving even?
Grumbling, she started to climb back up to the surface. Fate could wait, she had more important things to do right now.

Day Nine: Wyrmwood

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Niobe wandered through the Plague Lands, sniffing at whatever plunged out of the rot. Stunted trees, crater-like holes, and whatever else was sticking out of the ground wasn't safe from her inspection.

She sat carefully near one of the stunted trees, tracing the bark with her claws. Hypnos had a piece of wood hanging from one of his ears. Niobe unsheathed her claws and pressed her feet against the tree.
Hmm......

A piece of the Wyrmwood. A reminder of her adoptive father. A symbol of him to be brought on her quest.
Nodding, she ripped her claws into the bark, sawing out a decently sized chunk. Maybe she would whittle it someday. Maybe make a little statuette of the Plaguebringer.

But that was for another day.
Sliding the Wyrmwood into her neck pouch, courtesy of her adoptive dad, she got up and turned towards her final destinination.
It was time to keep moving.

Day Ten: Disease

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Wear a mask peeps. Don't wanna catch anything

Day Eleven: Eyes

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Just put two dragons into a nest together.
Doesn't this possible child have just the loveliest eyes?


Day 12: Strength

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Niobe lifting some weights

Day 13: Necroservus

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Today Niobe spent all day screeching at a Necroservus. She be jealous of his progress.

Necroservus: Hello fellow Necro-

Niobe: HIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Day 14: Ghoul

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Ghoul, Witch, or Vampire?

Day 15: Survival

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Niobe roared angrily, tearing at the ground. Hundreds of shapeless warriors had plunged out of the ground, thousands of mouths biting at her feet that had blossomed from the dirt. Bats screeched and tore at her head and horns.

Niobe's claws slashed through the sky, felling the more vicious bats with a horrible squeal. The others flew around the edges of her wings, like a really large halo. Niobe plunged into one of the warriors, tearing out what seemed to be it's off-button. The blob crumpled and dissolved, but another took it's place.

Nioble yelped as one of the ground mouths tore at her tail. She took off, rubbing the bubbling rot off the tip of her tail. Beating her wings, she shook away the bats and dive bombed the blobs. One nearly caught her in the stomach, but she barely got away, a thin scratch piercing her stomach scales.

Hissing, she whirled through the ranks, eventually wiping out the blobs.
The mouths foamed before disappearing.
"Well done warrior. You have passed this trial. But do not think we shall ignore your blatant avoidance of the trial of infection. Perhaps......we shall let your 'father' take that for you." said a voice with a pinprick of sarcasm slithering through it.
The Queen of Plague.

Day 16: Failure

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Niobe spat on the ground, trying to draw out the parasite that had leaped onto her. If this was supposed to be her trial or something, she had made a horrible mistake. She had spotted a little, strangely colored rock and poked it. It popped and a tiny tick-sized bug had leaped into her mouth.

Between her feet, she spotted a few red dots in the foaming saliva. Swearing under her breath, she wiped her snout, digging through her bag, trying to find her tiny mirror.
Niobe tore it out of her bag and almost dropped it. Her face looked like someone had beat it thirty times with a boulder. Oh dear.

Niobe squeezed her eyes tightly and tried to draw out the parasite with her necromancy magic. She only succeeded in giving herself a headache and whiplash from arching her neck too stiffly. Dumb parasite.
This was definitely failure.

Day 17: Masks

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Why wear a costume when you have 724386 masks in your closet?

Day 18: Harbinger

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Niobe spent all day arguing with a quote unquote 'Harbinger of Doom'. Turns out the 4'11 nocturne was just looking to make some gold by spouting fake prophecies.

Some 'Harbinger of Doom', am I right?

Day 19: Curse

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Do cursing curses count as curses?
If so,
Niobe really cursed out a random dragon.

Ahem...........
"Be quiet you little rot bottom, rat-licking, tree face! Go to the Flame deity and dance around in her lava, ya pile of bird droppings! Stop wandering around like a concussed sheep and go be an ostrich! If only I had primal light eyes. If I did, I would blast you to smithereens with my eye-lasers! Go tap dance in a thornbush and lick and get stuck to the Ice deity! Get out of here blister-bottom!"

All for following her on her quest to the Plaguebringer, trying to find an easy route.
Don't mess with her.

