La lisière de la forêt près du village de Psarokokala, 08:06, 26 Octobre 4846. Trois jours jusqu'à l'arrivée d'Harlek Damon.
Le voyage de One continua sans soucis particulier, si ce n'était la vague impression qu'elle s'enfonçait au fur et à mesure dans un endroit où il ne serait pas évident d'en ressortir. C'est ainsi qu'après la nuit de sa rencontre avec le barde elfique, au matin de son sixième jour de voyage, elle atteignit finalement sa destination!
L'architecture du village de Psarokokala n'avait rien d'extravagant ni même d’inhabituel pour la région. Il s'agissait d'un petit hameau d'une vingtaine de bâtiments, la majorité d'eux des logements. Il occupait une clairière d'environ 800 mètres de diamètre au sein de la forêt que venait de traverser One. Forêt qui d'ailleurs continuait vers l'au delà où elle entourait également les deux autres villages dont lui avait parlé Damon.
Une zone d'une cinquantaine de mètres dédiée à l'agriculture avait été emménagée entre la lisière de la forêt et le village, partout autour de ce dernier, créant ainsi une démarquation claire entre le domaine des humains et celui des animaux.
Depuis l'endroit où elle se trouve, cachée derrière les arbres, One n'arrive pas à voir grand chose, en grosse partie à cause de la présence d'un léger brouillard matinal. Cependant elle arrive quand même à distinguer que les maisons au bord du village semblent être en bon état. Cependant, aucune lumière n'est présente et il n'y a aucun signe de mouvement.
Peu de temps après l'arrivée de One, un unique coup de feu retenti depuis l'autre bout du village, suivi par les cris apeurés d'une femme en panique. Suivirent les sons de portes qui claquent ouvertes et de nombreuses voix demandant ce qui se passait. Toutefois la commotion ne dura guère, à peine trois minutes plus tard les voix avaient déjà baisser, rendant au village son calme matinal.
A l'aube du sixième jour, Dieu n'était toujours pas revenu sur Haerii, regrettant évidemment sa mise au monde des humains. Contrairement à lui, One arriva au premier village-cible le sixième jour.
Réalisant qu'elle touchait au bout de son voyage pour l'instant, One commença d'abord par éteindre tout éclairage qui pourrait trahir sa position. Suite à cela, profitant du manque de visibilité que l'on pouvait avoir sur elle, One s'éloigna de la route et longea la clairière, toujours abritée par la dense végétation, pour trouver un point d'observation, que ce soit une colline au dessus de la ville ou un arbre assez haut pour permettre de surveiller les environs. Attachant son cheval à l'abri des regards mais en vue d'elle-même, elle grimpa jusqu'à son point d'observation (une branche d'un arbre haut, une colline) et entama un processus d'observation du village, de ses habitants, de leurs habitudes, et de tout comportement qui pourrait être suspect. Observant en particulier les allées et venues des villageois qui sortaient du village, et leur armement s'ils en avaient.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
One n'a pas de soucis à trouver un arbre suffisamment grand et suffisamment à l'écart du petit village pour qu'il puisse lui servir d'observatoire. Son cheval est attaché en sécurité au pied de cet arbre et broute tranquillement les herbes à sa proximité. Ainsi, l'agente de l'église commence sa session de surveillance.
Le brouillard entourant les lieux ne tarda pas à disparaître avec le levé du soleil. One put alors remarquer une chose bien étrange, deux femmes armées chacune d'un fusil de chasse patrouillait le hameau de long en large. Ni l'une ni l'autre semblait particulièrement à l'aise avec leur arme et leurs mouvements nerveux trahissaient une crainte ambiante. Autre détail que One put relever maintenant qu'elle avait une vision plus claire des lieux, fut le constat que toutes les fenêtres et les portes des bâtiments étaient hermétiquement fermées.
Quelques hommes et femmes commencèrent à quitter leur logement pour vaquer à leurs occupations journalières. Traire les vaches, emmener les chevaux travailler la terre à l'aide d'outils aussi vieux qu'efficaces, s'occuper des champs... Rien ne semblait sortir particulièrement de l'ordinaire.
Pendant la journée entière, personne ne s'aventura au delà de la lisière pour pénétrer la forêt. A partir de midi, de plus en plus d'hommes commençaient à faire leur apparition. Deux d'entre eux prirent la relève des femmes aux fusils et deux autres, pareillement armés, se positionnèrent en vigiles sur les champs aux extrémités du village.
Le soir venu, tout le monde se réfugie chez soit avant le coucher du soleil. Très peu de lumière s'échappe des maisons et personne ne semble enclin de s'aventurer dans les bois à cette heure tardive non plus.
Les seuls à rester dehors sont quatre hommes armés qui patrouillent le village. Tout est calme et à l'air en ordre. Il est deux heures du matin du 27 octobre.
One a compté approximativement une trentaine de villageois, hommes femmes mélangés.
La séquence d'observation de One dura plus longtemps que prévu, en partie parce qu'elle s'était laissée emportée, par plaisir pour la tâche. Ce penchant instinctif pour la furtivité, l'observation et le comportement de prédateur était, après tout, l'une des dernières choses à lui procurer encore du plaisir(avec la pluie).
Finalement, en pleine nuit, elle mit fin à sa chasse, descendit de son perchoir et se mit en direction du village(sans oublier ses effets personnels et son cheval).
