Koschei Forest was rarely a place I ventured to after my last encounter with the professor on Hollow's Eve. I had never set foot there since the haunted festival, mainly because there wasn't a whole lot to be found under its canopy of darkness. Artifacts in the less dangerous areas had all been taken by quick-witted scavengers long before my time in Revaliir, especially since the inhabitants of Kurayo were not known for honoring their dead and even less for guarding the forest's peripheries. I really had no desire to go to that place anymore, because it was a barren waste filled with vengeful ghosts and secrets that were best kept hidden.
Yet, that changed when I received a strange request one day at my home in Salem. One of the ghosts there who was, remarkably, still sane, told me that someone he knew wished to commission a portrait from me. He even delivered her request in writing to my doorstep along with specifications for payment: something I hadn't expected of any ghoul. And it had to be a ghoul, because no one in that town really fraternized with the living anymore.
On the makeshift invoice, there was a map showing exactly where to meet the client. I showed up there in my normal form a day later, having no need to hide the ears or tail in the presence of a ghost, and set up my easel in preparation.
Now you might be wondering why I'm taking the time to document this scene when it's not really noteworthy when compared to the other events of my life I normally describe. That's because this contract was most unusual and comedic. When I showed up, the client was apparently in the middle of a bachelorette party for a friend of hers. She was being entertained by zombie strippers, and took me aside upon my arrival. My job, apparently, was to paint the bride with one of the zombie strippers and to flatteringly immortalize her joy.
Having lived around the undead for many years before that point, I was perfectly willing to accept the atypical request; though I was hard-pressed not to laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation. The portrait took the entirety of the party to finish, and I had to do it without a stationary model. However, I was indeed able to generate a product that satisfied my client.
Apparently, the ghouls had been some of the older spirits in that forest. They were actually ghosts that had perfected the ability to possess corpses, so tonight was just them using that ability to feel alive once again. The portrait was more to immortalize their festivities than anything else, and they didn't care if I prettied up the bride and stripper a little for the final result. My patron took the painting joyously and exchanged it with an orb wrapped in cloth. Inside, as promised, was a crystal object of great value that the ghouls had found a couple of days ago, and I took that artifact back home when I retired for the night.
Oddly enough, I still remember that job, if only because it was so ludicrously unexpected. As for what happened to the crystal afterward, that's another story for another time.