Day 20: Cure

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Niobe had eaten a dangerous amount of herbs every day since the parasite but her to no avail. She had been forced to wear a mask to all week due to this horrible bug and the squished-by-a-boulder look it had given her face.

Niobe carefully sat down, grumbling.
If she punched the dirt, she would probably be in trouble for attacking the Plaguelands, but she was so mad. She wanted to curse the Plaguebringer, but calling her Majesty a rat-licking bark-bottom probably wouldn't grant her any favors in becoming a Necromancer.

"ANY MAGIC RAVEN HELP?" she hollered at the sky, frowning. Ugh, those dumb possessed crows were only around when she didn't want them.
"Yeah! That's right! I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!!" she roared, jumping around. Yeah, no luck. Dumb birb-brains.

She stuck out her tongue at the sky, and promptly fell on her face.
Niobe tasted blood and her tongue felt sore and....................

EW EEWW EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIE
She tried to hurriedly wipe off the gross dirt as quickly as possible. After a minute of this, she felt like someone had just punched her in the face. But from the inside. Yay! Her skull was going back to normal!

After about ten minutes of painful internal punching, she untied her mask and smiled at the horizon, towards the Plaguebringer's castle.

"Very funny, My Queen."

Day 21: Betrayal

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Niobe gouged another mark in the long, thin stick she held.
Another mark to the malleable wood.
Another backstabbing.

There were exactly 20 scratches on the wood. Well, 21 now. Her latest betrayal had been similar to all the others. Travelling with one dragon for a little, getting 'close' with them, waiting till they trusted her enough to let her take the night watch, then running off with as many supplies she needed and could carry. She had started to carry a stick in her pouch, a little reminder of the chaos she sowed.

This ridgeback had been particularly flirty, so Niobe thought he deserved to be dumped in the Plaguelands without any snacks or toilet paper. She had strayed from her formula by punching him in the face, knocking him out then running. But NO ONE smooches Niobe.


Day 22: Plague

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Niobe squealed happily, twirling around and throwing a plague doctor mask into the air. Not the old versions that look really gross. But a pretty carnival version with cute little decorations carved into it and flowers/herbs painted onto it.
Niobe loved the aesthetic and it fit so well with the plague theme!!
Without hesitating, she jammed it onto her face, squealing. It was so fancy and plague-y!

Now she really looked like a plague dragon who witnessed a plague and owned a plague doctor mask!

Day 23: Necromancer

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"Thou shalt place the Wyrmwood in the center of the star of yellow dye, bringing thous wish and will to life or existence for thy."
Yeah, the Old Book of Necromancers was really wrong. About six failed tries proved that.
Niobe started slowly shredding the book, throwing it into the fire in front of her.

Humming gently to herself, she thought,
What if this wasn't Necromancy?
What if these 'guidelines' weren't correct or so stiffly set. She stopped humming, nodding. Yes, she would be her own Necromancer.
When she arrived at her goal, she wouldn't follow some dumb books rituals and ways of doing things. She would do things her own way.

Day 24: Contagion

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Niobe held down the squirming ridgeback.
She couldn't knock him out, so she had to resort to tying him up and trying to work her magic like this.
"SHUSH Ridgeback!" she growled, "You're my test guinea pig! If only I could find a real one, since you're so squirmy!"
She put her claws on his neck, eyes screwed shut.
A cold, wiggly feeling crept through her claws, like there were worms in her veins. The ridgeback screamed and tried to escape harder before shuddering and going limp. He was as cold as ice and his breath was shaky and weak. Niobe stepped back, sweating. Oh dear, now she had to fix this. Steadying herself, she touched his forehead, trying to ignore the cold floating from his scales.
"I, Niobe, Lady follower, to be Necromancer of the Queen Plaguebringer, Mother of Pestilence and Rot, draw the pain I or others have implanted in you. You have been healed by the Decay, cleansed by the Sickness, brought back to the world under the sky. Rise and heal." she muttered, trying to maintain her focus.