Elle n'alluma sa lanterne qu'à sa sortie de la forêt, et pas avant d'avoir armé son arbalète. Si elle n'avait pas eu besoin de lumière pour se faire reconnaître comme "humaine" par les villageois, elle se serait bien passée de ce qui pourrait faire d'elle une cible de choix pour les horreurs qui peuplaient les forêts environnantes.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
One avait passé la quasi totalité de la journée à observer le hameau depuis son perchoir et bien que la procédure soit sage, on pouvait lui reprocher peut être sa longue durée. A quoi penserait-donc les gens observés s'ils l'avaient remarquée?
A rien de bon, cela est certain. Heureusement aucun d'eux n'avait montré le moindre signe d'avoir aperçu la demoiselle.
Du moins c'était le cas jusqu'au moment où elle alluma sa lanterne.
Une minute plus tard elle se trouvait au niveau des premières maisons, les quatre hommes armés de fusils de chasse devant elle!
Il était clair qu'ils étaient alarmés au plus haut point, bien que n'ayant pas encore sonné l'alerte, ils tenaient leurs armes braquées sur l’inconnue et la tenait à distance de sécurité. Il fallait admettre tout de même qu'elle était extrêmement louche! Vous imaginez çà, une tarée qui se pointe à deux heures du mat dans un village à l'écart de la civilisation et entouré de bois dangereux qui plus est!?
Si One n'avait pas allumé sa lanterne et avait été repérée lors de son approche, ils lui auraient tiré dessus sans le moindre doute.
L'un des hommes, le plus calme d'entre eux, interpelle One tout en gardant son arme sur elle.
" Pas un pas de plus! Qui êtes-vous? Que faites-vous ici? "
Ah, Psarokokala. A bastion of civilization in this dark land, a brilliant torch of reason and humanity in this pandemonium.
A paladin would say things like this. Only the fool would see anything else but the raw truth: These men and women were nothing but cattle to be taken by the darkness. One could almost taste the fear in them, and it was a savory delight. And that was the sole quality One could find in them. Even pigs realize when they are taken to the slaughterhouse. These wretches apparently did not.
What do they think they are doing here? In these god forsaken lands, surrounded by nightmarish creatures, just WAITING for them to go into the woods? What kind of foolishness drove them to settle here, in the gaping maw of the abyss?
One laughed. She laughed at their miserable fates. If they are quarry to be hunted, so be it. One would assume the role of hunter. She dropped her lantern on the ground, on the road, and sidestepped into the fields, waiting unseen. Eventually, the militia came to investigate, their old, rusty weapons loaded with wet powder in hand. How. Pathetic. One slowly raised her crossbow and shot. The first bolt dug through the militiamen's nose, into his skull. It took him several seconds to die in the most unspeakable pain and horror. His neighbor was second to fall, but he did not die; A bolt had pierced through his lower spine, leaving him powerless as his face hit the mud, alive, his eyes wide open as One charged the third man with her short sword, opening his abdomen and spilling his guts on the corrupted earth. It all happened so quickly the last militiaman didn't have time to scream; One had lounged towards him and taken his rifle off him. As he fell on the floor, One sat on his crotch, his rusty rifle in her hand, the blood of another man splattered across her armor, in a disturbing display of foul eroticism. She bent down towards the man, licking his lips with her cold, dead tongue, before forcing down his rusty canon down his throat and pressing the trigger. It was all over in a few moments. And the gunfire would've most likely awakened the other preys! How. Delightful.
Ambiance:
But no, that was not going to happen, at least not yet. One was under surveillance, she couldn't go on a rampage without putting herself at risk. And she had vengeance to accomplish first.
One: "So you don't get to die today, guardsmen. Lucky you..." - she whispered, as she approached the militiamen who were standing there, waiting for whatever it was, death or anything else, their rusty weapons pointed towards her.
" Pas un pas de plus! Qui êtes-vous? Que faites-vous ici? "
The cooperation of these fools was needed to accomplish the mission. Actually, it was not needed, nor was their survival necessary, but her handler -and the Necessarius- would look favorably if she won their trust. And so the masquerade began. Putting on the mask of a young, courageous paladin, One said, with a sure voice.
One: "Halt there brave guardsman! Stay your hand, for I come in peace! I am Alyssa of Tisoras, ranger-knight of the Holy Inquisition! The Church of his Holiness has heard the plea of its faithful, and seen the distress of their noble souls, and I was sent here to aid you, by brethren!" -said One, as she thought to herself that she could easily splatter the face of the panicked guardsman with her still-loaded crossbow. She didn't do that though.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
The poor townsfolk had no idea what was going through the twisted mind of One.
Lucky them.
Most would probably barfed where they stood at the gruesome scene she'd paint of them. At best they would have fired. Though not trained warriors, some of the shots would have hit at this distance. But that wouldn't have been enough to stop her now would it? Either way it would end poorly for the village to get on One's bad side.
Then again there was no real merit for One to eradicate them either, quite the opposite. Not to mention there would have been no real point in coming here in the first place if they were to die without coughing up at least a modicum of information. If she needed them gone she had but stay away, this place felt doomed already. Such an eery feeling.
Most of all, had she given in to her deadly pulses, that would have turned her to little more than the common undead, with their hatred of life and what not.
Did she even care?
