Line #1 Tropers/KrampusTheTherapist


1	I'm Krampus, how are you? I'm here for exclusively [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14315151240A21923900&page=1 Avatar Arena!]] Join! We also have a discord chat https://discord.gg/E26atxv
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3	[[folder: Tales from the Krampusverse - An Improper Funeral]]
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5	As Raex walks across the sunbaked terra toward the destitute ruins of a once prideful bastion, the city of Glamis Aurora, he can't bear to move his gaze from the ground. The sun's harsh reflection off the dead dirt has been burning into Raex's eyes for hours, each step the templar takes toward his goal slower and slower. Doubt swallows the young templar as he brings his head from its slumped position to observe the huge obelisks of permafrost jetting up through the ruins like carnivorous mountains.
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7	As the sun had destroyed fertile ground and evaporated swathes of ocean, it had not yet quelled the scars of a war long past. Raex reached the ruins of the front gate, peering deep into the urban ruins, his gaze settled far in the back, at the base of one such icy pillar, where a silhouette of a husk stood. Sighing, Raex raised his foot to step over the mound of rubble where a massive gate once stood, slowly stepping into the ruins of Glamis Aurora.
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9	Raex's gaze again wanders low, dozens of decomposed, sun-baked corpses and skeletons buried beneath rotten wood and cracked stone flooding his vision—Raex's eyes quake at the sight, following the main road with cautious steps. His armored boots clinked against the cobblestone path, as many thousands of feet had centuries ago.
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11	As he neared the obelisk, the husk before Raex was silent, still, fallen to his knees before the ice, the cold radiating from it a comfort. The templar rested a gentle grip on the greatsword sheathed on his back, stopping a few feet away from the husk.
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13	[[blue: "It's time to go home, Luke."]]
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15	The husk croaked a guttural, air-sucking wail of pain and lost humanity that struck Raex to the center of his being. The husk began to rise, the squelching sound of tearing flesh as his legs were stuck to a puddle of his blood that poured from him and stuck to the cracks in the cobblestone path. The husk's arms quaked, bloated veins pressed tightly against dehydrated skin.
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17	[[evil:[[gold: "I... am... home."]]]]
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19	The husk spat out each word with strenuous effort, vocal cords tearing to produce an unrecognizable voice to the templar. Raex pauses, becoming as motionless as the husk before him.
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21	[[green: "This has been nobody's home for some time."]]
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23	The husk slowly turned to face Raex, shards of the icy obelisk embedded deep into his flesh, slowing what necrosis had already transpired. The husk's flesh was gray, blots of purple spattered across his body.
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25	[[evil:[[gold: "My... home."]]]]
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27	The husk slowly states, raising a limp hand to smack at his chest, severing some flesh on the hand by striking a jagged edge of permafrost. Raex peers past the husk to the armor he had shed, his brother in arm's helmet at the top of the pile.
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29	[[blue: "No Luke, it isn't."]]
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31	Raex's gentle retort only angered the husk, a furious croaking roar erupting from the bowels of the already dead man. Raex swallows air, not afraid, but unsure if he could kill what stood before him. It wasn't the man he came to find, who he had spent weeks following a trail to save. Returning the favor, Raex believed. The templar's neutral facade sunk, slowly pivoting to leave. The husk was motionless, watching as his once ally began to walk away.
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33	Raex stopped, taking a shallow breath. The templar clenched his fist, shaking as he slowly drew his greatsword.
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35	[[green: "I... can't leave you here."]]
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37	Raex turned to the husk, already on his knees before the icy obelisk. Lowering the tip of his blade to the ground, Raex marched toward the husk, coming to a stop just behind the croaking, walking corpse. Raising his blade high into the air, Raex took a deep breath.
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39	[[blue: "Goodbye, old friend."]]
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41	'''Raex's blade sunders flesh.'''
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Context Tropers / KrampusTheTherapist