“Get back here with my arm you damn bone thief,” shouted Captain Pegleg as he chased after Fluffball.


    Fluffball had quickly found the arm in the large snowbank but when Pegleg asked him to hand it over... he refused and ran off forcing Pegleg to chase after him.


    Even though Captain Pegleg was just bones and could walk easily on top of the snow he was far slower than Fluffball who plowed through the snow and then would stop waiting for Pegleg to catch up before running away again.


    The undead army seemed to not care or notice the game of chase happening with the arm and continued to have a conversation of their own to pass the time.


    “My death was worse than your death,” said one of the undead officers standing near Akira.


    “No,” said a second officer. “My death was worse.”


    “How did you die?” asked Akira.


    The two both answered at the same time. “I forgot.” “I don''t remember.”


    The two continued to debate who had a worse death so Akira ignored them and turned to Klyn.


    “What do you think about the black fog and the creatures inside?”


    “From what I have seen so far and what we can hear it doesn''t look good,” said Klyn as he scratched his head. He and the other holy shaman were looking at a few of the dead monster bodies that had been dropped by one of the demigods.


    “The demigod''s seemed to be able to enter the mist without problem, do you think we can as well?” asked Akira.


    “I wouldn''t want to risk it, they complained about it having a drying itch effect on their skin. My guess is that is how these monsters were first infected,” said Klyn as he poked one of the dead monster bodies with a stick.


    Klyn looked up and searched for someone in the small group of shamen standing around the dead bodies.


    “Bo, how well do you think you can handle taking control of another creature other than your raven companion?”


    “80-90% control if it is another bird type. 50% or less for other types,” said Bo.


    “Impressive,” said Klyn. The other shaman around him all looked at him with approving looks.


    “Is that really good?” asked Akira.


    “It is amazing to have such a high rate of compatibility! Normally the shaman scouts only bond with one specific type of companion and are unable to grasp control of other types even if they are similar,” said Klyn.


    Zundar gave a snort at the skinny shamen who fought with their chants and brains instead of their muscles.


    “Do you want us to try and fish for something inside the black fog?” asked Akira.


    “Let''s try that. Hopefully, you don''t catch something we can''t handle,” said Klyn as he looked towards the black fog, where the sounds of chilling screams could be heard.


    Bo sat down cross-legged on the cold ground, his eyes closed and his body grew still.


    Akira gave a silent order for several of the werewolf guards to form a protective screen around Bo.


    “Zundar, can you do us the honors?” asked Akira, giving the large muscular Minotaur several javelins.


    Zundar''s face lit up and he pointed to his large chest with his large thumb saying, “Leave it to me! I''ll catch the biggest monster!”


    Zundar''s muscle strained as he raised his arm with a Javelin behind him and took aim. A second later he threw the first Javelin with his full might causing a loud whitelisting to sound out as it shot forward and flew into the black fog.


    CRAA!!! A loud irritated roar sounded out from the mist.


    “See, I got something on my first try!” said Zundar.


    Everyone but Fluffball and Captain Pegleg who were running around behind them readied themselves for a fight.


    The sound of heavy footsteps stomping through the snow could be heard. It was coming right towards them.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Swoosh!


    The black fog parted and a large stone black creature with the height of a standing human and the width of two, rushed out running with both its legs and arms.


    Upon closer inspection, Akira found that the only thing not covered in the black layer of stone was its arms and legs which were covered in white fur that was tinted with blood-red at the tips.


    [BloodySnowApe Level 100(Infected)]


    Akira immediately activated his skill [Shadow chains]. Four howling wolf head chains shot out of the ground their mouths wide open as they shot forward and bit deep into the arms and legs of the [BloodySnowApe] causing it to slam face-first into the snow and come to a complete stop as the chains jerked it back.


    “Bo, hurry do your stuff it won''t be trapped forever!”


    Akira watched as Bo, still with his eyes closed, started to silently chant at a fast pace as he raised his right hand towards the [BloodySnowApe] in front of them.


    “CRAAA!”