Back on track though, it was quite silly really, how their faces lit up upon hearing One's introduction. They rejoiced, much like puppies whose master has just returned home. Guns were lowered, tension dissipeted, shoulders dropped in relief. No yells though, too late in the night for that, would have alarmed the village and then who knows what could happen in the insuing panic.
Just like that, as if she had hypnotized them with a snap of her fingers, One had won the trust of the locals. Had her trick failed, it would have meant retribution, thankfuly that were not the case. The folk here seemed uneducated enough not to know better of her identity. Or perhaps they did not care enough to check it. Desperation can do these things and hope dies last after all!
The men of the patrol approched her slow, now with friendlier faces.
" Praise the Lord you have come! We have been expecting someone like you. We sent word a few days ago. You see, dark things are afoot m'lady! "
" Dark things indeed! "
Nodded in agreement the man next to him.
" The woods are geting quieter by the day! Most animals are gone! People who crossed them have yet to return! It has been days since we've had news of the nearby villages. "
" All symptons some of us remember from... Harsher times. "
Added the third.
" What aid you can give us we gratefully accept and furthermore, we are ready to provide you with any assistance we can! "
Resumed the first man.
" Perhaps she's tired from the journey though? Do you need a place to rest? Something to eat perhaps? And of course if you have any questions we are willing to answer them! "
Despite appearances, One could be tolerant towards the living. But there were some types of individuals that One absolutely, utterly despised.
Fools. Bonus(?) points if one is foolish in his practice of religion. These truly deserve a special place in the void. Like paladins.
Weaklings. Like most citizens of glorious, violated Psarosoupa.
Interestingly, One considered necromancers to be none of these two, and therefore had a modicum of respect for them. Shame she was out to slaughter them all, along with their minor deities.
Anyways, these peasants represented much of what One despised in this world. Resisting the urge to wipe this village off the face of Haerii, she maintained her mask on.
Alyssa: "Yes, in truth, the journey here has been most tiring, this village in the eye of the storm is a godsend. But I would present myself to the mayor of this fine community first, politeness comes first, and we have much to talk."
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
The little charade One had set up, while effective, had something revolting about it. No doubt a real paladin would have had quite a few things to say, both about her beliefs and also about how she was abusing the trust of the villagers in her present situation.
That said, there were no paladins here. Not for miles around.
The three men, relieved as they were from One's presence (she was their long awaited reinforcements after all) still could not find it in them to disarm themselves. They were still not at ease.
In the distance, wolves started howling into the night.
The villagers did not pay them heed, usual enough an event when you live in the woods. Instead they had their full attention on their saviour to be, who was astoundingly well spoken at that! Such is the difference of educated lords and heros from accross the nation they thought no doubt. Nothing to do with poor old them.
" Right... Er, m'lady, thing is the mayor is gone. He left two days ago with another fellow to go check up on the nearby village. We havn't had any news since. I can house you at my place in his stead if you wish. I live alone and since i will be returning outside to patrol once you are settled in, there wont be anyone to bother your rest. "
The man was in his late fourties. He had a dark beard and dark hair whose edges had begun turning white months ago. His hands were firm, being the oldest of the three before her, he had experience on his side and it showed. Bags underneath his eyes betrayed sleepless nights and worries.
He pointed towards a wooden shack near the edge of the village. Definetly not the most shiny building in town, but then again even if it were that would have meant very little. At least the man seemed earnest in his offer.
The grave news hit Alessa of Tisoras badly, but her resolve would not be so easily broken.
Alessa: “I see… I hope they are unharmed. I am clearly arriving late, and I apologize for this. I promise to do all that is in my power to protect all of you. I will accept your kind offer, sir, and rest in your home for tonight.”
Politely dismissing any superfluous discussion, she headed to the old man’s shack for the night. After attaching her horse by the shack, she went inside, closed the door, made sure nobody was around, and finally, took her breastplate off, breathing freely for the first time in days. A welcome relief.
As she dropped her armor and backpack near the entry, she peeked around the shack and sighed.
Alessa: “No comfort for the weary, is there.”
At least she was in relative safety. She dared not sleep in her host’s bed, and so she layed down her sleeping bag in a clean corner of the shack. As she closed her eyes, Alessa thought about the men and women of the village.
Alessa: “This place is a living nightmare. There must be something I can do for…”
One: “...these men and women. I will make their souls mine, but Harlek will find out about it if i’m not discreet. But nobody will suspect anything if I get my hands on those who are considered lost already, like the mayor…”
Alessa: “...Hopefully he’s safe and sound. I must find him back to the village if he’s still alive. He may be able to help me uncover what is going on around here. Then, I can save these villagers.”
As she spoke, the woman -or whatever it was- lying in the sleeping bag’s eye glow shifted quickly from an appeasing frost-blue to their typical yellow. But in the end, it was yellow which settled into the eyes of the creature.
A creature which barely needed sleep. After sleeping a few hours for good measure, One woke up, and started restringing her crossbow and oiling her armor to pass time. She wouldn’t want to be suspected, and so she stayed in the shack, “sleeping” till morning.
Finally, when it was “politically correct” to wake up, One did so, grabbed her battle gear and headed out of the shack.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
How very careful she was, the fake. The unredeemable saviour.
How meticulous in her endeavors to seem normal.
To be what she's not.
It was splendid. It was successful. How could she ever be caught?
That night, none would be made aware that they willingly let into their midts the very thing they were most terryfied off.