A horrible needling, fiery pain writhed up her arm, bubbling out near her shoulder. Niobe clutched her arm in agony, unaware of the ridgeback sawing off his ropes.
"I guess I owe you an apology. You saved me from......well the disease you gave me. Should we just shake and leave it at that?" he said, stretching out an arm before retracting it.
"You know what, never mind." he laughed shakily, "I'm Armagan."
"Like Armageddon?" Niobe laughed
"Yeah."
"Niobe. Wanna come with me as I go become a Necromancer."
"Why not? You can save me all over again, or I can save you."
"You wish!"

Day 25: Wraith

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Niobe and Armagan binge-watched the entire Lord of the Rings triology.
Niobe stole all the red-painted popcorn, screamed at the tv, and was a chaotic little gremlin.
Armagan didn't like the popcorn and instead nommed on some Plague-flavored chips. He also hollered at the tv, but because of plot-holes and main-character plot-armor.

Their favorite characters?
THE RING WRAITHS
Day 26: Lich

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"Bro, what's a lich."
"A what?"
"A lich."
"................"
"Armagan."
"Yes....?"
"You don't know what it is, don't you."
"Mmmmmmm....yeah."

(('kay, Googled it and it's basically a zombie/undead creature))
Day 27: Rot

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"Bro."
"Wadda you want Niobe."
"Lick the rot."
"Excuse me?"
"It's candy."
".......Wot?"
"C'mon bro."
"Nope."
"Come on."
"Nope."
"COME ON Armagaon."
"NO NIOBE I am not licking rot for your amusement!"
"I did it."
"You WHAT?!"

It turns out it really was really suspicious-looking candy. I wonder where Niobe got it. Will the trick work again though..........
Day 28: Horror

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"THE CLOWN'S BEHIND THE DOOR C'MON JUST RUN AWAY."
"Niobe, chill out."
"BUT IT'S RIGHT THERE. SHE SHOULD SEE IT."
"Look, how about we watch a different horror mo-"
"NO I wanna watch."
"I shouldn't have bought that TV."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing.....nothing."
"I think the butler will die next."
"No, the butler and the uncle are the killers. The husband will die because he ran to attack the clown after she, the wife, screams, then she'll be attacked. The aunt will try to run and be caught in the forest while the son is locked in the secret chamber in the basement."
"............."
".........."
"Yeah let's watch another horror movie."
Day 29: Festival

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Armagan and Niobe decided to dress up for the Riot of Rot Festival!


Day 30: Harvest

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Armagan came from a smaller farming town in the Windswept Plateau/Scarred Wasteland border. He was one of the several 'mutts' in the town. His father was a Arcane/Plague Flight hybrid, while his mother's grandmother was a Plague/Wind mix. He managed to keep most of the Plague genes, though he still kept some dregs of Arcane abilities, like weak rune magic, though the Wind genes sputtered out. He knew several other 'hybrids', some with more mixed genes than others.

He was a tough worker, managing to master the toughest harvesting machines. Armagan often volunteered to pull the largest plows, leaving the few livestock in the town for milk and other produce. His duties to the deities started putting strain on him. Properly burning the incense for the Windsinger, drawing the proper runes for the Arcanist, along with bringing rot he found to the Wasteland. He eventually decided to just wander off, into the plaguelands. He still paid his respects to the deities, but felt free from any tasks he used to struggle with. He felt bad for leaving the town, but he needed some time to think and collect himself.

Armagan spent about three days alone, before being hit over the head with a rock and tied up by Niobe to be her test guinea pig. He's still traveling with her, though he doesn't want to be a Necromancer.

Day 31:Hallowed

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The hallowed cave was in the worst possible place.
Niobe was just meandering around with Armagan before falling into a hidden hole. She fell, screaming, for about a minute before she hit the bottom. She had barely scuttled out of the way by the time Armagan came crashing down after her.

Everything smelled faintly of rot, and the bone wind chimes tinkled and clinked ominously from the ceiling. There was a huge collection of different-sized skulls hanging from the wall, and several stuffed vultures were hung in different positions from the ceiling.
Several wooden and bone instruments lay on the ground, each marked with the plague symbol. Despite none of them moving and there being no other dragons in the room, there was an odd rhythm oozing through the room, like hundreds of dragons humming and slowly playing a funeral march.

It looked pretty cool, but this hallowed place wasn't her last stop.
Now to find The PlagueBringer and ask her if Niobe could join her ranks as a Necromancer.