    The [BloodySnowApe] let out a loud roar when it felt something attacking its mind.


    Bo''s face turned pale as he continued to chant and struggle for control over the [BloodySnowApe].


    “Cra...” a weak roar was let out before Bo forcefully battered away the last defenses of the [BloodySnowApe] and took control of it.


    The [BloodySnowApe] grew still and stopped struggling. The shadow wolf chains disappeared moments later.


    Akira looked to Klyn for confirmation.


    “He has to inspect the body and get a feel for it before he can take partial control,” said Klyn.


    They watched for several minutes as Bo''s pale face started to show beads of sweat forming on his scrunched forehead.


    Moments later he opened his eyes and panted trying to breathe in great gulps of air.


    Everyone looked at him wondering how it went.


    Bo shook his head. He wiped his forehead with a sleeve and drank from a wineskin at his hip.


    When his face had regained some color in it and his ragged breathing calmed down he spoke.


    “I felt another faint presence inside... had to leave,” said Bo.


    “Another shaman scout?” asked Akira.


    “No,” said Bo''s shaking his head. “I have worked with many other shaman scouts and know how their different consciousness feels. This one had an entirely alien feel to it.”


    “Were you able to find out anything else?” asked Klyn.


    “The organs and every part of its body other than its arms and legs were completely turned into stone. There was no blood flow in those body parts. The blood in the arms and legs were all black and gave off a feeling of death not flowing anywhere.”


    Ding!


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Main Quest Branch 1 - stage 1: Find information about the plague.


    50% completed!


    You have just barely scraped the bottom of knowledge but you have found that the rumors are true, someone is controlling these creatures!


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Everyone looked at the [BloodySnowApe] that was still not moving. They were all in deep thought as they went over all that Bo had just said.


    “Why isn''t that monster moving?” asked Akira after he finished reading the system message.


    “It''s entire being was shattered when I fought it for control. Normally if there is no struggle then there is no harm to the subject that we take control of. If we have to fight, the soul of the creature is damaged beyond any type of healing,” said Bo.


    ''Soul? Those things still have a soul?'' thought Akira.


    Akira looked around and saw that Captain Pegleg was still chasing after Fluffball cursing at him. Akira gave a sigh.


    “Fluffball give him his arm back.”


    When Fluffball heard Akira, he immediately dropped the arm from his mouth into the snow, not wanting to get in any more trouble.


    He happily plowed through the snow towards Akira and ran around him a few times before sitting down next to Akira who was watching him. Fluffball turned serious as he sat there and scanned the area for any enemies.


    Captain Pegleg picked up the arm and clacked his bony jaw in disgust.


    “You damn bone thief, you slobbered all over my arm! It stinks!” said Captain Pegleg.


    He held his slobbery arm by one of its bony fingers.


    “Yap!” replied the disinterested Fluffball his tail wagging furiously as he ignored Captain Pegleg''s complaints.


    “How can you even smell?” asked Akira.


    “You''re lucky my bones are super strong and you didn''t leave any bite marks. If you did I would have to show you who''s the boss!”


    Fluffball continued to ignore Captain Pegleg as he grumbled some more while he tried to wash his arm in one of the trampled snowbanks. He was having a hard time doing it with only one arm.


    Klyn, Bo, and the other Shaman were all huddled together talking in more detail about Bo''s experience.


    Akira could not understand them as they were using too much mumbo jumbo shaman lingo and other stuff that went over his head.


    ***


    “Something or someone is messing with the toys in one of the southern sectors...” said Bonestringer as he closed his eyes and concentrated. Before he could find out more information his connection was cut.


    “Who? Is it those damn Demigods that keep entering and killing things?” asked Tibia.


    “Not sure. But there is definitely someone tampering with them. I felt their consciousness only for a second.”


    “Send some of the completed minions to wipe out whatever it is.”


    “Are you sure? What if they get destroyed and we lose all the work we put into them? I won''t be able to control them in battle as it is too far away. I can only give them an order before they leave.”


    “We have enough that sending some to clear up this problem won''t matter much.”