The shack proved to be sufficient sanctuary for her spartan tastes. It was after all the house of a living, breathing, person. Surely more than satisfactory for a cold corpse which stopped caring about most things ages ago.
As promised, she were not disturbed. When she decided to came out, it was of her own will. And so the fake greeted a new day.
27th of October, 8:30 in the morning, 4846.
Two days until the arrival of Harlek Damon.
The village was quiet still.
Quite a few more people were around now though, men and women, trying their best to let One be, while still throwing acknowledging nods her way, as well as the occasional words of gratitude.
No doubt they would have rather swarmed her, asked her a million questions and beg for salvation. But for now at least, they were keeping those desires at bay, probably instructed by the guars who greeted One that night.
Speaking of which, it was about time for the change in guards, the tired men made their way to their respective abodes. Witht he exception of One's host who spotting her, stopped by her to ask if everything was allright with her stay.
Saddly no news from the mayor's group he said. Not that they were really expecting any. But surely that would change with her here now. Surely.
One was free to act as she willed. She now had the possibility to search for information in whatever manner she deemed appropriate.
Another dawn. Another day to tread on this forsaken earth.
A yellow-eyed One came out of the shack. Her gaze swept across the village and the fields surrounded by the black forest.
She sometimes wonders why she bothers with all of this. But One is driven by a single purpose: Retribution. And if following the orders of the Necessarius gets her closer to Hellpoemer, than she will cut a bloody path through whatever the inquisition has to throw on her way.
She first went to the night guards who were about to swap with a new team and get some rest. Their observations would likely be useful. After a bit of small talk, One went down to business, with the mask of Alyssa of Tisoras still on.
One: “Gentlemen, before you earn your rest i have to ask you a few crucial questions. I need to understand what exactly is going on here, before i can investigate it with the reinforcements i’ll be receiving soon. Who has disappeared. When did it start. How, where, what. Give me every detail. The smallest piece of information, if used correctly, could save lives. What of the surrounding woods? Did anything weird happen inside the village, or in one of the surrounding ones? Please tell me ANYTHING that comes to mind, dear sirs. I have to piece things together before I know where to continue this investigation.”
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
[Good thing One's undead, she would probably have died waiting since i thought it was your turn to post for the last 5 months or so! Gomen gomen.]
The poor people who made up the village's pitiful nightwatch, did stuck around by One's request, despite being more than eager to crash into their beds as soon as possible. She was the One here to save them after all.
A couple other bystanders came to join the discussion as time went on. The villagers were eager to answer all of One's questions to the best of their abilities. But would that suffice?
One: “Gentlemen, before you earn your rest i have to ask you a few crucial questions. I need to understand what exactly is going on here, before i can investigate it with the reinforcements i’ll be receiving soon. Who has disappeared. When did it start. How, where, what. Give me every detail. The smallest piece of information, if used correctly, could save lives. What of the surrounding woods? Did anything weird happen inside the village, or in one of the surrounding ones? Please tell me ANYTHING that comes to mind, dear sirs. I have to piece things together before I know where to continue this investigation.”
As to be expected, some of the villagers actualy did have a few ideas on why their little hamlet was befallen by whatever it was that had befallen it. However...
" It all started when Maria forgot to pray one night! "
" It all started when Dimitri stole one of my chickens! "
" It all started when Mits slept with his sister! "
" It all started when Mits slept with my sister! "
" It all started when Mits slept with my chicken! "
To name but a few of of the answers which rose from the crowd.
Ambiance:
" Silence you fools! This isn't happening because someone pissed on his neighbour's cabbage! "
One's host, the aged hunter, clearly had a better head on his shoulders than most present. That or he was fed up of the pettyness that could be found in small villages such as this one. Everyone has offended someone and grudges are a plenty. But does that warant their current situation? Fuck no.
" M'lady I will tell you what happened and what we know as objectively as possible. Our village here maintains regular supply lines with the other two that can be found nearby, Psarokeftedes and Psarotourta. We mostly trade food, produce, pelts, some times wood and labor. However, all communication, all contact and subsequently all trades have stopped for roughly a month now. At the begining no one thought much of it. So the kid who hauls the carts got sick and stayed in bed today, big deal, we thought.
But the days kept passing and no one showed up from any of the other two villages. In the end one of our own volunteered to go check on them, taking some of our goods to resume the trade for some of the things we had few off. We havn't seen that man since.
Few more days pass, the woods grow quieter by the day. Less animals, less noise. Some of our people start feeling stalked in the forest. Rustling leaves, eyes in the shadows, yet nothing to be seen in the light of day. At night we can some times hear... unusual noises from the woods. Growling of beasts unfamiliar to us. Some say they have found mangled corpses of deers and wolves in distant parts of the forest. Now deers alone that would have been fine but around here we've never had anything that could put a wolf in the shape we found them.
We all grew increasingly worried. The mayor, Skoufis, decided to go see what on earth happened to the other villages. He took Mits with him and they both made for Psarokeftedes, armed to the teeth. That was two days ago, no news since. We have begun finding blood stains nera the outskirts of the village. Now no one dares to go into the woods anymore. It was the bets we could do, to hunker down and wait for help.
I'm mighty sorry to say, but I dont have a shit clue about why this is happening! But I've lived my whole life here and I can tell you, there IS something in the woods. And it might be hunting us... It's probably hunting us. "
A woman in the crowd faints. Her husband carries her home.
The aged hunter's face turns grim.
" I do not know if the people in the other villages have done anything to earn the ire of, whatever's out there, but... It's not the first time we have missing people in these parts. Some were found eaten by wolves, a couple murders have occured over the years sure. Some were lost to that accursed town. But this here situation with the villages? We've never seen this! Heck, bandits would have left traces behind. They would have robbed us by now... "
The man is guenuinly in thought. The crowd, for the most part, seems to agree with his version of the chronology of events. Though there is a guy insisting God is punishing them because someone stole his chicken or something.
Further away, sitting on a rocking chair outside of her house, an old woman mutters to herself, undisturbed by the commotion One has wrought with her awakening.
" Foolish, foolish man. You were told not to go. You were told to... "
" Is there anything more you want to know m'lady? "
Fools. All of them. This whole crowd had nothing interesting to say. Had One not needed to keep them alive for the sake of appearances she would've thrown a few grapeshots around the village, clean up this filth herself.
" It all started when Mits slept with my sister! "
" It all started when Mits slept with my chicken! "
One's hand reached her grenade bag.
One: *Die, filth...*
" Silence you fools! This isn't happening because someone pissed on his neighbour's cabbage! "
Her movement stopped. It seems there's at least one worth keeping alive around these parts.
One listened carefully to his story, and felt naught but excitement when the man mentionned a hunter.
One: *Good. Something worth my time.*
" I do not know if the people in the other villages have done anything to earn the ire of, whatever's out there, but... It's not the first time we have missing people in these parts. Some were found eaten by wolves, a couple murders have occured over the years sure. Some were lost to that accursed town. But this here situation with the villages? We've never seen this! Heck, bandits would have left traces behind. They would have robbed us by now... "
One looked carefully through the faces of the villagers looking for particular nuances. Guilt. Complicity. A smirk. A neutral face. Anything else that isn't fear or worry. One had learned that the first to call for help is often guilty to some degree. In her eyes, the villagers were less trustworthy than animals. But her mission dictated that she remained open and trusting in appearance, and she had become good at wearing masks.
One: "I understand. Thank you for this information, I believe i have a good understanding of the situation here now." Adressing to the whole crowd, she added: "If there is more you can add to this case, any hint, any clue, please, feel free to discuss it with me at any moment. I would ask you all to remain on topic, however." *And some fool shagging a chicken is off-topic and will get you a bolt through the skull.*
As the crowd was dispersing, One went to get a hold of her host, the aged hunter, who seemed smarter than the rest.
One: "I wanted to thank you for your hospitality, and with what just happenned. May I ask your name?" A short conversation followed, during which the hunter told her she could leave her things in his shack. After that, One went to speak with the old woman in a rocking chair she had spotted earlier, through the crowd.
One: "Greetings, Madam. I would like to speak with you concerning the recent troubles of this hamlet. Would you mind?" One was polite, sincerely this time, as this old woman didn't seem to be a fool like the others. "You seem to have an idea of what started all this. I heard you earlier. "Foolish man. You were told not to go." What did you mean, exactly?" One waited for an answer, and asked something else after she was done talking. "There's something else on my mind; one of the guardsman said something yesterday when I arrived: "Symptoms some of us remember from harsher times." Do you know what he meant?"
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
After hearing the full story of how the recent worrying events surrounding the village went down, One had all the time in the world to continue her investigation where she saw fit. Initialy she approached the aged hunter once more.
One shared her gratitude with her host.
HIS NAME WAS HUNTERINO.
Douglas.
He was called Douglas.
Douglas was what this man was called.
At any rate, he did say he was honored to give whatever little help he could provide, both in terms of lodging and as well with regards to information. Not that there was anything more to add to his previous statements.
One then moved to interogate an old lady she had caught a glimpse of earlier.
The resident was rocking in her chair, paying little mind to One until she was nearly right next to her. She then inspected briefly her face, throwing inquisitive looks with all too honest eyes. She seemed surprised. Her voice was loving, but tired.
One: "Greetings, Madam. I would like to speak with you concerning the recent troubles of this hamlet. Would you mind?"
"One was polite, sincerely this time, as this old woman didn't seem to be a fool like the others."
Old lady: " Troubles? What troubles? Was it my son again? Did he cause you grief? I am so sorry but please forgive him dear, he is but a child! "
Indeed.
One: "You seem to have an idea of what started all this. I heard you earlier. "Foolish man. You were told not to go." What did you mean, exactly?"
Old lady: " Who said that? Did I say that? What man? I didn't say anything like that dear! "
She was not a fool.
One: "There's something else on my mind; one of the guardsman said something yesterday when I arrived: "Symptoms some of us remember from harsher times." Do you know what he meant?"
Old lady: " I wonder where the kids have run off to. Have you seen my husband? "
Ugh. One should put down these insects like dogs. Concealing her anger, she decided she would ask her handler if the villagers really HAD to survive. After all, even One was more useful to the Empire and the Inquisition than these maggots. She may have been hated, she may have been a liability, but she was also a weapon to use against the Dark.
One’s gaze swept through the hamlet. These villagers… well, they were no different than weeds.
But thanks to her act, the villagers were willing to cooperate. She inquired around the village for notable locations in the region. Maybe ruins, or caves which could serve as a dwelling to a beast or even a pack of beasts.
Then, she gathered, or rather requisitioned some oil and some rope around the village. If there was any pest poison available in this hole, she would also take some. Finally, she visited the fool who had been talking about someone shagging his chickens and took three of his beloved pets, in the name of the light.
Fully equipped and supplied, she took the requisitioned goods and animals into the forest, leaving what she wouldn’t need and her horse in the village. Keeping her directions and the village behind her, she selected a small clearing in the forest to lay her trap.
In the middle of the clearing, she attached two chickens with the rope provided by the villagers(she also fed them with the poison if she found some). They would be the bait. After immobilizing them in the middle of the clearing, One lay a sack of caltrops around the bait. Any beast trying to reach the chickens would have to step into them.
The third chicken was… unlucky. In truth, it wasn’t really needed. But the smell of blood might attract whatever monster prowled these woods. And so for that, One needed blood. The soulless hunter had no intention of cleanly extracting the blood from the farm bird. No, she didn’t need to do that. And venting out was also a luxury One could afford. She grabbed the chicken by its feet, and started bashing it against a nearby tree. A discreet, thin laughter could be heard from One over the chicken’s otherworldly screams and cuckoos as its body was being used as a tool of release for One. With the chicken in hand, One bashed the tree without relent. With every strike, more feathers and chicken parts fell all around One, the tree and over the clearing. One was striking so violently even the tree was losing some of its bark with One’s every single strike.
Bash, bash, bash. The chicken lost an eye.
Bash, bash, bash. Oh, my, bone was in its wing.
Bash, bash, bash. Who knew chicken brains were so small?
The massacre took less than a minute. Good thing One was far enough from the village not to be heard. And the villagers would never dare to follow her into the woods.
One: “Hm, yes. This will do.” She said, with a somewhat joyful voice. A bit of stress relief is always welcome. Not that One could become stressed anymore, since she was dead.
With her trap set, One took position on a solid tree, several meters away, overlooking the bait. As a precaution, she spread the villager’s oil in a line, between her position and the trap. Should she attract something too big to tackle immediately, she would light the oil on fire to cover her escape.
The trap was set. Now to see if something would bite. One climbed to a high branch and armed her crossbow.
One: “Come oout, come ouuut, wherever you aaaare…” she whispered, in a chuckle.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
Where ignorance coupled with religious zeal, could absolutely see you lynched and crucified for the most menial of things!
Luckily, this was not the case at all, at least not for now.
In fact, One had the most excellent of relationships, if only in appearence, with the good folk of Psarokokala.
Sure, they were stupid and barely competent enough to keep their meagre selves alive, but what could one ask more of them?
Faith, would be an answer. And One had gotten loads of it.
The villagers proved more than eager to supply her with whatever she claimed to need. Yes, the chicken guy was a bit sad to not get to eat his beloved pets he had raised with so much care, but I've been told he'll get over it soon.
One was also supplied with a vial of home made rat poison. Going by the smell, it's probably best not to ask what it's made off. Best not spill any on yourself either. At any rate, though she was warned the concoction is "fairly weak", it still works well enough to merit passing down the recipe to the next generation so it will probably do somethingTM.
Supplies aside now, One caught an interesting bit of information during her extended investigation.
In truth, someone had mentioned that previously, but she had seemed to miss it at the time. There were some substantial town ruins, some way to the North of the three villages in the forest.
Reportedly, the villagers had stopped going there ages ago, because the town was deemed to be haunted as fuck. The reason no one bothered to draw attention to it, was that by virtue of no one ever going there, the place had pretty much fallen off of everyone's radar. There was talk off some bandits taking residence in the ruins once upon a time, but then every single last one of them disappeared so...
Not to mention, why would any villager bother going to check the place out since there was nothing there?
Oh well!
27th of October, 11:17 in the morning, 4846.
Two days until the arrival of Harlek Damon.
Now then, regarding One's hunting trip.
Nothing will be said about the chicken bashing. In fact, we will censor it and show you an image of a field of flowers while we play classical music in the back.
Yes, isn't that soothing now?
No?
FINE!
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD:
Fucking savages I swear...
Ahem!
The trap set and the hunter in position ontop of her tree, One was ready for a few boring hours of waiting. Thankfully, it did not take too long for a predator to make its appearence. The beast carefully stepped out of the woods and onto the clearing, One had a good view on it from where she sat. There was no mistake to be made, this was definetly what she was looking for!
Dis boii:
Psyke!
This is Psarosoupa!
This is what you get:
One recognized it as a type of wendigo, undead abominations which liked to lurk in woods such as these. They could become quite fierce depending on their type and the situation at hand. Luckily, this one seemed reasonably weak, and most of all, alone. Though, such things were rarely the product of nature taking its course, so wether it was alone in the broader sense, was something One would have to look into later.
The creature approached the living chickens and tore them to pieces, taking a few bites here and there. It has ingested some of the poison and has walked over a bunch of caltrops, though by the looks of it they dont seem to have done much, the creature barely registered them.
It does not seem to be aware of One's presence and it's busy editing the chicken corpses in ways even the huntress would be forced to find imaginative.
One has the element of surprise and is free to act however she pleases.
Maybe congratulate a fellow artist on his handiwork?
Ah! There, a prey for the Many to hunt! One's yellow eyes filled with frenzy as she watched the undead creature tear the bait to pieces.
One: "Slave of necromancers, I solemnly swear to butcher you." she said to herself, while pointing at the feasting horror.
[Punish the Wicked, the Heretic, the Faithless]
Undetected atop the tree, One took her time to arm her crossbow, and took the time to aim at the busy creature, with sure footing and perfect posture. And then she released her first bolt. Mechanically, before the creature realized it war under attack, One had started arming her crossbow for a second shot. Within the lapse of a few seconds, she released a second bolt into the foul scion of the necromancers.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
Le tire de base de One fait 310 dégâts à la créature.
Sur ce, +15% pour Passif - Spécialité Martiale: = 343
Et surtout, x2 pour Passif - The Order strikes first: = 686
Et vu le contexte (+ Punish the wicked, the heretic, the faithless I:), ça crit donc (encore vu le contexte) pour la totalité de la valeur de crit donx x2 = 1372
Plus les 310 du carreau suivant qui touche, total de = 1682.
La créature avait 1520 HP elle crève donc comme une grosse merde quand elle se prend le deuxième carreau dans la gueule ouesh!
Par contre: - 2 carreaux = 28 - 1 caltrop = 2
-60 PE nouveau total 250 PE.
[Arbitrage off! Told you that shit was easy! ]
Well...
The first shot was absolutely destructive to One's unfortunate opponent. The bolt made it's way straight to the forehead of the unaware (and INNOCENT) creature that was simply enjoying its meal up until that point.
The shock half shattered its skull and made it howl in agony.
Which took the last few precious seconds of unlife it had at its disposal. A second bolt hit the exact same spot on the creature's head, shattering the previous bolt and exploding the already damaged skull of the creature. The rest of the head's flesh followed suit as the now nearly headless creature collapsed to the ground.
A victory most certain.
The chickens are dead though. You could not save them.
A surge of twisted joy and sadistic pleasure jolted through one as she blew open the undead's head. One hated the undead as much as she hated those who were too faithful, as in her eyes both had chosen to be slaves. Ironically, she shared the same wrath against the minions of Hellpoemer as her paladin counterparts.
The wendigo One just shot down could attest for that fact. One jumped down from her tree, and, after making sure everything was dead, silent or absent around her, she moved back to her prey, collecting the caltrops on the way.
Moving closer to the beast, she first made sure her victim had faded, and then recovered any reusable bolt from the body. After making sure she was alone, One then proceeded to examine the body in great detail, trying to uncover where it came from, how old was the body and when it was reanimated, and from what. One also kept an eye open for anything unusual about the beast, if it had anything on it such as clothes, or other wounds that might indicate another encounter, any form of necromantic markings, etc. Finally, with all of this done, she finally cut the beast open quite broadly, just to make sure there were no body parts in the monster's digestive system. The villagers would want to know if the beast had eaten one of them.
Naturally, One remained silent in her autopsy, and remained alert to anything that might be around in the forest. Having some medical knowledge, One was hoping to be able to uncover something about the beast.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
So, in things that fall into the "such a shame" category:
- Checking your surroundings AFTER jumping down from your tree.
Yup, turns out things should be done in order for a reason.
Oh well, food for thought. Probably did not help that One had passed more than a day waiting here and there. First, she was waiting forever out of the village then she spent a fair amount waiting on her tree. Being a hunter and all is nice but there’s a limit to how much one can take.
[Although she does have part of a hunter, she does not strike me as the patient kind to be honest.]
At any rate, she got down and made her way towards the corpse. The corpse’s corpse? Corpse2? The dead, dead-thing at any rate.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut…!
Three more wendigos pop out of the woodwork and enter the clearing on the side opposite to where One is (you are a solid 10 meters into the clearing and away from the tree line). The wendigos have noticed One and, though they do not seem to give a fuck about their double-dead mate, they are very much looking forward to smacking her dead-dead! They are advancing towards One in arrowhead formation and they are all within pretty much 20 meters in front of One. As they are also in the clearing there is no real cover for them (not that they would have used it but hey).
One has the initiative, as she is faster, on alert and has a functioning brain. Not the freshest sure, but the standards are low in the present company.
[If you win, I will take into consideration the actions you performed in your post before the enemies popped and apply them to the new state of the situation at the end of this fight. If not, well you do not have to worry about that now do you?]
Ah, One got too eager to cut open the beast apart. Soon enough, other monstrosities showed up, probably attracted by the sheer amount of violence One displayed in her culling, of chicken and undead alike.
Great, One thought. More fodder for The Many!
One was half tempted to pull out her sword and massacre the things, but her body had its limits, which were not worth pushing for the small fry in her presence.
Half disappointed, One started turning tail, in the direction of the village, and ran, until the monsters stopped giving chase. Her opponents were both slower than her and far more stupid, making the task of putting some distance between her and her pursuers easy. One was careful in her retreat, remembering the paths she had taken through the forest.
When her opponents would lose sight of her, One would turn around and shoot a quick volley at one of the abominations, hoping to progressively wear down the beasts until none were left standing.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
Ever so slightly caught off guard following her slaying of the Wendigo, One did not have the time to get back up on her tree and pretend nothing happened.
Instead, she opted to flee. A sensible choice many would have taken to its logical conclusion of “getting the hell out of there”. But not One.
She had not stayed up on her tree for so long to flee at the first, or for that matter second, sign of trouble.
Instead she opted for a quick retreat, choosing to take advantage of the situation and the terrain to turn this fight into more of a guerrilla.
The beasts did have a hard time keeping up for most part, but it would only take a moment of distraction or a momentary slip for them to be upon One. They seemed to liven up the more they stayed in the presence of an enemy. Furthermore, they did seem sufficiently able to navigate the woods. Obviously, they were not as speedy or nimble as the huntress. But, should it turn into a stamina contest (between undead, of all things) they would surely win.
At any rate, the beasts did not let One break line of sight for too long. They did not seem interested in dropping the chase. One stuck to her plan and unleashed a volley at the beast closest to her.
Which she realized at that moment was the only creature still present. The two others seemed to have split off somewhere, or maybe had indeed stayed behind after all.
One unleashes two bolts towards the creature during her retreat.
Both hit her target along its body but do not do much to slow it down. What’s more, for all her skill, she ended up realizing that shooting backwards while running in a forest is not the easiest thing in the world. Aside from risking to headbutt a tree, line of sight to the target is pretty unreliable as they both have to zigzag between trunks. It would also be all too easy for her foot to get caught in roots or vines or some shit.
Still, being an accomplished warrior, she managed to avoid it thus far.
However, about two minutes into the chase, One (of all people) suddenly tensed up. Something, somewhere far behind in the direction of the chasing Wendigo, had just laid eyes upon her. Which should be technically impossible given the raw amount of trees and foliage in between them but still. She could feel a nefarious presence in the distance, making its way towards her.
Though this likely meant little to One, it felt like something dark. Something evil.
Whatever instinct she had left likely urged her to run further, to not let it catch her.
It should still be possible. Whatever it was, One could still see no sign of it.
One unleashes 2 further volleys with her crossbow.
Bolts -2 = 26
- 18 PE for movement. But! Since you covered distance before really engaging, ill count this x2 as you were using combat speed (and were technically in combat). So -36PE.
-50PE for the two attacks (25 each).
-86PE, new total 164PE left.
Each bolt deals 167 dmg (with Passif - Spécialité Martiale) so a total of 334 is dealt. The beast has 1186 HP left.
One frowned as she unleashed her bolts into the now-alarmingly-lonely wendigo. She couldn't break sight long enough to line up one of her more powerful shots. This strategy of hers wouldn't work here.
Well then. If she couldn't get an interesting hunt out of this, it wasn't worth her time. More unhappy than worried about the current situation, she started putting more distance between her and her pursuer and eventually broke line of sight. She was thinking of ways she could compensate using the villagers until...
One: "Oooooh..."
Now, this was interesting. This sense of dread! This icy stare in her back! There was definitely something in these woods. Something exquisitely terrifying! One turned around. There was nothing in sight. But deep within the woods? Ooh, yes. The hunt was on.
One: "I'll be coming for you, darling." -she stated, staring right back at the abyss.
And the predator continued running back to her temporary den, the village of the sheep.
Kayné Rang D
Messages : 546 Date d'inscription : 13/08/2013 Age : 32
One opted to retreat in the end. Probably a wise choice. Even though she had the potential to kill off the wendigo still after her, things could get complicated if the other two decided to return. Worse still, should the thing from the woods reach her in the meantime. Whatever that was, getting caught tired from previous fights would spell certain doom.
Still, for all its sudden interest in One, the entity did not follow her very far. As soon as One had put sufficient distance between her and her Wendigo admirer to make pursuit meaningless, the huntress felt the things gaze shift elsewhere. Similarly, the wendigo returned to its own occupations somewhere within the woods. Maybe she could turn around and find it again, maybe it would be lost to her forever. Does it really matter? What good would killing one more of these critters do?
One was no doubt more of an expert in killing the occult than it understanding it. Yet hanging around with the inquisition, One does tend to pick up a few pieces of knowledge. That and previous… experiences helped too.
Though she earned no physical trophy for her hunt, she now had some additional information available to her and a better understanding of her surroundings and their situation.
For instance, these things were not dead very long. Maybe up to 3 or a maximum of 5 days, no longer. That she could gather from their state of decay. Furthermore, given how easily she found them in an all thing considered, vats forest, chances were there was a fair amount of these things lurking around. On the good news, they did not seem to be controlled by anyone or anything, with the exception perhaps of whatever that other thing was. But before that, all of them seemed pretty set in their auto pilot mode.
But perhaps, the most precious knowledge of all: these likely were not actively raised. Wendigos seldom occur naturally, however these were too battered, too slow, simply too shabby to be the product of any significant necromancy. No, these things were passively turned. Slowly. Imbued with necromantic energies from the surroundings.
One could feel not such a thing.
But she may have had memories. This sort of thing happens often in cursed places, or places on which spells have been cast to turn anything that dies there into undead. The necromancers pull this off a lot when they attack villages. Nothing breaks the peasants’ morale like having to fight their wives’ corpses after they’ve just been cut open by their forefathers’ skeletons.
Point is, something was definitely amiss. That and the woods were probably bad news. Grim chances for the trader boy and his cart.
But still why would she ever care? It was a miracle in and of itself that she had not burned down the village herself. By extension, a miracle she was still tolerated in this world by the inquisition.
Half way back to the village, leaving a narrow path covered with foliage, One came upon a familiar figure.
Further ahead she could see the back of the elf she had previously met in those very woods. Though One could not see him clearly, he was slowly making his way towards the village. He seemed confused, sluggish and tired. He entirely failed to notice her as she was still a ways behind him. A miracle too then, that he had survived this long.
What poor luck for him though, to still be stuck in these woods, with Wendigos and Ones.
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